7 Years in Jail for “taunting a police dog”. Yes, seriously.

by Kit

A professional (American) football player is “under investigation” for “taunting a police dog” according to the BBC.

Ray-Ray Armstrong, a line-backer for the Oakland Raiders of the NFL, apparently “lifted his shirt and barked” at a K9 police unit during the run-up to last Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Such behaviour is, if you can believe it, not only illegal but a “class 3 felony” under Pennsylvania law – resulting in a possible $15,000 dollar fine or up 7 years in prison. You read that right, 7 years in prison.

Now, while I’m entirely certain Mr Armstrong is not going to jail for this – you don’t send high-profile athletes to prison for anything short of torturing dogs in America – that’s not really the issue. The issue is Joe Bloggs, who can’t afford a 15 grand fine or a decent lawyer, having to spend nearly a decade in prison for barking at a dog.

The Prison Industrial Complex in America is the modern slavery – with inmates working for mere cents per hour, all the while being charged for bed and board – thus emerging from prison already in debt.

This system is an important tool to prop up the limp US economy – with inmates being used to make anything from park benches to supplies for the army and, ironically, police uniforms – and as such you need more and more reasons to send people to prison for longer and longer terms.

Hopefully a noteworthy athlete falling foul of the increasingly Kafkaesque American legal system will bring home to some every day American citizens just what their country is turning into.

Thanks for reading...

You can help us keep doing what we do. Every little helps and is hugely appreciated.

For other ways to donate, including direct-transfer bank details click HERE.