This merciless degradation of human beings is so unnecessary. The prohibitively expensive phone calls, the roach-infested food, the ice-cold coffee, the verminy blankets, the filthy toilets—these things are unusually cruel and punitive. If the presumption of innocence still exists, which by law it should, why are these women treated with such callous disregard? Why are people subject to incarceration over minor traffic violations? Why are states like Texas allowed to operate what amounts to a profitable penal colony using the forced labor of people of color? Despite all that, despite my kneejerk suspicion and hatred of authority, despite my personal reenactment of Les Mis, I continue to believe that we are all victims here, both the jailed and the jailors. No one gets out of this system “corrected,” or in any way better for the experience. Most emerge with records that render them unemployable, which merely perpetuates the cycle of crime, poverty, and despair.
The experience you've chronicled is beyond awful. No one in a free country should be subjected to such treatment. We know that it's a measure of our privilege to be outraged about this, when for so many it's a not-infrequent reality. Texas is in many respects a miserable, nasty, awful place...but it's hardly alone. We sit idly by as the non-White among us are treated as "less than," and it's not a problem until it happens to us. There's no excuse for a free society treating anyone like this, regardless of the color of their skin or the contents of their bank account.
You're absolutely right. And it is both--color of skin and contents of account. It's always been that way. A smart guy like you must be familiar with the mores and folkways of places like Newgate. You paid your way out, just like now. Women turned tricks to survive and hoped they got pregnant so they could "plead their belly." Is what we have now significantly better?
The experience you've chronicled is beyond awful. No one in a free country should be subjected to such treatment. We know that it's a measure of our privilege to be outraged about this, when for so many it's a not-infrequent reality. Texas is in many respects a miserable, nasty, awful place...but it's hardly alone. We sit idly by as the non-White among us are treated as "less than," and it's not a problem until it happens to us. There's no excuse for a free society treating anyone like this, regardless of the color of their skin or the contents of their bank account.
You're absolutely right. And it is both--color of skin and contents of account. It's always been that way. A smart guy like you must be familiar with the mores and folkways of places like Newgate. You paid your way out, just like now. Women turned tricks to survive and hoped they got pregnant so they could "plead their belly." Is what we have now significantly better?
Significantly better? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Significantly different? Only in its form.
;-(