09/20/18 09/20/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! pres. trump: if she shows up and makes a credible showing, that will be very interesting. we will have to make a decision. but i can only say this, he is such an outstanding man, very hard for me to imagine that anything happened. amy: senator grassley is dr. christine blasey ford at 10:00 a.m. friday deadline to decide if she will publicly or

privately testify to the senate judiciary committee about her allegations supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh attempted to rape her when they were both teenagers. we will look at a nation investigation headlined "the anticapitalist playbook" that exposes how a secret network of right-wing activists shaped kavanaugh's views. then to south carolina where two women who were being transported by sheriff deputies to a mental health facility drowned when the van they were riding in was overcome by floodwaters. the deputies in the vehicle survived. family members want to know why they were transported through dangerous floodwaters and how exactly they died. then we speak with journalist shane bauer, who would undercover as a prison guard at a private prison in louisiana and found horrific conditions. widespread frustration, not just with inmates, but staff, and how the company was

running a prison. the things that i saw were long-standing. new booke bauer's "america's prison" looks at the history of making profit from prisons, starting with convict labor in colonial settlements. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. senate judiciary chairman chuck grassley has set a friday morning deadline of 10:00 a.m. eastern time for christine blasey ford to respond to his invitation to speak to the committee about her allegation that supreme court justice nominee brett kavanaugh attempted to rape her at a high school party when she was 15 years old. but dr. blasey ford's lawyers have said in fbi investigation into her crime should be conducted before the committee holds a hearing. on wednesday, president trump openly doubted dr. blasey ford's claim. pres. trump: look, if she shows

showing,kes a credible that will be very interesting. we will have to make a decision. and i can only say this, he is such an outstanding man, very hard for me to imagine that anything happened. they make of this comes as "vanity fair" is reporting trump's own daughter ivanka has told her father to "cut bait" and drop kavanaugh over the attempted rape allegations. meanwhile of blasey ford's high , one school classmates revealed on facebook that she remembers hearing about the alleged assault at the time. cristina miranda king wrote, "this incident did happen." south korean president moon jae-in says he plans to speak with president trump soon about the desire of both south and north korea to officially declare the end of the korean war. the news comes as moon wraps up a historic three-day summit with north korean leader kim jong-un in north korea. earlier today moon spoke about

, his vision for a nuclear-free korean peninsula. >> we promise to make our beautiful rivers and fountains a land of peace without nuclear weapons and nuclear threats, and to pass it on to the future generations. amy: animal rights activists have released shocking video footage from factory farms in north carolina that were flooded during hurricane florence. activists from the group direct action everywhere say they found barns with thousands of drowned chickens and dumpsters filled with piglets. dead >> as you can see, there are thousands of baby piglets in these dumpsters outside of the facility. giantlike garbage into metal dumpsters.

amy: communities across puerto rico are holding memorials across the island today to mark the first anniversary of hurricane maria, the devastating storm that killed thousands and caused the longest blackout in u.s. history. puerto rico's governor recently updated the death toll from the storm to 2975 people in august, after multiple news outlets and universities demonstrated that thousands of people died during the days andeeks after maria. a harvard study estimates the death toll might be as high as 4645 people. but last week president trump claimed the death numbers re made up by democra to make him look bad. he said the government's response to the storm was a incredible unsung success. in puerto rico, local residents openly criticized trump's comments. sharon nunez cortez is a resident of barceloneta. >> how come trump -- how can trump give an opinion if he is not seen the reality echo he came into an area that was not a

disaster. they should have taken him to where there was a disaster. there were floods that even swept away bridges, but he is giving his opinion from the comfort of his chair without knowing what really happened for. amy: in other news from washington, president trump is continuing to openly attack attorney general jeff sessions. in an interview with the hill president trump said -- "i don't have an attorney general. its very sad." in news from capitol hill, the senate has voted 93 to seven to prove a record-setting $674 billion military budget bill. six republicans and independent senator bernie sanders opposed the fbi and department of justice are reportedly planning to redact the documents that trump ordered to be declassified earlier this week.

on monday, trump gave the unusual directive to release unredacted materials related to the probe, including the fisa warrant application for trump campaign adviser carter page, and text messages of former fbi and department of justice officials. the proposed redactions are conducted to be summative before being haed over to the white house. east,s from the middle these really military shot and killed a 15-year-old boy in southern gaza today during a protest near the fence with israel. palestinians in the gaza strip have been protesting since march 30 under the banner of the great march of return. according to health officials in gaza, israeli forces have killed at least 173 palestinians and wounded over 18,000 people since the beginning of the protests. in gaza city, employees of unrwa protested on wednesday against job cuts. unrwa is reducing jobs following

the trump administration's cuts to all funding of the agency. this is the deputy chair of the union of palestinian employees wra in gaza. >> gaza needs help. they have no solutions. they are blackmailing us politically. they want gaza to give up politically or there will be no solutions. wra ise of this ,uns being punished and we as refugees are being punished in gaza so we will give up. amy: in germany, a journalist has died while covering the eviction of protesters from the hambach forest. for the past six years activists , have occupied the forest in an attempt to stop the planned expansion of a nearby open-pit coal mine. but over the past two weeks german police have clearing the protest encampment, evicting

activists from their tree houses. the journalist died after falling from a bridge connecting two such houses. on environmental activists were sunday, nine injured as police tried to remove them from the tree houses. to see our full coverage of the occupation, you can go to democracynow.org. the editor of the new york review of books, ian buruma, is out after outrage over the publication of an essay by disgraced canadian media personality jian ghomeshi, who has been accused of sexual assault and harassment by 20 women. it is unclear if he was fired or resign. the essay in question is part of an upcoming issue that features several men who were accused of sexual assault or other forms of sexual misconduct under the headline "the fall of men." in a recent interview, defending his decision buruma said -- , "i made a themed issue about #metoo perpetrators who were not convicted by the judiciary but by social media. and now i am on the pillory myself."

responding to the news, the woman responded -- "what would possess and esteemed publication of the new york review of books to publish that he's. i wonder which publication will give a victim of sexual harassment or violence 7000 words to discuss her or his experience?" in other #metoo news, the dallas mavericks and the basketball team's billionaire owner mark cuban were sanctioned by the nba after an independent investigation substantiated a mber of allegations against men within the organization. the findings include improper conduct in the workplace and domestic violence. former team president and chief executive terdema ussery was determined to have sexually harassed and touched multiple female employees. mark cuban publicly apologized and said he will pay $10 million to women's organizations as part of an agreement with the nba. the robert f. kennedy human

rights group has announced plans to bail out more than 500 women and teenagers from rikers island in new york in an attempt to show how the current bail system criminalizes poverty. the group's president kerry kennedy said -- "there are no wealthy people on rikers island because if you are wealthy, you go free because you make bail." in news from chicago, disgraced chicago police commander jon burge has died at the age of 70. between 1972 and 1991, more than 200 people, most of them african-american, were tortured under his reign. officers under his command routinely used electric shock, suffocation with plastic bags, typewriter covers, among other methods, to extract confessions from men who were later shown to be innocent. in 2015, the chicago city council approved a $5.5 million reparations fund for victims of police torture. one victim of the torture was an african-american man named

darrell cannon who spent more than 20 years in prison who confessed to a murder he didn't commit after being tortured by officers under burge's command. darrell cannon appeared on democracy now! in 2015. about 15er 2, 1983, all white detectives invaded my apartment, terrorized me, my common-law wife, and my cat. and during that day, i was tortured in despicable ways from produsing electric cattle to shock me on my genitals and in my mouth. they tried to hang me by my handcuffs, which was cuffed behind my back. they try to play a game of russian roulette with me with a shotgun and they ended up chipping my two front teeth and splitting my upper lip. amy: and code pink co-founder medea benjamin disrupted an event at the hudson institute

where the u.s. special envoy to iran brian hook spoke on wednesday. benjamin took to the stage shortly after hook ended his speech. >> it is time for all nations to join us in holding iran to a note level of debt to a new level of it can ability, especially if lawless pursuit of ballistic missiles. thank you. >> that is the most ridiculous thing i've seen. the world community wants to keep iran -- our allies. the germans, the french, the british. they want to keep -- >> man. >> let's talk about saudi arabia. are? theyo are allies are the biggest -- amy: you need to -- >> you are actually hurting me.

do think these sanctions are hurting the regime? are they hurting the iranian people? they are hurting the iranian people. you are making a case for war with iran. you are doing exactly the same thing we did in the case of iraq. we don't want another war in the middle east. how did barak turnout? how did libya turnout? how do you bring out -- it is the saudi bombing that is killing most people in yemen. so let's get real. no more war. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. judiciary chairman chuck

grassley has set a 10:00 a.m. friday morning deadline for dr. christine blasey ford to decide whether she will testify about her allegation that supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh attempted to rape her at a high school party when she was 15 years old. but dr. blasey ford's lawyers have said in fbi investigation into her claim should be conducted before the committee holds a hearing. attorney lisa banks issued a statement wednesday saying -- "the committee's stated plan to move forward with a hearing that has only two witnesses is not a fair or good faith investigation. there are multiple witnesses whose names have appeared publicly and should be included in any proceeding. the rush to a hearing is unnecessary, and contrary to the committee discovering the truth." in a letter to blasey ford's legal team, grassley said -- "it is not the fbi's role to investigate a matter such this." canoing everything that we

comfortableford with coming before our committee, either in an open session or a closed session or a public or a private interview. that is four different ways she can choose to come. so i am not worried about anything other than just focusing for the next few days on encouraging her to come. susan collins of maine, a key vote in kavanaugh's supreme court nomination, also urged blasey ford to testify. she spoke to wvom radio wednesday. >> i don't think she can reject, having made all of the sears allegations -- i don't think that she can reject all of those options because otherwise, there are these very serious allegations hanging over the

head of a nominee who has emphatically denied them. and that is just not a good way for us to end. so i think she needs to come forward, and i think we need to protection with any that she may ask for for herself and her family. income meanwhile, dr. blasey ford's former schoolmate wrote a facebook post saying she recalls hearing about the alleged assault involving kavanaugh, though she says she has no first-hand information to corroborate the accuser's claims. cristina miranda king wrote -- "christine blasey ford was a year or so behind me. i did not know her personally but i remember her. this incident did happen." king has since removed the post. this comes as president trump stepped up his defense of kavanaugh, saying it was hard for him to imagine "that

anything happened." he referred to judge kavanaugh as justice kavanaugh three times during a seven-minute exchange with reporters. pres. trump: i would say this, i think he is an extraordinary man. i think he is a man of great intellect, as i have been telling you. and he has an unblemished record. look, if he shows up and makes a credible showing, that will be very interesting. we will have to make a decision. but i can only say this, he is such a no standing man. very hard for me to imagine anything happened. and he could "justice" is the used for supreme court judge. well, for more on the latest, we go now to washington, d.c.. to speak with sarah posner, a reporting fellow at the investigative fund at the nation institute. she has a new investigation headlined "the 'anti-catholic' playbook." a recent article for "the washington post" is headlined "to trump, kavanaugh's testimony about religious liberty made him worth the pick." she is also the author of the

book "god's profits: faith, fraud, and the republican crusade for values voters." welcome to democracy now! first, just respond to the latest, the deadline that dr. blasey ford has been given, 10:00 eastern time friday morning, to testify either publicly or privately to the senate judiciary committee. your thoughts on what has taken place now? the refusal of the senate judiciary chair grassley to allow anyone else to speak or what blasey ford is calling for, an investigation by the fbi that even anita hill got, an investigation so that this is not just a he said/she said a fair? >> let's remember, the investigation that dr. blasey ford has asked the fbi to conduct is not an investigation into whether a crime was committed.

this would be a crime under state law, not federal law, and the statute of limitations has passed. so i think republicans are trying to make it seem she is asking the fbi to open a criminal investigation into kavanaugh. the fbi she is asking to make this investigation part of the background check that every nominee for a federal court or a federal political appointment has to undergo. and we know from the experience with trump's now disgraced staff secretary rob porter, the white house does not take that background check very seriously. so they are basically saying, no, we don't want to make this part of that background check for judge kavanaugh, we just want to go ahead without having the fbi fully investigate everything that might be part of his background. as far as making dr. blasey ford show up and testify in front of the committee, just her and judge kavanaugh, seems

preposterous under the circumstances given that she says there was another person in the room, this writer mark judge who said he will not show up to testify, and given that hundreds schoolle who were in with both judge kavanaugh and dr. blasey ford in the 1980's have come forward saying they believe dr. blasey ford, that this was part of the environment at georgetown prep and other elite private schools around the washington area, including other elite catholic schools. is 300w, i think it people signed a letter from other surrounding schools, including georgetown prep. and 925 women signed a letter, fellow alumna of the school where dr. blasey ford we do high school, saying they believe her and that they would want to see an investigation.

i would also point your readers to a very important article in "the washington post" this morning about -- which is based on your views with over two dozen women who went to elite private schools in the washington area where they intersected with people at georgetown prep and other boys catholic schools, and that the environment was one of heavy drinking, drug use, and regular sexual assault and sexual abuse of these girls. nermeen: i would like to talk to -- turn to writing from the man who says he was in the room. in his memoir, judge has debated his high school as a place where students trek excessively, attended "masturbation class" and "lusted after girls" from nearby catholic schools. but judge's 1997 memoir "wasted," mentions a "bart o'kavanaugh" character who passes out drunk and throws up in a car. judge has since renounced that lifestyle and refashioned

- he goes on to write, of course a man must be able to read a woman's signal and it is a good thing that feminism is teaching young men that no means no and yes means yes. but there's also that ambiguous middle ground where the woman seems interested and indicates whether verbally or not that the to needs to prove himself her. and if that man is any kind of man, he will allow himself to feel the awesome power, the wonderful beauty of uncontrollable male passion," judge wrote. sarah posner, can you respond to that and what you think that says about this atmosphere that georgetown prep, the school that they both attended, had? let me just go to comment that

kavanaugh has made about this private school, georgetown prep misspeaking very recently at the school of law in 2015. >> we had a good saying that we've held firm to this day as the dean was reminding me before the talk, which is what happens at georgetown prep stays at georgetown prep. that has been a good thing for all of us i think. no miko that is judge kavanaugh speaking in 2015 about georgetown prep, the school he attended when the allegedly committed this attempted rape. could you respond to that? >> i think this is another example of why dr. blasey ford austria's account needs to be taken seriously and that as part of its advice and consent the senate needs to look into this and interview other witnesses,

not just bring dr. blasey ford and judge kavanaugh to testify, his word against her word. it is becoming abundantly clear even by the account of kavanaugh himself and mark judge that there was an environment that was out of control, quite frankly. lets be very clear and fair. we are not saying that every student at georgetown prep acted this way. but according to this article in "the washington post" this morning -- which again i urge everyone to read -- this was a prevalent atmosphere. the drinking, the drugs, the abuse of girls from neighboring high schools. to look past this, to look past what mark judge has written, look past kavanaugh's own remarks would be a dereliction of the senate's duty. and quite frankly, i can't imagine a white house that takes the background check system seriously not calling on the fbi

to reopen its background check on judge kavanaugh. let me also add the judge kavanaugh has injected his own catholic education into the confirmation process as proof of his values and morals. when he accepted president trump's nomination to the supreme court and get a speech in the white house, he pointed his education at georgetown prep and said that the school's motto them for others, and that drove his desire for public service and a server other people. so he has portrayed the environment at georgetown prep in two different ways. he has portrayed it as an environment where he learned the value of service to other human beings, and he has also implied it was like vegas and we're not going to talk about what happened to other people.

into ournt to move investigation. if you can talk about how kavanaugh has been portrayed by his supporters and how the revelations have compromised that image? it takes us into the investigation you did called "the anti-catholic playbook." >> for several cycles of supreme court nominations, conservatives have sought to portray democrats questions about supreme court nominee's views on issues like abortion and to bt rights as anti-religious or anti-catholic bigotry. kavanaughs what does is well familiar with the strategy because when he served in the george w. bush white house as associate white house counsel, he was deeply involved in shepherding bush's federal court nominees through the nomination process. there were a couple of them who have publicly expressed extreme

hard-line views on abortion and all gpt rights issues. democratstioning a about their views, republicans pushed back and try to portray those questions as being anti-catholic bigotry. basicallyn ad that portrayed a courtroom with a sign over that said "catholics need not apply," try to hearken back to a time when there was real anti-catholic bigotry and american society. and the even deployed this tactic against democrats who were catholic. so in the 2004 election, after some of these nominees had been through this process and republicans had tried to portray democratic questioning as anti-catholic bigotry, this network of conservative organizations and

attacks catholic democrats who are running for office, specifically tom daschle was in the senate minority leader and john kerry who was running for president, and they were attacked as being basically anti-catholic. they both lost. provecandidacies were to quite pivotal to the republican strategy for stacking the court. because had tom daschle won, that would have increased democrats chance at the time of retaking the senate and he would've had control of the nomination process. if john kerry had won, he would've been a president nominating instead of george w. bush. bush won and republicans retain control of the senate. bush successfully appointed both john roberts and samuel alito to the supreme court during that second term. so kavanaugh was very familiar with that strategy, that strategy carried out by a network of advocacy groups and public relations professionals

who have said they carefully craft the image of a nominee ahead of time to create a positive image of the nominee. so kavanaugh's from with how this works. it is no accident that when he was accepting trump's nomination and when he gave his opening statement to the senate judiciary committee during his confirmation hearing, that he emphasize his catholic phase, that he emphasized he of gone to catholic school. he emphasized he coaches his daughter's basketball team at a catholic school. he emphasized he helps the homeless and serves meals at catholic charities. this is all part of creating an image of judge kavanaugh that he is a devout catholic who is very dedicated to serving the community. now that he has for that image in play, i think it is fair to investigate this accounting by numerous other people that the environment at this catholic school whose values he extols

was one of drunkenness, the bosch three, and sexual abuse. ads thath posner, the have been taken out that we're eing everywhere on the networks, talk about the committee that has put this all together. >> so the judicial crisis network, when it was formed in late 2004 after the election, it was called the judicial confirmation network. its goal at the time was to help get bush's nominees confirmed what and when obama was president, they change than into judicial network. we do not know who the donors are. they said they're going to spend $10 million in support of judge kavanaugh's nomination to the supreme court. but they've also been involved in this idea that democrats questions about nominee's views war.ese hot button culture

just last year when trump nominated any coney barrett to the seventh circuit, when senator feinstein questioned her about whether she would be able to separate her devout catholic faith from the law when making decisions on cases like roe v. wade, feinstein was immediately attacked and judicial crisis network ran at depicting this as anti-catholic bigotry. so they ve been the mix for quite so time in portrayg -- d helpino portrathese kinds of questns as mehow being an-catholi th a also ve involvein crting ads aut judge kavanah that poray him a piar othe community. y: wwant to ank you ch r being th us. we will llow thi casas this unfolds morrow morng 10:00

a.m. ddline fodr. blasey , the set by chuck grassley head of the senate judiciary committee that she must make a decision whether she will testify publicly, privately, or not at all. sarah posner, thank you for being with us reporting fellow , at the investigative fund at the nation institute. we will link to your piece "the 'anti-catholic' playbook." as well as your piece in "the washington post" headlined "to trump, kavanaugh's testimony about religious liberty made him worth the pick." your book "god's profits: faith, , fraud, and the republican crusade for values voters." we will be back in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'amy goodman and nermeen shaikh. we go now to a developing story in south carolina, where two women who were being transported by sheriff's deputies to a mental health facility drowned tuesday when the van they were riding in was overcome by floodwaters.

the two sheriff's deputies in the vehicle survived. 45-year-old windy newton and 43 year-old nicolette green had - both gone to the hospital tuesday morning when they were involuntarily committed and detained. less than 24 hours later, they were dead. news reports originally called the women detainees and said the women had been shackled to the back of the van when they drowned in the rising waters. authorities are now saying they were mental health patients who gush and were not handcuffed. amy: family members are demanding to know why the two women were transported through dangerous floodwaters and how exactly they died. windy newton's daughter allison told "the new york times" -- "why the hell would they leave a safe, dry area to go to god knows what? something feels wrong about

this." speakinghe sheriff wednesday night. he was asked by reporter if the deputies driving the transport van had been around barriers, ignoring the warnings. >> we have three or four people doing the investigations. obviously, it appears they did. my question is, i want to know why you go what were the circumstances and what happened at that particular time? amy: for more, we're joined by meg kinnard reporter with , associated press. her latest article is titled, "2 women drowas van swept into floodwaters." welcome to democracy now! please explain what you understand at this point took place. >> good morning. we understand that these women were being transported by sheriff deputies through the pd area of south carolina where there is a lot of flooding happening right now and it is going to continue for several days. they were being sent to medical

facilities in a different area. they went through an area of marion county, as you noted, next to the little pd river, one of the bodies of water that has been quickly rising as the water continues to flood into this state from north carolina. their van was swept away in rushing, rising water. the deputies were able to get out. share of thompson said they tried to get the women out, but for some reason more not able to get into the back of the van. they called for help. as you noted, their bodies were pulled out of the water yesterday. nermeen: can you talk about the time lapse between the incident and the recovery of their bodies, and why you think it took so long? calls came inadio around 6:00 p.m. tuesday night. it wasn't until yesterday afternoon -- if not 24 hours, very close to 24 hours later,

that the women's bodies were finally recovered. when the rescue crews got to them in the first place on tuesday evening, it was beginning to get dark. conditions were very dangerous. the sheriff and other officials on the scene have talked about how quickly just in between the call coming in and the rescue crews getting there, how much the water had already gone up. so determination was made not to continue those efforts and resume them at daybreak. the sheriff noted yesterday that he is not exactly sure why the deputies could not get the door open. maybe it was a water pressure issue, and maybe it was because of the van underneath the water. but a specialized crew was flown in from charleston to help with the recovery efforts and state police tell us it was successful at some point very late yesterday afternoon. this issue oft whether or not they were shackled. one of the daughters saying when the police came to take her mother, that they had handcuffs.

this is thom berry with the south carolina law enforcement division speaking about the deaths. >> the two indiduals were recovered from the van. we have heard there were stories going around that they may have been encased in shackles or handcuffs. that was not true. they were not shackled. they were not handcuffed. unfortunately, they are deceased. but at least now we can tell their families that their bodies have been recovered and will be turned to their loved ones. now we get into the difficult part, which is the investigation of the event itself. we have a lot of evidence to go through. we have a lot of information a look at. we have a lot of people to. and that is going to take t ime. amy: a local tv station did report they were shackled. what -- you understand can you talk about what you

understand at this point and if you believe what the authorities are saying? >> we did see the very early reports about this incident that started circulating right after it happened. the first off, these women are referred to initially report says inmates and secondly, they were shackled or somehow else restraint in the back of that van. obviously, we have learned how they were patients, not inmates. the share told us yesterday that it is his understanding that when patients are transported by deputies around the state, they will sometimes be restrained. but in situations where the patient is becoming manic or believed to be a harm to himself or to others. sheriff thompson said he did not believe that was the case with these individuals, but remember, he was speaking to us about this before their bodies were recovered. time berry made the statement after the recovery occurred and noted there were no handcuffs or shackles. nermeen: what has happened to the sheriff deputies who were

responsible? >> the deputies have him placed on administrative leave. that is typical and south carolina when the state law enforcement division is conducting an investigation into something a bombing a law enforcement agency in the state. they are still considered employed. they are still deputies. there is an internal theirigation occurring in own department as well as the state law enforcement division and the highway patrol is also looking into the incident. so until that internal investigation is completed, they will remain on administrative leave, then the outcomes of the other investigations will perhaps determine their ultimate fate. amy: the horrible of this, though women being taken through -- it is clear this area was in danger of being flooded. and the fact they were really being held in the back of the van -- it was a very dangerous situatio which is why the family members are so deeply

upset them aside from losing their loved ones. what isou could say, the policy of the department when it comes to -- even if it is a prisoner -- transporting a prisoner in these dangerous times, not to mention whether prisons are in fact you waited during, well, the situation like hurricane florence. >> sheriff thompson noted yesterday that he was complying with a court order to transport these women. he said when those orders are issued, it is his job to ensure that the patient gets from point a to point b. there are a lot of questions remaining about why this had to occur, why there could not have been some sort of emergency delay. and also, why the deputies took the route they took. the highway were this occurred, highway 76 m is very near the little pd river, as we discussed, which is quickly rising and is an area of major flooding concern as these waters continue to go up around south carolina. that will be part of the state

law-enforcement division's investigation as well as the highway patrol probe into why they were on that road at that time. sheriff thompson also noted yesterday he did believe the deputies had driven around a barricade, which would have been blocking off this road, noting it was not safe to travel on. investigations go one, we will learn more about why those decisions were made the way they were on tuesday not. amy: meg kinnard, thank you for being with us, reporter with associated press. we will link to your piece "2 women drown as van swept into floodwaters." we continue to look a south carolina officials also coming under fire for refusing to evacuate thousands of prisoners as hurricane florence barreled down on the state. this is south carolina governor mcmaster announcing a mandatory evacuation of the state's coast. >> this is a real hurricane. lives ands to protect

property. we know that this evacuation order that i am issuing is going to be inconvenient for some people. it is going to be inconvenient, but we do not want to risk one south carolina life in this hurricane. amy: prisoners at mcdougal correction institution in berkeley county and richland correctional in jasper county are forced to remain in the prisons when hurricane florence hit, despite evacuation orders. for more, we are joined by another guest in columbia, south carolina, kymberly smith, organizer with the party for socialism and liberation. she has been protesting south carolina's choice not to evacuate prisoners during the hurricane. welcome to democracy now! explain what happened. happening -- well, what happened to begin with april, weincident in

have having ongoing demonstrations to bring light of what is going on and how those incarcerated are treated in south carolina in general. one of the major points i was raising during hurricane florence is, why wasn't henry mcmaster or brand sterling, why were they ignoring direct orders to evacuate those incarcerated? nermeen: prisoners in south carolina or not evacuated when hurricane florence hit, but they were put to work making sand bags to prepare for the storm's arrival. the south carolina department of corrections tweeted a photo of the sand bags, writing -- "inmates assigned to macdougall and wateree have prepared over 35,000 sand bags." the department also tweeted -- "agency staff and inmates have prepared 1000 lbs sandbags to help protect the roads and citizens along the coast."

could you talk about that, the kind of work prisoners were asked to do? to fillre asked sandbags, not for their own safety, but to protect the safety of the citizens that are not incarcerated. they were using the labor of these individuals to protect the citizens of south carolina. they were doing the work that other people could do. they were not trying to protect themselves. they don't care about how the prisoners were going to fare during the storm, but they wanted to use their labor to have them make sandbags or that no one else would have to do it. amy: and you been speaking with people in the prisons, concerns about what would happen with the storm. what were the prisoners saying? >> a lot of times when there is a natural disaster at this magnitude and flooding in south carolina, a lot of times power goes out. so those incarcerated, they are

locked in their cells. this day and age, a lot of these places run on electronics. so when the power goes out, they are trapped in their cells for hours, not knowing when they're going to get let out. if water goes out, which normally happens during flooding, they are forced to drink out of toilets because they are not supplied with fresh water. nermeen: in north carolina, prisoners were evacuated. in south carolina, they were not. what did the state of south carolina say? what did they give as justification for not evacuating prisoners? >> there was no justification. when we tried to speak with governor mcmaster at a press we were not allowed inside the press conferences. we were not allowed to interact with him at all. wey had security making sure got nowhere near him. there was no comments. there was no acknowledgment that

-- of anything going on with those incarcerated. amy: kennerly smith, thank you for being with us, community organizer with the party for socialism and liberation. protesting south carolina's choice not to evacuate prisoners during hurricane florence. let me ask you quickly, is the danger over? while the storm leaves, yet this tremendous threat of flooding. water we're still getting , flooding from north carolina. we are not out of the woods yet. these people are still trapped in cells with power outages. they don't have access to fresh water. they are not out of the with yet. we won't know until we can actually get down there and see what is going on and i have more contact with those incarcerated. amy: emily smith, thank you for being with us. again, community organizer with the party for socialism and liberation. when we come back, we're going to talk about american prisons

with shane bauer, a man who knows. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman and nermeen shaikh. a three-week nationwide prison struck from coast to coast just ended this month after prisoners participated in hunger strikes and call for the abolition of what they called modern-day slavery. for more, we're joined by a journalist who went undercover as a prison guard to document conditions at the winn correctional center in louisiana, run by corrections corporation of america, now called corecivic. amy: shane bauer is an award-winning senior reporter at mother jones. he first described what he saw in a national magazine award-winning article for mother jones. this week he published his new book that draws upon that experience and dives much deeper into the history of making profit from prisons in the united states, starting with convict labor in colonial-era settlements. the book is titled "american prison." shane knows well about prison,

both working as a prison guard in one, and also being imprisoned himself in iran for over two years. shane, welcome back to democracy now! talk about what you wrote "american prison." >> i had gone undercover in a private prison and wanted to get a really close look at what life is like inside his corporate run prisons. and after that, i relies to really understand the role of profit in the american prison system, we had to go back. i learned that throughout american history, prisons have been run at a profit. earliest prisons in the 19th century work private prisons where labor was being contracted out to private companies. after slavery, the entire southern system was privatized. prisoners were essentially fulfilling the role of -- that slaves had field, working in coal mines, con fields.

amy: people may not be familiar with this, not to mention citation prisons. >> there were people -- prisoners were essentially contracted and forced to pick cotton, whipped, torture, had to meet labor quotas. this was called convict leasing. this system was actually more deadly than slavery. every year between 16 and -- 16% and 25% of prisoners would die. it was on par with the death rate of the soviet blue legs. eventually, the state actually bought plantations themselves. so instead of sending the prisoners to private businessmen to put them to work in their fields, they would put them to work in their own plantations. in doing the research for this book, i discovered the cofounder of corecivic started his career

running a cotton plantation prison in texas. it was the size of manhattan. inmates were forced to pick cotton, me quotas. he lived on the plantation with his family. he had what was called the house houseboy, an african-american prisoner who had to serve his family. he ran the arkansas prison system, which was entirely made of plantations. a federal judge had condemned what he called torture under hutto, inmates who refused to labor in the fields were put naked in solitary confinement. he would run these plantations at a profit for the state. and his ability to run prisons at a profit that attracted couple of businessmen who proposed to him and they started a companies that became the corrections corporation of america.

nermeen: can you say what were the differences between state prisons and these private prisons? >> in current times. nermeen: know, historically. >> basically, the privatized system of convict leasing, the states kind of became jealous of the profits that the private businessman are making and then bought their own plantations. substantially, there was very little difference. a lot of them were in the same prisons. started after the civil war, a man who leased all of the convicts in louisiana and samuel lawrence james, by the plantation and he used convicts and put them on the plantation and was essentially able to live a life that was identical to the life before the civil war where he had prisoners laboring there. in the state later bought the plantation from him and rain it as a state prison. it is still a prison today.

amy: how to the profit motive shape what you saw when you went undercover as a prison guard in louisiana? this just amazing story. you actually did not lie about who you were. -- who you were in your application to become a prison guard. they just never asked you. >> right. interview, they were almost trying to convince me to take the job. it was a nine dollar an hour job. the main way the company makes wagesis by offering lower than public prisons, and also having low levels of staff in their prison. the company cuts corners in many ways through staffing, medical care -- i met a man who had lost his legs to gangrene after spending months asking to be taken to a hospital. the company was resistant to

take inmates to the hospital because if they would, they would have to pay for it. all of these things kind of affect the bottom line ultimately. the prison was more violent than state run prisons, which were also very violent in louisiana. in a form of period, there were 200 weapons found in the prison. amy: you talked about your own exrience and how being in this place made you feel more violent. >> yes. there is enormous pressure on the people who work in these prisons. most of the people who work there are poor people from the town making nine dollars an hour at a very dangerous job. the staffing is so low that it is literally impossible to do the duties that people are meant to do. it has a very powerful psychological effect. amy: jeff sessions rescinded president obama's memo for the bureau of prisons not to enter into new private prison contracts.

how have these for-profit prisons thrived under president trump? >> when obama announced the federal government was going to stop using private prisons, the stock price of corecivic dropped by half overnight. theday the donald trump won election, the stock price rose more than any company in the stock market -- probably because people assumed trump's immigration policies would lead to greater immigrant detention and private prison company's control about two thirds of immigrant detention centers. after trump was inaugurated, he rescinded the obama-era decision, and the company is now doing better than it was a couple of years ago. to.: you mention don hut i remember when we went down to texas and went to the don hutto migration detention center, which is now a women's immigrant

detention center -- the story of separation of families, how this has led to the driving of these private? >> in the middle of that crisis, the stock price of corecivic rose by 14%. immigrant detention is kind of the frontier of the private prison companies, really their area of growth. amy: we are going to leave it there but we will do part two and posted online at democracynow.org under web exclusives. shane bauer is an award-winning senior reporter at mother jones. his new book is just out called "american prison." that does it for our show. democracy now! has a job opening for a broadcast engineer here in our new york city studio. fund of more at democracynow.org. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]