Friday Wrap-Up & Must Reads

/>
THE BEST “IT GETS BETTER” VIDEO TO DATE

Deeply affected by the recent string of suicides by teenage boys, on Tuesday Fort Worth City Council Member, Joel Burns, told his own personal story about being badly bullied—breaking down as he attempted to talk about his own near suicide at age 13, a story he’d never told anyone, he said. Then, after sharing some of his life’s subsequent joys, the councilman delivered an eloquent plea to kids struggling with their sexual identity.

“”To those who are feeling very alone tonight, please know that I understand how you feel, that things will get easier,” Burns said. “Please stick around to make those happy memories for yourself. It may not seem like it tonight, but they will…..”

FYI: Burns became the first openly gay candidate elected to public office in Tarrant County, Texas, when he won a special election for a seat on the Fort Worth City Council in 2007. He was reelected in 2009

---

SATURDAY, CBS 48 HOURS DOES THE BRUCE LISKER STORY—SO, HOW WILL JERRY BROWN REACT?

Attorney and CBS News Correspondent Erin Moriarty spent two-years on the Bruce Lisker story that is airing Saturday night on CBS’s 48 Hours. (You remember Lisker. He’s the guy who was released from prison last year after spending 26 years locked-up for the murder of his mother. He was released when a federal judge ruled that the evidence used to convict him was either questionable, cooked, or utterly false. )

From the look of the trailer, she’s got all the pieces—including the fact that Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown may try to put Lisker back into prison on a technicality, however he’s waiting until after the election to decide. (Not good, Jerry. Not good at all.)

Let’s hope this high profile treatment of the Lisker case persuades or embarrasses Brown into doing the right thing, sooner rather than later.

---

9TH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS ORDERS SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO TO BE HUMANE (GEE. BUMMER, JOE)

Evidently the 9th Circuit thought some kind of adherence to the….you know….U.S. Constitution (for example, the 8th Amendment) ought to be a part of the Maricopa sheriff’s job description.

Colorlines has the story on the court’s Wednesday decision. Here’s how it opens.

On Wednesday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling by a lower court that charged Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio with mistreatment of detainees in his jails for serving them spoiled food and neglecting their health.

Arpaio’s cruelty toward his inmates is legendary. Tent cities, physical abuse and hard labor, pink underwear, chain gangs—he’s imposed all of these sadistic measures on his prisoners. In 2008, the ACLU took Arpaio to court, arguing that because of his well-documented abuses, his jails necessitated federal oversight.

U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake ruled in October 2008 that Arpaio broke the law by failing to meet basic requirements in food quality and housing conditions for inmates. Arpaio appealed the ruling….

---

AND SPEAKING OF SHERIFFS, IT SEEMS THAT THE LA COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT HAS CAUGHT UP WITH THE RAPE KIT BACKLOG

LAObserved has that story.

---

JOE DOMANICK TELLS HOW ARNOLD TRIED AND FAILED TO REFORM CALIFORNIA’S DYSFUNCTIONAL PRISON STRUCTURE—A CAUTIONARY TALE FOR THE NEXT GOVERNOR

As Arnold Schwarzenegger finishes his last weeks in office, my pal Joe Domanick looks at how Arnold, more than nearly all of his predecessors, truly wanted to reform the state’s correctional system. But he was roundly defeated by his inability to out maneuver special interests (CCPOA), and/or the mindless “tough on crime” mania that still rules in Sacramento.

Will the next governor do any better?

Meg Whitman recites “tough on crime” as her mantra, and shows zero inclination toward reform.

Brown actually talks about corrections reform, but, with his CCPOA endorsement, will he have the guts to go for it? (One can always hope.)

---

CDCR LAUNCHES INMATE LOCATOR (FINALLY)

If you’ve never had a friend or loved-one locked up, this may seem like nothing to you. But for family members of prisoners it’s a big deal. The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has long had an excellent inmate locator on its website. But, for years, the California Department of Corrections had nada. Thursday all that changed.

As the CDCR’s Matthew Cate said in Thursday’s press release:

“Inmates who stay connected with loved ones are often more motivated to change their behavior and lead a crime-free life,” said CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate. “This new tool will make it more convenient for the public to locate, write and visit incarcerated family members and friends.”

Here’s the link to the locator itself. I just test drove it. It works well.

---

CALIFORNIA BEGINS TO FOCUS ON STOPPING PRISON RAPE

In the Daily News, human rights advocate, Lovisa Stannow, writes about how California is finally admitting that they have to—and can—do something about chronic and traumatizing prison rape problem.

---

JACK LONDON’S SAN FRANSISCO STORIES & THE NEW HOMELESSNESS

When you’re about to be homeless it’s tough to edit a book. (Hell, it’s hard enough even when your rent or mortgage is all paid up.)

But when Rodger Jacobs (whom we’ve been following in the series, The New Homeless) was in the midst of being evicted and wondering if he and his longtime girlfriend would soon be on the street, he did the last bit of editing and wrote the preface on a charming collection of Jack London stories that was just released this week.

Well done, Rodger!

---

A BLOGGER EXPOSES OUTSIZED COP AND FIREFIGHTER SALARIES IN EL SEGUNDO AND GETS HARASSED BY GUYS WITH GUNS AND BADGES

An El Segundo homeowner (who also happens to have a blog) did a little post-Bell scandal digging and learned that, in his own town—which has few criminals or fires and no murders last year—cops earn an average of $175,000, firefighters $210,000. He put this info on his blog—-and then things got ugly.

Paul Teetor LA Weekly’s Paul Teetor has the story— (and the back-up research for the blogger’s claims.)

---

AND…BECAUSE IT WOULD BE WRONG TO GO A DAY WITHOUT AT LEAST ONE MORE WHOREGATE STORY, I GIVE YOU:

….MEGHAN DAUM, WHO HAS A HARD TIME GETTING TOO WORKED UP OVER THIS MONTH’S EDITION OF “GAFFES GONE WILD”

Here’s a clip from the heart of Daum’s amusing and dead on essay:

From ambulance-chasing lawyers to corporate shills to just about anyone who’s ever tried to forge a career in advertising, public relations or the entertainment industry, the concept of whoredom is now less about selling your body than about selling your soul. Heidi Fleiss’ ring of old-fashioned whores might have made her a “Million Dollar Madam,” but Enron’s empire of modern-day whores — most of them men — was a far bigger, and arguably sleazier, operation than that.

Happy Friday.