Thread by @ScottHech

NYT w/ in-depth look at how people—they call them “inmates”—hurt each other in Alabama’s prisons bc of cellphones. Make only passing reference to conditions that lead to desperation. Give corrections the floor to suggest answer is *vastly more money to prisons & officer salary.*

Less than 2 months ago, the NYT wrote on a scathing report from *Trump’s DOJ* about horrific “atrocities” in Alabama’s prisons overseen by the same corrections head the NYT let spin tonight on the need for greater investment in “rehabilitation.” nytimes.com/2020/07/24/us/…

A man “who died had intracranial bleeding, nose & eye socket fractures & six teeth knocked out. Corrections officers who had brutalized him said he fell from a bunk bed.” But tonight the NYT gives Alamaba prisons space to sell the need for higher salaries for officers.

A man in Alabama prison “defecated on himself after a guard struck him 19 times with a baton, even though he was handcuffed.” But tonight the NYT gives Alamaba prisons space in their article to sell the need for higher salaries for those same officers.

A man caged in Alabama prison “begged for a corrections officer to kill him after he was beaten with a baton while handcuffed.” But tonight the NYT spends thousands of words making those caged in these cruel & brutal houses of terror out to be the monsters.

As Danielle Sered has taught: The primary characteristics of prison—shame, isolation, economic deprivation, & violence—are the same primary drivers of violence. The NYT piece focused on cellphones. But cellphones aren’t the problem. PRISON is.