James Tatsch was not charged with any crime. But when he was found unresponsive in an isolation cell at the Alcorn County Jail on Jan. 17, he had been locked up for 12 days. He died at the local hospital.
Tatsch was waiting for mental health treatment through Mississippi’s involuntary commitment process. Every year, hundreds of people going through the process are detained in county jails for days or weeks at a time while they wait for evaluations, hearings and treatment. They are generally treated like criminal defendants and receive little or no mental health care while jailed.
Mississippi Today and ProPublica previously reported that since 2006, at least 14 people have died after being jailed during this process. Tatsch, who was 48 years old, is at least the 15th. No one in the state keeps track of how often people die while jailed for this reason. The news organizations identified the deaths through lawsuits, news clips and Mississippi Bureau of Investigation reports. MBI investigates in-custody deaths only at the request of the local sheriff or district attorney.
Conservatives are not able to see others as humans. Empathy is simply not a conservative trait. As such, conservatives should never be considered appropriate choices for leadership positions. The result is always oppression and death. Always. This has been true throughout human history.
These innocent people were killed by conservatives just being conservatives.
Conservatives are driven by fear. It’s hard to show empathy when you see others as a constant threat.
“We found that greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala”
Conservatives are not able to see others as humans.
I’m not so sure. In fact, I don’t think they would enjoy being so cruel if they didn’t think they were doing it to other humans.
They just see most humans as lesser humans.
Interesting angle. I can see that being accurate.
I’ve been detained and unlawfully searched dozens of times but the worst offenders are cops in major cities. 95% of my terrible cop experiences were in Democrat run cities. Authoritarianism runs strong on the left.
Authoritarianism is a notoriously conservative trait. It is not a trait of progressives. I think you know that and are engaging in bad faith with a suspicious personal anecdote.
Right authoritarianism is fascism, that’s the definition. But left authoritarianism is a very, very real thing. And many people who claim to be libertarian leftists still want authorities to enforce their ideals. Back when I used to shitpost on Reddit political compass memes a couple years ago we used to call them watermelons - green on the outside but red on the inside. There are anarchist leftists for sure, I’m not saying it’s everybody. Those people are mostly pretty cool to me but authoritarian neolibs can eat a bag of dicks.
I hear you! I offer my position that neoliberals are conservatives. They have more tact and are more open to slight progress to attract votes, but they are still just conservatives who serve only corporations and billionaires to enrich themselves.
I also offer my position that the right spends a great deal of time re-defining words to use as weapons against the left. They will insist that authoritarianism and fascism are both leftist ideologies. Don’t give them even an inch. For example, they have spent decades calling all communism a left-wing construct. It is not.
There are some left-wing flavors of communism, but current Chinese communism and the old Soviet (Marxist-Leninist) communists are both extremely right-wing and conservative, even by their own definitions. Don’t let tankies (conservatives pretending to be leftists with conservative viewpoints) redefine words. Push back and make them look stupid. Wikipedia will absolutely back you up on these points if angry leftists like me aren’t around to jump in.
Well just becauar a democrat runs a city does not mean the cops are Democrats. The mayor doesn’t get to hire each cop or fire and replace the whole force.
That is a gross generalization that contributes to the “us” v “them” idea. Plenty of people see others in the abstract until they are faced with it. And there is a small group of humans who don’t care. Don’t make things worse with this bullshit.
Calling out conservatism for its cruelty is not “making things worse”. It is not divisive to point out the root of oppression. Resisting oppressors should not be discouraged.
Conservatives are the core of the world’s most horrific problems. They resist any attempt to address global warming. They gleefully support oppressive governments. Conservatives openly engage in racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, antisemitism and other bigotry. Conservatives are doing this. Not their victims.
First of all, I never blamed victims.
Secondly, you didn’t call it out for cruelty, you said “they” lack empathy, and “cannot see others as human”.
This is patently false and harmful. Try as you might, they’re not xenomorphs.
I listed numerous examples to illustrate the ways conservatives lack empathy. There is nothing “patently false” about it. They lack empathy. They see empathy as weakness to be exploited.
I think you are giving a great deal of credit to those who don’t even want it.
I think you may have only met some extraordinarily harmful people or you have read too much of the Internet. Go meet a super strict conservative at the table. Shit, go out and make friendly conversation with a white supremacist. People can have awful beliefs for soooo many reasons but they’re still people with all the feelings you keep trying to deny them.
The phobias you mentioned aren’t really about empathy to begin with - a decade ago, they were about fear. Hence the name. And you haven’t admitted to your false claim of me blaming victims.
Quit demonizing swaths of people based on gross generalizations, dude. You’re adding to the bullshit that hurts us all.
This happens every week, all over the country. It’s a shameful disgrace.
Almost one death a year. Should probably call Sherlock soon.
We need to start putting the death penalty on the table for criminally negligent officers.
I looked at their 2022 audit and they got a glowing review!
Somehow they still managed to torture an inmate to death in solitary confinement though. Weird; you’d think something would come up on the report.
Some highlights:
115.35
Specialized training: Medical and mental health care
Auditor Overall Determination: Meets Standard
Auditor Discussion
Mental Health Services are provided not in an RCF, but through the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Because of this, an offender requiring the previous mentioned services would need to be transferred back into the State prison system. Any offender in need of mental health services would be transferred on an emergent basis, and would have the possibility of returning, depending on the reason for transfer. If necessary, a telehealth consult could be conducted with the state facility to see if there was an immediate need for transfer.
Based on the organizational chart, it was confirmed that two medical staff are employed at ACRCF. Both employees have received appropriate training on how to detect and assess signs of sexual abuse and harassment, and are educated on how to preserve physical evidence of sexual abuse. These staff members have also received the appropriate training of how to respond effectively and professionally when dealing with victims of sexual abuse, harassment, or assault. There are no forensic examinations conducted at ACRCF.
115.82
Access to emergency medical and mental health services
Auditor Overall Determination: Meets Standard
Auditor Discussion
The facility has an option to transfer any inmate in need of immediate medical and/or mental health care back to MDOC for evaluation of needs.
Agency and facility policy support all areas of this standard and mandate immediate access to medical and mental health services. Included in this policy not only the timeliness of emergency medical treatment but the crisis intervention services as well. These are steps to be taken by the first responders in order to ensure protection of the victim. In addition to this, the policy also provides timely access to emergency contraception and sexually transmitted infection prophylaxis. In the event of needing these treatments, the victim would not face any financial cost for services.
Despite immediate care being provided at Magnolia Regional Hospital, any inmate needing extensive or long-term care will be transferred to a DOC prison with a larger medical or mental health unit in order to provide the appropriate form of treatment.
115.35 (d)
Specialized training: Medical and mental health care
Do medical and mental health care practitioners employed by the agency also receive training mandated for employees by §115.31? (N/A if the agency does not have any full- or part-time medical or mental health care practitioners employed by the agency.)
yes
Do medical and mental health care practitioners contracted by or volunteering for the agency also receive training mandated for contractors and volunteers by §115.32? (N/A if the agency does not have any full- or part-time medical or mental health care practitioners contracted by or volunteering for the agency.)
na
A process of indirect cost-shifting may have led to a form of “re-institutionalization” through the increased use of jail detention for those with mental disorders deemed unmanageable and noncompliant.[19][20] When laws were enacted requiring communities to take more responsibility for mental health care, necessary funding was often absent, and jail became the default option,[21] being cheaper than psychiatric care.[19]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinstitutionalization_in_the_United_States
in the US the solution to mental health was locking people up in “institutions” staffed with doctors but now we have them locked up in what amounts to zoos and staffed with “correctional officers”
meanwhile we have Biden’s failed promise of police reform and healthcare
and Trump and Obama and the other presidents from years past on both sides have not helped to improve the situation either (maybe the people allowed to vote should look at other parties?)
articles like this come out all time and their meaning has been lost for a while now with no change in sight but still holding out on hope
I watched We Own This City yesterday. Absolute fucking wild what is happening in that country. Shit you’d expect in Colombia or Kenya.
