Prisons in this country help contain individuals who have proven themselves to be dangerous and unfit to exist in civil society. However, Ocasio-Cortez has a very different outlook on prisons. The congresswoman maintains that no human being should be in a cage; furthermore, she claimed that America incarcerates too many individuals.
Her series of tweets first started with anecedotal evidence of a woman who spent time behind bars:
Yesterday morning I spoke with a woman who was thrown in Rikers as a teenager. Put in solitary confinement for MONTHS, aka torture. Force-fed pills.
The conditions were so bad, she too had drank out of toilets.
A cage is a cage is a cage. And humans don’t belong in them.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 7, 2019
The congresswoman then proceeded to censure Republicans and claim that the notion of “prison abolition” is “breaking brains.”
I know the term “prison abolition” is breaking some people’s brains. The right is already freaking out.
Yet the US incarcerates more than anywhere in the world.
We have more than enough room to close many of our prisons and explore just alternatives to incarceration.
/1
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 7, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez also cited bail as a reason why prisons should face abolition. According to the congresswoman, some Americans are jailed simply for being poor. In actuality, some Americans can afford to pay bail money while others cannot.
Nevertheless, her statements read as follows:
First of all, many people in jailed or in prison don’t belong there at all.
Whether it’s punitive sentencing for marijuana possession or jailing people for their poverty & letting the rich free through systems like cash bail, we wrongly incarcerate far, far too many people.
/2
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 7, 2019
Secondly, our prison & jail system is so large bc we use them as de facto mental hospitals, homeless shelters, & detox centers instead of *actually* investing in… mental health, housing, edu, & rehab.
If we invested meaningfully, what do you think would happen to crime?
/3
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 7, 2019
