Three repro rights activists testify about inhumane jail
Nikki Enfield, Rolande Baker and Emily Paterson had been arrested for interrupting Supreme Court
(Emily Paterson, Nicole Enfield and Rolande Baker)
Three pro-abortion women who faced 31 hours of jail time for interrupting the Supreme Court testified at a hearing about the inhumane conditions of the cell they stayed in.
Nikki Enfield, Rolande Baker and Emily Paterson were arrested for shouting at the justices in November. Prior to that, Enfield had been involved in protesting near Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s homes in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
For that interruption, they received unsupervised probation in which they can’t go near the Supreme Court until June 30, when it’s out of session.
“The thing that was really surprising to me was was the response to our incarceration and how people were really, really bowled over by how long we spent in jail, and then also the conditions of the jail,” Enfield said.
The D.C. Council held a budget hearing for its jail. Nearly 30 people went to discuss their experiences at the Central Cellblock, which many criminal justice reform activists have criticized.
“So we just added our voice to the mix, telling our story and how we expected jail to be bad, but this was beyond anything that should be allowed,” Enfield said.
Paterson told the general story of what they went through, while Baker spoke about not receiving needed medical care. Enfield encouraged the council to address these problems.
Paterson said to the council that she hoped the story would cause the council to close the facility permanently.
“The jail was so beyond anything that resembled 21st century America that it felt lke we were in a movie,” Paterson said.
Baker, a 71-year-old disabled great grandmother, was involved in protests throughout her whole life. She’s been jailed before for protesting the Vietnam and Iraq wars.
“I never experienced the appalling and inhumane conditions that we experienced in Central Cellblock,” Baker said.
Enfield said that all liberal causes are tied together. This was an example of the repro rights movement intersecting with criminal justice causes.
“The patriarchy and white supremacy and colonial mindset don't exist in a vacuum,” Enfield said.