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Calif. Prisons to be Desegregated

By Jeralyn, Section Inmates and Prisons
Posted on Tue Dec 20, 2005 at 11:17:19 AM EST
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Under the terms of a new settlement agreement, California will begin de-segregating its prisons:

Under the terms of the agreement, the state will phase out racial segregation in three steps: In March, after distributing the new policy to prisons and retraining prison staff, current race segregation policies will end in state prison reception centers.

Next year, the ban will extend to so-called sensitive needs yards and minimum support facilities — dorms that house minimum-custody inmates. In 2008, plans will be rolled out to bring the new integration policy to the prisons, Deixler said.

This has been a long time in the making:

Racial segregation has persisted in California prisons even as it disappeared elsewhere because officials said it was necessary to separate inmate gangs that formed along racial lines, such as the Mexican Mafia and white supremacists.

But the state had little choice except to abandon the practice after losing a decision in the U.S. Supreme Court in February. The justices, in a case brought by a black prisoner from Los Angeles a decade ago, ruled 5 to 3 that the state could segregate prisoners by race only in rare instances.

Background here and here.

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    • Calif. Prisons to be Desegregated | 9 comments (9 topical)
    Re: Calif. Prisons to be Desegregated (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Dec 20, 2005 at 12:45:24 PM EST
    What is happening the life gang members need young white ass. this this a joke? if you let the gang members run the prisons what will happen will be mass murder of all other so called prisoners, and as far as political racial segregation goes we have that new under the rule of the insane government that helps mass race illeagal immigrations from mexico to come here by the millions each year. evil is evil and if you can't understand what evil is you are on the side of that evil. this is just one more joke of a non government run by drug dealers from mexico.

    Re: Calif. Prisons to be Desegregated (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Dec 20, 2005 at 03:50:00 PM EST
    I fear that this is one of those instances where staying true to principle will result in pain. It will be important for Progressives to remember that the reasons for the violence are inherent to both the criminal justice system and the vestiges of racism prevalent in our economy. Race gangs form outside of prison -- our prisons just make the situation worse. Treating the symptoms of our society by segregating prisons only distracts us (outside of prison) from the real racial problems in our society.

    Re: Calif. Prisons to be Desegregated (none / 0) (#3)
    by Sailor on Tue Dec 20, 2005 at 03:55:14 PM EST
    Umm, aside from Fred's possibly precognitive outcome (no pun intended), perhaps this will break the gangs' hold on folks. Of course as long as the warders turn their backs, it really doesn't matter who is placed with who.

    Re: Calif. Prisons to be Desegregated (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Dec 20, 2005 at 05:22:44 PM EST
    I wonder, would TL and other "liberals" support segregation among the same race based on gang ties? For instance, would TL support segregating one white gang from another white gang that hate each other? As for Tampa Student's comment, remember: only white people are racists. Other races who act racist are simply responding to their oppression by Whitey.

    Re: Calif. Prisons to be Desegregated (none / 0) (#5)
    by soccerdad on Tue Dec 20, 2005 at 05:58:06 PM EST
    As for Tampa Student's comment, remember: only white people are racists. Other races who act racist are simply responding to their oppression by Whitey.
    Does everyone on the extreme right need reading comprehension classes or are they just so eager to make their dismissive comments that they dont bother to read???

    Re: Calif. Prisons to be Desegregated (none / 0) (#6)
    by Johnny on Tue Dec 20, 2005 at 06:05:28 PM EST
    I have noticed the only people who scoff at rascism are those who have never been victimized by it. Generally speaking, the same people who complain about PC are ones to whom it does not apply. This prison thing will be radically ugly is my prediction. But then again, what positive ever came from prisons?

    Re: Calif. Prisons to be Desegregated (none / 0) (#7)
    by Dadler on Tue Dec 20, 2005 at 08:19:47 PM EST
    Johnny, And the worst part is the right INVENTED the entire idea of political correctness. When black folk wanted to be called African-American, I don't know, something in the right just snapped, they couldn't take it anymore. And they had to do something, so they created this idea of PC and claimed, and still do, that it just burdens them so much not to be able to say "ni*ger" and "spic" and "kyke" and the like without all that negative reaction.

    Re: Calif. Prisons to be Desegregated (none / 0) (#8)
    by Johnny on Wed Dec 21, 2005 at 12:09:11 AM EST
    Ain't it the truth Dadler...

    Re: Calif. Prisons to be Desegregated (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Dec 21, 2005 at 03:39:24 AM EST
    Johnny:
    This prison thing will be radically ugly is my prediction. But then again, what positive ever came from prisons?
    Had Mr. Tookie not been put in prison do you think he would have "reformed" and written kids books and been nominated for the Nobel etc? Then if nothing ever positive happens in prison, why not just haul the guilty out back and shoot then immediately?

    Calif. Prisons to be Desegregated | 9 comments (9 topical)