Victoria DeVito
Professor Leopold
Columba Cornerstone- Justice
21 November 16
Final Essay
Justice is when you do what’s right for not only yourself but for society. In our world we seek justice through the smallest things. If we someone being mistreated or unable to stand up for themselves someone immediately should step in to help that person. Justice is paired with our morals. Our morals are what we belong is right and wrong. Justice is served when we discover what is happening is wrong.
An article I found in The New York Times was “Guards were Negligent” in Fatal Encounter with New York Inmate, Judge Rules”. An inmate at a northern New York prison who suffered from schizophrenia was killed after a confrontation with two officers at the prison. The man’s name was Leonard Strickland and he was facing time in prison for weapon possession. The case was thoroughly investigated and closed but the family filed a lawsuit claiming the inmate was beaten to death. The judge based his ruling off the evidence he was given by viewing surveillance videos showed the medical staff neglecting the inmate by improperly administering CPR. The prison system was working towards covering up the abuse by the officers to blame it all on the inmate. Many times in a case regarding a negligent officer it is the officers word against the inmate. Usually the officer will win because investigators don’t find the inmates testimony to be valid. The guards switched the surveillance video to show how the inmate was clearly angered and lashing out on the guards to actually throw them down a staircase. The guards were injured but handcuffed him. A bunch of inmates were interviewed regarding this case and said that Strickland was taunted with racial slurs and beaten by nearly a dozen other
guards. The judge also took in to account on video the guards dragged the nearly beaten to death man down a corridor passing a gurney as well as a wheel chair. Both of these were available to the inmate opposed to him being pulled. The judge in this case judge Milano wrote in his verdict that the inmate was no longer a threat to the guards after being so severely beaten. The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision issued statements about the case saying the staff acted accordingly and the medical staff was very compassionate and they regret they were not successful in helping the inmate live. A nurse on duty called Strickland a medical emergency and the staff from the prison was not successful in performing CPR properly. To save someone’s live using CPR you must lay the patient flat on their back against the floor. The inmate clearly could not have been saved due to him being handcuffed unable to lay flat on the floor. The autopsy concluded that the inmate died due to cardiorespitory arrest because his heart was unable to get oxygen. The decision of the judge was that the medical staff failed “to meet the standards of good and acceptable medical care” The family is still trying to get the state to pay for damages to the inmate Leonard Strickland.
After reading this article I found that there was no justice for this inmate. He clearly was suffering from a disability. The disability of schizophrenia is a disorder that affects a person’s ability to think, feel, and behave clearly. This man was not given justice. He nearly was a victim in the situation. The prison guards did not feel the need to stop hurting him and just bring him to proper medical care or subdue him. They could have gotten him into a proper mental institution where he would no longer be a threat. Clearly this man was in prison for a reason but he still is a human. He was dragged down a corridor helpless like an animal. Where was the justice or the morals behind that? There was none, even though people do bad things they should not be treated like they are nothing or worthless. This man was an African American and was taunted with racial slurs regarding his color. No one can change the color of their skin or should be told they are less than other person. The criminal justice system needs work to give justice to the inmates who are supposed to be protected while they are serving their time.
Another article I researched was found in The Washington Post under the title “FBI agent uncovers the truth of prison brutality. FBI agent Susan Hanson looked into a case that involved a 20-year sentence under the charges of drug conviction in a Ventress Correctional Facility. The inmate Rocrast Mack was a 24-year-old inmate who got into a confrontation with a female correction officer. The officer reported she used self-defense while she was trying to restrain the inmate from further attacking her. FBI agent Hanson was determined to figure out what wrong in this case and found that the truth of the matter was four correction officers were the reason of the inmate’s death. Leading up to the inmate’s death there was evidence of a beating from the female guard on duty because he was engaging in inappropriate behavior. The officer on duty hit the inmate then called for backup to help with the situation. The inmate was unresponsive and was transported to the hospital due to extreme abuse. During the investigation the FBI found out that Alabama prisons are a severe problem due to overcrowding and being understaffed. The case was known for being the most outrageous violation by a law enforcement official.
The job of Hanson in this case was to seek justice for those who could not speak up for the actions that were happening around them. In the article a quote that stood out to me was “The thought of law enforcement officers brutally murdering an inmate was repulsive, and it drove Hanson not to miss anything,” said Higginbotham. “she gave her heart and soul to embrace that these perpetrators were brought to justice.” The dedication Hanson had to bringing justice to ensure that these inmates were protected is so heartwarming to a reader. Reading this article showed me that no matter what we do we are still Americans. Being an American gives us right under the constitution and just because someone is imprisoned doesn’t take away all their rights as a human. We many times see the justice system failing because of guards who don’t care about these people. The inmates are sometimes taken advantage of because of their nationalities, cultures or religious beliefs.
Statistics on cases involving police brutality were found in the Washington Post. The article talked about the 385 fatal police shootings in the United States. These shootings had occurred in 2015. The Washington Post noted its number, which came out to two officer-involved shooting deaths per day. Noted in the same report is to be found out that African Americans were found to be killed over three times the rate of whites or minorities. This shows how race plays a role in cases. It’s unfair and it is not how justice should be seen out. Another statistic that stood out to me was that 98% of the time police were not charged or reprimanded for their actions in these cases. The job of authorities should be to protect and obey the law and that did not happen in these cases.
The concept of Justice is to when you do what’s right. The world we live we should not be afraid of when Justice will be seeked it should be a given. Living in the United States of America gives us privileges other people do not have. Each article I read showed how these inmates did not get the justice they deserved. The only just they can get is to catch the corruption in our courts as well as prisons. Inmates are people to and deserve to be treated as a human.
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