By Mansfield Frazier
There’s about six or seven more episodes of the excruciatingly horrible series Lockup: Extended Stay Cleveland that Cuyahoga County officials allowed to be filmed in the County Jail. The producers paid the county $11,000, which, in turn, brought us a million dollars worth of bad publicity. Other jurisdictions around the country routinely refuse to allow these culture vultures with cameras into their facilities, but evidently we here in Greater Cleveland are so starved for attention … we’ll seek any kind, no matter how foul, disgusting and disingenuous it happens to be.
In the most recent episode an obviously deranged man (who claimed to be the unacknowledged love child of Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy) was featured, and his case was openly discussed for viewers’ titillation by a supposed mental health professional, in clear violation of HIPPA regulations. And this was not the first episode in which medical professionals discussed the cases of incarcerated individuals, as if they relinquish their rights to privacy upon entering the jail. I’m hopeful an investigation is launched.
While the producers will undoubtedly claim to have obtained permission to film, can mentally impaired incarcerated individuals actually give such permission? The camera is essentially raping them, and just as in cases where guards rape prisoners and later claim consent was given, the courts have consistently ruled that this is a legal impossibility: A person cannot give what they do not have … control and authority over their own bodies.
These are basically defenseless individuals that our elected officials are pimping out for a few measly bucks and their fifteen minutes of national “fame.” They should be ashamed of themselves, and the viewing public should be thoroughly disgusted … but of course, with the eroding of our collective moral compass, anything that passes for entertainment is just fine with the majority.
The producers send a very expensive camera crew to Cleveland to film this crap, but what if nothing of excitement happens? Jails and prisons usually are very boring places, but the camera needs excitement (and, after all, time is money) so, in cahoots with the staff, some is created. Yeah, bullshit is manufactured just so it can be filmed, and then called something else.
Folks, this is just another example which proves our dear old Uncle Sam is one deathly sick son-of-a-bitch. We really should be attempting to make him well, cure him of his ills, phobias and prejudices before the old coot croaks … and we die right along with him.
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.
2 Responses to “MANSFIELD: “Lockup” Update”
Dick Peery
Mansfield–Was this filmed on current sheriff Ed Fitzgerald’s watch? If so the voters who put him in office should hold him accountable for abuse of the mentally ill.
MitchVigil
I disagree. I think shows like “Lockup” offer a window into a part of society that most people never see. I believe that this can be a positive thing to bring awareness to the conditions in these facilities.
I also question the notion that anyone is making tons of money off the show…..it is relegated to Saturday night time slots on basic cable, which is basically a low-rated wasteland.