Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20170718

Then, at any cost. The civilian catastrophe in west mosul. Amnesty International Says the u. S. Coalition may have committed war crimes there. Wasn the one hand, isis systematically moving thousands into the fighting and then they trafficked them there. On the other hand, Iraqi Coalition forces bombarded the same areas with a relentless series of attacks that killed and injured thousands of civilians. Amy we will speak with the researcher behind the report. Then life on parole. With unprecedented access to parolees and her supervisors i only care about you. You dont care about me. I am in charge of your supervision. The make or break relationships between them. Seriously, im trying to save your ass. Some people think being on parole is you are free. You are not. Amy as more states try to reduce their prison populations by putting more people on early release, the New York Times and frontline profile four former prisoners as they navigate the challenges of their first year on parole. We will meet some of them and speak with the director and reporter behind the documentary airing on pbs tonight. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The Senate Republican plan to replace and repeal the Affordable Care act has once again collapsed. For now. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell made the announcement monday night. Republicans inability to push through their Healthcare Plan is a major defeat for the party, which controls the house, the senate, and the presidency. On monday night, republican senators jerry moran of kansas and mike lee of utah announced they would not support the latest Senate Version of the bill, ensuring republicans would not have enough votes to pass it. Their announcement came at the same time President Trump, who has heavily backed the senate bill, was meeting with seven republican senators who did support the legislation. Later monday night, President Trump tweeted republicans should just repeal failing obamacare now work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate. Dems will join in the legislation would have cut 700 billion from medicaid. It faced opposition from all senate democrats, a slew of governors from both parties, the majority of the healthcare industry, the american medical association, hospitals, doctors, nurses, Patient Advocacy groups, and the u. S. Conference of catholic bishops. Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell says hell now try to push through legislation to repeal the Affordable Care act and wait until after the 2018 midterm elections to propose a replacement. The director of the office of government ethics, walter shaub jr. , says the Trump Administration has so undermined ethical standards that the United States is pretty close to a laughingstock at this point. Shaub is resigning today. He has been critical of President Trump on a slew of issues, including trumps failure to release his tax returns, his refusal to sell his assets, and his frequent visits courses, which shaub says creates the appearance of profiting from the presidency. In his interview with the New York Times, shaub also criticized democrats for trying coopt his work, saying i dont like the fairweather friends who are supportive of the Ethics Program only as a Political Tool against this present administration. The white house has released its plans for renegotiating the north American Free trade agreement, known as nafta. The 17page document says the white house seeks to reduce the u. S. Trade deficit with mexico and restrict the amount of imported material in goods that qualify under the agreement. Labor leaders and workers rights organizations criticized the plan, saying resembles the sweeping Transpacific Partnership. That trade deals faced years of Global Public resistance by those who said the free trade deal benefitted corporations at the expense of Worker Rights and health and environmental regulations. Trump withdrew the u. S. From the tpp in one of his first acts as president. The release of the nafta renegotiation plan on monday came as trump kicked off his made in americathemed week. The vast majority of trumps own companies products are manufactured overseas. Well have more on nafta after headlines. The United Nations is urging the Iraqi Government to stop collective punishment against civilians accused of having had ties to isis. The u. N. Says Family Members of isis militants are facing forced displacement, the confiscation of their homes, and the fear of retribution. This is umm suhaib, whose husband joined isis. Beginning, he relies to was wrong when he saw them withdrawn from east mosul have they said they would looked in iraqi forces could not recapture the areas. He saw their injustice and he regretted their decision. But he cannot leave because the executed anyone who would have left them, even if it was a child. I have not heard from him for two months now. I do not know if he is buried under the rubble. Amy this comes as amnesty International Says the u. S. Led coalition and the u. S. Backed iraqi forces violated International Law and may have committed war crimes during the battle to seize control of mosul from isis. Well have more on iraq later in the broadcast. In a surprise move, south korea has reached out to north korea with an offer to hold military talks this friday at the Demilitarized Zone between the two countries. The u. S. , japan, European Union on the other hand are pushing for heavier sanctions against north korea. The south korea overture comes as south korea refused to allow peace activist christine ahn, who was born in south korea, into the country, where she was slated to meet with womens peace groups. South korea said she had been denied entry on the ground she might hurt the National Interest of public safety. This is christine ahn, speaking earlier this month on democracy now about the prospects for deescalating tensions between south korea, north korea, and the United States. Viablet now, the most proposal that is on the table that has now come as you mentioned earlier, is backed by both china and russia, but originally came from the north halt then 2015, was to u. S. And south Korean Military exercises in exchange for freezing north Koreas Nuclear and longrange missile program. That is the deal that should be seriously considered, but the Trump Administration is not accepting it. Amy in gaza, israeliimposed restrictions on electricity continue to limit electricity to barely two hours a day amid the stifling summer heat, making it impossible to sleep or keep food from spoiling. The United Nations has warned gaza has become unlivable for its 2 million residents. Meanwhile, in jerusalem, Israeli Security forces attacked palestinians with stun grenades monday amid protests and clashes around the alaqsa compound. Over the weekend, israel installed metal detectors and closedcircuit televisions at the entrance of the holy site, drawing widespread condemnation and protest by palestinians. In japan, a top official with the Tokyo Electric Power company says he wants to dump more than 700,000 tons of contaminated water from fukushimas Nuclear Power plant into the pacific ocean. Local fishermen are protesting against the plan, saying dumping more radioactive waste into the water will imperil the fishing industry. The water is contaminated with tritium, which can cause cancer when ingested in high concentrations. Back in the United States, tens back in the United States texas, white former Balch Springs Police Officer roy oliver has been indicted by a grand jury on murder charges for killing 15yearold africanamerican student jordan edwards earlier this year. Police body cam video shows officer oliver fired his Assault Rifle into a car carrying five black teenagers as they drove away from the officer. One of the cars passengers says the officer never even ordered the boys to stop driving before opening fire. Meanwhile, in minneapolis, hundreds of people attended a vigil and rally sunday to demand justice for justine damond, who was killed by a Police Officer saturday after she called 911 to report what she thought was a Sexual Assault occurring near her home. Damond, who is white, is from australia. She was planning to marry her fiancee next month. She was reportedly wearing her pajamas and in the alleyway outside her apartment when she was shot by the officer and she approached the police car. The officer and his partners body cameras were not on at the time. Ds father. Tine damon we got yesterday was our worst nightmare. But we woke to the ugly truth and it hurt even more. Justine, our daughter, was so special to us and to so many others. We went down to the beach this morning and saw the blackness change a light. Justine was a beacon to all of us. We only ask that the light of justice shine down on the circumstances of her death. Thank you. And tens of thousands of people may have their student debt erased as private creditors are realizing they dont actually have the paperwork required to prove they own the loans. As much as 5 billion of student debt is at stake in the ongoing legal battles, which centers on National Collegiate student loan trusts. Dozens of students have already had lawsuits against them dismissed amidst revelations National Collegiate student loan trusts had massproduced documentation and kept incomplete records. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan and im juan gonzalez. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. We begin today with mondays highlyanticipated release of the Trump Administrations goals for renegotiating the north American Free trade agreement with canada and mexico. The 17page document outlines trumps plans to reduce the u. S. Trade deficit with mexico, and eliminate a controversial dispute settlement mechanism. U. S. Trade representative Robert Lighthizer said, too Many Americans have been hurt by closed factories, exported jobs, and broken political promises and vowed to negotiate a fair deal. Trade analysts say the plan is vague and draws heavily from the Transpacific Partnership, a 12country trade deal that included canada and mexico. On the campaign trail, trump called the tpp a continuing rape of our country during his and then withdrew the u. S. From the deal in one of his first acts as president. Meanwhile, labor leaders criticized the new nafta plan, saying it worsens protections for workers. Aflcio president Richard Trumka said small changes around the edges or the insertion of disastrous Transpacific Partnership provisions are not acceptable and would be the ultimate in hypocrisy. Amy the release of the nafta renegotiation plan comes as the white house kicks off its made in americathemed week. Speaking monday trump lashed out against trade deals he said have hurt u. S. Companies. Pres. Trump i want to make a pledge to each and every one of you, no longer are we going to allow other countries to break the rules, steal our jobs, and train our wealth. And it has been trained. It has been trained. Amy trump campaigned on the promise of either leaving nafta or renegotiating the agreement. In april, he said u. S. Will remain and seek to renegotiate using fasttrack authority, which mandated mondays release of detailed objectives for renegotiation 30 days prior to the beginning of formal talks. Trump will now have Sweeping Authority to independently broker an agreement before submitting it to congress for a wallach, director of public for more, were joined by lori wallach, director of public citizens global trade watch and author of the rise and fall of fast track trade authority. Welcome back to democracy now tell us what were in these plants released by the Trump Administration and why labor ofders ours oh skeptical what the Trump Administration has proposed. That camehe document out yesterday certainly does not describe the revolutionary transformation of the nafta into something that is much better for working americans which is what President Trump promises promised us as a candidate. On the other hand, the document is fairly vague. I think there are a couple of reasons for that to be the case. He remains unclear from this document if on the one hand, some real improvements might be in the offing relative to the current agreement or, looking at this document, you can go either way, a lot of what was in the Transpacific Partnership is going to get added on to the existing nafta. The bad stuff is not going to get cut. As a result, the agreement is going to be worse for the people and the planet and all three countries. There is enough vagueness in the descriptions that it is unclear if the things that simply must be done and there is a short list of them that must be done if were going to reduce the off shoring of u. S. Jobs, pressure downward in the countries. The language is so vague, does not their fair doing that. And it is also unclear exactly what the labor and Environmental Standards will be. One of the goals would be to reduce the trade deficit ,etween the u. S. , especially and mexico, but there is also this stuff about currency manipulation. I dont think anyone has ever accused canada of or mexico being involved in that. It is super interesting. So when President Trump was a candidate, he talked about making nafta much better for working americans and he described what that would mean as bringing down the trade deficit, which was 173 billion trade deficit with mexico and canada last year. And he said he would make sure more jobs are created by renegotiating. On the one hand, it is pretty interesting and has never been the case single of the negotiations is to try to get the trade more in balance. That is a good thing. The flipside is, it is unclear whether the objectives will deliver on that. Now, the fact that that is the goal and the guy whos the trade representative is a guy with consistently five for u. S. Companies and u. S. Workers. He is a fairly he is a guy i am hopeful about. That makes me wonder what the vagueness is about. Are there things they have not still decided in the administration . Smarthe is just being thinking a big fight on some of the issues that could make it better. Who knows . The currency stuff is interesting because in fact, right after nafta went into effect, mexico devalued its currency enormously. The peso crisis. That wiped out all of the benefits of the tariff cuts. So the devaluation was bigger than the general the average drop in terrorist u. S. Products had faced. Eliminating benefits with that. I think part of the reason, and the trade representative said this, theyre going to do the currency language in this agreement to set a model so that it is a basic element of every us agreement. Which is not a bad thing. The bad thing that is disappointing is in order to bring down the trade deficit and to create more manufacturing jobs in the u. S. , to counter the race to the bottom, there are a set of things you simply have to do. It does not matter if it is democrats or republicans or mars. This is the only thing that will change the numbers. Getting rid of the intensives incentives and nafta, getting rid of the ban on by local and american, which offers our tax dollars instead of reinvesting them to create jobs and homes, putting in environmental labor and wage standards that are strong and real, and enforcing them so you actually have to meet the standards before you get the benefit to the agreement. Thee kinds of real changes document yesterday is not clear about. I would not totally say none of that is going to happen, it is a little worrying it is not necessarily going to happen. In fact, is buy imac and week and the language on the procurement issues was particularly disappointing. It does not get rid of naftas ban now. That seems pretty hypocritical. Amy during a press briefing monday, a reporter asked press Secretary Sean Spicer if made in america week will apply to trump brands manufactured internationally. I am wondering whether you can tell us if made in america week will include the Trump Organization or the ivanka trump brands . Im sorry . As part of made in america week, if the Truck Organization or evocatives brand will make any cut of commitment to stop manufacturing gives, and other things abroad . There are a couple of things interesting about that question. First, the president question yes agenda the president s agenda are focused on trying to make sure all companies can hire here, expand here to manufacture here. That is something he wants for every company. With respect to his own , it is inappropriate to discuss how it would affect their own companies. I can tell you in some cases, there are certain supply chains or scalability that may not be available in this country. Im not going to comment on specific products, but the overall arching goal is to grow manufacturing, grow investment in the u. S. , and to grow u. S. Workers here. That remains the overall objective. Amy so that was sean spicer will stop we could not show you video because, once again, for at least eight days, the Trump Administration is not allowed video to be shown of the press briefing at the white house. But that is sean spicer requesting responding to the question whether made in america should apply to trump brands. Lori wallach . Only is that an import question, but it raises an important problem with these nafta negotiations, which is the president has refused to divest his business interest, to disclose what his full investments are in mexico and canada. So when these talks are ongoing and they can start in 30 days that even though we do not have the details of what is going to be demanded, with the opening u. S. Documents are. A lot of members of congress have demanded the Trump Administration simply do with the European Union does, which is before it officially tables a document making demands of another country in a trade negotiation, they publish them publicly. So with this investment in mexico and canada iv,anka is making goods in mexico, some of the trump clothing line was made in mexico. The direct conflict of interest about in whose interest some of the state negotiations will happen. So i respect and trump the guy who is the United States trade representative, but he is part of a big administration that conflicts ofe interest with the Trump Organization, including the secretary of state Rex Tillerson who was the head of a company that has used the investor state corporate tribunals which this document does not make clear we are getting rid of in these renegotiations. Oil and Gas Companies are the ones who are using this mechanism where multinational corporations are empowered to attack governments in front of tribunals of free trade attorneys who can order us taxpayers to pay unlimited sums come including for the companies lost expected future profits. If some company saying consumer law undermines their nafta privileges. In nafta, this is not hypothetical, the reason why the environmental label consumer groups say nafta needs a total redo simply to stop the damage is already 470 million paid out to multinational corporations. On mining rules, toxic banes, water and timber policies. So just to stop those corporate attacks, to stop the ongoing off shoring if you want to talk about the trump trade hypocrisy, put your head around this one. Remember hearing them say, im going to make copies that offshore suffer. Carrier is off shoring thousands of jobs. Has anything happened them . Not a punishment, but 15 new lucrative government contracts. Deepwould say there are politics and conflicts in an administration on not just the but whatca week, happens with the nafta negotiations, that make the concerns about in whose interest, what is going to be on the table, very real. On that note, i would say, a lot of folks are going to see the members of congress in august and should talk to them about making sure nafta is either replaced or we get out of it. Juan where do we go from here . Is there a time limit that would republicans won a deal wrapped up by the beginning of next year . Pushe goal is to try to negotiations by the end of the year. I dont think that is feasible the way fast track works, they can start the talks as early as august 16. During august recess, it is totally worth at a labor day picnic or parade or if you happen to run into them at some event, to grab your members of congress and and say, i am concerned about the nafta negotiation. Will you promise me you will oppose any agreement that still has investor state dispute not a goodin it, trade agreement for people, just for corporations . He getsprocess up when decided and when it gets finished will depend on us. If we basically insist on Holding Accountable trump to his promises to make it really better for people, not just corporations, it could stretch out. Amy lori wallach, thank you for being with us, director of public citizens global trade watch and author of the rise and fall of fast track trade authority. When we come back, we go to beirut to look at a new amnesty report as th. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan the journalistic Monitoring Group airwars is reporting that the u. S. Led war against isis has killed at least a dozen civilians every single day since President Trump took office. Their investigation found that u. S. Led Coalition Airstrikes and shelling in iraq and syria killed more than 2200 civilians during trumps six months in office far higher rate of , a reported civilian casualties than under the obama administration. Amy this comes as Amnesty International reports the u. S. Led coalition and the u. S. Backed iraqi forces violated International Law and may have committed war crimes during the battle to seize control of mosul from isis. Lieutenant general stephen townsend, who oversees the campaign against isis in iraq and syria, has denied the u. S. Led coalition broke International Law, claiming instead International Law, the campaign against isis is the most precise campaign in the history of warfare. Thousands of civilians were killed during the ninemonth battle in mosul and nearly 1 million residents were forced to flee their homes. For more, we go to beirut where were joined by nicolette waldman, who is an iraq researcher at Amnesty International and coauthor of the new report, at any cost the civilian catastrophe in west mosul, iraq. Welcome to democracy now talk about what you found. Thank you. What we found is that both isis and the Iraqi Coalition forces inflicted massive harm on civilians during the battle for west mosul. On the one hand, isis systematically moved thousands of civilians directly into areas of active fighting, then they trapped him there. On the other hand, iraqi and Coalition Forces been subject of these very same areas to relentless attacks. These attacks used explosive and imprecise weapons that killed and injured thousands of civilians and left the city flattened. Juan were you able to interview people in both east and west mosul . And what were some of the things that they told you directly, civilians trapped in these zones . This report focused only on the battle for west mosul. We had cover the battle in east mosul in previous outputs, but this report really focused in on the battle that took place between february and then just ended officially days ago. And for this research, we visited west mosul, east mosul, and then we talked to people in camps around the city who had fled either days or weeks before we spoke with them. And what they told us was that this battle was horrific. Basically, they had been rounded up and forced into the battle, then they had no way out. What actually happened for so many people is that because they were forced to move into the city and then as the battle continued, they were forced to fall back. So as the frontline went back, the civilians moved that with those front lines. The area in west mosul became increasingly packed with civilians. So because isis was preventing people from escaping, this meant iny only had one way out most cases, and that was directly through the front lines of the battle. What people told us time and time again is that they did not wait for the battle to subside or the fighting to call down. Instead, they waited for the fighting to reach its peak and that was the moment they ran out into the middle of the street, usually, sit down, raise their hands, and with a civilians. Families and sit and wait for the iraqi forces to motion in forward. Only then were they literally make a run for it and they get out of this battle. The cost to civilians was extremely high. What we want to do with this report is bring attention not to the victory that so many are talking about in the last few days, but to the tremendous cost that civilians suffered during this title. Amy speaking to npr on thursday, air force Brigadier General andrew croft responded to the findings of the amnesty report. Is an unfair accusation. They are not coordinated with the coalition. I will tell you, from the way we do our airstrikes, we use the most precise and discriminate weapons we can ever use. Worlde available in the to avoid targeting civilians. If theres ever a doubt of whether or not there is a civilian involved, we will not strike. This is the most precision, low collateral warfare, especially in an urban environment like this which has not been seen since world war ii, that you could ever construct. So what we have done, in my view, the absolute best job we can to avoid any civilian casualties. They are going to happen just based on the nature of the war, but i can tell you to be effective, we have got to support the Iraqi Security forces, and that is what were done. Amy nicolette waldman, can you respond . That is not what we found on the ground. Weeks withwe spent families, talk to them. It seems as if every third family we talked to had lost a Family Member in one of these Iraqi Coalition air force airstrikes or ground attacks. It was so common for people to be full of shrapnel i met whole families who were full of shrapnel. To his claims this was the most precise campaign in the history of warfare, i would respond just with my experience with the civilians experience of what they went through. And basically would call on the Iraqi Coalition air force is to use their great technological advantages to better affect better protect civilians in places such as west mosul. Because what we found was quite the contrary. We got iraqi forces, in particular, consistently using irams. These are basically flying ieds. That a massive warhead. They cannot be precisely targeted. So these were being flung into neighborhoods where people were trapped. Were they had no way out. And often where people were packed in one house in groups between 15 and 100 civilians. Of weapons that cannot be targeted are launched into areas like this, the cost of going the cost is going to be high. We would call on the u. S. And iraq coalition, the coalition and iraqi forces, to do better in the future to prioritize civilian protections and to uphold obligations which requires them not to use the type of weapons they did, these imprecise explosive weapons in these very densely populated areas. Juan what did you find out about the reports from the Coalition Forces that isis was using civilians as human shields . How prevalent was that from what you were able to find out . It was absolutely prevalent. And to a scale even we did not expect. What was happening is they were not just using humans as shields to protect their own forces, they were moving people in to the battle. So starting even in the month before the battle for west mosul started, they rounded up civilians in buses, and trucks, and forced them sometimes to move by foot by the thousands. So they moved them into west mosul. Once they were there, they moved them back and kept them with them from ever did neighborhood. So this could have been one of the most prevalent use of human shields or using civilians just protect their own forces, in modern history. What happened then as well, they did not just put them into this amazing risk, they kept them there so that people who would try to escape and save the lives snipers asecuted by they were running to safety. Then the bodies of these people would be hung by isis and public areas as a warning for those who might just consider trying to escape. So this meant that people who could not escape in some cases, not just here or there, but again and again we heard people were being welded into their houses. Their front doors were being welded together. Were people have boobytraps set in the exits of their houses so they could not leave. This meant that huge groups of civilians were sheltering in these homes and being used as human shields in such an egregious way and deliver away. Within what was happening is these very same areas, where these people were trapped, these areas were being barraged by air attacks and ground attacks by the Iraqi Coalition forces. Most attacks were were not killing the high number of attacks like the mosul attack on march 17, but instead killing between one and 20 civilians. Most of these deaths will go unnoticed. And so far, have not been acknowledged. Because actually in mosul, west mosul, isis headband these of mobile phones. They do not have the kind of infrastructure to rescue people to go after and document these deaths. What we found when we were doing this research is the scale of death was much higher than has so far been acknowledged. Airwars estimated that between and juneuary 2017 2017, as many as 6800 people were killed and attacks by the Iraqi Coalition forces. And just during our research, during the 151 interviews we conducted, we documented 45 unlawful attacks. These least 100. Ivilians and injured so the scale of suffering and death and injury has really not been grappled with yet. And im afraid we will be finding out in the months and the we want to thank you, iraq researcher at Amnesty International, coauthor of the new report, at any cost the civilian catastrophe in west mosul, iraq. When we come back life on parole. A new frontline documentary that airs tonight on pbs, looking at how states are trying to reduce the prison population by putting more people on parole. We will meet some of the former prisoners as they navigate challenges of their first year on parole and speak with the director and the New York Times is what reporter behind the story. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan we end todays show with a fascinating new collaboration between frontline and the New York Times called life on parole that airs this evening on pbs. Tonight on frontline, hundreds of people are put on parole every day and many of them wind up act behind bars. It is not unusual for parolees to come back once or twice once they are out. They did not commit a new crumb, but there are violating rules of supervision. Even going into this store, i can end up in jail and im only getting coffee. Many are trying to break the cycle. I really did not know it was that serious. Youre going on gps. Filmed over a year and a half my life is pretty much ruined. With unprecedented access to parolees and their supervisors. I only care about you. You dont care about me. I am in charge of your supervision. And the make or break relationships between them. You understand what you have done . Im china save your ass. Some people think being on parole is you are free. You are not. I have to believe she is going to do good. I believe in second chances. Juan frontline life on parole was filmed in connecticut, which like many states, is trying to reduce its prison population by putting more people on early release. It follows four parolees and their parole officers as they navigate their first year out from behind bars and try not to violate their terms of release. Today, we will meet some of them. We begin with erroll brantley. I am home. I have been waiting for this for too long. Open. Open. Erroll was coming home, i was more than excited. We were waiting for him to get out on parole and to come home. Left 70 and want to make a future with them, you kind of feel like all of that is on hold. Is being brantley released from prison early after serving 20 months for drug possession and burglary. I got a bunch of hugs for everybody. To be able to put your arms around somebody is a huge thing. I got to go to parole. 100ldren street sheldon street. I dont feel like i woke up in prison this morning. You know . I have been coming to prison since 1999 now and ive been in and out of jail 11 times. This time i got out was the first time i was on parole. Brantley. I was definitely frightened. I did not know what to expect. Released from colorado, correct . Parole sentence, a little less than four years. s parole officer has been a parole officer for 18 years. What was your crime . Burglary. Is that kind of your thing . Not at all. Drugs. Heroine. Mr. Brantley, you could read had a long, long history of opioid addiction. If youre in this business long enough, you know the chances are itsome point it will rear ugly head. Now he is on your watch, see have to make sure you are dotting is and crossing ts. Im going to have you review these conditions. A one to make sure you understand each condition and sign at the end. Among his conditions, youll act undergo mandatory drug testing and he is barred from contact with prior victims, which includes his girlfriend catherine. Longterm planning with your mom at that address . I want to go back home. I live with my girlfriend. But there was a problem at the jail. She said they said she was a victim and took her off by visiting was for like 17 months. Who was the person . Katherine eaton. Was she a victim . No. What are they saying she was a victim of . Or glory burglary. The department of corrections has a policy. When offenders are released, withcan have no contact victims. She called the police on him. She then created the situation in the departments eyes that she was a crime victim because he took her tv set. There is no staying overnight or know nothing. Yes. He leaves and goes home with catherine, violating the terms of his parole on his very first day. I just want to stay close to the people i love and feel protected. Understand parole, that to do with after do, but i was happy. I was home. It is all i have of your. It is all i need. Welcome home. Absolutely. It is a good place to be. I have been trying to get here for a long time. Amy that is erroll brantley, one of the parolees clip featured in life on parole, a documentary by frontline with the New York Times. It airs tonight at 10 00 in local time on pbs stations around the country. You can also watch it online. For more, we are joined by matthew oneill, who is the films director, and by shaila dewan, the National Criminal justice editor for the New York Times. Her related report on erroll is headlined, shes his rock. His parole officer wont let him see her. It was the cover story of the monday New York Times the top of the fold story. Quite an amazing front page, then full page spread, shaila dewan. This incredible dilemma for erroll who comes out of jail and he is not allowed to see his girlfriend Katherine Eaton. If you can extend this further from what we have watched and also in this piece. Sure. He was actually told at his parole hearing we wont list Katherine Eaton as one of your gotims. The plan was to back to living with her as he had been before he went to jail. Sudden, they get told me you what . She is a victim . Someone is going over the records. You cant do it. Were not going to approve this plan. So the whole thing is thrown into turmoil. The thing they have been waiting and this isyears because of this phone call she made to the police in 2014 saying my boyfriend is out of control. He needs help. She says she made the call in order to force them basically into rehab. Was afraid of the heroin heroin deaths in their life, so it is a reality to them that this can happen. Juan how was it . At the time he was on probation, so he violated probation just by having her call the police. So he is arrested and but the charges that involved her being a victim, which is the theft of the television, or dropped. So there is never any ruling that he has victimized her. There was no violence and that incidents. He eventually is convicted of an unrelated break in. So that is what he is now on parole for. Amy goes to this larger story of the state i mean, im sure all studies show when you go home to a solid home life, it is going to increase your chance that you wont return will stuff you wont be a recidivist. Yet he is not only allowed to not live with her, but contact her in any way . The girlfriend was written to him, visited him, nonstop to his years in prison . Trucks you see a lot of these the criminal justice. Just the fact they make phone calls so expensive gum or any kind of contact so difficult, undermines a Strong Family relationship is a motivator to get people from getting in trouble again. Weve heard about the 2 Million People in prison or the gels across america, but it is 4. 7 million on parole or on probation . And the number of people who are on parole is growing, as we lower the number of people who are incarcerated. I think at this time, it is important we look at the entirety of the criminal Justice System because as it plays out once thes story, criminal Justice System touches you or you touch it, it is very, very difficult ever to get unstuck. You see these events chase people throughout their lives. Amy wattage you look at connecticut . Connecticut is trying to reform any aspects of its criminal Justice System. We were focused primarily on what happens after release. What are the challenges people face when they are released from incarceration. He quickly understood that parole plays a huge role in orples ability to succeed the obstacles they may face. And most people who are released from prison are released to the supervision of a parole officer. So these relationships were so central to the lives of everyone we were following, that we realized parole was something important to look at. Connecticut is trying to change the way parole works. Traditionally, it was, you make a mistake, we throw the cuffs on you and bring you back to prison. As you see in the film, parole officers are more and more being asked to play multiple roles. Investigatorcutor, as traditionally done but also drug counselors, social workers, even housing advocate. I think you begin to understand by seeing these otherwise invisible meetings parole officers have enormous control over the lives of the parolees, and very few people analyze it. Juan i want to turn to the story of jessica proctor, another person you featured in life on parole. On parole, youre still sort of in the department of correction. Youre being monitored in the community by a parole officer, but any day, for any type of violation, they can take you directly back into prison. Youre still technically serving or sentence. Mike lawlor is one of the officials trying to turn this around and give parolees more chances once they are out. It is not unusual for parolees to come back once or twice once they are out. They did not commit a new crime, but they are violating the rules of their supervision. One changes been the creation of a special unit devoted exclusively to the needs of women parolees. Officer Katherine Montoya helped start the unit. Are different population. They have different needs. Their supervision is different. Oftentimes, are majo main caretakers of the children. It is hard. Jessica, i have not met her yet but i read her case. She came in when she was 18 years old. She is going to be doing five years of parole with me. This is a pivotal time for her. She makes a decision right now if this is a onetime deal that happened in her life and move on from this, or whether she is going to be a returning customer. Someone he keeps coming in and out of the system. Years. D 10 i was young. I was 18 years old. I should be under nobody elses supervision. I have been watched for 10 years. Ie have stripped me dont think i need to be on anyones parole. Jessica proctor went to risen for in other girls face with a razor blade. I did not kill nobody, but you wouldve thought i did tell somebody. 10 years, five years parole . I think that was a bit excessive. I do hold some type of resentment. Prison sixout of days ago. This is her first meeting with officer montoya. Hi, jessica. Im your parole officer. When you come here, yet to clear metal detector. A lot of people think you are free. They are not free. This will be a measure of freedom. It will be five years. We have to work together. The better you and i get along, the chances are this will be a success. Young, got in trouble, when to jail for a certain amount of time, came back out. She really wants to reconnect with her son. That is one of the biggest goals and her life, to be a mother to her son. Is my cousin jessica. This is when she first went into prison. Custody togave up her son dante. For now, theyre not living together. I think for a long time, he thought i was his bio mom until my sister got pregnant. And he said, i was in your stomach like that . No, youi was like, werent in my stomach. You were in mommy jessicas stomach. From then on, i would just tell him, you are different than most kids. Because most people only have one mom and you have three moms. When i was growing up, killing thing i really knew was, she was locked up. When is she coming out . When can i see her . Reconnecting with family is so difficult. I was advocate for family counseling, not only the offender, but the family and everyone together. There is a lot of hurt feelings and anger. And people dont have a lot of to maintain able situation like that, so they will go back to their behaviors, which is like drinking or drug use. Jessicahat was proctor. Matthew, to what degree are the people you film tear reflected the general population youre dealing with . Honestly, everyone was on camera, the parole officers as well as the parolees, so they are very aware of the situation and perhaps on their bets behavior. Im wondering if you got any other stories from the parolees, the parole officers . Were they as guys offcamera as in the interviews . People both on the parole officer side and the parolees are remarkably unguarded. We see a lot of those relationships exactly as they play out. Because we were there so consistently. We were in every parole meeting we could have access to. We were with the people we were following on the streets and in their homes, at their place of work when we got. We became very much part of the fabric of their lives. So i think you will see in this film, things if you are trying to perform for the cameras him you would not put on camera if you were a parole officer or a parolees. Of theaila dewan, one pieces of coming in the times, is about rob, who is on parole. We dont have time to play the clip of him, but can you talk about the challenges he faced and what this says about the parole system, which increasingly people are on . You look a guy, when at his life story, hes a child of an addict. There is addiction and death from addiction throughout his family tree. You kind of looking go, or you destined for institutional they . Like how do not have had this life trajectory . Bytry to quantify that giving some of our parolees a survey that ranks childhood trauma from one to 10 and four it considers a high score. Rob scores a nine. Apartreally tried to pick this cycle because rob has children, including one young child, and were trying to look at how this cycle perpetuates itself and how it can be interrupted in robs. Case. We now have many, many children of opioid addicts. One to what most surprised you . One of the most surprising things, he said to me, the people we were following the longest sentences, like jessica, are the people who are doing the best now. It makes you wonder whether short prison sentences even make any sense or if there should be another approach, a different kind of intensive individual amy what you mean, that whether short prison sentence it is uprising because we talk about how long are sentences are in this country and out over incarcerated we are compared to other places. But just to hear, you know, spending a long time in prison gives you, it you come out, a sort of more determination and littleo do better is a surprising. Then you have to think about, what about the short sentences . Do they do any good at all . Spending a year in prison . Juan matthew, those who were on parole and probation amid those are not familiar with the criminal Justice System, what is the difference . Was there any difference in the outcomes . When you talk about the criminal Justice System, it is hard to make generalizations. In the u. S. , were talking about 50 different criminal Justice Systems. Each state is complicated in the way they run parole and probation. They are different. In our particular group, generally am a the probationers did not come back as frequently because the parole officer can remand you, take you back in a prison directly, where as a probation officer will issue a warrant for your arrest if you are in violation. Parole is generally stricter and probation is generally looser. I think that tension that sjao;a the spring avenue between a desire to rehabilitate as part of the criminal Justice System and his desire to punish part of the criminal Justice System, which are both in their, is really fascinating. A you see that rehabilitation aspect play out. Amy and people can see it tonight. 2 million in prison, 4 Million People on parole or probation. Matthew oneill, life on parole, a documentary by frontline with the New York Times. Shaila dewan is the National Criminal justice editor for the New York Times. You can go to democracynow. Org to see all of the links. Area tonight in your local on pbs. That does it for our show. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] my love letter to lebanon. Is made possible by. Man do your thing do your thing, do your thing syracuse, do your thing do your thing, do your thing syracuse, do your thing