686
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to c/news@lemmy.world

In a report published on Thursday, three U.N.-appointed experts said they had found practices in U.S. prisons that amounted to "an affront to human dignity" in visits in April and May.

The U.S. diplomatic mission in Geneva declined to comment. The Federal Bureau of Prisons said it was committed to ensuring the safety and security of incarcerated individuals as well as employees and the public.

One such practice is restraining and shackling women prisoners during childbirth, the report said.

The experts "heard, first hand, unbearable direct testimonies of pregnant women shackled during labour, who due to the chaining, lost their babies", it said. Asked to give details, a U.N. rights spokesperson referred to "several" cases and confirmed they all involved Black women.

all 48 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] WilliamTheWicked@lemmy.world 84 points 1 year ago

I mean, honestly, this is a rather unfair assessment.

It's not just our jail system. It's pretty much the entire judicial system at every step of the way, from a traffic stop to eventual execution.

[-] Jerkules_Jerkules@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago

our police/courts/corrections is an industry, unfortunately. Who knew that placing ever more profit motives on arresting, processing, and jailing people would end up leading to bad outcomes.

But, hey, it's just the unwashed the masses, so who cares, I guess.

[-] Wogi@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

Stop and film.

Don't talk to the police.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 54 points 1 year ago

True about a lot of U.S. practices, especially those involving people of color.

[-] PetDinosaurs@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I very much don't disagree, but one of the reasons we hear about these issues in the US is that we have a much larger "minority" (meaning not the people in power, even if there is a plurality) population.

In places like South America, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe, there's either a homogenous population where this doesn't make sense as a criticism or it's just not being reported on. There's huge amounts of racism all over the world.

The US and Canada have problems, but there are going to be pains as we identify and try to correct these racial injustices.

Remember: while colonialism and triangle trade slavery were the worst examples of racism, and the West invented that, it did not invent racism.

What it did invent was feeling bad about racism and trying to improve things.

This is not to defend or deflect anything. It's more that I find "consciousness raising" to be effective.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

I disagree. I think the reason why we hear about these stories is because the U.S. is supposed to be the 'land of the free' and the place for 'your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.' And then it turns out that no, it's actually a shithole. And then it turns out that it's especially bad for minorities due to whatever specific situation the story is about. So I think you've kind of got it backwards.

[-] PetDinosaurs@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I don't see your comment as addressing the same thing at all.

The land of the free was never really a thing. If you are even considering that as part of the discussion, I think you're being naive. America (us and Canada) just has a lot of resources in the sense that it was guaranteed to be a world power for geographic reasons. ("Guns, germs, and steel" is an interesting, but accessible, but also dated, discussion of that)

Any trivial understanding of US, European, or world history will show you the same. Getting people to interact well with out groups is extremely hard. especially in the event of diaspora.

My ancestors, like most of everyone poor brought to the new world, were transported here as human garbage. They weren't taken as chattel slaves, but a share cropper or indentured servant is still not something to be admired either.

We're talking about addressing racial issues. My ancestors were "non white" whites. They disappeared because they didn't have an observable difference. We're now addressing the observable ones.

[-] charonn0@startrek.website 7 points 1 year ago

"Shithole"?

Strongly disagree. Whatever problems the USA has, there are far more places that are far worse, and very few that are better.

[-] girlfreddy@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

Just because there are worse places in no way means that America is not a shithole as well ... specifically because it promises hope and freedom and but gives murdering cops and killer capitalism instead.

[-] charonn0@startrek.website 8 points 1 year ago

Then all countries are shitholes and the term is rendered meaningless.

[-] alquicksilver@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

In this spirit, I suggest "porta-potty" country. A step up from shithole, since we have structure and something to sit on, but it's still unpleasant and bad in many ways.

[-] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago

"shithole" does not imply that it's better or worse than anywhere else. It's simply "shithole". Don't overthink it. The state of things in other countries has absolutely zero to do with whether or not the US is a shithole.

[-] charonn0@startrek.website 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

So, what does it mean to be a shithole?

[-] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 year ago

Even if I gave my opinion it would be subjective. Reach your own conclusion.

[-] beebarfbadger@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

"Better" and "worse" are such useless qualifiers in this context. If 99.9% of all people have nothing and one dude has half the world's money, it can be the richest country in the world and statistically lead in all categories yet still have most of the population be ruined if they ever need an ambulance transport, let alone price-gauging medical treatment.

[-] Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago

You have an okay point. Liberalism is good at advocating for certain issues, one being against racism and against the police state. I see this as an issue worth watching because the issues in some key prisons have gotten worse and more brazen in very recent years, not better.

[-] shalafi@lemmy.world 35 points 1 year ago

I get a deep sense of satisfaction every time a filthy 01/06 insurrectionist ends up in prison and whines about conditions.

Suck it up, buttercup. You were loving it when you thought it was just "those people".

[-] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

What happened on the 1st of June?

[-] beebarfbadger@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

No idea, it's just like people always going on about the 9th of November. Something about plane crashes i think?

[-] Ktheone@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago

YOU DONT SAY

[-] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 14 points 1 year ago

The headline says "jail" but the article only refers to cases in prisons. I know the entire criminal justice system is messed up, but did this UN study specifically find both jails and prisons to be severely repressive and racist?

This is an important distinction because jail is where people wait pre-trail, meaning they typically have not yet been found to be guilty of the charges brought against them, while prison is where people who have been charged, found guilty and sentenced to prison will go. Jail is where a cop that decides to arrest someone for dubious reasons will take them, whether that's enforcing an unconstitutional law (such as flag desecration laws which is protected speech under federal caselaw), findings from a blatantly illegal search, or even they arrested the wrong person because they went to the wrong address to execute a warrant, or any number of other reasons

[-] calypsopub@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

That is a good distinction to make, but even convicted felons should be treated humanely.

[-] ThatFembyWho@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

while prison is where people who have been charged, found guilty and sentenced to prison will go

Not strictly true, jails can also house those convicted of less serious crimes (say, less than 1yr), as well as temporarily awaiting transfer to other facilites.

Looks like the UN only visited jails in person, but interviewed people with a range of experiences. You can read the full report here: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/09/systemic-racism-pervades-us-police-and-justice-systems-un-mechanism-racial

[-] Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago

Do other major countries use jails the way we do? 💀

[-] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 7 points 1 year ago

Unfortunately a lot of americans like it just the way it is. Nothing's going to get better without a lot of time, or a lot of conservatives ending up in the ground

[-] Jerkules_Jerkules@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Hey now, how am I sposed to get my vengence boner stroked if there isn't someone's mugshot in the news for me to sneer at?

[-] unconsciousvoidling@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Hi, how is everyone doing today ?

[-] Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago

I had a great fucking day today :3

this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
686 points (98.0% liked)

News

23274 readers
3021 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS