“THE GOOD ONES”

“THE GOOD ONES”

Recently in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, there was a press conference at the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office. During this conference, Sheriff Steve Prator shared his opinions on a recent law that was passed. The new law allows nonviolent prisoners to be released from prison early in Louisiana. This will allow about 16,000 inmates to be released from prison. Louisiana is the world’s largest prison capital, and the new law will decrease the amount of people in prison.

Take a look at this clip from the press conference.

In this clip, Sheriff Steve Prator obviously disagrees with the new law that is being passed. He states that we are releasing “good prisoners”. Prator says that the “good prisoners” are the ones that do manual labor like wash cars, pick up trash, and cook. He is suggesting that releasing the nonviolent prisoners will decrease the amount of free labor that is done and the state will lose money. Sheriff Prator has been criticized by many people across the country about his comments. His comments were viewed to be racist by a lot of people throughout the nation.

I first saw this video clip on twitter. I noticed the caption in the video said Caddo Parish. That caught my attention because I am from Shreveport, Louisiana and Caddo Parish is in Shreveport. The clip was only 39 seconds long and I was very annoyed after I watched it. Sheriff Prator’s comments are embarrassing to Shreveport and the state as a whole. After watching the video for the first time, I was very shocked at what Prator had to say.

Most people that are incarcerated in Louisiana are black men. Many of these men are in prison based on their skin color. A black man that got arrested for the same thing that a white man got arrested for will get a longer sentence just because he is black.

I personally disagree with everything that Prator stated during that press conference. In my opinion, the way that Prator uses the terms “good prisoners” and “bad prisoners “is another way of saying slaves. During slavery, black people were prisoners to their slave owners. They were forced to provide free labor for their masters . When Prator says that they are releasing the “good prisoners”, it sounds like he is saying that they are releasing “good slaves”. Many people may think slavery is over, but to me, this is modern day slavery. Prator directly states, “They are releasing some good ones that we use every day…” He says “use” like the inmates are just some tools that are used for everyday tasks. After I watched it a few more times, it dawned on me that this is how many people view black Americans. Although black people today aren’t referred to as “slaves”, they are still viewed as slaves.

At the beginning of the video clip, Sheriff Prator says that he doesn’t want state prisons. In my opinion, not wanting state prisons means that you would not want to keep all nonviolent people in prisons for long periods of time. Placing too many people with small offenses in jail will definitely overpopulate prisons. Governor John Bel Edwards plans on discussing the new law with Prator in efforts to educate him on how the law will actually help Louisiana.

#Brenee