Injustice in Incarceration

March 2019

This essay seeks to address the various degrees of injustice present in United Stated detention facilities and the effects of these injustices on those inmates detained. Varied sources and mediums play a large role in the relay of this information and through a deeper rhetorical analysis of each we can successfully verify evidence that supports our claim, in this case that the Men and Women incarcerated today are not only losing their freedom when entering the prison system, but also some of their natural human rights and liberties.

The first source analyzed is a magazine article, the purpose of the article is to provide advocacy about human rights violations in prisons. In “Inmates at Freezing Federal Jail in Brooklyn Pound Out a Message in Protest,” Andy Newman, Christina Goldman and Annie Correal set the current scene at a New York State federal prison, where inmates are being held without apparent electricity for heat during weeks of record-low temperatures. An electrical fire had caused the loss of power and in turn heat, but once power was restored cells were still sub-zero due to an issue with the heating systems. This article was published immediately following the statements made by NY Governor Cuomo within the time of protests outside and within the prison. Cuomo commented, ”No one in New York should live in fear that they may freeze to death alone in the dark, these allegations are a violation of human decency and dignity. They also raise questions of potential violations of law.” (“Inmates at Freezing Federal Jail in Brooklyn Pound Out a Message in Protest.”)  There are many quotes and firsthand accounts by protesters, even quotes from inmates within the prison’s walls taken from paper airplanes thrown to protesters below.  The intended audience is any New Yorker, or potentially any subscriber to the New York Times. The New York Times is costly and is available via paid subscription or through an educational license granted to collegiate students and professors. This can lead to the assumption that the audience is educated, and/or in control of disposable income. This audience is important to the piece because the intention is to inspire change and spread awareness, and this audience likely has access to means that can help those negatively affected by the situation, in this case those incarcerated. By alerting the public on such a large scale, the issues causing the violations within the prison are successfully brought to lawmakers and politicians’ attention to raise awareness and hopefully invoke positive change for those facing violations of their civil rights while incarcerated. Advocacy on such a topic provides a first-hand account to those who may not understand the injustices occurring, as well as an insight to the humanity of those incarcerated. The accounts provided adequately address the humanity of these inmates in the text, “As protesters massed in front of the jail Sunday afternoon, a paper airplane fluttered down from the third floor and landed on the sidewalk. There was a handwritten message on it: ”Call my family tell my wife I’m O.K.” (“Inmates at Freezing Federal Jail in Brooklyn Pound Out a Message in Protest.”) Although it is a fully factual news article, it is opinionated in the sense that it is certainly pro inmates’ rights and against the current prison conditions. The writers source many family members of those incarcerated, and even make comparisons to slave-ship like conditions. “The knocking is triggering, it has similarities to the sounds in slave ships, the sounds of solitary confinement,” said Tamika Mallory, one of the organizers of the protests.” The writers themselves never take a direct stance or make a clear claim of position on the topic, but their lack of opposing viewpoints provided can lead the reader to conclude the author agrees with the various statements provided that condemn the Metropolitan Detention Center. While it is true those incarcerated may have committed various crimes of various degrees, their basic human liberties still must be protected in order to preserve a fair and just society. The article intends to share the context of a deprived environment to a reader who may never experience such injustices and does this by appealing to the readers sense and understanding of humane conditions that all human beings deserve in a modern society.

The second source analyzed is a Tweet from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Twitter is a microblogging internet platform, including various genres, mostly focused on current news but including poetry and fiction, written either individually or collectively. The purpose, because of the medium, is to spread awareness to a new audience that might not ordinarily pay attention to such topics. Because it is an important topic that has to do with civil rights and the protection of liberties, twitter is a great place to start and hopefully attract new supporters.At the time of the tweet inmates at a Brooklyn penitentiary were being held without heat or electricity in sub-zero conditions, banging on walls and shouting in protest to the inhumanity. The Tweet is short, but quickly sets the tone of high tensions not only at the location of protest but nationally within those that see this type of incarceration as a complete human rights violation by presenting a statement from NAACP Director of Litigation, Sam Spital, “The people detained at this federal facility have been kept on lockdown for 23 hours a day, with their pleas for help now echoing into New York City’s streets. This situation is not just inhumane, but likely unconstitutional.” (published via Tweet, February 2019/@NAACP_LDF.) Because the statement was made via tweet, we can assume the intention of the tweet is to raise awareness in a short, concise manner to a broad audience (Twitter). Twitter is public to the world unless an account is private. This account is not private. Therefore, the audience is anyone with an internet connection and interest in the topic. Because of the inclusion of hashtags there is an increased potential for visibility to those who might be able to help invoke change. A hashtag is an effective way to increase visibility because it puts the tweet into a more accessible position, as now anyone who is interested in the hashtags included in the tweet or researching the topic of the hashtag can find the tweet and its information just by searching for information on the metropolitan detention centers, or recent news in Brooklyn. The NAACP is fully oppositional to the situation at hand and oppositional to all violations of civil rights and liberties. They make this clear through their statements available on twitter and through the press and they are active in trying to change regulations and laws currently violating the rights of the American citizen.

The third analyzed source is a law-review, “‘The shameful wall of exclusion’: how solitary confinement for inmates with mental illness violates the Americans with Disabilities Act” where author Jessica Knowles outlines the Americans for Disabilities Act (ADA), and its applications to those incarcerated. Knowles specifically addresses solitary confinement or secure housing units (SHU) in prisons and their direct correlation to the causation of mental illness, especially in those with predispositions towards such illnesses. This isolation proves to be a clear violation of the ADA as they are breaking the law through the “isolation of mentally ill inmates on the basis of their disability, prolonging inmates’ solitary confinement due to their preexisting or manifesting mental illness, or fail to provide access to aids, benefits, or services to inmates with mental illness who need to be isolated for safety reasons” (Knowles.) This review was written was to address the effectiveness of the ADA and how it is being violated when those with mental illness or predisposition to mental illness are placed into Secure Housing units. Because of its publishing in a formal law journal, we can assume the intended audience is someone educated, potentially beyond average collegiate degree, potentially someone with a post-grad doctorate or law degree. This audience would likely take the most interest in the topic of how the laws are being violated and how they can potentially act. It could also be directed toward the audience of those in the process of education, learning and researching potential injustices in society. Jessica Knowles, the author of the review is well educated and an attorney, who regularly works on the topic of the conditions of incarceration alongside the ACLU. Published in the Washington Law Review following complaints by inmates concerning solitary housing conditions, the American Civil Liberties Union often defends the rights of those whose voice may not otherwise be heard, including those incarcerated especially. Because of her position at the ACLU and her opinions shared within the review the reader can believe she is in total opposition to the conditions and treatments of those incarcerated and especially those held in solitary housing.

The final source under analysis is a newspaper article focused on identifying violations of the Human Rights of Women in custody. Published in 1999, this Magazine article seeks to report on the presence of women’s rights violations in penitentiary’s and the lack of a path for women to voice their complaints or call for corrections to such injustices. It also addresses issues such as the lack of female prison guards, sexual abuse within prisons, and the uses of restraints and solitary housing. Based on the statements made by Amnesty International, an organization working globally to protect and preserve human rights, the purpose as a result of the previously stated situation, is to call directly on government officials to “take urgent action to ensure that the laws, regulations, policies and practices for which they are responsible rigorously conform to international standards and respect the human rights of women deprived of their liberty.” (Amnesty International.) As stated by Amnesty International, they target a group of higher educated, and political figures “federal, state and local governments and authorities” as the intended audience as they are likely to be able to create the necessary change. Amnesty remains one of the largest non-profits fighting to protect human rights worldwide. They have been in establishment since 1961 and have over 2 million members. Their stance on violations of the 8th amendment and the rights of those incarcerated remains unchanged; oppositional to current prison standards, optimistic on the future of change within these prisons, and insistent on a better future for all, within prison walls or on the outside.

Each source analyzed addressed the same topic, injustice to those incarcerated, and through their varied perspectives and means of relaying these perspectives, provided an adequately rounded position on a topic in our society that remains controversial. Each source fully supported the claim that inmates in our national prison system are being subjected to either excessive punishment and/or depravation of natural rights that is wholly uncalled for in a modern society. There is no just reason or fair causation for any of the stated inhumane conditions forced upon those within our prisons, and each source successfully brings the conditions to the correct attention of a specific audience whether it be those on the highest plane of education or anyone skimming through their Twitter feed. Through this expansion of knowledge to the non-incarcerated masses, these injustices can hopefully be corrected.

^{Works Cited}

^{Newman, Andy, et al. “Inmates at Freezing Federal Jail in Brooklyn Pound Out a Message in Protest.” New York Times, 4 Feb. 2019, p. A17(L). Academic OneFile, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A572357886/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=7d8cbf71.}

^{Knowles, Jessica. “‘The shameful wall of exclusion’: how solitary confinement for inmates with mental illness violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.” Washington Law Review, vol. 90, no. 2, 2015, p. 893+. Academic OneFile, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A421523725/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=7779f22f.}

^{@NAACP_LDF. “6. 8th AMENDMENT RIGHTS: Inmates at #metropolitandetentioncenter in #Brooklyn are still without adequate heat, water or lighting. We demanded Acting AG Whitaker launch an investigation into the facility’s unlivable conditions. Read our statement: “https://bit.ly/2WEelEI ” Twitter, 8 Feb. 2019, 10:25 a.m., https://twitter.com/NAACP_LDF/status/1092126980122779648.}

^{“USA: ‘NOT PART OF MY SENTENCE’-VIOLATIONS OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN CUSTODY.” WIN News, Spring 1999, p. 47. Academic OneFile, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A63636692/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=018f6e3e.  Accessed 11 Feb. 2019.}