[Real World] Pelican Bay SHU Hunger Strike Planned for July 1st

[Inquisitor]

The San Francisco Police Department is notoriously corrupt, moreso than other departments. Just check out the controversies section on their Wiki page and you'll see that it is loooong and has citations.

SFPD is also one of the few counties where a District Attorney is assigned specifically to look at police conduct and try and find a way to fire/jail police officers. So if the SFPD is still going around shooting black people for not paying their bus fare, and then coming up with extravagant stories about getting shot at and people stealing guns from crime scenes, what does that say about the OTHER counties all across the country, where the police can operate under the assumption that the law is on their side?

[Kade]

Thank you for all these updates, Inquisitor.

[Soja]

The San Francisco Police Department is notoriously corrupt, moreso than other departments. Just check out the controversies section on their Wiki page and you'll see that it is loooong and has citations.

SFPD is also one of the few counties where a District Attorney is assigned specifically to look at police conduct and try and find a way to fire/jail police officers. So if the SFPD is still going around shooting black people for not paying their bus fare, and then coming up with extravagant stories about getting shot at and people stealing guns from crime scenes, what does that say about the OTHER counties all across the country, where the police can operate under the assumption that the law is on their side?

That probably means that the office of the DA overseeing police conduct is A) negligent, B) incompetent, or C) a publicity stunt. Alternatively D) corrupt, which I find likely as well. That said, the SFPD's behavior here does not necessarily mean that all police across the country are at an equal or worse level of corruption. They may be, but this event isn't an indicator of anything outside of the SFPD. That department as I mentioned has been notorious for misconduct of this level.

I'm not saying you're wrong. There is almost always some corruption wherever there is power, be it an individual or a ring within the organization.

Lastly, since we're on the topic, I'll share this. Not sure if Ross has already shown you, but there you go.

[Whalimba]

The San Francisco Police Department is notoriously corrupt, moreso than other departments. Just check out the controversies section on their Wiki page and you'll see that it is loooong and has citations.

SFPD is also one of the few counties where a District Attorney is assigned specifically to look at police conduct and try and find a way to fire/jail police officers. So if the SFPD is still going around shooting black people for not paying their bus fare, and then coming up with extravagant stories about getting shot at and people stealing guns from crime scenes, what does that say about the OTHER counties all across the country, where the police can operate under the assumption that the law is on their side?

That probably means that the office of the DA overseeing police conduct is A) negligent, B) incompetent, or C) a publicity stunt. Alternatively D) corrupt, which I find likely as well. That said, the SFPD's behavior here does not necessarily mean that all police across the country are at an equal or worse level of corruption. They may be, but this event isn't an indicator of anything outside of the SFPD. That department as I mentioned has been notorious for misconduct of this level.

I'm not saying you're wrong. There is almost always some corruption wherever there is power, be it an individual or a ring within the organization.

Lastly, since we're on the topic, I'll share this. Not sure if Ross has already shown you, but there you go.

Yeah, that's highly unnecessary force in that video. I understand that police are meant to be forceful to ensure that they get their suspects in cuffs and then get them in the car (while usually fighting the suspects resistance). But that looked as if the officer was trying to fight or something like that. SOME cops do take advantage of their position and do get corrupt like what people said before, though in that video, he could most likely use the girl fighting her mother as a defense and that he didn't want to take any risks.

Considering this is the USA, suing the law IS difficult even with proof unless other officers believe the same as the person whom was assaulted does (which is most often not the case).

[Inquisitor]

Good luck finding a jury in the world that believes what a dirty criminal says over a cop. Especially after the cop claims he smelled alcohol, marijuana, and thought he saw a gun tucked in your ass crack.

[Inquisitor]

Alright, well, I apologize for not updating anyone. After three weeks, the Hunger Strike in Pelican Bay ended on July 21st, though it may or may not be going on in other prisons. Again, the CDCR's blanket ban on media speaking with prisoners makes it incredibly difficult to get straight answers. The inmates chose to keep living, and only got a handful of concessions for starving for three weeks. Shows how much the CDCR cares.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jul/25/pelican-bay-prison-hunger-strike

If this seems like a desperate measure by desperate men, it is. The widespread use and abuse of solitary confinement in US prisons and jails is one of the nation's most pressing domestic human rights issues, and also perhaps its most ignored. In the end, the Pelican Bay hunger strikers won only a few token concessions from the California department of corrections and rehabilitation (CDCR) – the right to wear caps in cold weather, to hang wall calendars in their cells, and to have access to a modicum of educational programming.

In other news - 5 out of 6 officers will be receiving federal charges, most over a life sentence, for their participation in the NOLA bridge shootings. For those who were unaware, there was an incident in New Orleans following Katrina where the NOPD reported to the NOLA Bridge after hearing reports of shots fired, hopped out of a rental vehicle, and began indiscriminately shooting at people along the bridge. When said people subsequently fled, they were chased, and either injured, killed, or arrested. Not a single victim of the shooting was armed or dangerous in anyway - one of the men killed was mentally handicapped. Furthermore, after the shooting, the police officers involved attempted to destroy the evidence (bodies) by burning them in a car behind the NOPD headquarters.

If murder isn't enough, how about a police force that will not only shoot you and your family for no reason, but then attempt to desecrate your corpse. Because laws only apply to citizens.

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2011/08/danziger_bridge_verdict_do_not.html

The shootings took place on Sept. 4, 2005, a week after Hurricane Katrina. After hearing a distress call over the radio from another officer who said men were shooting at police on the nearby Interstate 10 bridge, a group of cops piled into a Budget rental truck and headed to the Danziger Bridge, the portion of Chef Menteur Highway that spans the Industrial Canal.

Officer Michael Hunter, who drove the truck, fired warning shots out the window as the truck neared the bridge. He stopped the truck behind the Bartholomew family, near the bridge's eastern terminus. Police piled out and began shooting, eventually killing one member of the party -- James Brissette, 17 -- and wounding four others: Jose Holmes, 19; his aunt, Susan Bartholomew, his uncle, Leonard Bartholomew III, and a teenage cousin, Lesha Bartholomew.

Police then chased down Ronald and Lance Madison, who had been walking toward the Gentilly side of the bridge, a ways ahead of the Bartholomew family. Hearing the gunfire, the Madisons began to run. Ronald Madison, 40, was injured. Eventually, Faulcon killed him with a shotgun blast to the back as he ran away.


The Danziger shootings were originally portrayed as a home run for the department, a victory in restoring order to a city that had begun to come apart after the storm. But a state grand jury that investigated the shootings didn't buy the testimony of the involved officers, seven of whom were charged with murder or attempted murder.

When the "Danziger Seven" turned themselves in at Central Lockup in January 2007, fellow officers joined them in a show of solidarity, patting them on the back and calling them heroes. The state case fell apart for procedural reasons in 2008, when the charges were dismissed by a judge.

[MadMusician]

Wait, human beings in general are dirtbags? This is news to me!

[Inquisitor]

Wait, human beings in general are dirtbags? This is news to me!

"People are douchebags, might as well look the other way when a cop shoots a bunch of niggers on a bridge" ?

[MadMusician]

I do beleive I've said this before, but just in case I haven't, I'll say it.

All of this news you find shocking? All of these acts that you go "THE KOPS" that you keep pointing out? I've been knowing about this for years. It's not new or shocking news to me. In fact, you likely don't even know the half of it. You see, due to my skin color, cops tend to just stop and ask me questions when I'm doing the highly suspicious activity of, for example....

Walking down the street.

So please stop taking what I say completely out of context. But I will make one thing very, very clear.

The majority of you motherfuckers don't even know the half of shit we got to deal with.

[Inquisitor]

I do beleive I've said this before, but just in case I haven't, I'll say it.

All of this news you find shocking? All of these acts that you go "THE KOPS" that you keep pointing out? I've been knowing about this for years. It's not new or shocking news to me. In fact, you likely don't even know the half of it. You see, due to my skin color, cops tend to just stop and ask me questions when I'm doing the highly suspicious activity of, for example....

Walking down the street.

So please stop taking what I say completely out of context. But I will make one thing very, very clear.

The majority of you motherfuckers don't even know the half of shit we got to deal with.

lol.

Act like an internet hardass all you want. I'm sorry Afghanistan turned you into a cold, useless shell of a human being, but that doesn't mean the rest of us have gotten so blinded by injustice that we're indifferent to the problem. I'm sorry - what'd you say? I've been reading about cops shooting innocent people for years. I'm sorry if it doesn't worry you as much as me that the US Police have a power fetish and like to get off on it. And I'm sorry, you've been stopped for your skin color your whole life? So has every other black person. You don't live in a bubble, and acting like getting gunned down in the street because of your skin color - and because of your murderer's uniform - shouldn't bother anyone doesn't help.

"I don't care, because this has been going on for years." Not only is this a terrible argument, it makes you a bad person. So as long as any injustice carries on long enough, we should just look the other way?

What're you suggesting? The cops at the NOLA bridge be let off because it's old news? Or that I shouldn't report it for discussion because "cops murdering people isn't new"?

Edit: I keep rereading your posts and I literally can't see what you're getting at, other then "why should I care?"

[MadMusician]

"I don't care because it's been happening for years." is not what I've been saying. "You goons are just now finding out about this?" Is. From what I see from your own posts, you either just found out that racism exists, or you're surprised that the cops would even think of abusing their authority. Yes, cops murdering people isen't new at all, but I do have a newsflash for you, my reporter aspirant: This is a roleplaying chatroom forum that less than a 100 people go to.

At least it's a start that you're trying to get it out there that this shit happens all the damn time, but when someone tells you that there is indeed usually more than one side to the story, and that the authority does often also see things their own way, don't get offended just because someone even comperhends that the murderer/serial killer/rapist may be able to tell a lie. Does the goverment/cops/whoever lie to? Yes, they do. No, they shoulden't do it. Did I ever suggest that any goon get let off the hook? No. Rather, I've been implying the opposite.

You want to be heard? You want to get the attention you obviously crave? Go to SA. Go to 4chan. They might troll the fuck out of you, but at least that implies they actually need to read your posts in the first place...which would be to say, a fuckton of people.

Edit: And after thinking about it, if you don't like my "Murderer's Uniform." than you can get the fuck out of my country. You're no advocate for equal or humane rights: You're a poser that just hates the cops and any and all forms of authority.

What Inquisitor thinks all authority that he isen't in charge of is:

[Inquisitor]

"I don't care because it's been happening for years." is not what I've been saying. "You goons are just now finding out about this?" Is. From what I see from your own posts, you either just found out that racism exists, or you're surprised that the cops would even think of abusing their authority. Yes, cops murdering people isen't new at all, but I do have a newsflash for you, my reporter aspirant: This is a roleplaying chatroom forum that less than a 100 people go to.

Yes, you're right. I've never read into this subject at all. The world is a startling new place and I am a blind, dumb, stumbling retard. Or maybe I'm just discussing an ongoing issue.

At least it's a start that you're trying to get it out there that this shit happens all the damn time, but when someone tells you that there is indeed usually more than one side to the story, and that the authority does often also see things their own way, don't get offended just because someone even comperhends that the murderer/serial killer/rapist may be able to tell a lie. Does the goverment/cops/whoever lie to? Yes, they do. No, they shoulden't do it. Did I ever suggest that any goon get let off the hook? No. Rather, I've been implying the opposite.

Both sides lie. Look for the truth in the middle. If you want, I'd gladly like to hear your argument in defense of the NOLA Bridge shooters.

You want to be heard? You want to get the attention you obviously crave? Go to SA.

There's quite a few excellent threads in D&D and GBS about this issue and other ones. It's also interesting if you want to read about the ongoing police abuse and then watch the actual police goons discuss the topics in their own thread.

Go to 4chan.

nah

They might troll the fuck out of you, but at least that implies they actually need to read your posts in the first place...which would be to say, a fuckton of people.

What's your argument? Should I not discuss the issues because they're old? I made a thread to discuss some prison/police issues, not dick measure over who knows the most about getting fucked over by the police.

Edit: And after thinking about it, if you don't like my "Murderer's Uniform." than you can get the fuck out of my country. You're no advocate for equal or humane rights: You're a poser that just hates the cops and any and all forms of authority.

Are you a cop, or a soldier? They're supposed to be two different types of people. My beef with the military lies in politics and budgets, not in the men. My beef with police has to deal with widespread abuse, corruption, and a willingness to cover it all up. And by the way - it's our country. God bless the First Amendment.

What Inquisitor thinks all authority that he isen't in charge of is:

You read a lot of right-wing websites?

[Furr]

God bless the First Amendment

Except the United States of America wasn't meant to be having a state religion.


That aside, corruption and cover-ups are uniform for any police force, sadly. Just as with politicians, the power corrupts. That said, not ALL policemen are corrupt assholes, just as not ALL politicians are corrupt assholes.

[Inquisitor]

God bless the First Amendment

Except the United States of America wasn't meant to be having a state religion.

it was a joke

[Styles]

Wait, human beings in general are dirtbags? This is news to me!

"People are douchebags, might as well look the other way when a cop shoots a bunch of niggers on a bridge" ?

I'm sorry but this made me laugh hysterically.

Also, hadn't checked this thread in a while, was wondering if anything new developed since the end of the hunger strike that may not have been skewed.

[Inquisitor]

I thought I had surely made a post. After about 3 weeks the Hunger Strike ended; the prison guards gave minor concessions to the prisoners in exchange for an end to the strike. They were all minor, the only one that sticks out in my mind is that the prisoners will now be allowed to wear a hat outside in the winter.