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Grace is a Black 15 year old child with ADHD who has been in jail since the start of pandemic because she could not do her homework, which meant she violated her parole (she was on parole for briefly stealing a fellow student's phone).
https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/15/3-frauds-in-a-trenchcoat/#judge-mary-ellen-brennan
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https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/15/3-frauds-in-a-trenchcoat/#judge-mary-ellen-brennan
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The Michigan judge who sentenced her to spend months in prison for not doing her homework is Mary Ellen Brennan, who is up for re-election this year. After massive public outcry, Brennan agreed to review Grace's case.
https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/20/no-mask-no-service/#free-grace
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https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/20/no-mask-no-service/#free-grace
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Heartbreakingly - but unsurprisingly - Brennan has decided that Grace deserves to stay in jail, because, according to the judge, the child is "blooming" due to her incarceration: "you are exactly where you are supposed to be."
https://www.propublica.org/article/judge-wont-free-michigan-teenager-sent-to-juvenile-detention-after-not-doing-online-schoolwork#980494
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https://www.propublica.org/article/judge-wont-free-michigan-teenager-sent-to-juvenile-detention-after-not-doing-online-schoolwork#980494
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The judge's decision is not merely outrageous and cruel, it's also unsupported by the evidence. Grace's attorneys showed that the educational and counseling resources in child prison were not sufficient to meet her needs.
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Both Grace's prosecutor and her caseworkers asked for her to be released.
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The judge opened the proceedings with cruel taunts for the child: "it is going to get worse before it gets better. Because I am about to go over all the crap, all the negative, all the prior attempts at helping. I am going through it all."
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Describing reports on Grace's tenure in jail, the judge expressed delight: "this is as good as it gets." Grace 30-60 minutes of therapy twice a month and has had three joint therapy sessions with her mother over videoconference.
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Describing her education - filling in xeroxed worksheets - Grace said, "I am getting behind in my actual schooling while here. The schooling here is beneath my level of education...in my heart, I feel the aching and the loss as if it were a punishment."
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Brennan is running for re-election in 2020. Grace's case is before the state Supreme Court.
"As Grace and her mother hugged before saying goodbye, Charisse told her to 'stay strong.'
"With her head on her mother’s shoulder, Grace replied: 'I can’t.'"
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"As Grace and her mother hugged before saying goodbye, Charisse told her to 'stay strong.'
"With her head on her mother’s shoulder, Grace replied: 'I can’t.'"
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Note, I briefly posted and deleted an earlier version of this thread in which I absentmindedly typed "homework" instead of "phone" in the first tweet. Sorry about that.
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