President Donald Trump posted Sunday on his Reality Social platform that he’s ordered varied authorities companies to reopen Alcatraz to function an emblem of regulation, order and justice.
“For too lengthy, America has been suffering from vicious, violent, and repeat Felony Offenders, the dregs of society, who won’t ever contribute something aside from Distress and Struggling,” he wrote.
As he is a 34-count felon himself, it’s unusual that the president doesn’t appear to imagine in rehabilitation or second probabilities. And it’s simple, as many shortly did, to write down off this push to spruce up and refill America’s most infamous prison-turned-national park as simply bloviating or distraction. However just like the sharks that circle that island within the Bay, the true hazard of the thought lurks beneath the floor.
Trump in latest weeks has moved to undo years of felony justice reform. He’s making adjustments that improve police energy, signaling a push to refill federal prisons and detention facilities with Black and brown individuals, and curbing the power of these impacted to hunt redress in courts.
None of that’s about justice or security — most violent crime rates are actually declining, regardless of what the president would really like us to imagine. It’s about empowering authorities to behave with out worry of consequence, and undoing the adjustments in tradition and regulation set in movement by the killing of George Floyd.
The true-time outcomes of these strikes can already be seen in Los Angeles.
My colleagues Brittny Mejia, James Queally and Keri Blakinger reported final week that the workplace of Trump’s newly appointed U.S. attorney for Los Angeles, Invoice Essayli, made the extraordinary transfer of providing a plea deal to a sheriff’s deputy — who had already been discovered responsible by a jury of utilizing extreme pressure.
Sure, he’s asking a decide to throw out a jury’s resolution.
The concept that the brand new U.S. legal professional would mainly inform a jury to stuff it isn’t simply conceited. It’s alarming. It sends the message that if the individuals need to maintain native authorities accountable for brutality, the federal authorities will merely override them.
That is what Trump promised regulation enforcement throughout his marketing campaign, and he’s delivering. Do you keep in mind in 2017 when, to cheers, he requested officers “don’t be too nice” when making arrests?
The case in query feels spot-on for Trump’s plea.
The incident that landed former Deputy Trevor Kirk in court docket stemmed from an arrest at a Lancaster, Calif., grocery retailer in June 2023. Responding to a potential theft name, Kirk grabbed a Black lady who matched the outline of a suspect, threw her face-first to the bottom whereas she filmed him and pepper-sprayed her. The lady was later handled for blunt pressure trauma to her head, and was by no means charged with a criminal offense.
The case was investigated by the FBI, and in April, Kirk was convicted of one felony count of deprivation of rights under color of law.
The decide has but to condemn him, however Kirk may withstand 10 years in jail. Until the decide accepts the doubtful plea deal, during which case Kirk would plead responsible to a misdemeanor, which may end in probation fairly than time behind bars. It could additionally imply Kirk wouldn’t be prevented from working in regulation enforcement once more.
A company that represents some sheriff’s deputies and which contacted Trump concerning the case, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Skilled Affiliation, has lengthy contended that the prosecution was “politically charged” and Kirk did nothing past the bounds of coaching or regulation. Lots of his former fellow officers agree.
However prosecutors noticed it otherwise, arguing in a three-day trial that the deputy had gone too far. The jury agreed.
Sometimes, and I do imply not often, a prosecutor could transfer to undo a conviction if new proof pops up post-trial. However that doesn’t seem like the case right here, as The Los Angeles Occasions famous. This actually seems to be like a Trump-appointed prosecutor making an attempt to undo the need of the individuals.
Like some other defendant, Kirk has the suitable to enchantment his conviction. By his stepping in now, it’s arduous to see Essayli’s actions as something aside from political. Three attorneys resigned from his workplace within the wake of his uncommon request.
To drive residence the purpose, additionally final week, Trump signed an executive order on policing that promised to “unleash” U.S. regulation enforcement to “firmly police” felony exercise.
“When native leaders demonize regulation enforcement and impose authorized and political handcuffs that make aggressively implementing the regulation unattainable, crime thrives and harmless residents and small enterprise homeowners endure,” Trump wrote.
That very same govt order promised to offer new authorized protections for regulation enforcement and even assist cowl prices if an officer is sued.
So once we discuss Alcatraz, don’t write it off as a joke or one other empty decree. Alcatraz closed in 1963, one 12 months earlier than the Civil Rights Act handed.
Reopening it’s nostalgia for an America the place energy ran roughshod over true justice, and police have been an authority to not be questioned — or restrained.
