Definitely cruel and unusual punishment. Just the overcrowding alone is illegal, throw in the mold, you're talking torture.
It's absolutely illegal to knowingly subject people to dangerous/deadly moldy conditions like that. If this were a private home, it would be condemned and any children living there would be taken by child services for being abused.
Every officer in that unit should have to spend at least one night a month in one of those dungeons, then go home to their families without access to showers or clean clothes. They would have it spotless before the first night, guaranteed.
I certainly hope those inmates CAN start a class action suit against the Sheriff's office, but it's likely they are indemnified by law from responsibility for their conditions.

Somebody call the county building inspector and get that place closed.

If this is true -- which seems fair to say by looking at this ---- WOW FUCK

But then I ask how can this bee if he got an economics degree from Wharton. No small feat.

Plus as a kid he was on the NY military academy During his senior year attained the rank of captain.


That all said It wold seem that he could read... not necessarily guarantee it


Reading Statistics

Total percent of U.S. population that has specific reading disorders 15%

Total percentage of U.S. adults who are unable to read an 8th grade level book 50%

Total amount of words read annually by a person who reads 15 minutes a day 1 million

Total percent of U.S. high school graduates who will never read a book after high school 33%

Total percentage of college students who will never read another book after they graduate 42%

Total percentage of U.S. families who did not buy a book this year 80%



Total percentage of books started that aren’t read to completion 57%

Total percent of U.S. students that are dyslexic 15%
Total percentage of NASA employees that are dyslexic 50%
Total number of U.S. inmates that are literate 15%

Lulz, looks like he might run for President some day...

"From 2004 through November 2007, Arpaio was the target of 2,150 lawsuits in U.S. District Court and hundreds more in Maricopa County courts, with more than $50 million in claims being filed,[77] 50 times as many prison-conditions lawsuits as the New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston jail systems combined.[78] Allegations of cruel treatment of inmates as well as living conditions have been cited by Amnesty International in a report issued on the treatment of inmates in Maricopa County facilities."

There is a technical term for people who act on their belief that killing annoying old bats on the bike path is legally justifiable. They're called "inmates".

This isn't one of those things you can discuss in isolation. There does exist the problem of violent criminals that refuse to listen to any and all authority. When you have free citizen that murders somebody, if you are lucky enough to catch and convict them they go to jail. Some of these folks continue to violently attack other inmates. Some even continue to violent attack the prison guards when they come in to try and stop that. There comes a point where the question is what to we do? Just how many resources do we expend working with individuals hell bent on abusing the rights and bodies of everyone else around them? Western legal systems have already ruled any form of punishment through physical force as out of the question, so self preservation isn't a motivation. There exist scenarios where the only option left for protecting people from an individual is isolation.

It's good to do our best to treat even the worst elements of society with the highest standard possible. The trouble is in practice failing to punish certain actions with imprisonment or isolation leads to predictable abuse of otherwise innocent bystanders.

It is incredibly disturbing how it seems like you need dress up this morally reprehensible issue with glitzy production values and comedy to even make people aware of what's going on.

If you're interested in reading a long article, I would recommend the following Mother Jones report on an investigative reporter who took a job as a private prison security guard:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/cca-private-prisons-corrections-corporation-inmates-investigation-bauer

Yap, the cops killed Terrill Thomas.

Your video, Judge Goes Viral Again, Let's Inmate See Newborn Son, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Judge Goes Viral Again, Let's Inmate See Newborn Son has been added as a related post - related requested by Mordhaus on that post.

Or, simply make sure that they will be held liable for situations like this one. Make letting inmates die cost way more than withholding an IV and there will be an abrupt about face on the issue.

I'm far enough away from these issues to admit that I don't have anything like concrete knowledge on the subject, but I feel like I should mention some of the more obvious counterpoints to some of the things he's said in this video. Otherwise I'd get that dirty echo chamber feeling, and no amount of showering seems to wash that away. Could be I'm just a masochist, though, who enjoys arguing.

I think there's racism in every culture. I think it's often much more subtle than described in the video, often even subconscious. I also think that modern western culture is among the least racist cultures to have ever existed, despite our many complaints.

I guess I'll talk about Libya first. The west (the white people he was talking about) is continuously demonized for supporting tyrants and the like. Yet when they participate in overthrowing a clear example of a extravagant super villain tyrant, they are demonized for that. I'm not saying they didn't have other motives, I'm just saying that it's an example of a tautology. No matter which choice they make they are labeled racist.

Now, when beleaguered folk make a desperate attempt to dangerously cross a sea, well knowing the risks they are incurring, it is again the fault of the Italians for not rescuing then with sufficient alacrity. Yes, many of them are coming from countries the west had a hand in destabilizing. But it would be pretty racist for you to demand that the Italian navy take full moral responsibility for the actions of other western nations, simply because they are white too. Also, if the only number you pay attention to is the number that drown, your bias is showing.

Next the issue of the Commonwealth. It seems absurd to expect the UK to treat former colonies populated by citizens that had moved there the same as former conquests that have since shrugged off the yoke of empire. The justifications for this discrimination would seem to be a combination of racism, cultural chauvinism and sober pragmatism. The latter two factors clearly scale with the gap between the culture of the colony in question and the home country, and probably ought to in some sense.

The incarceration thing is tougher to poke holes in, and clearly a much more touchy subject. Once could argue all sorts of justifications for why more members of ethnic minorities are apprehended, but it's nebulous and smells of bias and chauvinism, at best ending in a chicken vs egg conundrum. But once you're in police custody, I think can agree on demanding a higher level of equality of outcome. So I checked out a charity called Inquest who had compiled pretty comprehensive stats on police custody deaths since 1990. Here's a link: http://www.inquest.org.uk/statistics/bame-deaths-in-police-custody
To summarise, since 1990, ethnic minorities have made up a total of 153 out of 1557 deaths in police custody, or roughly 10%. Given that they currently make up 13% of the population, that seems to be well within an acceptable range of results, so I was confused at first. Then I thought maybe he had misspoken and had meant to say state custody, or inmate deaths. So again I looked for some numbers, and again Inquest had the most comprehensive data, broken down by year and ethnicity etc. Again here's a link: http://www.inquest.org.uk/statistics/deaths-in-prison
It shows 453 out of 3963 prison deaths are suffered by ethnic minorities. This seems almost perfectly in line with the 13% population of said minorities. So again, I'm a bit confused by the point he's making.

All of that said, I think I agree with the sentiment of his presentation, which perhaps confuses me even more.

I do not mean to be rude, but the reason why you're feeling no empathy is because you assume that drug addiction is a choice that people make, turning away from better and brighter options and choosing the short road to an early death.

It isn't. It's generally a result of inability to deal with life, a job, trauma from their past etc. It is a result of social systems which allow people to sink to the point they need an escape. Look at any mental ward, most of the inmates (if allowed) will smoke. Same with various anon groups, smoking/coffee etc are almost encouraged as an alternate addiction to the one that will put them in a grave far earlier.

Addiction is a crutch, a way of escaping from something else.

The work by Carl Hart on addiction provides a lot of proof that when given social interaction and ways to reintegrate with society, addicts can and do have the fortitude to get off drugs. And that most drug addicts are fully functional, and drugs are a way for them to cope with the stresses or lack of control in their life.

http://www.drcarlhart.com/

To fix a problem, you first have to understand it. That does not require sympathy or empathy. That is basic science and it's based on evidence. That the DEA is freaking out over krokodil is because they don't understand that drug abuse in the US is a factor of the social situation people find themselves in. At least for the classes of people that will use a cheap and dangerous drug (not to put too fine a point on it, predominately black). It would not be unexpected that because of the supposed danger, users found with krokodil may end up with far harsher sentences than heroin users. Soaring African-American incarceration rates again?

Funny how we never see videos like this over oxycodone or cocaine abusers, or housewifes who will pop whatever prescription they can get their hands on. They are no less addicted, but it's a nice, clean, acceptable addiction that allows them to stumble on through life. Is that EIA?

"Life in prison here is draconian."

Because they can't talk to other inmates, read books, watch TV, use exercise equipment, etc. all the time?

I think I'd take those "draconian" conditions over the ever-present threat of ass rape, getting shivved, etc. (to be fair, I'm operating under the assumption that those threats aren't as ubiquitous in the Japanese prison system, which may not be the case.) It is a prison, not a health spa; I think it is reasonable to expect some losses and limitations on privileges.

But in any case. the US system of getting pushed into a life of crime because there are extremely few other options for an ex-con (who probably ended up there due to a trivial drug charge) seems rather more "draconian" to me.

Well, it actually already did...I think they said these inmates had to have zero behavioral incidents for 30 days prior to this event in order to attend. And they said they were shocked by the high number that qualified.

But I also get what youre saying...a longer term study for the after-effects would be interesting too.

This is really good. Anything that humanizes criminals, instead of treating them like filth or invisible ghosts is a good thing, and a step in the right direction towards rehabilitation.

I am curious about something though. I wonder if creating this environment of humor and fun has some impact on violence between inmates in the jail where he performed (even if temporary).