Tag Archives: guantanamo

bm196 Legal Issues and Jail Conditions in NOLA

It has been said in post Katrina discussions, that you can’t sue the Army Corps. But in fact, you can and New Orleanians are doing just that. Meanwhile people being held at the city jail are reporting the most horrifying and hazardous conditions. Tune in and listen as I visit the Common Ground Legal Clinic and talk with volunteers about the legal issues and prison conditions.

My Guests:
Soleil, advocacy coordinator at the Common Ground Legal Clinic
Wil, volunteer at the Clinic, law student, Capital University-Ohio.

We Discuss:
-What the clinic does
-What legal problems residents have
-HUD Lawsuit
-The Army Corps of engineers
-Public Housing, how New Orleans is selling it all
-Work and poverty in NOLA
-The long term view for the clinic
-The conditions at the city lockup
-People being released and what they say about the experience
-Potential Lawsuit
-VOlunteering for common ground

Orleans Prison

Why Admit It?

There are so many ironies and things that just make no sense in this world, obviously we’ve all noticed that at some point in observing how things work. On the one hand the government, any government, but lets just say the American one – can seem very in control, very underhanded, and very capable of anything. But then something will happen that shows the government is incapable, inefficient, and generally a mess. I just noticed the latest one:

The headline on the BBC reads: Triple Suicide at Guantanamo Camp

Three guys hanged themselves at the Guantanamo Concentration Camp. That in itself isn’t surprising, actually a total of 3 deaths is pretty low for a prison where prisoners are subject to all sorts of torture. But what baffles me is why they admit it. Why tell the world? They rarely let any information about the place out. Even photos are pretty controlled. The military has reported that there have been 41 suicide attemps. Why even admit that? I would have assumed they would never release such information, and claim things are perfect at the prison and all is under control.

But they don’t keep secrets very well. Or somehow information gets out that you can’t believe they actually admit. Maybe it’s even too hard to face the truth for tax paying citizens who fund this torture camp. So the military just reports the shameful truth about prisoners who have no rights and may not have committed any crimes and how their killing themselves to escape the horrors they are subjected to.

If there’s a strategy here… I can barely see it.