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packed house here inside the jail for the jail board meeting. i like to sit in the front row so i can see the name plates, so i’m sitting right next to everyone’s favorite racist, mason pickett.
notes from the last meeting are here:
and from the january meeting, here:
and the november 2018 meeting:
the jail board meets only every other month. we’ve been waiting for a re-vote in the ICE notification policy for more than a year. they keep kicking the can.
a community member just told pickett, who is shooting off at the mouth while we wait for the meeting to start, that he’ll donate a dollar to the republican party for every minute pickett can sit quietly. he declined the offer.
all that time pickett is spending standing outside the police station with his grammatically confusing racist signs is really starting to show in his skin - he’s very pink.
so pink, so rude 
i don’t read the comments on my columns in @cvillenews_desk but pickett wants to make sure i know he left one the other day. this man is a living comment section - red & mad, but offline.
12:35 and the board members have entered the room after a closed session. not sure what it was about - i forgot to check the agenda.
aha, i forgot about their nice new website. agenda was easy to locate!
docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/98d94a_2c7…
docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/98d94a_2c7…
public comment starts now. they’re allowing half an hour for this portion of the agenda. apparently a lot of people signed up.
first speaker is from nelson county & identifies herself as a “rancher.” she says she came out because she heard about “all this ICE notification” business. she thanks supt kumer for doing the notifications & says she hopes they continue.
helen from albemarle county says she “has felt safe most of the time” but the issue of “illegal immigrants entering our community is very serious.” she says changing the policy will have a “rolling effect” and warns that they could make cville a sanctuary city.
“why do you want to give rights to those who have already committed two illegal acts,” she asks. “now you’re going to give them a third chance to commit additional illegal acts” (racist mason pickett is appropriating snapping in agreement)
sarah says she “firmly want[s] you to keep contacting ICE.” “i just can’t believe that this is a problem, that we’re bringing this up to vote.”
madeleine says she is “certainly in favor of reporting to ICE.” she says “illegals have broken the law by being here, they’ve broken the law by being in jail,” and we don’t “want another kate steinle.” (this woman is a shame to the name madeleine)
“we need to respect our ICE agents” and “have more concern for our legal citizens than our illegal citizens who don’t deserve to be here in the first place” (so she’s a racist and an idiot, got it)
the next speaker says “things have changed a lot” and the world is more dangerous than it was when she was a child. “there’s too much crime, it’s just sad.” “illegal aliens have already committed two crimes.” “we cannot take the world in.”
“we are a wonderful beacon on a hill” and “we are quickly being overcome.” she said she was up all night because she had a nightmare last night “about the gangs.” (there’s some laughter at her after this - chair diantha mckeel implores us to be respectful)
jim, the old man who was sitting with pickett, says ICE should be notified about “every illegal alien.”
he calls the reconsideration vote “a tragedy” and pleads with them to continue the notifications.
he calls the reconsideration vote “a tragedy” and pleads with them to continue the notifications.
pickett started to stand like it was gonna be his turn, but they called a woman named diane instead. she says she isn’t a paid lobbyist or professional activist. she says it’s sad that people have to ask for things like this.
“ICE isn’t coming for the jaywalkers,” she says they are “coming for the big fish” and ICE is “doing us a favor” taking these people out of our communities. (she is not correct about this)
diane says these people are “lifelong predators” and “career criminals.” she obviously hasn’t consulted any of the actual facts.
goddamnit it’s mason pickett’s turn. he is in favor of the notifications. “a minute ago they chuckled when they spoke about gangs.” (there’s more laughter)
pickett claims he saw two men attacked by “three men with machetes” and they needed “three thousand stitches each.” not sure what that has to do with anything!
here’s the first commenter who isn’t an elderly racist. as a jew, he thanks the previous speakers for repeating all the racist rhetoric that was used in the 1920s to keep jews out of america. it’s a solid parallel.
“if all of our ancestors had been kicked out” none of us would be here.
“it is a life and death issue,” for people from el salvador and honduras and other places. sending them away is a death sentence.
“it is a life and death issue,” for people from el salvador and honduras and other places. sending them away is a death sentence.
the next speaker is from the legal aid justice center. he says ICE can pick up people with visas and green cards - this isn’t about who is “legal” and who isn’t.
in the time they’ve spent considering this policy, ICE’s abuses have gotten worse. will the board listen to the immigrant community?
he says this policy can be overturned by a vote or simply by administrative decision. the choice is the jail’s - ICE notifications aren’t mandatory.
he says not one single jail that stopped doing ICE notifications faced retaliatory funding cuts. there is no risk to doing the right thing.
the next speaker highlights some of the human rights abuses faced by the people they send into ICE’s hands. people sleeping in the dirt in the desert, under bridges, surrounded by chain link fences in the desert.
he reminds the board of the rampant sexual abuse faced by people detained by ICE. you say you believe in rehabilitation - but you send people into circumstances like that?
the next speaker is a marine vet & works with sin barreras. he says he was born to an undocumented mother. the undocumented community is not the criminals they are painted as. “they’re hardworking, family oriented people” who are being targeted.
“we shouldn’t be spending money and time attacking these people,” there are real issues we could be working on.
he rightly points out that most undocumented people picked up locally are for minor things like driving without a license.
he rightly points out that most undocumented people picked up locally are for minor things like driving without a license.
“this isn’t about safety. it’s about hate.”
“a lot of people that spoke out against this community don’t know them. i do. they should talk to me.”
“a lot of people that spoke out against this community don’t know them. i do. they should talk to me.”
the next speaker says she can’t believe we’re still doing this. last year 25 people were murdered in ICE detention. they were killed by ICE abuse. denied food, water, and medical attention.
the final speaker is an old woman named clarabelle who says she “works for a living” and “supports this community” and supports ICE notifications. “we are not here to debate legal or illegal entry into this county,” we are talking about the safety of citizens in these counties.
“we have had major traffic accidents,” “don’t tell me that driving without a license is not a crime!”
and now she’s raising her voice about MS-13. i thought we might get through this without that boogeyman.
and now she’s raising her voice about MS-13. i thought we might get through this without that boogeyman.
the board’s attorney says HB 2270 has been vetoed by the governor. [it would have mandated ICE notifications. with that veto, the issue remains an issue of local policy]
lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp60…
lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp60…
the jail records every inmate phone call. they are not required to do this, but a jail rep says “it’s been beneficial to law enforcement.” law enforcement has access to them by request (no mention of whether or not they need a warrant for this?)
[recorded jail calls were a damning piece of evidence in the trial of james alex fields, the man who murdered heather heyer, but that that seems like a significant outlier]
moving on to discussion of the dollar a day fee for being incarcerated. it was agreed at the last meeting to abolish this fee.
the issue now is what to do with past outstanding debt. supt kumer says the auditor said there’s no issue with just wiping out the old debts.
it appears there’s $81,000 in dollar-a-day fee debt over the last 3.5 years. (although i got a little confused in some of his description of the various debts?)
another jail employee says the dollar a day fee isn’t recognized as revenue until it’s actually paid, so that debt isn’t really a big loss.
there’s a $600k pool of debt that includes the dollar a day debt and various other debts, like medical, that doesn’t get booked in until it’s paid.
the question is what to do with the old dollar a day debts.
the question is what to do with the old dollar a day debts.
apparently there have been some software changes and they can only decouple the dollar a day debt from the rest of the debt over the last 3.5 years. anything older than that is all lumped in together.
there’s so much emphasis on “civility” in meetings, but that’s so one sided. asking people to sit quietly and listen to degrading, abusive, racist lies is “civil” but it’s not right.
interim city manager mike murphy introduces a motion to forgive the lump sum of debt that can’t be itemized as well as all dollar a day debt for the time period for which it can be identified.
“that’s just cruel,” wes says to someone who argues against the wiping out of the fines. the purpose is rehabilitation. these are people who are trying to get their lives together. “is the revenue more important than the rehabilitation?”
some of the fines in the non itemized lump sum from 1999-2017 (several times he said 2014, so i’m not sure on the end date) is related to property damage, which some board members are struggling with forgiving.
board chair mckeel is very anxious about time. maybe meeting for 90 minutes 6 times a year isn’t enough for the business of running a jail?
mike murphy does some back of the napkin math to estimate that most of the $600k sum is dollar a day debt - based on the amount of dollar a day debt that accumulates annually now & the number of years that debt spans
murphy restates his motion - the $635k debt (non itemized) from 1999-2017 and all the dollar a day debt since then should be wiped out. the motion carries.
moving on to an update on VINE.
moving on to an update on VINE.
VINE was designed to provide updates about the location of an incarcerated person to victims & their families. the jail has been discussing using VINE in lieu of ICE notifications.
there are so many layers of things wrong here. supt kumer says VINE is sufficient for the general public but isn’t always correct and wouldn’t be sufficient for anyone to make an “operational decision” based on.
kumer says he cannot in good conscience recommend that VINE be used in lieu of ICE notifications for that reason. he compares it to a real estate listing - “if you wanna buy a house,” you have to call for more information about a listing.
mckeel says what if she’s a victim of domestic violence who relies on VINE. could she call the jail and request more detailed information about the status of her abuser? kumer says maybe, they’d probably refer them to victim witness & the commonwealth’s attorney’s office.
mike murphy clarifies that this applies for victims of any type of crime and that it can’t just be a blanket request for all release dates - it has to be about a specific individual whose name you know.
there is apparently also an issue with the system where it’s not picking up the incarcerated person’s photo, which kumer says causes some “uneasiness.”
mike murphy says whether we’re talking about this as an alternative to ICE notifications or it’s intended use as a resource for victims of crimes, the state of the system is unacceptable.
kristin clarens says given the holes in this system, maybe there is a need for a comprehensive audit of the software systems they rely on.
doug walker agrees - pointing out we didn’t know about the problem with VINELINK until they started looking into it as a solution to ICE notifications. “we don’t know what we don’t know,” about the fidelity of various systems.
(mason pickett is shifting in his seat in such a way that he is intentionally making unwanted bodily contact with a community member seated next to him. he is a disgusting person.)
here’s a strange argument. one board member says he was told that a consequence of ending notifications to ICE would be that ICE brings more resources into our community, which he says is a danger to the community. (so we should cooperate with ICE *because* they are dangerous?)
mike murphy says the characterization of immigrants as somehow more dangerous than other inmates is “distasteful” and inaccurate (thank you mike)
murphy says he has a problem with the blanket notifications. ICE isn’t asking for notifications about specific individuals. they ought to have to ask for individuals by name, just like everyone else does.
supt kumer is going to bat for ICE.
a community member shouts from the audience that they shouldn’t be cooperating with ICE & this is a bullshit half measure. (i’m really surprised they didn’t eject him. remember that this meeting is INSIDE the jail)
a community member shouts from the audience that they shouldn’t be cooperating with ICE & this is a bullshit half measure. (i’m really surprised they didn’t eject him. remember that this meeting is INSIDE the jail)
lawton tufts points out that there is a lot of misinformation out there about this. people in the community are saying it would violate federal law to stop the notifications but it absolutely would not. it’s the jail’s choice.
murphy says taken to an extreme we’re talking about serious civil rights violations. he asks kumer if he would entertain a request to notify an agency every time a black female came through the jail? kumer says no.
charlottesville sheriff james brown says we need to address the misinformation, citing the “they’ve already committed two crimes” talking point. being undocumented is often civil, not criminal.
diantha mckeel says people don’t go to jail for driving without a license, but former defense attorney lawton tufts says that’s not true. albemarle county is incarcerating people for that.
mckeel laments that this conversation they’ve been having sends the message that all undocumented people are criminals & they aren’t.
wes wants to call the question. “we’ve had this discussion several time,” and just wants to vote on the matter. “it’s a policy. this is not a law.”
mckeel clarifies that it isn’t even a policy - it’s simply a practice.
mckeel clarifies that it isn’t even a policy - it’s simply a practice.
kumer and murphy are saying slightly different things about the current practice. kumer says ICE always files a detainer for an individual by name. murphy pushes back - is the jail not complying with requests for all individuals in a category? kumer says no.
kumer is now saying they always get a written request, which hasn’t been his position before, i don’t think...
murphy references information presented by the legal aid justice center at previous meetings that contradicts what supt kumer is saying how. he asks again, is the jail really only making calls based on written requests with an individual’s name and an actual legal order?
wes motions that the jail stop ICE notifications. the motion is seconded.
everyone except kristin clarens, mike murphy, lawton tufts, and wes bellamy voted yes.
“ICE takes apart families!” a tearful woman yells as she leaves. her family was undocumented. “ICE has raided my home. ICE has taken everything from me.”
“you’re killing our people,” another woman yells.
“you’re killing our people,” another woman yells.
and the meeting continues. bureaucracy grinds on, crushing people in its gears.
sorry, i got it backwards in the moment — everyone voted NO on the motion, YES to continuing ICE notifications
i guess they ran out of time - meeting adjourned without getting to the nursing shortage on the agenda.
board members are being escorted to their cars by armed cops in body armor like they’re the ones who are in danger. this is disgraceful.
the little old racist ladies who gave disgusting public comments are also being escorted to their cars by armed guards.
you can support the undocumented community in our area by donating to the cville immigrant bond fund here:
cvilleimmigrantbondfund.org
cvilleimmigrantbondfund.org
you can donate to local efforts supporting immigrants traveling through cville from ICE detention facilities here:
these meetings hurt my heart. there are people who risk so much to come and bare their souls, telling the board of their own family’s struggles being undocumented. and then there are a handful of bitter old racists who come with fear and lies.
these are the names of the people who sided with hate today:
crying in my car in the jail parking lot as the sky opens up with a sudden summer rainstorm.
fuck ICE. fuck the local officials who lick their boots.
fuck ICE. fuck the local officials who lick their boots.
