“The Lip Sweater” Orange Is The New Black S6 E4 “I’m the Talking Ass”
Wrote a few new things this week:
- an article about the First Step Act (federal prison reform legislation currently in the United States Senate)
- an article about the Spike Lee movie BlackkKlansman.
I hope you have been listening to my podcast Decarceration Nation, last week I had a discussion with Jay Ware about prison abolitionism, influences, and the upcoming August 21st Prison Strikes due to happen across the country. We are on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher and now Tune-In (which I think means you can ask Alexa to “Play Decarceration Nation.” You can also find the episodes at DecarcerationNation.com.
Also, you can read my recap of EVERY single episode of Orange is the New Black using this guide.
If you have not watched OITNB before *Spoiler Alert*
5 THINGS ABOUT SEASON 6 EPISODE 4 “I’M THE TALKING ASS”
Lots of stuff going on in this episode.
I want to take a second to remind everyone that as much personal growth as Caputo has been demonstrating, most of the events of this season would never have happened without Caputo’s poor decisions and absentee management.
5. “24-HOUR FLUORESCENT LIGHTING
Nicky makes a complaint about being insomnia and 24-hour fluorescent lighting. This is a real thing (there was even a 9th Circuit case (Keenan v. Hall) about it and which held for the plaintiff. Despite this ruling 24-hour lighting is still a thing, particularly in administrative segregation, mental health blocks, and in suicide watch cells.
I experienced a few nights of this myself in the Macomb County jail (something I have written about in depth before).
It makes you feel like you are never alone, never safe, and never — for some strange reason — quiet (there is an electric hum from fluorescent lights). The end result is that you never really get good sleep. In fact, the use of primarily fluorescent lighting (a cost-saving measure) is incredibly problematic in itself.
Regardless, what Nicky is sharing here is a real prison problem with us here.
4. SOME THINGS ARE NOT FORGIVABLE
Speaking of Nicky, she, like so many of the other inmates, is struggling with being induced to tell prosecutor’s that Red was responsible for Desi Piscatella’s death.
This is particularly devastating for Nicky because her real parents were always fighting over who “had to” take responsibility for her while Red was always there regardless of what she had done, even after she had done things that were “unforgivable.”
Nicky, unlike many of the other girls (like Piper, for instance), found a way to let Red know that she was taking a deal that would legally implicate Red…But, eventually, Red forgives her after she has an epiphany about how brutal (and slanted towards facing pleas) the plea bargaining process can be.
That is the real lesson here.
Prosecutors have WAY too much power to leverage testimony but also use it in ways that clearly demonstrate that they care a lot about convictions but care very little about truth.
The brutality of the plea bargain process is almost impossible to convey, as a defendant you have very little leverage (aside from the inconvenience and cost of your eventual trial) to bargain with and because charging documents allow prosecutors to charge you with multiple parts and multiple counts of the same crime, they can almost always threaten to put you in prison for decades or even hundreds of years if you refuse to take the plea.
And remember, while the Litchfield inmates are already in prison, for most folks being faced with a plea, the alternative is to stay locked in jail while you await adjudication of your case. Jail is often a particularly brutal place (as I have mentioned before, just in the Macomb County Jail…one of many jails in Michigan…18 people have died since 2012).
Most people facing plea bargain decisions often can’t afford bail, risk losing their jobs or their children if they remain incarcerated during pre-trial, and face brutality and extortion in jail.
For those people facing pleas from the inside, they are almost certainly being tried on evidence and testimony (often incredibly questionable) from other inmates (many of whom are informants in the first place).
I don’t mean to upset anyone, but this really is how our legal system functions. I don’t mean prosecutor’s sit around a table and decide in advance how many convictions have to happen in advance of charging actual people…But the system is about attributing blame NOT delivering justice.
Prosecutors are elected and people want crimes addressed, they don’t seem to care quite as much about how the sausage is made (or how it is labeled guilty).
Over 95% of all cases are resolved by plea bargain. This is not because over 95% of defendants are guilty of everything that they were charged with, it is because the COSTS of facing the entire weight of everything they were charged with is much riskier than accepting come charges they were guilty of in combination with some charges they were not.
This is also about one of the big themes of season 6, how the system pits inmates against each other so that they can’t focus on addressing their needs or systemic injustice as a unified or collective force (see Fantasy Inmate).
3. “IT DOESN’T MATTER…IT PROBABLY FEELS LIKE IT SHOULD”
I mean, it isn’t at all their fault, but public defenders really do suck,
I am sure I have shared the story with you before of when I was looking down the docket waiting for one of my court appearances and noticed that many of the public defenders had over 30 cases on the docket?
Let me try to explain how important this is:
The vast majority of people cannot afford attorneys. Think about what would happen if you were arrested right this moment and an attorney told you they would only take your case if you could pay a $10,000 or more retainer?
I had a case that was plea bargained (poorly IMHO) and it cost me $15,000.
So, for most people who don’t have a ton of money lying around or who aren’t willing to sacrifice their family, they have to use public defenders.
Prosecutors have MUCH larger budgets, so they don’t have to assign 30 cases to each attorney
Prosecutors have a built-in enforcement and investigation arm (the police) and partners all over the world (many tech companies will share data and information and even jail and prison phone providers frequently share recorded calls with prosecutors).
Prosecutors can count on decades of tough on crime media propaganda (Law and Order, CSI, The Closer, NCIS and a million other shows) and a public primed to punish citizens and to be skeptical of defendant’s constitutional rights (Fox News, HLN, True Crime, Lifetime).
It is very hard to imagine a world where a public defender, even if they were the Clarence Darrow of public defenders, has much of a chance. Prosecutors know this and that is probably why there is so much prosecutorial misconduct these days (hubris).
For most folks, what happens to Taystee is probably not dissimilar from their own experience with the criminal justice system. As her PD put it:
“This is so much bigger than you…The only thing worse than being the scapegoat is being the scapegoat while the world is watching.”
2. “SKIN MASKS COVERING OUR PAIN”
I am glad that Dixon stood up for his “gay” friends Donuts and Doggett at Hershey Park…But, pretty sure when you are willingly hanging out with an escaped fugitive inmate (I mean Dixon can’t even claim ignorance because you worked at the prison where she was incarcerated) you would do ANYTHING you could do to avoid a fight.
This was just fan-service here. Nice and all, but totally ridiculous. No way Dixon would get in a fight or do anything to bring attention to his abetting of an escaped “felon.”
All those two homophobic meat socks had to do was go to any officer in the park and claim they were assaulted and Dixon and Donuts would be wearing orange, pink, blue, or tan outfits just like most of the rest of the cast.
Just saying.
1. “YOU DON’T HAVE ANYTHING, HOW COULD YOU LOSE SOMETHING IN HERE?”
When Officer Ward comes to get Taystee for one of her meetings she points out that inmates don’t have much to lose in their cells (especially not when or if they are in administrative segregation).
It is true that inmates do not have much, but because you have so little every single thing that you have becomes much more important. Most incarcerated people call their bunk (and whatever things are in their “area of control”) their “house” and treat it accordingly.
Once picture or book or letter means so much more when it is the only connection you have to a life that wasn’t behind bars and electrified fencing.
I always thought about my house a bit like a Japanese Garden…Every day I would try to perfect my space. I might not have much, but what I did have I worked on perfecting.
Regardless, it is not uncommon for CO’s to belittle or even destroy inmates belongings during sweeps or especially when they decide to do random inspections or to toss your cell.
UNLOCKING THE GATES
I am a member of a Criminal Justice Reform organization called Nation Outside(The Voice of the Formerly Incarcerated) but I am not speaking for Nation Outside in any official capacity.
If you are interested in criminal justice reform or are formerly incarcerated yourself, please consider joining the fight (if you are a Michigan resident — you can sign up by clicking on the hyperlink above).
Originally published at onpiratesatellite.com.
