Crime

Wesson seeks to ban private prisons within city

WAVE NEWSPAPERS — Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson started an effort June 29 to prohibit private prisons from being constructed and operating within the city. Wesson’s proposal would zone the city in such a way that it would effectively ban private detention centers.

Published

5 years ago

July 15, 2019

Wave Wire Services

By Wave Wire Services

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson started an effort June 29 to prohibit private prisons from being constructed and operating within the city.

Wesson’s proposal would zone the city in such a way that it would effectively ban private detention centers.

“Profiting off of locking people up will not fly in Los Angeles,” Wesson said in a statement. “We call on every city and county to join us in preventing this kind of activity from operating within its borders.”

Wesson said he started the effort because of recent reports that young children, who had been separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, were detained in overcrowded areas and kept without basic necessities.

Wesson said private prisons sign contracts with U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement worth millions of dollars every year and carry “horrific records regarding human rights and living conditions for detained immigrants.”

The proposal was seconded by Councilmen Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Gil Cedillo as well as Councilwoman Nury Martinez. The motion by Wesson is scheduled to be discussed by the full council July 3.

The United States incarcerates more people in a year than any other country in the world, and in recent years private prisons have taken on a greater share of the prisoner population, Wesson said, adding “The industry was started at the state level during the height of the war on drugs as governments failed to keep up their capacity with the rising inmate populations.”

Wesson said private detention centers are not subject to the same oversight and scrutiny as public prisons. He cited a U.S. Department of Justice study that found in 2016 that federally contracted private prisons had a significantly higher number of violations per inmate than public prisons.

The proposal also comes after a number of notable politicians pledged to curtail private prisons.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, a presidential candidate, said last week that she would try to ban private prison operations nationally if she’s elected.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom in February also entertained the idea of reeling in the state’s private prison industry.

“Profiting off of locking people up will not fly in Los Angeles.”

This article originally appeared the Wave Newspapers.

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Bay Area

Remembering Khadafy Washington: His Memory Has Inspired Hope and Healing in Oakland for 24 years

August marks the 24th anniversary of the shooting death of Khadafy Washington. Washington was only 18 years old when he was killed at McClymonds High School just months after his graduation in August 2000.

Published

4 days ago

October 1, 2024

Oakland Post

Marilyn Washington-Harris, posted 19 billboards around Oakland with the picture of her murdered son, Khadafy Washington, and the blaring question: Do You Know Who Killed Me?

By Brigitte Cook

August marks the 24th anniversary of the shooting death of Khadafy Washington.

Washington was only 18 years old when he was killed at McClymonds High School just months after his graduation in August 2000.

At McClymonds, Washington was the captain of the football team and a talented athlete who enjoyed working out. At 5’6,” he impressed his bigger and taller teammates with his ability to lift 350lbs and to toe-to-toe with them on the gridiron.

Preparing for the future, Washington enrolled in Laney College with dreams of continuing his football career and ultimately transferring to a college in Florida. However, those dreams were abruptly and violently ended.

The young athlete and rising star loved his family and friends, and they loved him, too — especially his sisters and his West Oakland community.

For 24 years now, Washington’s family has been searching for answers and struggling with deep sorrow and grief stemming from his tragic, senseless and untimely death. During the months following his murder, outraged and in pain, Washington’s mother, Marilyn Washington-Harris, posted 19 billboards around the city with his picture and the blaring question: Do You Know Who Killed Me?

Those signs were stark reminders to a city sometimes in denial that too many of its young men were dying violent deaths. Soon she was organizing marches to bring attention to Oakland’s problem with violence, and to the lasting pain families of victims endure. Privately, Washington-Harris would reach out to individual families in the immediate aftermath of a homicide, sending them mementos and reminders that they were not forgotten. In their weakest moments, she protected them from exploitation, scraped up funds for the mostly poor families so that they could bury their dead with dignity and grace, and continued to counsel and care for them as they tried to heal and recover.

As Washington-Harris’s mission grew and evolved, she founded the Khadafy Washington Foundation for Non-Violence to continue to support the thousands of family members of the well-over 2500 people that have been killed in Oakland since that fateful night in 2000.

Even though she has dedicated her life to helping and supporting those who have lost loved ones, Washington-Harris still struggles with the hurt and pain of losing her only son every day. She said, “It comes just like a storm – sometimes it comes quietly and sometimes it is raging. But it never goes away.”

Her plea is that those responsible for his murder be held accountable and her family, and all families like hers, receive the justice they deserve.

Washington-Harris is a founding member of the Family Support Advocates with the Violence Prevention Coalition, advocating for legislation and policies to support all crime victims and especially family members of homicide victims.

FAMILY SUPPORT ADVOCACY TASK FORCE

The mission of the Family Support Advocacy Task Force, a committee of the Violence Prevention Coalition, is to advocate for local, state and federal policies and legislation to enhance and expand support to families and friends of those who experienced violence; for more compassionate and transparent communication between law enforcement, the district attorney with the family of homicide victims and to push for the elimination of all violence, but particularly gun violence and homicides.