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Alec Karakatsanis Profile picture
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10 Feb, 4 tweets, 1 min read
Thread: a 9-year-old girl has now been caged in immigration detention for more than 500 days. (1) bbc.com/news/world-us-…
many of the most prominent people in our society profit from this detention, including the owner of the Detroit Pistons, Tom Gores. (2) worthrises.org/wedeservebetter
this NBA owner's company did one of the most evil things i've seen: worked with jails to get rid of in-person family visits so people caged because they can't pay bail or because they are immigrants can't hug their children. the plan was to make more $$ from jail calls. (3)
every day the NBA sends its players out with pre-game uniforms saying "built by black history." Tom Gores's fortune is literally built by coercing $$ from impoverished Black and Brown families desperate to speak to their loved ones that they can no longer hug. (end)

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More from @equalityAlec

Alec Karakatsanis Profile picture
9 Feb
Message to journalists: it can cause a lot of harm when you use words like "ambitious" and "major" and "significant" to describe reforms proposed by politicians. (1)
It is editorializing that you don't need to do. It's a political *choice* by reporters/editors to describe a politician's proposal that way. It subtly sets the boundaries for what change people think is reasonable and possible. It's an insidious kind of propaganda. (2)
For example: the US cages Black people at 6 times the rate of South Africa at the height of apartheid. Is a politician's policy proposal that changes that discrimination to 5.9 times "major" or "ambitious"? (3)
Read 7 tweets
Alec Karakatsanis Profile picture
8 Feb
THREAD: The problems with police are different from what we're usually told. The issue is not a few "bad apples." (1)
It's not “bad apples" who quintupled the US incarceration rate. It's not "bad apples" who have led this country to cage Black people at six times the rate of South Africa at the height of Apartheid. (2)
It's not “bad apples" who buy tanks and grenade launchers and facial recognition databases for themselves or who invented cash bail. It's not “bad apples" who cage disproportionately Black people for not having safe places to live or medical care for their addiction. (3)
Read 4 tweets
Alec Karakatsanis Profile picture
6 Feb
THREAD: It is with sadness that I tell you about Preston Chaney, who died in the Houston jail of COVID. He was trapped there for 3.5 months because he couldn't pay $100 after being accused of stealing lawn equipment and frozen meat. His story is important. (1)
Preston Chaney was 64 years old, and he had diabetes, heart disease, and liver disease. He was forgotten inside the jail because he was poor. Records show he was never even taken to the court in charge of his case. (2)
There is no room for social distancing in the crowded jail. Preston Chaney couldn't protect himself. He had difficulty breathing and was taken to the hospital where he was intubated and died struggling for oxygen. (3)
Read 9 tweets
Alec Karakatsanis Profile picture
4 Feb
thread: late last night, our team found another 17-year-old child trapped in the adult jail in houston because he can't pay $1,000 cash. he's been there for almost two months, forgotten. he was arrested after missing court because he was given the wrong date on his paperwork.
the child is one of about 9,000 people trapped inside the harris countty jail as the virus surges. most of them are trapped there because they can't pay cash to be home with their families while they are presumed innocent.
our team is working hard with people on the ground to get him out of jail, and i will keep you posted.
Read 4 tweets
Alec Karakatsanis Profile picture
3 Feb
THREAD: In 135 years of US history since 1886, scholars have been unable to find a single reported instance in which any court anywhere in the US dismissed a criminal case because of racial bias in prosecution. (1)
In DC, where I live, prosecutors choose to imprison Black people at 19 times the rate of white people. (2) yalelawjournal.org/forum/the-puni…
The US now imprisons Black people at 6 times the rate of South Africa at the height of Apartheid. (3)
Read 5 tweets
Alec Karakatsanis Profile picture
2 Feb
THREAD: Today's $61.7 million settlement against Amazon tells you a lot about how the legal system really works. (1) ftc.gov/news-events/pr…
In most contexts, when someone steals money from people, it's called "theft" or "fraud." But when large corporations do it to thousands of people, the system treats it as a civil case to be "settled." No one is prosecuted, no one is caged and separated from their family. (2)
Wage theft from low-income workers by rich corporations costs over $50 billion per year. That's 3.5 times more than all robberies, burglaries, larcenies, and motor vehicle thefts COMBINED. Yet police and prosecutors choose not to treat wage theft as a "crime." (3)
Read 5 tweets

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