[REWIND] Rewriting the Future of Policing in Los Angeles: Community Power For Decarceration

Laura Flanders and Friends: Historic Perspectives with Forward-Thinking Changemakers From the World's of Politics, Arts, & Activism

REWIND EPISODE FROM THE LF&F ARCHIVES (Synopsis)- Under the view of the iconic Hollywood Sign, a struggle is being waged over the future of policing and incarceration. Los Angeles is ground zero for fights over the job of District Attorney, Police Chief, and the size of prisons and jails. Corporations that have profited from prison communications are now profiting on electronic monitoring. Can today's Los Angeles change the script?

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[The following Special Report from Los Angeles was originally released July 2024]

Description: Over the past weekend, Los Angeles was rocked by reports of intensified ICE raids across Southern California, heightening fear and anxiety in immigrant communities. Families were detained in early morning operations, and community advocates quickly mobilized to provide legal support and rapid response. These raids are a stark reminder that, in California—a so-called sanctuary state—immigration enforcement continues to be deeply entangled with local policing and incarceration systems.

This episode of Laura Flanders & Friends takes on renewed relevance as it explores LA’s central role in shaping and challenging carceral policy. Under the shadow of the Hollywood Sign, Laura speaks with activists and officials confronting the legacy and present reality of policing in a state where SWAT teams were born, Reagan and Nixon launched punitive platforms, and the prison construction boom took root.

At a moment when ICE raids reveal the persistent overlap between federal enforcement and local law, and corporate interests profit from alternatives like electronic monitoring, the episode asks: Can Los Angeles write a new story—one rooted in decarceration and community power? With criminal justice reform at the heart of election-year debates (2024), this conversation spotlights the people resisting criminalization from inside and outside the system.

“When we talk about closing Men's Central Jail, yes, we're trying to close that particular building, but what it requires is every jail in our county to reduce its population . . . We're trying to decarcerate globally across the jail system, that will then allow us to close this monument of essentially torture in our communities.” - Mark-Anthony Clayton-Johnson

“What if something went off and said that I wasn't where I was supposed to be, and all these cops showed up? . . . At [the age of] 15 thinking the cops are going to show up . . . that is one thing that I will always say that shamed me in my life. I felt unworthy. I felt like I was a bad person.” - Sheila Natt

“. . . 94% of the people that are terminated from the electronic monitoring program pre-trial are terminated on technical violations . . . If the point is to use this electronic monitoring to help people stay out of jail and come to court, why are the technical violations leading you right back into jail?” - Anthony Robles

Guests:

•. Melina Abdullah: Co-Founder, Black Lives Matter, Los Angeles

• Mark-Anthony Clayton-Johnson: Co-Executive Director, Dignity & Power Now

•. Eunisses Hernandez: Los Angeles City Councilmember, District 1

•. Sheila Natt: Former Teen Ankle Monitor User

•. Anthony Robles: Youth & Community Organizer, Dignity & Power Now

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Music Credits: Music spotlight, “Ain’t Nothing” by Brooklyn Funk Essentials from their album Stay Good. "Alone" by Emmet Fenn, "San Takao" by Isaac Joel, Soundstripe Production, and original sound design by Jeannie Hopper.

RESOURCES:

*Recommended book:

“We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice” by Mariame Kaba: *Learn More

(*Bookshop is an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores. The LF Show is an affiliate of bookshop.org and will receive a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.)

Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:

• The Defund Movement in 2024: Frontline Reporters Separate Myth from Reality, Watch / Listen-Download Podcast

• Police Reform After 2020: Andrea J. Ritchie's Deep Dive into Emergent Strategies, Watch / Listen-Download Podcast

• Rikers Island: The Bad, The Inhumane, & Why Is It So Hard to Close a Jail? Watch / Listen-Download Podcast

Related Articles and Resources:

• 5 People Describe the Emotional and Financial Tolls of House Arrest by Reina Sultan, VICE, Read Here

• New York Dedicates $75 Million to Police, Expanding Surveillance of University Protesters, by Tatiana Cozzarelli and Olivia Wood, Left Voice, Read Here

• New Report Says Electronic Monitoring For Youth Sets Kids Up For Failure, by Celeste Fremon, Witness L.A., Read Here

Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Gina Kim, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O’Conner.

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