“Last week, one week past her 31st birthday, civil rights activist Catrina Wallace was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. This was first arrest for Wallace, a single mother who became politically active when her brother was arrested in the case that later became known as the “Jena Six.” On March 31, a 12-person jury with one Black member convicted Wallace of three counts of distribution of a controlled substance. At her June 1 sentencing, Wallace received 5 years for each count, to be served consecutively. Even in Louisiana, the incarceration capitol of the US, fifteen years for a first offense is somewhat exceptional. However, vast discrepancies exist across parishes. For example, an Orleans Parish man recently received probation for selling pot. Then, when arrested for the same offense a few miles away in St. Tammany Parish, he was sentenced to life in prison. Nationwide, the average incarceration period for drug offenders is six months. “Unfortunately, I’m not shocked by the sentence,” commented Jasmine Tyler, deputy director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. “We used to use prisons for the people who really caused problems, and made us concerned about public safety. Now we use them for the people we’re mad at.””
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Justice Roars: Jena Six Activist Sentenced to Fifteen Years in Prison
via Jordan’s essay on the Huffington Post that gives extensive background that led up to this sentence:
The sheriff called the mobilization “Operation Third Option,” and he said it was about fighting drugs. However, community members say that Sheriff Franklin’s actions are part of an orchestrated revenge for the local civil rights protests that won freedom for six Black high school students — known internationally as the Jena Six — who had been charged with attempted murder for a school fight.
One thing is clear: the sheriff spent massive resources; yet officers seized no contraband. Together with District Attorney Reed Walters, Sheriff Franklin has said he is seeking maximum penalties for people charged with small-time offenses. Further, in a parish that is eighty-five percent white, his actions have almost exclusively targeted African Americans. In a town with just over three hundred Black residents, he sent his 150 officers only into the town’s Black neighborhood.
(via radicallyhottoff)