The exposure of horrific conditions at prison facilities in the US capital shines a light on a problem that goes well beyond the confines of Washington, DC, but activists are pessimistic these revelations will spark reforms in the face of systemic racism and lack of political courage
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th November, 2021) Barrington M. Salmon - The exposure of horrific conditions at prison facilities in the US capital shines a light on a problem that goes well beyond the confines of Washington, DC, but activists are pessimistic these revelations will spark reforms in the face of systemic racism and lack of political courage.
Earlier in November, the US Marshals Service moved 400 detainees from a DC detention facility after a surprise inspection revealed deplorable conditions. The detainees were moved to a Federal facility in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
The inspection came after a complaint by one of the inmates jailed in connection with the January 6 Capitol riots. Since the attack more than three dozen white defendants have been in jail in Washington awaiting trial alongside more than 1,000 others, the vast majority Black and Latino residents of the District of Columbia.
The problem of prison abuses has been exposed on both local and federal levels nationwide. According to an AP tally earlier this month, more than 100 federal prison workers have been arrested, convicted and/or sentenced for crimes since the start of 2019.
DC INMATES: 'WE ARE TREATED LIKE ANIMALS, SLAVES'
In video testimony earlier this month at an oversight hearing of the DC Council's Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, six detainees described abominable conditions they endure in the jail, where one said they have been treated like "slaves" and "animals."
The men described appalling circumstances: feces on beds and daubed on walls, cells infested with mold, rodents and vermin, clogged drains that caused widespread flooding and sewage overflow.
Meanwhile, some detainees were physically abused and denied food and medicine for days, according to the testimonies.
All of the detainees and staff of the DC Public Defender Service (PDS) interviewed said retaliatory tactics by corrections officers prevented many other prisoners from coming forward.
With respect to authorities moving prisoners in the wake of the inspection, PDS in a statement and prison reform advocates in their testimonies before the committee expressed outrage the epiphany came only after white people complained of conditions.
The PDS said it is a clear example of "the historic and systemic racism that plagues the carceral system."
Moreover, according to PDS and other advocates, prosecutors in DC Superior Court continue to seek detentions and judges persist in holding clients under conditions that have been deemed too harsh for anyone in federal custody.
Prison abolitionists and reform advocates say elected officials have ignored or overlooked decades of lawsuits, complaints from detainees and their families and are not holding their breath that anything substantially will change.
Social justice advocate, the Rev. Graylan Hagler, senior pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church, slammed city officials - including DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelsen, and DC Council member Charles Allen - for allowing the US Marshals Service to ship people to a more racist environ.
"It is a failure on part of DC leadership," Hagler told Sputnik. "They don't even have a plan... this is an issue of humanity."
However, Hagler also called on the citizens of DC to stop thinking this is someone else's problem. With a mayoral race coming up, he noted, it is a good time to apply concerted pressure.
Life After Release Founder Qiana Johnson said public officials "don't have the capacity to reimagine public safety," especially with all the fearmongering within the community.
A big part of the problem is lack of will and a desire to not offend big-money donors, said Johnson, who is also co-conductor with Harriet's Wildest Dreams - a Black female-led prison abolitionist movement.
"I have no confidence in any government or government official and Black elected officials have a desire to adhere to the status quo and appeal to the upper class and people with some money in banks," Johnson said. "Those people are voters. Reimagining justice is not something someone aspiring to public office or getting donations is willing to do."
The problem of poor conditions in prisons extends well beyond the US capital city, which is why some believe authorities should be inspecting and cracking down on more facilities nationwide.
Rhozier "Roach" Brown, who spent about two decades behind bars, said he is very suspicious about why the US Marshals Service chose to inspect the DC Jail when there are 120 federal prisons and detention facilities across the United States with similar and worst conditions than that seen at the Central Detention Facility.
"The marshals should be removing people all over the country after years and decades of complaints," said Brown, Chairman of the Coalition of National Association of Ex-Offenders. "I've never heard of Marshals inspecting jails. Why is it that they chose to inspect the DC Jail?"
Brown, who said, he was imprisoned in five federal facilities, including the federal prison in Lewisberg, Pennsylvania, said none of the complaints are new. In 1972, he said, he filed a lawsuit seeking to address inhumane and squalid conditions and for 50 years he has worked and advocated for change in the prison system.
"This situation smacks of double jeopardy and blatant racism," said Brown, co-host of Crossroads, a talk show that focuses on issues around and affecting returning citizens.
Brown said the detainees will be held at what he called the K Dorm in a prison he described as "one of the death houses in the federal system."
"There's no educational programs, no phone calls, no mental health treatment while you're in transit. No phone calls, no food, no showers," he said. "People are punished and penalized. I wouldn't send a dog to Lewisberg."
Brown, who spent four years at Lewisberg, said it is an experience not for the faint of heart.
"The racism and discrimination inflicted on detainees is 'off the chain,'" he said. "At Lewisberg there is a group called The Molly McGuires, the Irish Ku Klux Klan. A lot of the corrections officers were members."
The impact on families, Brown said, is devastating.
"It's four hours away. kids won't be able to see fathers and mothers and detainees will lose family contacts for political reasons," he said.
However, Brown also said, as bad as conditions are in Lewisburg, it is "a step above" the DC jail.
