16 Comments
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Sherry Hames's avatar

I'm very touched by your story. And I'm all too reminded that I live in the great state of Tennessee, home of one of the founders of the for-profit prison system. Our country sucks.

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Janey Gregory's avatar

Fellow-Tennesseean Here Sharing The SHAME•••AKA(s)•••⚠️MARSHA BLACKBURN⚠️&⚠️BILL LEE⚠️Just A Couple Currently Amongst Our💔TN.🐘DANGEROUS-RADICAL⚠️TRUMPERS⚠️god HELP🇺🇸U.S.2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣5️⃣⛔️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⚠️🍊🫅🏼👑🤡👹🤥🤑🇷🇺🚔🚨⚖️LAWLESS⚖️🚨🚔THUG-FEST⚠️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

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Karen Scofield's avatar

Wow, what a story here,Waj, Thank You for sharing, Blessings to you 🙏 and will reStack ASAP 💯👍

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THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali's avatar

thank you karen!

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Dodi Palmer's avatar

Waj, what an ordeal for your family. Thank you for sharing your story. Our whole criminal justice system is effed up, and now the morbidly rich may finally get their wish of privatizing everything. They will get richer, and the rest of us are screwed.

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Jackie Davis's avatar

I did not know this when I started to follow you on that other site. I always appreciated what you had to say and of course, delighted in your kitten stories. I hate this happened to your family. And I hate that this is about to happen to many other families.

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Christine's avatar

The land of revenge sentencing and injustice, unless you are white, well connected and wealthy . . .then . . . Keep the appeals going, you’ll be fine.

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Max Maxey's avatar

My brother has worked with Catholic Charities as an immigration counselor (like a Nurse practitioner for immigration law and courts) for 30 years now and sadly your story is not unusual. American's do not realize the lack of legal protections for non-naturalized immigrants. The scream on the Right the crimes immigrants commit when it is the exact opposite, immigrants, refugees know they cannot commit any crime or they lose all chances to become a citizen or a green card. Unlike US citizens even if a crime is expunged from their record, it NEVER leaves the immigrant's record and they will be denied and deported out no matter how small the offense or decades ago the crime was.

Knew a successful small business owner with family and settled for over 20 years but he was arrested for possession for a few joints in the 1970's and had to leave the US. For a couple joints which is legal now in most states, no exceptions, no wiggle room. Shame he had a great pizza shop and was a good man who did much for the poor.

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Carolea Hassard's avatar

Holy shit, Waj. You're right. My Texas county - of fewer than 3,000 people - has a 300-bed private prison and the commissioners are talking about building another one. The county has already earned millions of dollars from the first one. The budget shows $562,500 for 2024.

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Claire Paxton's avatar

I am so sorry this happened to you & your parents. I have a loved one who has been incarcerated & know how horrible the system is. Thanks for sharing & bringing attention to this injustice.

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PreciousShyama's avatar

I'm shocked and saddened to read about your family's tragedy in the legal system. I have no doubt that Trump will have more privatized prisons built and that we will quickly see political prisoners being rounded up. I'm a law-abiding citizen, but, a very vocal opposer of Trump's. I will not be surprised if I end up arrested for my posts on my X account telling him to F-off. I think that's one of the reasons Musk started gathering data on that platform's accounts holders. And, although I deleted 2 accounts, I'm not going to pretend that they'll be fully deleted. So, I warn people: Trump's coming for EVERYONE who's ever opposed his presidencies. Expect the unexpected. It's going to be seemingly insurmountable.

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David Holzman's avatar

I'm so sorry about what you and your parents must have gone through. And I've long thought that in most cases, the sentences are way too long, and there is too much focus on punishment and not nearly enough on rehab. We would be much better off if we handled justice more the way I think the Scandinavians do it. In fact, I think we'd be a lot better off if we handled most things the way the Scandinavians do. I gotta get to bed now, but I will try to listen to your podcast tomorrow.

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Elizabeth D. Leonard's avatar

What an amazing and completely unexpected story. Thank you for sharing it! I look forward to reading your memoir!!

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Adam Cheklat's avatar

Simple: I bring it down! By:

Dissolving CoreCivic

Reforming our prison system along Scandinavian lines

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Margaret Gacki's avatar

Wow! I had no idea. One year in jail?! 🙀 That is wild! Well, that's prompted me to get your memoir (hope it's in audiobook format). Always appreciate your truth, Waj.

🙏🏼✊🏼💙

Inshallah 🤲🏼

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Jude Montarsi's avatar

I can so relate to this! Thank you!

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