Heads I'd Like to Get Into: Police Officers Who Kill

It's a scary time to be alive.  If we're not hearing about terrorism overseas and murders every single day here at home, we are bombarded with stories of police brutality and violence that divides us and negates any progress that's been made.

Yesterday, I watched as Alton Sterling's son sobbed behind his mother, crying for his father who was taken from him in the blink of an eye.  Today, Philando Castile's girlfriend is speaking out on her terrifying experience, all of which was witnessed by her 4 year old daughter who carried the burden of comforting her mother with a dead body in the car.  

The news hit me hard yesterday.  Maybe it was the young man crying on television, but more than that, the whole thing left me with a sense of impending doom.  This violence can only lead to more violence.  When will this end?  Will it ever?  

As a social worker, I want to understand.  Racism is the easy, obvious answer but I feel there is more to it. What is it, in that single moment that causes a police officer to pull the trigger?  

There are many beliefs about this issue, first, there's the "subhuman" argument or the belief that black males are seen by others as animals, less than human and therefore unworthy of the same regard given to others.  This argument makes sense.  If you regard someone as less than human you care nothing about what happens to them and may feel that your actions are justified.  

Another argument is the "implicit criminal" argument; that racism and anti-black bias has led police officers to automatically assume that black males are up to no good; that they are "threatening" simply because of the color of their skin.  Along those same lines is the concept of "threat perception failure" or the idea that stereotypes lead police to perceive a threat (e.g. a cell phone that "looked" like a gun) that may not be there when the person involved is black. 

The arguments definitely have merit but I still don't get it.  

We know that there are racist people of all occupations walking around every single day, police officers included. They are somehow reasonable enough to control their thoughts and feelings and go to work and interact with people from other cultures.  They have the presence of thought to know that they need their jobs and their pensions and also that they (most likely) do not want to go to jail. Even if they don't give a crap about the life and family of their victim, why do they risk their own well-being to carry out an actual murder, when there are other alternatives and the only provocation is usually something they've been trained to handle.  Where does the reason go when confronted with this situation?  Is it because they know they will get away with it?  Maybe.  But with cell phone video and body cameras I still say its a risky gamble.  I still think there's more to it.

 A few years ago I was in a store where a little girl and her two younger sisters were buying milk for their morning cereal.  Two police officers walked into the store; they were patrolling the neighborhood, taking the time to stop into places and say hello.  When the officers walked in, the youngest of the three girls had an absolute meltdown, screaming and crying at the very sight of their uniforms.  I had never seen her before and she ran into my arms, screaming for her mother because of the presence of police.  I tried to console her but she was having none of it.  The officers and I both left the store very shaken up by it.  It still stands as one of the saddest things I've ever seen.  

Another time, I saw a young boy about 7 walking down the street with his mother.  When he came across two police officers in their car, he spoke to them, excited to see them in uniform and inspired by their positions.  His mother, not so much.  Right in front of the officers she told her son not to speak to them, that "you can't trust cops."  Her son walked away dejected, his excitement replaced with confusion and sadness at the revelation that someone he looked up to was a bad guy.  I was floored.  But, is she right?  

I worry about the safety of children who feel they can't trust police officers and what that means for their futures.  I worry about good cops who become targets because of the actions of others and the notion that if one is bad, all are.  I worry about mothers and sisters and brothers and fathers who have to rehearse instructions with their sons about how to interact with police.  How scary it must be to be the mother of a son and have to worry not only about the thugs in the street but also about police who may operate from a frame of reference that pushes them to shoot first and ask questions later.  

Last night, my husband and his brother went out after dark.  I wondered then "what if?"  What if they were stopped by police and one thing led to another and I never saw them again.  It could happen to me just like it happened to the family of Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Eric Harris, Walter Scott, Michael Brown, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.  

I think that's the scariest part of it all.  

40 Years of Solitude

Over the years, I had heard only bits and pieces about the Angola 3; Robert King, Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox; three Louisiana men who were serving time for a robbery when they were convicted of murdering a prison guard in April of 1972.  It wasn't until just recently that the case came back to my attention, when Mr. Woodfox was released last week after serving the longest sentence in solitary confinement in US history.  

Solitary confinement is a pretty self-explanatory term; "serious, predatory" offenders, are confined to a cell alone, for 22-24 hours per day, usually in an effort to protect the safety of themselves and others.  Prisoners who are considered to be at risk for violence (e.g. pedophiles, witnesses, children, etc) are also kept in isolation as well as prisoners, like the A3, who were "suspected of organizing illegal activities" inside prison walls.  The punishment was initially intended to allow prisoners to "reflect on their misdeeds and draw closer to God" through isolation and seclusion from others.

After their conviction in 1972, this was the fate of the Angola 3, who were kept in seclusion for fear that they would organize an uprising in the prison and spread "Black Pantherism" among the other inmates.  All three men were sent to solitary in 1972, King for 29 years before he was released, Wallace for 40 years until his release in 2013 and Woodfox, serving 43 of his 45 year sentence in isolation until his release on February 19.  

I won't even discuss the fact that Mr. Woodfox's case was overturned three times, how the prosecution's witnesses were discredited, how evidence was lost and racial discrimination was rampant throughout the trial.  I was more intrigued by the impact that spending that much time alone can have on a person's psyche and how Mr. Woodfox and the others seem to have emerged with their faculties intact. Its interesting that I didn't really think of keeping someone alone as a form of torture until I learned about the effect it has on people over the course of time.  

Prisoners who have spent time in solitary describe it as "spirit-killing," "mind-altering," saying that "people come in with a few minor problems and leave as sociopaths."  Many prisoners report that it only takes a few days for some to begin having hallucinations, talking to themselves and displaying early signs of psychosis such as paranoia, disorganized speech and bizarre behavior.  Mr. Woodfox says he was able to survive only through reading and trying to stay connected to the outside world, but still suffered severe panic attacks, hallucinations and insomnia for much of his time there.

Research shows that prolonged periods of seclusion can lead to a condition called "isolation panic"- with symptoms such as severe anxiety, insomnia, aggression, depression, delusions and self-harm. The psychological effects of forced seclusion are often irreversible and can present themselves in as little as 15 days.  This punishment is especially harmful to those already dealing with mental illness, as being placed in isolation exacerbates their conditions and limits access to medical and mental health care.

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I've read that the goal of isolation is to keep prisoners and guards safe from the most aggressive inmates, but it seems that prolonged isolation from others actually contributes to the high rates of recidivism among those who spend time there.  Many of those held in "super max" prisons need to be "re-socialized" before they can be released into society, and rates of recidivism among this group are as high as 20% in some states.

We don't have to debate the fact that people who commit crimes deserve to be punished.  I get it.  But, where are the limits?  Since we know human beings are social creatures what is the real goal here?  Are we trying to break people's minds?  Are we punishing them for their crimes by slowly driving them insane using methods we know for sure will work?  It just doesn't seem right.


So after 45 years, Mr. Woodfox is finally free.  Finally out of the 6x9 box he has spent the last half-century of his life in. As I said, I'm not here to debate his guilt or innocence, I'm just amazed that he survived this long in a room by himself and a little shocked that our system of justice relies on a form of psychological torture as punishment.
How do you feel about it?  Find out more about it here and let me know what you think.