Spider-Man villain inspires New Mexico judge
In the mid-1960s, Harvard researchers experimented with wearable radio tracking devices for people caught in the criminal “justice” system. These were very early prototypes of what would become the ankle monitor. In the early 1970s, experimental farms in several countries also began using similar devices for cows. Today, they are common in the cattle industry, facilitating exploitation of the animals, which are tracked from birth to slaughter. Electronic tracking is used to standardize feeding schedules and more.
Police began using tracking devices in the early 1980s. Jack Love – a New Mexico state district court judge – is credited with making it a reality. He claimed he got the idea from a Spider-Man comic that first ran in 1977. He was astonished by the technology the evil Kingpin used to track Spider-Man. Yes, that’s right. Judge Love was inspired by the fictional villain’s use of an electric monitor. In 1982, he found a Colorado engineer, Michael Goss, willing to design it. Goss called the device “electronic handcuffs” and later stated that they were a “goldmine.”
Judge Love started experimenting. He wore the monitor himself. He raved that it kept him on a “very, very, short leash!” Knowing how restrictive it was, he then tested it on “low level” criminals he presided over. One was a father who had written a bad check. His entanglement with the criminal justice system prevented him from providing a stable income for his family. And Judge Love had created a way to further stress and restrain him. Two months later the man was caught shoplifting. Love benefited from experimentation on him without any empathy or thought of the conditions he faced that brought him to commit the crime. That’s no concern of the law. A simple misdemeanor turned into a record that created further social and economic divides.
The engineer, Goss, had struck up a deal with Judge Love. Goss started a company to manufacture the device. However, the experiment was halted by New Mexico’s Supreme Court. Apparently, Judge Love did not disclose or even discuss it with other judges in his district — whoops. Years later, he described his experiment as “successful,” comparing it to the beginning stages of the Wright brothers. Now this is a multi-billion dollar industry.
Make no mistake about it. The ankle monitor is designed to dehumanize and criminalize you. It is a tool to keep you herdable.
The ICE connection and public dehumanization
A few weeks ago, a video went viral of a Haitian man falling to his knees after getting an ankle monitor. Many commenters were unsympathetic, though we should keep in mind that the social media algorithms controlled by tech billionaires encourage such racist displays of cruelty. Examples include: “indeed temporary is temporary”; “why is he crying, an ankle monitor means a chance?”; “He could/should self deport, the government will give him money for when he gets back home.” These commenters ignore the question of why so many Haitian immigrants have been forced to come to the United States in the first place, like Judge Love ignored the conditions that led a father to write a bad check.
There’s a simple reason, as politicians and the capitalist media never tire of telling us: Good ‘ole “American” business interests are way more important than life itself. These interests are the cause of Haiti’s suffering. The U.S. systematically destabilizes Haiti on behalf of the capitalist class. The U.S. stokes coups and imposes austerity. The guns used by gangs arrive in Haiti from Miami. Government corruption is rampant. In this instigated chaos, non-profits, CIA operatives, and private investors drool over large-scale colonization. The U.S. government provides guidance on “National Security Strategy,” which always means more repression of the Haitian people.
The United States is the leader of the business of slave and sex trade. We see it through immigration and the carceral system. Take BI Incorporated, the largest provider of ankle monitors in the U.S. The company is a subsidiary of GEO Group, the owner of private prisons, such as Delaney Hall (where immigrants have been on hunger strike), the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, and other facilities across the country. There are GEO facilities in New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Florida, Arizona, Louisiana, Texas, Washington and California. These two corporate giants are a match made in hell, giving U.S. imperialism the infrastructure to further plunder the world. It is no coincidence that the Essex County jail sits on the same road as Delaney Hall.
From the transatlantic slave trade to 21st-century policing
Washington, D.C. news outlet WUSA9 interviewed a former employee of the George H. Fallon Federal Office Building in Baltimore, whose offices are used as a transitional center. The anonymous worker compares what he witnessed to the transatlantic slave trade, saying:
“People lying on the floor head to toe, that reminded me of pictures that I saw in elementary school of how they brought the slaves over from Africa.”
The track record is clear. We expect such abuse from this racist state. But we don’t have to accept it.
Is it worth it to sacrifice human life for elite comfort? When will survival not be criminalized in a Black and Brown skin? Why are we normalizing over-policing?
Trump’s persecution of Haitian immigrants drives young man to suicide
On Sept. 1, news broke of Pierre Damas Bel. He was a 20-year-old college freshman. He was on path to become a neuroscientist at Wright State University in Ohio when he took his own life after being forced to wear an ankle monitor. He was impacted by the Trump regime’s ending of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 13 countries, affecting over 1 million people.
Pierre was tagged as cattle, as many Black bodies are in this country. His death is no different than those who took their lives during the slave trade. It was done out of despair and desperation to escape entrapment.
A month before Pierre took his life, he posted on Instagram that he came to the U.S. for an education. He wrote:
“I didn’t come here to commit a crime or hurt anyone. Yet now I’m walking through the streets of the United States with a GPS monitor on my leg, carrying a feeling of shame and humiliation that I never imagined I would experience.”
His family and community continue to fight through this tragedy and speak out. Yola Lamarre of the Haitian Community Network spoke at the Sept. 1 press conference urging officials to stop reducing people to “political pawns and stories.” She said:
“This has nothing to do with immigration enforcement when you are dehumanizing people and putting chains on them.’”
Rest in power to Pierre Damas Bel and all victims of police violence.
We will keep fighting for our dignity
Dignity is all we ask for as living beings, but in this capitalist system, elements of life itself are pushed to us as commodities. However, we are not going out in despair – not without a fight. We are mobilizing, doing food drives, courtwatch, and attending check-ins. We are doing whatever we see fit to not let this corrupt system dominate us and push toward extinction.
On Aug. 25, a group of mothers rallied at the federal building in downtown Baltimore, delivering letters to ICE officials demanding dignity. They call themselves Las Madres Unidas en la Lucha — the Mothers United in the Struggle. These women were not convicted of a crime; they were still detained and then shipped off to the northwest processing center as part of the ICE cover-up in March. Lawmakers made a “surprise” visit to the Baltimore office after several reports of overcrowding and inhuman conditions.
Regardless of ICE still placing them in the electronic shackles, they’re dedicated to fight for their right to not be a prisoner. They are fighting the surge of ICE across the DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia). They are fighting for dignity and respect not only for themselves but every person going through this unjust “justice” system.
Kat Davis is an organizer with the Peoples Power Assembly in Baltimore.
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