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U.S. Prisons Need a Board of Visitors
It’s time to shine a light on the hidden shame of our prison system
In early February, a scene that would warm the heart of any prison-reform advocate unfolded outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Dozens of protesters, maybe hundreds, crowded the sidewalk outside, braving the cold and bearing signs that read “Enough,” “Cruelty,” and “You Are Loved.” Videos of incarcerated men banging on the windows of their cells trended online. Family members used megaphones to inquire if their jailed loved ones were okay. The response? A resounding “No!”
Local elected officials, including Rep. Jerrold Nadler, who heads the House Judiciary Committee, showed up to voice their outrage. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez fired off a tweet to a couple million followers, drawing national attention to the issue. Governor Andrew Cuomo called for a federal investigation, which is now being conducted by the Justice Department. A local advocacy group, Federal Defenders of New York, filed a lawsuit, and New York Attorney General Letitia James signed on.
The indignation had been prompted by a story in The New York Times revealing the terrifying conditions inside the jail: Well over a thousand men had been locked in their cells for days, freezing in dark cages, without access to medications or hot water. Visits had been cancelled. It turned out that an electrical fire had led to the devastating power outage, but that was only the nominal cause of the crisis.
What really led to the week of excruciating torture for the men inside — and a primary contributing factor in innumerable less-celebrated cases of prison neglect, cruelty and violence nationwide — was invisibility. The suffering had been permitted, at least in part, because no one outside the bureaucracy of the Center’s operations knew about it. The fierce response demonstrated that, contrary to what one might expect, the public at large actually does care about the welfare of our incarcerated neighbors. But it also served as a critical reminder that in order for people to care, they first need to see.
It’s just about impossible to receive an undergraduate course in sociology without learning about the “panopticon,” the 19th century innovation in prison architecture that…
