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Incarceration Nation

Immunity to Kill, Falsely Convict and Mass Incarcerate

By Lorenzo Johnson

It’s not a coincidence that minorities are killed by police at an alarming rate, with simply no regard for human rights. Not having safeguards in place when an unarmed person is killed, gives the police the okay to continue to kill. The first thing society is told is: “The Grand Jury is reviewing evidence to see if a crime occurred.” This is all a smoke screen. Just look at the murders of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, to name just two. Mr. Garner’s death was recorded by a phone showing his assassination, still no police were indicted for using a banned choke-hold on Mr. Garner. Until the police are fully held accountable, minorities will continue to be targeted and unfortunately, killed.

There have been over five hundred exonerations of innocent prisoners that we know about. The average amount of time an innocent prisoner spends in prison is between thirteen-and-a-half and fifteen years. And that’s only if they get the necessary representation needed. In some cases, innocent prisoners die in prison before their innocence comes out. Prosecutors continue to fight tooth and nail to maintain their false convictions. They hide favorable material that can show a prisoner’s innocence. They let false testimony stand just to secure a conviction. Out of all exonerations of innocent men and women, not even one percent of the prosecutors were held accountable for their malicious prosecutions. One fact that can’t be disputed: Minorities make up 90 percent of wrongful convictions! Until prosecutors are stripped of their immunity and held fully accountable, this will unfortunately continue to happen.

Mass Incarceration has been going on for decades under a lot of different umbrellas. The biggest one was and is the War On Drugs. Once again the minorities are the target. I keep hearing politicians saying: “Our judicial system is off balance. We must trust and strengthen it.” As an innocent prisoner, the last time I checked, the judicial system has been our worst nightmare. Our Judicial System is no longer about justice. It’s about politics and votes for politicians. When there are special laws that target the inner cities that differ from suburbia, the message is loud and clear. Thanks to social media the world is finally seeing what’s been taking place in our communities.

—December 7, 2014