Thinking about the Paul Manafort sentence as a prison abolitionist
Patrick Beadle is serving 12 years after police found medical marijuana in his car. His incarceration doesn't make me feel safer, and neither does Manafort’s.
Last week, a federal judge sentenced Paul Manafort to 47 months in federal prison. The recommended sentence for the guilty verdict on eight counts of bank and tax fraud is between 19 and 24 years. (Yesterday, a different federal judge added three and a half years to Manafort’s term, and the State of New York filed additional charges against him.)
The notion of Manafort serving a relatively short prison term puts a spotlight on judicial discretion, uneven sentencing guidelines, and the racialized character of prison terms. As I write this, Patrick Beadle, a black man, sits in prison serving a 12-year sentence after police found legally purchased medical marijuana in his car. He brought that marijuana into Mississippi, where he was stopped by police, tried, and eventually convicted of trafficking drugs.
Neither Beadle’s incarceration nor Manafort’s makes me feel any safer. I am a prison abolitionist—not because I believe Manafort deserves better, but because I believe Beadle should not be in prison at all.
