I supposed it adds a level of embarrassment to the Trump administration that Federico Klein, a former campaign staffer and political appointee at the State Department, was arrested Thursday and indicted on six charges related to the January 6 insurrection. Klein, who if convicted could spend two decades in prison, is on video assaulting Capitol Police officers with a riot shield. He was still employed at the State Department at the time.
In truth, the administration isn’t known for its capacity for shame, however, so this story isn’t likely to have much long-lasting impact. It’s in the news now partly because Klein complained in court that he’s been sharing his cell with cockroaches and not getting much sleep. Personally, I think it’s a reasonable request to ask for a cell that isn’t infested with disease-carrying insects. I don’t have a problem denying the man bail considering his use of violence during the Capitol riot, but no prisoners should be housed in conditions of squalor.
It’s significant that a member of the administration joined the coup effort, but not surprising. It’s more telling that Trump hired someone to work at the State Department, which focuses on diplomacy, who was willing to beat cops with their own riot shield. I get that some folks were eager to have an outsider run the show in Washington, DC, but he didn’t bring better alternatives to our federal bureaucracy. What we got were unqualified misfits and sociopaths in charge of our government. I’m probably not alone in preferring the swamp.
I too think prison reform is long overdue, including a dose of just common humane treatment of the incarcerated. No one should sit in the conditions allowed in our prisons.
But that said: unless we’re going to change everything for EVERYONE, and start treating the folks in general population, maximum security, and death row like human beings (human beings who fucked up badly, but human beings nonetheless), I think treating Klein any way but the way the rest of the incarcerated are treated would smack of favoritism. I highly doubt Mr. Klein, prior to his imprisonment, expressed much sympathy for prisoners. He worked for an administration that “forced [muslim detainees] to choose between expired meals or eating pork.” Now he is on the wrong side of that equation.
Prison reform is absolutely 100% necessary—but this guy is not the poster child. He got caught engaging in an insurrection against a fairly elected president, in the notoriously violent US police state, AND beat up a cop in the process. Did he really think he was going to get the kid glove treatment? He’s lucky he’s alive: a Black man would have been shot dead on the spot.
This guy is the poster child for keeping prisons exactly as they are!
I don’t know why the text is so huge there, BTW.
I’m all for unfucking the jail and prison system, but until it’s fixed for everyone, Klein should get the real experience. I mean, it has to be better than being bashed with a riot shield while attempting a coup, right?
Yes, I thought the same thing when I read about this fellow.
So we are presuming Mr Klein is telling the truth about the prison conditions? He certainly might be, but then again…