#like this is truly fucked up and the county has zero regard for brandon's family whatsoever

[starblaster]

Today, an associate of mine from the Prairielands Freedom Fund informed me that a defendant they've been working with was, yesterday, unjustly sentenced to 5 years in prison. He should have received a deferred judgement. Brandon Jones is a black man and he has 3 children.

I don't normally make posts like this, but I want to share this here in the hopes that it will have further reach. Brandon Jones is a member of my community and he does not deserve to be ripped away from his family like this.

Here is a statement from my friends at Prairielands Freedom Fund:

Pictured above from left to right are Brandon Jones, his three children, and his partner, Lily Lindle, at Wilson's Orchard in Iowa City.

On March 25, 2024, "District Court judge sentenced PFF participant Brandon Jones, a Black father, to a five-year prison sentence. We posted bond for Brandon in January after he had pleaded guilty but couldn’t pay his bond. He spent two months in Johnson County Jail, a particularly cruel separation where he was apart from his newborn baby over the holidays.

Brandon’s case is emblematic of the cruel, racist punishments inflicted upon Black folks in our carceral system. Separating Brandon from his family inflicts a layer of violence upon their lives — and it does not do anything for public safety.

We’re committed to rallying behind Jones’ family and his partner Lily, and the best way we can support them right now is with financial support. Lily is now a sole provider — it’s crucial that she gets the economic support she needs.

In September 2023, Brandon’s 8-year old son was suspended and told to walk home, alone and in the cold, from an Iowa City School District elementary school. Brandon went to the school to speak with the principal about the situation. Accidentally bringing his legal firearm with him into the school, Brandon was arrested, charged, and held on a $30,000 cash-only bond.

School staff claim they were threatened by Brandon’s presence in the school, and prosecutors jumped at the chance to make an example out of Brandon. Prosecutors claim this case is about public safety — and yet, their target is a Black father who showed up to his son’s school to advocate for his family. This situation starts and ends with racism. We know our district suspends and expels Black children at higher rates. And the reaction from school staff cannot be extricated from Brandon’s existence as a Black man, advocating for his son, a Black student who was suspended.

Brandon took full accountability for his mistake, as evidenced by his guilty plea. His legal team asked the judge to simply give him probation, allowing him to continue caring for his young family. But today, Brandon was sentenced to five years behind bars.

Brandon’s situation so perfectly epitomizes why abolition matters. Abolitionist principles urge us to think expansively about what safety means. By separating Brandon from his family, they are all less safe — especially when considering economic and emotional safety.

[This] outcome was not what we wanted, but we remain committed to supporting this family, and creating a better system than the one they were victimized by today."

Lily Lindle has started a GoFundMe so that she can receive some assistance with raising and caring for the Jones kids: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-jones-family-in-iowa-city

#this whole situation is so insane #this state has some of the most egregiously liberal rules about carrying firearms #brandon jones was legally allowed to carry and it he's proved that he's a trustworthy gun owner #regardless of your opinions on guns - a white man would never ever have been charged in the first place for this honest mistake #like this is truly fucked up and the county has zero regard for brandon's family whatsoever #iowa tag