- Target:
- Fairfax County Sheriff/Court
- Region:
- United States of America
On October 7, 2010, 4-5 unmarked Fairfax County police vehicles with undercover police officers came to arrest my brother, Tamrin Siro, on a bench warrant for failure to appear. Siro received a summons on February 3, 2010, for a DUI first. After many court dates, the county "nolle prosse" which means dropped the case for insufficient evidence. They reopened the case in a higher court, Circuit Court, without his knowledge and issued a bench warrant to arrest him even though the prosecutors office did not provide him with any warning that he had court dates.
He spent 6 long days at Fairfax County Detention Center. I was prevented from seeing him during those 6 days even as I was at the jail 4 times. A nurse threatened to arrest me for harassment because I called and came to the jail asking about his health and well-being.
I spoke with many people outside the jail as they too felt justice was denied to them and their family members. I knew many other Fairfax County residents experienced similar injustice as I collected names of 69 others during one of my visits.
Inmates are beaten, mistreated, abused and denied basic human rights at Fairfax County Detention Center. Staff are unqualified and cruel. Only a few have genuine concern for the inmates.
My brother's case was dismissed with prejudice because we hired a private qualified attorney. What about inmates who cannot afford a private attorney? Where is their justice? My brother was never proven guilty as he was innocent until proven guilty. Your system made him guilty until proven innocent. How many others have been through this?
The residents of Fairfax County ask the courts to:
1.) Inform all defendants by posting a note at their last known address or contacting by other means if they have court dates so they should be aware of them. Trying a defendant without his/her knowledge is cruel and unjust.
We ask the Sheriff's office to:
1.) Allow visitors when inmates are taken into custody. Not allowing visits for new inmates is cruel and unjust.
2.) Extend the visiting hours from 20 minutes a week to 2 hours a week. Restricting visiting by family and friends is cruel punishment. You are punishing them and their innocent family members including young children who are shaped by these events.
3.) Discipline staff who physically assault and abuse inmates. Hire qualified staff. Retrain staff members. Investigate all charges against staff members thoroughly.
4.) Increase telephone privileges to inmates. Local calls are very cheap if not free and long-distance calls have become very cheap as well. Why do federal inmates have more privileges than state inmates?
5.) There is no reason why private companies should run food and telephone for inmates. The state should run these services to offset the costs of inmates. Why give profits away? Either way, the food is below expectations. If you cannot run this, hire a reputable private firm with a cap on costs.
6.) Allow human rights groups to inspect this jail without notice to ensure that basic human rights of inmates are met.
“The best way to judge a society is how it treats its prisoners”, said Winston Churchill.
“The degree of civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons”, said Dostoevsky.
We, the resident on this great county kindly request that these simple demands are met quickly. We hope that inmates will walk out of jails and with support will never return. By treating them humanely and justly, we all may one day live in a safer county.
Thank you.
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The Review Inmate Treatment Fairfax County Detention Center petition to Fairfax County Sheriff/Court was written by Sue Srour and is in the category Human Rights at GoPetition.