By Kayla Meraz
LOS ANGELES, CA – Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, recently experienced a life-threatening stabbing by another inmate, sparking discussions on the safety failures within American systems and institutions of justice.
The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board notes in the aftermath of Chauvin’s stabbing—he’s now been released from the hospital and back in prison—that [he] should have every right to serve that time in safety.”
Chauvin, sentenced to 22 and a half years for Floyd’s murder, was attacked at a medium-security federal prison in Arizona. Reflecting on this incident, the LA Times editorial board argues against finding satisfaction in Chauvin’s peril, cautioning against notions of “comeuppance” or “retribution.”
“In a civilized society, prison is neither torture nor a vehicle for vengeance. It is a response to egregious crimes and should consist solely of the loss of one of society’s two most highly treasured assets — individual liberty — in service of the other — justice,” Los Angeles Times editorial board stated.
The board added, through his actions, Chauvin relinquished his rights to liberty, highlighting the significance of ensuring safe incarceration for such individuals. This is seen as the response required for the damages caused to the justice system in such cases.
Unsafe incarceration is condemned, which includes the fear of attacks, abuse, and inadequate medical care, which the LA Times editorial board argues contaminates the entire justice system and betrays societal values.
This was exemplified through the Times piece, deaths due to lack of air conditioning, in the jail systems which preludes to the poor care of the prison systems that lead to death.
The profound failure in the American prison system, as noted by the Los Angeles Times board, illustrates, “The nation is stained by hundreds, perhaps thousands of other cases of jail and prison negligence and abuse in which the victims are barely considered newsworthy.”
“Prisons in which people are brutalized, killed, and abused have no place in a civilized society,” said the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times.
