Mousebumples just sent me an article that surprised me. These days even with a good article, I read a bit, think this is really good!, leave the article open in a tab so I can come back to it, and figure I will read it later when I have more time.
Not this time.
His Shock Win Flipped a Pennsylvania County. Now He Vows to Raise Hell over Its Lethal Jail. (Bolts)
It’s a David and Goliath story, and David won the race. But an unlikely David, at that! At least to look at him. In other ways, he’s David through and through. And he’ll be inaugurated on Jan 2. Justin Douglas, a pastor and an activist, had never thought about running. He had almost no money, and a simple message. He pounded it home, and won.
He’s instantly recognizable as almost anything but a successful politician: he’s got gauge earrings, 42 tattoos, and dresses in jeans, band tees, and Nike sneakers.
By any standard measure, his campaign seemed doomed from the start: He had no paid staff or office. His team of volunteers, a few friends of his with zero combined campaign experience, met in the corner of a Starbucks in Hershey. He ran without institutional backing or money; while his opponents combined to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, Douglas reports spending only about $12,000.
Prisoners are dying in the county prison, at an alarming rate. The prison holds about 1,000 people at a time, and most of the people there have not been convicted – either they can’t make bail or they have violated probation or parole. 120 days is the average stay. And some of them end up with a de facto death sentence without even being convicted of anything.
In addition, local journalists have found that the county has often misreported its jail deaths—in some cases, covering up its own responsibility.
In one such instance, Dauphin County reported the death of Herbert Tilghman as a “medical event,” which, PennLive found, obscured the fact that prison staff failed to take Tilghman’s stomach pains seriously, providing minimal treatment and even accusing him of faking illness shortly before he died.
In a separate case, the county initially said Ishmail Thompson died in a “medical episode,” failing to note that officers had placed Thompson in a restraint chair, and a hood over his head, then pepper-sprayed him soon before he fell unconscious and, ultimately, comatose.
A bit of the backstory.
There are many paths to elected office, Justin Douglas quips, “but fired pastor is not one.”
A year ago, he says, he could not have named the three men who serve on the county commission of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, his home since 2015. This powerful body, with control of a $222 million budget and a county government workforce of 1,700, meets Wednesdays in downtown Harrisburg, in a building that Douglas had never entered.
Still, he got a call in February from Run for Something, an organization that recruits progressive candidates for local elections, to see if he’d be interested in running for a seat on the county commission. The last time the office was on the ballot, in 2019, Douglas did not vote. He’d just been fired from his job as pastor at a local church for appearing in a promotional video welcoming LGBTQ+ people to join the congregation. He, his wife, and their three kids were forced out of the home, which was owned by the church. All this time later, Douglas, 39, is still working three jobs to make up for what happened: he’s a pastor at a new church and a fitness instructor, and last year he drove more than 2,000 miles for Uber.
His stand at the church fit with what he describes as his longtime activist streak. A mainstay in various corners of Dauphin County where matters of social equity and justice are concerned, Douglas grew active in recent years in protest of conditions in the local jail, an aging and oppressive facility where people die at an alarming rate. The county commission has vast power over that jail, a significant factor, Douglas says, in his decision to take Run for Something up on its proposal. He still felt like an imposter when he decided in March to enter the race.
Open thread.
Scout211
This is a really inspiring story. Thank you for posting this and for Mousebumples for bringing it to your attention.
In a similar vein here in California, our new law prohibiting “excited delirium” as a cause of death was inspired by a man from Antioch who died when police were called for a mental health emergency.
Miss Bianca
Yay! Awesome story. Let’s hope he’s able to make some real changes in his county.
Butch
Forty-two tattoos? I like the guy already. I have only 18; I guess I need to get busy.
cmorenc
One of the most critical resistance points Douglas will have to grapple with are the outside contractors the county uses for food and medical care – who have cultivated allies within county government who have developed a network of mutual self-interest in the existing way of doing things at the county prison, with assists likely coming from the county attorney for liability risks from any admissions or exposure of wrongful practices.
Mousebumples
Thanks for front paging this, WaterGirl. With all the frustrating news I tend to see, I love these sorts of stories too.
We lose 100% of the races we don’t enter. Hopefully, he can make some meaningful change!
pabadger
I live in Harrisburg city proper. The jail has been an ongoing crisis for years. I am so glad Douglas won. The commissioners have been an embarrassment for years and years.
Sure Lurkalot
For those who like podcasts, EarHustle, originally about life in San Quentin, is a well written and produced series about incarceration from the human side. They also did some shows in Norway to highlight a far different approach. Gavin Newsom wants to transform California prisons along this model, I wish him luck. If we could somehow keep guns away from men until they were 30, we’d spend a lot less money on prisons IMHO.
Bupalos
As much as we rightly rail on America’s democratic decline, we do need to notice that things aren’t only getting worse, and don’t have to just get worse. Politics are destabilized in ways that are surfacing authoritarian threats but also create opportunities. This unlikely duo winning their way into positions like this is amazing.
Betty
@pabadger: Looks like the traditional Republican hold on the area is loosening up.
Alison Rose
@Sure Lurkalot:
I am always in favor of fewer guns and fewer people having them. However, I think an equally or even more important means to this end is to stop locking up people who don’t need to be locked up. No one should be in prison for minor theft, drug use, etc. If we only put actual violent, dangerous people in prison, we’d need way fewer prisons.
Bupalos
@Alison Rose: in addition if incarceration wasn’t so completely weighted towards punishment rather than rehabilitation, “locking people up” wouldn’t have the same dire stakes that it does, for individuals and our society.
Citizen_X
@Scout211: When the hell did cops come up with this “kneeling on the neck” thing? How is that supposed to be anything but a way to kill someone slowly?
Alison Rose
@Bupalos: Yeah, it’s almost laughable that people insist it’s about rehabilitation, because like…what kind of person do you think someone will be after years of a truly God awful existence in prison? Days or weeks on end in solitary for usually a minor issue, abuse from guards or other inmates, etc. I’m not saying it should be a party, but if we really want to try to get people to turn their lives and minds around, making their lives living hell while behind bars doesn’t seem to be the way to do that.
lowtechcyclist
@cmorenc:
Best way to deal with that is to cut the legs out from under them by changing bail policies so that it’s only required in a limited percentage of cases. A big outfit like Aramark won’t be nearly so interested in that contract if it shrinks in size due to a drastic reduction of the jail population.
RevRick
I just got back from officiating at the funeral of a longtime, local political activist, someone who was involved in environmental issues before it was even called as such, pushing local governments to start recycling programs back in the early 60s. He was also instrumental in an unsuccessful effort to stop the construction of the I-78 link south of Allentown and Bethlehem. And he and his wife were partners in helping establish the early anti war organization here in the Lehigh Valley. Sadly, his is a story that ended in dementia and I suspect his widow will soon join him as Parkinson’s ravages her.
brantl
First they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. Gandhi.
Ohio Mom
@Scout211: Half of all people killed by police have some sort of brain condition — mental illness, development disability, etc.
I have a link but too exhausted right now to look for it.
lowtechcyclist
@Alison Rose:
There should be very specific limits on how long and how often people can be put in solitary. Something like no more than sixty days in any one-year period, and no more than six days in any two-week period, would still be a shitload of time in solitary, but would at least put some check on its abuse.
And more generally, the extent to which being incarcerated cuts you off from the outside world is something that really needs to be addressed.
True story: my wife’s first cousin is in the Clark County NV jail for drug crimes due to ongoing drug problems. He tried to call my wife the other day, but she missed the call because her phone was on silent mode. Could she call him back? No. Could she send him an email or text message via the jail? No. Only way we can initiate a communication is via snail mail. Otherwise, we just have to be able to pick up the next time he has the money to make a call.
IIRC, they’ve shown that being able to maintain connection with friends and loved ones makes a big difference wrt how things work out for people when they get out of prison or jail. But they make doing so all too hard in this era when it should be easier than ever.
Omnes Omnibus
@Alison Rose: Even among American liberals there is a tendency to want long sentences for crimes. We really need a rethink of our crime and punishment philosophy.
cain
It’s like that with IT – I’ve seen details of negotiations leaked to vendors because those vendors have bought loyalty either though the fact that the person doesn’t want to change how things are done or that there is a lot of under the table benefits given.
Ruckus
@Butch:
I only have two and I know where they are and can’t see them any longer. Of course they are targets for the radiation therapy that I had to go through long ago so not exactly artistic.
UncleEbeneezer
If this is only a “mild” case of Covid, I really never, ever want to experience a “severe” one. We are both pretty miserable with headaches, fever (coming and going), fatigue and body aches. My wife started Paxlovid last night and is feeling a little better but hates the metallic taste. I just picked up my Paxlovid Rx but won’t be able to take my first dose until tonight. I’m on day 2 of symptoms, she’s on day 3 and we are both just hoping we are almost past the worst of it. We are fully boosted.
DEBG
Thanks for inspiration generally and for the link to this story specifically–I read it immediately. Best of luck to the activists involved. They’ve got their work cut out for them and they know it.
RevRick
@Betty: Even Republican stronghold, Cumberland County, across the river from Dauphin voted for Josh Shapiro.
RevRick
@UncleEbeneezer: severe cases land you in the ICU. There are currently over a million cases nationwide, 29,000 hospitalizations, and a 10% increase in deaths over the past two months, averaging over 1,000/week.
There go two miscreants
I am happy to be a monthly contributor to Run For Something. I just increased the amount. They really seem to be making a difference.
NotMax
@Butch
Oh Jason, oh Jason
Say have you met Jason?
Jason the tatooed pastor
;)
Splitting Image
@Alison Rose:
There is a direct line between the abuses of the slavery system and the abuses of the prison system. After the Civil War, it became illegal to force black people to work without renumeration unless you convicted them of a crime first. So you start seeing efforts to push more black people into the prison system alongside efforts to break them once they are there.
Rehabilitation was never a goal of the American penal system. It was set up to create an underclass and to make sure that everyone who fell into it, stayed in it.
NotMax
@NotMax
Whoops. Justin.
Swear to FSM first reading of the post was Jason.
/contrite
Alison Rose
@lowtechcyclist: Also, the things people get put in solitary for are absurd. Like, if someone is a legit danger, if they’re attacking other prisoners or guards or something, sure, you should probably separate them. But people get solitary for not making their bed, cussing at a guard, having cigarettes, etc. Stupid petty shit and they get shoved in there for days or weeks. And people think it’s just being in a small cell alone. But they keep bright lights on 24/7, play screeching horrid noises like you might hear in a damn haunted house, and so on. It seems designed to drive the people in there crazy, and like…how the fuck is that helping anyone???
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
And crime seems to be down when we have a democrat in the White House because we want to make life better, not just wealthy bank accounts bigger. Sure there are criminals that will be criminals no matter who is in office but if people are healthy and fed/clothed/housed crime goes down. Life has to be at least somewhat more than breathing/eating and crapping. It has to have at least some value to not steal and that isn’t an extra long prison sentence. Because all that does is make someone have less prospects when they do get out.
JaySinWA
Speaking of one person making a difference, one person has been trying to get a public restroom at our local end of the run transit center for 3 years. In a small victory Metro with King County has installed and is maintaining a porta-potty at the site as a pilot project for what will hopefully become a real restroom.
This area has been a problem for years as un-housed people hit the end of the line with pretty much no where to go, leading to public defecation in parks, sidewalks, and homeowners property. Metro has argued for years that they are not in the restroom business, and no one has been willing to take on the problem until now. King County, much like everywhere else has seen what few public restrooms that existed be removed due to high maintenance costs.
One small step for a man, hopefully without poop on his shoes.
https://www.shorelineareanews.com/2023/12/neighbors-celebrate-installation-of.html
Citizen Scientist
Pastor Justin is legit. I live not far from him and have met him on several occasions; very community minded. He helped organize a BLM march and community gathering in our small pre- Revolutionary War town; it was remarkably well attended despite the racist redneck elements that are still common in the area. I was surprised (but also not) that he won his race for county commissioner. People are fed up with the status quo around here I guess, so hopefully that will lead to a Scott Perry defeat next year.
RaflW
@RevRick: USA’s definitely surging. Wastewater data, though it seems less robust now than a year ago, are generally up a lot. CDC hospitalization as well as ER visit percents are a bit lower than the same data point (Dec 23/24) in last year’s holiday surge. It’s jut really being soft-peddled this year. “Get over it” is the gaslighting national/international response to the length of this virus’s tenacity.
I’m still aghast at how few are masking again. I was on a totally full 777 Houston>Denver yesterday, 363 seats, and maybe 15 or so masks (including me and one of 8 flight attendants). I get not masking last summer when #s were good (though we often still did). But now? It’s pissing me off.
Ebeneezer: Hope you feel better soon! I didn’t do paxlovid last year, but was definitely on the mend by day 5. Hang in there.
Jim Appleton
@NotMax: hope one of them is not his social security numba
WaterGirl
@Citizen Scientist:
Be still my beating heart!
Citizen Scientist
@WaterGirl: it’ll be difficult but might be doable next year; at least half of his district is in York County which is pretty conservative/Trumpy. D Turnout in the rest of the district will be key.
WaterGirl
@Citizen Scientist: Fingers crossed.