#BlackLivesMatter activist and outspoken critic of police brutality Sandra Bland was “found” dead in a Texas jail. The jail claims Sandra Bland killed herself. The FBI is investigating. Waller County, where the jail is located, is now “discovered” as fraught with racial tensions, “racism from cradle to grave.” Some describe the circumstances as “mysterious”.
Sandra Bland’s arrest, for a minor traffic violation, was caught on video. At one point, she is thrown to the ground, and she yells, “You just slammed my head into the ground. Do you not even care about that? I can’t even hear.” After that, all is silence.
That’s the ordinary of U.S. jails, and so is abuse, torture, rape and death, especially for Black women. That’s not overstated. The jails of America are filling up to choking as the prisons are “releasing”, and women, and especially Black women, have been the principle actors, and targets, of this new phase of mass incarceration. At Women In and Beyond the Global, we have been covering this trend for years. Here are just some of the individual women’s stories we’ve followed.
In 1998 Gina Muniz was incarcerated in the LA County Jail and the California state prison system for her first arrest, related to the theft of $200 related to a rapid onset of drug addiction-in the aftermath of her father’s death. The theft was bizarrely classified as a carjacking, although no one was harmed, and no car was stolen. Muniz received life in prison; her lawyer told her she was agreeing to seven years when she pled guilty. Six months after Muniz was arrested, she was dead: “Gina Muniz, September 2000, handcuffed to her deathbed and under 24-hour-guard in Modesto Community Hospital. Next to her is her daughter Amanda. Gina suffered horribly for six months from diagnosed but untreated cervical cancer. When it was diagnosed in L.A. County Jail, early and aggressive treatment would more than likely have saved Gina’s life. Grace Ortega, her mother, was finally able to win compassionate release for her daughter two days before her death, so that she could die at home”. Compassionate release.
Amy Lynn Cowling went for a drive on Christmas Eve, 2010 in East Texas. 33 years old, a grandmother of a one-day old child, bipolar, methadone dependent, and with only one kidney, Amy Lynn Cowling was picked up for speeding, then arrested for some outstanding warrants on minor theft charges and traffic violations. Five days later, in the Gregg County Jail after a day of wailing and seizures, of excruciating pain and suffering, of agony, Amy Lynn Cowling died. Amy Lynn Cowling died after five days of her family begging and pleading with the prison staff to make sure they gave her the life sustaining medicines she needed. The pills were just down the hall, in Amy Lynn Cowling’s purse, in the jail storage room. Nobody went, nobody came. Amy Lynn Cowling died.
A year before, in Onondaga County Justice Center, in upstate New York, Chuneice Patterson, 21 years old, Black woman, died similarly, screaming and writhing in pain and ignored.
In 2012, Autumn Miller was in the Jesse R. Dawson State Jail, in Dallas, Texas, for a probation violation. She was in for a year. Miller knew something was wrong. She asked for a PAP smear and for a pregnancy test. She was denied. Her cramps and pain increased. One night, her pains became too intense for guards to ignore, and they took Miller down to the `medical unit’. There are no doctors at Dawson overnight, and so guards `took care’ of Miller. The guards said Miller merely had to go to the bathroom, gave her a menstrual pad and locked her in a holding cell. Despite Miller’s pleas, nobody came in to check, and so Autumn Miller gave birth to Gracie Miller, in the holding cell toilet. Guards then came in, shackled and handcuffed the mother, and took mother and daughter to the hospital. Gracie died four days later, in her shackled mother’s handcuffed arms.
Alisha was tried and charged as an adult in DC Superior Court when she was 16 years old. She was sent to DC’s Correctional Treatment Facility (CTF). There are no special units for female youth at CTF, so Alisha was sent to solitary confinement. For weeks at a time, she was on lockdown for 23 hours a day, unable to attend school, and could not participate in any programming available at the jail. Her attorney fought to move her to a more appropriate place that could also address her mental health concerns, but she remained there for a year and a half. In solitary confinement, she attempted suicide.
In early February 2015, Natasha McKenna was killed by six officers in the Fairfax County Jail, in northern Virginia near Washington, DC. McKenna was 37 years old. She was the mother of a 7-year-old daughter. She was living with schizophrenia. She was a diminutive woman, 5 feet 3 inches, 130 pounds. And she was Black. She was killed during a so-called cell extraction, when six deputies tackled her and took care of business.
This is the cruel and usual treatment of women in U.S. jails, across the country. There is no mystery here. There is no mystery concerning what happened to Sandra Bland. Hers was a death foretold. #SayHerName I can’t even hear.
(Photo Credit: Facebook) (Video Credit: YouTube)
[…] Monday, July 13, #BlackLivesMatter activist and outspoken critic of police brutality Sandra Bland was “found” dead in a Texas jail. On Tuesday, July 14, in Homewood, Alabama, 18-year-old Black […]
[…] The State wanted Sarah Reed dead, and Sarah Reed is dead. What happened to Sarah Reed happened to Sandra Bland happened to Natasha McKenna happened to Kindra Chapman happens. Rebuilding the prison never ends, […]
[…] died of dehydration in the Charleston County jail, in South Carolina. In her death, she joined Sandra Bland, Kindra Chapman, Ralkina Jones and Raynette Turner: five Black women who died in one month in jails […]
[…] pooled beneath her.” Women’s bodies keep being “found” in jails across the United States: Sandra Bland, Kindra Chapman, Sarah Lee Circle Bear, Joyce Curnell, Kellsie Green, Natasha McKenna, Christina […]
Sandra Bland’s Family Looks Forward from Lawsuit Settlement https://www.texastribune.org/2016/09/19/sandra-blands-family-settled-their-lawsuit-heres-w/
Sandra Bland Act gets nod from Texas Senate panel https://www.texastribune.org/2017/05/02/texas-senate-panel-approves-sandra-bland-act/
Perjury Charge Dropped Against Ex-Trooper in Sandra Bland Case https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/28/us/sandra-bland-death-brian-encinia-texas-texas.html
Perjury charge dropped against trooper who arrested Sandra Bland https://www.texastribune.org/2017/06/28/perjury-charge-dropped-against-trooper-who-arrested-sandra-bland/
Two years later: A look back at the Sandra Bland case http://abc13.com/news/two-years-later-a-look-back-at-the-sandra-bland-case/2211158/
Lubbock County Sheriff Implements New Rules into Jail Under Sandra Bland Act http://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/klbk-news/lubbock-county-sheriff-implements-new-rules-into-jail-under-sandra-bland-act/900563710
Officials: New jail mental health regulations protect all http://www.cleburnetimesreview.com/news/officials-new-jail-mental-health-regulations-protect-all/article_f827ce6e-f00f-11e7-8b0a-efc4f9c93b4f.html
Sandra Bland’s Family Confronts Official Story in New Doc, ‘Say Her Name’ https://www.colorlines.com/articles/watch-sandra-blands-family-confronts-official-story-new-doc-say-her-name
Sandra Bland’s Family Recalls Questioning Police Footage in the Documentary Say Her Name http://themuse.jezebel.com/sandra-blands-family-recalls-questioning-police-footage-1825318801
Justice Department data on American jail deaths is getting even more useless. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/entry/3-years-later-the-federal-government-still-hasnt-counted-sandra-blands-death_us_5ae87c49e4b02baed1be3f6e
Family, friends gather for 3 year anniversary of Sandra Bland’s death in Waller County https://www.click2houston.com/news/family-friends-gather-for-3-year-anniversary-of-sandra-blands-death-in-waller-county
`Sandra Still Speaks” http://richmondmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/stage-screen/sandra-bland-documentary-ica-at-vcu/
In Texas, 3 Out of 4 County Jail Inmates Haven’t Been Convicted of a Crime https://www.texasobserver.org/in-texas-3-out-of-4-county-jail-inmates-havent-been-convicted-of-a-crime/
In Life and After Her Death, Sandra Bland Taught Others About Activism https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/nepqyk/sandra-bland-documentary-hbo
The Sandra Bland Act Was Stripped of the Provision That Could’ve Prevented Her Arrest. Now It Has a Chance. https://www.texasobserver.org/the-sandra-bland-act-was-stripped-of-the-provision-that-couldve-prevented-her-arrest-now-it-has-a-chance
Suicides in Texas prisons hit 20-year high https://www.correctionsone.com/inmate-suicide/articles/482473187-Suicides-in-Texas-prisons-hit-20-year-high/
The Everyday Brutality of America’s Prisons https://newrepublic.com/article/153473/everyday-brutality-americas-prisons
New cellphone video shows what Sandra Bland saw during arrest by Texas trooper https://www.texastribune.org/2019/05/06/sandra-bland-shot-cell-phone-video-texas-trooper-arrest/
‘Open up the case, period’: Sandra Bland’s family demands answers over new video of her arrest https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/05/07/open-up-case-period-sandra-blands-family-demands-answers-over-new-video-her-arrest/
The Power of Sandra Bland’s Cellphone Video https://www.wired.com/story/depth-of-field-sandra-bland/
On the fourth anniversary of Sandra Bland’s death, the feds are falling even further behind in releasing information about jail and prison deaths. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jail-deaths-statistics-sandra-bland_n_5c1a8d64e4b0446830f98785
The city of Austin proclaims day in honor of Sandra Bland
https://www.statesman.com/news/20190711/city-of-austin-proclaims-day-in-honor-of-sandra-bland
Activists plan vigil, rally on four-year anniversary of Sandra Bland’s death https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Activists-plan-vigil-rally-on-four-year-14093317.php
In rural Texas, black students’ fight for voting access conjures a painful past https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-rural-texas-black-students-fight-for-voting-access-conjures-a-painful-past/2019/09/24/fa18e880-ca69-11e9-a1fe-ca46e8d573c0_story.html