The sentence was handed down in a federal courtroom in Portland, Oregon, on Tuesday. Four men convicted of leading a riot against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in 2020 were each given 112.5-year prison terms, amounting to 450 years collectively. The rioters were accused of using explosives and firearms to attack a federal facility during the Black Lives Matter protests. The judge described the sentences as necessary to deter future violence. But for many in the working class, the question is not about the severity of the punishment but about the priorities of a system that can lock people away for over a century while the cost of bread and rent continues to climb.
Let's be clear. Rioting, violence against law enforcement, and the destruction of property are not acceptable. Nobody is arguing that. But the same system that metes out these draconian sentences also allows corporate landlords to hike rents by 20% without consequence. The same government that pours billions into border enforcement and prison construction cannot find the money to fund social housing or mental health services. For the people I grew up with in the North, where the mills are closed and the high streets are dying, this feels like a tale of two justices.
Union leaders have stayed quiet on this case, perhaps wary of being seen as soft on crime. But one organiser, speaking on condition of anonymity, told me: "It's easy to hand out 450 years to people they call terrorists. But what about the bosses who poison our rivers and the banks that repossess our homes? They get fines and slaps on the wrist." There is a bitter truth there. The cost of living crisis has not abated. Gas bills are still up. Food banks are still overwhelmed. And now, a dozen men are going to die in prison while the politicians who cut their benefits sit comfortably.
The rioters were sentenced under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, a law originally designed to target Islamic extremists. Its application to domestic protesters is unsettling to civil liberties groups. The American Civil Liberties Union called the sentences "grossly disproportionate" and warned they would deter legitimate protest. But the Department of Justice framed it as a victory for order. "This sends a strong message that lawlessness will not be tolerated," said a spokesperson.
I wonder if the message is being heard by the right people. The average wage in America has not kept up with inflation for 50 years. The gap between the rich and the rest grows wider every day. When people feel they have no stake in the system, some will inevitably lash out. That does not excuse violence. But neither does it justify a system that treats a stolen loaf of bread as a crime of need while treating a stolen pension as a business expense.
These sentences will not make the country safer. They will simply fill more prisons with poor and angry people. And the real criminals, the ones who profit from human misery, will continue to walk free. Until we address the rot at the core of our economy, we will keep getting these headlines. And the price of bread will keep going up.
