You Gotta Give the New Jail Committee Credit; They Try Hard to Convince Jail Opponents

I'm torn on the new jail. I understand that Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek, his staff, judges, attorneys, and jurors want and need to feel safe in a courtroom environment. If I'd been in charge of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee, I would have publicized alarming incidences of compromised safety in the courtroom. I only found out about a few of those instances from Jim McCarragher, an attorney who had someone he'd been representing in court fire a warning shot near him, by attending Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee meetings.

We only need to regard how safe the Los Angeles Police Department and police in nearby Riverside, California are at present. Christopher Dorner, an LAPD cop, went rogue after he filed a complaint against a fellow police officer who allegedly kicked a schizophrenic -- a justified complaint, perhaps, but he was fired for making "false statements."

Apparently, he feels that losing his job cost him all chances of happiness in this life. In revenge, he's killed several people including two police officers and is threatening to kill more police officers and more of their family members.

He's clearly going for suicide by cop and appears to be somewhere in the Bear Lake, California area on foot. Police found his burned-out truck. Earlier, police shot a couple from behind as they were delivering newspapers in a truck just like the alleged killer's. The police failed to identify the driver and passenger before shooting them. Whoops.

Iowa City isn't Los Angeles, but big city problems are coming to smaller cities, including Iowa City.

Some jail opponents object to the cost of the new jail. Some object to the number of beds planned, reduced now to 195 beds in the new, slightly lower cost plan for the jail. Some opponents object to the United States' reputation as the country that incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. Why do we want to keep building more prisons?

Some jail opponents object to the new jail/courtroom annex's presumptuous name, the "Justice" Center, including me. If you've ever encountered what passes for justice in this county, you may find the presumption of "justice" laughable. 

Why, for example, do some police officers lie under oath? They have an incentive to lie under oath. That "Thin Blue Line" people talk about, police officers' agreement to stick to a single story, is no myth.

Also, in cases of serious crime, why do Johnson County prosecutors engage in such rampant plea bargaining? Are they just bone lazy, unable or unwilling to prove even slam-dunk cases with reliable witnesses?

You really don't know what Iowa City police officers, prosecutors, and judges are capable of until you encounter what passes for "justice" yourself. However much the jail and courtrooms may be needed, it sticks in my craw that the committee insists on calling the building a "Justice" Center. By voting for the new jail, Johnson County voters would be validating the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee's perception that the "Justice" Center really is exactly that.

Let's take Iowa City Councilor Connie Champion's assertion that she is "offended" by the notion that, as jail opponent Martha Hampel aptly put it, "there's no such thing as justice in Johnson County."

The irony of a wealthy white Iowa City entrepreneur asserting that there's justice in Iowa City did not escape me. How on earth would she know? Jim McCarragher, an attorney for a well known and prosperous Iowa City law firm, was also "offended." Do tell. I'm sure that McCarragher is a decent, competent attorney with integrity. But not all attorneys are.

I want people to be safe. I do. I know that judges, attorneys, and law enforcement work in a rough environment. Maybe if Johnson County was a more equitable and just place, I could go along with the term "Justice" Center. But I just can't swallow it. I know better. In good conscience, I can't support the perpetuation of a myth.