Prisoner Rights' Rallies Draw Thousands
Hundreds of protesters marched to City Hall Thursday to demand prisoners' rights and oppose discrimination against ex-convicts in the U.S. prison system.
The rally was part of a larger nationwide campaign. Protests happened in seven cities across the U.S., calling attention to the issue for the upcoming presidential election.
Gregory Kroger, an ex-convict, organized Chicago's Prison Rally due to the tortuous conditions he says that he suffered while incarcerated.
"Within a relatively short period of time, I was given an undetermined period of segregation which is solitary confinement. And it was in those very difficult and dehumanizing and degrading conditions that under international law meet the definition of torture," Kroger said.
"I think our jury system here in the U.S. is the fairest in the world and our justice system is the fairest in the world because it's the jury system...here in L.A. our juries are every bit as diverse as our community. So, the people deciding guilt are from a diverse community," Michele Hanisee, Deputy D.A. of Los Angeles County, commented.
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It would be nice to post more footage of the downtown LA rally. We made it all the way to LAPD headquarters and did it peacefully.