Monday, March 28, 2011
Drugs Very tough love and a Deal family connection
Posted by Emma Harger on Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 2:52 PM
Hat tip to commenter "Keep This Thread Alive" for pointing out this piece from "This American Life" about the drug court run by Judge Amanda Williams in Glynn County. (You can listen to the program or read a transcript if you prefer.)
The segment covers how Williams runs quite a tight ship at her drug court and spotlights the stories of a few offenders who have had varying degrees of positive and negative experiences with it.
One young woman served a stint in isolation that caused her to almost end her life. Another was incarcerated for something that probably wouldn't earn her incarceration in other courts, at a cost of $17,000 to taxpayers.
However, a notable tidbit comes near the end of the program, on page 16 of the transcript:
In his inaugural address this January, Georgia's new governor, Nathan Deal, made a big point of calling for more drug courts as a way to reduce the number of people behind bars and save money. His son, Judge Jason Deal, runs the drug court in Hall County.
Interesting!
Comments (13)
Showing 1-13 of 13
I don't get it. The show is quite positive about drug courts generally -- just not Judge Williams's court in Glynn County.
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What's the point of this post? Are you suggesting there's some form of malevolent nepotism going on? It seems to me that it's more likely that Papa Deal just realized through his son's experience that trying to treat drug addicts rather than simply punishing them lowers the recidivism rate AND saves taxpayer money. I recall one of them saying something to that effect in one of the many articles released on this subject in the past several months.
How is this not a good thing? I'm not even a Deal supporter, but if the point of this post was to levy vague implications of impropriety on the part of Deal, then it's off base and reeks of blindly attacking him simply because he's a member of the GOP, even when he's espousing a more liberal viewpoint. When a GOP member in power takes a more progressive stance on something, shouldn't you applaud it?
Maybe I'm missing something. Is Emma Harger conservative? That would maybe explain this post . . . although it'd still be weak. So confused.
I listened to the whole thing and was a bit disappointed they didn't highlight more of the positive stories from other drug courts. The one positive story they did highlight turned out to be a negative. They didn't even mention The Economist article that was complimentary (and the Economist is one of their sponsors).
The bit about Jason Deal really has nothing at all to do with their one hour long program but it's worth noting because being the governor's son does mean Nathan might actually pay attention to other ways to treat drug offenses.
The program was really interesting and at times horrifying. Instead of the quote about Jason Deal, you should look earlier in the transcript for the part about the girl kept in isolation for months with contact to family/ lawyer/...anybody.
Old news? Yea, who cares about heinous abuses of power and sadism as judicial authority? This isn't drug court and neither is TAL's story about drug court. It's about the details of bitch Williams' sadism, the pleasure she derives from controlling and abusing young girls and boys who need help. Hey...how's a steel toed boot feel tearing through a face, ripping flesh and breaking teeth? I hope to one day impart this carnal knowledge to bitch Williams and her pervert lackies.
Would be worth checking into how Deal's drug court makes its money. For example... more juvies = more money into someone's pocket running a drug court/detention center?
@Brewskin, my "old news" comment was aimed at the Deal/Deal connection, which I'm still not clear what the OP's point is. It seems like she posted that out of ignorance.
I certainly wasn't making light of the greater issue.
Please help us! We have been suffering since this woman took office in 1990! Now that her power-mad corruption has finally reached national attention, we have a chance to finally get rid of her. Don't believe there's real corruption in Brunswick? Our local paper has still yet to print one word about this. Listen to the podcast. Google her name. This doesn't even address her conduct in civil and criminal court! No matter where you are, write and express your outrage!! http://impeachjudgewilliams.com/what-you-c…
EDIT
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2011-…
This lady deserves a taste of her own medicine - Judge Amanda Williams does not have the capacity to act as a moral agent. She is no position to pass judgements - listen to the episode highlighting her crimes against humanity on THIS AMERICAN LIFE
Write the judge directly and demonstrate your awareness of the injustice.
EMAIL
amandaw@glynncounty-ga.gov
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