Page 42 - Sept Oct Issue
P. 42
Taking Back the Jails
violence” against youths at Rikers. (2) against abusive guards, as well as against one another.
There ought to be no place where a guard could
The report, which included this incident among physically haul a prisoner without a microphone or lens
many others as a condemnation of the facility’s to pick up a scream, a punch or a kick.
failure to protect inmates’ civil rights, pointed out a
“powerful code of silence” and an ineffective system The data recorded by these devices should be fed in real
for investigating guards’ use of force. (2) time to monitoring centers and databases outside the
jails, and preferably beyond the control of corrections
The conditions at facilities like Rikers and Dade department oficials who might prefer to remain ignorant
Correctional may be extreme, but they are far from of what goes on under their watch.
unique. As far back as Rodney King’s beating by Los
Angeles police two decades ago, video cameras in A system like this will not catch all instances of abuse;
the hands of the public have brought accountability no system can. Cellphones don’t capture every instance
to law enforcement on our streets. Today, the of police misconduct, either. But the fact that such
ubiquity of dash cams, cellphones and private video devices exist can put maladjusted oficers on notice that
surveillance puts police on notice that their conduct their behavior may have consequences, and it can back
is being watched and that excesses are liable to be up the stories of whistleblowers who buck peer pressure
found and punished. Photography and silent video to do the right thing.
footage is almost always explicitly protected in
public spaces; in many places, video recordings I’m not unsympathetic to police or corrections oficers.
with sound are also sheltered by law. The result is On the contrary, they do dangerous work with dangerous
generally more responsible policing. It is also easier people, and they often bear the scars to prove it.
to weed out false charges of excessive force leveled Sometimes force is necessary for self-defense or to
against oficers who are doing their jobs. subdue an individual who poses a threat or an escape
risk. But good oficers, who risk their own safety and are
Our jails and prisons may be the last bastion of the conscious of their obligations to those who are in their
infamous “blue code of silence,” in which abusive custody, should not be forced to work with sadists and
oficers lie and dissemble to protect one another. sociopaths who cannot resist the narcotic effects of a
Bharara described a lawless milieu on Rikers where little bit of power over a fellow human being.
oficers do not talk and, from all appearances, their
superiors wouldn’t want to know what they might In New York City, the corrections oficers and their union
say if they did. leaders actually believe Rikers belongs to them. They
have cowed a series of mayors and corrections oficials
This conduct will not change unless it has to. The who simply don’t want to pick a ight in order to defend
best way to chase away whatever hides under a rock inmates, who get little public sympathy and almost no
is to turn over the rock and shine some light on what public attention.
lies beneath.
The sad truth is that the Rikers guards are probably right.
Cameras and microphones ought to be ubiquitous The jail really does belong to them. For now, they can do
in jails and prisons, where inmates are essentially what they want, as long as they can keep it out of sight.
defenseless
Resources:
1) The New York Times, “Staten Island Man Died From Chokehold During Arrest, Autopsy Finds”
2) The New York Times, “U.S. Inquiry Finds a ‘Culture of Violence’ Against Teenage Inmates at Rikers Island”
For more articles, please visit the Palisades Hudson Financial Group LLC newsletter or subscribe to the blog.
Newsletter: http://www.palisadeshudson.com/insights/sentinel/
Blog: http://www.palisadeshudson.com/insights/current-commentary/
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Larry_M._Elkin
42
violence” against youths at Rikers. (2) against abusive guards, as well as against one another.
There ought to be no place where a guard could
The report, which included this incident among physically haul a prisoner without a microphone or lens
many others as a condemnation of the facility’s to pick up a scream, a punch or a kick.
failure to protect inmates’ civil rights, pointed out a
“powerful code of silence” and an ineffective system The data recorded by these devices should be fed in real
for investigating guards’ use of force. (2) time to monitoring centers and databases outside the
jails, and preferably beyond the control of corrections
The conditions at facilities like Rikers and Dade department oficials who might prefer to remain ignorant
Correctional may be extreme, but they are far from of what goes on under their watch.
unique. As far back as Rodney King’s beating by Los
Angeles police two decades ago, video cameras in A system like this will not catch all instances of abuse;
the hands of the public have brought accountability no system can. Cellphones don’t capture every instance
to law enforcement on our streets. Today, the of police misconduct, either. But the fact that such
ubiquity of dash cams, cellphones and private video devices exist can put maladjusted oficers on notice that
surveillance puts police on notice that their conduct their behavior may have consequences, and it can back
is being watched and that excesses are liable to be up the stories of whistleblowers who buck peer pressure
found and punished. Photography and silent video to do the right thing.
footage is almost always explicitly protected in
public spaces; in many places, video recordings I’m not unsympathetic to police or corrections oficers.
with sound are also sheltered by law. The result is On the contrary, they do dangerous work with dangerous
generally more responsible policing. It is also easier people, and they often bear the scars to prove it.
to weed out false charges of excessive force leveled Sometimes force is necessary for self-defense or to
against oficers who are doing their jobs. subdue an individual who poses a threat or an escape
risk. But good oficers, who risk their own safety and are
Our jails and prisons may be the last bastion of the conscious of their obligations to those who are in their
infamous “blue code of silence,” in which abusive custody, should not be forced to work with sadists and
oficers lie and dissemble to protect one another. sociopaths who cannot resist the narcotic effects of a
Bharara described a lawless milieu on Rikers where little bit of power over a fellow human being.
oficers do not talk and, from all appearances, their
superiors wouldn’t want to know what they might In New York City, the corrections oficers and their union
say if they did. leaders actually believe Rikers belongs to them. They
have cowed a series of mayors and corrections oficials
This conduct will not change unless it has to. The who simply don’t want to pick a ight in order to defend
best way to chase away whatever hides under a rock inmates, who get little public sympathy and almost no
is to turn over the rock and shine some light on what public attention.
lies beneath.
The sad truth is that the Rikers guards are probably right.
Cameras and microphones ought to be ubiquitous The jail really does belong to them. For now, they can do
in jails and prisons, where inmates are essentially what they want, as long as they can keep it out of sight.
defenseless
Resources:
1) The New York Times, “Staten Island Man Died From Chokehold During Arrest, Autopsy Finds”
2) The New York Times, “U.S. Inquiry Finds a ‘Culture of Violence’ Against Teenage Inmates at Rikers Island”
For more articles, please visit the Palisades Hudson Financial Group LLC newsletter or subscribe to the blog.
Newsletter: http://www.palisadeshudson.com/insights/sentinel/
Blog: http://www.palisadeshudson.com/insights/current-commentary/
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Larry_M._Elkin
42
