Thread by @JohnFPfaff

1. Impressively, NBC News manages to cover this whole Fed-prisoners-not-abused-during-shutdown story WORSE than USA Today, even tho it dedicated three reporters to the topic. Some highlights: nbcnews.com/news/us-news/h…

2. Staffers were annoyed that inmates had one good meal, maybe even two, while they fretted about families and bills.

Because prisoners, locked away from family and jobs and etc etc have no such worries. They ate chicken without a care in the world! Pure joy, that prison life.

3. Heaping piles of steak and shrimp. People went thru the food line TWICE.

Our prisons also still use nutriloaf in many places. That went unmentioned.

4. Inmates were still getting a “federal paycheck.” The article is silent as to what that pay is. The Feds lay somewhere between 23 CENTS and $1.40/hr (prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/04/1…). The guards will all get back pay when this is over.

So preposterous.

5. Do @NBCNews and @USATODAY not realize that this sort of coverage will get ppl hurt, if not killed?

They are describing horrible places as culinary wonderlands. This will push voters to demand even worse conditions, which will make prisons less safe, and more lethal.

6. But props to whoever does media outreach for the Fed CO union. They managed to get this story to run all over the place.

But again: why does every article quote the unions and their reps extensively, interview exactly ZERO ppl for balance?

Profoundly disappointing.