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Scott Hechinger

23 Feb, 10 tweets, 3 min read

PLEASE LISTEN: Phone call from 2 men caged pretrial on affordable bail in Harris County, TX. Last week: No food. Denied meds. Freezing. Over 7000 caged during a pandemic. Treated like animals. "Theyre not worried about us. Theyre not worried about nothing going on with us." More:

"I’m a little bit tired and our kiosk still doesn’t work so I won’t be able to refill my seizure medication and I really need my seizure medication."

"There were days with no water. Sharing their water. No visitation. Stuff like that. There’s a lot of people in here and they’re not trying to get anyone released. They ain't giving no bonds, they ain’t trying to do nothing."

"The water is disgusting. There’s not running water. They’re not running us no fresh water to drink. They didn’t give us nothing this morning. They gave us 2 bottle of waters yesterday. We don’t have enough water pressure."

"I’ve been here a little over a month. I’ve been here just here for a misdemeanor DWI I never went to court. They're not worried about us. They’re not worried about nothing that's going on with us."

Read: As weather in Texas starts returning to normal, those who run jails, judges & prosecutors, the Governor will try to pretend that everything's just fine. "We weathered the storm!" No. There is nothing "normal" about mass human caging. About treating humans this way.

There are still 7000+ people caged pretrial in just Harris County. Nearly all on affordable bail. During a pandemic. COVID. Medical neglect continues. Overcrowding. Limited phone calls. Horrific conditions & food. "Normal" is inhumane. Judges need to hold emergency hearings.

Hold judges accountable: Please visit the link to demand judges hold immediate emergency bail hearings for every person held pretrial currently trapped in the jail & decarcerate by 50% immediately. Or just call the judges directly. Their numbers are below: secure.everyaction.com/g1GQ1_Zhj0iRES…

COVID & the most recent Texas freeze just make the "ordinary" injustice inside courts, jails & prisons, more transparent & obvious. More visible. But it's always this way. Not just in Texas. These moments only underscore why our brutal, racist systems need full transformation.

@TxJailProject

The @TxJailProject has been working round the clock (literally) to speak w/ as many people inside (& loved ones outside) as possible. To help not just the 9k+ humans in Harris County. But throughout the state. All caged pretrial. Most recent updates:

https://twitter.com/TxJailProject/status/1364016125206429696?s=20

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More from @ScottHech

Scott Hechinger

@ScottHech

25 Feb

"I have been intentionally sterilized. And I have been lied to."

Meet Kelli Dillon. While she was incarcerated in California prison she was the victim of *systemic modern-day eugenics.* Then she discovered she wasn't alone. Doctor's response: "It's cheaper than welfare." More:

The law prohibits sterilizing people in prison for the purpose of birth control. But California was doing it anyway. Kelli's lawyer: "The state has admitted that they have done these illegal surgeries. But we don’t know who they actually did them on."

Central California Women's Prison is the world's largest women's prison. The farmlands surrounding it helped conceal the brutal human rights violations happening on the inside. "Inmates become numbers," Kelli says. "They don’t get names. And that’s why it’s easier to abuse them."

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Scott Hechinger

@ScottHech

24 Feb

THREAD: In Hildago County, TX last week, a 24-year-old was arrested & then caged in the jail during a pandemic & a historic winter storm crisis for being *40 minutes late for his curfew.* His fiance called terrified: "It’s been over 72 hours he’s been sleeping on the floor."

"He was doing okay about 6 days ago. Living at a halfway house. Went for a walk. The time for him to return passed about like 30/40 minutes. He asked if he could go back. They said no. He was crying to me and I told him to just call your parole officer. They locked him up."

I called up there & said "Can he at least get a mat? It’s been over 72 hours sleeping on the floor." They said: "I don’t have any mats & I’m not going to move him until a bunk becomes available. You know there’s nothing you can do about it so that’s just what’s gonna happen."

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Scott Hechinger

@ScottHech

24 Feb

THREAD: On how a law passed by the KKK 80+ years ago to maintain white supremacy keeps disproportionately Black people locked up in Oregon. How a jailhouse lawyer got the case to the Supreme Court. And how to topple this monument to racism. Read on & watch:

Most think of the KKK in terms of physical violence. Lynchings. Intimidation. But they also used legal & legislative process to pass laws exacting legal violence. In Louisiana & Oregon they pushed laws to silence Black jurors. To convict who they wanted. "Non-unanimous juries."

Every juror’s voice is supposed to matter. In every other state in the country *every juror* has to vote that prosecution proved guilt beyond a reasonable donut. Oregon & Louisiana allowed up to 2 jurors to be disregarded & silenced. The jury could and did convict without them.

Read 30 tweets

Scott Hechinger

@ScottHech

23 Feb

TORTURE: Firsthand account from solitary in Michigan from a local organizer. "Just got a call from a young man put in solitary for a fight. His voice was so shaky and f*cked up. They didn't let him use the phone once. He’s now almost a year past his earliest release date." More:

"He kept stuttering through things they did to him. I’m like it’s okay, you can tell me, it’s alright. But we cant focus on it past this, we gotta get you downstate, we gotta get you out of there. He’s like, 'Please, I don't know myself anymore, I just want to go home.'"

This young man is serving up to 40 years for drug possession. Black men are 7% of the population in Michigan, 54% of the prison population. 65-80% of solitary.

"And what we just did to his brain, to his spirit, he will likely never recover from. For what? For F*cking what?"

Read 4 tweets

Scott Hechinger

@ScottHech

22 Feb

LISTEN: A man caged pretrial in Harris County, TX. Called with terrifying details. Freezing. Starving. Denial of care. Lack of food. "I’m calling this morning because I don’t really have anywhere else to turn. I really need your help." He asked this to be shared. Listen. More:

"We haven’t had power since Monday morning. We don’t have any outlets that’s working. There’s a backup generator but it’s only being used for computers. That’s it. So we can’t use our hotpots. We didn’t get anything til about 4:30 this morning. A peanut butter & jelly sandwich."

"We don’t have any hot water. Medical guards only give us our medication but we’re not, they’re putting people in triage. Nobody's walking around, nobody’s in the day room. Everybody’s under their blankets. Nobody is moving lately. We’re cold."

Read 11 tweets

Scott Hechinger

@ScottHech

20 Feb

https://twitter.com/idlerwerewolf/status/1362973353850585088

Thank you, Fiona Apple. In addition to her new music, she’s championed a campaign to give resources to asylum seekers struggling to survive in the US, narrated a know your rights film on documenting ICE, & now fighting for decarceration in the criminal legal system. Champion. ❤️.

https://twitter.com/idlerwerewolf/status/1362973353850585088

The WhileTheyWait.org fund was inspired by Nilda. From Honduras. Survived sex & gang violence. Thought U.S. would protect her. Instead they stole her 2 y/o & detained her. Fiona donated 2 years of royalties to the fund. This is Nilda’s story:

Fiona narrated the most recent installment of wehaverights.us. On how to record abuses by law enforcement ethically & safely. Then share them for maximum advocacy impact. As with everything Fiona does, could not come at a more critical moment: