Criminal justice roundup: news, media, and commentary 10.18.22

Top reads:  George Gascón’s powerful response to the recent L.A. City Council scandal;  Philip Bump’s analysis of the surging Fox New coverage of crime; Jake Tapper’s powerful account of his father’s efforts to free one of his patients wrongfully accused of murder.

Media and culture

• Olayemi Olurin, a public defender from Brooklyn and a brilliant on-camera person representing efforts to shrink and change the justice system, was recently recognized by John Oliver for her quick and smart thinking on a recent episode of The Hill.  

• Worth Rises uploaded its full data on for-profit prison companies into an easy-to-use database that you can access here. 

• I read this inspiring and thought provoking thread by a teacher who incorporated the Serial podcast into their curriculum, encouraging students to research and develop theories and learn about the injustices of the criminal legal system as they followed along with the case. 

• Radley Balko launched a new substack called The Watch, after recently being forced out by the Washington Post. He’s an incredibly sharp and insightful reporter doing really important investigative reporting and I highly recommend that you subscribe!

Politics and campaigns

• Rolling Stone dug into the story of the Alabama Prison Strikes. 

• L.A. politics has been in the headlines recently as secret recordings of vile and racist comments came to light, featuring discussions between three sitting City Council members, one of whom has now resigned while the others are under strong pressure to do so. One of the comments on the recordings was about DA Gascón, with the speaker complaining that “he’s with the Blacks.” Organizers showed up to the next City Council hearing after the scandal broke, protesting the proceedings, and wearing on-theme T shirts. And DA Gascón has penned an op-ed saying that while the recordings are shocking and vile, yes he stands by his words.  

• Cook County (Chicago) prosecutor Kim Foxx’s administration holds the national record of vacated wrongful convictions, at 237. Of these, 220 cases have been tied to former sergeant Ronald Watts and his unit, which routinely coerced false testimony or manufactured evidence. When we understand that prosecutors are pretty much the only players on the board who can hold police accountable for falsely accusing and killing people, we understand why police unions fight so hard to get rid of reform prosecutors. Thankfully they fail most of the time. 

• Vox has a good rundown on the (ridiculous) impeachment proceedings that Republican legislators in PA are bringing against Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner. One wild fact is that the select committee in the House that’s investigating this has subpoenaed the entire file of a police officer about to go on trial for murdering a man. Krasner refused to turn it over, and they held him in contempt. Yet again, we see the pattern of prosecutors being most viciously attacked when they squarely take on police accountability. 

• You should read this Intercept story, also about the Krasner case, for the lede alone. The double standard here, where DAs elsewhere in the state are left alone to commit gross misconduct, is really mind boggling and infuriating. 

• The SF Democratic committee unanimously endorsed John Hamasaki for District Attorney in the upcoming race against Brooke Jenkins, who was appointed by the tough-talking Mayor to replace DA Boudin after his recall. In her short tenure, Jenkins has been dogged by scandal and the city has grown less safe. 

• Pennsylvania Senate candidate Oz staged an interaction with a grieving gun violence survivor, failing to disclose that she is a paid staffer on the campaign. Oz has attempted to make criminal justice an issue, lobbing the usual attack that Fetterman, as a Democrat, can’t ensure public safety. Fetterman has considerable experience working and speaking on this issue, and has confidently stood his ground. 

Solutions and wins

• Everyone knows this but we have to celebrate! The President announced that he’s pardoning 6,000 federal marijuana convictions and has directed agency review of descheduling marijuana (which would be huge if it happens. So many consequences will follow). Analysis here. 

• I previously missed the fact that the minority leader in the Virginia house (who will be speaker if Dems retake the VA house), Mr. Don Scott, is formerly incarcerated – that’s a big deal!  He seems to have an astute understanding of power. Learn about him in this in-depth profile in WaPo. 

• @Taniel (Daniel Nichanian), who you absolutely should follow on twitter if you have any interest in local and state politics/elections/policy, has a really great thread on what CJR bills did and didn’t pass in CA in recent days. In the win column: free prison phone calls, more compassionate release for very sick people, no criminal prosecution of abortion/miscarriages, vacating death sentences for people who are permanently mentally incompetent, decriminalized jaywalking, allowing review of convictions based on racial bias, more sealing of criminal records, no rap lyrics as evidence, no disclosure of immigrant status in court, jail deaths must be disclosed, and allowing convictions to be challenged if based on discredited pseudoscience. Whew! 

• The Washington Post reported on the staggering success, and I don’t use those words lightly, of the federal program to release people from prison to home supervision in order to lower the risk of COVID deaths in prison. Of the 11,000 people released to their families, 10,983 of them committed zero new offenses and did great. They are home with their families and living their lives. This begs the question: why did they ‘need’ to be in prison in the first place? What is it for? 

• Fearless advocate Bianca Tylek, ED of the fabulous Worth Rises, reported that: “Call time is up an amazing 120% since Connecticut, which had the highest prison call rates in the nation (up to $0.32 per min), made calls free in July thanks to legislation we passed in 2021. Incarcerated people are now spending 42 mins each day talking to loved ones.”

• MILPA, a collective led by formerly incarcerated people dedicated to healing work, issued a report on work they did on Rikers Island, which included circles and sweat lodges for processing trauma with incarcerated youth. My contact inside Rikers told me at the time that violence immediately decreased and the guards loved the program. I’m really interested to learn more about this group. 

Wall of shame

• The Garrison Project led this report on the George Floyd protest litigation in New York City, where officers beat protestors and city attorneys are engaging in misconduct. 

• The Department of Justice failed to track almost 1,000 deaths in jails and prisons in the past year, completely failing to uphold its responsibility under federal law. Scrutiny is growing. 

• Hellgate reports that the NYPD has been arresting people and taking them to Rikers without ever seeing a judge. That means they’re stuck inside with no hearing dates and no lawyer. What lawless hell is this? It’s especially horrific given the still-grotesque conditions on Rikers. 

• When Hurricane Ian was bearing down on the Florida coast, the Fort Myers jail was one of the many that did not move prisoners to safer ground, even though it’s in a mandatory evacuation zone. Prisoners have been left without water, food, medication, and other necessities.