Criminal Justice Reform

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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

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

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

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

Meghan McCain was offended by the idea of prisoners having the right to vote. 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.businessinsider.com/majority-oppose-bernie-sanders-inmate-prisoner-voting-plan-insider-poll-2019-4 "The vast majority of Americans — roughly 75% — do not support Sen. Bernie Sanders' proposal to enfranchise all prisoners, but many are open to giving voting rights to non-violent inmates, according to a new INSIDER poll. Only 15% of respondents said all prisoners — regardless of their crimes — should keep their voting rights while behind bars. Meanwhile, 20% said only prisoners convicted of non-violent offenses should be allowed to vote. During a CNN town hall last Monday, the Vermont senator was asked to clarify if he supports voting rights for people like the Boston Marathon bomber or people convicted of rape. Sanders replied that even "terrible people" should be allowed to vote, contending that disenfranchising any group of people is a "slippery slope." #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TYTNetworkMay 2

Hasan Piker looks at two recent cases where child abusers got off with little to no time served in a country where people serve time for weed, or even, backpacks they did not steal. May 1

Bernie Sanders bravely advocates for prisoner rights, Hasan Piker breaks down why we should re-enfranchise prisoners. http://tyt.com/hasan #TheBreakdown #TYT #HasanPikerApril 23

Bernie Sanders said that the right to vote is inherent to our democracy even for people in jail. 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.businessinsider.com/bernie-sanders-2020-democrats-divided-on-felon-prisoner-voting-rights-2019-4 "2020 Democrats across the board are in support of giving people convicted of felonies the right to vote after leaving prison, but Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday took the idea a step further and separated himself from the rest of the field. The Vermont senator is the only candidate vying for the 2020 Democratic nomination who supports enfranchising people who are currently behind bars, regardless of their crimes. Much like the issue of reparations for descendants of slaves, this topic has driven a wedge between 2020 Democrats. During a CNN town hall on Monday, Sanders was asked if he'd even support voting rights for rapists or people like the Boston marathon bomber." #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TYTNetworkApril 23

For-profit prisons don't save taxpayer money! John Iadarola and Noah Smith 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 #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TYTNetworkApril 11

Bernie Sanders wants to expand voting rights to people who are currently in prison. 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.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/4/8/18300305/bernie-sanders-prisoners-felony-voting-rights "Bernie Sanders over the weekend said that more states should let people with felony records vote while they’re in prison, Kevin Hardy reported for the Des Moines Register. “I think that is absolutely the direction we should go,” Sanders said during a town hall in Muscatine, Iowa, on Saturday, after he was asked if people should be allowed to vote from prison. Sanders’s home state of Vermont, which he represents as a US senator, is one of two that lets people vote while they’re in prison. Most states prohibit people from voting while they’re in prison, on parole, or on probation. And two — including Iowa, where Sanders was speaking — bar people with felony convictions from voting even after they’ve completed their prison, parole, or probation sentences. “You’re paying a price, you committed a crime, you’re in jail. That’s bad,” Sanders said. “But you’re still living in American society and you have a right to vote. I believe in that, yes, I do.” #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TYTNetworkApril 8

Paul Manafort: A Rich White Man Who Stole Millions, Tampered Witnesses & Undermined US democracy. 4 years in prison. Crystal Mason: A Black Woman Who Mistakenly Cast A Ballot In A Local Election. 5 YEARS in prison. Francis Maxwell EXPOSES The Two Justice Systems In America.March 8

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