Let me get one thing absolutely clear from the gate. I am NOT in the
habit of pulling the race(ist) card without being 100% certain of my
facts.
Here are my facts:
1) The Yolo County Sheriff's Department has discriminated against me
personally for taking a stand against racism. (Documentation
available)
2) The Yolo County Jail has disproportionate numbers of African
Americans housed in its high security sections, including myself (as opposed to medium security).*
3) The Yolo County DRC (Day Reporting Center) in-custody programs have
zero African Americans attending.**
4) Yolo County has maintained a policy of total discrimination against
southern Mexicans and does not offer DRC services to them at all in
custody. Northern Mexicans have free reign.
5) Yolo County Sheriffs do not offer female inmates the same access to
programs (DRC in-custody), nor do they house them in medium/low
security. The former female low security unit was turned into MORE male
housing years ago.
Inequal treatment, racial- and gender-bias are serious accusations, I
understand and respect. I fully expect that EACH of these items might
be explainable or seem reasonable in and of themselves, however they
represent IN TOTALITY a pattern, a systemic oppression, and evidence
of preferential treatment of one group over another. Welcome to Yolo
County Plantation.
* Michael Glynn is currently in Yolo County's version of the Pelican Bay SHU. He is allowed 30 minutes outside his cell per day, for shaving, showering, checking mail, etc.
** The DRC is Yolo County's attempt at a deterrent to recidivism. It is soaking up public funds as quickly as the prisons themselves. The county jail and the DRC are constantly wrangling for the same pot of money, and the county jail staff is notoriously resentful of the program.
*** Written by Michael Glynn "in the hole again" March 10, 2014
P.S. The personal oppression I mentioned in this: I chose not to
attend a DRC class on MLK Day to observe the holiday (I must stress
that DRC is NOT mandatory--totally voluntary!). For that I was
subjected to punishment which includes three days loss of "Good Time,"
meaning I do three days in the cell for Dr. King. I've got all the
paperwork for it, even my grievance forms accusing the racist sergeant
of being unfair and discriminating against me. Am I doing too much
fighting, here?