THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HAS JUST RELEASED AN INVESTIGATIVE REPORT
AND A NUMBER OF PROFILES ON INDIVIDUALS WHO HAD LENGTHY
PRETRIAL JAIL TERMS WHERE THEY SPENT TIME IN CONCERT ñ
IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT.
ONE OF THEM WAS HELD IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT FOR TWO YEARS,
AND SHE HAD A FULL JAIL SENTENCE OF THREE YEARS PRIOR TO HER
TRIAL, AND IN HER TRIAL THEY FOUND THAT SHE WAS NOT GUILTY.
CANDIE HAILEY DID A THREE-YEAR PRETRIAL STATE AT RIKERS
ISLAND BEFORE FACING A DIRTY ñ
A JURY ON CHARGES OF ATTEMPTED MURDER LAST YEAR.
SHE SAYS, "I WOULD SAY I'VE BEEN THROUGH HELL AND BACK.
MY SOUL DIED BUT MY BODY IS ALIVE."
SHE SUFFERS FROM BORDERLINE CHARACTER DISORDER AND OTHER
MENTAL AILMENTS, AND WAS FIRST SENT TO WHAT RIKERS INMATES CALL
"THE BING," AFTER A FIGHT WITH ANOTHER INMATE OVER SHOWER DUTY.
THERE WAS ONE WAY THAT THEY WOULD ALLOW THE INMATES TO
GET OUT OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT.
REMEMBER, THIS IS PRETRIAL, JUST BEFORE SHE EVEN GETS TO
STAND IN FRONT OF A JURY AND STATE HER CASE.
SHE IS IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, SHE IS MISERABLE, WHAT CAN
SHE DO TO GET OUT OF THAT SITUATION?
YOU HAVE TO ACT LIKE YOU ARE CRAZY SO THAT THEY WILL PUT YOU
IN ANOTHER SECTION OF THE TALE FOR PEOPLE WITH MENTAL ISSUES.
SHE WOULD TAKE SPECIES AND PUT IT ALL OVER HERSELF, SHE
SAID, "IF YOU ARE GOING TO TREAT ME LIKE A DOG, I'M GOING TO
ACT LIKE ONE."
THAT IS HOW BAD SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IS.
THERE ARE TWO PARTS TO THIS STORY.
I THOUGHT WE HAD A RIGHT TO A TRIAL, THAT'S IN THE
CONSTITUTION.
BUT WHEN IT COMES TO POOR PEOPLE, NOT JUST BLACKS AND
LATINOS, ALL ELSE ñ ALTHOUGH IN THIS CASE IT HAPPENS TO BE
THAT WAY IN THE CASE OF RIKERS, IN A PROMINENT STORIES THAT
HAVE BEEN FEATURED IN THE NEWS, BUT FOR ANYONE WHO IS POOR
AND POWERLESS IN THE COUNTRY, WHO CARES?
THEIR LIVES DON'T MATTER, LET THEM SIT IN JAIL FOR TWO OR
THREE YEARS WITHOUT A TRIAL.
IMAGINE IF IT WAS YOU, SOMEBODY SITTING IN JAIL FOR TWO OR
THREE YEARS WITHOUT A TRIAL.
THAT IS CRAZY.
IF YOU HAD ANY DEGREE OF POWER YOU'D BE SCREAMING FROM THE
ROOFTOPS, AND YOUR LAWYERS WOULD GET YOU OUT, UNLESS IT WAS
A VERY BAD MURDER CASE.
IN MOST CASES YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO SIT IN JAIL FOR
TWO OR THREE YEARS BEFORE A TRIAL.
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IS INSANE, THE DEGREE TO WHICH WE USE IT IS
INHUMANE.
IT IS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT, WHICH IS
AGAINST THE CONSTITUTION.
IN HER CASE, TWO THIRDS OF HER TIME WAS SPENT IN SOLITARY
CONFINEMENT OVER A THREE-YEAR PERIOD.
OVER TWO YEARS IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, OF COURSE THEY
WILL LOSE THEIR MIND.
WE ARE SOCIAL ANIMALS.
THERE IS THE CASE OF A SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD, ALLEGED ñ
ALLEGEDLY STOLE A BACKPACK, COULD NOT BE PROVEN, HE WAS
IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT FOR TWO YEARS AND AT THE END THEY
HAD NO EVIDENCE AND THEY LET HIM GO, THEN HE COMMITTED SUICIDE.
I DON'T KNOW IF HE WAS PREDISPOSED TO SUICIDE OR
DEPRESSION, OR AS A SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD YOU LOSE
TWO YEARS AGO LIFE WITHOUT HUMAN CONTACT, PERHAPS THAT IS
WHAT CAUSES THE DEPRESSION AND THE SUICIDE.
ALSO, ANOTHER MAN TWO YEARS IN RIKERS AND TWO YEARS ON HOUSE
ARREST AND NO CHARGES AT THE END.
THIS IS CRAZY, AND THE REASON THEY DO IT IS BECAUSE THEY
DON'T VIEW THEM AS FULLY HUMAN, HONESTLY.
BAY VIEW THEM AS MORE DISPOSABLE.
AS SOON AS YOU ARE CHARGED AND PUT BEHIND BARS, EVEN
BEFORE YOUR TRIAL BEGINS, YOU ALREADY THOUGHT AS SOMEBODY
WHO IS GUILTY BEFORE THE TRIAL HAS BEGUN.
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IS SUPPOSED TO BE USED TO PUT PEOPLE WHO ARE
THE MOST DANGEROUS AWAY SO THAT THEY DON'T HARM OTHER INMATES,
OR IF YOU ARE AN INMATE WHO COULD BE HARMED BY OTHERS, THEY
PUT YOU IN THERE TO PROTECT YOU.
THERE IS NO REASON WHY SOMEBODY SHOULD BE PUT IN SOLITARY
CONFINEMENT FOR TWO YEARS BECAUSE THEY GOT INTO AN
ARGUMENT WITH ANOTHER INMATE OVER SHOWER CLEANING DUTIES.
I REMEMBER WHEN CHELSEA MANNING WAS GETTING THREATENED WITH
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT WHEN HE HAD A MAGAZINE WITH CAITLIN
JENNER ON THE COVER.
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT SHOULD BE RESERVED FOR THE MOST SERIOUS
INMATES THAT THROAT ñ THAT POSE
A THREAT TO OTHERS.
I GET THAT OBVIOUSLY THEY HAVE TO HAVE SOME DISCIPLINE IN
THERE, AND YOU CAN'T HAVE FIGHTS BETWEEN INMATES, EVERYBODY
UNDERSTANDS THAT.
BUT YOU PUT SOMEBODY IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, I HOPE THAT
ALL TWO YEARS WASN'T FOR A SIMPLE FIGHT IN THE SHOWER.
WE PUT YOU IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, YOU LOSE YOUR
MIND AND START ACTING OUT, WELL YOU ARE ACTING OUT I HAVE
TO KEEP YOU IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT LONGER.
BY THE WAY, FOR A LOT OF THESE GUYS, THEY DON'T LET THEM
SHOWER FOR TWO WEEKS AT A TIME.
THEY LET THEM STAY IN THEIR OWN FILTH.
THIS IS NOT HOW WE ARE SUPPOSED TO TREAT OTHER HUMAN BEINGS.
ON THE OTHER HAND, YOU WILL HAVE CASES LIKE ETHAN COUCH, THE TEAM
WITH AFFLUENZA, THE JUDGE LOOKED AT HIM, SUBCONSCIOUSLY, I DON'T
THINK THEY MEANT ANYTHING
MALICIOUS FROM IT, BUT THE JUDGE THINKS, HE LOOKS LIKE MY KID.
I RELATE TO HIM, EVEN THOUGH FOUR PEOPLE DIED IN THAT CASE,
HE IS A KID AND HE WAS DRUNK, ALREADY HE IS NOT GOING TO GET
ANY JAIL TIME.
BEEN A LOOK AT KALIF, OR CANDIE, ANYTHING, DOES NOT LOOK
LIKE MY KID.
AGAIN, I HOPE IT IS THE SUBCONSCIOUS, THAT IT IS
NOT, I HATE BLACK PEOPLE, MUCH MORE LIKELY THAT THEY
THINK, THIS IS THE PERSON THAT BELONGS IN JAIL.
THAT MAY PUT THEM IN JAIL AND THEY THINK, THIS IS THE
PERSON WHO BELONGS IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT.
THAT IS HOW THEY COMPARTMENTALIZE THEM, AND
THEN YOU TREAT THEM LIKE LESS THAN HUMAN AND IT IS DESPICABLE.
CERTAIN PEOPLE HAVE THE RESOURCES TO PAY THEIR BOND.
THEY PAY THE BOND AND THEY ARE NOT SITTING IN JAIL FOR TWO
OR THREE YEARS PRIOR TO THEIR TRIAL.
ALSO, IF YOU HAVE CERTAIN RESOURCES YOU CAN HIRE THE
BEST DEFENSE ATTORNEYS TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU GET OFF SCOTT
FREE, AND THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED WITH ETHAN COUCH.
WITH CANDIE, SHE DID NOT HAVE THE MONEY TO PAY HER BOND,
SO SHE IS GOING TO SIT IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT FOR TWO
YEARS, AND THEN ONE MORE YEAR IN JAIL UNTIL HER TRIAL BEGINS.
WE HAVE A TWO-TIERED SYSTEM IN THIS COUNTRY.
IF YOU ARE NOT FROM THE RIGHT SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND YOU GET
ACCUSED FOR A CRIME HE DID NOT
COMMIT, YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE.