The 20,000 pound Elephant
Updated: Oct 28, 2021
Okay. The New York Times has been doing some phenomenal reporting on the perpetual chaos taking place @ Rikers Island. Rikers Island is for pre-trial detainees the 5th amendment provides that they are "innocent until proven guilty". This means that there is a distinct possibility that a pre-trial detainee may be innocent. There have been 12 in custody deaths @ Rikers in 2021. Five of them were suicides. This facility is severely understaffed while in the throes of an international pandemic. It befuddles me how we excoriate other nations in regard to Human Rights yet we ignore the 20,000 pound elephant on our front porch. Now my point is that there are pre-trial detainees that @ Rikers who are pleading guilty rather than endure the deplorable pre-trial conditions. That is the problem. To plead guilty to do time even though you haven't committed a crime to escape these abysmal pre-trial conditions. Prisoners are dying @ Rikers while 1/3 of the staff get paid leave to prove a point? This is ludicrous. Eric Adams? Haven't heard him? Al Sharpton? Where are you @ Why is Rikers Island still open. Every attorney who has a client @ this prison should utilize these deplorable conditions as mitigating circumstances for bail! Khalid @ USPCanaan@TheDayRoom#RightNow#MassiveIncarceration