Martin Harrison, a 50 year old Oakland man, was pronounced dead on August 18 following a physical altercation with Alameda County Sheriff Deputies at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.
Sgt. J.D. Nelson reported that Harrison became combatant with staff after flooding his cell and reporting that people were out to kill him. Deputies Tased the man twice when he allegedly charged at them and had to be wrestled to the ground.
The exact cause of Harrison’s death is unknown; however Tasers are known to inflict serious bodily harm. According to Amnesty International, 351 people have died since 2001 after being Tased by police. Tasers are considered to be a “non-lethal” use of force and are often used to subdue unarmed suspects.
Unfortunately, violence is a common occurrence inside America’s jails and prisons. Harrison, however, does not fit the profile of a hardened inmate with nothing to lose. He had been booked into the jail only three days earlier on an outstanding warrant for driving under the influence.
Due to his non-violent classification, Harrison was being held in a minimum security unit. Cleveland Askew, a friend of Harrison’s, attests, “It’s very much a surprise, he wasn’t a violent person.”
Although Harrison may have been mentally unstable, incarceration often brings out the worst in an individual. Of the close to 4,000 inmates held at Santa Rita, around half are believed to be gang members. As a result, the jail segregates many of its inmates due to gang and racial affiliations. Among Hispanic men classified as active gang members, Norteños, Sureños, and Border Brothers are held in separate housing units.
Alameda County street gangs use time behind bars to strengthen gang affiliation and recruit new members. It is widely known that the “shot callers” in the prison gang leadership have a reach that extends past the walls. Criminal enterprises, including murder which are plotted inside institutions such as Santa Rita can be carried out in outside communities by loyal gang members.
Security measures have not stopped the violence perpetrated on inmates and staff. In March Santa Rita’s entire facility was placed under a 24 hour lock down after a series of fights threatened to escalate into full scale riots. In 2003 Kevin Lee Freeman, a 55 year old homeless man from Berkley, was gruesomely murdered by his cellmate Ryan Lee Raper while serving a short sentence for public intoxication. Due to the violent nature of Raper’s charge, assault with a deadly weapon, he should not have been in the same holding area as Freeman.
For decades, California Prisons have been ruled by their own codes and laws. It is no secret that in order to survive, prisoners are forced to physically defend themselves and only associate with members of their own race regardless of their affiliations or personal beliefs on the outside. However, prison culture has now spread to county jails in which minor criminals and people yet to be convicted are forced to live in close proximity with career criminals serving long sentences.
The Santa Rita Jail is designated as one of America’s new “mega-jails” due to its size and modern design. The technological advancements within the jail such as automated systems and solar power should not be seen as a great accomplishment of the modern age. In many ways they are a testament to the ills of society. According to the Department of Justice, there were over 2,297,400 incarcerated Americans in 2009 and 8,110 deaths which occurred inside county jails between 2000 and 2007.
Jails and prisons are meant to be bad places that deter people from committing crime.         However, they are not meant to be places that facilitate crime. The best course of action is for the citizens of Alameda County not to break the law, otherwise there is no guarantee that they will be safe during their stay at the “Graystone Hotel.”