1 00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:09,040 Speaker 1: Welcome. This is it could Happen here the podcast about 2 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:11,680 Speaker 1: how it feels like everything is kind of falling apart 3 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:15,280 Speaker 1: and maybe what we can do to put stuff back together. 4 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: I'm Garrison Davis, your host for this episode, and this 5 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:22,840 Speaker 1: is the third and final part of our mini series 6 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: on the history of the old Atlanta prison Farm, produced 7 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: in collaboration with the Atlanta Community Press Collective. We're actually 8 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:35,279 Speaker 1: going to start this episode with a little update on 9 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:38,519 Speaker 1: what's been going on in Atlanta as a part of 10 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:42,120 Speaker 1: the Defend the Atlanta Forest and Stop Cops City movement, 11 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:47,319 Speaker 1: considering the Atlanta Police Foundation's Cops City project is very 12 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:52,240 Speaker 1: much a direct continuation of the authoritarian and carceral oppression 13 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: of the prison farm that occupied the very same section 14 00:00:55,960 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: of land. Here's an audio clip of of my conversations 15 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: with members of the Atlantic Community Press Collective from right 16 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:10,680 Speaker 1: before the recent July Week of Action, and this is 17 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 1: about the status of construction on the South River or 18 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: will Lonnie Forest. So for the past month or so, 19 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: it's kind of been a waiting game, Like if you 20 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:26,960 Speaker 1: refer to the construction timeline that whenever open records request revealed, 21 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: like construction really should have started in earnest by now, 22 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:35,320 Speaker 1: like they last time I saw a figure, they want 23 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:39,880 Speaker 1: to have this open by fall of next year, and 24 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: they are not on that timeline. And that's not all 25 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 1: necessarily due to the movement. So I think between UM 26 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 1: just the general supply chain havoc that's happening across different 27 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: industries right now, definitely the construction industry. I think UM 28 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:03,680 Speaker 1: they did mentioned this during one of the recent UM 29 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 1: Community Stakeholders Committee meetings where they're like, oh, yeah, by 30 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:10,079 Speaker 1: the way, we are kind of having sub supply chain issues. 31 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 1: In addition to I don't think a p D and 32 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:16,800 Speaker 1: the Police Foundation really expected to have any kind of 33 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 1: continued resistance on the ground UM or any kind of 34 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: continued public bad press. I don't think they think they 35 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:30,520 Speaker 1: thought they'd passed the legislation on the public would kind 36 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:34,680 Speaker 1: of move on UM, because that's correctly what he usually 37 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:38,760 Speaker 1: happens when people, when people when movements that criticize the 38 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:43,040 Speaker 1: police happen, they usually get repressed or people's attention turns 39 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 1: turns to other things. Pretty quickly. We know that they 40 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:52,639 Speaker 1: have a permit for it's what exactly is it is 41 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:55,919 Speaker 1: a permit for is kind of complicated. But one way 42 00:02:55,960 --> 00:03:01,800 Speaker 1: or another, it enables the police foundation, their contractors and 43 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 1: our vendors to construct a basically like a temporary construction 44 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: fence like you would see around a construction site. But 45 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:15,679 Speaker 1: in that permit I believe expires in August of this year, 46 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 1: because that's a temporary permit, but that fence does not 47 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:23,040 Speaker 1: seem to have gone up, so it's it's kind of 48 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:27,560 Speaker 1: a stalemate right now. Just five days after the July 49 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:33,080 Speaker 1: week of action wrapped on early Wednesday morning on August three, 50 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 1: dozens of work vehicles and police amassed around the forest, 51 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:43,520 Speaker 1: staging heavy machinery, setting up roadblocks, and started dismantling barricades 52 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: in the forest. Sounds of tree cutting could be heard 53 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:51,960 Speaker 1: near the occupied to stop Cops City tree sets. Police 54 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,920 Speaker 1: were initially stalled by the burning of tire barricades near roads, 55 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: but around seven am, haveing machinery breached the proposed site 56 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 1: for Cops City and entered on the north side of 57 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:11,800 Speaker 1: the forest. Excavators cleared barricades and trees were felled near trails, 58 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:16,120 Speaker 1: making wider paths into the forest. De Cab County Police 59 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:20,080 Speaker 1: officers accompanied gas pipeline workers who were on the ground 60 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: adjacent to Entrenchment Creek Park. One arrest was reported. The 61 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:28,840 Speaker 1: arrestee was originally being taken straight to jail and then 62 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: got diverted to police headquarters for questioning, and it was 63 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:37,880 Speaker 1: confirmed that FBI was also on the scene. There were 64 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 1: no attempts at extraction of tree sitters and no additional 65 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: arrests reported. That day, the Atlanta Police Foundations contract workers 66 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:50,599 Speaker 1: did substantial forest clearing in an area of the woods 67 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:54,800 Speaker 1: near the entrance gate on Key Road, directly adjacent to 68 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:59,560 Speaker 1: the existing power line clearing. Much of the surrounding neighborhood 69 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:02,240 Speaker 1: was blocked off by the Atlanta Police Department for most 70 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: of the day, with no warning given to local residents, 71 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 1: many of whom have stopped cops city yard signs. The 72 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:13,760 Speaker 1: work being done along the power line cut is assumed 73 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: to be either for installing sewer lines and or drilling holes. 74 00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 1: The presence of Georgia Power suggests that they could have 75 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:26,960 Speaker 1: been trying to bore holes to install power lines. The 76 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:30,280 Speaker 1: next morning, around twenty cops, some mounted on a t 77 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 1: v s, patrolled throughout the forest, possibly looking for rebuilt 78 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 1: barricades or to snatch up anyone they found in the area. 79 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:42,360 Speaker 1: Ever since then, there's been cops, sometimes on a t 80 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:45,479 Speaker 1: V s, spotted multiple times a week in the forest, 81 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:50,880 Speaker 1: usually during early in the morning. How much grounds clearing 82 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: and pre construction work was done recently in the forest 83 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:59,640 Speaker 1: was slightly surprising considering the land disturbance permit has not 84 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: yet been issued, though it is possible that the recent 85 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:07,359 Speaker 1: work was covered by existing utility easements or the temporary 86 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: construction permit that expires later this month that was mainly 87 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:14,200 Speaker 1: issued around the goal of putting up a security of 88 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:17,920 Speaker 1: fence around the forest. And with that now, let's get 89 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: back to the history of the prison farm. As discussed 90 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:26,279 Speaker 1: last episode, overcrowding was one of the initial motivations for 91 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 1: proposing to move the Glenwood Stockade prisoners to the dairy 92 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:34,640 Speaker 1: Farm site, though it was not the final decisive factor 93 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:40,479 Speaker 1: because at the time populations there were dwindling. Several years later, though, 94 00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:45,440 Speaker 1: Councilman Jose Wood was being praised for increasing the incarcerated 95 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:50,200 Speaker 1: population because it brought in more revenue, and several years 96 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:55,480 Speaker 1: after that, in overcrowding at the second Stockade on Decatur 97 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:59,760 Speaker 1: and Hillard prompted discussions on expanding the prison farm by 98 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:03,840 Speaker 1: going in portable buildings from the school board and expanding 99 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:07,840 Speaker 1: the woman's prison by one hundred feet. A police report 100 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:11,400 Speaker 1: from nineteen thirty six says, quote, we find that all 101 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: prisoners have separate quarters which are in sanitary condition but overcrowded. 102 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: We recommend that another unit be constructed for white female 103 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:25,040 Speaker 1: prisoners as well as white male prisoners unquote, And by 104 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty eight, a new wing was completed housing seventy 105 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:32,200 Speaker 1: five more prisoners, and another edition of the same size 106 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:35,280 Speaker 1: was expected to be added to the main building, but 107 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:39,360 Speaker 1: only five months later the prison farm's own superintendent again 108 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:43,840 Speaker 1: described the conditions there as overcrowded and recommended another expansion 109 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 1: and separate ward for quote unquote diseased prisoners. In nineteen 110 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 1: thirty nine, a proposal to extend the land by one 111 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: hundred and eighty four acres was protested by Decab residents 112 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,480 Speaker 1: on the basis that it was directly next to a 113 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 1: white school and that quote further development of penal institutions 114 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:06,720 Speaker 1: in that section would destroy the value of surrounding property 115 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:10,640 Speaker 1: and preclude the development of a civic center, which citizens 116 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:15,400 Speaker 1: seek near the west Side school grounds unquote. The plan 117 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:20,160 Speaker 1: was abandoned, but later brought up with a compromise in 118 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:23,160 Speaker 1: that they would instead only take a hundred and thirty 119 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:27,560 Speaker 1: four acres, leaving a fifty acre buffer between the prison 120 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:32,120 Speaker 1: farm and the school. A new building, originally slated to 121 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:34,720 Speaker 1: be a medical ward, was built, and as we saw 122 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 1: in the healthcare section, this ended up becoming a new 123 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:42,200 Speaker 1: prison building, and the old building became the Maneial Disease Hospital. 124 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:46,559 Speaker 1: The new building could quote house seven and twenty five 125 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 1: prisoners without crowding them unquote, and was said to be 126 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:54,520 Speaker 1: able to quote eliminate long standing criticism of nearby residents 127 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:58,320 Speaker 1: because of escapes from the old overcrowded and ill arranged 128 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:02,679 Speaker 1: structure unquote. In nineteen forty six, the city took possession 129 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:05,840 Speaker 1: of an additional eighty nine acres of land for the 130 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:10,000 Speaker 1: prison farm, but still overcrowding was again raised as an 131 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 1: issue in nineteen fifty two, but this time certain sentences 132 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:17,720 Speaker 1: were reduced from twenty days to ten days to address 133 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:22,719 Speaker 1: this problem, constituting the first time a slightly decarce oral 134 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:27,360 Speaker 1: approach was used. But despite this and yet another new 135 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:30,480 Speaker 1: wing being built in nineteen fifty eight, a grand jury 136 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:33,560 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty found that the prison farm was quote 137 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:38,880 Speaker 1: unquote exceedingly overcrowded and quote as a result, the health 138 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:43,960 Speaker 1: of prisoners is jeopardized unquote. They suggested building a quote 139 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:49,479 Speaker 1: unquote work camp to alleviate crowding. Dick Herbert's undercover investigation 140 00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:53,200 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty five found that men were sleeping on 141 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:57,480 Speaker 1: the floor and tables because there was still not enough beds. 142 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:01,560 Speaker 1: A quote from Herbert says, so closely packed are the 143 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:04,960 Speaker 1: three hundred bunks that they are alternated head to foot. 144 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:11,080 Speaker 1: In sixty seven, Atlanta started talking about chronic alcoholism as 145 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:15,360 Speaker 1: a health problem rather than one of criminality. However, the 146 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:19,240 Speaker 1: assumption was that this was still to be treated by 147 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,280 Speaker 1: those in charge of the prisons. Quote. The prison is 148 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:26,520 Speaker 1: already crowded up against its six hundred person capacity, said 149 00:10:26,679 --> 00:10:31,480 Speaker 1: the Atlanta Journal Constitution. But according to Superintendent Holsey, the 150 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:35,960 Speaker 1: conversion to a rehabilitation center would mean longer stays and 151 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:40,680 Speaker 1: thus higher populations, stating, quote they likely will have to 152 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:46,080 Speaker 1: build a whole new city prison farm unquote. A nineteen 153 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:50,080 Speaker 1: seventy six article from the Atlanta Journal Constitution says that 154 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,560 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy a thousand prisoners were packed in the 155 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:58,360 Speaker 1: old building inmates slept in rickety beds, three high health 156 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:03,480 Speaker 1: inspectors and judges the population for humanity's sake. It further 157 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:06,559 Speaker 1: claimed that the facility was now quote well below its 158 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:12,040 Speaker 1: comfortable capacity of four hundred prisoners unquote. In nineteen seventy four, 159 00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:17,280 Speaker 1: the Uniform Alcohol Treatment Act was passed, although never fully funded, 160 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: which effectively decriminalized alcoholism. This act was said to reduce 161 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:25,439 Speaker 1: the population of the prison farm from five hundred in 162 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:29,119 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two to two hundred in nine eighty three, 163 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:34,199 Speaker 1: although new laws were passed further criminalizing certain actions while 164 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:38,280 Speaker 1: intoxicated at the behest of the business community who quote 165 00:11:38,559 --> 00:11:43,400 Speaker 1: demanded drunks and winos be removed from the streets unquote. 166 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:47,240 Speaker 1: This era marks the last time the Atlantic community press 167 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: research found complaints of overcrowding. The lack of further complaints 168 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:57,080 Speaker 1: strongly suggests that decriminalization is a better answer to the 169 00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:01,840 Speaker 1: problem of overcrowding rather than prison expansion. It's also necessary 170 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:05,200 Speaker 1: to mention that alleviating the problem fifty years into the 171 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: project does not make up for the unnecessary harm and 172 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:13,000 Speaker 1: death likely caused by these conditions over the years. As 173 00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:16,520 Speaker 1: we went over last episode, overcrowding of jail's remains a 174 00:12:16,559 --> 00:12:20,400 Speaker 1: problem in our modern jails and prisons. Currently, the Fulton 175 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:24,680 Speaker 1: County Sheriff wants the Atlanta City government to abandon their 176 00:12:24,679 --> 00:12:28,360 Speaker 1: promise of closing a city jail and instead rent the 177 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:33,200 Speaker 1: jail to Fulton County to alleviate overcrowding in their system. 178 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:36,839 Speaker 1: This is billed as a humanitarian move, but as we've 179 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:41,320 Speaker 1: discussed in the past few episodes, history suggests otherwise, and 180 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:46,440 Speaker 1: the most successful way at reducing harm was decarce role approaches, 181 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:01,440 Speaker 1: complaints about poor sanitation and malutrici, and also span the 182 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:06,520 Speaker 1: prison farm's history. Combined with the previously detailed conditions, these 183 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:09,640 Speaker 1: would further increase the likelihood of sickness and death within 184 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:14,720 Speaker 1: the prison farm walls. Prisoners eight complained that quote a 185 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:18,240 Speaker 1: silver dollar would cover each particle of food given to 186 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:24,000 Speaker 1: prisoners and asked for quote more vegetables and less sorghum unquote. 187 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:28,080 Speaker 1: In one during a tense meeting in which DECAB tried 188 00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:31,920 Speaker 1: unsuccessfully to prevent Atlanta from expanding the prison farm, a 189 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:36,760 Speaker 1: DECAB resident said that the farm was without sanitary facilities, 190 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:42,120 Speaker 1: despite frequent assurances that the facility was clean. However, work 191 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:46,520 Speaker 1: was temporarily abandoned on that expansion after Decab County citizens 192 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:49,440 Speaker 1: sought and obtained an injunction against the City of Atlanta 193 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:55,080 Speaker 1: for dumping untreated sewage into entrenchment Creek. There is a 194 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:59,559 Speaker 1: large gap in reporting on these particular conditions, but there's 195 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:03,520 Speaker 1: evidence that they persisted, because in nineteen sixty the Decab 196 00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:07,800 Speaker 1: Ground jury found that quote restrooms were deplorable in both 197 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:11,760 Speaker 1: white and negro wards unquote, and that the kitchen floor 198 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:15,720 Speaker 1: was quote unquote in a deplorable state and should be replaced. 199 00:14:16,920 --> 00:14:22,040 Speaker 1: The Atlanta Journal Constitution's own inspection curiously concluded that the 200 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:26,880 Speaker 1: farm was quote operated very efficiently and with good sanitary 201 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:32,320 Speaker 1: conditions unquote, But just two years later, Dick Herbert's undercover 202 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 1: work as a prisoner showed quite the contrary. He found 203 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 1: puddles of spit at drainage grills, wondered if many of 204 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:44,160 Speaker 1: the men had tuberculosis, and said that quote it was 205 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:47,960 Speaker 1: not uncommon to find dead bugs or hair in food. 206 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:51,640 Speaker 1: The rusty, dirty tins we drank out of should be 207 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:56,600 Speaker 1: replaced unquote. Herbert also mentioned that quote the food was 208 00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:00,880 Speaker 1: almost entirely a thin and liquid diet and also said 209 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:05,520 Speaker 1: that inmates often complained that the best of the farms 210 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:09,360 Speaker 1: produce and meats are reserved for the guards and hired help, 211 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:12,520 Speaker 1: and just a reminder that they themselves worked to grow 212 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:17,080 Speaker 1: all that produce. A prisoner named Carl h sent to 213 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:20,000 Speaker 1: the prison farm in nineteen sixty eight on a public 214 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:24,200 Speaker 1: drunkenness charge, said, after five days at the facility, quote 215 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:27,040 Speaker 1: I've had one half of a meal since I've been 216 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:32,320 Speaker 1: here unquote. Apparently by this time, local court rulings had 217 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:35,760 Speaker 1: determined that chronic alcoholics could no longer be arrested on 218 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:39,840 Speaker 1: these charges, but the judge claimed, quote, I'm doing it 219 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:44,440 Speaker 1: from a humanitarian standpoint, whether it's legal or not. Unquote. 220 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:48,720 Speaker 1: Carl said of that matter, that the judge quote told 221 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:50,960 Speaker 1: me that he was going to save my life. I 222 00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:53,280 Speaker 1: told him he can't save my life out there at 223 00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:56,160 Speaker 1: the stockade. I told him he can send me anywhere, 224 00:15:56,600 --> 00:15:59,120 Speaker 1: but not the stockade. He can't save my life out 225 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:04,800 Speaker 1: there unquote. This was three years after Superintendent Holsey was 226 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:08,920 Speaker 1: praised for his reforms and interviewed by the Atlanta Journal 227 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: Constitution saying, quote, I'm just trying to make this place 228 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:16,600 Speaker 1: sanitary and livable for these people unquote. On two occasions 229 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:19,720 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty nine, the vast majority of prisoners went 230 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:23,520 Speaker 1: on strike due to poor food. The first time, they 231 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:26,440 Speaker 1: demanded a raise for the cook and the hiring of 232 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:30,280 Speaker 1: a new cook, but four months later these conditions which 233 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:33,600 Speaker 1: were agreed to to end the strike had still not 234 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:37,920 Speaker 1: been met. Prison farm administrators once again promised to raise 235 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:40,880 Speaker 1: cook wages and hire a new cook to end the strike, 236 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:43,600 Speaker 1: but we have no indication that they ever followed through 237 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:47,840 Speaker 1: on that. In Atlanta Journal Constitution article from nineteen seventy 238 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:51,080 Speaker 1: states that prisoners were working in the kitchen while infected 239 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:54,600 Speaker 1: with tuberculosis. Quote. One man was sent to Batty State 240 00:16:54,640 --> 00:16:58,360 Speaker 1: Hospital after it was found his tuberculosis was so advanced 241 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:01,200 Speaker 1: that he started hemorrhaging. He had worked in the kitchen 242 00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:05,240 Speaker 1: the night before. Unquote. When asked about this, the prison 243 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:09,320 Speaker 1: farm administrator R. F. Jordan's said that some prisoners do 244 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:12,639 Speaker 1: have tuberculosis, and yes, quote some of them work in 245 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:16,200 Speaker 1: the kitchen, but only if their case is arrested. Unquote. 246 00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:20,800 Speaker 1: Employees protesting discrimination against black employees at the farm and 247 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:25,399 Speaker 1: unfair and illegal incarceration of alcoholics also said that quote, 248 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:28,640 Speaker 1: there are rats and roaches and filth that you wouldn't 249 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:32,879 Speaker 1: believe unquote. In nineventy one, the prison farm was found 250 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:36,840 Speaker 1: to be serving food illegally without a license, but health 251 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:39,879 Speaker 1: officials complained that there were only two of them for 252 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:43,159 Speaker 1: the entire multi county district and they had no means 253 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:47,880 Speaker 1: of actually enforcing licenses or food safety. Just one month later, 254 00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:51,440 Speaker 1: prisoners again went on strike due to being served watered 255 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:57,399 Speaker 1: down gravy and being unjustly incarcerated for alcoholism. Reports on 256 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:00,960 Speaker 1: conditions are few and far between after this period, but 257 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:04,240 Speaker 1: the night two a c l U lawsuit claimed, among 258 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:09,240 Speaker 1: other things, that the conditions at the facility are unsanitary. 259 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:13,240 Speaker 1: There is most likely more information to find between these years, 260 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:16,960 Speaker 1: as one prison farm worker said, quote, we used to 261 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:19,879 Speaker 1: have strikes out here about every month, sometimes two or 262 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:24,600 Speaker 1: three a month unquote. In nineteen eighty three, Superintendent Hudson, 263 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:30,399 Speaker 1: once hailed as the great humanitarian reformer, was replaced after 264 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:35,320 Speaker 1: quote complaints from employees and city politicians about his handling 265 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:40,520 Speaker 1: of the city jail, its employees and prisoners. Hudson said 266 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:43,639 Speaker 1: of the criticism, quote, I get bored when there aren't 267 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:48,480 Speaker 1: any problems. Serenity is not my thing. Unquote. A big 268 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:51,240 Speaker 1: focus of the research that the Atlantic Community Press did 269 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:55,320 Speaker 1: was on the question of unmarked graves at the prison 270 00:18:55,359 --> 00:18:59,120 Speaker 1: farm site. There are persistent folk stories about these that 271 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:04,120 Speaker 1: maybe tempting for some to write off as unfounded rumors. However, 272 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:08,760 Speaker 1: oral histories and qualitative interviews need to be taken seriously 273 00:19:09,119 --> 00:19:13,720 Speaker 1: and considered alongside other forms of evidence. Some stories have 274 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:17,720 Speaker 1: already been substantiated, and for others, the evidence found so 275 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:23,280 Speaker 1: far certainly places them within the realm of possibility. This episode, 276 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:25,720 Speaker 1: I'm not going to try to prove without a shadow 277 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:28,560 Speaker 1: of a doubt that there are unmarked graves on the 278 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:32,320 Speaker 1: property that is slated to become a cop city, but 279 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:35,800 Speaker 1: I will discuss documentation that shows that there is a 280 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:39,680 Speaker 1: strong possibility that needs to be carefully and fully investigated, 281 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:43,440 Speaker 1: regardless of how long it takes to do so properly. 282 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:47,760 Speaker 1: To start, there is this quote from an Atlanta Journal 283 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:53,240 Speaker 1: Constitution piece from nineteen seventy six, quote, Maud, the deceased 284 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:57,359 Speaker 1: elephant and two hundred and eighty inmates rest in peace 285 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:01,840 Speaker 1: at the City of Atlanta prison Farm unquote. Now, I'm 286 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:05,000 Speaker 1: gonna unpack that one at a time, because there's a 287 00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:08,960 Speaker 1: there's a lot there uh the elephant Maud was the 288 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:13,680 Speaker 1: former zoo elephant that died and whose corpse was dumped 289 00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:17,280 Speaker 1: at the prison Farm property by the city. And as 290 00:20:17,359 --> 00:20:21,040 Speaker 1: for the line about two hundred and eighty buried inmates, 291 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:25,760 Speaker 1: there's no other details given in the article, and some 292 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:30,359 Speaker 1: researchers suspect that this is some kind of sick, sarcastic 293 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:33,639 Speaker 1: joke on the newspaper's part, as the rest of the 294 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:37,200 Speaker 1: article attempts to paint life at the prison Farm as 295 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:42,639 Speaker 1: one of leisure and respite. According to local folk historian 296 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 1: Scott Peterson, there is, however, a known burial ground off 297 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:52,080 Speaker 1: of Bouldercrest and Key Road that contains both marked and 298 00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:55,840 Speaker 1: unmarked graves that was once owned and operated by the 299 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:59,639 Speaker 1: prison Farm. Now, to be perfectly clear, this burial ground 300 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:03,480 Speaker 1: is not on the current property slated to become Cops City. 301 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:06,600 Speaker 1: The section of land that was originally the prison Farm 302 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:10,040 Speaker 1: has been divided up into many smaller pieces, a few 303 00:21:10,119 --> 00:21:12,720 Speaker 1: hundred acres of which the Atlanta Police Foundation is trying 304 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:17,080 Speaker 1: to turn into the new militarized police training compound. However, 305 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:21,360 Speaker 1: the burial site that Scott Peterson talks about does tell 306 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:24,359 Speaker 1: us that a that there is some truth behind at 307 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:27,480 Speaker 1: least some of the folk stories, and be the prison 308 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:31,480 Speaker 1: farm as a whole contained at least some unmarked graves, 309 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:34,120 Speaker 1: which leads us to believe that there could be others 310 00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:37,439 Speaker 1: throughout the property, and that other claims are at least 311 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:42,160 Speaker 1: worth taking seriously. When the Atlantic Community Press was doing 312 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:45,400 Speaker 1: the bulk of their historical research last year, they attempted 313 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:48,960 Speaker 1: to find death and burial records for inmates that died 314 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:54,000 Speaker 1: while incarcerated at the prison farm through archival digging. Select 315 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:59,360 Speaker 1: inmate death and burial records were found simply via public reporting. 316 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:02,440 Speaker 1: We know are certain that at least several deaths occurred 317 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:06,399 Speaker 1: in very close time spans. One man was sprayed with 318 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:11,440 Speaker 1: an insecticide, which the warden denies, but which the attending 319 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:16,760 Speaker 1: nurse and those who sprayed the man corroborate. Samuel Bayon's 320 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:20,480 Speaker 1: thirty six year old black man quote unquote, dropped dead 321 00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:24,720 Speaker 1: shortly after a patrolman woke him up to get dressed. 322 00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:30,119 Speaker 1: Mark Isaiah Willem died after quote unquote becoming sick. In 323 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:35,320 Speaker 1: Atlanta Daily World headline reads quote corners jury will probe 324 00:22:35,359 --> 00:22:40,560 Speaker 1: death of prisoner, Brown urges full investigation, and that's dated 325 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:46,199 Speaker 1: from nineteen fifty three. On April, Robert Reynolds, forty nine 326 00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:49,880 Speaker 1: year old black man, died from head injuries, prompting an investigation. 327 00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:54,760 Speaker 1: And in reference to Reynolds, Charlie Brown, a nineteen fifty 328 00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:59,359 Speaker 1: three mayor Old candidate, declared, quote, approximately ten prisoners have 329 00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:03,720 Speaker 1: died in jail in the last four years under mysterious 330 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:10,120 Speaker 1: circumstances unquote. Despite these known deaths, finding official records listing 331 00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:14,840 Speaker 1: either deaths or burials at the site was much more difficult. 332 00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:19,480 Speaker 1: On top of searching through several archives, researchers sent Georgia 333 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:23,240 Speaker 1: Open Records Act requests to the Police Department, the Department 334 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:27,480 Speaker 1: of Corrections, and the Atlantic City Council. The Police Department 335 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:29,760 Speaker 1: said that the records would be in the custody of 336 00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:33,679 Speaker 1: the Department of Corrections. However, the Department of Corrections stated 337 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:36,560 Speaker 1: that they are not and never were, the custodians of 338 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 1: such records. The Atlantic City Council replied to requests by 339 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:45,760 Speaker 1: sending the inaccurate Jillian Wooton History Report, but also connected 340 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:51,280 Speaker 1: researchers with a historian. Serena McCracken of the Atlanta History 341 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:54,840 Speaker 1: Center has said that there's a possibility such records simply 342 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:58,560 Speaker 1: do not exist, either that they were never kept in 343 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:01,040 Speaker 1: the first place due to law at the time, or 344 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:04,240 Speaker 1: that they were destroyed at some point, either due to 345 00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:09,040 Speaker 1: negligence or an expiring period of retention. There is also 346 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:12,080 Speaker 1: the possibility that these records do exist and simply have 347 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:15,879 Speaker 1: not been yet found. They could have been misfiled, or 348 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:19,199 Speaker 1: requests could have been sent to the wrong agency, or 349 00:24:19,359 --> 00:24:21,760 Speaker 1: they could just be sitting in a box of mill 350 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:25,400 Speaker 1: doing records still on the land today, as so many 351 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:28,679 Speaker 1: other records were when the city finally shut down the site, 352 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:32,120 Speaker 1: many of which are now lost forever in the ensuing 353 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:37,040 Speaker 1: fires and other ravages of time. In the Georgia Archives 354 00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:40,639 Speaker 1: file on the prison farm, a memo was discovered describing 355 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:44,879 Speaker 1: procedures for the death of inmates. The memo says that 356 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:48,600 Speaker 1: upon a prisoner's death, their nearest kin should be notified. 357 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:52,080 Speaker 1: If the body is not claimed, quote, then the body 358 00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:55,479 Speaker 1: shall be given a pauper's burial not to exceed fifty 359 00:24:55,560 --> 00:25:01,320 Speaker 1: dollars unquote. Such burials don't always include a headstone, but 360 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:05,160 Speaker 1: rather a marker or a burial flag, which can easily 361 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:10,000 Speaker 1: erode away or become invisible over time. Not all unmarked 362 00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 1: graves on the site necessarily exist within a traditional grave plot. 363 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:18,000 Speaker 1: According to Scott Peterson, who has collected folk stories and 364 00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:21,960 Speaker 1: oral histories about the land for twenty years, there is 365 00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:25,320 Speaker 1: another plot next to an old oak tree and sunken 366 00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:28,240 Speaker 1: in structure that was once used to shade the warden 367 00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:33,240 Speaker 1: during lynch ings. This would of course be not legal, 368 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:37,680 Speaker 1: but as we've talked about, legality does not always dictate 369 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:42,320 Speaker 1: the behaviors of prison farm wardens, and there are records 370 00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:45,960 Speaker 1: of cases of runaways at other prison farms that were 371 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:49,199 Speaker 1: later discovered to have been killed and buried on site. 372 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:53,800 Speaker 1: As such, these claims are not outside the bounds of possibility, and, 373 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:58,400 Speaker 1: if anything, are highly likely. There are also many similarities 374 00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:01,399 Speaker 1: between the conditions at the prison farm and those of 375 00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:04,760 Speaker 1: the Brandon Indian Residential School that would lead to the 376 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:09,120 Speaker 1: need to bury many bodies without necessarily keeping tight records. 377 00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:14,359 Speaker 1: Katherine and Nichol's thesis details a history of airborne diseases 378 00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:19,520 Speaker 1: aggravated by factors such as poor sanitation and ventilation, lack 379 00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:24,879 Speaker 1: of medical attention, malnutrition, violence and abuse, overwork and accidents, 380 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:29,159 Speaker 1: and harsh punishment of runaways, all of which are also 381 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:32,680 Speaker 1: seen throughout the prison farm's history. I don't want to 382 00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:36,320 Speaker 1: draw too tight a comparison between the prison farm and 383 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:40,040 Speaker 1: other places and other events. It is worth looking at 384 00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:44,320 Speaker 1: other similar situations as something that shows that the question 385 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:48,959 Speaker 1: of unmarked graves is not unfounded nor uncharacteristic of the 386 00:26:49,000 --> 00:27:03,400 Speaker 1: institutions of the time. There have been several other instances 387 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:07,879 Speaker 1: where institutions with similar conditions were later found to have 388 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:13,720 Speaker 1: unmarked graves, burial grounds, or other human remains. Human remains 389 00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:17,240 Speaker 1: in sugar Land, Texas, near the old Imperial Prison Farm, 390 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:21,840 Speaker 1: there were found to have quote belonged to prisoners who 391 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:26,440 Speaker 1: worked on the land once used as a sugar plantation unquote. 392 00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:31,800 Speaker 1: An article from the Tyler Morning Telegraph describes life of 393 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:36,199 Speaker 1: physical abuse, forced labor, and poor nutrition, much like the 394 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:41,040 Speaker 1: prison farm in Atlanta. Similarly to Atlanta, quote, it wasn't 395 00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:44,359 Speaker 1: until it became clear that these abuses were widespread and 396 00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:49,520 Speaker 1: affecting white prisoners that public opinions started to shift unquote. 397 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:54,639 Speaker 1: In Arkansas, in nineteen sixty eight, a reformist superintendent of 398 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:59,399 Speaker 1: Cummins Prison Farm discovered the remains of three former prisoners. 399 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:05,439 Speaker 1: His discovery quote made international news, embarrassed Governor Winthrop Rockefeller, 400 00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:10,520 Speaker 1: and infuriated conservative politicians. It also led to merchants firing 401 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:15,480 Speaker 1: and banishment from the field of prison management unquote. Finally, 402 00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:20,560 Speaker 1: although the Brandon Indian Residential School was not a prison farm, 403 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:24,399 Speaker 1: archival research points to conditions for the prisoners held at 404 00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:27,560 Speaker 1: the Atlanta prison Farm that are not dissimilar from the 405 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:31,560 Speaker 1: conditions of the children held at the Brandon Indian Residential School. 406 00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:37,320 Speaker 1: We see lacking healthcare, poor sanitation and ventilation, malnutrition, violence 407 00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:41,160 Speaker 1: and abuse, a heavy workload, accidents, and harsh punishments all 408 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:45,280 Speaker 1: contributed to the deaths there, and each of those factors 409 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:49,800 Speaker 1: has been demonstrated via archival research to have existed on 410 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:54,080 Speaker 1: the prison farm in Atlanta. As mentioned at the beginning 411 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:57,680 Speaker 1: of the first episode, this is not an exhaustive or 412 00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:02,600 Speaker 1: comprehensive history for their research is necessary and hopefully, as 413 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:07,760 Speaker 1: explained by the past few episodes, is extremely warranted. However, 414 00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:10,840 Speaker 1: what's laid out here and in the Atlantic community presses 415 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:15,800 Speaker 1: other work already changes our fundamental understanding of the Atlanta 416 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:19,880 Speaker 1: prison Farm. Far from a federal program ending in the 417 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:24,080 Speaker 1: sixties before being essentially abandoned, we saw that the Atlanta 418 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:27,240 Speaker 1: Prison Farm on Key Road was a city run from 419 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:31,440 Speaker 1: the very beginning and the direct continuation of the already 420 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:36,320 Speaker 1: cruel stockade. Contrary to popular belief, it was run continuously 421 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:41,120 Speaker 1: from the early twenties up into the nineteen nineties. It 422 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:44,880 Speaker 1: was a completely different property than the Honor Farm. Despite many, 423 00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 1: including the Atlanta Police Foundation, continuing to use that phrase 424 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:52,800 Speaker 1: when referring to the site. At the city run prison Farm, 425 00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:57,520 Speaker 1: atrocious conditions persisted across the better part of a century 426 00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:01,080 Speaker 1: and ongoing into what we would consider the modern era, 427 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:05,160 Speaker 1: despite claims at each stage that the bad times were 428 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:09,480 Speaker 1: behind us and a new era lay ahead. There is 429 00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:12,600 Speaker 1: a documented history of the city prioritizing its ability to 430 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:17,920 Speaker 1: cut costs with prison labor, essentially extending slavery, Extensive records 431 00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:22,840 Speaker 1: of physical and emotional abuse, torture, forced labor, overwork, lack 432 00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:27,520 Speaker 1: of healthcare for sanitation, overcrowding, and poor nutrition ranging throughout 433 00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:31,520 Speaker 1: the entire history of the site. Nearly every stage of 434 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:35,640 Speaker 1: leadership has gotten caught breaking rules and laws while avoiding 435 00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:39,400 Speaker 1: the same carceitral fate as the prisoners, as well as 436 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:42,720 Speaker 1: a reluctance by city officials to enact policies that would 437 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:47,080 Speaker 1: truly alleviate these harms and attempt to make up for them, 438 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:51,920 Speaker 1: rather ensuring that power remains continuous, as is the case 439 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:55,640 Speaker 1: with Cops City. This history demonstrates how Atlantic city government 440 00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:59,000 Speaker 1: is perfectly fine with over ruling rights of the residence 441 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:03,160 Speaker 1: of decab count who are disenfranchised from the city. With 442 00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:05,840 Speaker 1: the Atlanta Police Foundation and the city getting closer and 443 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:10,600 Speaker 1: closer to deforestation and facility construction, the window of opportunity 444 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:15,040 Speaker 1: is shrinking for further on the ground historical research. The 445 00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:17,720 Speaker 1: fact that they've yet to meet the requirements for the 446 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:23,160 Speaker 1: full environmental assessments, let alone the careful historical analysis necessary 447 00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:26,600 Speaker 1: considering the history of the land, means that the city 448 00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:29,760 Speaker 1: is not only physically erasing the history of the lives 449 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:34,640 Speaker 1: it's destroyed, but also risking the possibility of desecrating their 450 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:38,800 Speaker 1: graves in the process. A guest column in the Supporter 451 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:43,960 Speaker 1: Report by Lilly Ponins, an environmental engineer and now former 452 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:47,920 Speaker 1: member of the Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee for the Atlanta 453 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:52,320 Speaker 1: Public Safety Training Center ak A Cop City, gave us 454 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:56,120 Speaker 1: an inside look at how the development of Cops City 455 00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:59,800 Speaker 1: is knowingly and willingly refusing to do their due diligence 456 00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:05,280 Speaker 1: assessments and pave over decades of corstral history. Quote. Since 457 00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:08,600 Speaker 1: joining the Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee for the Atlanta Public 458 00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:12,400 Speaker 1: Safety Training Center, I've observed the developers from Da Vinci 459 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:16,560 Speaker 1: Development Collaborative, along with the Atlanta Police Foundation, mislead the 460 00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:20,680 Speaker 1: community into believing that they are following legitimate, regulated environmental 461 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:24,400 Speaker 1: due diligence process. In reality, they are doing less than 462 00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:28,560 Speaker 1: the minimum to meet the legally defined standards for environmental 463 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:32,880 Speaker 1: site assessment reporting and are breaking the trust of stakeholders 464 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:35,880 Speaker 1: and the terms of their ground lease agreement with the 465 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:39,920 Speaker 1: City of Atlanta. Given the historical operation as a prison 466 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:45,320 Speaker 1: farm and plantation prior to that conditions violence, abuse, accidents, 467 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:49,160 Speaker 1: and harsh punishments, it is reasonable to believe that areas 468 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:53,360 Speaker 1: of the property could contain human remains in unmarked graves. 469 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:59,000 Speaker 1: This was never investigated. Comments and professional input from myself 470 00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:03,400 Speaker 1: and others on Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee were brushed off, 471 00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:08,640 Speaker 1: and no additional site investigations were considered beyond the limited 472 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:12,880 Speaker 1: site investigation. To remedy this, the City of Atlanta must 473 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:16,719 Speaker 1: force the development team to act responsibly by requiring a 474 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:20,640 Speaker 1: proper phase to environmental site assessment. If they fail to 475 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:23,800 Speaker 1: do so, taxpayers are likely to foot the bill for 476 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:28,880 Speaker 1: the remediation that is being ignored or for the complicated 477 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:33,640 Speaker 1: litigation that will arise when this development team disturbs human 478 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:38,720 Speaker 1: remains on this site unquote. A few months ago, Lily 479 00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:43,520 Speaker 1: Pontins was kicked off the Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee after 480 00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:48,320 Speaker 1: writing this column. Both the Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee and 481 00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:52,160 Speaker 1: COPS City have repeatedly been made aware that the assessments 482 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:56,200 Speaker 1: they've done failed to meet environmental requirements, and the reports 483 00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:58,680 Speaker 1: that they're using to base decisions off of and green 484 00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:03,240 Speaker 1: light proposals have been shown to be inaccurate. As far 485 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:09,439 Speaker 1: as responding to City council, ap F enlisted terra Con 486 00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:16,200 Speaker 1: to write a cultural report. This report was highly inaccurate 487 00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:23,080 Speaker 1: due to relying on the Billian Wouten report. I personally 488 00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:30,000 Speaker 1: emailed City Council as Atlantic community press collective and as 489 00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:34,560 Speaker 1: I've repeatedly told them, hey, this is incorrect, this is why, 490 00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:40,040 Speaker 1: here's proof. This is really disgusting and sad that you 491 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:46,640 Speaker 1: refuse to acknowledge any of this history. And ironically, a 492 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:51,720 Speaker 1: month or two later, another report comes out that's slightly better, 493 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:57,239 Speaker 1: slightly revised, but still has that whitewashed aspect that the 494 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:02,040 Speaker 1: original one did. I have the misfortune to recently need 495 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:07,080 Speaker 1: to reread the terra Con report um, and I don't 496 00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:13,279 Speaker 1: believe they they address when the city supposedly took over 497 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:15,759 Speaker 1: the prison the federal farm at all. I don't think 498 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:18,720 Speaker 1: they discussed that date in the slightest. But the Bluten 499 00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:21,480 Speaker 1: report that they draw from, I think she just says 500 00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:24,440 Speaker 1: sometime in the fifties, which was how we figured out, 501 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:26,120 Speaker 1: because we were trying to nail down the date in 502 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:27,640 Speaker 1: the fifties, and then we had to go back and 503 00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:30,880 Speaker 1: back and back and back and back. We found out 504 00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:33,880 Speaker 1: when the city purchased the land by literally just going 505 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:40,480 Speaker 1: to the decat history archives at the courthouse and looking 506 00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:46,200 Speaker 1: them up. M a fairly quick process in terms of 507 00:35:46,239 --> 00:35:53,439 Speaker 1: research that APF obviously didn't hair or bother to look 508 00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:58,160 Speaker 1: into at all. Obviously the City of Atlanta didn't either. Yeah. 509 00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:02,640 Speaker 1: In her residential school thesis, Katherine Nichols lays out a 510 00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:08,560 Speaker 1: robust process for unobtrusively examining possibilities of human remains while 511 00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:14,560 Speaker 1: respecting the communities affected. Her process involves thorough archival research, 512 00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:18,760 Speaker 1: including the use of oral histories and unconfirmed local knowledge 513 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:23,320 Speaker 1: to generate leads for a deeper investigation. This archivalry research 514 00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:27,640 Speaker 1: is then situated alongside the currently existing literature on the subject. 515 00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:31,840 Speaker 1: She then conducts qualitative interviews with local community members and 516 00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:36,279 Speaker 1: family members of those affected. She stresses that this qualitative 517 00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:38,680 Speaker 1: information is not to be written off just because it 518 00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:42,280 Speaker 1: does not align with records that the state institutions consider 519 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:45,200 Speaker 1: to be legitimate. And finally, she lays out a method 520 00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:49,880 Speaker 1: for field research including site reconnaissance, field walking and probing, 521 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:56,280 Speaker 1: site preparation, controlled burns, mapping, aerial photography, soil profiles, metal 522 00:36:56,400 --> 00:37:02,120 Speaker 1: detector surveys, ground penetrating radar, and ground conductivity surveys, all 523 00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:05,160 Speaker 1: checked against controls to ensure that they align with the 524 00:37:05,160 --> 00:37:10,759 Speaker 1: results of the same methods on previously known unmarked grave sites. Crucially, 525 00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:13,319 Speaker 1: all of this is done with the consent of the 526 00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:17,600 Speaker 1: relevant communities and is done unobtrusively as to not disturb 527 00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:23,960 Speaker 1: the graves. Now that the construction process has ostensibly started, Um, 528 00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:28,680 Speaker 1: how does that factor into, like, you know, disturbing the 529 00:37:28,719 --> 00:37:31,400 Speaker 1: grounds where there could be you know, all of this 530 00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:36,319 Speaker 1: history that is being unearthed and kind of paved over 531 00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:39,400 Speaker 1: top of Um, how does that kind of impact the 532 00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:44,760 Speaker 1: ability to do ethical research going forward into the history 533 00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:49,200 Speaker 1: of this land. So, for one thing, we talked on 534 00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:53,239 Speaker 1: and off with a handful of archaeologists and anthropologists and 535 00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:57,799 Speaker 1: related fields about if we were going to go onto 536 00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:02,800 Speaker 1: the prison farm property and conduct a search for grape 537 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:06,960 Speaker 1: sites or other historical information, like, we have no legal 538 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:09,920 Speaker 1: way to do that. It would be trespassing. And we 539 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:15,359 Speaker 1: also know that from the quote unquote cultural report that 540 00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:20,040 Speaker 1: the Police Foundation had done, they didn't really do that 541 00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:24,000 Speaker 1: kind of search. Um. They were mostly searching for evidence 542 00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:28,720 Speaker 1: of I guess you could say indigenous artifacts, not let's 543 00:38:28,719 --> 00:38:35,759 Speaker 1: say bodies buried in the nineteen twenties. So the ability 544 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:40,200 Speaker 1: to do on site historical research is it kind of 545 00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:42,439 Speaker 1: depends on, Hey, how willing are you to get picked 546 00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:46,399 Speaker 1: up for felony trespassing because that's a charge they can 547 00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:49,440 Speaker 1: put on you. It definitely feels like we're up against 548 00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:51,960 Speaker 1: a clock. I'm just going to add on to that. 549 00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:54,960 Speaker 1: I feel like one of the issues that we've definitely 550 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:59,879 Speaker 1: come across, as far as looking for graves that are 551 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:03,640 Speaker 1: related to the prison farm, your options are pretty much 552 00:39:04,239 --> 00:39:08,360 Speaker 1: ground prendy trating radar or what they call cadaver dogs. 553 00:39:09,239 --> 00:39:13,720 Speaker 1: Cadaver dogs theoretically can sniff up to a hundred years 554 00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:18,400 Speaker 1: from what I've read, how many people have connections to 555 00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:23,920 Speaker 1: cadaver dogs? Honestly? And then also the just logistics of 556 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:29,320 Speaker 1: attempting to get ground penetrating radar in a forest UM 557 00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:36,239 Speaker 1: is definitely difficult. Are you worried as construction continues that 558 00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:40,440 Speaker 1: even if stuff is discovered, whether that be unmarked graves 559 00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:44,160 Speaker 1: or you know other other various other things that do 560 00:39:44,200 --> 00:39:47,080 Speaker 1: you have any any level of confidence that if things 561 00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:50,480 Speaker 1: are found they'll even go public? Or are you worried 562 00:39:50,520 --> 00:39:54,160 Speaker 1: that if they find things they'll just cover it up? Basically, 563 00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:58,080 Speaker 1: I have absolutely zero faith. I mean to me that 564 00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:00,800 Speaker 1: I have absolutely zero faith to retually ensure question. I 565 00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:06,480 Speaker 1: have absolutely zerobey that anything that is found will be preserved. UM. 566 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:10,400 Speaker 1: We also have it on fairly good authority that the 567 00:40:10,440 --> 00:40:15,880 Speaker 1: issuing of construction permits is imminent. UM. Decab County Commissioner 568 00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:22,960 Speaker 1: Ted Terry is our our best legal ally, if you will, 569 00:40:23,560 --> 00:40:26,360 Speaker 1: um our best government ally. He last week, during the 570 00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:32,080 Speaker 1: Week of Action, introduced UM a resolution that would ask 571 00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:37,759 Speaker 1: de Cab County CEO Michael Thurmond, to basically make a 572 00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:41,200 Speaker 1: series of asks himself of the City of Atlanta. This 573 00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:44,319 Speaker 1: is basically legally the most the County Commission can do, 574 00:40:44,880 --> 00:40:47,480 Speaker 1: and it is all incumbent upon the CEO of the 575 00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:51,160 Speaker 1: County to actually do these things. UM, hope is not 576 00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:54,480 Speaker 1: great for the County CEO to do any of these things. 577 00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:59,600 Speaker 1: But um ted Terry, among other things, asked for additional 578 00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:02,200 Speaker 1: environment mental studies, which by the way, they are required 579 00:41:02,239 --> 00:41:07,360 Speaker 1: to do in the lease. He asked for additional historical 580 00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:12,799 Speaker 1: research and full disclosure. He actually cited the Press Collective's 581 00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:16,120 Speaker 1: history report we did last summer in the legislation, which 582 00:41:16,200 --> 00:41:19,560 Speaker 1: was both he's a state actor, but also you've got 583 00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:23,440 Speaker 1: to admit that's kind of cool. Um, it was gratifying 584 00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:28,520 Speaker 1: to see our work receive a fairly high level of recognition. 585 00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:34,600 Speaker 1: Additional environmental studies, historical research, noise studies, and ultimately he 586 00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:39,200 Speaker 1: asks that the CEO asked the city to consider just 587 00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:43,200 Speaker 1: relocating the site completely. I think something that we need 588 00:41:43,239 --> 00:41:48,000 Speaker 1: to take into consideration throughout this entire research process is 589 00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:51,920 Speaker 1: that a lot of the records that we have access 590 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:56,920 Speaker 1: to our newspaper, the primary newspaper service we have access 591 00:41:56,960 --> 00:42:00,080 Speaker 1: to is the a j C. Which we have a 592 00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:04,400 Speaker 1: clear we have clear proof that a j C continues 593 00:42:04,440 --> 00:42:07,600 Speaker 1: to be racist, continues to focus on the narrative that 594 00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:14,360 Speaker 1: they would like to project as far as being accomplices 595 00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:19,279 Speaker 1: to the police and to APF and how that correlates 596 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:29,200 Speaker 1: to this city's history and mishandling of this piece of land. Um. 597 00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:35,040 Speaker 1: When we were looking through older articles, there are handful 598 00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:37,840 Speaker 1: of papers. There's the Great Sparckled Bird, which is the 599 00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:43,880 Speaker 1: so it's a student run newspaper. This one. I'm assuming, 600 00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:49,279 Speaker 1: just based on the sixties and seventies time frame, that 601 00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:53,719 Speaker 1: there's a decent chance that it was primarily written by 602 00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:56,200 Speaker 1: white people. I do not have proof of that. I'm 603 00:42:56,280 --> 00:43:01,600 Speaker 1: just going on with gut feeling with that. Um. So 604 00:43:01,719 --> 00:43:06,000 Speaker 1: there is a probably a bit of bias, uh, but 605 00:43:06,200 --> 00:43:09,600 Speaker 1: it really does start to give a different picture of 606 00:43:09,680 --> 00:43:13,520 Speaker 1: the people that were sent to the prison from There 607 00:43:13,520 --> 00:43:16,359 Speaker 1: were several G. S U students who were sent there 608 00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:19,239 Speaker 1: and they were put in the whole. One was put 609 00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:21,640 Speaker 1: in the whole just because he had long hair and 610 00:43:21,680 --> 00:43:24,200 Speaker 1: he refused to cut his hair. So they said, you 611 00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:27,839 Speaker 1: know what you're going into isolation, have fun um and 612 00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:30,960 Speaker 1: he was there for a little bit. It's important to 613 00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:34,640 Speaker 1: reiterate that throughout much of the archival research that produced 614 00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:38,160 Speaker 1: these findings, the bulk of the articles discovered were from 615 00:43:38,239 --> 00:43:42,040 Speaker 1: the Atlanta Journal, The Atlantic Constitution, and the Atlanta Journal 616 00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:46,719 Speaker 1: Constitution after the two merged. Though these papers reported on 617 00:43:46,760 --> 00:43:50,040 Speaker 1: bad conditions once they had become public, and in two 618 00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:54,000 Speaker 1: cases were responsible for investigative work that made these conditions public. 619 00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:58,960 Speaker 1: These white run papers, much like many major newspapers, have 620 00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:01,800 Speaker 1: a known history of racism and support for the police 621 00:44:02,200 --> 00:44:07,560 Speaker 1: state and carcetral institutions. We therefore believe that a thorough 622 00:44:07,800 --> 00:44:11,520 Speaker 1: search through archives of black run newspapers such as the 623 00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:16,480 Speaker 1: Atlanta Daily, World, magazines and other publications is necessary to 624 00:44:16,640 --> 00:44:21,480 Speaker 1: gain a more complete understanding of the history. Both myself 625 00:44:21,560 --> 00:44:26,320 Speaker 1: and the researchers that put this history together are furthermore white, 626 00:44:26,560 --> 00:44:29,440 Speaker 1: and so it is possible that our own biases and 627 00:44:29,520 --> 00:44:33,760 Speaker 1: blind spots could be present in this reporting. We strongly 628 00:44:33,800 --> 00:44:37,280 Speaker 1: believe that a more complete accounting of this history could 629 00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:40,920 Speaker 1: be undertaken by people who have been more directly affected, 630 00:44:41,360 --> 00:44:44,520 Speaker 1: and hope that these episodes and the research they're based 631 00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:47,600 Speaker 1: on is not taken as the end of the story, 632 00:44:48,120 --> 00:44:52,480 Speaker 1: but just a beginning and an invitation to further scrutiny. 633 00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:55,279 Speaker 1: Is there really any way to continue the research that 634 00:44:55,280 --> 00:45:01,239 Speaker 1: would be necessary to actually preserve the history and keep 635 00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:06,960 Speaker 1: people knowledgeable about the atrocities that's happened the past hundred 636 00:45:06,960 --> 00:45:10,319 Speaker 1: plus years, Like with if construction continues, is there even 637 00:45:10,320 --> 00:45:12,120 Speaker 1: a way to do this now? Or is that clock 638 00:45:12,200 --> 00:45:15,520 Speaker 1: really just running out? So I think one of the 639 00:45:16,400 --> 00:45:20,880 Speaker 1: biggest hurdles as far as preserving the history is honestly 640 00:45:21,239 --> 00:45:26,920 Speaker 1: just getting people to care about it. Because it's not sexy. 641 00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:33,640 Speaker 1: It's not people in tree houses. It's sitting on a 642 00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:39,440 Speaker 1: computer just skimming through thousands of articles. No one cares 643 00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:42,560 Speaker 1: that in two the a c l You sued the 644 00:45:42,560 --> 00:45:48,400 Speaker 1: city because they were using illegal in unconstitutional punishments. Nobody 645 00:45:48,440 --> 00:45:50,360 Speaker 1: really cares about that kind of stuff. It's not that 646 00:45:50,480 --> 00:45:54,839 Speaker 1: exciting in the grand scheme of things, but it's part 647 00:45:54,840 --> 00:45:58,319 Speaker 1: of the history and it's part of what has led 648 00:45:58,400 --> 00:46:01,879 Speaker 1: us to where we are now with Cops City. And 649 00:46:02,080 --> 00:46:05,840 Speaker 1: with that, that wraps up our mini series on the 650 00:46:05,920 --> 00:46:10,480 Speaker 1: very much incomplete history of the old Atlanta Prison Farm. 651 00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:14,320 Speaker 1: The fact that there's seemingly little to know original official 652 00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:17,640 Speaker 1: records to learn from because they were either trashed or 653 00:46:17,719 --> 00:46:21,000 Speaker 1: never kept in the first place. Is itself cover up 654 00:46:21,080 --> 00:46:24,719 Speaker 1: and denial of history and gross denial of the experiences 655 00:46:24,760 --> 00:46:27,920 Speaker 1: of trauma and oppression of those who are subjected to 656 00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:31,080 Speaker 1: the horrors of the prison farm. It's bad enough that 657 00:46:31,160 --> 00:46:34,239 Speaker 1: the city couldn't be bothered to remember the history, but 658 00:46:34,440 --> 00:46:40,160 Speaker 1: crucially they're bulldozed over. Police endorsed narrative in whatever museum 659 00:46:40,320 --> 00:46:43,400 Speaker 1: or plaque they want to create cannot be allowed to 660 00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:46,439 Speaker 1: become the story of the prison farm. And it's many 661 00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:50,440 Speaker 1: atrocities that we are still rediscovering. There is still a 662 00:46:50,480 --> 00:46:53,160 Speaker 1: long way to go, and we have barely scratched the surface. 663 00:46:53,640 --> 00:46:56,760 Speaker 1: Hopefully this is just the start of more people paying 664 00:46:56,760 --> 00:47:00,439 Speaker 1: attention to the forgotten histories like this and and going 665 00:47:00,440 --> 00:47:03,840 Speaker 1: out and doing further digging. You can check out the 666 00:47:03,840 --> 00:47:07,040 Speaker 1: Atlantic Community Press Collective and they're great reporting at a 667 00:47:07,200 --> 00:47:12,000 Speaker 1: t L Press Collective dot com or Atlanta Underscore Press 668 00:47:12,080 --> 00:47:19,920 Speaker 1: on Twitter. See you all on the other side, It 669 00:47:19,920 --> 00:47:22,200 Speaker 1: could happen. Here is a production of cool Zone Media. 670 00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:25,120 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 671 00:47:25,120 --> 00:47:27,239 Speaker 1: cool zone Media dot com or check us out on 672 00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:29,840 Speaker 1: the I Heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you 673 00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:32,640 Speaker 1: listen to podcasts, you can find sources for It could 674 00:47:32,680 --> 00:47:35,680 Speaker 1: happen here, Updated monthly at cool Zone Media dot com 675 00:47:35,719 --> 00:47:37,640 Speaker 1: slash sources. Thanks for listening.