WATCH.
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) October 12, 2017
In 38 seconds Steve Prattor, Sheriff of Caddo Parish in Louisiana, tells you why he REALLY likes keeping "good" Black men in jail. pic.twitter.com/7YtxixE1rU
The remarks, by Sheriff Steve Prator of Caddo Parish, came near the end of a lengthy news briefing on Oct. 5, in which he objected to a set of laws that will allow for the release of a number of nonviolent prisoners on Nov. 1.
The sheriff spent the majority of the news conference talking about the danger of letting out repeat offenders who belonged in prison. He referred to those prisoners as “the bad ones,” and compared them with state prisoners held in parish jails and sentenced to hard labor, whom he deemed “good.”
“In addition to the bad ones — and I call these bad — in addition to them, they’re releasing some good ones that we use every day to wash cars, to change oil in our cars, to cook in the kitchen, to do all that, where we save money,” Sheriff Prator said. “Well, they’re going to let them out.”
Angel Harris, an assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund who has worked as a public defender in Louisiana, called the comments “disgusting.”
“He’s not opposing these individuals’ release because he’s afraid they will reoffend or because they’ll be a danger to society,” she said. “He’s opposing it because he’s going to lose good workers. It reeks of the issue of slavery.”
Read More: nytimes.com
Louisiana Sheriff’s Remarks Evoke Slavery
