Blog for Democracy

File Under: Is anyone really surprised?

It now appears that several of the Georgia State prisoners who took part in eight days of  non violent protest in mid December stemming from a long list of grievances have likely been beaten in retaliation for their participation.

According to todays AJC report ( hello, nice to see you finally reporting on this)

The Department of Corrections did not respond to the AJC’s request for comment, but an agency spokeswoman denied the allegations in a comment to the New York Times.

Shocker. NOT.

Lets all please remember that Georgia still allows shackling of pregnant and laboring women. But more on that later.

Some of the best and most comprehensive coverage, and worth every word , is from The Final Call ( yes I know it’s Minister Louis Farrakhan’s paper-spare me any lectures)

If anyone thinks that amidst the hustle and bustle of the holiday season that folks weren’t paying attention to this important human rights story-many were.

Counter to the racial meme, black, latino and white inmates all participated at six prisons, including Hays State Prison, Telfair State Prison, Macon State Prison and Smith State Prison, banding together to show their unhappiness by staying in their cells. They were protesting the quality of the food and the lack of fruits and vegetables, the level of medical care, the availability of education and job training programs, parole decisions and overall conditions.

The families of some prisoners reported that corrections officers responded violently, destroying personal effects and beating inmates at one penitentiary while another facility cut off the hot water supply.

A coalition has grown seeking answers and meetings with prison administrators, it currently includes the NAACP, the Nation of Islam, Black Agenda Report, the Green Party of Georgia, the ACLU, Amnesty International, the Southern Center for Human Rights, the Coalition for the People’s Agenda, and others.

Someone who has been on top of the issue from the beginning is the fiercest Prison Reform activist in Georgia, Elaine Brown.

I’ll keep my eye on this ongoing story-and update as new information is made available-but if we have any readers who are doing work with any of the coalition members that wish to weigh in, please contact me or leave information in the comments. Here is the FaceBook group, if nothing else you can follow the story there.

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24 responses to “File Under: Is anyone really surprised?”

  1. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Updates on the original situation, should anyone be interested:

    “GA Prisoner Rights Coalition Briefs the Press at GA State Capitol ( Via Bruce Dixon)
    Four minute edited video of press conference with state NAACP leaders, US Human Rights Network, Nation of Islam, Georgia Green Party and the Ordinary Peoples Society”.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quKL-n4C0OU

    JMP

  2. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Part of the system that also needs reforms David. A related but separate issue, but one that certainly allows many to imagine that the better part of wisdom is to ‘lock them all away & throw away the key’. Repeat violent offenders do not belong on the streets. Bad & poor information on same & in your docket system will cause deadly errors. And this is a problem nation wide too, and has been for some time. JMP

  3. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Again, Find the last post in question. It had One Link. It was Not embargoed. It did not need to be moderated. It was posted just fine. It did have 1 Citation/Reference. Which I know is irrelevant, ’cause the facts seldom matter.

    Be that as it may? I’m not anonymous. I don’t use a pseudonym. That’s my name there. Almost anyone can find me with complaints. I seldom get them when out & about, & I’m not a stranger. JMP

  4. Julianal Avatar
    Julianal

    @David…

    Here’s the Judges explanation.

    http://www.atlantaunfiltered.com/2011/01/03/fulton-judge-defends-release-of-trooper-shooting-suspect/

  5. Delicate Flower Avatar
    Delicate Flower

    Something else for ya…

    Multiple people I don’t like or talk to (and including folks I do talk to its a shockingly high number TBH) have tracked me down to ask who you are and complain about your posts.

  6. David Avatar
    David

    It’s a shame somebody passed up the chance to make money off imprisioning Gregory Favors on one of the 19 chances they had before this: http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13766599
    occurred.

  7. Delicate Flower Avatar
    Delicate Flower

    Dude…seriously?

    How about YOU CAN’T GODDAMN POST MORE THAN ONE GODDAMN LINK IN A THREAD OTHERWISE IT GOES INTO A SPAM FOLDER IN THE DASHBOARD AND HAS TO BE APPROVED BY A MODERATOR. YOU’VE BEEN TOLD THIS MULTIPLE TIMES AND INSTEAD OF ACCEPTING THIS YOU’VE TRIED TO FIND LOOPHOLES. YES IT IS ONLY YOU AS THE ONLY OTHER TIME THIS HAS HAPPENED FROM A REAL POSTER WAS GAPOLITICO’S COMMENT FROM THE OTHER DAY.

    And here’s another hint…that rule, implemented by people not named Ed, came about *after* your prolific posting began.

    Something else to marinate on. For all this talk of me doing whatever I want (not true), you know this IS A GODDAMN RULE. Yet you flaunt it.

    Still uncertain about anything?

  8. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Being sarcastic about, well the need to even consider ‘rights’ of or our citizenry’s ‘duties’ to prisoners? Is sadly predictable, but I had thought we might have advanced a bit beyond it. I guess not. You’ll claim otherwise of course, but the mocking tone betrays your intent. Always.

    And yes, what you do is Censoring. There’s no note of explanation. ‘This post has been removed by [Ed] because of x’. No just some vaguely worded BS that you might or may not string along at the bottom of the thread. If you’re in the mood. Just disappearing volumes of posts ’cause you don’t like them or ‘they’re wordy’ is also censoring. And again, it’s only me who ‘spams’ the board here I guess. But mostly? You’ll do what you feel like, when you feel like it. Which is fine. Just explain please where I’ve ‘gone wrong’ and offended the gawds of whatever over what logic. That would be helpful, again for transparency’s sake, if nothing else. Thx again for your kind indulgences. JMP

  9. Delicate Flower Avatar
    Delicate Flower

    First, I already knew of Ledford.
    Second, David was being sarcastic, hence how you were wrong in your response.
    Third, you don’t get what *whoosh* means which is funny because it continues to keep it apt.
    Fourth, I was never disagreeing with anything Jules said.
    Fifth, you’re an idiot.
    Sixth, I don’t censor you, just selectively approve the spam you fill this blog with despite what’s it been, eight, nine reminders from me and others not to do that? (Which makes me wonder if you don’t read or just don’t care what moderators tell you).

  10. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Again, prove it. And without resorting to the usual censoring too. Thx.
    JMP

  11. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Bingo Jules. The prison industrial complex is one of the reasons for the problems, and the rampant spending. It’s a very lucrative profit center. In CA & NY & elsewhere they are hugely influential. And lest we forget this nice bit of profit planning on immigration ‘reforms’. There’s scads of stuff out there on it too: http://thinkprogress.org/2010/09/16/sb1070-prison-lobby/

    And again, recapitulating the abuses of the old ‘convict leasing’ biz scandals of yore came about precisely because ‘no one was looking’. That’s dangerous to deadly in a real working democracy.
    And of course very costly in more ways than one. Which is another reason why we need reforms. JMP

  12. Julianal Avatar
    Julianal

    @David… you realize that prisons are hugely profitable-far more that Pre-K, a cleaner environment and everything else you mention.

    Not that I disagree-but lets all be clear on what we are saying. There is a very real reason that we are incarcerating people at the rate we are.. It’s big business.

  13. Delicate Flower Avatar
    Delicate Flower

    I’m actually on your side. It’s just that JMP is wrong.

  14. David Avatar
    David

    I am not surprised, I think increasing the quality of life for convicted felons is pretty far down or off most folks list.

    Knowing that we are getting programs to the bone I would rank the following ahead of that: funding Pre K-12 education, post secondary education, reducing congestion, job retraining, making sure we can provide unemployment benefits, creating a cleaner environment, funding Peachcare, and I am sure I could go on.

  15. David Avatar
    David

    I not suprised, I think increasing the quality of life for convicted felons is pretty far down or off most folks list.

    Knowing that we are getting programs to the bone I would rank the following ahead of that: funding Pre K-12 education, post secondary education, reducing congestion, job retraining, making sure we can provide unemployment benefits, creating a cleaner environment, funding Peachcare, and I am sure I could go on.

  16. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    DF/David… cause we’re winning on so many other issues… no reason to, you know, actually do the right thing.

  17. Delicate Flower Avatar
    Delicate Flower

    Wrong. But that’s cool too. And you still missed the point of mine and David’s post.

  18. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    Thanks JM for the reminder about Dan Ledford’s progressive view on prison reform and if I recall he was also endorsed by Atlanta Stonewall and had strong support from the NRA, which is a really interesting mix.

    I’m really puzzled by the lack of comments this post hasn’t generated. On one hand this blog has gotten called out for not covering Sen. Brown but folks don’t have anything to say about the obvious abuse of power, a negligent media and a legislature likely to over look their role in investigation.

    Really?

  19. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    And BTW? A beat down to where several prisoner(s) are hospitalized is not as funny as we might imagine. But as I was saying, I’m just not down with the snarky invective & whimsy here. And if anyone thinks that felony disenfranchisement is not costing us about over million votes a year? You’ve not seen the numbers involved. JMP

  20. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Yeah, and you might not know what you’re talking about either DF/Ed. Dan Ledford? Did run on prison reform. Right here in Bartow Co. Typically know nothing, once again. Geez. Predictable. JMP

  21. Delicate Flower Avatar
    Delicate Flower

    *whoosh*

  22. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    We ran one locally in the last election. It was hardly noted. But thanks for the thought. JMP

  23. David Avatar
    David

    I think we should make this the #1 issue for Democrats. I think a platform with prison rights as the key plank would just return us to power in no time!

    Who is with me?!

  24. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Ah the classics, we’ll always have with us, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023042/. Somethings never change much. NPR was covering it while it happened, with little details. The problem then as now was getting accurate information on the situation out. Reportage being not the 1st or even any priority of almost any penal institution. The Angolite being one of the few notable & peaceable exceptions. JMP

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