Prison & Punishment for Crimes

by

Kalief Browder

Kalief Browder (1993-2015), an American student, was arrested in 2010 at age 16 for stealing a backpack. He spent three years at Rikers Island, New York’s main prison – without ever having been found guilty. He spent over a thousand days in prison, over 700 in solitary confinement.


In the US Constitution, the Sixth Amendment states:
“the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial”
But in the Bronx, Browder’s part of New York, there are not enough judges or money to carry out the Constitution.
About 96% of those accused of a felony in the Bronx plead guilty in exchange for a shorter sentence. There is no trial. Those who maintain their innocence – and whose families’s cannot afford bail or who are held without bail – are sent to prison where they can wait up to five years.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: abagond.wordpress.com

#KaliefBrowder #BlackLivesMatter Tweets 6.10
by

#KaliefBrowder #BlackLivesMatter Tweets 6.10

by

U.S. Addicted to Enslavement for Profit

by Vicky Pelaez

 

The prison industry in the United States: big business or a new form of slavery? The prison industry in the United States: big business or a new form of slavery? by Vicky Pelaez Human rights org…anizations, as well as political and social ones, are condemning what they are calling a new form of inhumane exploitation in the United States, where they say a prison population of up to 2 million – mostly Black and Hispanic – are working for various industries for a pittance. For the tycoons who have invested in the prison industry, it has been like finding a pot of gold. They don’t have to worry about strikes or paying unemployment insurance, vacations or comp time. All of their workers are full-time, and never arrive late or are absent because of family problems; moreover, if they don’t like the pay of 25 cents an hour and refuse to work, they are locked up in isolation cells.

 

Continue reading

Sourced through Scoop.it from: moorbey.wordpress.com

#BlackLivesMatter Tweets 6.5
by

#BlackLivesMatter Tweets 6.5

#BlackLivesMatter Tweets 5.29
by

#BlackLivesMatter Tweets 5.29

by

#BlackLivesMatter 5.25

by

What if police brutality was seen as a crime?

What if police brutality in the US was seen as a crime, in the same way that “Black” street crime is seen?


1. There would be no paid vacation for killer cops. Instead, they would be immediately arrested and their names made public. There would be no need for protests. Or riots. Most killer cops would become “convicted felons” and be locked up for a long time to “keep them off the streets.” Some would be executed to “provide a deterrent.”


2. Killer cops would be arrested on the 11 o’clock news. We would not merely hear that they were “taken into custody”. We would see them try to hide their faces.

 

Continue reading…

Source: abagond.wordpress.com

 

Abagond slays it – again.

 

by

The appalling story of a California prison guard #ScottJones who committed suicide: ‘The job made me do it’

By Christina Sterbenz

 

After years of alleged harassment and abuse at his job at a California prison, Scott Jones committed suicide in 2011. A note inside his truck, parked near his body, read: “The job made me do it.”

On Friday, a federal judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit that Jones’ widow, Janelle, brought against California’s department of prisons, as well as a warden and two other high-ranking officials.

That lawsuit alleges wrongful death and a violation of Jones’ First Amendment right to be free from harassment and retaliation.

In 2006, Jones’ employer High Desert State Prison sent him to work in the “Z-unit,” which houses the most dangerous inmates, according to the suit. There, he allegedly witnessed an array of horrific behaviours by officers — including
strip-searching inmates in the snow, provoking fighting among the inmates, preventing them from showering, and failing to stop contraband trading, according to his widow’s suit.

Jones’ widow alleges he was relentlessly harassed for reporting these behaviours as well as other violations of federal and state law and that he was pressured to violate the rules himself. At one point, a superior officer allegedly coerced him to file a false workers compensation claim after Jones hurt his knee while “horsing around on duty.”

To ensure his quietness about the incident, Jones speculated, the same officer allegedly pepper sprayed him at close range in 2007.

“Does that mean you’re going to rat me out now?” the officer said afterward, according to the suit.

 

Continue reading…

 

Source: www.businessinsider.com.au

 

US prisons are horrific. They unleash brutal abuse beyond any penalty written into law.

 

#ShutitDown