
Albert Woodfox's Forty Years in Solitary Confinement - bhsiao
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/albert-woodfoxs-forty-years-in-solitary-confinement
======
fossuser
"The vindictiveness of the state is perhaps best illustrated in its treatment
of Woodfox’s co-defendant, Herman Wallace. When Wallace’s conviction was also
overturned on discrimination grounds in 2013, the judge in his case ordered
his release, in view of the fact that Wallace was dying of liver cancer and
had only days to live. Wallace was released on a Monday, and died on a Friday.
He’d had three and a half days of freedom. Two days before he died, the
prosecution reindicted him."

I don't understand why people would do this.

~~~
rtpg
I'm more and more convinced that this is a cultural problem in the US. The
idea of "serving out justice" seems to override any compassion for people.

People always talk about throwing bankers in jail for the crisis, but why
would you wish all this suffering on anyone? Denying freedom for someone for
years. Especially considering the multitude of studies showing that extended
incarceration _does not work as a deterrent_.

We should be ashamed, a country with this sort of penal system cannot declare
itself to be a bastion of civil rights.

~~~
fineman
The bankers are the ones I think it would work for. They understand risk
analysis and it's all slow, reasoned, crime. Not like crimes of passion.

~~~
_delirium
Is locking people in cages really necessary to stop bank misbehavior though? I
would prefer first trying things like: 1) closer oversight; 2) fines
restructured as a percentage of wealth so that they actually deter even very
wealthy people; 3) kicking people out of the sector (e.g. bans from working in
finance). Cages seem like a really blunt and rather barbaric instrument to use
for improving society.

~~~
rjsw
Some punishments are designed to send a message [1], maybe bankers would
change their behaviour too.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Byng](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Byng)

~~~
nitrogen
Making an example out of someone to send a message to others is completely
unjust for the person who is made an example.

~~~
fineman
Did they intend the crime? And their only defense is "The other guy was doing
it too"? Oh well.

As long as we prosecute as many people in their position as possible it
doesn't seem to be a problem if we miss some. It's only selective when we
choose who to ignore.

Something like Aaron Schwartz where it wasn't a crime until someone who made
the DA look like an idiot does it... Then it's clearly crossed the line.

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ahmetmsft
<off-topic> Can we have a HN rule stopping people from posting paywalled
content? This is getting really annoying apparently I ran out of my quota for
visiting newyorker.com pages this month. I know how to overcome it, but that's
a website I normally wouldn't visit from some other website than HN and this
feels annoying. This is like the new DRM.

~~~
DanBC
Most paywalls are trivially easy to bypass.

You've run out of your free quote, but other people have not (or they have
paid for the content) so why should they be denied content?

Good content needs to be paid for somehow.

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spacko
This report is characteristic especially when considered in contrast to the
(overly?) thoughtful justification of the sentence given by a German court in
the recent case around the killing of a Turkish girl named _Tugce_.

This report is also characteristic when considered in context of the killing
spree in Charleston.

USA is a country of institutionalized hatred. Hatred seems to have become a
central aspect of the national identity and culture.

~~~
cactusface
> USA is a country of institutionalized hatred.

Maybe, but which countries are not?

~~~
pierre
Most of europe?

Don't get me wrong there still is institutionalized hatred here but at a scale
2-3 order of magnitude under the US.

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EGreg
Reminds me of this: [http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/06/before-the-
law](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/06/before-the-law)

What a stupid loophole in the law

------
Lorento
Instead of focussing on the abstract "state", why not recognize that almost
every eligible voter in America decided what the state should do by voting
either democrat, republican or nothing.

------
dayyan
Fuck that state.

~~~
ixtli
I feel like this comment is gonna get crushed, but this is the attitude people
need to have. This sort of thing should not be tolerated at all by those
paying for it to happen, and the only way it's going to change is if people
get mad enough to do something.

~~~
contingencies
Amen, it's not as if this is the only wrong (or even right) conviction leading
to torture at the hands of the state that has occurred recently in the US,
either. What is interesting about this one is that it is a frame-up by prison
authorities rather than the police, which is far more commonly reported.
_Regular people walking down the street or sitting in their homes with
absolutely no connection to an alleged crime_ have been _frequently_
improperly given life sentences. In the probably small subset that _has_ been
eventually discovered and overturned, no apology or compensation is usually
ever received from the state.

Just last month there was an exhibition in Paris at the excellent Jeau de
Paume gallery featuring a video exploring this phenomenon in the US by artist
Taryn Simon, who actually tracked down numerous people who had been falsely
imprisoned for her 2003 project _The Innocents_. More info at
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taryn_Simon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taryn_Simon)
and
[https://books.google.com/books?id=RRoiDl9rJtoC&printsec=fron...](https://books.google.com/books?id=RRoiDl9rJtoC&printsec=fron..).

I don't know how people can just passively stay in the US these days, wouldn't
it be better to leave?

    
    
        First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
        Because I was not a Socialist.
    
        Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
        Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
    
        Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
        Because I was not a Jew.
    
        Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

~~~
jonah
That poem by Martin Niemöller always strikes me as such a powerful wakeup
call.

