Thread: There are some important things missing from the media's welcome attention on the humanitarian catastrophe at Rikers. Here are a few more things you should know about it: nytimes.com/2021/10/11/nyr…
First, not once in this story about the deplorable conditions at Rikers are the words "judge" or "prosecutor" mentioned. But know this: the most proximate cause of this disaster are the illegal and inhumane money bail, probation, and punishment practices of local judges/DAs.
Second, people have been talking about horrific jail conditions in thousands of U.S. jails since jails were created. Look at Eugene Debs' fantastic memoir Walls and Bars, or read this fantastic interview with Michel Foucault in the NYT from 1975: archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.co…
Third, as I discussed in my book Usual Cruelty: liberals learning about horrific human caging practices and then wanting to "reform" jails is a never-ending cycle because liberals miss that the point of cops/prosecutors/jails isn't safety but domination and wealth-preservation.
Fourth, think about who benefits from discussions about spending more $$ on "better jail conditions" vs. articles about why jails are always horrific and why cops/prosecutors/judges fill them in each city even though the evidence shows that jailing people leads to more crime.
Fifth, did you see in the article that Rikers has 8,000 guards for 4,800 incarcerated people??? And each guard costs hundreds of thousands per year for taxpayers. Ask yourself whether this wasteful human-caging bureaucracy could possibly care about safety.
Sixth, notice that 25-33% of guards simply get paid but don't show up for work. When people talk about reducing the funding of the punishment bureaucracy, this is what they are talking about. Imaging those resources going to art, music, theater, poetry, sports for NYC kids.
Seventh, stories about horrific jail conditions that don't talk about how jail conditions have ALWAYS been like this in EVERY major U.S. jail and that don't talk about why they are always like that and who benefits and who uses this to wield power are missing a huge opportunity.
Eighth, I encourage you to read this article where I explain why jails are really like this, why prosecutors and judges work to keep them like this, and how and why all of this benefits people who own things. yalelawjournal.org/forum/the-puni…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
