Lynda Waddington’s got a heavily researched article about the upcoming sentencing of Sholom Rubashkin, who is facing 25 years in prison. Rubashkin was the guy running Agriprocessors, a top kosher slaughterhouse that was the site of a massive immigration raid two years ago that netted almost 400 illegal workers.
On the one hand, it’s hard for anyone who cares about animals to feel sorry for Rubashkin: his company was repeatedly caught on video carrying out the most appalling slaughterhouse cruelties I have ever witnessed. On the other hand, Waddington’s story makes clear that Rubashkin’s getting railroaded: the charges are for nonviolent fraud, yet Rubashkin’s facing a Bernie Madoff style sentence over dollar amounts that are comparatively nickel and dime.
You won’t find me weeping if Rubashkin is sentenced to serious prison time, and I guess you could say karma’s a bitch. But still, there’s something profoundly unsatisfying about this no matter what happens—it’s a lot like when Al Capone was sentenced to prison for tax evasion. From what I understand, not a single person at Agriprocessors will ever spend a day in jail over the rampant animal cruelty that apparently went on for years at that facility. Link.
