Corporate Prison Reform Will Not Keep Us Safe: A Report from Los Angeles

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Under the view of the iconic Hollywood Sign, a struggle is being waged over the future of policing and incarceration. Los Angeles is ground zero for fights over the job of District Attorney, Police Chief, and the size of prisons and jails. It recently became one of the only cities in the US to cancel construction of a jail. Activists have forced out two police chiefs, while conservatives have brought two recall petitions against the DA. Corporations that have profited from prison communications are now profiting on electronic monitoring. And in this election year, with criminal justice reform a major issue, how are activists pushing back against false narratives on crime? Looking at the fight inside and outside the system, Laura Flanders talks to activists and elected officials in Los Angeles. All this from the city where SWAT teams were invented, from the state where Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon launched their careers, and the nationwide boom in prison construction was born. Can today's Los Angeles change the script?

“Los Angeles has a history of repression, and I think because it's Los Angeles, they're also masters at narrative, so they'll mask it with pictures of palm trees and Venice Beach and all of these other things. But really, when we look at the history of Los Angeles, it's deeply rooted in racism, deeply rooted in racist repression and oppression, and deeply rooted in a system of policing that absolutely descends from slave catching,” - Melina Abdullah

“When we talk about closing Men's Central Jail, yes, we're trying to close that particular building, but what it requires is every jail in our county to reduce its population . . . We're trying to decarcerate globally across the jail system, that will then allow us to close this monument of essentially torture in our communities.” - Mark-Anthony Clayton-Johnson

“The reason why I've done this work is because I've seen how the system works, and I've seen how it doesn't prevent harm and violence. It only responds to it . . .” - Eunisses Hernandez

Note: In a previous version of this episode, we refer to Eunisses Hernandez as being elected to the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors. She was elected to the Los Angeles City Council, soon after protesting at the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors.

Update: In the course of reporting our episode, Laura Flanders & Friends wrote to Securus, the security company we mention, and asked for confirmation of their prison-related revenue, and their response to the contention that electronic monitoring is turning communities into cages. Visit https://lauraflanders.org/2024/07/cor... to read their statement.

GUESTS:
Melina Abdullah: Co-Founder, Black Lives Matter, Los Angeles
Mark-Anthony Clayton-Johnson: Co-Executive Director, Dignity & Power Now
Eunisses Hernandez: Los Angeles City Councilmember, District 1
Sheila Natt: Former Teen Ankle Monitor User
Anthony Robles: Statewide Organizer, Care First California

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Credits:
Executive Producer: Laura Flanders
Supervising Producer: Sabrina Artel
Senior Consulting Producer: Rory O’Connor
Consulting Producer: Jordan Flaherty
Senior Video Editor: David Neumann
Creative Designer & Video Editor: Nat Needham
Audio Director: Jeannie Hopper
Development Director: Sarah Miller
Communications Director: Janet Hernandez
Executive Assistant: Nady Piña

00:00 – Intro
01:26 – “Justice LA”, Jail Construction Contract, Mass Incarceration in LA
06:05 – Men’s Central Jail, The Fiction of “Smash and Grab”, Gascon’s Policies
11:16 – LA Voters on Prison Reform, Rise in Electronic Monitoring
18:44 – Roots of Mass Incarceration, Realities of LA’s Incarceration Problem
22:44 – Looking Ahead