Criminal Justice Reform

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What impact is the media having on police brutality protests and the Black Lives Matter movement? John Iadarola and Elie Mystal break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/racist-police-violence/ “Like all black parents, I believe that talking to my children about the protests surrounding the death of George Floyd also involves contextualizing the current struggle against police brutality within the generations-long struggle for equal rights. I need my sons to know that the fight they see on television is part of a larger struggle that started long before they were born and that they must take up after I am gone. This week I told my older son, a sensitive 7-year-old, that his grandmother participated in protests when she was not much older than he is now. I told him that she, too, faced police brutality and that one day it would be his turn to fight this battle. But my kid is just a kid. He listened to my family history lesson, yet when thinking about his role in this story, he was optimistic as only a child can be. He told me cheerfully, “Maybe this time will be the last time.” #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksJune 26

Founder of People Over Profits, Sean Shaw takes down the criminal injustice system with these effective policies. He joins John Iadarola to break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://thepeopleoverprofits.org/ "People Over Profits is centering a new conversation to put working people first. It is time for our political conversation to be centered on those who work the hardest, not those who can afford to speak the loudest. It is time for a new focus on working Americans. Florida and the nation deserve a bold vision — a future where every American has equal access to the ballot, where a fair day’s work earns a living wage, where health care is a right and not a privilege, and where every family enjoys clean air and clean water. We’re building a progressive movement to make that future a reality." Read more here: https://seanshaw.com/ "Sean Shaw is a proven fighter for the people of Florida. In his historic 2018 campaign for Attorney General, Sean fought fearlessly for bold policies that put regular Floridians first. Now, as an attorney and civic leader, he’s continuing to stand up for working people. Sean Shaw made history in 2018 as the Florida Democratic Party’s first African-American nominee for Attorney General. Sean’s progressive platform sought to expand rights for consumers and hold fraudsters, corrupt politicians, and special interests accountable. The election results proved the momentum for his candidacy: over 3,000,000 Floridians voted for his bold agenda, more than any other candidate for attorney general in state history. Earlier in his career, Sean was an independent watchdog for the public as the state’s Insurance Consumer Advocate — working to protect consumers from price gouging and insurance fraud. Every decision Sean made was centered on what was best for consumers, not wealthy special interests. Elected to the State Legislature in 2016, Sean continued to fight for consumers, and championed equal rights and equal opportunity for all. As an attorney in private practice, Sean fought for victims of the BP Oil Spill, ensuring families and businesses — whose only fault was having an unlucky address — get what they are owed." #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksJune 12

Criminal justice reform activists and veteran fights for equality in NY-9. Isiah James joins John Iadarola to break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Donate to Isiah’s campaign here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/friends-of-isiah-1# Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://www.isiahforcongress.com/isiahs-story "I was born the son of two working-class parents. My father was a day laborer who immigrated to Brooklyn from the island of Jamaica. My mother was born in rural Mississippi, growing up in a sharecropping town at the height of racial segregation. My parents instilled in me a profound sense of determination and perseverance — but more importantly, a sense of unyielding responsibility to fight for what I believe in — values I carry with me to this day. I’m familiar with the struggles of working-class families because I’ve lived it, watching my parents work — day in and day out, to provide for me and my ten siblings. And though they surrounded us with an abundance of love, my parents often struggled - - facing the rising costs of groceries, housing and transportation - they still managed to send us to decent public schools and equip us with an education. ‍ From an early age I was aware that opportunities for Americans like me and my family were often limited, not because of a lack of potential or work ethic, but because of a broken system that extracted labor and resources from communities like mine, but seldom provided pathways to a better life." #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksJune 10

Two Buffalo police officers are facing justice for their actions. June 8

Trump associate, Paul Manafort, was released from prison, raising serious questions. John Iadarola and Jayar Jackson break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/trump-campaign-chairman-paul-manafort-released-home-confinement/story?id=70642927 "President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been released from prison to serve the remainder of his sentence in home confinement because of concerns over the novel coronavirus, two sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. Manafort was released from FCI Loretto in central Pennsylvania early Wednesday morning, the two sources said. An attorney for Manafort confirmed he had been released to home confinement but declined to comment further. The Bureau of Prisons also did not immediately respond to a request for comment." #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksMay 13

New outbreak epicenters confirmed in a new ACLU model. John Iadarola and Michael Shure break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://www.theroot.com/new-covid-19-model-predicts-failure-to-reduce-jails-wil-1843005082 "Since the coronavirus became a global pandemic, predictive models have been an important—and hotly debated—tool to help understand the spread of the virus and anticipate potential needs. According to the estimates coming out of the White House’s models, slightly more than 100,000 people will die from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. It’s a staggering but, unfortunately, not altogether unthinkable number: more than 45,000 people have died in the U.S. so far, and COVID cases have yet to peak in many states. According to a new report from the ACLU, it’s also a gross undercount. According to an epidemiological model released on Wednesday, a collaboration between the ACLU and a team of academic researchers across the country shows that the number of COVID-related deaths will increase twofold if measures are not taken to adequately reduce jail populations. Even if social distancing is strictly followed in every other area of American life, running jails as per usual would potentially cause an additional 100,000 people, both in and outside of jails, to lose their lives." #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksApril 23

Fox Host, Lou Dobbs warmongers, pushing for an all out war with China. John Iadarola and Brett Erlich break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://www.mediaite.com/tv/watch-lou-dobbs-suggests-coronavirus-could-be-a-biological-weapon-proposes-u-s-take-china-to-war/ "Despite the Pentagon strongly downplaying the possibility and no evidence to support the conclusion, Lou Dobbs suggested that the coronavirus could be a biological weapon, and proposed that the United States go to war with China over the outbreak. In an interview Thursday with K.T. McFarland, who served as deputy national security advisor under President Donald Trump, Dobbs floated the possibility that the coronavirus was created by China as a biological weapon. “If this turns out to be a biological weapon, K.T., if this happens to be a conscious and overt act on the part of the Chinese military — and we know that biological warfare is part of their military doctrine, a significant part, just as cyber warfare or any other — if this were to turn out to be that, what should be the response?” Dobbs said. “Because I’m not interested in two and three year programs … This country is not operating in the 21st century if we think we have time to retool, reposition, repurpose. We have to have an answer now.”" #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksApril 17

Coronavirus is devastating communities of prisoners including Rikers Island. John Iadarola and Jayar Jackson break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/22/coronavirus-outbreak-new-york-city-jails-rikers-island "New York City was hit by the nation’s largest coronavirus jail outbreak to date this week, with at least 38 people testing positive at the notorious Rikers Island complex and nearby facilities, more than half of them incarcerated men, the board that oversees the city’s jail system said Saturday. Another inmate, meanwhile, became the first in the country to test positive in a federal jail.In a letter to New York’s criminal justice leaders, Board of Correction interim chairwoman Jacqueline Sherman described a jail system in crisis. She said in the last week, board members learned that 12 Department of Corrections employees, five Correctional Health Services employees, and 21 people in custody at Rikers and city jails had tested positive for the coronavirus." #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksMarch 24

Donald Trump’s pardons follow this specific pattern. What is Donald Trump up to? Brett Erlich & Sarah Chayes break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/how-kleptocracies-work/606958/ "Donald Trump’s decision this week to pardon several Americans convicted of fraud or corruption has garnered condemnation from many in the political establishment. The pardons were shocking to some, but to me they were eerily familiar—straight out of the kleptocratic playbook I’ve experienced and studied in a dozen other countries. I was immediately reminded, for instance, of an episode from August 2010. I had been living and working in Afghanistan for the better part of a decade, and was participating in an effort to push anti-corruption toward the center of the U.S. mission there. A long, carefully designed, and meticulously executed investigation culminated in the arrest of a palace aide on charges of extorting a bribe. But the man did not spend a single night in jail. Afghan President Hamid Karzai made a call; the aide was released; and the case was dropped." #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksMarch 9

Take control of your internet experience with NordVPN.com/TYT. Get a 3 year plan for 70% off plus 1 extra month for free! Donald Trump got himself caught up in Bloomberg’s leaked racist audio recording. John Iadarola breaks it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://nypost.com/2020/02/11/trump-deletes-tweet-calling-michael-bloomberg-a-total-racist-after-leaked-audio/ "President Trump ripped 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg as a “total racist” after audio released Tuesday from a 2015 speech showed the former mayor unapologetically defending his controversial “stop-and-frisk” policy, which targeted young men of color. “WOW, BLOOMBERG IS A TOTAL RACIST!” the commander-in-chief tweeted early Tuesday along with a link to the audio clip. Within minutes, the tweet had been taken down. In leaked audio of Bloomberg’s speech, the Democrat sounded defiant in his acknowledgment of how the policy targeted minority kids in minority neighborhoods, arguing that they were targeted “because that’s where all the crime is.” “Ninety-five percent of murders, murderers and murder victims fit one M.O. You can just take a description, Xerox it, and pass it out to all the cops,” Bloomberg said. In late 2016, then-candidate Trump called for a nationwide stop-and-frisk policy during an interview with Fox News, saying the program “worked very well” for New York City." #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksFebruary 11

The Georgia Gang Database has some glaring issues. February 10

New York just got a whole lot safer thanks to this new piece of legislature. John Iadarola and Wade McMullen break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/new-yorks-upcoming-bail-reform-changes-explained "A new bail law goes into effect on January 1 in New York. It will eliminate pretrial detention and cash bail as an option in an estimated 90 percent of arrests. For the remaining cases, judges will maintain the option of setting cash bail. As the effective date nears, some have raised concerns, leading to the introduction of legislation to roll back the bail reform package or put a moratorium on implementation. Here are the facts about what the law does and doesn’t do. The law’s provisions For most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, cash bail is no longer permitted. Judges must release individuals charged with those crimes with no cash bail, either on their own recognizance or with release conditions designed to ensure that the individual returns to court, such as pretrial supervision and text message reminders for court dates. For those charged with the most serious crimes — including almost all violent felonies and certain nonviolent felonies, such as sex offenses and witness tampering — very little has changed in New York. In those cases, judges will retain the option to set cash bail. In addition, the law has not changed what judges are permitted to consider in setting bail. Unlike almost all other states, judges in New York are not permitted to detain people due to concerns that they will pose a danger to the community if released. This part of the legislation is consistent with longstanding law in New York, which has prohibited the consideration of dangerousness in setting bail since 1971 in order to ensure that those charged with crimes are afforded the presumption of innocence." #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksJanuary 22

Police officers in Alabama share a disgusting Christmas greeting. John Iadarola breaks it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://www.al.com/news/2019/12/mobile-police-officers-appear-to-ridicule-homeless-people-in-viral-facebook-post.html "Two Mobile Police Officers have caused outrage online after an image of them appearing to ridicule homeless people went viral over the holiday period. The post shows the two officers holding up a so-called “quilt” of cardboard signs apparently confiscated from homeless people in the city. The accompanying text says: “Wanna wish everybody in the 4th precinct a Merry Christmas, especially our captain. Hope you enjoy our homeless quilt. Sincerely Panhandler patrol.” The two officers, Preston McGraw and Alexandre Olivier, are recent graduates of the Mobile Police Academy. McGraw graduated in February of 2018 and Olivier in January of 2019. Two other people are also tagged in the image but it’s not clear who they are. The photo appears to have been taken inside a Mobile Police Department office." #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksDecember 31

Rodney Reed case expert gives an update. John Iadarola and Jordan Smith break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Support Justice for Rodney Reed here: https://justice4rodneyreed.org/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://theintercept.com/2019/11/08/rodney-reed-death-row-texas/ "DEKE PIERCE WAS wearing civilian clothes as he took to the lectern in a narrow press room inside the Texas Capitol in Austin last month, but it was still obvious that he was a cop. He stood with his feet wide and his arms slightly away from his body, a stance molded by years in a uniform encumbered by heavy gear. He was there to make an extraordinary announcement: He and 12 other members of law enforcement with more than 250 years of combined experience had filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of a Texas death row prisoner named Rodney Reed, slated for execution on November 20. “We each care deeply about the criminal justice system and the rule of law. While that often means holding wrongdoers accountable, it is the equally important goal of the criminal justice system to avoid punishing the innocent,” Pierce told a group of reporters. “Not only would moving forward with Mr. Reed’s execution be cruel and immoral, it would also undermine the rule of law and the legitimacy of the very system we as law enforcement officers swore to uphold.”" #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksNovember 14

Death row bombshell could save inmate, Rodney Reed. John Iadarola and Jayar Jackson break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Sign the petition to stop this execution: https://www.freerodneyreed.com/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/11/5/20948639/rodney-reed-execution "Rodney Reed, who is scheduled to be executed later this month, has spent the past two decades on death row for a murder he says he did not commit. Now, a new witness has come forward claiming that it was the victim’s fiancé, a former police officer, who killed the woman, not Reed. The new information has shed light on what many criminal justice advocates say is a case of another black man caught up in a system that was stacked against him. On October 30, Reed’s lawyers and the Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization for criminal justice reform, filed an application for clemency with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles following the sworn affidavit of Arthur Snow, who says ex-officer Jimmy Fennell confessed to the murder of Stacy Stites when the two men were in prison together. In addition to Snow’s testimony, several other witnesses have come forward with similar stories around Fennell and his disdain for his fiancé, who he suspected was sleeping with a black man behind his back." #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksNovember 6

NYPD fails victims of sexual assault. John Iadarola and Meg O'Connor break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://theappeal.org/it-was-almost-worse-than-the-incident-itself/ "‘IT WAS ALMOST WORSE THAN THE INCIDENT ITSELF’ New NYPD data show that in 2018 the department closed nearly 500 rape cases due to an alleged lack of participation from victims and had a declining clearance rate for rape, raising questions over its handling of sexual assault. On Sept. 21, 2014, Racheal Stirling was sitting in the bedroom of her East Village apartment when her neighbor made a chilling confession. Juan Scott told Stirling he liked to go to his rooftop to watch naked women through their apartment windows. He called it “showtime.” Sometimes, Scott said, he would find these women on the street and ask them out. “Kind of makes you wonder how I found you,” Scott told Stirling. She had been casually dating Scott for a few months; they had met when he approached her outside her apartment.” #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksOctober 16

Bill de Blasio’s human rights atrocity persists with new prison replacement. John Iadarola, Brooke Thomas, and Jimmy Van Bramer break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://queenseagle.com/all/2019/9/30/opinion-building-mega-jails-to-replace-rikers-wont-end-the-prison-industrial-complex "When Mayor de Blasio announced his long-overdue plan to close the Rikers Island jail complex, the concept was to create a new jail system that was "smaller, safer and fairer." Instead, the current jail plan calls for four mega-jails, including a 27-floor building here in Queens. Rikers is a human rights atrocity, but building mega jails won’t solve the problem. At a time when we should be ending the jail and prison industrial complex, this proposal will invest ten billion dollars right back into the system. It’s a waste. The city’s crime rate continues to decrease dramatically, with fewer than 7,000 people held on Rikers; way down from more than 20,000 in the nineties. So why are we spending billions of dollars to build sky-high cages stacked on top of each other? It’s also personal for me. My older brother was arrested several times as a teenager for small burglaries. We were poor and scrambled to cobble together enough money to spare him from a night in Rikers. We always came up short, and as a consequence, he was shipped off for a few days each time. The trauma of being locked up in such a horrific place changed him. For a troubled kid involved in non-violent, petty criminal activity, incarceration did not help: it set him back." #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksOctober 14

A Fort Worth, Texas cop shot and killed Atatiana Koquice Jefferson inside her own home. October 14

Joshua Brown, key witness in police officer Amber Guyger’s trial, has been murdered. John Iadarola and Brooke Thomas break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/464572-ocasio-cortez-demands-authorities-get-to-the-bottom-of-joshua-browns-murder "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) took to Twitter on Sunday to call for authorities to “get to the bottom” of Joshua Brown’s murder, days after the key witness in the murder trial of former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was shot to death. “Just when we caught a glimpse of justice for Botham Jean, much of it feels stolen back with the murder of Joshua Brown, a key witness in the case,” she tweeted. “My heart breaks for his family and for everyone touched by this tragedy. We must get to the bottom of this injustice.”" #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksOctober 7

Amber Guyger was convicted of murder and sentenced to years in prison for killing her neighbor. October 3

Amber Guyger broke down and said that HER life was ruined when she shot an unarmed man in his apartment. September 27

DeSean Jackson paid tribute to Nipsey Hussle in his return to Philly. Rick Strom breaks it down.September 10

NYPD uses a twelve-year-old child for DNA evidence. John Iadarola and Janika White break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/nyregion/nypd-dna-database.html?smid=tw-nytmetro&smtyp=cur “New York City detectives questioning a boy facing a felony charge last year offered him a McDonald’s soda. When the boy left, they took the straw and tested it for his DNA. Although it did not match evidence found at a crime scene, his DNA was entered into the city’s genetic database. To have it removed, the child’s family had to petition a court and file an appeal, a process that took more than a year. The boy was 12. The city’s DNA database has grown by nearly 29 percent over the last two years, and now has 82,473 genetic profiles, becoming a potentially potent tool for law enforcement but one that operates with little if any oversight. The New York Police Department has taken DNA samples from people convicted of crimes, as well as from people who are only arrested or sometimes simply questioned. The practice has exposed the Police Department to scrutiny over how the genetic material is collected and whether privacy rights are being violated, civil liberties lawyers said.” #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksSeptember 4

This CEO is getting triggered by AOC. August 28

Bernie Sanders' empathy shines in a revolutionary plan for criminal justice reform. John Iadarola and Brooke Thomas break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/18/politics/bernie-sanders-criminal-justice-reform-plan/index.html "Washington (CNN)Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders unveiled Sunday a criminal justice overhaul to "reform every aspect of America's dysfunctional criminal justice system" by ending "for-profit greed" in the system, expanding inmates' rights and changing how policing works in the country. According to the plan, if elected president, Sanders -- who has long campaigned on ending for-profit prisons -- would ban cash bail and civil asset forfeiture, as well as increase the number of public defenders and funding for them to better serve certain communities, according to the plan. He would also enact a "Prisoner Bill of Rights" for incarcerated people that includes rights to living wages and educational training, as well as the right to vote. Sanders proposes his latest plan amid an election cycle in which the country's criminal justice system and mass incarceration are critical issues for candidates and voters, particularly people of color. The comprehensive plan, which was rolled out on the same day that Sanders made several campaign stops in Columbia, South Carolina, could provide fodder for the Vermont independent as he looks to court African-American voters in battleground states and elsewhere. At a town hall on Sunday, the candidate billed the plan as "perhaps the boldest criminal justice reform package in the history of United States politics."" #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksAugust 19

A Brazilian gang leader wore a disguise of his daughter to escape prison but was discovered before he could make it out. August 5

Jeffery Epstein was found crying injured on the floor of his jail cell. John Iadarola and Emma Vigeland break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jeffrey-epstein-injured-jail-cell_n_5d39b56ee4b020cd994fb576 "Jeffrey Epstein was found injured in his New York City jail cell while awaiting federal sex abuse charges, according to multiple reports. The multimillionaire financier, who is accused of sex trafficking underage girls, was found semi-conscious at the Metropolitan Correctional Center with marks on his neck, local station NBC New York first reported, citing sources close to the investigation. It’s not yet clear whether the injuries, which were incurred Tuesday, were self-inflicted or the result of an assault. The injuries were not described as serious and prison officials were treating it as a possible suicide attempt, a law enforcement official who had been briefed on the matter told The New York Times. A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in an email to HuffPost on Thursday said Epstein remains housed at the jail facility, denying reports that he had been taken to a local hospital for treatment. “As with all inmates, for privacy and security reasons, we do not share information on an inmate’s medical status or their conditions of confinement,” the spokesperson added." #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksJuly 25

Security camera footage shows guards brutally beating a mentally ill man while he was restrained. June 6

A correctional facility in Maryland has been called out for not following the law. Ana Kasparian and Brooke Thomas break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/a-new-law-promised-marylands-female-inmates-free-tampons-theyre-still-paying/2019/06/04/cc5442da-86d7-11e9-a491-25df61c78dc4_story.html?utm_term=.d4c9150071d9 "Female inmates in Maryland are still paying for tampons, sometimes at high prices, despite a law requiring free access to feminine hygiene products in the state’s prison system. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) signed legislation last year to ensure a free supply for female prisoners beginning in October 2018. But months later, inmates at the women’s prison say they still must buy the products they need. An inmate recently paid $5.69 for a box of 18 supersize tampons, according to a commissary receipt reviewed by The Washington Post. Online retailers sell boxes with twice as many tampons for the same price or less. The lawmaker behind the measure, Sen. Susan C. Lee (D-Montgomery), said she is shocked and disappointed that women are still paying out-of-pocket. “This is about fundamental human dignity and access to a basic necessity,” Lee said this week. “We thought it was common sense.” Lee urged the Hogan administration to move quickly to implement the policy as the General Assembly intended." #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksJune 6

Prisoners in New York have the option of going through a brutal boot camp program to shave time off their sentence. John Iadarola and Keri Blakinger break it down on The Damage Report. Follow The Damage Report on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDamageReportTYT/ Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport?sub_confirmation=1 Follow The Damage Report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDamageReport Read more here: https://theappeal.org/new-york-prisons-offer-tough-love-boot-camp-programs-but-prisoners-say-theyre-torture-and-hell/ "Prisoners can shave time off their sentences by participating in shock incarceration programs. More than a dozen former shock prisoners say that comes at a steep cost. They were called crackheads and bad parents. They were forced to wear cones on their heads with humiliating signs. They shoveled snow with spoons, and stood stoically as drill instructors forced them to fill their pockets with wet food from the mess hall when they couldn’t eat it all. Sometimes they were hit or were sexually abused. Afterward, they were sent home from prison, ostensibly cured and no longer a threat to society. In New York’s shock incarceration programs, prisoners with three years or less left on their sentences can spend six months doing drills, learning military discipline and taking substance abuse classes in a strict “therapeutic community” environment in exchange for an early shot at freedom. Such programs are largely unknown to the public. But people in county jails and drug courts, and in prison reception centers and on the streets, are well acquainted with them. The decades-old programs in the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) are some of the last in the country. The “tough love” programs claim a lower recidivism rate, and they have long been a darling of the tough-on-crime upstate Republican lawmakers who court corrections officer union support and tout the possibility of cost savings from early releases." #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurksMay 22

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