Guards punish black inmates more severely than whites inside New York State prisons

Guards punish black inmates more severely than whites inside New York State prisons, a Times investigation found

Saturday, December 3, 2016 8:03 AM EST

The racism can be felt from the moment black inmates enter New York’s upstate prisons.

They describe being called porch monkeys, spear chuckers and worse. There are cases of guards ripping out dreadlocks. One inmate, John Richard, reported that he was jumped at Clinton Correctional Facility by a guard who threatened to “serve up some black mashed potatoes with tomato sauce.”

“As soon as you come through receiving, they let you know whose house it is,” said Darius Horton, who was recently released from Groveland Correctional Facility after serving six years for assault.

Read more »