Molly WhiteSep 9, 2023

Though it's tempting to get out the world's tiniest violin when Sam Bankman-Fried complains about his peanut butter sandwiches, it should make you wonder: if even he can't have his basic needs met in jail, what about the less privileged?

https://newsletter.mollywhite.net/p/sam-bankman-frieds-jail-conditions

#SBF #FTX #crypto #cryptocurrency #PrisonersRights

Sam Bankman-Fried's jail conditions offer a glimpse at systemic failure

The fallen crypto billionaire's pleas for proper meals and medical care are an unlikely illustration of America's broken jail system.

Molly White
Show threadLaplaceDaemon🇵🇸Sep 9, 2023
@molly0xfff Thanks for the article! Although i felt a bit weird reading it. Not sure how i feel about the ,,really makes you think about the US prison system‘‘ spin, because it kind of doesn’t. There are already so many known horrific examples of that system failing (or maybe working as intended), like guards literally torturing inmates to death, that the suggestion that we gain additional insight from SBF eating peanut butter sandwiches is a bit odd.
Show threadMolly WhiteSep 9, 2023
@LaplaceDaemon in my experience, these are not as universally known as you might suggest. a lot of people think abuse and denial of rights in prison is the exception rather than the norm, and i think it's illustrative that even someone with the privilege of SBF is encountering that reality.
Show threadLaplaceDaemon🇵🇸Sep 9, 2023
@molly0xfff Quite depressing if thats the case, to still have that opinion one has to be a serious victim of propaganda. I wonder if people like that are swayed by SBFs situation or if they will just dismiss it as a problem with that specific prison or something that only happened to SBF because of who he is (instead of despite). I sure hope so, because that system needs abolishing, but the idea that THIS is what finally changes someones mind on US prisons makes my head hurt.
Show threadMolly White
@LaplaceDaemon perhaps, perhaps not. but i've been seeing a lot of responses along the lines of "good, let him rot" in the more crypto-savvy or at least crypto-aware folks (which tends to be my audience) when it comes to SBF's jail conditions, which is largely what motivated this piece
Sep 9, 2023 at 8:17pmWeb
Show threadLaplaceDaemon🇵🇸Sep 9, 2023
@molly0xfff I wouldn’t necessarily read such a statement as an endorsement of the prison system, although that might be me missing the context or being to optimistic. Atleast some people might have an opinion like ,,the system sucks, but i don’t dislike the result it produced in this specific instance“. Thats my opinion anyway, both because of the scale of harm he caused and because of him belonging to the class of people responsible for the system sucking in the first place.