No Heat. No Power. No Accountability.
February 18, 2019 8:53 AM Subscribe
“ACCOUNTS FROM INCARCERATED people, their family members, and lawyers sketch a picture of widespread protests at the Sunset Park detention facility. People across multiple housing units undertook coordinated acts of nonviolent disobedience and at least three hunger strikes. Retaliation by Metropolitan Detention Center staff ranged from pepper spray and solitary confinement to shutting off toilets across entire units. All told, men on at least four housing units inside the jail say they took part in some sort of collective protest of their conditions. In each instance, they say their actions were met with official retaliation.” Locked inside a freezing federal jail they united to protest thier conditions - only to face reprisals An account of the Brooklyn MDC protests.
A friend of mine is caught up in the court system and the brutality, ignorance, self-satisfaction and coercion displayed by everyone down the chain, whether lawyers, judges, caseworkers, or other functionaries, is just astonishing. Unless you are well-off, the court system will be used to destroy you - even if you're innocent. It is shockingly bad and unjust. It is a Dickensian display of the worthless wealthy enforcing stupid, bad and unsympathetic policies upon the unfortunate poor.
No one treats people as innocent until proven guilty, or even innocent after they're proven innocent - if you're poor, your own lawyer, the judge and any caseworkers or functionaries all assume that you are a liar and a criminal no matter what evidence exists. They might assume that you're not guilty on the particular matter in question, but they assume that you're categorically guilty, a criminal person.
And lawyers, judges and functionaries retaliate, too - even the ones who are supposed to be on your side. If you object to being treated as a lying criminal or try to act like a real person instead of an inferior worm, they will strike you down.
If you are a middle class person who has not encountered the system yourself, I have to tell you, it is ten times worse than you think even based on left-wing reporting. It's a disgrace.
You might think you're critical of the courts and the prison system, but that's nothing to the white hot burning hate you'll feel if you or anyone you care about is being ground up in them.
Until recently, I had fairly standard left "let's abolish the prisons...I guess" politics. Really seeing the system up close and personal has convinced me in a much deeper, more visceral way that prisons should be abolished and so should the court system. We need something else that is smaller, that is not a professional career for the affluent, that is flexible, that is administered by people who mirror the population, not people who are richer and whiter.
posted by Frowner at 9:31 AM on February 18, 2019 [53 favorites]
No one treats people as innocent until proven guilty, or even innocent after they're proven innocent - if you're poor, your own lawyer, the judge and any caseworkers or functionaries all assume that you are a liar and a criminal no matter what evidence exists. They might assume that you're not guilty on the particular matter in question, but they assume that you're categorically guilty, a criminal person.
And lawyers, judges and functionaries retaliate, too - even the ones who are supposed to be on your side. If you object to being treated as a lying criminal or try to act like a real person instead of an inferior worm, they will strike you down.
If you are a middle class person who has not encountered the system yourself, I have to tell you, it is ten times worse than you think even based on left-wing reporting. It's a disgrace.
You might think you're critical of the courts and the prison system, but that's nothing to the white hot burning hate you'll feel if you or anyone you care about is being ground up in them.
Until recently, I had fairly standard left "let's abolish the prisons...I guess" politics. Really seeing the system up close and personal has convinced me in a much deeper, more visceral way that prisons should be abolished and so should the court system. We need something else that is smaller, that is not a professional career for the affluent, that is flexible, that is administered by people who mirror the population, not people who are richer and whiter.
posted by Frowner at 9:31 AM on February 18, 2019 [53 favorites]
If you are a middle class person who has not encountered the system yourself, I have to tell you, it is ten times worse than you think even based on left-wing reporting. It's a disgrace.
Even worse for those who have any mental-health or addiction issues. People with ADHD/ADD or are on the autistic spectrum have a very difficult time coping with the legal/justice/incarceration/rehabilitation systems...
posted by jkaczor at 9:49 AM on February 18, 2019 [6 favorites]
Even worse for those who have any mental-health or addiction issues. People with ADHD/ADD or are on the autistic spectrum have a very difficult time coping with the legal/justice/incarceration/rehabilitation systems...
posted by jkaczor at 9:49 AM on February 18, 2019 [6 favorites]
Pass a law saying all prison workers (both federal and state) must be paid their local minimum wage for any and all work they do.
posted by East14thTaco at 11:23 AM on February 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by East14thTaco at 11:23 AM on February 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
I don't have anything useful to add, except my presence in witnessing this. It's horrific. I watched my father almost die in prison from neglect at 50 for a mistake he made, but because of something he did at 19 he payed the price. People make money off this. It's heinous
posted by FirstMateKate at 12:33 PM on February 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by FirstMateKate at 12:33 PM on February 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
We need something else that is smaller, that is not a professional career for the affluent, that is flexible, that is administered by people who mirror the population, not people who are richer and whiter.
The notorious sheriff David Clarke is African American. I suppose his promotion and support came from a largely-White electoral base, but it does show that prisoners are treated horribly even when the warders and administrators are of the same race as the people incarcerated. That the same attitudes and techniques of prisoner immiseration keep appearing in prisons around the world can't be coincidental. I expect racism in the USA provides another layer of feces to be sprayed over the carceral fecal milkshake, but the fundamental problem is the prison idea itself.
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:28 PM on February 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
The notorious sheriff David Clarke is African American. I suppose his promotion and support came from a largely-White electoral base, but it does show that prisoners are treated horribly even when the warders and administrators are of the same race as the people incarcerated. That the same attitudes and techniques of prisoner immiseration keep appearing in prisons around the world can't be coincidental. I expect racism in the USA provides another layer of feces to be sprayed over the carceral fecal milkshake, but the fundamental problem is the prison idea itself.
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:28 PM on February 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
I was going to comment "solidarity" or "do we have a . but for solidarity?" yesterday when I remembered that solidarity is more verb than noun - something you DO, not something you have. I did a little bit of digging but can't find ways to support MDC protest solidarity work. Anybody have any leads?
posted by entropone at 9:37 AM on February 19, 2019
posted by entropone at 9:37 AM on February 19, 2019
From Nola.com: Louisiana routinely jails people weeks, months, years after their release dates
Unjust imprisonment is supposed to be one of the very worst things, but many people are kept in prison as a matter of course because handling paperwork officially takes a certain number of days. Stories like this demonstrate how far the penal system is from being an instrument of justice.
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:20 PM on February 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
Unjust imprisonment is supposed to be one of the very worst things, but many people are kept in prison as a matter of course because handling paperwork officially takes a certain number of days. Stories like this demonstrate how far the penal system is from being an instrument of justice.
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:20 PM on February 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
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Accountability may take time, but hopefully in this day and age, "misplaced" records won't get in the way.
posted by AnhydrousLove at 9:14 AM on February 18, 2019 [5 favorites]