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New Orleans man locked up nearly 8 years awaiting trial, then case gets tossed

theadvocate.com

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Re: New Orleans man locked up nearly 8 years awaiting trial, then case gets tossed

#91
post #83
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would hope that these days no rational individual could support jail time for any non-violent drug crime Pretty sure branding half the US population as irrational isn't going to win you much consensus.

Well acknowledging that half the US population are irrational is a pretty good first step. You probably wouldn't want to rub it in their faces if you were campaigning for reform like this, but why would you assume they would?

I guess the second step is acknowledging that the other half are also irrational? And anyone campaigning for reform is also clearly irrational... It reminds me of the quote at the end of WarGames: "The only winning move is not to play."

Re: New Orleans man locked up nearly 8 years awaiting trial, then case gets tossed

#92

There's an inmate in LA County jail who has been there 9 years awaiting trial on attempted murder. He is completely and totally institutionalized. A very nice guy but intimidating. Cops can arrest you for any reason, and if you can't make bail, then they place you in jails with convicted violent felons, some on murder trials. In LA jails, you have to be racist. Depending on your pod and program, you have special requ…

The US isn't known for an excellent prison system, but it is known for having a pretty good way for citizens to sue the government if they are mistreated.

I was abused in prison I'd expect to be able to sue the state for damages. Is there a general exception to the expectation of security for prisoners that means they can't expect the state to protect their well being in there?

Re: New Orleans man locked up nearly 8 years awaiting trial, then case gets tossed

#94

There's an inmate in LA County jail who has been there 9 years awaiting trial on attempted murder. He is completely and totally institutionalized. A very nice guy but intimidating. Cops can arrest you for any reason, and if you can't make bail, then they place you in jails with convicted violent felons, some on murder trials. In LA jails, you have to be racist. Depending on your pod and program, you have special requ…

You can judge a democracy and a society by its jails.

Re: New Orleans man locked up nearly 8 years awaiting trial, then case gets tossed

#95

There's an inmate in LA County jail who has been there 9 years awaiting trial on attempted murder. He is completely and totally institutionalized. A very nice guy but intimidating. Cops can arrest you for any reason, and if you can't make bail, then they place you in jails with convicted violent felons, some on murder trials. In LA jails, you have to be racist. Depending on your pod and program, you have special requ…

The US isn't known for an excellent prison system, but it is known for having a pretty good way for citizens to sue the government if they are mistreated. I was abused in prison I'd expect to be able to sue the state for damages. Is there a general exception to the expectation of security for prisoners that means they can't expect the state to protect their well being in there?

>but it is known for having a pretty good way for citizens to sue the government if they are mistreated.

LOL. There are people proven innocent that get out of jail after 30+ years, with evidence hidden by prosecutors and their trial and other such shady stuff, and they get zilch.

Re: New Orleans man locked up nearly 8 years awaiting trial, then case gets tossed

#96

There's an inmate in LA County jail who has been there 9 years awaiting trial on attempted murder. He is completely and totally institutionalized. A very nice guy but intimidating. Cops can arrest you for any reason, and if you can't make bail, then they place you in jails with convicted violent felons, some on murder trials. In LA jails, you have to be racist. Depending on your pod and program, you have special requ…

The US isn't known for an excellent prison system, but it is known for having a pretty good way for citizens to sue the government if they are mistreated. I was abused in prison I'd expect to be able to sue the state for damages. Is there a general exception to the expectation of security for prisoners that means they can't expect the state to protect their well being in there?

If you're thrown in jail unjustly, why would you expect to be treated justly when you are proven innocent?

Re: New Orleans man locked up nearly 8 years awaiting trial, then case gets tossed

#97
post #87

There's an inmate in LA County jail who has been there 9 years awaiting trial on attempted murder. He is completely and totally institutionalized. A very nice guy but intimidating. Cops can arrest you for any reason, and if you can't make bail, then they place you in jails with convicted violent felons, some on murder trials. In LA jails, you have to be racist. Depending on your pod and program, you have special requ…

Terrible. And I'm willing to bet anything that there is no evidence that prisons actually achieve their stated purpose.

They excel at their non stated purpose: keeping many people employed, making fortunes for some (e.g. prison work), launching political careers for being "tough of crime", keeping blacks down, and satiating society's puritanical need for revenge and Old Testament style punishment.

Re: New Orleans man locked up nearly 8 years awaiting trial, then case gets tossed

#98

There's an inmate in LA County jail who has been there 9 years awaiting trial on attempted murder. He is completely and totally institutionalized. A very nice guy but intimidating. Cops can arrest you for any reason, and if you can't make bail, then they place you in jails with convicted violent felons, some on murder trials. In LA jails, you have to be racist. Depending on your pod and program, you have special requ…

Hi, four-month felony pretrial inmate who is proudly defying recidivism here. I’m the kind of guy who thinks load balancing is a fun topic of discussion — ask anyone who knows me how incredibly unfit for jail I am — and I survived just fine. You seem to have had the shit scared out of you, and I wanted to clarify a few things for you. You don’t have to be racist to survive county. You simply stick with your race. The…

You're supposed to be encouraging the other inmate, but your description sounds like a third world backwater.

Try a nordic jail sometimes.

Re: New Orleans man locked up nearly 8 years awaiting trial, then case gets tossed

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the big problems in America is simply not effectively treating drug use and addiction. Putting people in jail doesn't stop drug use. You're talking about big distributors, not individual users. Portugal has probably had the best response to drug use, evaluation each case individually and helping people quit drugs when it interferes with their lives.

Portugal still jails non-violent drug dealers, defined only by the amount you're carrying.

[deleted]

Re: New Orleans man locked up nearly 8 years awaiting trial, then case gets tossed

#100
post #73

There's an inmate in LA County jail who has been there 9 years awaiting trial on attempted murder. He is completely and totally institutionalized. A very nice guy but intimidating. Cops can arrest you for any reason, and if you can't make bail, then they place you in jails with convicted violent felons, some on murder trials. In LA jails, you have to be racist. Depending on your pod and program, you have special requ…

There's an inmate in LA County jail who has been there 9 years awaiting trial on attempted murder. He is completely and totally institutionalized. A very nice guy but intimidating. If he didn't go in a killer, he sure as hell should be ready to take a life by now. If someone robbed me of 9 years of my life, I'd make it my mission to rob them of any joy in their life.

You mean, you are going to be politically active? "They" is an abstract entity, a set of rules agreed upon by your community - in essence: you agreed to them.

Making someone's life miserable is not only a waste of one's one lifetime but not helping the next innocent person who is in pre-trial detention for years.

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