Like Gambling in Casablanca

News junkies have likely already seen the item about the Minnesota correctional officer and his wife who berated Black Lives Matter protesters. If you haven’t seen it, you can check it out here. I don’t have much to add to the story than an ironic “See my shocked face?” In case you didn’t know, correctional facilities are as rife with racism, misogyny, and homophobia as any other part of the American injustice system or, for that matter, any other part of America itself. Indeed, jails and prisons might even be more infested with such ideologies because they are based on the whole “inmates are scum” baseline attitude. Therefore, it’s easy for an officer to feel justified in all his thoughts and deeds. The inmates can’t challenge him without severe repercussions, and his coworkers usually just close ranks and protect him, whether they agree with him or not. It’s an us vs. them environment. I’ve known officers who fly off the handle with racist bullshit both inside and outside the prison. They feel entitled to do so, and the system simply feeds their sense of righteous justification.