Hamilton County and Chattanooga officials are gathering this week to discuss a federal drug conspiracy case that a local documentary filmmaker says shows racial disparities in sentencing in the criminal justice system.
Jamaal Hicks, whose stage name is Maal The Pimp, is screening his documentary “32” at The Camp House at 149 East M.L King Blvd. on Thursday starting at 6 p.m. The hourlong documentary, available for purchase at www.32documentarydvd.com, centers around a 2013 drug conspiracy case that federal prosecutors brought against 32 black men in Chattanooga. The police chief at the time, Bobby Dodd, referred to the men, some of whom had little to no criminal record, as the “worst of the worst” offenders in the city, and the Times Free Press printed their mugshots on the front page.
But Hicks, who grew up on Chattanooga’s Westside and knew many of the accused men, understood there was another side to the story. For the last three years, the self-taught musician and filmmaker reviewed court documents and interviewed the men, their families and members of the media to explain what is now more of a mainstream discussion in criminal justice circles: the unequal sentences and treatment that black men regularly encounter in the legal system.
“The way they were being portrayed, it wasn’t about who they were, and it kind of struck a nerve,” Hicks said in a recent interview. “It felt like they were racially profiled. Because every race does drugs. But you look at the amount of time they were serving versus Billy Long [the former Hamilton County sheriff] who was caught redhanded with more drugs than these guys. I thought, ‘There’s no way [Long] can bring this amount of drugs into the city and these guys get more time.’ Let me dig a little deeper.”
After being convicted of extortion, money laundering, drug and gun charges in 2008, Long was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. He was released six years early on house arrest in 2016 after various appeals. In the 32 case, the men’s sentences varied: Some pleaded guilty to five-year sentences, others to 10 years. Some also faced mandatory minimums that could land them in prison for up to 40 years, and the majority who pleaded guilty are not out of custody yet.