Air and Steel

On Bail and Criminalization

More stuff about the Prison Industrial Complex, the psyche of those most at risk of criminalization, etc.

Bail and Criminalization tweets

Bail

From Arielle Ivy (@ArielleIvy_) on her thread here:

Today I watched a judge get upset b/c an attorney said during a bail application that the family had not been able to save enough money to buy their loved one’s freedom. She didn’t like that characterization of bail. Which leads me to ask, what do judges think bail is?

Bail is LITERALLY a sum required to be paid for a person’s freedom. Is the bench so high folks lose touch with reality once they ascend to it?

Let's all you and me remember what bail is as well; it can be easy to forget, if you don't often interact with it personally.

Criminalization Culture

From Roderic Day (@RodericDay) on his thread here:

Disagreements about habits are so suffused in terror of criminalization that Westies can't have chill discussions about them without panicking.

"Watching this movie is bad for your self-esteem."

"YOU WANT TO BAN ART!?"

"Weed makes you sluggish."

"YOU WANT TO JAIL ME!?"

I consider being able to work out a disagreement with a good friend an essential life skill.

And I mean reaching a satisfying resolution that settles the dispute, not deferring it forever with a lazy "agree to disagree" non-conclusion.

It's the main driver of growth.

Dealing with unjust authority is the most embittering thing in the world.

But the salve that America offers its victims is just childish metaphysical egoism.

"Be yourself!" it insists, flattering you into ignoring whether your habits contribute to your predicament.

Old lady on the NY Metro - Oct 25, 2022 (src)

From Felipe De La Hoz (@FelipeDLH) who covers immigration news on substack at Border/Lines:

On a train where a small older woman was muttering incoherently to herself. To be crystal clear, she was standing still, not harassing or even addressing anyone in particular. Doors open, two cops board and remove her, apparently at the direction of the conductor

They don’t give her a reason or anything, just “black jacket? Come with us ma’am, you can take the next train, come on,” which seems like an obvious lie. A few people mutter about it, the doors close, train leaves

No one was being hurt, but I guess just having some issues quietly to yourself is now grounds for removal. It’s clear that the flooding of cops into the subways has little to do with public safety, and much to do with public perception of disorder

Organizations and Bail Funds

I'm listing some of the groups and bail funds I know of.

TODO: explain what a bail fund is, why they're important, etc

Alright, and now for non bail fund but similar organizations

  • Appalachian Prison Book Project (@AppalachianPBP) - The Appalachian Prison Book Project (APBP) is a nonprofit organization that sends free books to people imprisoned in the Appalachian region. (Morgantown, WV). They'll take things like composition notebooks and send em to folks in prison - see if you can find a similar project near you!

There are more, please search in your area or see if you can help start one with groups that are working towards bail reform/relief in your area! I can only list so many here.

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category tags: Resource Lists, Tweets

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Hi! Aaron, nice to meet ya. This site is where I'm documenting as I go, in order to keep my learnings and thoughts in an easily accessible digital notebook. My purpose in life is organizing (engineering, if you will) and building the change I want to see in the world; to help as much as possible, while I've got the chance to do it.