November 1, 2021 • 18 mins
Severe staff shortages at Georgia prisons have contributed to a huge spike in violence, including at least 44 likely homicides since last year. In September, the Department of Justice opened an investigation into the violence and possible constitutional violations by the correctional system. Separately, a lawsuit filed by the Southern Center for Human Rights called the prison conditions “abysmal.” Sara Totonchi is the organization’s executive director, and Atteeyah Hollie is an attorney there. They join the podcast to shed light on the crisis.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From the recount on Marina nine in and you're listening
to the Recount Daily Pod. Today's Monday, November one. We
did not have the cage nearly as many people as
we do in this country. And if anyone thinks that
mass incarceration is just a natural response to crime of tics,
they are wrong. That was a Tia Holly, an attorney
(00:28):
at the Southern Center for Human Rights. I spoke with
her and the organization's executive director, Sarah Titanshi about violence
in Georgia prisons. That's a bit later, but first your
morning headlines. Speaking at the summit, President Joe Biden pledged
on Sunday to help with the global supply chain problems.
(00:49):
Supply change is something that most of our citizens never
think twice about until something goes wrong, and during this pandemic,
we've seen delays and backlogs of goods from automobiles to electronics,
from shoes to furniture. Biden announced that he would cut
red tape that's delayed goods flowing from Southeast Asia. He
(01:12):
also offered technical assistance to break bottlenecks that are slowing
supply routes through Mexico and Central America and signed an
executive order that allows the Pentagon to quickly release material
from the National Defense stockpile. American Airlines canceled over flights
this weekend, citing weather and staffing problems. American Airlines Chief
(01:35):
operating Officer David Seymour released a statement saying the cancelations
were necessary to ensure properly crude flights. The disruption comes
just weeks after Southwest Airlines faced multiple delays of cancelations
affecting over two thousand flights. Southwest and sided air traffic
control and weather related issues. As we enter November and
(01:58):
a busy holiday travel season, the big question is whether
these same issues will continue. A mandatory vaccination deadline for
federal t s A workers has been set for November,
the monday before Thanksgiving. Only t s A employees are
currently vaccinated. Ohio will be joining several other states in
(02:20):
outfitting prison guards with body cameras. The hope is that
the cameras will help reduce violence while also holding inmates
and officers more accountable. Ohio started looking into using body
cameras after a California judge ordered them for guards at
the San Diego State Prison following allegations of abuse against
prisoners with disabilities. The union representing prison employees contends that
(02:44):
the money would be better spent hiring more guards. Georgia
piloted body cameras on its correctional staff last year and
plans to outfit officers at two prisons this year. Georgia
prisons have recently been in the national spotlight after the
Department of Justice opened an investigation into endemic prison violence
(03:04):
creating possible constitutional violations for inmates. We discussed this with
executive director Sarah Tutanshi, an attorney at Tia Holly, both
from the Southern Center for Human Rights. Sarenatia, welcome, Thank
you very much for joining us. Thank you so much
for having us arena you bet I was wondering if
you could start us off and sort of describe the
(03:25):
problem here. What are the conditions at the state prisons
in the state of Georgia. Well, first, I just want
to thank you for covering this important issue. The crisis
in our prisons touches so many lives, that tens of
thousands of people in George's prisons as well as the
hundreds of thousands of people who love them and call
them family. And I mean I just want to note
that George's prisons have frankly never been safe. Right. People
(03:48):
have always received inadequate metal care and inadequate mental health care.
But what we have seen in the last year or
so has been astounding and frankly just shocks the conscience.
And the last year or so we have seen an
impressed a number of homicides and suicides. Prior to two
thousand twenty, there were maybe three or four people who
died per year at the hands of other incarcerated people,
(04:11):
and in there were over The same is true of suicide.
Used to have a handful of people who took their
own lives year to year, and by the time we
reached out to the Departments of Justice to take action
in George's prisons there are close to fourteen and eight
more people killed themselves. After that, we are just seeing
astounding levels of violence, astounding levels of people who cannot
(04:34):
find a reason to live anymore. And we can talk
about the understaffing, we can talk about the rights that
have occurred as a result of these conditions, but these
are things that should not happen in prisons, and these
are things that we should not consider normal. And that
is why our office has stepped up with litigation, and
that's why we've asked the federal government to step in
as well. There it is George's Department of Corrections doing
(04:56):
anything about it. We are hard pressed to see what
the Georgia Department of Corrections is doing to address the
human rights crisis that is unfolding on a daily basis
in Georgia prisons. A. T. And I have worked on
the front lines of prison advocacy for about twenty years
and we have never seen anything like this, the callous
(05:16):
disregard for the people who are incarcerated in Georgia and
the apathy of people who are leading the system and
could actually do something about it. According to your organization,
the Southern Center for Human Rights, in Georgia, one out
of every eighteen adults is under some form of correctional control,
meaning incarceration, probation, or parole. Georgia has the highest rate
(05:40):
of correctional supervision in the country. Why is that. The
answers are quite simple. Not only have the highest rate
of correctional control, that we are ranked fourth or fifth
in the world in terms of our incarceration rate in
the world, and it's because we have this addiction to incarceration.
We pronounce extremely lengthy sentences for a range of offenses,
(06:01):
and the way that we have our criminal legal system
set up is that people feel that if they are
able to get probation, no matter how long to avoid
going into a cage, whether it be jail or prison,
they are going to take that probation sentence. But in
Georgia it is not uncommon to sit in a courtroom
and see people get sentenced to twenty years of probation,
thirty years of probation, basically signing their lives over to
(06:23):
probation companies, probation offices. People often cycle through these probation
sentences in large part because you give up so many
rights from you're on probation, you give up your Fourth
Amendment rights, you give up so many rights, and so
the police have a much easier time arresting you if
you're on probation. We see probation sentences again of twenty
thirty years. We also see probation sentences for the most
(06:45):
miniscule traffic offenses. In Georgia, we criminalize everything, right philipsy
yield at a sign, speeding, what have you, Things that
would typically be considered citations or even non criminal in
other states, you can get upwards of a year in
jail for here in Georgia. And so it is because
we have basically criminalized everything and imposed the longest sentences
(07:06):
possible for these offenses. That is why you see Georgia
at the top of the probation and correctional control pyramid
in this country. In the incarceration period in this world,
you along with your organizations, proll the lawsuit on behalf
of the people held in solitary confinement at Georgia State Prisons.
On top of that, the Department of Justice has opened
up a civil investigation into Georgia prisons. Tell us a
(07:27):
little bit about the legal action happening. So there's quite
a bit of it right as you just outlined, and
our office decided to take legal action against various officials
responsible for Georgia State Prison because of just the horrors
that we're being committed there. The irony of Georgia State
Prison is that it is a special mission prison, quote unquote,
and by that term, it is supposed to provide specialized
(07:50):
care to people with psychiatric disabilities mental illness. But what
we are hearing from our clients day in and day out,
and with the department's own record show is that Georgia
State Prison is falling far from its state admission of
providing that specialized care. Who say that they are being
denied food days at a time, who are being denied
showers weeks at a time, and who have not stepped
(08:11):
foot outside for months on end. And this combination of
conditions leads to the most at least a decompensation for
people who are already mentally ill. And unfortunately, this prison's
solution to mental health crisis is to place people in
acute crisis units. And these acute crisis units, when our
clients arrived there are covered in the feces and blood
(08:32):
of the previous occupants, and people are not provided beds.
One client of ours, because he was so cold, he
took the sandwich wrappers and created a bed on the floor,
not only because he was cold, but because the bedframe
that he was provided was covered in bodily fluids. And
so this is Joda State's Prison's answer to mental illness.
(08:53):
And it should come as no surprise that this one
prison alone accounts for a third of Georgia's overall prison
suicides and for the more Georgia has known about this.
Auditors have said over and over the last several years
that the situation at Georgia state prisons will lead to
deep compensation and will lead to self injury and self
harm because of the solitary confinement and the conditions there.
(09:13):
And the response from Georgia's Department of Corrections has been
little to nothing, and in fact, suicides have increased since
the auditors have made their reports, and so that is
why we took that legal action, Zara. In a press release,
the Department of Justice said that it had succeeded in
previous investigations in and I'm quoting here, identifying systemic constitutional
(09:34):
violations and their causes, fixing those causes and stopping the violations.
Does the Justice Department have a good track record here?
Are you hopeful their investigation will change things? We are
extremely grateful to the Department of Justice for intervening in Georgia,
answering our call that we had made a year to
the date before they intervened. It is a huge step
(09:54):
forward in our struggle for accountability and for dignity and
for justice. Are people who are currently incarcerated in Georgia
and for those whose lives have been lost, and we
know it is just one piece of the puzzle. Um
there is frankly, so much that is in chaos that
is unfolding in the Georgia Department of Corrections, and it
(10:15):
is our sincere hope that this investigation will make the
kind of change that we so desperately need here in
our state. I think when you're not around people who
are incarcerated, when you don't have family members who are involved,
this whole issue is so removed. Tell me about some
of the stories you're hearing from family members of incarcerated prisoners.
(10:39):
I mean, they're devastating, right. I'm remembering one person whose
loved when actually gave birth in prison, and she shared
with us that the baby's mother was currently being held
in solitary because that was the prisons practice when it
came to pregnant people. But not only that, whenever this
mother was moved from one place to another, she was shackled.
And this not only violates state law, that it is
(11:02):
just completely unacceptable and cruel that we would treat people
in this manner. And so the stories that we hear
are from people who are desperate to do everything they
can for their loved ones, who are frankly the bravest
people that we know because they do this knowing that
there could be retaliation against their loved ones, there could
be retaliation against them as the loved one themselves, and
they speak out nevertheless because their loved ones lives dependence
(11:25):
on it. We've got to take a quick break, but
we'll be right back with Sarah Titanchi and a Tia
Holly of the Southern Center for Human Rights. You're listening
to the Recount Daily Pod. Book a back to the
Recount Daily Pod. I'm here with Sarah Titanchi and a
Tia Holly of the Southern Center for Human Rights, and
we're talking about the Georgia prison system. Sarah, I'm curious
(11:49):
what type of policy and legislation do you think could
make a difference. We are heartened by the actions of
the Department of Justice under President Biden. This is a
very significant move for this department to intervene in a
system wide kind of way. Frequently when they get involved,
they will look at individual facilities, but what they've done
(12:09):
in Georgia has taken a system wide approach, and that
to me signals a great interest from the administration to
address the humanitarian crisis that continues to unfold. I think
we need to look take a big step back and
look at the way that we incarcerate. As a Tea
talked about, we have an addiction to incarceration um not
just in Georgia, but nationwide. We look at incarceration as
(12:32):
a cure for all the things we find um less
desirable in our communities. Whether it's people who are unhoused,
whether it's people who have mental health issues, people who
have addictions. We look to incarceration to solve all of
these problems, and it is a solution that is just
not working. Where we are at is we have prisons
that are busting at the seams, that are incredibly dangerous.
(12:54):
We cannot feed this addiction any further. Deal. Let's talk
about COVID. It's killed people in prisons and jails three
times the rate of the general public. How has the
Georgia Department of Corrections handled the pandemic. We really have
not known the answers to that question for the last
three months. Because the department used to maintain an online
COVID tracker that would be updated every day with information
(13:16):
about the number of people who test positive in the
Department of Corrections in cars Raita, people and staff and
self report. But in July of this year, the department
inexplicably announced that it was discontinuing it's publicly available information
because it felt basically that the pandemic was over. And
the irony of this announcement it was that it almost
coincided exactly with the surge in the delta variant in
(13:38):
Georgia and across the country. And so at this moment,
we have no idea how many people are testing positive
for COVID. We have no idea how many people have
died in the last three months from COVID and the
delta variant. We have no idea how many people are
being vaccinated. And as you note, prisons are one of
the deadliest places to be during this pandemic. You cannot
social distance, our clients, do not have unlimited access to
(13:59):
cleaning supplies and such. All the things that we take
for granted that we can do out here in the
community to protect ourselves cannot be done easily in the
prison setting. And so we are very concerned about the
habit that COVID is breaking on the inside. Before we go.
In a few seconds we have left, I'd like to
ask both of you. Sarah, starting with you, what do
you want people to know about mass incarcerations and how
(14:21):
can people make a difference. We frequently hear from people
who are woken up about the crisis of mass incarceration
because a loved one of theirs has become involved. We
can't wait for everybody's loved ones to get involved, for
our community, for our country to wake up about the
crisis of mass incarceration. The cost, the human cost, the
(14:45):
financial cost, the moral cost is just too great for
us to bear um And now, in this day and
age where we are paying such close attention to issues
of racial justice, of economic justice, of gender justice, there
is no area of our community that it's more attention
than our criminal legal system and the way that we
incarceraate people. So I encourage people to listen to learn.
(15:07):
I want to thank them for listening to this story
and educating themselves about what's happening in Georgia. Keep your
ears and your eyes open and share these stories with
your families. We do not have to cage nearly as
many people as we do in this country. And if
anyone thinks that mass incarceration is just a natural response
to crime of ticks. They are wrong. Masson carceerration is
(15:30):
the natural outgrowth of slavery. It's a natural outgrowth of lynching.
It's a natural outgrowth of Jim Crow. And it's the
last or one of the last areas that has remained
untouched by our civil rights movements. It is past time
for everyone, as Sarah mentioned, regardless of whether you are
touched by or not, to get involved because this is
(15:50):
a human rights issue and it's a civil rights issue,
and the United States can no longer afford to be
the world prison capital. Sarah TUTANGI a tea, Holly, think
you both, Thank you, thank you. We're leaders are gathering
in Glasgow for day two of the COP twenty six
Climate Summit. The twelve days summit is a test to
see if global cooperation can help solve the climate crisis.
(16:14):
The goal of the summit is to convince larger nations
to reduce emissions, commit financial support for poor countries who
have dealt with climate related disasters, and I are not
rules for the Paris Climate Agreement. President Joe Biden will
arrive later this morning. The leaders of two of the
top climate polluting nations, China and Russia, are not expected
(16:34):
to attend. The conservative leaning Supreme Court will hold opening
arguments in the United States versus Texas That's a challenge
to Texas Senate Bill eight, an abortion restriction law passed
earlier this year. Instead of discussing the legality of the
six week abortion ban, the Court will instead discuss the
part of the Texas bill that allows anyone to sue
(16:56):
whoever a beets an abortion, that includes the performing doctor,
even the patient's driver. The ruling could come into play
on December one, when the Supreme Court will hear a
case challenging Mississippi's ban on the procedure after fifteen weeks
of pregnancy, a direct challenge to Row v. Wade. Today
marks the beginning of National Native American Heritage Month. First
(17:17):
declared by President George H. W. Bush. The month is
an acknowledgement of the contributions of national American Indians and
Alaska Natives. Several national events will mark the month, including
an online exhibition at the National Museum of the American Indian.
To kick off the celebration, Secretary of the Interior deb
Holland will be joined virtually by the first Native American
(17:40):
US poet, Laureate Joy hard Joe for a poetry reading.
Have a good day, everyone, I'll see you back tomorrow.
This is a Recount Daily pod of podcasts from the
Recount Our Thanks to Executive Director Sarah Tatanshi and Managing
Attorney at Tia Holly of the Southern Center for Hugh
Ben Bryans for joining us. If you liked this episode,
(18:02):
I hope you'll subscribe to the Recount Daily Pod and
do leave us a rating on the Apple podcast app.
I'm your host, Breen and Himen
From the recount on Marina nine in and you're listening
to the Recount Daily Pod. Today's Monday, November one. We
did not have the cage nearly as many people as
we do in this country. And if anyone thinks that
mass incarceration is just a natural response to crime of tics,
they are wrong. That was a Tia Holly, an attorney
(00:28):
at the Southern Center for Human Rights. I spoke with
her and the organization's executive director, Sarah Titanshi about violence
in Georgia prisons. That's a bit later, but first your
morning headlines. Speaking at the summit, President Joe Biden pledged
on Sunday to help with the global supply chain problems.
(00:49):
Supply change is something that most of our citizens never
think twice about until something goes wrong, and during this pandemic,
we've seen delays and backlogs of goods from automobiles to electronics,
from shoes to furniture. Biden announced that he would cut
red tape that's delayed goods flowing from Southeast Asia. He
(01:12):
also offered technical assistance to break bottlenecks that are slowing
supply routes through Mexico and Central America and signed an
executive order that allows the Pentagon to quickly release material
from the National Defense stockpile. American Airlines canceled over flights
this weekend, citing weather and staffing problems. American Airlines Chief
(01:35):
operating Officer David Seymour released a statement saying the cancelations
were necessary to ensure properly crude flights. The disruption comes
just weeks after Southwest Airlines faced multiple delays of cancelations
affecting over two thousand flights. Southwest and sided air traffic
control and weather related issues. As we enter November and
(01:58):
a busy holiday travel season, the big question is whether
these same issues will continue. A mandatory vaccination deadline for
federal t s A workers has been set for November,
the monday before Thanksgiving. Only t s A employees are
currently vaccinated. Ohio will be joining several other states in
(02:20):
outfitting prison guards with body cameras. The hope is that
the cameras will help reduce violence while also holding inmates
and officers more accountable. Ohio started looking into using body
cameras after a California judge ordered them for guards at
the San Diego State Prison following allegations of abuse against
prisoners with disabilities. The union representing prison employees contends that
(02:44):
the money would be better spent hiring more guards. Georgia
piloted body cameras on its correctional staff last year and
plans to outfit officers at two prisons this year. Georgia
prisons have recently been in the national spotlight after the
Department of Justice opened an investigation into endemic prison violence
(03:04):
creating possible constitutional violations for inmates. We discussed this with
executive director Sarah Tutanshi, an attorney at Tia Holly, both
from the Southern Center for Human Rights. Sarenatia, welcome, Thank
you very much for joining us. Thank you so much
for having us arena you bet I was wondering if
you could start us off and sort of describe the
(03:25):
problem here. What are the conditions at the state prisons
in the state of Georgia. Well, first, I just want
to thank you for covering this important issue. The crisis
in our prisons touches so many lives, that tens of
thousands of people in George's prisons as well as the
hundreds of thousands of people who love them and call
them family. And I mean I just want to note
that George's prisons have frankly never been safe. Right. People
(03:48):
have always received inadequate metal care and inadequate mental health care.
But what we have seen in the last year or
so has been astounding and frankly just shocks the conscience.
And the last year or so we have seen an
impressed a number of homicides and suicides. Prior to two
thousand twenty, there were maybe three or four people who
died per year at the hands of other incarcerated people,
(04:11):
and in there were over The same is true of suicide.
Used to have a handful of people who took their
own lives year to year, and by the time we
reached out to the Departments of Justice to take action
in George's prisons there are close to fourteen and eight
more people killed themselves. After that, we are just seeing
astounding levels of violence, astounding levels of people who cannot
(04:34):
find a reason to live anymore. And we can talk
about the understaffing, we can talk about the rights that
have occurred as a result of these conditions, but these
are things that should not happen in prisons, and these
are things that we should not consider normal. And that
is why our office has stepped up with litigation, and
that's why we've asked the federal government to step in
as well. There it is George's Department of Corrections doing
(04:56):
anything about it. We are hard pressed to see what
the Georgia Department of Corrections is doing to address the
human rights crisis that is unfolding on a daily basis
in Georgia prisons. A. T. And I have worked on
the front lines of prison advocacy for about twenty years
and we have never seen anything like this, the callous
(05:16):
disregard for the people who are incarcerated in Georgia and
the apathy of people who are leading the system and
could actually do something about it. According to your organization,
the Southern Center for Human Rights, in Georgia, one out
of every eighteen adults is under some form of correctional control,
meaning incarceration, probation, or parole. Georgia has the highest rate
(05:40):
of correctional supervision in the country. Why is that. The
answers are quite simple. Not only have the highest rate
of correctional control, that we are ranked fourth or fifth
in the world in terms of our incarceration rate in
the world, and it's because we have this addiction to incarceration.
We pronounce extremely lengthy sentences for a range of offenses,
(06:01):
and the way that we have our criminal legal system
set up is that people feel that if they are
able to get probation, no matter how long to avoid
going into a cage, whether it be jail or prison,
they are going to take that probation sentence. But in
Georgia it is not uncommon to sit in a courtroom
and see people get sentenced to twenty years of probation,
thirty years of probation, basically signing their lives over to
(06:23):
probation companies, probation offices. People often cycle through these probation
sentences in large part because you give up so many
rights from you're on probation, you give up your Fourth
Amendment rights, you give up so many rights, and so
the police have a much easier time arresting you if
you're on probation. We see probation sentences again of twenty
thirty years. We also see probation sentences for the most
(06:45):
miniscule traffic offenses. In Georgia, we criminalize everything, right philipsy
yield at a sign, speeding, what have you, Things that
would typically be considered citations or even non criminal in
other states, you can get upwards of a year in
jail for here in Georgia. And so it is because
we have basically criminalized everything and imposed the longest sentences
(07:06):
possible for these offenses. That is why you see Georgia
at the top of the probation and correctional control pyramid
in this country. In the incarceration period in this world,
you along with your organizations, proll the lawsuit on behalf
of the people held in solitary confinement at Georgia State Prisons.
On top of that, the Department of Justice has opened
up a civil investigation into Georgia prisons. Tell us a
(07:27):
little bit about the legal action happening. So there's quite
a bit of it right as you just outlined, and
our office decided to take legal action against various officials
responsible for Georgia State Prison because of just the horrors
that we're being committed there. The irony of Georgia State
Prison is that it is a special mission prison, quote unquote,
and by that term, it is supposed to provide specialized
(07:50):
care to people with psychiatric disabilities mental illness. But what
we are hearing from our clients day in and day out,
and with the department's own record show is that Georgia
State Prison is falling far from its state admission of
providing that specialized care. Who say that they are being
denied food days at a time, who are being denied
showers weeks at a time, and who have not stepped
(08:11):
foot outside for months on end. And this combination of
conditions leads to the most at least a decompensation for
people who are already mentally ill. And unfortunately, this prison's
solution to mental health crisis is to place people in
acute crisis units. And these acute crisis units, when our
clients arrived there are covered in the feces and blood
(08:32):
of the previous occupants, and people are not provided beds.
One client of ours, because he was so cold, he
took the sandwich wrappers and created a bed on the floor,
not only because he was cold, but because the bedframe
that he was provided was covered in bodily fluids. And
so this is Joda State's Prison's answer to mental illness.
(08:53):
And it should come as no surprise that this one
prison alone accounts for a third of Georgia's overall prison
suicides and for the more Georgia has known about this.
Auditors have said over and over the last several years
that the situation at Georgia state prisons will lead to
deep compensation and will lead to self injury and self
harm because of the solitary confinement and the conditions there.
(09:13):
And the response from Georgia's Department of Corrections has been
little to nothing, and in fact, suicides have increased since
the auditors have made their reports, and so that is
why we took that legal action, Zara. In a press release,
the Department of Justice said that it had succeeded in
previous investigations in and I'm quoting here, identifying systemic constitutional
(09:34):
violations and their causes, fixing those causes and stopping the violations.
Does the Justice Department have a good track record here?
Are you hopeful their investigation will change things? We are
extremely grateful to the Department of Justice for intervening in Georgia,
answering our call that we had made a year to
the date before they intervened. It is a huge step
(09:54):
forward in our struggle for accountability and for dignity and
for justice. Are people who are currently incarcerated in Georgia
and for those whose lives have been lost, and we
know it is just one piece of the puzzle. Um
there is frankly, so much that is in chaos that
is unfolding in the Georgia Department of Corrections, and it
(10:15):
is our sincere hope that this investigation will make the
kind of change that we so desperately need here in
our state. I think when you're not around people who
are incarcerated, when you don't have family members who are involved,
this whole issue is so removed. Tell me about some
of the stories you're hearing from family members of incarcerated prisoners.
(10:39):
I mean, they're devastating, right. I'm remembering one person whose
loved when actually gave birth in prison, and she shared
with us that the baby's mother was currently being held
in solitary because that was the prisons practice when it
came to pregnant people. But not only that, whenever this
mother was moved from one place to another, she was shackled.
And this not only violates state law, that it is
(11:02):
just completely unacceptable and cruel that we would treat people
in this manner. And so the stories that we hear
are from people who are desperate to do everything they
can for their loved ones, who are frankly the bravest
people that we know because they do this knowing that
there could be retaliation against their loved ones, there could
be retaliation against them as the loved one themselves, and
they speak out nevertheless because their loved ones lives dependence
(11:25):
on it. We've got to take a quick break, but
we'll be right back with Sarah Titanchi and a Tia
Holly of the Southern Center for Human Rights. You're listening
to the Recount Daily Pod. Book a back to the
Recount Daily Pod. I'm here with Sarah Titanchi and a
Tia Holly of the Southern Center for Human Rights, and
we're talking about the Georgia prison system. Sarah, I'm curious
(11:49):
what type of policy and legislation do you think could
make a difference. We are heartened by the actions of
the Department of Justice under President Biden. This is a
very significant move for this department to intervene in a
system wide kind of way. Frequently when they get involved,
they will look at individual facilities, but what they've done
(12:09):
in Georgia has taken a system wide approach, and that
to me signals a great interest from the administration to
address the humanitarian crisis that continues to unfold. I think
we need to look take a big step back and
look at the way that we incarcerate. As a Tea
talked about, we have an addiction to incarceration um not
just in Georgia, but nationwide. We look at incarceration as
(12:32):
a cure for all the things we find um less
desirable in our communities. Whether it's people who are unhoused,
whether it's people who have mental health issues, people who
have addictions. We look to incarceration to solve all of
these problems, and it is a solution that is just
not working. Where we are at is we have prisons
that are busting at the seams, that are incredibly dangerous.
(12:54):
We cannot feed this addiction any further. Deal. Let's talk
about COVID. It's killed people in prisons and jails three
times the rate of the general public. How has the
Georgia Department of Corrections handled the pandemic. We really have
not known the answers to that question for the last
three months. Because the department used to maintain an online
COVID tracker that would be updated every day with information
(13:16):
about the number of people who test positive in the
Department of Corrections in cars Raita, people and staff and
self report. But in July of this year, the department
inexplicably announced that it was discontinuing it's publicly available information
because it felt basically that the pandemic was over. And
the irony of this announcement it was that it almost
coincided exactly with the surge in the delta variant in
(13:38):
Georgia and across the country. And so at this moment,
we have no idea how many people are testing positive
for COVID. We have no idea how many people have
died in the last three months from COVID and the
delta variant. We have no idea how many people are
being vaccinated. And as you note, prisons are one of
the deadliest places to be during this pandemic. You cannot
social distance, our clients, do not have unlimited access to
(13:59):
cleaning supplies and such. All the things that we take
for granted that we can do out here in the
community to protect ourselves cannot be done easily in the
prison setting. And so we are very concerned about the
habit that COVID is breaking on the inside. Before we go.
In a few seconds we have left, I'd like to
ask both of you. Sarah, starting with you, what do
you want people to know about mass incarcerations and how
(14:21):
can people make a difference. We frequently hear from people
who are woken up about the crisis of mass incarceration
because a loved one of theirs has become involved. We
can't wait for everybody's loved ones to get involved, for
our community, for our country to wake up about the
crisis of mass incarceration. The cost, the human cost, the
(14:45):
financial cost, the moral cost is just too great for
us to bear um And now, in this day and
age where we are paying such close attention to issues
of racial justice, of economic justice, of gender justice, there
is no area of our community that it's more attention
than our criminal legal system and the way that we
incarceraate people. So I encourage people to listen to learn.
(15:07):
I want to thank them for listening to this story
and educating themselves about what's happening in Georgia. Keep your
ears and your eyes open and share these stories with
your families. We do not have to cage nearly as
many people as we do in this country. And if
anyone thinks that mass incarceration is just a natural response
to crime of ticks. They are wrong. Masson carceerration is
(15:30):
the natural outgrowth of slavery. It's a natural outgrowth of lynching.
It's a natural outgrowth of Jim Crow. And it's the
last or one of the last areas that has remained
untouched by our civil rights movements. It is past time
for everyone, as Sarah mentioned, regardless of whether you are
touched by or not, to get involved because this is
(15:50):
a human rights issue and it's a civil rights issue,
and the United States can no longer afford to be
the world prison capital. Sarah TUTANGI a tea, Holly, think
you both, Thank you, thank you. We're leaders are gathering
in Glasgow for day two of the COP twenty six
Climate Summit. The twelve days summit is a test to
see if global cooperation can help solve the climate crisis.
(16:14):
The goal of the summit is to convince larger nations
to reduce emissions, commit financial support for poor countries who
have dealt with climate related disasters, and I are not
rules for the Paris Climate Agreement. President Joe Biden will
arrive later this morning. The leaders of two of the
top climate polluting nations, China and Russia, are not expected
(16:34):
to attend. The conservative leaning Supreme Court will hold opening
arguments in the United States versus Texas That's a challenge
to Texas Senate Bill eight, an abortion restriction law passed
earlier this year. Instead of discussing the legality of the
six week abortion ban, the Court will instead discuss the
part of the Texas bill that allows anyone to sue
(16:56):
whoever a beets an abortion, that includes the performing doctor,
even the patient's driver. The ruling could come into play
on December one, when the Supreme Court will hear a
case challenging Mississippi's ban on the procedure after fifteen weeks
of pregnancy, a direct challenge to Row v. Wade. Today
marks the beginning of National Native American Heritage Month. First
(17:17):
declared by President George H. W. Bush. The month is
an acknowledgement of the contributions of national American Indians and
Alaska Natives. Several national events will mark the month, including
an online exhibition at the National Museum of the American Indian.
To kick off the celebration, Secretary of the Interior deb
Holland will be joined virtually by the first Native American
(17:40):
US poet, Laureate Joy hard Joe for a poetry reading.
Have a good day, everyone, I'll see you back tomorrow.
This is a Recount Daily pod of podcasts from the
Recount Our Thanks to Executive Director Sarah Tatanshi and Managing
Attorney at Tia Holly of the Southern Center for Hugh
Ben Bryans for joining us. If you liked this episode,
(18:02):
I hope you'll subscribe to the Recount Daily Pod and
do leave us a rating on the Apple podcast app.
I'm your host, Breen and Himen
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