Just when I thought prison abolitionism had died out with one of the very last important jurists dedicated to the Cause in NL, then my attention is drawn to this from Prison Abolitionist in Arizona:
Here he comes again, his hands covered in heavy black mittens, his head stuffed into a net that makes him look like a beekeeper, his legs and wrists closed in shackles.
Clark County Detention Center officers dress him this way because he has been known to spit, throw punches and kick.
The inmate shuffles through a sliding door, a large officer follows and, nearby, other members of the jail staff step back, as if sensing danger. The inmate, seemingly unaware, tells the officer, “I don’t want a plane crashing into me, you know.” The detention officer nods and nudges him toward an isolation cell, where the inmate will have to remove his clothes. He will be left with what’s known as a suicide blanket, which can’t be torn apart and used as a noose.
He is not yet 20, but he has been in jail three times, for 71 days, since coming of age last year...
Further reading.
The Cause of abolition of criminal law and prisons was given life by Christian anarchists who started experiencing life behind bars, especially during the First World War. Actually, it is amazing the Cause seems to have damped down for no rational reason...
It is fighting against the odds of politicians and the hoi polloi who want to look Tough On Crime, but fighting against odds is what it is all about, is not it?
