Experience: I spent 29 years in solitary confinement (2010)
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Experience: I spent 29 years in solitary confinement (2010)
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Re: Experience: I spent 29 years in solitary confinement (2010)
#2Here is more context and updates since 2010: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angola_Three
Re: Experience: I spent 29 years in solitary confinement (2010)
#3I urge anyone touched by this to learn about the prison abolition movement. My favorite thinker on the matter is Angela Davis. She was wrongly imprisoned for over a year in the 1971-1972 which called attention to political prisoners the world over. After a global call for her release she was acquitted of the charges and released. She became a college professor and a prolific author, and is still today a highly respected representative of the prison abolition movement.
We do not need to treat human beings this way, and every day that goes on is yet another tragedy. Prison abolition is not widely understood, and Angela Davis's work is a great way to learn more about it.
There is a remarkable hour long interview of her from 1970 while she was imprisoned which you can watch on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrSIm2RXN4o&list=PLP0dfLFk-a...
Here is a nice looking hour long lecture that was recorded more recently:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q25-KJ55k_0
To learn more about Angela Davis read this bio:
https://womenshistory.si.edu/news/2020/06/angela-daviss-impr...
Or read one of her books on the matter. But if you aren't familiar or prison abolition seems weird, click one of these links and learn a little more. No person should ever endure what prisoners in the US face on a daily basis.
Re: Experience: I spent 29 years in solitary confinement (2010)
#4[deleted]
Re: Experience: I spent 29 years in solitary confinement (2010)
#5I urge anyone touched by this to learn about the prison abolition movement. My favorite thinker on the matter is Angela Davis. She was wrongly imprisoned for over a year in the 1971-1972 which called attention to political prisoners the world over. After a global call for her release she was acquitted of the charges and released. She became a college professor and a prolific author, and is still today a highly respec…
+1 to Angela Davis recommendation.
In a similar vein please read “I am Troy Davis”, a truly moving account of a terrible fate.
Re: Experience: I spent 29 years in solitary confinement (2010)
#6I urge anyone touched by this to learn about the prison abolition movement. My favorite thinker on the matter is Angela Davis. She was wrongly imprisoned for over a year in the 1971-1972 which called attention to political prisoners the world over. After a global call for her release she was acquitted of the charges and released. She became a college professor and a prolific author, and is still today a highly respec…
Don't forget her book "Are Prisons Obsolete?"
https://www.amazon.com/Are-Prisons-Obsolete-Angela-Davis/dp/...
Re: Experience: I spent 29 years in solitary confinement (2010)
#7I recently had to spend 14 days locked in a hotel room alone as mandatory quarantine to enter Australia.
Shockingly (for me), after just 14 days I already felt more comfortable inside the room than out, and I got a real glimpse into what being "institutionalized" means. Life was so simple and not scary, it was enjoyable, in a sick kind of way. I couldn't imagine what coming out after an entire year would be like, let alone 29.
Re: Experience: I spent 29 years in solitary confinement (2010)
#8I urge anyone touched by this to learn about the prison abolition movement. My favorite thinker on the matter is Angela Davis. She was wrongly imprisoned for over a year in the 1971-1972 which called attention to political prisoners the world over. After a global call for her release she was acquitted of the charges and released. She became a college professor and a prolific author, and is still today a highly respec…
"They deserve what they get. Let them remain in prison."
--Angela Davis on Czech opponents to the communist regime
Seems her opposition to prisons was a bit... selective.
Re: Experience: I spent 29 years in solitary confinement (2010)
#9UBI + health (and other calamity) insurance for all.
A strong public mental health system.
Prescription drugs of every kind, heroin, meth, whatever. With the right counselling and support attached.
I might be an idiot but pretty sure most crime will just go away, then we can spend proper resources to help and support (and punish when needed) the few offenders who really struggle to stay within the rules of society.
There are a few genuinely 'bad people' out there. But it's vanishingly small. Most people do bad things because of their circumstances. Lets fix the root cause then we can get rid of most of the cops (i.e. the shit ones), & most of the jails.
I don't particularly want to start a debate here. I know it's not all so simple. Just dreaming.
Re: Experience: I spent 29 years in solitary confinement (2010)
#10Initially I thought this was in the country Angola, and thought how poor human rights must be there. How naive of me.