tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-819711698688655785.post6264333308884810679..comments2023-10-30T00:44:05.942-07:00Comments on Governing through Crime: Brown v. Plata: Dignity is Coming to the USAJonathan Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15217567476776700363noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-819711698688655785.post-24563404484725657502011-05-27T14:02:54.024-07:002011-05-27T14:02:54.024-07:00Dear Jonathan,
A good comparison could the recent ...Dear Jonathan,<br />A good comparison could the recent decision by the ECHR (5/26/11) Duval v. France: France was condemned because Duval had to go through his medical exams shackled...<br />However, it is possible that the ECHR won't have much consequences on the state of our prisons whereas "Brown" will impact for sure Calif. prisons...<br />All the best<br />SGSimon Grivethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11750501360350974066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-819711698688655785.post-85215691603281727402011-05-25T03:02:50.254-07:002011-05-25T03:02:50.254-07:00The NYTimes has the California prison story on its...The NYTimes has the California prison story on its website this morning and hopefully on the front page of the print edition. The photos are excellent. As noted above, this case has largely been about photos, which is why I believe we can compare California's prison medical crisis to the kinds of humanitarian medical crises that have caught the world's attention repeatedly over recent decades and have been an important source for the spread of human rights as a value. One thing the story makes clear is that this case must only a be the beginning of an ongoing public crisis of confidence in California's toxic brand of penality. Matthew Cate, the Secretary of Corrections, offers as his main optimistic statement that the number of inmates sleeping in completely inappropriate quarters (bunk beds crammed into gyms and other open areas of the prison) is down to levels not seen since the early 1990s. But that means a generation of California prisoners (and thats of hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens) have spent years experiencing active degradation and inhumane treatment of the sort that is a gross violation of human dignity. They've already been damaged (some irreparably) in ways that will compound the disadvantages of their families and communities for years more. It is intolerable that the State should have even appealed his case and if they come back asking for more time to end these gross human rights violations the 3-Judge court should threaten to imprison Matt Cate in one of his bad beds until the job is done. But Governor Brown's plan to move future prisoners to the county jails while in the right direction, is not enough. This new jail focus must go along with a concerted effort to reduce the number of people going to any kind of incarceration in California so that those whose behavior and danger really warrants lock-up can be sanctioned in a way that does not violate their human rights and ours.Jonathan Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15217567476776700363noreply@blogger.com