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"To me ya'll the same in this jailhouse." What a guard told Willie while assaulting him. Caged pretrial in Texas for *over 3 years.* Tortured. Denied medication. Beaten. "My mom told me I have rights. But I'm behind this door." Texas is about to pass a law allowing more of this.
Willie shared a story of an assault that landed him in solitary. “I was taking my medication. I ran out of water. Told the officer, I need to get some more. As I'm walking next thing you know, he grabbed me from behind. Flung me against the wall. My medication went everywhere.”
“I don't ever do nothing but color. And I stay to myself. So everybody knows that I'm not a problem in this jail house. No, no. This is my first time ever, ever, ever having any kind of trouble like this, in here. Like I don't give them no problems."
“He was like ‘Give me a reason. Give me a reason.’ I'm like, ‘I haven't done anything wrong. I don't even know why you're doing this to me right now.’ So next thing I know, I'm slammed on the ground. There was another officer there. ‘Quit resisting.’ I'm like, "'I'm not.'"
"'Sir I have rights & what you're doing to me is wrong. I haven't done nothing wrong to you or to anybody. I haven't cussed you out.' I wasn't aggressive, I wasn't none of that. I was following his rules like he asked me to. But, he's on my back. With his knee in my back.”
"'Give me your arm!'" I'm like "'Sir, I can't give you my arm bc you're on top of me. I can't move.'" So he grabs one of my arms. Put the handcuff on it. Goes for other arm, but my neck is on top of another officer arm. I'm telling them "'I can't breathe. I can't breathe.'"
“And I turned my turn my head cause I'm trying to find out where a camera is. So I could hope that the camera would show some of this, if not all of it. He's like "'Give me the other arm, give me the other arm!'" And I'm like, "'Sir, I can't move. You're on top of me.'"
“So he finally pulled my other arm up and puts me in handcuffs. I'm like, ‘Sir, I have rights as an inmate to my medication.’ He picks me up and he walks me behind a closed solid door in a small room. He grabbed my wrist & he bends it up. I'm like "'Sir, what did I do wrong?’”
“‘Put your hands above your head.’!" I'm like, ‘Yes sir. Yes sir.’ So as I'm trying to, he grabs my hand & he slams it on the wall. Above my head. I didn't move, I didn't do nothing smart. I wasn't try to do nothing to get myself in any more trouble than I was already."
I kept asking "Can I please get my medication? Can I get my glasses?" He said, "No, you don't need your glasses because you don't need to see."
"I'm in a single cell right now, behind a steel door. They gave me a piece of paper saying this is what my case is going to be. I guess it's called disciplinary. But they haven't gave me the disciplinary charges. And I'm back here behind his door and I can't do anything."
"I feel like, I should be out there. I tell my mom, I'm frustrated. I mean, it's a lot that's going on & I can't do anything. Nobody to talk to. She just keep telling me, 'Keep hope & have faith.' I'm doing it, but it's wearing me down."
More than 60% in Texas jails--40000--have not been convicted of a crime. Majority are caged bc they cannot afford bail. Yet racist Gov. Abbott, police, prosecutors want more to suffer. On verge of passing a law to significantly expand pretrial caging.
The Texas bail bill already passed the house. Now onto Senate. Would increase the number of people caged pretrial, make it impossible to pay bail for a significant additional number, strip judges of their power to release, end charitable bail funds. It's sociopathic.
Pretrial incarceration has become a potential death sentence, inflicting incalculable pain on Texas communities & families. Last thing in the world Texas should be doing right now is making pretrial caging worse. Sign here to tell Texas lawmakers to stop. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-texas-lawmakers-to-preserve-our-right-to-presumptive-innocence?source=direct_link&
Read back through this thread. These are words, terrors, fears of just one man. Things were bad before COVID. COVID just made the cruelty in Texas jails more apparent. Visit http://SheddingLight.in to learn more about what ordinarily hidden state violence looks like.
Follow @TxJailProject for more on the current status of things. They forged the powerful relationships with people on the inside and have been creating a safe space to share their stories & also have been fighting for justice for them & their families. https://twitter.com/TxJailProject/status/1390015877874176002?s=20
