[K]: Okay, so I am taking a little walk. It's evening. Um, 10:38 p.m. I can't sleep because I am up late thinking about this purchase agreement that the county just made with a private landowner for roughly 35 acres of land on the southwest edge of Iowa City, right next to the historic poor farm. And the intended purpose of this land, as stated by board Chair Jon Green and in the purchase agreement itself, is for a new jail and Sheriff's office. Now, that is not technically legally binding, but it's there in black and white on the page. And I'm thinking about it because two of the supervisors, Mandi Remington and V Fixmer-Oraiz, who are critical of the jail—they're the only two who are critical of the jail—they voted in favor of this purchase agreement. So, uh, there's some owls hunting. I'm gonna be quiet and see if you can hear them. 

[Bard owls screeching]

[K]: Actually a little bit terrified walking under the owls at night. Not that they have any reason to come for me, but they are powerful creatures. Not to be messed with. Okay. They're behind me. I'm feeling ready and able to talk again. Um, so two of the supervisors who are not unequivocally supportive of the, of the jail, but also not staunchly opposed to it, I would say critical of the jail. And they both voted for the land agreement. So it was a unanimous purchase agreement. All of the supervisors voted in favor of it. Mind you, all of them had problems with the lot that the county already owned on the other side of the historic poor farm as the site of the jail. So the pro-jail candidates, Rod Sullivan, Jon Green and Lisa Green-Douglass actively went back on their word in terms of picking a piece of land for the jail that is right next to the poor farm, because instead of using the one the county already owns, they just purchased one for that exact purpose and it's in basically the same location. 

Um, but V and Mandi were also opposed to the historic farm site for the jail and their reasoning, their defense for voting for the purchase agreement is that, well, it's not legally binding that the jail be on that site. And so, you know, we voted to have the land because there's lots of other projects that the county could do that would be beneficial to our community that need land to do them on. But as of yet, have no alternative projects presented, have not been able to really nail down even, the outline of a concrete idea or the whisper of a tangible plan for what to use this land for that they voted to purchase. Right? Like, there is no alternative project. The number one driver of this purchase agreement is the new jail and Sheriff's office. And their defense, so far, is a bit of a hand-wave like, "oh, we voted yes because theoretically the county could do affordable housing or something." And that is so frustrating coming from "progressive" candidates. I don't self-identify as a progressive. That's why I put that in quotes. I think they both would self-identify as progressive, but it's infuriating. It's actually infuriating to hear really poor decision making defended with, you know, vaguely progressive sounding ideas that these people really have not put in the work to implement in any meaningful way. And yet they're willing to vote to spend $2 million out of county reserves for a piece of land intended for a project that voters have yet to approve. That is literally a jail. 

All this when the county has no right to own land. None of us have right to own land. I don't have a right to own land. I'm a I'm a I'm home. I can't speak. I'm a homeowner and that's... And I'm white. And that's unethical as fuck for me to own land and be able to live on it when it was stolen. Um, and I've brought this point up to Mandi multiple times. Mandi's been the main one defending this decision to me. Um, I haven't brought it up to V yet, but I will. I have a meeting planned with V for next week to talk about this. And I have definitely brought it up to Jon, but Jon famously refuses to answer my texts because he doesn't like being called out. So. I just feel like I need to really lay out the argument for why specifically this purchase agreement and the reasoning behind it coming from the progressive, um, jail-critical camp is complete bullshit. And I want to connect that thread to some other arguments against the jail in general. 

So first of all, as I said, the government has no fucking right to be purchasing land that was stolen. Um, there is at least one indigenous led group doing de-colonial work in the area—Great Plains Action Society—that I know all of the supervisors are familiar with. And their input has not been asked yet. I guess there are some meetings happening with community housing providers to discuss, you know, affordable housing options that I guess are not even specifically tied to this land purchase, but like, there are community stakeholders being pulled into these conversations, but not for the purchase agreement. Uh, and certainly not indigenous perspectives. And that is unacceptable and telling. And so in addition to the county having no right to purchase this land, what Remington and Fixmer-Oraiz are failing to understand is the material harm that their yes vote had. And I mean okay, 3 to 2 it would have passed anyway. Like you could argue that them voting no wouldn't have actually changed anything, but on principle, they should have voted no. And on principle, if there was a progressive majority that voted on principle, then the outcome would have changed. I mean, Jon Green should have voted no, but he's a lost fucking cause. I don't even count him in the progressive camp anymore because he literally ran campaign ads on building a new jail. That's not progressive. Anyway.

So I just went on a tangent and I lost my train of thought. Oh, yeah, the material impacts of this choice. 

Okay, so you're trying to justify it by saying that like, "oh, we could do something good theoretically down the line in the future," but the immediate negative that you have just created is that you have made it possible for the Sheriff to build his jail on this land. You are hinging on the idea that voters will fail the jail, which they have many times in the past, and I certainly hope they will again. I am advocating that they will again. I am going to vote no and I fucking hate voting. So, you have just voted to put that land at direct risk of having cages built upon it. So we understand that the government purchasing land to own that was stolen is immoral. And now we understand that your trade-off for a theoretical community good that you haven't even built yet as the reasoning for doing this purchase comes at the expense of black, indigenous, trans, immigrant, homeless people's lives. Because those are the people who are in the current jail. Those are the people who are going to be in a bigger jail. 

The Sheriff's data that he publishes on his own website, shows that indigenous and black people are overrepresented in the current jail population by a factor of five. We know that because they are overrepresented in the current jail population, they will be overrepresented in the new jail population and it will be a bigger jail with more space to cage even more black and indigenous people. You voted yes to buy land, putting it at imminent risk of having cages built on it that will hold our immigrant neighbors. Because if we go $96 million in the hole for a new jail, it will become even more lucrative than it already would be to accept federal blood money and contract ICE beds. Imagine. Imagine we bond, we borrow $96 million. Just the bond. Just the bond. That doesn't include the interest on paying it back through increased property taxes. That doesn't include maintenance costs down the line, like... So, we are in debt for 100 million dollars, 100 million plus by the time all is said and done. And you think the Sheriff and the County Attorney won't be incentivized to accept an ICE contract? To accept that federal blood money? ICE contracts pay way more per bed than we pay for out of county housing. ICE will pay us way more than we have to currently pay to house people out of county. Per person. ICE pays in the hundreds. We pay in the range of 50 to 75 to other counties to hold people in cages for us. And ICE will pay us one to two hundred per person to hold ICE detainees for them. And if you think that the legislature won't require that of us? I mean, they've tried to pass a law at least two years running. They'll do it again, I'm sure. If you think the legislature won't try and require that from us, if you think the county won't see those dollar signs and jump on it, if that contract is offered to us, if we have empty beds to fill, you're a fucking joke. You're a fucking joke, and you have no business calling yourself progressive, pretending like you care about immigrants. It's a fucking joke. 

Trans people are going to wind up in that jail cell. You know how I know? You know how I know? Because they've done it to us time and time again. Rachel Zimmerman-Smith has a vested interest in coming after trans activists in this community. She despises us, and she would love nothing more than to see us locked the fuck up. You know how I know? Because she did it to me. Because she did it to my partner. She did it to Tara McGovern. Tara got fucking acquitted. Tara took that shit to trial and won. It was a joke. She arrested, like, six other people alongside Tara. Trans people. All trans people. There were cis people doing the exact same shit, none of it illegal. I can't even tell you the number of trans friends that I know personally who have been locked up in that fucking jail. And you know what? In the exact same fucking meeting where the Supervisors unanimously approved this purchase agreement for this stolen land, I walked my ass in there, and I interrupted the meeting to call out the blatant transphobia that was taking place, the blatant misgendering over and over and over from public commenters, and supervisors doing nothing to defend their coworker who wasn't in the room, whose pronouns they all know. I marched my ass in there as a trans constituent, as someone who is morally opposed to the decisions that V is making, and I fucking stood up there on their behalf. And Rachel Zimmerman-Smith called the Sheriff's deputy up to intimidate me. To intimidate me, a trans person, for calling out blatant transphobia that nobody else was willing to call out. I know she'll do it again. I know she will continue to lock up trans people who dare to fucking speak out. 

So I don't give a fuck about the hypothetical affordable housing units, or the hypothetical community center, or the hypothetical whatever the fuck you want to put on this stolen land that you bought with blood money that you're going to build a jail on with blood money. I don't give a fuck about what alternatives you think you could put there, because the fact of the matter is, is that by purchasing that land with a majority of Supervisors who support a new jail, you have almost handed it to Kunkel on a silver planner... platter. Silver fucking platter. You have just served him up a place for his dream facility. You have just served him up a big ass fucking parking space for his MRAP. You're hoping that voters will reject that shit. And I am hoping too, but Jesus fucking Christ, do you not understand how irresponsible that is? To expect that of us, to do nothing to combat the likelihood that this jail is built there? To just hand wave and say, "oh, well, we could do something else." The county could do any number of things. And time and again I watch them not. I watch you all sit on your asses and do nothing unless it is increased the Prosecutor's budget, increase the Sheriff's budget, build a new fucking jail. 

I'm sick of this shit. I'm fucking sick of this shit. I went on this walk and I recorded this episode in an attempt to deactivate myself, and I just got more and more activated. So I'm going to call it. I'm going to go back home and drink some tea and maybe journal and try to go to bed. But fuck, man. Fuck. Fuck prisons, fuck police, fuck Rachel Zimmerman-Smith, fuck Brad Kunkel, fuck Jon Green, fuck Lisa Green-Douglass, fuck Rod Sullivan, fuck V Fixmer-Oraiz, fuck Mandi Remington, fuck em all.