The Punishment Bureaucracy with Alec Karakatsanis

Today we interview Alec Karakatsanis from the Civil Rights Corps to talk about his most recent book <a href="https://thenewpress.com/books/usual-cruelty">&#8220;Usual Cruelty.&#8221; </a><br/><br/>Alec talks to us about the inhuman violations and degradations in the American prison system that occurs because of a blend of capitalism and a harsh &#8220;tough on crime&#8221; culture. <br/><br/>The violations that Alec details are extremely egregious. We usually don&#8217;t ask this often, but please share this episode with as many friends and family as possible. We need them to understand the corruption of the justice system on all levels. <a href="https://thenewpress.com/books/usual-cruelty"> </a><br/><br/>The chain gangs from 1920s vs modern day chain gangs <br/><br/>Show notes:<br/><br/>0:00-5:30<br/><br/>A woman is in jail for many traffic tickets, but she is not unique. Alec witnessed a court bring in &#8220;67 people chained together.&#8221; He noticed: <br/><br/>All 67 were black<br/><br/>Not a single one was charged with a crime<br/><br/> All of them were there because they owed money to the city with old tickets. <br/><br/>Many were speaking about poverty, but the judge screamed at them and threw them in jail. <br/><br/>5:30-10:30<br/><br/><a href="https://www.publicjustice.net/evidence-shows-montgomery-residents-were-illegally-jailed-for-inability-to-pay-fines/">Debtor&#8217;s Prison in Alabama:</a><br/><br/>The City of Montgomery, Alabama and its contractor, for-profit probation company Judicial Correction Services, &#8220;pocket[ed] millions&#8221; while knowingly &#8220;perpetuating a cycle of debt and unlawful imprisonment.&#8221; That&#8217;s how federal judge Royce Lamberth described the system under which hundreds of low-income municipal court defendants were jailed for being too poor to pay traffic tickets and other fines. On July 7, 2020 in&#160;Carter v. Judicial Correction Services, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama&#160;<a href="https://www.publicjustice.net/wp