His thoughts were red thoughts: I guess my point is, don't be looking to China as a law enforcement role model.Eponyster-
Black guys picking cotton at gunpoint in LA. Swarms of rats chewing off fingers & eyes in IL. Indefinite sensory deprivation. Bags of feces thrown on people in VA. Arms held out of feeding-slots to shatter elbows in VA. Pregnant women beaten so hard the braces get knocked off their teeth in TX. Men forced to fight to the death in gladiator matches in CA. Men shot for sport in CA. Men overcrowded at 300% capacity nationwide. Children given life sentences without the possibility of parole- nationwide. HIV+ inmates beaten and sent to sensory-deprivation isolation with biohazard stencils and no medical treatment. Men put in sensory-deprivation isolation for up to 36 years with no contact with the outside world (including lawyers). Secret medical experiments performed on thousands of inmates in PA. Cops running brutal abuse schemes and creating their own gangs in NY. Penises amputated in WA. Feces mixed into food in CO. These are just the things which I've provided links to on major news outlets in this subforum in the past few weeks.
The defence of "band-aid solutions" and "chipping away at the problem" also made me think. In short, a good article!
The trouble with the Bill of Rights, he argues, is that it emphasizes process and procedure rather than principles. The Declaration of the Rights of Man says, Be just! The Bill of Rights says, Be fair! Instead of announcing general principles—no one should be accused of something that wasn’t a crime when he did it; cruel punishments are always wrong; the goal of justice is, above all, that justice be done—it talks procedurally. You can’t search someone without a reason; you can’t accuse him without allowing him to see the evidence; and so on. This emphasis, Stuntz thinks, has led to the current mess, where accused criminals get laboriously articulated protection against procedural errors and no protection at all against outrageous and obvious violations of simple justice
However, not all the inmates housed in the SHU are alleged gang leaders. For example, Ernesto Lira was a petty thief serving time for minor drug possession. He was sent to Pelican Bay for an indefinite term, after authorities determined he was associated with a violent Latino prison gang.link
But Lira was not accused of actually doing anything tangible for the group. The key piece of evidence against him: a drawing found in his locker that allegedly contained gang symbols.
"My first two months it was hard to get used to the fact that I'm going to be here," Lira said. "I looked and thought?maybe in a month or two they'll realize that this is all a mistake and kick me out of here."
There was a way out of isolation, officials told Lira. He could debrief, or snitch, on other gang members. But as a judge later determined, Lira couldn't do that because he wasn't a member of any gang. He wasn't released from the SHU until his release from prison eight years later.
They were known as Miller’s Boys, police officers who worked the 4-to-midnight shift, patrolling the largely working-class town of East Haven, Conn., including the small but growing Hispanic community that has spread out in recent years from New Haven.But anyone who gets arrested and thrown in jail deserves it, right? The justice system is never corrupt, never looks first to its own self-interest, never protects is own when there are fuckups, right? Also, if you're in prison and you deserve to be there (because you do, if you're there, that's how it works), you deserve any and all horrendous treatment you get. Because you are scum and not-human.
The officers were more than well known in that community; according to residents and federal authorities, they were feared. They stopped and detained people, particularly immigrants, without reason, federal prosecutors said, sometimes slapping, hitting or kicking them when they were handcuffed, and once smashing a man’s head into a wall. They followed and arrested residents, including a local priest, who tried to document their behavior.
[snip]
Janice K. Fedarcyk, assistant director in charge of the F.B.I. office in New York, called the officers “a cancerous cadre that routinely deprived East Haven residents of their civil rights.”
The misconduct, according to prosecutors, reached to the highest ranks of the department and the police union. A high-ranking officer described as “Co-Conspirator No.1” — apparently the police chief, Leonard Gallo — made several calls to the supervisor of the priest, the Rev. James Manship of St. Rose of Lima Church, asking that he be moved out of his parish, the indictment said. The same commander also barred members of East Haven’s police commission, a supervisory body that was trying to investigate the complaints, from entering the department without his permission, but later rescinded the order.
When Diaz asked Maturo what he planned to do for the Latino community in response to the arrests of four East Haven police officers on federal charges that they discriminated against Latino residents and others, Maturo said, "I might have tacos when I go home. I'm not quite sure yet."(source)
Felicia "Snoop" Pearson, actor on the Wire, grew up on the street in Baltimore. She did some stuff, went to prison, but after she came out she started acting on the Wire and tried desperately to stay away from the drug corners. But she lives in East Baltimore and everyone she knows is involved in the game.posted by mahershalal at 3:03 AM on January 26 [13 favorites]
She was caught talking one the phone to a drug dealer. She says she'd loaned him some money and she wanted it back. But the government says she was buying a package of heroin. We don't know what the truth is. I don't, but neither does the government. Luckily we have the courts for that.
But we have to decide what we do with Snoop while we wait for the wiretap case to come to court, which takes about 24 months. We can give her a bail, considering she's not likely to run since she's a famous actress since the Wire, but we won't, says the government, because there's still a chance she might run. We could put her in women's detention for two years, but she's got a movie she wants to do and she's got a big part in it so that would not be good for her career. Well, there's another solution.
Let her call this company in Tulsa. They'll put a bracelet on her, so then we'll know where she is. This will cost her $400 a week. But if she's found innocent in two years, will she then get the money back? No, she won't get the money back.
So for Felicia Pearson to have her day in court, to prove that she's innocent, she either has to pay $40.000 dollars up front or spent two years in jail.
So then the government comes to her and says: how would you like to plead guilty and we'll give you probation. This means you'll be able to stop paying $400 a week, you'd only have to plead guilty.
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This is just staggering. Don't see anyone raising this as a campaign issue unfortunately.
posted by arcticseal at 8:02 PM on January 24 [15 favorites]