New Report Details Baton Rouge Police Mistreatment of Locked Up Alton Sterling Protesters
Participating in a civil rights march in 2016 shouldn’t result in being jailed in inhumane conditions, denied medical care, and deliberately humiliated. But that is exactly what happened in Baton Rouge, Louisiana last July and it bears an uncanny resemblance to the treatment of those fighting for civil rights over half a century ago.
A year ago today, thousands of people protested the police murder of Alton Sterling, a local Black entrepreneur and father, in Baton Rouge Louisiana. Approximately 180 individuals were arrested and detained over the course of these protests. Over 67% of these arrestees were Black, and nearly 90% of those arrested were charged with obstruction of a highway, a misdemeanor. Most of the protesters were booked, processed, and held at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, sometimes for days.
A new report released by the Promise of Justice Initiative details the conditions of the prison, the experiences of a dozen arrested protesters, and the governing legal standards for detention of arrestees. Here is what we learned:
- Protesters were pepper-sprayed and threatened with violence in the prison
Nearly every interview referenced prison staff violence (or the threat of violence). One guard pepper sprayed approximately thirty men, all being held in one cell, for being too loud. Thirty minutes later, the men were pepper sprayed again, with no…