By Gabriel Eber, ACLU National Prison Project & Eric Balaban, ACLU National Prison Project at 10:38am
Earnest “Marty” Atencio, 44 years old, died on December 20, 2011. His dead body was covered with bruises, lacerations and puncture marks – wounds that made him look like the victim of a vicious attack by criminals. But Marty Atencio wasn’t attacked on the street; the attack that cost him his life took place at the Maricopa County Jails (MCJ) in Phoenix, run by the self-styled “toughest sheriff in America,” Joe Arpaio, and the assailants wore badges and uniforms.
The issue of over-incarceration in America is gaining traction among state and local law makers – but not, apparently, on Long Island. The New York Civil Liberties Union recently sued Nassau and Suffolk counties, home to the Hamptons’ beach clubs and million-dollar estates, over squalid, life-threatening conditions at their jails.
