County sheriffs are useful to the right. They appear regularly as talking heads on conservative media, especially on the subject of immigration. Many vignettes of sheriffs in action are dramatic and alarming. But how representative are they?
The HALT Act was passed to end long-term solitary confinement. Enforcing it is a whole new struggle.
It is the families and friends of men who are beaten to death behind bars who suffer the longest. It is the deepest most evil corruption that covers and enables cruelty and torture unto death.
Abolitionists and advocates of criminal justice reform in Los Angeles County have amassed some impressive victories, laying out a vision for reducing incarceration and providing care that could have national significance.
“Black, brown and poor white folks in prisons and jails are coming from communities where they are at greater risk for these social and environmental threats. Then they are being siphoned off, extracted, taken hostage and locked up in cages..."
In this time of heightening crisis, we must be brave enough to use our full imaginations — and listen to those who have been dreaming of and fighting for just cities and communities for years.
The penal system remains a source of diseases that spread among prisoners at rates far exceeding those in the communities from which they came.
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