The article above explains that the Supreme Court ruled that jails can do invasive strip searches (including cavity searches) of people brought in for minor crimes. In the past this ability has been debated, considering minor crimes can including arrest for unpaid fines. The man who has fought to bring this hearing to the Supreme Court's attention, Albert Florence, was strip searched for being arrested for unpaid fines (which had been paid) in two different jailing institutions while waiting for the problem to be straightened out.
While I think searching people before placing them into a jail is important (not knowing what they are carrying) invasive strip searches seem extreme (for minor offenses that is.) While I partially understand the reasoning behind it (guards can never be sure what an incoming inmate has hidden on them,) it seems strange that they would search them without some sort of probable cause. While it could be argued that the 'probable cause' is that they are in prison at all, it seems unfair for minor crimes like an unpaid fine to be searched in the same way a drug dealer or robber would be searched. Even writing this response I find this to be a hard topic to respond to. It would seem the Supreme Court had an equally hard time deciding the ruling, as it was only declared by one vote that these searches would be considered legal across the board. I think that what happened to Albert Florence was unjust and unfair, but who is to say that the next unpaid fine isn't trying to purposefully smuggle something into a prison? There is no way to know and that is why the institutions better safe than sorry attitude has won out, however it would be nice if there was some sort of opportunity for an alternative solution within the system. While some may not agree, I do not find all 'criminals' to be equal in their transgressions, which is why this notion of minor crimes prompting strip searches seems odd to me.
Art-
Dirk Dzimirsky's drawings blew me away. I personally prefer drawing an graphite, and these pieces are technically wonderful. The detail and realism he gets at such a large scale is breathtaking, and I was so happy I stumbled across his work. Every piece of his does a great job of capturing unique human qualities (such as the crinkling of the eyes and the beard hairs in the drawing above.) While he seems to focus on primarily figurative work, I couldn't find out much more about his art, seeing as a lot of the writing on his page was in German. However, I think that work can bridge language gaps, and in this case my lack of translation abilities is fine, because this work speaks for itself. I have a hard time not being overly complimentary, because I am biased in how much I appreciate hyperrealist drawings such as his. I think his drawings are phenomenal and without getting too repetitive I don't have anything else to say besides fantastic drawings from Dirk Dzimirsky. I plan to use him as a source of inspiration in the future.
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