CRISIS IN TEXAS: 40,000 caged pretrial. State violence, denial of medical care, starvation, solitary, infection. Today, this young man's death ruled a homicide by jail guards. Yet *right now, Texas poised to pass a racist law to significantly expand pretrial caging.* Thread:
Jaquaree Simmons. You probably haven't heard of him. Just 23. Caged pretrial in TX. Called mom almost every day from his jail cell. Crying & begging for help. One week later, found dead. That was 3 months ago. His family still has not been given any info. click2houston.com/news/local/202…
The night before his death, Jaquaree was attacked by a "detention officer." Hit the floor. "He’s small at 5-foot-3 & 125 pounds." Jail saying there's no video. “We still haven’t seen Jaquaree." Texas's answer back to his family: we're gonna pass a law to cage even more.
More than 60% in Texas jails--40000--have not been convicted of a crime. Majority are caged bc they cannot afford bail. Firing 11 officers who either beat him or left him alone to die is bare minimum. Yet racist Gov. Abbott, police, prosecutors want more to suffer.
This past year, I've been working with local organizers at @TxJailProject who for years have been fighting for humanity in jails in Texas. I've listened to hundreds of phone calls. And Jaquaree's death doesn't surprise me. Desperation in their voices:
LISTEN: 2 men caged pretrial on affordable bail in Harris County, TX. 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:
LISTEN: Man caged pretrial in Harris County TX. Same jail that murdered Jaquaree. Called with terrifying details. "I’m calling this morning because I don’t really have anywhere else to turn. I need your help." Asked this to be shared:
Call from Taylor County, TX: "What’s the law on excessive use of force, police brutality. Are jailers allowed to punch inmates, choke, kick, knee inmates, & put inmates in full body straight jacket handcuffed behind their back? Is it cruel & unusual to do these things?"
There is an epidemic of violence, cruelty, racism, inhumanity in pretrial caging in Texas. The fact that it continued during COVID underscores how much we need to shut this torture down. Instead TX poised to amend their constitution to allow for more!
A growing, digital archive of first hands accounts from people caged Texas jails & their families is now live. Phone calls. Letters. Grievances. Photos. Majority from Harris County where Jaquaree was killed.

Listen. Without judgment. Without distraction: SheddingLight.in
For more on the current legal developments with the firing of the guards responsible for his death and Jaquaree's family's fight for truth and justice, please read this thread:

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More from @ScottHech

30 May
The @nytimes right now is doing more damage to social & racial justice than any carceral force out there. Legitimizing a blatant lie (police budgets up everywhere & still no health/safety) by the architect of racist overpolicing. This is outrageous & dangerous stuff. Image
Bill Bratton is the architect of mass surveillance, broken windows, & targeted, racist policing in 3 different major cities (NYC, LA, Boston). When NY finally passed much-needed reforms he came back to lie & fearmonger it away. Even @nytimes ed board called him out. Now this. Image
Look at this gushing headline & this professional legacy photo. Designed to make you think: Respected & venerated public servant! Personable. Likeable. Trusting. Just hanging out and “dishing” the truth with real talk. He’s a bigot responsible for devastating Black communities. Image
Read 13 tweets
29 May
“Mom, please call them,” Jane wrote in a letter. I haven’t felt the baby all day.”

A young pregnant woman was caged for months pretrial in Texas. Thrown in solitary. No calls. Deprived food. Had to order cough drops to numb her hunger. She lost the baby. theappeal.org/pregnant-women…
“Jane’s experience isn’t an anomaly in Texas.”

SheddingLight.in is a digital archive that shares letters & spoken testimonies of people incarcerated during the COVID-19 pandemic who have survived abuse inside the state’s jails. Some have been held pretrial for years:
Horror in Texas: "I have a 5 y/o little girl & a 4 y/o little boy. I've lost the rights to them since in jail." Kdee suffers mental health issues & seizures. Caged a year pretrial. Denied medication. Hogtied. Attempted suicide. This is not okay. Torture.
Read 12 tweets
28 May
“The Boat.” Otherwise known as the Vernon C. Bain Center. A massive ship thats part of Rikers Island just floating in the East River. Cages 600 people. Pretrial. Nearly all Black or Brown. 47,326-tons. 5 stories. As large as 2 football fields. $161 million to build.
To get in you walk across this metal mesh enclosed tunnel bridge over water. So strange looking down and seeing water. Inside they have a wooden model of the ship in a glass case. Last time I went had elaborate Halloween decorations in intake & stringed autumn leaves on the wall.
Far more foreboding in person. And I’ve heard from folks that you can’t tell you’re on a boat when you’re inside. Not true. You can feel the swaying of this massive prison ship.
Read 4 tweets
27 May
APPALLING: Cuomo just nominated Madeline Singas to be a judge on the highest court in NY. Singas hasn't just been brutally carceral as Nassau County DA. She also has been one of the most avid peddlers of fear & lies over justice reforms in NY. Just a few examples of many here:
After discovery reform passed in NY, Nassua DA & police were weaponizing a tragic murder to repeal it so they could continue to withhold evidence. Public defenders called them out. Forced to admit "no direct correlation." But the damage was already done.
After bail reform passed, General Counsel to Nassau DA Madeline Singas, one of most ardent opponents of bail & discovery reform, was training prosecutors around NY on tricks & loopholes “to jail people that otherwise would be released under the new law.”cityandstateny.com/articles/polit…
Read 7 tweets
27 May
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum:

Hundreds are still imprisoned in Oregon based upon a Jim Crow era law designed to silence Black jurors. You have fought against every effort locally & in the Supreme Court for fair trials.

Their lives matter. Practice what you preach.
You rejected other state leaders and joined Louisiana in the Supreme Court to maintain the racist KKK stain of non-unanimous juries in Oregon. Even Justice Kavanaugh disagreed with your extreme position.
Despite your fight in the Supreme Court to maintain the racist status quo, you still claimed to be happy about the ruling striking it down. Stated Oregon would be able to move past "embarrassing stain on our progressive state." But you kept fighting.
Read 9 tweets
24 May
THREAD: One week ago Justice Kavanaugh (left) ruled 100s still imprisoned by an Oregon law even he admitted was "rooted in racism" were out of luck bc they were convicted too long ago. Oregon's "progressive" AG Ellen Rosenblum (right) could fix this injustice today. Refuses to.
First, a background on the law: Most think of the KKK in terms of physical violence. Intimidation. But they also used legal & legislative process to pass laws exacting legal violence. In Oregon they pushed a law to silence jurors. "Non-unanimous juries."
In Louisiana in 1898, the KKK pushed non-unanimous juries to “establish the supremacy of the white race" & “ensure African-American juror service would be meaningless.” In 1934, Oregon joined them. At the time of the law’s passage there were *34,000+ active KKK members in Oregon.
Read 26 tweets

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