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HEAL’S
Prison Reform agenda
HEAL
understands that everything is connected. Mahatma Gandhi said,
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be
judged by
the way
its prisoners are treated." He also said, "Freedom is
not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It
passes
my comprehension how
human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in
depriving other human beings of
that precious right." What
disturbs us at HEAL
is that there is so much misanthropy in our society. Many of us
narcissistically forgive
and excuse our own wrongs while viciously and cruelly
condemning and dehumanizing our fellow human beings.
Human
beings convicted of crimes are equal to those of us who've never
committed a "crime". Those who are living in abject
poverty,
homeless, jobless,
and destitute are equal to those with great economic wealth, multiple
residences, CEO positions, and luxurious
abundance. Some would
argue that "property is theft". There are cultures
around the world who do not have systems of ownership.
We are not
one of those cultures. The
wealthy anarchist who buys his/her way "above the law" is
balanced by the impoverished,
enslaved, and oppressed individual.
The wealthy anarchist
purchases absolute freedom from social responsibility at the ultimate
expense of the poor and oppressed. We, in the middle, wish for
the wealth, power, and freedom from social responsibility of the
wealthy
anarchist. And, we in the middle, fear (and therefore hate) the impoverished,
enslaved, and oppressed.
The
ethical response living in these times is to desire economic and social
equality and justice. There is nearly infinite data showing
the
links between
wealth and slavery (see Corporate America and Asia/Juarez,
Mexico/etc.--or Corporate America and U.S. prisons--
or Wal-Mart, etc.), slavery
and poverty (see "The Shadow of Slavery" by Pete Daniel),
poverty and crime (infinite data--easy to find and
rather
apparent/obvious), crime
and punishment, and punishment and slavery. We must love
humanity. We must love freedom. We
must love equality.
We must fight for
social and economic justice! If we do not take action for freedom
and equality, we are nothing
more than hypocrites.
You
may have noticed that HEAL focuses its energy on Teen Liberty and Prison
Reform. We believe that children and teens are the
most vulnerable
people in our society. Because of their vulnerability, they are
subjected to unthinkable abuses, cruelty, and
oppression. Their
words often
fall on deaf ears and their pain is usually dismissed by adult
authorities who have been socialized to
disbelieve, distrust, and
abuse the
very people (children and teens) most in need of protection and
sanctuary. We see prisoners as
one step above in terms of
vulnerability. Most
prisoners (70-80%) are imprisoned on narcotics charges. Most
people using drugs
(legal "Prozac" or illegal
"marijuana") are self-medicating.
They cannot take the misanthropy, apathy, and cruelty they face every
day.
Instead of working to improve our society and the lives of
the people, we punish our most sensitive, vulnerable, and abused
citizens for not being automatons or apathetic, hard, and delusional like
the rest of us. People learn what they live. If they live in
an apathetic and cruel world, they can become apathetic and cruel.
This explains most
of the violent "offenders". We dropped the ball, we
created a greed-driven, apathetic, narcissistic society and spitefully
and cruelly attack
those who react to our own apathy and cruelty in kind.
We
must HEAL our society! We must cultivate compassion,
understanding, love, and social responsibility in ourselves, in our
families, in our communities,
in our countries, and in our world. As Mahatma Gandhi said,
"We must be the change we wish to see in the world".
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Prison
reform
Links
Stanford
Prison Experiment
Milgram
Experiment: Obedience to Authority
Get Help for a Prisoner You
Love (National Registry of Prisoner Rights Services)
www.patrickcrusade.org
http://www.justicefailed.com/
www.helpprisoners.org
www.advocareflash.org
www.webelievegroup.com
www.journeyforjustice.org
www.prup.us
http://correctionsreform.com
www.prisonresources.org
www.stopdetention.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrisonNewsNetwork/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NCFriendsforInmatesEverywhere2/
http://www.floridastateprisons.net/
www.prisonsucks.com
http://iwasinprison.org/
http://improbablevoices.net/
http://familyvisiti
ng.com
Wrongfully
Convicted
Learn About and Take Action for the Raytheon 9
http://saveironthun
derhorse.
com/index.
html
Thunderhorse's Appeal
The Injustice
Must End--Free Efren Paredes, Jr.!
Free Justin Wolfe
Free Dustin Turner Campaign
Great
News! Kenneth Richey is Free! Thanks for all of your
hard work to get the "innocent Scot" off
Death Row and home
where he belongs!
More Great News! Roxana
Saberi is Free! Thanks for all of your support in working to
advocate for her freedom!
If
you'd like to help children of deathrow inmates have more love-filled
and magical holidays: join:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/christmasangels
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HEAL'S
PRISON REFORM PROJECTS
HEAL'S ADOPT AN INMATE
PROGRAM
HEAL
offers a free penpal service to those incarcerated in U.S.
prisons. If you have a friend or relative who would like to be
added to the HEAL
penpal
website, please contact
us. If you would like to "adopt an inmate"
penpal, please visit our penpal
website.
HEAL'S
INMATE ART PROGRAM
HEAL
offers eligible prisoners to participate in our Inmate Art
Program. We have an online
store with a
storefront specifically for inmate art. We
allow
eligible prisoners to send in their poetry, essays, books, drawings, and
other artwork to HEAL. HEAL then applies their artwork to products at
the HEAL shop. We then donate all proceeds for the sales of the
individual inmate/artist's goods to the inmate's commissary fund,
his/her family,
or wherever he/she sees fit. HEAL does not keep any of the
proceeds. We believe prisoners are being unethically enslaved and
our goal
with this project is to help prisoners find an alternative means of
survival that allows their creative spirits to blossom. We
encourage you to
purchase from the "Adopt An Inmate" storefront to help
liberate those we've enslaved. If you know an inmate who would be
interested in this
program,
please contact
us for more
information.*
*Note: Due to lack of
resources and volunteer hours we are unable to accept new artists for
the Inmate Art Program at this time. If you are interested in
coordinating HEAL's Inmate Art Program, please
contact us to volunteer. WE WILL CONTINUE TO ACCEPT NEW ART
FROM ARTISTS ALREADY ENROLLED IN OUR PROGRAM. You may support
inmate artists and oppose slavery by shopping at
www.cafepress.com/heal and
choosing the "Adopt An Inmate" storefront. Thank you for your
support!
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Prison
reform
ACTION ALERTS
Action
Alerts are in order of Priority with Newest/Priority Alerts First!
Lynne Stewart ordered to Prison: The
Criminalization of the US Justice System
by Claude Jacqueline Herdhuin, Global Research, December 3, 2009
On Thursday, November 19th, long time civil rights attorney
Lynne Stewart was ordered by Judge John G. Koeltl to turn herself in
to begin serving a 28-month prison sentence for her 2006 conviction
for conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists. This
70 year old woman has devoted her life to the poor, the
underprivileged, the black community and to cause of social
justice.
Anyone who could not afford for a lawyer could knock at her door.
Today, Lynne Stewart is fighting not only for her freedom but for
any American’s freedom.
Lynne Stewart did not benefit from the US justice system. Her case
became important after 911. Let me remind you that her only mistake
was to ignore the US Bureau of Prisons Special Administrative
Measures (SAMs) she had to sign in order to defend Sheik Omar-Abdel
Rahman. The SAMs are unconstitutional and constitue a violation of
both the First Amendment and the Sixth Amendment right to legal
counsel.
The Clinton Administration did not consider Lynne Stewart as a
terrorist and a traitor. Her case was merely considered as an
administrative violation. She received a letter to that effect, and
could not visit her client in prison for some time. Then, she was
allowed to visit him and pursue her work as a lawyer. It is only on
April 9th 2002 that she was arrested, in the aftermath of 911, when
the legal environnment in the US became almost hysterical. So
hysterical that the attorney general John Ashcroft went to David
Letterman's Late Night show to tell America that Lynne Stewart is a
traitor to the Nation.
Today, in the US media, Lynne Stewart is presented either as a
terrorist or a traitor, who deserves the worst punishment. The
truth
is she is doing her job as a lawyer. She is a 70 year old woman
with years of life experience as mother, a grand-mother, an
activist and a lawyer. As a young white American, she fought for
the cause of African Americans, because she believed in justice.
Decades latter, she defended Sheikh Omar-Abdel Rahman, because she
still believed in justice.
Today, she is in jail, and she still believes in justice. Even if
her trial brings us back to the worst period in America, namely
the
McCarthy era.
In her November 17th press conference, Lynne Stewart said she is
too old to cry but it hurts too much not to.
She also warned the other defence lawyers: "This is a warning shot
for other lawyers. Don’t advocate for your clients in a vigorous,
strong way."
I have known Lynne Stewart for five years now. The first time I
heard about her as al defense attorney was in the newspapers, in
2004. They described Lynne Stewart as a terrorist and, with my
husband, we decided to contact her to see what really happened and
who she was. We decided to make a documentary and find out what
happened. We have been very cautious to be as neutral as possible.
Years latter, I can say that Lynne Stewart’s only error was to be
overconfident. She had confidence in justice, and the government of
United States betrayed her:
By attacking the First Amendment right of free speech, free press
and petition;
by attacking the right to effective assistance of counsel by
chilling the defense; (and)
by invading the private conversations, private-attorney-client
meetings, faxes, letters and e-mails to gather the 'evidence'.
Please sign the petition to free Lynne Stewart
http://www.petitiononline.com/091127ls/petition.html
To send Lynne Stewart a letter, write:
Lynne Stewart
#53504-054
MCC-NY
150 Park Row
New York, NY NY 10007
You can also call or write to President Obama:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Please include your e-mail address
Phone Numbers
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/
Claude Jacqueline Herdhuin is a screenwriter, assistant-director
and
writer.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16391
Demand Release of the G-20 Detainees!--Sign
the online petition
to
Federal Officials, Congressional leaders, the
Pennsylvania
Congressional Delegation, the Pennsylvania Legislature, the Mayor of
Pittsburgh, the
Pittsburgh Police
Chief, Pittsburgh city officials, Pittsburgh business
leaders, the Allegheny
County Council and local and national media demanding an
immediate release of all detainees, that all charges be dropped, and
calling for an independent investigation, at
http://www.bailoutpeople.org/releaseg20arrestees.shtml
Help Free Jailed Activists in Mexico!--As
governments and their police forces continue to crack down on
resource rights activists, Grassroots International's allies are
more frequently finding themselves in serious danger, often
criminalized for organizing for justice. That is the case once
again for Sara Lopez and Joaquín Aguilar from Campeche, Mexico. On
July 10th, Sara and Joaquín were arrested, along with three other
members of the Mexican Alliance for People's Self-Determination (AMAP).
In addition, twenty-eight other members of their community face
possible arrest.
Your past support of Sara and Joaquín has been instrumental in
protecting their human rights -
and I hope you will step up once again to appeal to authorities on
their behalf now.
At the time of the arrest, none of the AMAP members were informed
the reasons for their detention, and they were not allowed to report
their whereabouts to their relatives or lawyers until six hours
later. On July 16th, all five were ordered to state prison, where
they still remain. While in prison, Sara has been denied adequate
medical treatment for fever and conjunctivitis.
The targeting of Sara and Joaquín is a result of their leadership in
opposing an increase in the price of electricity services, which has
sky-rocketed alongside climbing oil prices and the construction of a
hydroelectric dam. While the government subsidizes the cost of
electric power for large, energy-dependent agribusiness
corporations, the people are left to foot the bill. At the same
time, increasing privatization of land and water resources -
including our common resources - to produce agrofuels and
hydropower diminishes the capacity of rural and indigenous families
to produce food and income.
Thanks to letters you sent on behalf of Sara, Joaquín, and other
members of AMAP earlier this year, the electric company sat down to
negotiate with them. Unfortunately, the terms were one-sided,
essentially promising to stop targeting Sara and Joaquín if they
would stop organizing. Clearly, they refused and are now paying the
price, imprisoned as a result of unfounded and politically motivated
criminal charges that resulted from complaints filed by the electric
company.
Just as these activists refuse to set aside their demands for
justice, we must continue to take action and stand in solidarity
with them. Please send your letter now - and also mobilize
friends to send letters to the Mexican authorities. As always, thank
you for your ongoing commitment to social justice and resource
rights.
Take Action to Support the Cuban 5!--The
Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5 has drafted a petition
asking President Obama to grant Visas to the families of the Cuban
5. With his recent decision to close
Guantanamo Prison and his public
statements in support of changing travel restrictions on
Cuban Americans, we
feel now is a good time to bring up the
US government’s
continual denial of visas for the Cuban 5 families; which has kept
both Rene Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez from seeing their wives for
the past ten years. If President Obama is really pro-family
and wants to improve the reputation of the United States, as a
"beacon of justice and democracy", then then we need to demand he
end this horrible separation of families and this psychological
torture. Please sign this petition and forward this link to
all your friend and families. We will be emailing this petition and
mailing it in hard copies to President Obama every time we reach a
100th milestone.
SIGN IT AND FORWARD IT OUT FOR THE CUBAN 5:
http://www.petitiononline.com/ObamaC5V/petition.html
Take Action to Stop Execution of Innocent Man, Troy Davis!--Despite
a strong claim of innocence, Troy Davis, an African-American man
from Georgia, faces execution for purportedly killing a police
officer. Seven out of nine witnesses have recanted or
contradicted their testimony, no murder weapon was found, and no
physical evidence links Davis to the crime. The Georgia Board of
Pardon and Paroles has voted to deny clemency, yet Governor
Sonny Perdue can still exercise leadership to ensure that Troy
Davis's death sentence is commuted.
Please sign the petition asking him to support clemency for Davis.
Mother's Day in Prison?!--This
Sunday, hundreds of thousands of Americans will celebrate Mother's
Day behind bars because of marijuana prohibition and mandatory
minimum sentencing.
In honor of the many mothers
imprisoned due to harsh sentencing who won't spend this Mother's Day
with their children, would you take a minute to ask your members of
Congress to pass two important pieces of legislation that would help
reduce our massive prison population?
1. The National Criminal Justice
Act of 2009 — introduced by Senator Jim Webb (D-Va.) — would create
a commission to study the rising prison population and make
recommendations for reforming America's criminal justice system,
including penalties for nonviolent drug offenses. You can
generate a letter to your lawmakers about this bill here.
2. The Major Drug Trafficking
Prosecution Act of 2009 — introduced by Congresswoman Maxine Waters
(D-Calif.) — would eliminate all mandatory minimum sentences for
low-level drug offenders, including statutory mandatory minimum
sentences related to marijuana. You can
generate a letter to your lawmakers about this bill here.
Taking action just takes one
minute and can make an enormous difference for the many Americans
imprisoned for marijuana “crimes.” Please visit
www.mpp.org/federal-action and write Congress to urge support
for these important pieces of legislation today.
Free Deborah Peagler!--Deborah
Peagler has been imprisoned since 1983. She has finally earned the
right to a new hearing, but District Attorney Steve Cooley continues
to oppose her freedom, even after agreeing to a deal that would have
led to her release in 2005. Now she has been diagnosed with a
terminal form of cancer and should be allowed to spend her final
days with her family.
Click here to send a letter of support for Debbie's petition for
release.
Debbie's Story
Deborah Peagler was introduced to
Oliver Wilson in the late 1970's, when she was just 15 years old.
Wilson presented himself as a kind and charming man. He took Debbie
out on dates, gave her gifts, and acted like a father to her
daughter. Then one night he revealed that he wanted Deborah to make
him some money by becoming his prostitute. When Deborah refused, he
beat her with his fists, kicked her with boots, and psychologically
abused her with a combination of death threats and insults. Fearing
for her life, Debbie did Wilson's bidding for years, and during that
time he whipped her with a bullwhip, raped her, made her hold hot
ashes in her hands, and forced her to play Russian Roullette for the
entertainment of him and his friends.
She tried to escape, but each
time she was brought back with a combination of violence and death
threats. In early 1982 when she was informed that Wilson had
sexually abused her then six-year-old daughter, Debbie fled once
more. Wilson came after her with a shotgun and a band of armed men.
He was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, but the police
quickly set him free. Fearing for her life and the lives of her
family and seeing no other avenue, she desperately turned to two men
who previously had protected her "to make him leave me alone." These
two men subsequently had a violent altercation with Wilson in a
public park and Wilson was later found dead.
In 1983 Debbie and the two men
were prosecuted. Despite her limited involvement in the incident,
Debbie was charged with conspiracy to commit murder and first-degree
murder. Her public defender did not ask her about any of the abuse
by Mr. Wilson and did not gather or present any evidence of such
abuse to the Los Angeles District Attorney's office.
The District Attorney sought the
death penalty against Debbie, even after the DA determined that it
did not have sufficient evidence to support the ultimate punishment
in this case. The death penalty was used as a threat to coerce
Deborah into entering a guilty plea to the charge of first degree
murder. Based on this misinformation, even her own attorney
instructed her that Debbie must plead guilty in order to save her
own life. After entering a guilty plea, she was sentenced to
twenty-five years to life in prison.
While incarcerated, Deborah has
had an exemplary record. She has earned an associate's degree,
worked in an electronics manufacturing plant, graduated from a
battered women's support group, and mentored many women on the
inside. She has done her best to parent her two daughters, who she
rarely gets a chance to see or speak with. While she is extremely
deserving of her freedom, the parole board has denied her repeatedly
with little or no reason.
Send letter now.
Take Action to Stop Police Brutality!--Too
many police officers still have attitudes like this toward the
communities they are patrolling, highlighting the problems we still
need to address: ending racial profiling, the high rate of unsolved
murders in African American communities, police brutality and other
forms of unequal justice for African Americans and Latinos.
Working with the NAACP, you can help change this situation:
First,
e-mail Erie Mayor Joe Sinnott and
ask him to order an immediate independent investigation into the
practices and policies of the Erie police department and to
establish an independent civilian review board to investigate
citizen complaints. Second,
ask your member of Congress to co-sponsor legislation
to provide long-needed regulation of harsh and careless police
actions throughout the United States, the End Racial Profiling Act
and the Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act. These bills
are designed to curb outrages like the New Year's Day shooting of
unarmed Oscar Grant by transit police in Oakland; the police
shooting of Robert Tolan on his front lawn in Bellaire, Texas; and
the questionable death of high school football player Billie Joe
Johnson, killed in what was described as a "routine traffic stop" in
Lucedale, Mississippi. NAACP branches are grappling with each of
these cases. The Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act also
includes provisions to assist local law enforcement agencies in
doing more effective screening of candidates for law enforcement
jobs before they are given the power to use deadly force and then
during in-service reviews. It also supports the creation of local
police accountability and review boards with subpoena power,
independent investigatory power, and staffing and other resources
needed to provide local community oversight of their law enforcement
officers.
While most police officers are courageous public servants, continued
police abuses are harming our communities and eroding the trust
needed to both prevent and solve crimes.
Take action now and help us do
something about it.
Tell the Obama Administration you demand Constitutional
Justice Now for Mumia Abu-Jamal--
Initiated by the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION AT
http://www.iacenter.org/mumiapetition
Sign Letter Opposing
Shackling!--Please
join the Correctional Association of New York, the New York Civil
Liberties Union, Legal Aid Society's Prisoners' Rights Project and
Women on the Rise Telling HerStory (WORTH) in calling on New York
State lawmakers to end to the degrading, unnecessary and dangerous
practice of shackling incarcerated pregnant women.
Here is an
Anti-Shackling Bill sign-on letter in support of
A.3373-A, which forbids the use of restraints on incarcerated
women during labor and post-delivery recovery, and restricts the use
of restraints during transport to and from the hospital before and
after child birth. Sponsored by Assemblymember N. Nick Perry,
Assembly Majority Whip, A.3373-A has been voted out of all necessary
Committees and is likely to come to the Assembly floor for a full
vote very soon. Senator Velmanette Montgomery, Chair of the Social
Services, Children and Families Committee, plans to introduce the
same bill in the Senate during this legislative session. If you
would like to add your name or your organization's name, please
email Tina Reynolds, Executive Director of WORTH and Co-Chair of the
Coalition's Incarcerated Mothers Committee, by FRIDAY, MAY 1:
treynolds@womenontherise-worth.org.
Release Wall Street
Protest Arestees Now! Drop All Charges! Arrest Criminal Bankers, Not
Workers!--Sign
the online petition
Take Action to demand
racist, anti-immigrant Maricopa County AZ Sheriff Joe Arpaio be
REMOVED IMMEDIATELY!--Fill
in the Online
Petition at
http://www.may1.info/arpaiopetition.shtml to send a message to
the Homeland Security Department, President Obama, Arizona Governor
Brewer, Congressional leaders, the Arizona Congressional Delegation,
the Arizona Legislature and members of the media telling them you
want ARPAIO REMOVED IMMEDIATELY and the Homeland Security 287(g)
contract with his office cancelled at once!
Sign Petition to End Oppressive Phone Charges to
Prisoners and their Families!--Visit:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/lower-the-cost-of-calls-from-prison.
Read About and Sign Petition to Free Angola 3!--After
a week of intense public pressure, officials at Angola prison moved
Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox out of solitary confinement for the
first time in 35 years. But they're still locked up, for a crime
everyone knows they didn't commit. ColorOfChange.org members
have helped turn things around by making it a political liability for
the authorities at Angola to keep Wallace and Woodfox in solitary
confinement. I've joined them to keep the pressure on by forcing federal
and state authorities to intervene and
release these innocent men who have been punished for challenging the
violence and segregation at Angola.
http://www.colorofchange.org/angola3/?id=1693-875126
Don’t let America’s Toughest Sheriff Break
the Law.
Sign the Petition Today.
Take Action for Justice!--On
December 8th, 17-year-old Billey Joe Johnson died from a gunshot wound
to the head. Police say he killed himself with a shotgun after being
stopped for a simple traffic violation in Lucedale, Mississippi.1
Several things seem to cast doubt on the official story, including an
independent investigation that concluded it would have been impossible
for the shot that killed Johnson to have been self-inflicted. Many on
the ground smell a murder and a cover-up. We don't have all the answers,
but it's clear that in the racially divided town of Lucedale, all the
ingredients exist for a miscarriage of justice. Your voice can help
ensure that the District Attorney feels the presence of a national
spotlight when he presents his findings to a grand jury on Monday. Let
him know that anything short of a thorough investigation will result in
massive attention and a call for outside intervention. Can you
lend your voice to demand justice for Billey Joe? Take Action:
http://colorofchange.org/billeyjoe/?id=2298-57723
Take Action Against Outrageous Prison Phone
Bills!--Learn more and get involved, visit:
http://www.hamdenconsulting.com/CallToAction.html
Tell Pres. Obama to Grant Clemency to Leonard
Peltier!-- Sign petition at:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/obama-free-leonard-peltier
Tell Barack Obama that You Care About Criminal
Justice Reform--On January 20, Barack Obama became the 44th
President of the United States. Our hopes for real change are high, but
we won't see reforms to the broken criminal justice system unless we
speak loud and clear about the issues we care about. click
this link to send an email- very easy and only takes a few minutes!!
http://criminaljustice.change.org/actions/view/tell_barack_obama_that_you_care_about_criminal_justice_reform
Sign Petition for
Families and Loved Ones of Death Row Inmates in Ohio!--Please
sign petition requesting in-person visits for families
and loved ones of death row inmates in Ohio. Read
and sign at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/OSPvisit/petition.html
Take A Stand Against
Unjust Prosecution of Activists in Mexico!--Families
in Campeche, Mexico are being pushed to the edge of
desperation. Privatization schemes and mega-projects -
like the construction of large hydroelectric dams and
massive agrofuels plantations - threaten their access to
basic food and water resources. Now, simply for
opposing the policies that jeopardize their livelihoods,
activists face increasing repression and unjust
prosecution, often without access to legal resources for
their defense. Please
lend your voice now to call on Mexican authorities to
stop the unjust prosecution and repression of resource
rights activists.
Please Write Gov.
Strickland and the Ohio Parole Board asking for Clemency
for Innocent Grandmother, Keenya Curry!--Following
is a sample letter and contact information for Gov.
Strickland and the Ohio Parole Board:
Dear Gov. Strickland/Ohio
Parole Board,
Keenya Curry was wrongfully
convicted. Her defense attorney has signed an affidavit
swearing he did not provide her with appropriate defense
or counsel. Ms. Curry is innocent of the charges against
her resulting in her current imprisonment. The charges
and defenses are as follows:
* Kidnapping of her 2 minor grandchildren--Ms. Curry was
granted custody of her granddaughter and her grandson
was abandoned at her home by Keenya's daughter, mother
of the child in question. She in no way kidnapped or
illegally withheld children from, their parents,
Keenya's children.
* 3rd Degree Child Endangerment--In regards to the care
of her two minor grandchildren… Charges resulted from
false reports by Dr. David C. Minor, Ms. Curry's and her
grandchildren's physician, regarding concerns about the
children's welfare. Dr. Minor has mental health issues
and has subsequently lost his license to practice
medicine. All concerns reported by Dr. Minor were
baseless. He, allegedly guilty of malpractice, advised
over-medicating of children with Ritalin, which,
directly caused the welfare concerns of and for which
Ms. Curry was accused and is currently serving time.
I ask that you grant clemency and free this dedicated
Grandmother, guilty of nothing more than trusting the
wrong doctor.
Sincerely,
(Your Name Here)
Governor Ted Strickland (Or online
at:
http://www.governor.ohio.gov/Assistance/ContacttheGovernor/tabid/150/Default.aspx)
Governor's Office
Riffe Center, 30th Floor
77 S High Street
Columbus, OH 43215-6108
Ohio Parole Board (Or online at:
drc.publicinfo@odrc.state.oh.us)
1050 Freeway Drive N
Columbus, OH 43229
Take Action for
Commutation and/or Pardon for George Martorano!--Some
of you may have already read that President Bush has
started his "exit" pardons and commutations. WE NEED TO
GET EMAILS AND CALLS TO THE WHITE HOUSE SUPPORTING
GEORGE'S COMMUTATION. Below are the phone and email
contacts for the White House-PLEASE, just a 2-3 line
email stressing your support for George's release.
George and I know, that this is a longshot, but heck,
LONGSHOTS CAN AND DO WIN--please pass this email along
to any and all you feel will help.
comments@whitehouse.gov
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
For more info on this case and travesty, visit:
http://www.freegeorge.us/
Demand Justice for the
Uighurs Now!--With the
stock market drop and new slander tactics in the
election crowding the news, you might have missed a key
moment in our struggle to close Guantanamo Bay. It was a
court decision to free 17 men from the detention center
at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On October 7, Judge
Ricardo Urbina of the U.S. District Court for the
District of Columbia (DC) ruled that 17 Uighurs
be released into Washington, DC to begin the
process of adjusting to their lives outside of
Guantánamo.
Take action now to ensure
that decision stands!
Take Action Against
AT&T's Scam Against Prisoners and Their Families!--The
"service agreement" recently mailed to AT&T customers is
causing a lot of confusion, but its terms are simple:
AT&T is saying it is our way or the highway. Either
give up your rights to legal remedies or give up your
phone. AT&T can raise prices, charge you for calls you
didn't make, and prevent you from suing them if you
don't like it. TURN believes the CPUC can and should
stop this attempt by AT&T's to cut off customer
complaints and limit customer rights. Please
sign our petition
demanding that the CPUC change course TODAY. We are
filing our protest at the CPUC on Thursday, and your
support will strengthen our position.
FIGHT BACK NOW.
Allow Red Cross Access
to All Prisoners!--This
morning a group of retired generals and admirals wrote a
letter (below) to Senators Whitehouse, Feinstein, Hagel,
and Rockefeller in support of legislation that would
require the intelligence community to provide the
International Committee of the Red Cross with access to
all prisoners in U.S. custody. These
military leaders know first-hand how important it is
that the United States allow Red Cross access to all
prisoners; when our troops go into battle, our nation
owes them the assurance that, should they be captured by
the enemy, the United States will be able to
aggressively assert their rights to humane treatment, to
be held in recognized places of detention, and to be
registered with and visited by the Red Cross
representatives who can raise concerns about their
treatment.
Click here to write to your Senators and tell them
that mandating Red Cross access to prisoners
demonstrates our nation's commitment to treating all
prisoners humanely and makes American troops safer.
Furthermore, the Red Cross specifically alerted
military authorities in Iraq to the abuse at Abu Ghraib,
leading to some of the military's first disciplinary
actions against those involved. Adopting this
amendment on Red Cross access into law is an important
step in restoring the moral authority of the United
States.
Write A Letter For
Raymond!--
I am sending re-sending this e-mail
to ask that you support my son, Raymond Hodge, by
writing a letter urging the Los Angeles Office of
Independent Review to review Raymond' case that was
heard in the Inglewood Superior Court. Raymond is
innocent and there were so many inconsistencies in
his case that it needs to be reviewed.
I am asking that you write, call or
e-mail them as soon as possible. I am requesting
this now because the Inglewood Police Department is
and will further be investigated for, among other
things, police misconduct and the three shootings of
unarmed men by IPD in Inglewood in the past three
months. The residents of Inglewood and the
surrounding areas have been requesting that IPD be
investigated by the Federal Government for years,
but nothing has happened. It would mean so much to
me if you all would be so kind as to write to them a
short letter urging an investigation into Raymond's
case.
Here is the contact information for
the Los Angeles Office of Independent Review:
In general:
Los Angeles Office of Independent
Review
4900 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 204
Commerce, CA 90040
(323) 890-5425
Michael J. Gennaco, Chief Attorney
4900 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 204
Commerce, CA 90040
(323) 890-5360 ph
(323) 415-7549 fax
Benjamin Jones, Deputy Chief Attorney
(323) 890-5362 ph
(323) 415-7788 fax
Robert Miller, Deputy Chief Attorney
(323) 890-5335 ph
(323) 415-7789 fax
Stephen J. Connolly, Attorney
(323) 890-5464 ph
(323) 415-7792 fax
Ilana B.R. Rosenzweig, Attorney
(323) 890-5405 ph
(323) 415-7791 fax
Julie Ruhlin, Attorney
(323) 890-5406 ph
(323) 415-4720 fax
Take Action on the
Campaign to Promote Equitable Telephone Charges!--Most
prisoners and their families are double or even
quadruple-billed for any phone calls. Prisoners
are often required to purchase phone cards which they
can only use to make a collect call. They phone
card is billed for the call and the person called
collect pays 2-3 x what they would pay for a
direct call. This is absurd and needs to stop.
Learn more and take action at:
http://www.etccampaign.com/etc/eccostep1.php
California’s registry for life may soon
include promiscuous kids
By
Hanna Ingber Win
When Ricky was 16, he went to a teen club and met a
girl named Amanda, who said she was the same age. They
hit it off and were eventually having
sex. At the time Ricky thought it was a pretty normal
high school romance.
Two years later, Ricky is a registered sex offender,
and his life is destroyed.
Amanda turned out to be 13. Ricky was arrested, tried
as an adult, and pleaded guilty to the charge of
lascivious acts with a child, which is a class D felony
in Iowa. It is not disputed that the sex was
consensual, but intercourse with a 13-year-old is
illegal in Iowa.
Ricky was sentenced to two years probation and 10
years on the Iowa online sex offender
registry. Ricky and his family have since moved to
Oklahoma, where he will remain on the state’s
public registry for life.
Being labeled a sex offender has completely changed
Ricky’s life, leading him to be kicked out of high
school, thrown out of parks, taunted by neighbors,
harassed by strangers, and unable to live within 2,000
feet of a school, day-care center or park. He is
prohibited from going to the movies or mall with friends
because it would require crossing state borders, which
he cannot do without permission from his probation
officer. One of Ricky’s neighbors called the cops on
him, yelled and cursed at him, and videotaped him every
time he stepped outside, Ricky said.
“It affects you in every way,” he said. “You’re
scared to go out places. You’re on the Internet, so
everybody sees your picture.”
His mother, Mary, said the entire family has felt the
ramifications of Ricky being labeled a sex offender. His
younger brother has been ridiculed at school and cannot
have friends over to the house; his stepfather has been
harassed; the parents’ marriage has been under
tremendous pressure; and strangers used to show up at
their door to badger the family. One neighbor came to
the house and told Mary he wasn’t going to leave them
alone until they took their “child rapist” away, so they
moved, she said.
California is currently deciding if it
will comply with a federal sex offender act that would
put adolescent sex offenders as young as 14 on a
national public registry, like the one Ricky is on in
Oklahoma. Supporters say the act would improve
public safety, but critics argue it would stigmatize
thousands of teenagers. The law, called the Adam Walsh
Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, would require
states to submit information on youth deemed delinquent
in juvenile court of aggravated sexual abuse to the
registry.
Juveniles affected by the act would range from those
who used force or drugs to rape another person, to those
who have had any sexual contact with a child under the
age of 12. If a 14-year-old touches an 11-year-old’s
penis, the 14-year-old would be eligible for the public
registry.
Human rights advocates and even some prominent sex
crime prevention groups warn this is one more act in a
long list of sex-offender laws across the country that
appeals to voters but is ineffective and
counterproductive. They argue that almost all sex
offender laws in the United States fail to solve the
problem of sex crimes because they drive people
underground, block paths to treatment and focus on a
high-profile case, like that of 6-year-old Adam Walsh,
who was abducted from a Florida department store and
killed in 1981, and miss the fuller picture of sexual
violence.
A few heinous, high-profile sex crimes capture the
media’s attention, and the result is more Draconian
sex-offender laws, such as Megan’s Law and Jessica’s
Law, said Sarah Tofte of Human Rights Watch, which
recently released a report on sex-offender laws called
“No Easy Answers: Sex Offender Laws in the U.S.”
“We have created these laws and we apply them to
anyone convicted of a sex crime regardless of their risk
to the community,” Tofte said.
Megan’s Law requires public registration for adult
sex offenders. If Jessica’s Law,
approved by voters in 2006, overcomes challenges in
court, it would prohibit adult registered sex offenders
from living 2,000 feet within a school or park and
require those paroled from prison to wear lifetime GPS
monitors. Unlike the Adam Walsh Act, Megan’s Law and
Jessica’s Law generally do not affect registered
juveniles, according to California Deputy Attorney
General Janet Neeley.
While the media focuses on the stories of the child
being raped and killed by a stranger, the Human Rights
Watch report states that 80-90 percent of the offenses
against children are committed by someone the victim
knows.
If California complies with the Adam Walsh Act, the
law would be retroactive, and the offenders would be
listed on the registry for life. They would be
classified as Tier III offenders and forced to register
with law enforcement authorities every three months, or
risk being charged with a felony and going to prison for
at least one year.
The act, sponsored by Wisconsin Republican
Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. and 37
co-sponsors – including former Florida representative
Mark Foley – was signed into law by President Bush on
July 27, 2006, and gives states three years to comply or
risk losing 10 percent of federal Byrne money, which are
law enforcement grants worth $5 million in California.
The Department of Justice is formulating the final
guidelines.
Congressional co-sponsors of the law and crime-victim
advocates have hailed the bill as an opportunity to
improve community safety by increasing penalties for sex
crimes, better tracking of sex offenders, and making it
harder for predators to reach children on the Internet.
“The Adam Walsh Act intends to register convicted
sexual offenders, 14 and older, who have committed the
most violent sexual abuses,” said California Congressman
Ken Calvert, a Republican from Riverside, in an e-mail.
“If a juvenile has committed such a crime, the safety of
our community and children supersedes the rights of the
juvenile who, at the age of 14, understands the
difference between right and wrong.”
A father pleas for harsh penalties
Child-protection advocates argue that it is more
important to hold juvenile sex offenders responsible for
their actions than to worry about them being stigmatized
by the registry or punished too harshly.
“We have to put the safety of our kids before the
civil rights of someone who’s already proven they will
hurt a kid,” said Mark Zyla, who became an activist for
tougher sex offender laws after his two daughters were
sexually assaulted in separate instances. “Being on the
registry doesn’t keep people from rehabilitating; it
doesn’t keep them from getting a job. It may be more
difficult, but that’s part of the consequence of hurting
a young child.”
Zyla’s daughter Amie was violently sexually assaulted
by a 14-year-old, Joshua Wade, when she was eight. Wade
was a family friend and attacked Amie, who is now 20,
during a sleepover party at her house, Mark Zyla said.
Wade was tried as a juvenile and sent to a juvenile
detention center. But because his record was sealed, he
was able to later get a job at a summer camp, where he
went on to assault more young girls. He has since been
sentenced to 25 years in prison.
The Zylas helped pass a law in their home state of
Wisconsin to enable law enforcement officials to release
information on juvenile sex offenders if they pose a
threat to society. They then lobbied Congress to pass
the federal Adam Walsh Act. If states comply with the
Adam Walsh Act, Mark Zyla said, local law-enforcement
agencies would know about juvenile sex offenders like
Wade and be able to inform schools and places of
employment.
Los Angeles Police Department detectives said
registries significantly help them track down sex
offenders. If they have an unsolved sex crime, they can
take the description of the suspect, plug it into the
database and look for a match, said Detective Diane
Webb, a supervisor of LAPD’s sex-offender registration
and tracking program.
The DNA and registration databases enable detectives
to clear old cases and find patterns of crime, said
Detective Jesse Alvarado of LAPD’s rape special section.
The registries also help inform the public, Webb
said.
“Not only does registration give law enforcement a
first place to look, it also provides information to the
public,” she said. She added that people should be
allowed to know if sex offenders live in their community
so they can, at the very least, decide if they want to
date them or have them baby-sit their children.
The detectives disagree on whether the registry
should include juveniles, who commit 17 percent of all
sex offenses and about a third of all sex offenses
against children, according to the National Center on
Sexual Behavior of Youth. Alvarado said he thinks it
would be helpful to have a database like the Adam Walsh
one for juvenile offenders. “Giving us an ability to
look for somebody would always be a good thing,”
Alvarado said.
Webb said she agreed with juvenile justice experts
that juveniles should be treated differently from
adults.
One of the reasons the law came into effect was
because of the more than 100,000 missing or
non-compliant sex offenders. They are part of the
603,000 registered sex offenders nationwide, according
to the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children.
“When they’re on the run and they’re not compliant,
they become more dangerous,” Mark Zyla said. “They’re
not getting their treatment and they’re free to do
whatever they want.”
Supporters also said juveniles would not be
stigmatized for life because a section of the law
stipulates that youth deemed delinquent in juvenile
court can get off the registry after 25 years if they
are not convicted of another sex crime and have
successfully completed a sex offender treatment program.
However, juvenile justice advocates, public defenders
and prominent sex crime prevention groups have
criticized the law, arguing that it would make it
harder for youth to reintegrate into society, further
break from the tradition of treating children
differently from adults, be ineffective, and cost the
state millions.
“Imagine writing down the worst thing you ever did
when you were a teenager, or an adult, and being forced
to put that on a placard on your forehead. This is, in
effect, what registration does to these youth,” L.A.
County Deputy Public Defender Maureen Pacheco wrote in
an e-mail.
“They must disclose these offenses when they apply
for school, when they apply for jobs, if they want to
get licensed or bonded,” she wrote. “In other words, in
all the ways a youth might seek to become rehabilitated,
we shut the door.”
The case for leniency
Juvenile justice advocates said they fear the Adam
Walsh Act would make it harder to rehabilitate young sex
offenders because it would ostracize them from society.
There is no direct research showing the psycho-social
effects of registering on youth, say experts.
“But common sense would tell you that having your
name, picture, and home address on the Internet as a sex
offender at age 8, 12, or even 14 could be devastating
in terms of peer relationships, community [relations],
ability to stay in school, and involvement in church
activities,” said Dr. Barbara Bonner, an expert on sex
offenses and co-director of the Adolescent Sex Offender
Treatment Program at the University of Oklahoma Health
Sciences Center.
The law is counterproductive because young people are
more likely to be rehabilitated and successful in the
future if they get involved with social activities like
sports, bands, choir, or a job, she said.
Juvenile justice advocates also criticize the law for
treating and punishing youth as adults rather than
focusing on rehabilitation. The basic concept of the
juvenile justice system is to treat young people
differently from adult offenders because they are
considered less responsible for their actions and more
receptive to rehabilitation and treatment.
Almost every state ensures that if a child is
adjudicated or deemed delinquent – juvenile court does
not convict youth – he or she does not have to submit
information to a public registry, according to Tara
Andrews of the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, a
national nonprofit comprised of governor-appointed
advisory groups. Andrews said she finds the Adam Walsh
Act most troublesome because it “reaches out and grabs
kids who were adjudicated as juveniles. The Adam Walsh
Act sweeps in and says we still want these kids on the
registry.”
Critics also fear it will cost millions of dollars to
follow and would not be worth the money the state might
lose for not complying. If the federal Attorney
General’s office finds that California has not made a
“good faith conduct” to comply with the Adam Walsh Act,
the Attorney General can reduce the federal Byrne funds
allocated to that jurisdiction for law enforcement
resources.
“We think the cost of compliance might greatly
outweigh the benefits of losing 10 percent of the Byrne
funds,” said Pacheco.
Critics fear the massive costs will include applying
this law to a state as populated as California,
complying with the federal classification system and DNA
collection.
It costs more to enact a federal act than individual
state laws because a federal law does not take into
consideration a state’s specific needs and resources,
said Robert Coombs of the California Coalition Against
Sexual Assault, a statewide coalition of rape crisis
centers and prevention programs.
It would also be costly because the categories the
federal government uses to distinguish between different
levels of sex crimes do not match the ones California
uses. The federal act assigns sex offenders to a
numbered level, while California uses other
distinctions, such as “sexually violent predator.” To
comply, California would have to either run two
concurrent leveling systems or completely revamp its
present system, Coombs said.
Another cost would be gathering the DNA samples of
individuals affected by the Adam Walsh Act. Adults and
juveniles convicted of any felony or sex offense already
have their DNA collected, but the cost for testing DNA
samples has exceeded expectations. The Los Angeles
Police Department needs $9.3 million to clear up a
backlog of untested samples. Since the Adam Walsh Act is
retroactive, it would require collection and analysis of
DNA samples from adults and juveniles convicted before
the DNA regulations, which did not start until 2004.
Supporters of the law argue the high cost of putting
the act into effect is worth the safety of the
community.
“There just is no higher purpose for government than
keeping the public safe,” said Will Smith, State Senator
George Runner’s spokesperson. The Antelope Valley
Republican sponsored Jessica’s Law.
Recidivism rates fail to prove the law effective or
counterproductive, and both advocates and critics of the
law use the statistics to support their arguments. Data
from the Justice Department shows that 5.3 percent of
male sex offenders released from prisons in 15 states in
1994 were rearrested for a new sex crime within three
years of release. Juvenile justice advocates, on the
other hand, look at recidivism rates among teenagers,
which show that the rates of sexual re-offense are
substantially lower, at 5 to 18 percent, than the rates
for other delinquent behavior, which is 8 to 58 percent,
according to the
National Center on Sexual Behavior of Youth.
The California Sex Offender Management Board will
evaluate the law and might recommend to the legislature
and governor whether it should be complied with,
according to board chair Suzanne Brown-McBride. The
decision rests with Attorney General Jerry Brown, Gov.
Schwarzenegger and the Legislature. California
is home to 90,000 registered adult sex offenders and
2,528 registered juvenile sex offenders.
“The state is reviewing the act and evaluating the
potential impact it will have on the state,” said Gareth
Lacy, a Brown spokesman. “California has a
long history of setting tough laws mandating
sex-offender registration.”
Runner will be watching the outcome. If
California’s current laws do not conform to the
federal act, the state senator plans to introduce a
bill.
Ricky is now 19 and trying to bring some normalcy
back to his life. But that’s practically impossible. In
between monthly meetings with his probation officer,
he’s been trying to find a job.
However, employers haven’t been eager to hire a
registered sex offender. He wants to get a college
degree, yet that, too, is problematic. He’s worried his
classmates would find him on the registry and start
harassing him. “I have to watch my back all of the
time,” he said. “Once people find out, they panic. They
don’t know the real story.”
Help Repeal Mandatory Minimum Aid Penalty!--Students
for Sensible Drug Policy's campaign to reinstate financial aid to
college students with drug convictions is heating up!
Just a few days ago U.S. Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) introduced a bill to
halt the automatic loss of aid as punishment for any student with a drug
conviction.
SSDP needs your help to build support on Capitol Hill for this important
bill. Please visit
http://www.capwiz.com/mobilize/issues/alert/?alertid=11152846 to
send a pre-written letter to your senators.
Sign Petition to Free Michael Hamilton!--With
over 24 years of a clean record at CMF (CALIFORNIA MEDICAL FACILITY
c22546), after being found suitable three time by the California parole
board, why has the governor continued to deny his release? Michael is
the perfect example of how the prison system works and how it can change
your life for the better. He is a changed man, who now deserves to live
his life. With his wife, daughter
and loving supportive family. Michael is no threat to society, he would
BETTER society with his lifetime of knowledge and life changing
experiences of the prison
system, that he would be able to share with the youth of today. Why has
the governor even hesitated to release a man that has done nothing but
given back to society and eager to continue? Petition: Please
support Freeing Michael Hamilton. Let him finally live a life with him
and his family. Let him be released and voice his experiences with the
youth of today. He can better our society. Please let him enjoy adult
hood with his now 19 year old daughter, and retirement with his wife of
20 years. It's time to look past the prison label and see this man
for what he truly is. That is a human being who has spent the last 29
years giving back to society for what he did at the age of 18. Let him
live the years he has left out side of prison walls and blue uniforms.
Please help free Michael Hamilton.
Sign the petition
http://www.gopetition.com/online/17068.html
Stand Up Against Prisoner Abuse:
1/4/07 People Against Prison Abuse aka PAPA received this email
asking for some help.I would like to add
that I have been receiving numerous calls from the Love-Ones of the
Inmates housed at this unit with some most disturbing in-humane
stories. Can you please help the Inmates by investigating what is
going on at this unit. Is the uprising due to brutality, lack of food,
medical, recreation, or out of control TDCJ Employees?When the Wardens
do NOT control and properly handle issues and problems with staff then
it flows down to the Inmates especially when the
Wardens do NOT appear on the job daily. I know of incidents where the
Wardens are not seen on the premises for weeks at a time, they stay
home, on their
computers they run the prison units or I should say attempt. They are
paid to be on that job daily, the Wardens need to walk through the
prison units to let
people know he/she is there. I have never understood why the Wardens are
allowed to make their own procedures at the unit when there is written
policies,
regulations, codes, rules, laws to say how the units are to
operate. This needs to be resolved before another ''SMITH UNIT
RIOT'' happens.That is the rumble.Thank you for your help, Flo,
PAPA. Address and sample letter for action below:
January 2, 2008
Attorney General Greg Abbott
PO Box 12548
Austin TX 78711-2548
Dear Attorney General Abbott:
I am writing to express my deep and urgent concern about the dangerous
situation prevailing in Texas prisons and jails.
In particular, I am concerned about the Clements Unit on the outskirts
of Amarillo. From our inmate correspondents, I have just learned that
you will soon
visit Clements because of a very recent incident in which prisoners
attacked and badly injured some officers and another attack last month
by different
prisoners on different officers. Our correspondents report that more
trouble is brewing at Clements.
After each such incident, state and TDCJ officials take what they
consider a “tough line.” They punish the inmates involved, others in
the dorm or cell
block, and sometimes everyone in the unit or system.
But here’s the problem: TDCJ is already incredibly punitive. The food
is cheap and terrible; the units are bare and ugly; the opportunities
for recreation
are narrow and few; the men often have no clean or warm clothes — even
in the terrible heat of a Gulf Coast summer or the biting cold of a High
Plains
winter. Add to that the high turnover rate of guards, not to mention the
unpleasantness and unprofessionalism of all too many staff members. The
predictable result is a buildup of prisoner frustration. As one inmate
put it to us, “You can only kick a guy so many times before he kicks
back.”
I urge you to work with TDCJ management to improve conditions within the
prison system. All of us know that Texas imprisons and otherwise
punishes a larger proportion of its population — and a far larger
proportion of its minorities — than any other state or any so-called
civilized nation.
Please assure us that you are working to make Texas prisons themselves
more decent and “civilized.”
Sincerely,
(Your Name Here)
Show A Little Compassion!--URGENT
REQUEST!--Hi all! I am so blessed to have found this group! I am
posting an excerpt of a letter I just emailed to
the Editor of the Charleston Post & Courier."My son has called
CCDC "home" for the past 11 months. Do I feel sorry for him?
NO. Do I care that he has to
sleep on the floor with23 other men in an 8-man cell? NO. After all, he
is in jail, not on vacation at the Omni Hotel. Am I worried that he is
being fed sub-par food? NO. His father is a chef. If he were at home,
believe me he would be eating mighty well! His actions led him to his
stay on Leeds Avenue. He alone is responsible for being locked
up. However, I am outraged after I received a call from him
Tuesday night, and I spoke to him a couple other inmates housed along
with him. These men were awoken in the middle of the night as two
toilets overflowed in their cell. The men on the floor were lying in
inches of sewage, complete with floating tapeworms, feces, urine, and
pieces of used toilet paper, etc. They were told by a correction officer
to put socks on their feet to protect against the bacteria. The men who
normally sleep on the floor had to spend the remainder of the night
sitting upright on benches because nobody came to clean up the
disgusting mess that continued to flow. To make matters even more
horrific, these men were actually served 2 meals in this cell! Can you
imagine having to eat a meal while standing around in floating
sewage???? I can't, and I am furious! Enough is Enough!! Isn't there
someone in a position of authority, perhaps a compassionate
councilman/woman, the Mayor of N. Charleston, local church officials...
SOMEONE who can oversee what is happening at CCDC??? These are human
beings that are being treated worse than the animals at the Leeds Avenue
SPCA. At least there, the cages are hosed clean every day!"MY
URGENT REQUEST IS FOR LETTERS OF ENCOURAGEMENT TO MY 21 YR OLD
SON. NOT ONLY IS HE AWAY FROM HIS YR OLD SON THIS CHRISTMAS, BUT
HE IS LIVING IN UNBEARABLE CONDITIONS! HE IS SO DISCOURAGED AND
DEPRESSED,AND I AM VERY CONCERNED FOR HIM. By the way he is being held
on charges of kidnapping & armed robbery. He actually robbed a 16 yr
old weed salesman with a pellet gun. PLEASE PRAYERFULLY CONSIDER
WRITING TO HIM (For more penpals, see: www.heal-online.org/adopt.htm):
Joshua L.Frazier #1173367
Charleston County Detention Center
3841 Leeds Avenue
North Charleston, SC 29405
THANK YOU SO MUCH & GOD BLESS!
~~~Kitty
Learn About and Take
Action for Mike Heston and the Prisoners of NY--Federal
prisoner says he is forced to take psychiatric drugs by
David W. Oaks —
last modified 2007-12-10 17:56...Mike
Heston says he is a prisoner who is experiencing involuntary psychiatric
drugging. He is locked up in the Federal medical Center in Rochester,
Minnesota. Mike asks people to make civil complaints on his
behalf. Many
prisoners experience involuntary psychiatric drugging.
Here are some excerpts from letters from Mike Heston to the MindFreedom
office: ~~~~~~~~"Dr.
Hart won't let me out of the hole unless I take pills... it only makes
me sicker and even more nervous. My nerves are shot as I have
claustrophobia and need I tell you how I feel right now: my heart is
racing." "I live in mortal fear, the needle has me
terrified, they just keep sticking me every two weeks and I feel like
death." "Please someone end this torture. I am
tormented, I am being tortured and terrorized (dreaded fear of that
needle). Please let me out of here. Someone help me, end this
injection." "I have to have say over what goes into my
body or life itself is a big sham. Help me. Forced psychiatry has
destroyed me." Mike continues to hold on: "You'd think
after so many years of these horrible treatments it would do me under
for good but the heart keeps on ticking." ~~~~~~~~~~
ACTION: Please contact
the Minnesota Governor's Office, and ask for an investigation of Mike
Heston's allegations. Let them know that forced drugging is absolutely
unacceptable.
SAMPLE MESSAGE
"Please investigate
allegations of human rights violations against Mike Heston who is a
prisoner at the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota. Mr.
Heston states that he is being forcibly injected with powerful and
hazardous psychiatric drugs. I oppose the forced psychiatric
drugging of any citizen."
~~~~~~~~~~
Use this web page to contact Governor of Minnesota:
http://www.governor.state.mn.us/contacts/Forms/askthegovernor/index.htm
Or contact the Governor at:
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty
Office of the Governor
130 State Capitol
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
~~~~~~~~~~
Additional action:
You can write to Mike
Heston to let him know he is being heard, here:
Michael Heston
Reg. No. 06525-067
Federal Medical Center
PO BOX 4000
Rochester, MN 55903
Funding
Received for Musical Instruments for Prisoners--The
Prisons Foundation, in conjunction with the England based Jail
Guitar Doors project (
http://www.
jailguitardoors.
org.uk/
),
has received funding to purchase guitars to be sent to prisons
and jails in the United States where they will be utilized by
prisoners. If you know of any jail or prison whose prisoners
could benefit from participation in this program, please ask a
representative of that institution to email Joe Shade,
coordinator of the program at joeyshade@gmail.
com
Join In Demanding a
Fair Trial for Ed Brown--Read and Sign Petition Now--http://www.petition
online.com/
brownirs/
|
Letter Writing Campaign for Ramsey
Muniz--To all that remember when the Raza Chicana had a political
party, La Raza Unida. I forward this letter from the Ramsey Muniz
Defense Committee and his devoted wife Irma. Please help by
forwarding this to Mr. Bush . I ask this with little expectations of
Bush, my expectations are more of ourselves in making this small effort
and knowing that we did. Gracias Viva La Raza! Viva Ramsey!
National Ramsey Defense Alliance
PMB 216 5403 Everhart Rd.
Corpus Christi, TX 78411
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500
Re: Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz 40288-115
Dear Mr. President:
I write this letter on behalf of Mr. Ramiro Ramsey Muniz, of
Corpus Christi, Texas, who is serving a life sentence in El Reno,
Oklahoma. On behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens we
send this letter requesting that Mr. Muniz be granted a commutation of
sentence, as he has submitted through the required application process.
Mr. Muniz, was a graduate of Baylor
School of Law, a practicing attorney, and gubernatorial candidate in the
state of Texas. He has spent many years incarcerated and his sentence
was excessive considering that he is innocent of the crimes for which he
was indicted. For additional information about this case, you may refer
to www.freeramsey.
com .
The Application for Commutation of
Sentence submitted by Ramiro Muniz states that a government document,
which would have proven culpability by another person, was withheld from
the trial. It was never possible for Mr. Muniz to use the document as
part of his defense.
We also seek a commutation of sentence
because uncorrected errors in the records of Muniz's first conviction
made him a candidate for the three strikes guidelines. We are in
the process of correcting these errors, which constitutionally and
fundamentally would have declared a mistrial.
Another justification for a commutation
of sentence is the issue of health. In 2006, while under the custody of
the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Mr. Muniz became gravely ill and almost
lost his life.
Mr. Muniz is a 64-year-old man who has
suffered many years in maximum security penitentiaries though he has
never committed a violent crime. He is a peaceful and loving man who,
after many years of incarceration, has sought placement in a low
security environment close to his home. We now seek his release.
We ask that you consider the character of
Ramiro Ramsey Muniz, who has demonstrated exemplary conduct for many
years. We support his request for a commutation of sentence and
ask your assistance in this humanitarian issue.
Sincerely,
Letter to Congress:
Dear Senators and Congressmen:
Enclosed please find a resolution adopted by the League of United Latin
American Citizens at the 78th LULAC National Convention in Chicago,
Illinois. The resolution establishes LULAC’s position on a major
issue impacting Hispanic/Latino/
Chicano communities, and it pertains to the need for humanitarian
assistance for Ramiro Ramsey Muniz.
We seek your support acting on behalf of Mr. Muniz. Keep in mind that
this is not a partisan or a local/regional issue. We are requesting
nation-wide assistance from Democrats and Republicans alike at all
levels of government. Mr. Muniz made great contributions to his fellow
man, and you can learn more about his contributions by visiting our
website at www.freeramsey.
com .
We ask that your forward the enclosed resolution and a personal letter
to President George W. Bush and members of the House and Senate who are
in positions to request an investigation into this case. Mr. Muniz has
suffered greatly for many years and he merits everyone's assistance.
On behalf of the National Ramsey Defense Alliance we thank you in
advance for your involvement in this humanitarian issue.
MUNIZ RESOLUTION
Advocating that Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz be transferred back to Texas and be
given a commutation of sentence.
WHEREAS, Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz is a native of Corpus Christi, Texas and
WHEREAS, Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz contributed greatly to the Chicano Civil
Rights Movement during the 1970s as a leader fighting for justice and
equality for all Mexican Americans, Hispanics, and Latinos throughout
the United States; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Ramiro R . Muniz was a Texas gubernatorial candidate for La
Raza Unida Party â€" a political party established and developed
for the advancement of Mexican Americans, Hispanics, and Latinos; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Ramiro R . Muniz' efforts and contributions made for
Mexican Americans, Latinos and Hispanics are recognized and fully noted
as part of American history; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz is serving a term of life without parole
and is assigned to remain in El Reno, Oklahoma where he is currently
held; and
WHEREAS, Judicial records for Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz were left uncorrected,
making him subject to the three strikes sentencing guidelines which are
unconstitutional and inhumane; and
WHEREAS, LULAC resolutions passed in 2006 were successful, as they
resulted in the transfer of Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz to Three Rivers Federal
Correctional Institution in Texas on December 11, 2006. Six months
later, extremely discriminatory actions were taken against his person by
having him transferred out of the state of Texas once again; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz has been a model prisoner for the past 13
years should have been housed near his family in Three Rivers, Texas as
recommended by Federal Judge Paul Brown during his trial in 1994; and
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the National League of United Latin
American Citizens build support and unity to take administrative, legal,
and political action for the immediate transfer of Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz
to a low level institution in Texas, and request a Commutation of
Sentence for his immediate release.
Take Action for Women
on Pennsylvania's Death Row: Take
action and let the officials know there are people who care. They try
again to make it worse than before for the inmates, though there is no
reason for that. Help
for the ladies in Muncy / Pennsylvania. Shonda
Walters, Michelle Tharp and Carolyn King are the female prisoners on
Pennsylvania Death row. Recently they were moved to another Unit, Block
C. This is the punishment Block for all prisoners with disciplinary
punishment. They had to clean the extremely filthy cells before they
went in and then they cleaned the cells again to make them more or less
habitable. Further
problems with this unit are unrelenting noise (shouting, screaming,
banging), it's dirty and they aren't given regular work detail to clean
up (food spills, the showers, etc.) as in the other pod, their cells
have a rank smell and Shonda's cell has bad plumbing; and because of insufficient
staff the time out of their cells for activities has become very
irregular. The constant high level of noise causes unbearable
stress for the ladies, so please take action and help them!
Ask
Superintendent Chamberlain to move them to a better Unit. Further
specific requests:
-
That the superintendent find a way to have staff control the noise
level in the pod where the death row women are housed. Despite the
fact that the women have a history of being model prisoners they
are subjected to the constant calling out, shouting, screaming and
banging of the youth and general population disciplinary inmates on
that pod.
-
That the death row women be given rec separately from A and C pods so
that at least at that time they can experience some quiet and piece of
mind.
-
That the women be taken out of their cells for work detail and
activities on a schedule or with some regularity.
Send
a letter to the Superintendent (you can use the model letter, but
expressing your concern in your own words should be prefered):
Superintendent
Dawn Chamberlain,
SCI Muncy,
P. O. Box
180
,
Muncy
Pennsylvania
17756
RE:
Carolyn King, Shonda Walter, Michelle Tharp
Dear
Superintendent Chamberlain:
I am writing
to express my concern and support for Carolyn King, Shonda Walter, and
Michelle Tharp, currently on Death Row.
Recently they
were moved to Unit C and it made things worse for them. Problems
with this Unit are unrelenting noise (shouting, screaming, banging),
it's extremely dirty and they aren't given regular work, detail to
clean up (food spills, the showers, etc.) as in the other pod. Their
cells have a rank smell and Shonda's cell has bad plumbing; and
because of insufficient staff the time out of their cells for
activities has become very irregular. The constant high level of
noise causes unbearable stress for the ladies.
As I’m
certain you are well aware, these women have presented no disciplinary
difficulties, despite the privileges they enjoyed before. Conditions
prior to the move served both the women of Death Row and the
administration well. This fact alone determines
there is no reason, other than possible punitive reasons, not to give
them their privileges back and provide for better living conditions.
Please find
a way to have staff control the noise level in the pod where Ms.
Tharp, Ms. King and Ms. Walter are housed. They are subjected to the
constant calling out, shouting, screaming and banging of the youth and
general population disciplinary inmates on that pod.
Further steps to ameliorate conditions would
be to give them
recreation separately from A and C pods so they can experience some
quiet and piece of mind at least at that time, and to take them out of
their cells for work detail and activities on a schedule or with
some regularity.
While I
appreciate the difficulties of administering your facility, I can’t
see a justifying reason to house the women in such a bad environment
after they were always model prisoners. I am addressing this urgent
problem and want to point out in particular that the stress that is
caused thru the conditions on Unit C is deleterious to both emotional
and physical health!
I firmly
believe a change of housing conditions is necessary to prevent
problems that could be caused thru the constantly stress and not least
we are talking about human beings. They deserve to live in conditions
fit for human beings.
Thank you,
Superintendent Chamberlain, for your assistance and the action. I’m
sure you will solve this problem soon after I could see in past you
are endeavour to provide appropriate conditions for the prisoners on
Muncy.
Sincerely
yours
----
Sign Petition for the
Campaign to End Excessive Confinement: Read and sign at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/campaign-to-end-excessive-confinement
Sign Petition to Stop
Prison Abuse Now: Read and sign petition at: www.StopPrisonAbuse.org
Sign Petition To Free
Innocent Man On Ohio's Death Row: Read and sign petition to
free Jason Dean at: http://www.petitiononline.com/lifedean/petition.html
Please
don't let
Texas
federal courts say that domestic violence victims and survivors are
worthless or worth less in the eyes of the
law!--I
am a female with a history of depression. In 2004, after years in a
horrifically abusive relationship, I was viciously attacked by an
off-duty police
officer. This officer, who suspiciously attacked me at a location
where my then ex-husband/abuser had asked me to meet him , was off-duty,
in civilian clothing, had nothing to identify himself as a law
enforcement officer, did not identify himself, and did not place me
under arrest. He
simply, without any warning whatsoever, attacked me from behind,
knocking me face first onto pavement, yanked my hands behind my
back,
handcuffed
me, and then proceeded to beat my head into the ground, yank my hair
out, and choke me. Witnesses called 911 and one witness
came
out and stopped the attack. Neither I nor witnesses knew my attacker was
an off-duty police officer. During the attack I believed that I
was
going
to die. When "real" police got there, he walked off into the
crowd of emergency vehicles and I was arrested and put in jail! The
responding
officers
filed false reports to cover for this piece of you know what. I
filed a complaint with the police department and city (including
Internal
Affairs),
but nothing was done. I then filed a civil suit against them (with
the assistance of extremely well known and respected attorneys from
both
Texas
and across the country), because they retaliated against my complaints
by filing false charges against me and held these charges over my
head
for almost a year in an effort to intimidate me into backing down
(although they were later dismissed for lack of evidence) and because
they
took
no action against the officer who had attacked me, as well as the fact
that they attempted to hide the officer's actions. They also called and
"apologized" for losing the case files against my abuser,
explaining that that is why he was never prosecuted for his attacks on
me. In fact, in front
of
hospital personnel examining me for injuries, a Sargent of the SAPD told
me that any woman who is handcuffed during an attack should submit
to
the attacker as being handcuffed is the "equivalent" of being
arrested - regardless of whether your attacker is in civilian clothing,
possesses
police
ID or not, identifies themselves as an officer or not, or places you
under arrest (reading you Miranda, verbally expressing that you are
under
arrest
by a law enforcement officer). I told him he was crazy and that if his
statements got to the press it would cause an enormous uproar - as
any pervert,
rapist, or rogue cop can possess a pair of handcuffs. This in no way
means that women should submit to attacks by males with handcuffs.
Being
handcuffed IS NOT the equivalent of being arrested. The matter is
coming to trial in the next few months. While they admit what this
officer
did,
their "defense" (intended to avoid liability and
responsibility for the actions of this officer. the officers who helped
hide his actions, and the
entire
police department) is that, as an "abused woman" already
suffering from depression (which, as you know, is the most common
mental
illness
in America), "I was already too damaged to be harmed by the
attack" (although I suffered severe and continuing PTSD following
the attack,
including
but not limited to depression, insomnia, anxiety, agoraphobia, police
phobia, a lack of faith in law enforcement and our justice system,
and
other emotional/psychological distress after the attack, including
hospitalization and a suicide attempt). Their other defense? That
I am
"litigious".
This is the first civil suit I have ever filed. I was part of a class
action lawsuit regarding a medication and two small claims. I also filed
a
complaint
with a federal agency regarding employment discrimination, but am
neither a Plaintiff nor Defendant in that matter - it is simply a
complaint.
Once filed, it is out of my hands. It is NOT a lawsuit. I find
their arguments and attempts at avoiding responsibility sickening
and
ludicrous.
Basically, the City of San Antonio Texas and the San Antonio
Police Department are saying that victims of DV and
survivors
of DV are worth "less" than other crime victims and are not
entitled to the same justice or damages under the law that non- DV
survivors are entitled to. This is on par with blaming
the victim of a rape or other violent or sexual crime based on gender
for the crimes committed
against her, rather than focusing on the actions of the perpetrator. I
am not on trial here. I am the Plaintiff. They are on trial, they are
the Defendants. It is a huge national problem, and even
larger problem in
Texas
. It goes hand in hand with issues of women's rights,
women's
equality, and law enforcement and judicial attitudes (antiquitated and
misinformed) towards domestic violence. Domestic violence
victims/survivors are NOT damaged goods, and are entitled to the same
protections and rights and damages under the law (including the
constitution) as any other Plaintiff/victim, no matter who their
attacker is. This comes from a "good old boy"
city in which police
response to Domestic Violence is a joke, women reporting domestic
violence are frequently harassed by police regarding their mental
health
status and threatened with arrest or involuntary commitment to
psychiatric institutions, where perpetrators of domestic violence are
rarely
prosecuted
(and even allowed to retain possession of guns and concealed weapon
permits), where my abuser went into a police substation and
they
documented in writing that he was belligerent, lied to police, and
threatened to shoot me three times and nothing was done, and where
women
seeking protection orders are pressured or forced to obtain "mutual
restraining/protection orders" even when they themselves have
no
history
of violence. Organizations such as yours and others need to send a
clear message to the State of Texas and to the City of San Antonio
and
Bexar County and to the San Antonio Police Department that they:
1) Will not tolerate harassment of women reporting Domestic Violence and
Abuse;
2) That forced "mutual" restraining/protective orders are not
acceptable alternatives to judges taking the time to review materials
and determine who
actually committed violence and issue orders based on findings (as
required by Texas law);
3) That unequal treatment in the courts of law simply because a woman
has been a victim of Domestic Violence is insane;
4) That threatening callers reporting crimes (such as Domestic Violence)
will not be accepted by major DV agencies and women's groups;
5) That being handcuffed is NOT the equivalent of being arrested and NO
woman should submit to any unidentified man who has handcuffed and
is
now attacking her - nor should any legitimate police officer beat a
woman who is handcuffed and layiing prone on the pavement with him
sitting on
her back.
Interestingly, in the year that I filed my original complaint with the
SAPD and Internal Affairs, ALL complaints against the SAPD which were
actually investigated by Internal Affairs (including mine, where NO
conclusion was reached) were found to be "unsubstantiated or
inconclusive".
"San Antonio Express News
Web Posted: 05/16/2005 09:18 AM CDT
Mariano Castillo
Express-News Staff Writer
...
In particular, Chief Albert Ortiz pointed to a supplemental report he
gave the City Council together with the data — brief narratives of all
the inquiries
and formal complaints filed against his department last year. In
2004, the department's internal affairs unit investigated seven
formal complaints
and five inquiries that didn't make it to the formal complaint
stage. All seven cases were ruled either unfounded or
inconclusive. "
All that means is that they didn't take ANY of those complaints
seriously, and that is nothing to brag about or hang your cowboy hat
on. So far I have
received lots of empathetic e-mails but no offers of action. I
realize and understand that no person or agency other than the
attorneys, jury,
judge,
witnesses, and parties have power to intervene in or influence a federal
lawsuit, but we do have the power to mobilize women and women's
organizations to speak out against police and judicial abuse of domestic
violence victims and survivors in Bexar County/San Antonio, Texas -
to
write
to local newspapers, appear on local broadcast media, and to incite
local women's groups (including NOW and similar organizations) to
say
"enough
is enough", these attitudes and actions are unacceptable, and women
and voters across America are not buying this. If you write,
please
don't mention my name or case, but you CAN contact any domestic violence
and/or women's rights agencies you wish to contact and write letters
to the editor and to the city and police in San Antonio, Texas letting
them know that the eyes of the world are watching, and women won't
stand
for their attempt to take women's rights and the issue of domestic
violence back by decades, nor will we continue to buy attacking the
victim
when
a perpetrator of a violent crime against a woman is on trial. I
wish I could fill the courtroom that day with educated women familiar
with the
tactics
of manipulation and power of abusers, to stare silently as each
perpetrator and accomplice tell their lies on the stand. Please
contact the
officials
listed below to demand that victims of domestic violence be given the
protection they need and deserve. It puts victims in harm's way
and at risk of taking the law into their own hands when domestic
violence is not taken seriously by officials. For additional info,
visit: http://www.drirene.com/catbox/index.php?showtopic=43924
Take action by
writing/calling the following:
City of San Antonio
PO Box 839966
San Antonio, Texas 78283
Mayor Phil Hardberger
City Hall Office
(210) 207-7060
Phone: 210-207-7060
Fax: 210-207-4168
Post Office Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 839966
San Antonio, Texas 78283-3966
City of San Antonio Attorney Physical Address
Office of the City Attorney
City Hall, Third Floor
100 South Flores
San Antonio, TX 78205
Telephone: (210) 207-8940 Fax: (210) 207-4004
City of San Antonio Attorney Mailing Address
Office of the City Attorney
City Hall
P.O. Box 839966
San Antonio, TX 78283
City of San Antonio Police Department
Mailing Address: PO Box 839948, San Antonio, TX 78283
Main Headquarters: 214 W. Nueva San Antonio, TX 78207
Chief of Police (210) 207-7360
CITY COUNCIL
District 1
Mary Alice P. Cisneros (210) 207-7279
District 2
Sheila D. McNeil (210) 207-7278
District 3
Roland Gutierrez (210) 207-7064
District 4
Philip A. Cortez (210) 207-7281
District 5
Lourdes Galvan (210) 207-7043
District 6
Delicia Herrera (210) 207-7065
District 7
Justin Rodriguez (210) 207-7044
District 8
Diane G. Cibrian (210) 207-7086
District 9
Kevin Wolff (210) 207-7325
District 10
John G. Clamp (210) 207-7276
Take
Action to Stop Prisoner Abuse in Gatesville, TX: This
request concerns prisoners and a terrifying outbreak of prison abuse at
the Alfred
D. Hughes prison in Gatesville, TX. We have no doubt
that there are youth in this facility along with the adults who do not
know how to defend
themselves.
Justice for Juveniles is asking for letters or for phone calls to
officials to expose these abuses which include prisoners being beat up
by several guards, sexual assaults, guards paying off prisoners to beat
up other prisoners, and guards stealing personal belongings from
prisoners while they are out of their cells.
Once Prisoners refuse to beat up other inmates for the guards, guards
make it clear that the prisoner is now a target causing terrifying fear
among all inmates in the institution. This
type of barbaric inhuman behavior and intimidation must be stopped
immediately. Please contact the following officials in Texas. You
may or may not state your name. PLEASE
take a few minutes to compose a letter and send it to any or all of the
below officials, Or just pick up your phones and call right away!
Thank
you for taking some time from your
busy life to help fellow human beings
in a dire situation!!
OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL:
John M. Moriarty ,
Office of Inspector General, P.O. Box 13084,
Austin, TX 78711-3084
FBI Dallas,
One Justice Way,Dallas, TX 75220,
http://dallas.
fbi.gov, (972)559-5000;
FBI El Paso, 660 S Mesa Hills Drive, El Paso,
Texas
79912-5533, http://elpaso.
fbi.gov, 915-832-5000;
FBI Houston, 2500 East TC Jester, Houston, TX
77008-1300, http://houston.
fbi.gov/, 713-693-5000;
FBI San Antonio, Suite 200, U.S. Post Office
Courthouse
Bldg., 615 East Houston Street, San Antonio, TX
78205-9998,
210-225-6741,
http://sanantonio.
fbi.gov/
Write the problem/issues
to:
LEGISLATORS Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, President
of the Senate and Joint Chairman of Texas Legislative
Council, The Capitol, Austin, TX
78711-2068, 512-463-0001, 1-800-441-0373, Fax:
512-936-6700
Senate Committee on Criminal Justice-Committee
Information, P.O.Box 12068, Capitol Station, Austin,
TX 78711
Representative Jerry Madden, Chair, House
Committee on
Corrections, Room: EXT E1.506, P.O. Box 2910, Austin,
TX 78768-2910,
P:512-463-0544
Please
click here to join our Freedom of Religion for Native American Inmates
Petition: http://www.Petition
Online.com/
inipi/petition.
html
Tell
Montana Corrections to Stop Discrimination and Abuse of Native American
Employees and Inmates: A
Native American female guard had to quit because she was told by Officer
D Smith and Unit Manager Lamey she wasn't a "team player",
meaning she wouldn't join in the harassment of prisoners. She was
harassed by guards till she finally quit. One
of the inmates is being labeled, and a guard told his family that something could possibly happen to him for ratting on guards and an
inmates. This is not true of the inmate, yet the guards are labeling
him. Mr. Bartosh, the Program Manager, was led off the property for having sex
with a women inmate (women were temporarily housed at Shelby), and
getting one pregnant. Yet he is allowed to stay because he is a
"team" player. Mr.
Edmunson, an African American inmate who was held at CCC was openly and
bluntly called a nigger by Officer Erickson and who also called another
African American a nigger while both were in Administrative Segregation.
Officer Lamey was led off the job for coming to work intoxicated on
pills. Yet, he is also still there.
Unit manager Sturchio classifies minorities and Native Americans to C
pod as close custody inmates, even though they are low or medium level
inmates. The inmates are kept there for extended periods, far longer
than normal. Mr. Edmunson was transferred back to Deer Lodge and placed
in SHU (Security housing unit); he was targeted because he had
documentations and
filed against CCA for discrimination. C-pod
was told to police their own units, but when something happens, they
lock inmates down blaming the minorities for the problems, while the
same unit manager is walking around with a giant Iron Cross on his
T-Shirt. A
State Representative was sent a packet by a Native American inmate with
specific incidence of
this behavior (of Unit manager Sturchio).
Both of them are not supposed to be on the property. Other Native
American guards have left after the Native American female guard left.
The facts above
follow a long list of discriminative, abusive acts committed against
Native American inmates in this facility. In
July, 2006, in front of the Native American inmates, Officer Abbott made
very disrespectful, demeaning comments about the sweat lodge blanket and
the behavior of the inmates during the sweatlodge.Officer Lindy made
derogatory comments referring to Native American religious beliefs while
the inmates were requesting buckets of water for the ceremony. Such
comments are very common, and due to this type of behavior a meeting was
held to help address and resolve such behavior and attitudes toward
Native Americans and their religion. However the situation is not any
better. Officer
Abbott was reported to use vulgar language and holler during the sweat
lodge ceremony. He said he could do this because he claims he has Native
American blood somewhere in his family. A Captain was called by the
inmates, and an informal resolution was written and submitted. Native
American inmate Octave Finley was pulled into intake where Lt. Stewart
told another officer to leave, and in an intimidating manner asked the
inmate if he was a spy and how he got the job. Also
Lt. Stewart and Program Director Ms. Baer were both taking turns having
inmate Finley, who is about 5" tall and 105 lbs, face the
wall and pat search him for no reason at all. Later,
while the same Lt. Stewart brought the sweat lodge botanical to the
sweat lodge area, he made disrespectful remarks concerning the ceremony.
He only apologized because a native inmate said he would file a prior
informal resolution on him and document the remarks. A
few months earlier, the
same Lt. Stewart had ordered a federal inmate to
go back to his pod after the latter told him he was suicidal. A few
hours later the inmate
attempted suicide by cutting his own throat.
This type of
discriminatory harassment, derogatory statements, and disrespectful
treatment of
Native Americans was supposed to stop after the May
2006 meeting with state officials. But, as was stated in the meeting, it
would be business
as usual at CCA, regardless of any MT DOC policies.
To support the Native
American inmates, please send a respectful letter to the MT Department
of Corrections requesting their assistance to put an end to the
harassment and discrimination at CCC in Shelby. MT
DOC Director Mike Ferriter governor@mt.
gov Administrative
Officer tward@state.
mt.us or Ted Ward.
READ
AND SIGN THE HEAL AUTHORED PETITION TO FREE INNOCENT GRANDMOTHER, KEENYA
CURRY: Take Action
Now At: http://www.petitiononline.com/freekc/petition.html.
To learn more about Keenya's case, visit: http://torley.org/Keenya-Curry/Keenya-Curry/
SIGN
PETITION TO END TORTURE IN U.S. PRISONS: To
learn more and sign, visit: http://www.petition
online.com/
9746RRSR/
petition.
html
SIGN
PETITION DEMANDING FAIR GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES FOR DEATH ROW INMATES IN
TX: Please
sign and forward widely Ensuring
a Fair Grievance Process for all Prisoners on Texas Death Row.
Sign Now At: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/555460550
Please
Read & Sign Petition Demanding an End to Cruel Solitary
Confinement Conditions in TX Prisons:
To
learn more and sign this petition,
visit: http://www.petitiononline.com/lockup/petition.html
TELL
CONGRESS TO VOTE YES ON HR 4466, THE FAMILY TELEPHONE CONNECTION
PROTECTION ACT: The
purpose of this bill is "to
amend
the Communications Act of 1934 to require the Federal Communications
Commission to prescribe rules regulating inmate telephone service
rates." Prisoners in
the US and their friends and families are getting royally screwed by
MCI, which has monopolized most prison telephone
services for inmates. For
example, Angela, HEAL's coordinator, penpals with multiple inmates.
She's given her phone number to a couple
of them and encouraged them to call.
However, she will not accept collect calls.
And, as things stand, will not be able to communicate
with her
new friends by phone unless this bill passes.
Inmates may now purchase phone cards with their commissary
money. Even if they use
the phone
cards they purchase, they cannot get through to their loved ones and
their friends cannot hear from them by phone unless the party
being called
accepts collect call charges. Basically,
MCI and other phone companies, are using the terrible social situation
of inmates and their loved ones
to extort monies they would not be due otherwise.
Please stop phone companies from ripping off inmates and their
loved ones by double-charging+
those forced to use their service by circumstance.
Write your Representatives and Senators now by visiting: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
and
sign petition in support of regulating phone companies providing
service to prisoners and their families by visiting:
http://www.petitiononline.com/stop_mci/petition.html
Sign
Petition Demanding Parole Hearing for Manuel Tomas Lujan:
Manuel is
currently being tortured in the MSU (aka HSU, SHU, or behavior
modification unit).
He is eligible for parole but is being denied a hearing until
he is effectively mentally destroyed and rebuilt by prison staff.
Please help him now by signing the petition at:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/962744711
PLEASE
HELP FREE GEORGE MARTORANO:
George is one of the longest serving non-violent offender in the
federal prison system to date. He
has served over 23 years in prison.
Please sign petition demanding his parole at:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/330451772
Learn more about George's case at: www.freegeorge.us
and http://freegeorgemartorano.blogspot.com
Also, see the news article at: http://tampa.
creativeloafing.
com/gyrobase/
Content?oid=
oid%3A268555 Federal inmate George Martorano will be going
in front of a judge in the near future- we need letters that support
his release- if you don't know who George is or enough about him, you
may visit the www.freegeorge.
us or www.webelievegroup.
com websites - we ask that any and all letters be mailed to
the...
WeBelieveGroup
Po Box 41491
Saint Petersburg Fl 33743
we will wait for word from the lawyers as to what we do with them, but
we really want to be ready ahead of time. They don't have to be
2-3 pages by any means, just a paragraph or two about why you think 24
years is enough, and/or how George would be of no threat, and/or how
George could help with youth on the outside-- how are prisons are full
and guys like George that should be released, should be. You can talk
of the disparities of sentencing-etc etc
SUPPORT
THE CHRISTOPHER BILL - THE JUVENILE JUSTICE REFORM ACT:
In SC and other US states, children as young as 10 are being
arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced as adults under mandatory
sentencing mandates. Children are being sentenced to mandatory terms
created to net young people involved in gang violence and the drug
trades. Children are being sentenced to life without parole. Often
under the
influence of prescription drugs, otherwise average and above average
children commit unthinkable crimes. These children are then thrown
into a
court and sentencing system designed for hardcore adult criminals.
Mandatory sentencing does not take into consideration the past
non-violent social
history or the effects strong prescription drugs have on young minds.
The results are ruined young lives. We need your support. Please
sign this
petition and lend your name to the pursuit of Juvenile Justice.
Your signature will affirm the belief that we need this
slightly major problem corrected.
Immediately. Please give a moment of your life so
that children will retain many moments for their own lives. You
do make a difference.
Sign petition at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/429258617?ltl=1114901126#
SIGN
PETITION TO STOP PRISONER ABUSE IN MICHIGAN:
To read and sign this important petition, please visit: http://www.petitiononline.com/HVFabuse/petition.html
SIGN
PETITION DEMANDING RELEASE
of Eric Brennesholtz: To
learn about this case and sign the petition visit: http://www.petitiononline.com/rl62203/petition.html.
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WRITE
LETTER DEMANDING BRYAN EPIS’ FREEDOM NOW!:
Bryan Epis, a
medical marijuana patient and provider who was sentenced to ten
years in prison after being convicted in federal court in
2002. Bryan was
released last year, pending re-sentencing, following the US
Supreme Court's Blakely ruling. DRCNet participated in a major
demonstration in Sacramento on the day of his sentencing, and we
have also gotten to know Bryan personally after he was released,
two years later, pending re-sentencing after the Supreme Court's
rulings in Blakely and Booker began to change the way federal
sentencing works. A victory in the recent Raich medical marijuana
case would have given Bryan a new trial, during which he
presumably would have been allowed to present evidence that he was
providing medical marijuana to patients in compliance with
California law. Unfortunately that didn't happen. But the Supreme
Court rulings now give Judge Frank Damrell the power to give Bryan
a shorter sentence this time, toward which the two years Bryan has
already spent behind bars would count. Judge Damrell will
pronounce his new sentence on August 1, 9:30am. Prosecutor Samuel
Wong has asked that the same ten year sentence be imposed again.
We are writing you today to ask that you send letters to Judge
Damrell in support of Bryan -- especially those of you who have
conditions for which medical marijuana is an effective treatment,
those of you who have seen loved ones with painful medical
conditions gain some relief from medical marijuana, and those of
you who know Bryan personally and can attest with concrete
examples as to what a good and kind person he is. Bryan's attorney
thinks that Judge Damrell probably does not believe that marijuana
is a legitimate medicine, and your personal testimonials could
help to persuade him otherwise. Regardless of what you have to
say, please be sure that your letters are respectful. Judge
Damrell has the power to sentence Bryan to as much as ten years or
as little as time served. This is not a moment when righteous
anger will help our cause -- save it for the next time when it
will. The same request applies to any of you who attend the
hearing to show support in person, as well as to dress
conservatively. Letters should be addressed to: Please
write on the envelope and at the top of the letter: "Re:
Sentencing of Bryan Epis, #97-381." Please also send copies
of your letter to us at drcnet@drcnet.org
or by fax to (202) 293-4414, and to Bryan's attorney, Brenda
Grantland, at (415) 381-6105 or brenda1@fear.org.
Also, if you are interested you can read Bryan's Sentencing
Memorandum at http://www.bestlodging.com/sentencing.pdf
online. (The web site http://www.bestlodging.com
is also Bryan's online travel business -- another way you can
support an activist if you have bookings to make.)
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SIGN
PETITION TO BAN THE CRUEL AND UNUSUAL LETHAL INJECTION: This
petition is to stop the use of lethal injection, and the use of
pancuronium bromide, to execute human beings. Pavulon, which was a brand
name for pancuronium bromide has been taken off the market in the USA,
and the American Veterinary Medical Association for the euthanasia of
animals does not allow it's use, and is banned for the use of
animals in
at least 19 states, although it's used for inmate executions. This drug
can cause extreme suffering and act like a "veil" to witnesses
because of it's
paralyzing effect. This drug can make it impossible to be able to tell
whether an animal is in fact conscious or unconscious. Pancuronium bromide
can render an inmate conscious and aware but unable to speak or move.
Please sign petition today at by visiting: http://www.petitiononline.com/needles/petition.html
SIGN
PETITION DEMANDING CLEMENCY FOR VICTIM OF VIOLENCE:
Please
read and sign the petition demanding clemency for Robert Shelley.
Shelley was convicted of murder and has served the last 30 years
in prison. He was 19 years
old at the time of conviction. Suspected NAMBLA
member, Mr. Dubbels (the victim), preyed on young men and boys.
He was under investigation for child rape at the time of his
death. Dubbels
met Shelley at and pursued intoxicating Shelley with licquor.
When Shelley was inebriated beyond coherency Dubbles attempted to
rape him.
In self-defense, Shelley used “excessive” force, which
resulted in the death of Dubbles. Please
sign the online petition today to free the real victim
in this case, sign at: www.petitiononline.com/FreeRJS/petition.html
SIGN
PETITION DEMANDING AN END TO INSTITUTIONALIZED ABUSE AT FEDERAL
PRISONS!—You
may read and sign the online petition
by visiting: http://www.petitiononline.com/PA2004/petition.html
SIGN
PETITION DEMANDING INVESTIGATION AND END TO TORTURE IS US PRISONS!--
We
ask for a federal investigation into the illegal
actions of the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, and we ask that any
further federal funding of our tax money, not be used to fund this illegal
activity, and abuse of power. To
sign visit: http://www.petitiononline.com/gm2398/
SIGN
PETITION TO BAN CENSORSHIP IN TEXAS PRISONS:
Texas legislators
have instituted a ban on free speech, free expression, and certain
books and publications. Please
sign petition in support of democracy, visit http://www.petitiononline.com/1stamend/petition.html
now!
SUPPORT
LEONARD PELTIER NOW!--
Hey folks--Check it out! The underground classic Just re-released!!
The Words of Leonard Peltier in a Spoken-Word
Performance by Harvey Arden with haunting original music by Rev. Goat
Carson, George Ingmire, Harry Lenz and Michael Voelker--'New
Orleans Light'. Listen
at http://cdbaby.com/cd/harveyarden
And be sure to check out www.haveyouthought.com
for signed books.
Also Leonard's
own website: http://www.leonardpeltier.org/
SIGN
PETITION IN SUPPORT OF THE VIRGINIA LITERACY, EDUCATION, AND
REHABILITATION ACT: Here
are the links to the Virginia Literacy,
Education, and Rehabilitation Act (formerly introduced as HB 2293 and SB
1254 in 2003, HB 362 and SB 75 in 2004, SB 805 in 2005): The
petition online: http://www.petitiononline.com/VaLERA/petition.html
Demand
Tough Penalties for Prison Guards and Cops Who Commit Torture and
Violate Human and Civil Rights Laws:
Read
and sign the
petition at: http://www.petitiononline.com/qe3r2233/petition-sign.html
SIGN
PETITION DEMANDING VOTING RIGHTS FOR CONVICTS!—Please
take a moment to sign petition demanding voting rights for convicts
and protect democracy now! To
sign, visit: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/456501425
WRITE
TODAY TO SAVE A YOUNG AUSTRALIAN WOMAN’S LIFE!:
This
is a call for action to help save a young Australian woman's life who
is currently facing
the death penalty in Bali for allegedly being caught with marijuana in
a Balinese airport: A 27
year old Australian woman named Schapelle Leigh Corby, is facing
the death
penalty in Bali for being caught with 4 kilos of marijuana in her
luggage at an airport in Bali. Ms Corby claims the marijuana was not
hers and many of her supporters believe
the marijuana may have been planted in her bag because marijuana tends
to be smuggled out of Bali, rather than into Bali & because the
prices for cannabis in Bali are
much lower than the prices for cannabis in Australia. Balinese
authorities are asking for the death sentence for Ms Corby, who's
trial could begin in just a couple of months.
Balinese authorities wish to sentence Ms Corby to death by a firing
squad. To learn more
about her case click
here. *Please Take a
moment to help save this poor woman's
life. Here is what you can do:
Write to
the Australian Prime Minister and email the Australian Foreign
Minister of Affairs and ask them to take action to place pressure on
the Balinese Government to release
Schapelle Leigh Corby and to encourage Australians & the rest of
the world to publicly boycott traveling to Bali until they set this
woman free. I urge you to
also contact
the Indonesian Consulate in Australia and let them know you plan to
boycott traveling to Bali unless they set Schapelle Leigh Corby free.
(I have not had luck finding a
direct contact to the Indonesian Consulate within Indonesia. If anyone
out there happens to know, please email it to me at: rboje@hotmail.com
and I will circulate this as well.)
Write to:
The
Australian Prime Minister:
John
Howard
House of
Representatives
Parliament
House
Canberra
ACT 2600
Australia
Email:
The
Australian foreign affairs Minister:
Alexander
Downer
A.Downer.MP@aph.gov.au
Write to:
Consulate
General - Republic of Indonesia
72 Queens
Road
Melbourne
3004
Victoria,
Australia
Email the
Indonesian Consulate in Australia:
KJRI@KJRI-MELBOURNE.ORG
to
approve Flozelle's parole is October 23rd.
SIGN
PETITION DEMANDING KENTUCKY TO TAKE MENTALLY RETARDED MAN OFF DEATH
ROW!—Thomas
Bowling is a mentally disabled
man who should be in a hospital, not on death row.
Please take a moment to read the details of his case and to sign
the petition demanding
his clemency. For info and
to take action, visit:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/849542885
SIGN
PETITION DEMANDING JUSTICE FOR EDDIE AMMONS: Eddie
Ammons is innocent. He
committed no crime. It was
self-defense. Sign
the petition by visiting: http://www.petitiononline.com/EAmmons/petition.html
SIGN
PETITION DEMANDING JUSTICE FOR KEN LETT:
Man attacked by gang in store parking lot used lethal force (a
gun) in self-defense. The
public defender and police involved were related to members of the gang
in question.
Please sign petition demanding the governor look at the
facts of this case and consider a pardon in this case.
Visit the petition for more info and to take action at:
http://petitiononline.com/KenGLett/petition.html
SIGN
PETITION DEMANDING 2ND CHANCE FOR VIRGINIA INMATES: A
retroactive law was created (sounds unconstitutional to us) that makes
inmates once eligible for parole ineligible.
It is a law that has outlawed the possibility of parole for many
nonviolent offenders. Please
sign this
petition and demand that people get a 2nd chance at life.
Visit http://www.petitiononline.com/noparole/petition.html
and sign today.
SIGN
PETITION DEMANDING THE FREEDOM OF ROBERT GABRIELSON!--
Bev Gabrielson bgma43@yahoo.com loves
her husband very much.
She has done a petition to try to stop the extradition of her husband to
another state for a probation violation nonviolent offense. He is
very loved
and much needed at home. She would needs any and all help if
possible to make his coming home a reality.
Sign petition now at: http://www.petitiononline.com/duima/petition.html
SIGN
PETITION DEMANDING CLEAN WATER FOR WOMEN IN PRISON NOW!--
Please take a moment to read and sign the petition below. Hobby
Unit, Texas is an all female prison with a long documented history of contaminated
water being given to the prisoners.
In summer heat of 120
degree temps easily reached ...this is life threatening situation
between the heat and contaminated water supplies for these women.
Please sign
at: http://www.petitiononline.com/badwater/petition.html
SIGN
PETITION DEMANDING PROPER MEDICAL TREATMENT AND CLEAN WATER FOR U.S.
CONVICTS/PRISONERS NOW!—West Nile
virus is spreading in epidemic proportion among the nations prisoners.
Please take a moment to demand proper medical care for
prisoners and
the public by visiting and signing the petition at: http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?westnile
SIGN
PETITION TO PASS HR 4752, GRANTING PRISONERS CREDIT FOR EDUCATION/WORK
DONE WHILE INCARCERATED--
H.R. 4752
Title: To amend title 18, United States Code, to award credit toward the
service of a sentence to prisoners who participate in designated educational,
vocational, treatment, assigned work, or other developmental programs,
and for other purposes. Help
make this a reality! Sign today
at: http://www.petitiononline.com/LERA/petition.html
SIGN
PETITION DEMANDING THAT CONGRESS TAKE ACTION AGAINST PRISONER ABUSE
NOW!—Please take a moment
to sign the petition
against prisoner abuse and demand action now!
Sign petition at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/PA2004/petition.html
SIGN
PETITION TO STOP TORTURE IN U.S. PRISONS!—Please
take a moment to sign the petition that exposes the torture within
U.S. borders
of prisoners and demands change now!
Sign petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/safety04/petition.html
SIGN
PETITION TO FREE JOHN MOSS NOW!—John
Moss was falsely convicted and has served over 22 years in prison.
Please request executive
clemency for this innocent man! For
details and to sign the petition, visit: http://www.petitiononline.com/johnmoss/petition.html
and http://www.geocities.com/freechewy
SIGN
PETITION DEMANDING THE RELEASE OF PAROLE ELIGIBLE INMATES IN VIRGINIA
NOW!—Please
take a moment to read and sign
the petition demanding that Governor Warner enforce humane parole
standards in the state of Virginia.
Visit http://www.petitiononline.com/vacure01/petition.html
and sign today!
SIGN
PETITION DEMANDING THAT THE DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS REINSTATE PAROLE, GOOD
TIME EARNINGS, AND EARLY RELEASE
FOR GOOD BEHAVIOR FOR NONVIOLENT CRIMINALS!—Please
take a moment to read and sign the petition demanding that the
Dept. of Corrections treats families and incarcerated nonviolent
citizens with humanity and respect.
Visit
http://www.petitiononline.com/lazizkmu/
and sign today!
SIGN
PETITION REQUESTING THAT MS. OLLIN CRAWFORD BE RELEASED FOR TIME SERVED
NOW!—Please
take a moment to read
and
sign the petition demanding the release of Ms. Crawford, a release that
even her sentencing judge is calling for.
Visit http://www.petitiononline.com/advo1001/
and sign today!
SIGN
PETITION DEMANDING THE REVOCATION OF UNFAIR PRISON LAWS, INCLUDING
FLORIDA’S THREE STRIKES LAW!—Please
take a moment to read and sign the petition demanding the end to unfair
prison laws, including Florida’s Three Strikes Law.
Visit http://www.petitiononline.com/reoffend/petition.html
and sign today!
CHANGE
THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL FELONY MURDER RULE NOW!—Visit
and read and sign the petition now:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/787430994?ts=1080018818&sign[partner_userID]=279586861&sign[memberID]=279586861&sign[partnerID]=1
INNOCENT
WOMAN ON DEATH ROW IN TEXAS, SIGN PETITION TO RE-EXAMINE CASE NOW!—Darlie
Lynn Routier was found guilty of murdering
two of her children as well as nearly fatally stabbing herself to death
and slashing her own throat. Her
husband, remaining child, family, and
community think she is innocent. However,
the police are believed to have tampered with evidence to frame her.
Please take a moment to sign
the online petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/RLHayes/
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