Sheriff Steve Prator, Unwittingly Admits Modern Day Slavery

Discussion in 'Race, Religion, Science and Politics' started by OckyDub, Oct 12, 2017.

  1. OckyDub

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    Louisiana Sheriff’s Remarks Evoke Slavery, Critics Say



    The sheriff of a Louisiana parish is under fire for lamenting the scheduled release of prisoners in terms that critics said underscored the exploitation of inmates and, at times, evoked slavery.

    The remarks, by Sheriff Steve Prator of Caddo Parish, came near the end of a lengthy news briefing on Oct. 5, in which he objected to a set of laws that will allow for the release of a number of nonviolent prisoners on Nov. 1.

    The sheriff spent the majority of the news conference talking about the danger of letting out repeat offenders who belonged in prison. He referred to those prisoners as “the bad ones,” and compared them with state prisoners held in parish jails and sentenced to hard labor, whom he deemed “good.”

    “In addition to the bad ones — and I call these bad — in addition to them, they’re releasing some good ones that we use every day to wash cars, to change oil in our cars, to cook in the kitchen, to do all that, where we save money,” Sheriff Prator said. “Well, they’re going to let them out.”

    His remarks attracted harsh attention online on Thursday after they were amplified by the reporter and activist Shaun King. Critics said that they demonstrated a prevailing attitude in the Louisiana justice system toward prisoners.

    Angel Harris, an assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund who has worked as a public defender in Louisiana, called the comments “disgusting.”

    “My immediate reaction is what he’s talking about is the economic exploitation of human beings,” she said.

    “He’s not opposing these individuals’ release because he’s afraid they will reoffend or because they’ll be a danger to society,” she said. “He’s opposing it because he’s going to lose good workers. It reeks of the issue of slavery.”

    Ms. Harris said that the racial context informing the sheriff’s remarks was unmistakable. She pointed out that blacks made up more than 60 percent of the state’s incarcerated population and only about 30 percent of its general population, and that a confederate monument stands outside the courthouse in Shreveport, the parish seat.

    Cindy Chadwick, a spokeswoman for Sheriff Prator, said that his comments were being taken out of context and that he did not once refer to race.

    “If you saw the entire video, he was talking about charges,” she said. “When he said ‘good ones,’ he’s talking about lesser offenders, lesser violent crimes, as opposed to more violent offenders.”

    Sheriff Prator added: “My many years of public service prove beyond any doubt that I view all persons equally. To say or imply any differently is untruthful.”

    According to the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, 1,400 prisoners will be released from state custody on Nov. 1. Sheriff Prator said at the news conference that more than 60 of them would be released from the Caddo Correctional Center.

    Louisiana has long had the highest rate of incarcerated people per capita of any state in the country. Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat who was elected in 2015, campaigned on prison reform, saying multiple times that he wanted the state to at least drop to second place on the list.

    Sheriff Prator’s comments came as part of an extended set of grievances about 10 bills signed by Governor Edwards in June, known as justice reinvestment reforms.

    Seven of the bills, which were supported by conservative organizations in the state, were sponsored by Republicans, two by Democrats and one by an Independent. All of them passed with strong bipartisan majorities.

    The package was endorsed by the Louisiana District Attorneys Association, but the state’s sheriffs’ association cautioned that the legislation would lead to the release of violent offenders.

    Sheriff Prator voiced that concern at the news conference, and said that the laws had been passed to save money and the state’s reputation.

    “Well, let’s face it, somebody’s got to be No. 1 and we’ve got some bad dudes around here,” he said. “We’ve got some folks that need to be in jail.”

    He then outlined specific examples of people he was concerned about releasing, saying that one man had been arrested 52 times under 34 different aliases, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was expected to be released seven years early. That was one of four examples he provided of prisoners whom he later referred to as “the bad ones.”

    In an interview Thursday, Secretary James Le Blanc of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections clarified that all the people being released on Nov. 1 were neither violent nor sex offenders.

    He said that he had “all the respect in the world for Sheriff Prator,” but that he believed the sheriff was misinformed.

    “He just doesn’t really — I don’t think in my opinion — understand the information at hand,” Mr. Le Blanc said.

    Furthermore, he said, the fact that there were offenders who had been arrested dozens of times with few convictions suggested that there was a problem on the front end, and that arrest records were not in themselves damning.

    He emphasized that Louisiana’s prison population was down by 5,000 since 2013, and said that the package of reforms would free up space and funding for mental health treatment and “all the other things that we need.”

    Caddo Parish has a long history of racial discrimination in its criminal justice system and beyond. More people have been sentenced to death per capita there than in any other county in the United States; close to 80 percent of those executed have been black. Shreveport was once a confederate capital, and a 2015 study found that the parish was a hotbed of lynchings between 1877 and 1950.

    Jim Craig is the New Orleans co-director of the MacArthur Justice Center, which has filed a lawsuit against the Caddo district attorney for its practice of striking blacks from juries without explanation. Mr. Craig pointed out that between 1988 and 2008, the Caddo district attorney had sought death as punishment in 84 percent of black-on-white homicides and only 24 percent of other homicides.

    “Our observation is this: Those statistics are not accidental,” Mr. Craig said.

    Ms. Harris said that Sheriff Prator’s remarks, while shocking to hear, were not aberrant in the attitude they represented, arguing that they highlighted a mode of thinking that was rampant throughout the United States.

    “I think they’re a reflection of the way our criminal justice system is functioning now,” she said. “I think what’s shocking to people is that this man just said this on television. That attitude is what’s permeating throughout our criminal justice system.”
     
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  2. Cyrus-Brooks

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    This Sherriff admitted out loud what we in black America have known all along and have been saying for years. Trump has made peckerwoods of all ages and all walks of life quite bold. This is yet another example.
     
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