Salil Dudani: How jails extort the poor
سليل دوداني: كيف تبتزُّ السجون الفقراء
Salil Dudani has experienced the legal system from two vantage points: being detained by D.C. police on suspicion of "terrorist activity," and working as an investigator with civil rights lawyers challenging poverty-jailing. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
and searched a man
شرطة واشنطن رجلاً
and potentially dangerous.
the day of the detention, to be fair,
حتى أكون منصفًا،
try to remain calm.
حاولوا التزام الهدوء.
in Washington DC,
في واشنطن العاصمة،
a police station for work.
من أجل عمل.
to block my exit,
لمنعي من الخروج.
parked next to us.
المركونة بجانبنا.
then gathered near us.
spread on the police car,
فوق سيارة الشرطة،
to ignore the shaking in my legs,
أحاول تجاهل ارتجاف ساقيّ،
about what I should do --
bright T-shirt, wearing glasses."
تي شيرت ملوَّن، يرتدي نظارات."
any of these details.
as they described me,
أثناء وصفهم لي،
male with a backpack.
"ذكرٌ شرق أوسطي يحمل حقيبة ظهر.
into their police reports.
في التقارير الشرطيّة الخاصة بهم.
by my own government in these terms:
بهذه الأوصاف:
to sweep the area I'd been in.
لمسح المنطقة التي كنت أتواجد بها.
to see if I was on any watch lists.
ما إذا كنت على أي لوائح مراقبة.
to cross-examine me on why,
لاستجوابي حول لماذا،
they weren't happy with me,
لم يكونوا راضين عني،
لمعرفة ما كانوا يريدون فعله بعد ذلك.
what they'd want to do next.
who patted me down
to see where the security camera was
مكان تواجد الكاميرا الأمنية
was being recorded.
I was at their mercy.
تحت رحمتهم.
from a young age
and arrests and handcuffs,
والاعتقالات والقيود،
and coercive a thing it is
another person's body.
the point of my story
because of my race --
التي تعرضت لها بسبب عرقي--
detained if I were white.
علي لو كنت أبيضًا.
today is something else.
هو شيء آخر.
much worse things might've been
كانت ستكون أسوأ
to plant an explosive,
for an hour and a half,
لمدة ساعة ونصف،
DC's poor communities of color,
الفقراء السود في واشنطن العاصمة،
endangering officers' lives,
it's better to be an affluent person
أن تكون شخصًا غنيًّا
to blow up a police station
much less than this.
from my current work.
at a civil rights organization in DC,
في واشنطن،
a parking ticket in your life?
have paid your tickets as well.
الخاصة به كذلك.
couldn't afford the amount on the ticket
the money either, what happens then?
ماذا سيحدث؟
to happen under the law is,
أن يحدث في ظل القانون،
arrested and jailed
أن يتم القبض عليك وسجنك
across the country are doing
في جميع أنحاء البلاد
"عدالة متساوية في ظل القانون"
at Equal Justice Under Law
Ferguson, Missouri.
ولاية ميسوري.
about a different aspect
their police force and their citizens.
of over two arrest warrants,
أكثر من مذَكِّرتَي توقيف،
if, every time I left my house,
في كل مرة أغادر منزلي،
would run my license plate,
عن رقم لوحة سيارتي،
who have experienced this,
الذين عايشوا هذا،
there's a bunk bed and a toilet,
هناك سرير بطابقين ومرحاض،
into each cell.
في كل زنزانة.
and two people on the floor,
وشخصين على الأرض،
right next to the filthy toilet,
إلا بجوار المرحاض القذر،
لم تُنظف أبدًا،
with blood and mucus.
بالدم والمخاط.
connected to the toilet.
متّصلة بالمرحاض.
without any hygiene products,
about medical attention,
from the guards in there is sexual."
هناك هي جنسية."
to this place and they'd say,
ويقولون:
until you make a payment on your debt."
حتى تدفع الديون الخاصة بك."
تستطيع الاتصال بأحد أفراد العائلة
could call a family member
ببعض المال،
for days or weeks,
فستبقى هناك لأيام أو أسابيع،
would come down to the cells
about the price of release that day.
لذلك اليوم.
the jail would be booked to capacity,
يتخطى السجن قدرته الاستيعابية،
أن يأتي هذا الشخص بالمال،
can come up with the money,
and the machine kept moving like that.
for panhandling in a Walgreens.
بتهمة التسول في ولغرين.
and his court fees from that case.
ورسوم المحكمة الخاصة بهذه القضية.
he survived a house fire,
of the third-story window to escape.
للفرار.
with damage to his brain
على مستوى الدماغ
including his leg.
payments to survive.
من أجل العيش.
ولا حتى موادً غذائية في الثلاجة.
not even food in his fridge.
except a small piece of cardboard
باستثناء قطعةٍ صغيرةٍ من الورق المقوى
the names of his children.
He was happy to show it to me.
كان سعيدًا حينما أراني إياها.
الخاصة به لأنه ليس لديه ما يمنحه.
because he has nothing to give.
he's been arrested 13 times,
تم اعتقاله 13 مرة،
on that panhandling case.
في قضية التسول.
until sometime in June
حتى وقت ما في شهر يونيو
a few moments ago.
he's seen in Ferguson's jail;
التى رأى في سجن فيرجسون.
a way to hang himself
طريقة لشنق نفسه
was yell and yell and yell,
هو الصراخ والصراخ والصراخ ،
over five minutes to respond,
استغرقت خمس دقائق،
the man was unconscious.
and the paramedics went to the cell.
وذهب المسعفون إلى الزنزانة.
and they shouldn't have surprised me,
وكان ينبغي أن لا تُفاجأني،
cause of death in our local jails.
في السجون المحلية الخاصة بنا.
of mental health care in our jails.
الرعاية الصحية النفسية في سجوننا.
making seven dollars an hour.
تجني سبعة دولارات في الساعة.
to feed herself and her children.
لإطعام نفسها وأطفالها.
and a minor theft charge,
وتهمة سرقة غير خطيرة،
and fees on those cases.
about 10 times on those cases,
بسبب تلك القضايا،
والاضطراب الثنائي القطب،
and bipolar disorder,
to those medications in Ferguson's jail,
في سجن فيرجسون،
to their medications.
to spend two weeks in a cage,
and hearing voices,
وتسمع أصواتًا،
that would make it all stop,
من شأنها وقف كل ذلك،
have serious mental health needs
يعانين من اضطراباتٍ نفسيةٍ حادة
any mental health care while in jail.
هي من تتلقى الرعاية الصحة في السجن.
about this grotesque dungeon
حول هذه الزنزانة البشعة
for its debtors,
for me to actually see it
extortion schemes
by our public officials.
that poverty jailing in general,
in our justice system.
في نظامنا القضائي.
you're detained or free,
of how dangerous you are
to post your bail amount.
was set at a million dollars,
في مليون دولار،
and doesn't spend a second in a jail cell.
ولم يُمضي ولا ثانية واحدة في زنزانة السجن.
was unable to come up with 500 dollars.
لم تتمكن من توفير 500 دولار.
Sandra Blands across the country --
في جميع أنحاء البلاد --
their bail amount.
are places for criminals,
in jail right now are there pretrial.
هناك دون محاكمة.
in our jail in San Francisco
في سان فرانسيسكو
something like 80 million dollars
تنفق حوالي 80 مليون دولار
only because they can't post bail
فقط لأنهم لا يستطيعون دفع الكفالة
for them to sit waiting for trial
انتظارهم للمحاكمة
they would receive if convicted,
إذا ما تمت إدانتهم،
to get out faster
في هذا المكان الرهيب،
the prosecutor wants and get out?
المدعي العام ومن ثم أخرج؟
detainees, not criminals.
وليسوا مجرمين.
we'll call them criminals,
سوف ندعوهم مجرمين،
would never have been in this situation,
لن يكون في هذا الوضع أبدًا،
would have simply been bailed out.
what is he doing --
I want my money back."
depressing than the alternative,
أقل كآبة بكثير من البديل،
about these issues
عن هذه القضايا
how we think about jailing,
التي نفكر بها حول السَّجْنِ،
who don't belong there.
الذين لا ينتمون إلى هناك.
that these stories can move us
أن هذه القصص يمكن أن تدفعنا
like "mass incarceration,"
"السجن الشامل"
for days or weeks or months
لمدة أيام أو أسابيع أو أشهر
to that person's mind and body?
وجسد ذلك الشخص؟
are we really willing to do that?
على استعداد للقيام بذلك؟
hundred of us in this room,
jailing in this different light,
في ضوء مختلف،
I was referring to earlier.
الذي أشرت إليه سابقًا.
I hope it's with the thought
فآمل أن يكون هو الاعتقاد
to fundamentally change --
أن يتغير جذريًّا --
on bail and fines and fees --
بالكفالة والغرامات والرسوم --
new policies replace those
تحلّ محل السابقة
in their own new way.
بطريقة أخرى جديدة.
is required of each of us.
مطلوب من كل واحد منّا.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Salil Dudani - Legal activistSalil Dudani has experienced the legal system from two vantage points: being detained by D.C. police on suspicion of "terrorist activity," and working as an investigator with civil rights lawyers challenging poverty-jailing.
Why you should listen
As a John Gardner Public Service fellow, Salil Dudani worked on civil rights cases challenging debtors' prisons and money bail. These included cases in Ferguson, Missouri, where people who could not pay fines and court fees were routinely jailed; Rutherford County, Tennessee, where a private probation company would extort impoverished probationers with the threat of jail; and San Francisco and Houston, where thousands of people are in jail cells every night because they cannot afford to post bail. Before this work, Salil was a defense investigator at the Public Defender Service in Washington, D.C. He is now a student at Yale Law School.
Salil Dudani | Speaker | TED.com