This isn’t strictly feminist news, but it’s a bit of a slow day, and I feel this story of a black man held without a court-ordered retrial for 32 years is intersectional with feminism.
It has now been more than six years since Hartfield first began to try to unravel the series of errors and omissions which resulted in his wrongful imprisonment. And it could be years more before the courts finally grant him relief. It’s hard to know which period is more infuriating: the 23 years during which Hartfield’s rights were left unprotected by the justice system; the half-decade or so years since, when state officials, including judges, have refused to help him; or the years more of legal briefings and oral argument that the man will likely have to endure before he gets some relief.
A society that wants to remain free should be wary, even afraid, of letting habeas corpus rights erode. But that is what we are doing, in more ways than one.