California City to ‘Solve’ Homeless Crisis by Throwing Vagrants in Prison

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California vows to solve homeless crisis by throwing homeless people in jail

Officials in Bakersfield, California, want to put homeless people in jail as a way of solving the ever-growing homelessness crisis.

Under radical new proposals, homeless people would be rounded up under the charges of misdemeanor drug offenses or potential trespassing and locked up.

Thefreethoughtproject.com reports: While this idea may appear ridiculous to those who can think outside of the police state, when your only tool is a hammer, everything, even innocent people down on their luck, begin to look like nails.

As the LA Times reports, this tactic would fly in the face of criminal justice reform over the last decade in California, as the state has leaned away from incarceration for low-level, nonviolent drug crimes. It also would counter mainstream thinking on preventing homelessness and addressing the reality of it.

According to the report, the plan is being spearheaded by Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood and Kern County Dist. Atty. Cynthia Zimmer. And, it has a lot of support.

Naturally, many of the advocates of such a program are ignoring the insane costs of incarcerating thousands of people for “trespassing” or “drug possession.” Sadly, almost no one opposes it.

“The pressure from the public is enormous,” Youngblood said. “When I say that the people in San Francisco and Los Angeles are fed up and they care about this issue, it’s 10 times that in my county.”

While Youngblood said he wants to go after those who are possessing drugs, Zimmer is adamant about kidnapping and caging people for trespassing. Exactly how authorities will determine someone is a homeless trespasser remains up for debate, however.

The idea of using the criminal justice system to attempt to solve a homeless problem has been on the rise in California. As TFTP reported in July, Orange County announced that they will begin arresting people for being homeless in the wrong part of town. As stated above, exactly how they will know a person is homeless, remains unclear.

According to a report from Fox 11:

Orange County, Calif., reached a settlement that will allow law enforcement to immediately arrest homeless people in certain locations, including the John Wayne Airport, flood control channels and high-risk wilderness areas.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors settled two federal lawsuits filed last year aimed at efforts to clear out hundreds of homeless people who were camped out along the Santa Ana riverbed near Angel Stadium, Los Angeles’s Fox 11 reported.

According to the settlement, two provisions have been established to remove homeless people from the streets. In some areas, cops will immediately arrest people for being homeless. In other areas, however, police will have to first tell the homeless person that they have the option of being forced to go to a shelter. If the person refuses the shelter, then police will arrest them.

It appears that instead of addressing the problem of homelessness with actual solutions like the construction of tiny homes or rehabilitation centers, authorities have turned to the police state. What’s more, the state not only goes after the homeless, but they go after those who try to help them as well.

In the land of the free, government and law enforcement not only wage war on the poor and homeless through various unscrupulous means designed to extract revenue and attack the right to exist, like this ordinance does, but those who try to help the homeless—by feeding, clothing, or sheltering them—also face the wrath of the state. As TFTP has reported, even those who’ve laid down their lives for the state—veterans—and the ones who help them are now being targeted.

Judy Wu, a landlord in San Francisco converted 12 properties she owns into 49 housing units over the last decade which she and her husband, Trent Zhu, rented to homeless, low-income and disabled veterans.

Because they’ve split the units into much smaller ones, the couple is able to provide these veterans with very cheap housing. However, city officials claimed the property was not zoned for this many homes, so they shut down the operation.

One of the most oft repeated phrases by those who advocate for the arrest and mistreatment of homeless people is, “why don’t you let them live in your house?” But many folks actually do try to take in homeless people to help them get back on their feet — an act many governments consider unlawful.

TFTP has reported on countless instances in which good Samaritans have been fined or threatened with arrest for taking in those in need. In some cases, churches who let homeless families live on their property, have been shut down and the pastors threatened with jail.

As stateless solutions rise up to fix the problem of homelessness — without costing the taxpayer a dime — the state comes in to thwart them. And, as this ordinance enforcement illustrates, the only solution that state proposes to replace it is force. If police violence against the homeless — without this law — is any indicator, the enforcement of this ordinance will not end well.

As TFTP reported last month, however, at least one state is proposing a viable solution to their homeless problem. The Bridge to Work program started in April in Little Rock, Arkansas and pays homeless individuals $9.25 an hour to pick up trash and clean the capitol city of the state.

Canvas Community Church runs the program which was only slated to last 6 months. But Mayor Frank Scott Jr. told reporters that it’s been so successful that he is going to extend the program for another year.

6 Comments

  1. the “Ungodly States of Amerika”. takes the pain medication away from all of us intractable chronic pain patients, now they want to put the homeless in jail, they do want us all dead I think. There is 320 to 380 million population of the USA,and the billionaires could hand 1 million to each and every one of us and it wouldn’t hurt them at all. That would however,take care of the homeless problem,,crime? who would be out committing crime when you had a million dollars to go on a buying spree with.? The stock market would soar! But,they are too Greedy to give. Give like our Lord spoke of.But it will not happen. Greed is of the devil.Satan is Alive And Well On Planet Earth….and Thriving in the USA.

    • The elites would rather give out our cash for gender studies in Islamic countries and such.. and a paltry 600 Dollars each to us during the Covid shutdown times…. The December 2020 spending bill was like watching pigs line up at a trough, with congress showing no restraint and then Mitch not acting when he should have either… and that was just with a pittance … Imagine if we could just stop ALL of the foreign and other give aways and return same to the people, The most successful Middle Eastern countries were doing so, Libya was sharing its oil profits with its people , that’s how they were able to finance free education, healthcare, irrigation projects, and were about to launch their own gold backed currency, Instead we imported and encouraged terrorists in the their country for a civil war and bombed their defenses. Then went on to try and do the same to Syria. Both non IMF or central bank countries with secular governments. Some of the Emerates though also appear be able to do this profit sharing with their people as well. We might have been with the USA to some degree, but along came Biden and his shutting down of pipelines and other projects and engaging in mass open door migrations. Rome fell due to not keeping the various migrations out of Italy.. perhaps we are going the same way. Either way… look for the power mad, entitled elitests, not the every day folks for the most part, to be laying down zoning laws and looking at the druggies and thinking lock them all up out of our view instead of coming up with , or encouraging true solutions. With property prices rising and inflation kicking in, there will be more forced out into being homeless. Sessions fixated on opiates instead of doing his job and putting his foot down on rampent Governmental corruption, Barr dropped the ball too, and we are paying for it now.

  2. If you are homeless broke with no food you can just break a window somewhere and send your self to a cell with 3Sq per day and a bed and bath room-NO one will stop you than you can shower watch TV eat and so on IF you can handle being caged most times with other cell inmates. BUT like they are saying you will be subjected to all kinds of jail house hidden technolgys like shock downs bio haz mats and mind war fares and even death chambers for those test subjects used the most by big biz medicals.Street drugs are nothing to the free HEAD Meds in lock up like it and you will get so many meds that you`ll be disfuctional and bed ridden but that won`t stop big biz/big brother who will take you right to your grave,Been there seen that lived that the street thugs work for the 1% and johhny all fratted up.BUT if you need a restart to stay alive sometimes locking your self up can save you just don`t get used to it and move on to better digs.An`t no writters going under cover anymore to see WTF is going down inside the system

  3. IF you are OLD and near death in the streets and are to heavy for your brother than a self lock up will get you medical and a bed so that could be better than dieing in the streets?

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