Another jail death sparks new protests

Protests have continued here around the case of Raymond Smoot, who was brutally beaten to death by guards at Baltimore’s Central Booking. On July 1 Smoot’s family and supporters from the Emergency Coalition for Justice gathered in front of the office of the state’s attorney during rush hour to call for the indictment of those who murdered Smoot.

Members of Raymond Smoots’ family at courthouse.

The state’s attorney’s office has yet to issue indictments.

Smoot’s 15-year-old grandniece, Tiyanna Decator, read a poignant poem asking “Why? Why?” while other family members gathered at adjacent corners chanting, “Tell the truth, stop the lies, Raymond Smoot didn’t have to die” and “Tear down the walls.”

Denise Lowery, an organizer with the All Peoples Congress, helped family members carry a blown-up picture of Smoot, whose face had been brutally bashed. Lowery exclaimed, “This is Baltimore’s Emmett Till.” Emmett Till, a 14-year-old from Chicago, was brutally beaten to death by racists in Mississippi in 1955. Nearly a quarter million people viewed his battered body. Outrage over this atrocity against a child gave impetus to the civil rights movement.

The protest over the killing of Smoot followed a week of events focusing on the brutal conditions in city jails. On Wednes day, June 29, the family of Lennard Benjamin held a vigil and protest in front of Central Booking, joined by the Smoot family and the All Peoples Congress. Benjamin, 23, had been beaten to death in his cell and died on June 23, allegedly by another inmate. He had worked in a supermarket in Northwest Baltimore before enrolling in classes at Baltimore City Community College.

Over 100 people gathered in the pouring rain for several hours to denounce the jail system. Dominique Gasque, a cousin of Benjamin, proclaimed, “We don’t want our brother to have died in vain. Before I breathe my last breath on earth, there will be a change in the system so others don’t have to suffer anymore.”

At a town hall meeting organized on Monday, June 27, by the Baltimore Chapter of the NAACP, protesters and family members continued to pursue the case. Renee Washington, All Peoples Congress organizer, confronted the city’s acting police commissioner about their policies of “zero tolerance” and an arrest quota system. Police murdered Washington’s fiancé five years ago.

Acting Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm was visibly rattled. He tried to deny the existence of a quota system, but community organizers have police documents to prove its existence.

Donnetta Kidd, Smoot’s niece, demand ed that State’s Attorney Patricia Jessamy indict the guards who murdered her uncle. In response, Jessamy said that her office would meet with the family. A representative of the FBI, which is doing a so-called civil rights violation investigation, was silent during the back and forth with the community.

While the community continues to mobilize, Judge John M. Glynn continued with hearings in a lawsuit brought by the public defender’s office against state corrections officials. It seeks the release of suspects who are held longer than 24 hours at Central Booking without an initial court hearing. Glynn demanded that officials provide a written report within 30 days of their plans to improve efficiency. The city is seeking to become a part of this suit against the state, showing that the pressure for the mass arrests is coming, at least in part, from higher up.

Advocates of prisoners’ rights have filed suits against the inadequate and non-existent health care at the facility. It was built to process up to 45,000 people annually, but 100,000 people were arrested last year. Conditions are dehumanizing and brutal. Cells designed to hold seven to eight prisoners are crammed with 17 and 18. Lack of proper medical care has led to a rising number of deaths. Police sweeps of entire neighborhoods, leading to mass arrests, have compounded the problem.

The Emergency Coalition meets every Thursday at 7 p.m. at the All Peoples
Con gress Hall, 426 E. 31st Street, Balti more, Md. 21218, and can be reached by calling (401) 235-7040. Brother Daren Muhammad also provides information, action and analysis on the “Final Analysis” radio program on station WOLB, 1010 on the dial, every Wednes day at 12 noon.