His name was Troy Davis.
Remember that when the last death chamber in this country is dismantled one day.
It will be soon...
Remember that when the last death chamber in this country is dismantled one day.
It will be soon...
Showing posts with label georgia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label georgia. Show all posts
Thursday, September 22, 2011
A million hearts just shattered: the execution of Troy Davis.
Solidarity Vigil for Troy
Arizona State University Hayden Lawn
September 21. 2011
Arizona State University Hayden Lawn
September 21. 2011
Troy Davis was murdered tonight by the state of Georgia and the US Supreme Court,
and a million hearts were shattered.
Blessings to his family, who lost the most. We will not give up this fight.
Blessings to his family, who lost the most. We will not give up this fight.
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The Georgia execution, carried out amid so many reasonable doubts, marks a watershed in America's grim experiment with capital punishment
In a perfect world, the execution of Troy Davis Wednesday tonight in Georgia would herald a new era in America's grim history with the death penalty. It would shake the criminal justice system out of its self-satisfied torpor and force government and the governed both to face the ugly truth about capital punishment in the United States in the twenty-first century. It would propel this question to the forefront both of the nation's political debate and the Supreme Court's docket: How many exceptions to the rule must we allow or tolerate, how many legitimate questions must linger beyond the death chamber, before we either fix the system or end the experiment?
In a perfect world, the execution of Troy Davis Wednesday tonight in Georgia would herald a new era in America's grim history with the death penalty. It would shake the criminal justice system out of its self-satisfied torpor and force government and the governed both to face the ugly truth about capital punishment in the United States in the twenty-first century. It would propel this question to the forefront both of the nation's political debate and the Supreme Court's docket: How many exceptions to the rule must we allow or tolerate, how many legitimate questions must linger beyond the death chamber, before we either fix the system or end the experiment?
When the state kills those whose guilt is in serious doubt, or when the state kills those to whom it has not given fair justice, it doesn't just perform an injustice upon the individual, the rule of law, and the Constitution. It also undermines the very legitimacy of the death penalty itself, for its continuing use as a sentencing option derives its civic and moral strength mostly from the fiction that it can be, and is, credibly and reliably imposed. Once our confidence in that credibility is shattered, as it should be now that Davis is gone, all that's left of the death penalty is state-sponsored retribution and the hangman's noose.
In a perfect world, the haunting execution of Troy Davis would spawn vital reforms to the clemency and parole process in states like Georgia and Texas, where such proceedings routinely make a mockery of the idea of reasoned justice. It would light a fire under local prosecutors to ensure that witnesses in capital cases are not coerced by law enforcement officials. It would cause jurors to think twice about rushing to judgments. It would force a supine Congress to reevaluate its so-called "effective death penalty" statute, which neuters legitimate post-conviction appeals. And it would at long last shame state court judges to cast off the yoke of their campaign contributors, who push them to be "tough on crime" at the expense of fealty to the Bill of Rights.
Georgia says that it has given Davis more due process than any single man would have a right to expect. Up the state appellate ladder and down again. Up to the Supreme Court and back. Hearing upon hearing. Brief upon brief. At some point, Georgia says, there has to be finality in capital cases. At some point, the justice system has to accept the work of judges and juries and impose the sentence that was initially given. There is truth to all of this. And there is both rhyme and reason to many of the rules which govern appellate law and practice in capital cases. But those rules almost always place the state's interest in finality ahead of the condemned's interest in accuracy. "Enough is enough" is a great campaign slogan -- but it's hardly a worthy motto for a civilized nation's death penalty scheme.
Here's what Davis was up against, to cite just one example. Last summer, at the request of the United States Supreme Court, U.S. District Judge William Moore held an evidentiary hearing to examine the new claims, and new evidence, presented by Davis and his attorneys. Under federal law, Judge Moore reminded the litigants and the world, Davis had the nearly insurmountable post-conviction burden of establishing by "clear and convincing evidence'' that no reasonable juror would have convicted him based upon the new evidence. Applying that standard, which flips on its head the standard applied at trial, Judge Moore unsurprisingly held that Davis had failed to meet his burden.
In a perfect world, Davis would have had his new evidence evaluated under a legal standard more tuned to ensuring the reliability and accuracy of his conviction rather than upon the timing of his execution. His case wouldn't have been shoved like so many of the rest down a sterile and formalistic legal hole forced upon the federal courts by the Clinton-era Congress. And, even if it somehow were, even if the justice system failed, Davis would have had a parole board willing to acknowledge what seems so self-evident; that an uncertain death sentence harms more than just the executed.
Last week, in an op-ed which appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, William Sessions, the former federal judge and FBI director, and a man not known for willy-nilly considerations, once again called upon Georgia to halt Davis' execution. His view of the 2010 hearing is the most accurate view I've read yet and is quite chilling. Judge Sessions wrote:
What the hearing demonstrated most conclusively was that the evidence in this case -- consisting almost entirely of conflicting stories, testimonies and statements -- is inadequate to the task of convincingly establishing either Davis' guilt or his innocence. Without DNA or other forms of physical or scientific evidence that can be objectively measured and tested, it is possible that doubts about guilt in this case will never be resolved.
Alas, the world, and the world of capital punishment in America, are far from perfect. When Georgia executed Troy Davis, despite the grave doubts cast upon his capital conviction, it wasn't just thumbing its nose at the new evidence which tends to exonerate him. It wasn't just ignoring the considered judgments of experts in criminal justice and capital cases. It wasn't just winking and nodding at the protections of the "cruel and unusual" clause of the Eighth Amendment. It was instead declaring war on all of that. It was proudly proclaiming its infidelity to a fundamental premise of American law -- that the courts, and the state, will always try their best to get things right no matter how long it takes.
Now that's he gone from the face of the earth, and whether he was guilty or not, Troy Davis will leave one of two legacies. Either his story will fade with time, as have the stories of so many other men executed under a cloud of questions about their guilt, or his story will propel meaningful change in this area of the law. His many supporters, in and out of public life, hold in their hands the ability to determine that legacy. What they could not accomplish during his lifetime they may still try to accomplish in his death; a renewed appreciation for the notion that no man, neither the high nor the low, neither the rich nor the poor, neither white nor black, deserves the lamentable injustice done this day.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/09/the-death-of-troy-davis/245446/
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Troy Davis: Stay of Execution?
UPDATE (9/21/2011 9:35pm):
Troy's stay was denied and he was executed tonight.
Rest in Freedom, Brother Troy.
Troy's stay was denied and he was executed tonight.
Rest in Freedom, Brother Troy.
The key word is "considers", though - this isn't over yet. Show them we're ready to abolish the death penalty in America...Maybe we have finally evolved.
Ed Pilkington in Jackson, Georgia and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 21 September 2011 19.24 EDT
The execution of Troy Davis was delayed temporarily on Wednesday night as the US supreme court considered a last-minute appeal just as he was due to be put to death by lethal injection.
As the first news came in at the Jackson prison that houses death row, a huge cheer erupted from a crowd of more than 500 protesters that had amassed on the other side of the road.
Davis's supporters kissed each other and threw placards which read "Not in my name" into the air.
But the jubilation was short-lived. Talk of a reprieve from the US supreme court quickly gave way to rumours of a stay, and finally the realisation that the court had only ordered a temporary delay as it considered the matter. The mood then grew more sombre as the waiting game that has now been going on for years with Davis resumed.
Until the delay it seemed almost certain that Davis would be executed. Earlier on Wednesday, Georgia's supreme court had rejected a last-ditch appeal by Davis's lawyers over the 1989 murder of off-duty policeman Mark MacPhail, for which Davis had been convicted despite overwhelming evidence that the conviction is unreliable.
A Butts County superior court judge had also declined to stop the execution.
Davis's attorneys had filed an appeal challenging ballistics evidence linking Davis to the crime, and eyewitness testimony identifying Davis as the killer.
The White House declined to comment on the case, saying: "It is not appropriate for the president of the United States to weigh in on specific cases."
At the maximum security prison in Jackson where the execution was scheduled to take place, busloads of Troy Davis supporters from his home town of Savannah came in to register their anger and despair at what they all agree is the planned judicial killing of an innocent man.
Edward DuBose, a leader of the Georgia branch of the NAACP, said it was not an execution, but a "murder".
The protest heard from Martina Correia, Davis's eldest sister, who delivered a statement from about 20 family members gathered around her. She was heavily critical of what she described as the defiance of the state of Georgia and its inability to admit that it had made a mistake.
She pointed out that the state's parole board had vowed in 2007 that no execution would take place if there was any doubt. "Every year there is more and more doubt yet still the state pushes for an execution," she said.
Correia, who has cancer, struggled to her feet in honour of her brother, just a few hours from his probable death. But she exhorted people not to give up.
"if you can get millions of people to stand up against this you can end the death penalty. We shouldn't have to live in a state that executes people when there's doubt."
DuBose gave an account of a 30-minute conversation he had with Davis on death row on Tuesday night. "Troy wanted me to let you know – keep the faith. The fight is bigger than him."
DuBose said that whether the execution went ahead or not, the fight would continue. He said Davis wants his case to set an example "that the death penalty in this country needs to end. They call it execution; we call it murder."
Hundreds of people gathered outside the prison, many wearing T-shirts that said: "I am Troy Davis". The activist Al Sharpton said: "What is facing execution tonight is not just the body of Troy Davis, but the spirit of due justice in the state of Georgia."
Larry Coz, the executive director of Amnesty in the US, which has led the international campaign for clemency, said demonstrations were happening outside US embassies in France, Mali, Hong Kong, Peru, Germany and the UK.
"We will not stop fighting until we live in a world where no state thinks it can kill innocent people."
After winning three delays since 2007, Davis lost an appeal for clemency this week when the Georgia pardons board denied his request, despite serious doubts about his guilt.
Some witnesses who testified against Davis at trial later recanted, and others who did not testify came forward to say another man did it. But a federal judge dismissed those accounts as "largely smoke and mirrors" after a hearing Davis was granted last year to argue for a new trial, which he did not win.
Davis refused a last meal. He planned to spend his final hours meeting with friends, family and supporters.
Davis has received support from hundreds of thousands of people, including a former FBI director, former president Jimmy Carter and Pope Benedict XVI.
Parliamentarians and government ministers from the Council of Europe, the EU's human rights watchdog, had earlier called for Davis's sentence to be commuted.
Renate Wohlwend of the council's parliamentary assembly said: "To carry out this irrevocable act now would be a terrible mistake, which could lead to a tragic injustice"...
-------------------------
Troy Davis execution delayed while US supreme court considers stay
Execution of death row inmate delayed temporarily as US supreme court intervenes to consider whether to issue a stay
Ed Pilkington in Jackson, Georgia and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 21 September 2011 19.24 EDT
The execution of Troy Davis was delayed temporarily on Wednesday night as the US supreme court considered a last-minute appeal just as he was due to be put to death by lethal injection.
As the first news came in at the Jackson prison that houses death row, a huge cheer erupted from a crowd of more than 500 protesters that had amassed on the other side of the road.
Davis's supporters kissed each other and threw placards which read "Not in my name" into the air.
But the jubilation was short-lived. Talk of a reprieve from the US supreme court quickly gave way to rumours of a stay, and finally the realisation that the court had only ordered a temporary delay as it considered the matter. The mood then grew more sombre as the waiting game that has now been going on for years with Davis resumed.
Until the delay it seemed almost certain that Davis would be executed. Earlier on Wednesday, Georgia's supreme court had rejected a last-ditch appeal by Davis's lawyers over the 1989 murder of off-duty policeman Mark MacPhail, for which Davis had been convicted despite overwhelming evidence that the conviction is unreliable.
A Butts County superior court judge had also declined to stop the execution.
Davis's attorneys had filed an appeal challenging ballistics evidence linking Davis to the crime, and eyewitness testimony identifying Davis as the killer.
The White House declined to comment on the case, saying: "It is not appropriate for the president of the United States to weigh in on specific cases."
At the maximum security prison in Jackson where the execution was scheduled to take place, busloads of Troy Davis supporters from his home town of Savannah came in to register their anger and despair at what they all agree is the planned judicial killing of an innocent man.
Edward DuBose, a leader of the Georgia branch of the NAACP, said it was not an execution, but a "murder".
The protest heard from Martina Correia, Davis's eldest sister, who delivered a statement from about 20 family members gathered around her. She was heavily critical of what she described as the defiance of the state of Georgia and its inability to admit that it had made a mistake.
She pointed out that the state's parole board had vowed in 2007 that no execution would take place if there was any doubt. "Every year there is more and more doubt yet still the state pushes for an execution," she said.
Correia, who has cancer, struggled to her feet in honour of her brother, just a few hours from his probable death. But she exhorted people not to give up.
"if you can get millions of people to stand up against this you can end the death penalty. We shouldn't have to live in a state that executes people when there's doubt."
DuBose gave an account of a 30-minute conversation he had with Davis on death row on Tuesday night. "Troy wanted me to let you know – keep the faith. The fight is bigger than him."
DuBose said that whether the execution went ahead or not, the fight would continue. He said Davis wants his case to set an example "that the death penalty in this country needs to end. They call it execution; we call it murder."
Hundreds of people gathered outside the prison, many wearing T-shirts that said: "I am Troy Davis". The activist Al Sharpton said: "What is facing execution tonight is not just the body of Troy Davis, but the spirit of due justice in the state of Georgia."
Larry Coz, the executive director of Amnesty in the US, which has led the international campaign for clemency, said demonstrations were happening outside US embassies in France, Mali, Hong Kong, Peru, Germany and the UK.
"We will not stop fighting until we live in a world where no state thinks it can kill innocent people."
After winning three delays since 2007, Davis lost an appeal for clemency this week when the Georgia pardons board denied his request, despite serious doubts about his guilt.
Some witnesses who testified against Davis at trial later recanted, and others who did not testify came forward to say another man did it. But a federal judge dismissed those accounts as "largely smoke and mirrors" after a hearing Davis was granted last year to argue for a new trial, which he did not win.
Davis refused a last meal. He planned to spend his final hours meeting with friends, family and supporters.
Davis has received support from hundreds of thousands of people, including a former FBI director, former president Jimmy Carter and Pope Benedict XVI.
Parliamentarians and government ministers from the Council of Europe, the EU's human rights watchdog, had earlier called for Davis's sentence to be commuted.
Renate Wohlwend of the council's parliamentary assembly said: "To carry out this irrevocable act now would be a terrible mistake, which could lead to a tragic injustice"...
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
I am Troy Davis...and I thank you all.
UPDATE (9/21/2011 6:26pm):SUPREME COURT GRANTS LAST-MINUTE STAY.
UPDATE (9/21/2011 9:35pm):
Troy's stay was denied
and he was executed tonight.
Rest in Freedom, Brother Troy.
Hey all,
Troy Davis is a black prisoner on Georgia's death row who they're planning to execute tomorrow, despite an overwhelming global effort to save him due to the reasonable doubt about his guilt: he couldn't even get a new trial based on the testimony that witnesses were coerced and most recanted their original statements and trial testimony (except the other suspect, of course, who implicated Troy in the brutal murder of a cop, and walked scott free).
You'd think the police all across the country would want to see the real killer off the streets and held accountable (he's laughing at them all now), but all they want is for Troy to die - which suggests they have no interest in "justice". Apparently justice takes too much work for the DA handling his case to tackle - though he'll fight to kill this man, whatever it takes. I guess it's easier to let an innocent man die (like a sacrifice to the gods to make the world right again) than to prove another is responsible - which they could probably never get a conviction on, at this point, they've botched this all so badly.
Many people still hold out hope for Troy despite the GA Clemency Board's denial of his plea today, so hit this site to show your support for true justice to prevail.
The following thank you with blessings and encouragement from Troy himself comes via Freedom Archives' Political Prisoner Newsletter - sign up for their list-serve...
---------------------------
Troy was found guilty of murdering a police officer 19 years ago, based upon the testimony of 9 witnesses. Today, 7 of those 9 have recanted their testimony entirely, and there are enormous problems with the testimony of the remaining 2 witness accounts. There is NO OTHER EVIDENCE. The murder weapon was never found. There is no DNA to test. Troy is scheduled to die by lethal injection on September 21, 2011.
To All:
I want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to Human Rights and Human Kindness, in the past year I have experienced such emotion, joy, sadness and never ending faith. It is because of all of you that I am alive today, as I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me she is the eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime.
As I look at my mail from across the globe, from places I have never ever dreamed I would know about and people speaking languages and expressing cultures and religions I could only hope to one day see first hand. I am humbled by the emotion that fills my heart with overwhelming, overflowing Joy. I can’t even explain the insurgence of emotion I feel when I try to express the strength I draw from you all, it compounds my faith and it shows me yet again that this is not a case about the death penalty, this is not a case about Troy Davis, this is a case about Justice and the Human Spirit to see Justice prevail.
I cannot answer all of your letters but I do read them all, I cannot see you all but I can imagine your faces, I cannot hear you speak but your letters take me to the far reaches of the world, I cannot touch you physically but I feel your warmth everyday I exist.
So Thank you and remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated. There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country.
I can’t wait to Stand with you, no matter if that is in physical or spiritual form, I will one day be announcing,
“I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!”
Never Stop Fighting for Justice and We will Win!
A message from Troy Anthony Davis
September 10, 2011
September 10, 2011
Troy was found guilty of murdering a police officer 19 years ago, based upon the testimony of 9 witnesses. Today, 7 of those 9 have recanted their testimony entirely, and there are enormous problems with the testimony of the remaining 2 witness accounts. There is NO OTHER EVIDENCE. The murder weapon was never found. There is no DNA to test. Troy is scheduled to die by lethal injection on September 21, 2011.
To All:
I want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to Human Rights and Human Kindness, in the past year I have experienced such emotion, joy, sadness and never ending faith. It is because of all of you that I am alive today, as I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me she is the eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime.
As I look at my mail from across the globe, from places I have never ever dreamed I would know about and people speaking languages and expressing cultures and religions I could only hope to one day see first hand. I am humbled by the emotion that fills my heart with overwhelming, overflowing Joy. I can’t even explain the insurgence of emotion I feel when I try to express the strength I draw from you all, it compounds my faith and it shows me yet again that this is not a case about the death penalty, this is not a case about Troy Davis, this is a case about Justice and the Human Spirit to see Justice prevail.
I cannot answer all of your letters but I do read them all, I cannot see you all but I can imagine your faces, I cannot hear you speak but your letters take me to the far reaches of the world, I cannot touch you physically but I feel your warmth everyday I exist.
So Thank you and remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated. There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country.
I can’t wait to Stand with you, no matter if that is in physical or spiritual form, I will one day be announcing,
“I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!”
Never Stop Fighting for Justice and We will Win!
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
Monday, February 21, 2011
Criminalization of Consciousness: Georgia Prison Strikers Beaten & Missing.
No meaningful prison reform has ever been achieved without a critical consciousness and the organized efforts of prisoners themselves, but to succeed this kind of resistance needs immediate and sustained support beyond prison walls. The GA Department of Corrections is making an example of the strikers for embarrassing them in front of national law enforcement - they will be as brutal and repressive as they can get away with being, and other states will follow suit if we let it stand.
The following intervention involves no risk to the free among us, and it's very little hassle compared to what these brothers have endured in order to be heard out here. For putting their own lives and liberty on the line defending the rights, dignity, and human potential of prisoners everywhere, please help amplify these voices. Don't let power hide them away.
-----------------------------
Protest Retaliation Against Georgia Prisoners
From: SF Bay View
by Mary Ratcliff, Feb 20, 2011
Georgia State Prison, Reidsville
If the military now running Egypt is as repressive as Mubarak, you know the Egyptians will be outraged. They won’t stand for it. Whenever we in the U.S. make a brave step forward … and are pushed back a couple of steps, we should be outraged too. And we should make some noise.On Dec. 9, thousands of prisoners in Georgia – prisoners from different prisons, of different races, ages and religions – made a very brave step forward. They all sat down at once, demanding a living wage for work, education opportunities, decent health care, an end to cruel and unusual punishment, decent living conditions, nutritional meals, vocational and self-improvement opportunities, access to families and just parole decisions. (The full list of demands, in the prisoners’ words, is reprinted below.) It was the biggest prison strike in U.S. history.
Eight days later, the newly formed Concerned Coalition to Protect Prisoners’ Rights met in Atlanta with Georgia prison officials, who, Bruce Dixon reported, told them they had “identified dozens of inmates whom they believed were leaders of the strike. They admitted confining these inmates to isolation and in some cases transferring them to other institutions.”
On Jan. 11, a Georgia prisoner sent a text message to Zak Solomon of the Concerned Coalition to Protect Prisoners’ Rights, saying: “Since the beatings of inmates with hammers by corrections staff, another approach by staff is taking place. Instead of the staff themselves beating inmates, they are allowing the so called gang bangers and so called thugs to do it and then they compensate them in some fashion, as well as protect them from disciplinary action.”
Yesterday, legendary prisoner advocate Kiilu Nyasha received text messages from a Georgia prisoner whose close friend is Eugene Thomas, known to Bay View readers for a number of stories, most recently “Still no news of 37 missing Georgia prison strikers,” in which he wrote, “Reidsville, where we are, is hiding some of those brothers. This place has a history of hiding people, as they did Imam Jamil A. Al-Amin [the former H. Rap Brown] before transferring him to federal prison in Florence, Colorado.”
Brother Eugene, his friend wrote to Kiilu, is the latest victim of retaliation.
“Dear sistah,” he wrote, ”This is Mabu from the Georgia prison movement. I am a close comrade of Bro. Eugene Thomas of Georgia State Prison [also known as Reidsville], who is a known activist for prisoners’ rights and a devout Muslim. This morning I received word that he and a 56-year-old inmate by the name of Willie Mosley had been locked down and placed in the hole for alleged exposure charges.
“Anyone who has been to Reidsville knows that there are steel doors that enclose one into the showers there. Brothers usually crack the large steel doors for two reasons: one, to place your clothes and towel on the outer corner of the door so they don’t get wet. And secondly, to be able to breathe amongst so much steam and heat in the shower.
“Now a white female officer by the name of Shannon Campbell has tried to slander the brothers’ character with such filthy accusations. These brothers have never had any history of such behavior and have a number of witnesses to prove them innocent. However, most prison infractions are judged at kangaroo courts within the system not by a group of the subjects’ peers but by the staff’s coworkers. All charges will be based on officer’s ‘factual statement.’
“It is no coincidence that Bro. Eugene is being framed up at such a time. He just recently wrote an inspiring piece for the SF Bay View and submitted images of prisoners in Reidsville enjoying the paper in a study group. This is merely Georgia prison authorities’ traditional form of retaliation by criminalizing consciousness.
“Please call Georgia State Prison to see that the brothers get a fair trial and all their witnesses are allowed to file statements on their behalf and show up on the assigned court date for testimony. Otherwise they could face a long isolation sentence, store and phone restriction. Please call (912) 557-7301. In the words of Che Guavara, ‘No one is free where others are oppressed!’”
Time to express our outrage
The time has come for us to express our outrage. The phone number provided by Mabu, (912) 557-7301, takes you to the office of Warden Bruce Chatman, whose appointment to that position took effect very recently, on Dec. 16, 2010. Tell him – or leave a message – that you are concerned about Eugene Thomas and Willie Mosley, that you suspect they are being falsely charged and that you want an immediate investigation.Even more importantly, tell Warden Chatman that Eugene Thomas and all prisoners are entitled to the fundamental human right of free speech. Tell him that retaliation against a prisoner for speaking out is intolerable.
The Reidsville 3
In “Still no news of 37 missing Georgia prison strikers,” Eugene Thomas also wrote: “(W)e have a situation here where three young brothers, including my old cellmate, are being held for murder and robbery of an older white prisoner … These folks have been just holding these young brothers. They haven’t indicted neither one of them, haven’t fingerprinted either of them, aren’t giving them their proper segregation hearing — just holding them in lockup. It’s an interesting story, especially in light of everything taking place in Georgia now and with this place being a massive lockdown facility. They’ve been in the ‘hole’ now five months. I call them the ‘Reidsville 3.’”Today, I got a call from the grandmother of one of those young men. Her grandson, Maurice C. Orr, is only 18 years old. After being placed in segregation – “the hole” – he was entitled by Georgia law to an informal hearing within 96 hours, a formal hearing with legal representation within 90 days and the opportunity to appeal the decision. Yet after six months, he has received none of that – no due process whatsoever.
Like the 37 missing men identified as leaders of the historic Dec. 9 prison strike and like Imam Jamil, the Reidsville 3 have been “hidden” by Georgia prison authorities. This is one of the practices that led to the prison strike.
“The hole” is a terrible place for anyone, especially an 18-year-old youngster like Maurice Orr, diagnosed as bipolar, who suffers from anxiety, claustrophobia and asthma – the asthma intensified by stifling heat and a lack of ventilation in the bowels of the old prison. He’s rarely allowed outdoors and is getting no medical or mental health care. Ironically, according to Wikipedia, Georgia State Prison’s Mental Health Program is a model for the federal prison system.
Maurice’s grandmother, who raised him and his brother since they were toddlers, says he is constantly being humiliated by the guards, who subject him to frequent strip searches. She believes they are trying to provoke him to violence, giving them an excuse to brutalize him.
“He’s got a good heart,” she says. “He’s a very good child. He’s smart. He can do ‘most everything. Whenever he’d get sick, I’d get sick. That’s how close we are.”
What we can and must do
Prison conditions are abominable all over the country, judging from the fistful of letters the Bay View receives every day from prisoners in every state. To a great extent, the current scourge of mass incarceration – the U.S., with 4.5 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the world’s prisoners, is the world’s first prison state – is retaliation for the civil rights and Black power movements.Too long have we tolerated this backsliding from the great advances of the ‘60s. When we are presented with a clear case of retaliation, we must protest.
“Deal is an anti-immigrant former prosecutor and has little concern for the prisoners’ rights or their safety. Short of going out to Georgia, shutting down his phone lines appears to be the most effective way to let him know the world is watching.”
The governor is responsible for the wellbeing of all Georgia residents, including those who reside in its prisons, whether he likes them or not. We who do care about our brothers and sisters locked up in Georgia dungeons must convince him to stop hiding and brutalizing prisoners and instead to sit down with them to negotiate their righteous demands.
The prisoners accused of organizing the Dec. 9 prison strike “got shipped out of their home institutions and were dispersed across the state,” Ajamu Baraka, director of the U.S. Human Rights Network and a member of the Concerned Coalition to Protect Prisoners’ Rights, told the Final Call. Gov. Deal must be made to account for the whereabouts and the condition of each of them.
“Mr. Baraka said he feels one reason prison authorities moved to shut down the strike quickly was because it could serve as a possible model for prisoners across the country,” the Final Call reported. “But the outcome of the action in Georgia will determine whether there will be more and similar uprisings across the U.S., he predicted.”
Call Warden Chatman and Gov. Deal
Readers are urged to call• Warden Bruce Chatman of Georgia State Prison at (912) 557-7301 concerning
o The apparently retaliatory segregation (transfer to “the hole”) of Eugene Thomas and Willie Mosley and
o The segregation and denial of due process to 18-year-old Maurice Orr and the others accused with him.
• Gov. Nathan Deal at (404) 656-1776 concerning
o The Dec. 9 prison strike demands and
o Hiding and retaliating against those accused of involvement in the Dec. 9 prison strike.
Readers are also encouraged to write words of encouragement to
• Eugene Thomas, 671488, Georgia State Prison, 2164 Georgia Highway 147, Reidsville, GA 30499, and
• Maurice Orr, 11199555, Georgia State Prison, 2164 Georgia Highway 147, Reidsville, GA 30499
The Dec. 9 prison strikers’ demands
• A living wage for work: In violation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude, the DOC [Georgia Department of Corrections] demands prisoners work for free.
• Educational opportunities: For the great majority of prisoners, the DOC denies all opportunities for education beyond the GED, despite the benefit to both prisoners and society.
• Decent health care: In violation of the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, the DOC denies adequate medical care to prisoners, charges excessive fees for the most minimal care and is responsible for extraordinary pain and suffering.
• An end to cruel and unusual punishment: In further violation of the Eighth Amendment, the DOC is responsible for cruel prisoner punishments for minor infractions of rules.
• Decent living conditions: Georgia prisoners are confined in overcrowded, substandard conditions, with little heat in winter and oppressive heat in summer.
• Nutritional meals: Vegetables and fruit are in short supply in DOC facilities while starches and fatty foods are plentiful.
• Vocational and self-improvement opportunities: The DOC has stripped its facilities of all opportunities for skills training, self-improvement and proper exercise.
• Access to families: The DOC has disconnected thousands of prisoners from their families by imposing excessive telephone charges and innumerable barriers to visitation.
• Just parole decisions: The Parole Board capriciously and regularly denies parole to the majority of prisoners despite evidence of eligibility.
• Educational opportunities: For the great majority of prisoners, the DOC denies all opportunities for education beyond the GED, despite the benefit to both prisoners and society.
• Decent health care: In violation of the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, the DOC denies adequate medical care to prisoners, charges excessive fees for the most minimal care and is responsible for extraordinary pain and suffering.
• An end to cruel and unusual punishment: In further violation of the Eighth Amendment, the DOC is responsible for cruel prisoner punishments for minor infractions of rules.
• Decent living conditions: Georgia prisoners are confined in overcrowded, substandard conditions, with little heat in winter and oppressive heat in summer.
• Nutritional meals: Vegetables and fruit are in short supply in DOC facilities while starches and fatty foods are plentiful.
• Vocational and self-improvement opportunities: The DOC has stripped its facilities of all opportunities for skills training, self-improvement and proper exercise.
• Access to families: The DOC has disconnected thousands of prisoners from their families by imposing excessive telephone charges and innumerable barriers to visitation.
• Just parole decisions: The Parole Board capriciously and regularly denies parole to the majority of prisoners despite evidence of eligibility.
Bay View editor Mary Ratcliff can be reached at editor@sfbayview.com or (415) 671-0789. Other writings by Eugene Thomas published by the Bay View are “Georgia prisoners: Standing up by sitting down” and “Rallying, rioting, rebelling: Revolution.”
Block Report Radio on the Georgia Prison Strike
Minister of Information JR interviews long time Georgia prisoner Eugene Thomas about prison conditions that led up to the biggest prisoner strike in U.S. history, begun Dec. 9, 2010.Click here to hear it!
(scroll down please)
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Solidarity with NC Prison Rebels: FEB 23!
Let's be there for this solidarity action Phoenix Anarchists - you just need a phone. You can call from wherever you happen to be. Just print this up and post it on your calendar for Wednesday, February 23.
Feb. 17, 2011 Anarchist News
http://anarchistnews.org/?q=node/13961
On Wednesday February 23rd, there will be a national call-in day to the North Carolina Department of Corrections, in solidarity with prison rebels across the state, and in particular those facing repercussions for organizing study groups and collective actions at Bertie Correctional Institution in Windsor, NC.
Organizing in Windsor has happened alongside the now famous rebellion in Georgia, where in mid-December of 2010 prisoners organized the largest coordinated prison strike in US history. For six days, in at least six facilities across the state, thousands of prisoners refused to work in
response to the brutality and indignity of prison. Anarchists and radicals responded with call-in days and solidarity demonstrations outside of jails and prisons in their own towns. Similar tactics, low-risk but diffuse and constant, were recently used to great success in conjunction with a hunger strike by four Ohio prisoners on death row for their role in the Lucasville prison rebellion.
Though it has not garnered the attention of the mainstream media or large national organizations and figureheads, this struggle has been consistently growing in North Carolina prisons as well, and has been supported by a number of small collectives, publishing projects, and
individuals on the outside.
Of particular note is the struggle at Bertie C.I. Over the last year, prisoners there have organized large study groups focusing on Black anarchist and anti-authoritarian ideas, as well as the history and politics of gang truce efforts. Radicals there have made the effort to reach across racial and gang-based divisions, and the effort has borne fruit: on at least three occasions in the past few months prisoners have taken collective action around issues of food, clothing, and exercise, successfully occupying yards or refusing to leave their cells en masse until given what they want.
Though achieving small victories in this process is encouraging and important, we see these developments and the practices of solidarity we exercise alongside them not as part of a specific campaign around a particular set of grievances or demands, but as a process of growth and resistance that seeks to destabilize prisons and render them increasingly ungovernable.
Several prisoners have faced repercussions for their roles in this activity. One prisoner, an outspoken anarchist and gang leader named James Graham, has been thrown in solitary confinement on a more or less permanent basis, and was brutally beaten by six guards during a cell extraction several weeks ago. Others have also faced time in solitary, the loss of "privileges," and other punishments.
February 23rd will be a national call-in day to show support for all North Carolina prison rebels, to tell the North Carolina DOC and Bertie CI officials that we're paying attention and that our comrades in Windsor are not alone. Call them. Fax them. Email them. The authorities at Bertie feel empowered to beat and isolate rebellious prisoners in part because they think the prisoners have no outside support, and that there will be no consequences; February 23rd is the first step in proving them wrong.
Tell the DOC: Hands off James Graham! Hands off all Prison Rebels!
NC DOC
Phone : (919)838-4000
Fax: (919)733-8272
Email: info@doc.state.nc.us
BERTIE C.I.
Phone: (252)794-8600
Fax: (252)794-4608
Questions and comments may be sent to claude@freedomarchives.org
------This comes via Freedom Archives political prisoner list-serve---------
Feb. 17, 2011 Anarchist News
http://anarchistnews.org/?q=
Organizing in Windsor has happened alongside the now famous rebellion in Georgia, where in mid-December of 2010 prisoners organized the largest coordinated prison strike in US history. For six days, in at least six facilities across the state, thousands of prisoners refused to work in
response to the brutality and indignity of prison. Anarchists and radicals responded with call-in days and solidarity demonstrations outside of jails and prisons in their own towns. Similar tactics, low-risk but diffuse and constant, were recently used to great success in conjunction with a hunger strike by four Ohio prisoners on death row for their role in the Lucasville prison rebellion.
Though it has not garnered the attention of the mainstream media or large national organizations and figureheads, this struggle has been consistently growing in North Carolina prisons as well, and has been supported by a number of small collectives, publishing projects, and
individuals on the outside.
Of particular note is the struggle at Bertie C.I. Over the last year, prisoners there have organized large study groups focusing on Black anarchist and anti-authoritarian ideas, as well as the history and politics of gang truce efforts. Radicals there have made the effort to reach across racial and gang-based divisions, and the effort has borne fruit: on at least three occasions in the past few months prisoners have taken collective action around issues of food, clothing, and exercise, successfully occupying yards or refusing to leave their cells en masse until given what they want.
Though achieving small victories in this process is encouraging and important, we see these developments and the practices of solidarity we exercise alongside them not as part of a specific campaign around a particular set of grievances or demands, but as a process of growth and resistance that seeks to destabilize prisons and render them increasingly ungovernable.
Several prisoners have faced repercussions for their roles in this activity. One prisoner, an outspoken anarchist and gang leader named James Graham, has been thrown in solitary confinement on a more or less permanent basis, and was brutally beaten by six guards during a cell extraction several weeks ago. Others have also faced time in solitary, the loss of "privileges," and other punishments.
February 23rd will be a national call-in day to show support for all North Carolina prison rebels, to tell the North Carolina DOC and Bertie CI officials that we're paying attention and that our comrades in Windsor are not alone. Call them. Fax them. Email them. The authorities at Bertie feel empowered to beat and isolate rebellious prisoners in part because they think the prisoners have no outside support, and that there will be no consequences; February 23rd is the first step in proving them wrong.
Tell the DOC: Hands off James Graham! Hands off all Prison Rebels!
NC DOC
Phone : (919)838-4000
Fax: (919)733-8272
Email: info@doc.state.nc.us
BERTIE C.I.
Phone: (252)794-8600
Fax: (252)794-4608
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
Questions and comments may be sent to claude@freedomarchives.org
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Georgia DOC: End violence against strikers.
-------------------From Black Agenda Report----------------
Brutal Reprisals Against Peaceful GA Inmate Strikers Confirmed. Was One Victim Hidden For Weeks By Prison Authorities?
Created 01/01/2011 - 10:08
By BAR Managing Editor Bruce A. Dixon
Black, brown and white inmates in 6 Georgia prisons nonviolently locked themselves in their cells for several days beginning December 9, demanding wages for work, educational opportunities, adequate food and medical care, just parole decisions and access to their families. The peaceful inmate strikers, as we reported the following day, were already victims of brutal retaliation on the part of correctional officials, ranging from cutoffs of heat and hot water to unprovoked assaults by correctional employees upon prisoners.
It now appears that at least one inmate, Terrance Dean of Bibb County GA was brutally assaulted by staff at Macon State Prison on or about December 16 was so severely injured prison officials secretly evacuated him to a hospital in Atlanta without bothering to inform his family. It's not known at this time which Department of Corrections officials authorized the secret evacuation, who decided not to notify Dean's family of either his injuries or his whereabouts, or whether the prisoner was transported the roughly 130 miles to Atlanta via ground or air ambulance. The first word the prisoner's family received of either the beating or Dean's whereabouts was when they were contacted December 30 or 31 by the friends and associates of other prisoners on the outside. Neither the Department of Corrections nor Atlanta Medical Center, where the prisoner was held for about two weeks, has released any information about the extent of the prisoner's injuries, his current medical condition, or how he was injured.
The morning of Friday, December 31, Dean's sister, along with ACLU attorney Chara Jackson and GA state NAACP chief Ed DuBose representing the Concerned Coalition to Respect Prisoner's Rights [4] showed up at the Atlanta Medical Center demanding to see the injured prisoner or at least have his whereabouts confirmed. After several hours of delay, correctional officials said his mother and sister, along with the attorney would be allowed to visit him at Jackson State Prison Sunday, January 2, but they offered no explanation of the reasons for his secretive transfer. Hospital officials also refused to offer any information on Dean's injuries, even to his family, on grounds of doctor-patient confidentiality.
“We assume that state officials have a written policy requiring them to inform family members in the event of the serious injury of their loved ones in prison,” said the Georgia Green Party [5]'s Hugh Esco. “If Georgia corrections personnel did brutally beat Terrance Dean, transfer him secretly more than a hundred miles from the scene of the crime scene and neglect to inform his family about his injuries or whereabouts they could be parties to a criminal conspiracy. The Green Party has written a letter to the outgoing and incoming governors asking them to look carefully at the events surrounding the case of Mr. Dean. We also note that the Department of Corrections promised access to the 37 prisoners whom it transferred as a result of the inmate strike that began on December 9. We hope this is a promise they keep, so that the public can get a complete and accurate picture of what goes on behind those walls.”
Dean's sister, attorney Chara Jackson, and the NAACP's Ed DuBose briefed the press at Atlanta Medical Center, including representatives from at least one local TV station repeatedly beginning at noon on Friday, and assured Black Agenda Report that they will attempt to see Terrance Dean at Jackson State Prison on Sunday, January 2. But as of nearly 24 hours later, on the morning of January 1, 2011 no corporate news outlet is publicly asking or answering any of the key questions around the assault on Terrance Dean, or what look for all the world like official attempts to conceal it from his family and the public.
“This is no surprise,” offered BAR executive editor Glen Ford. “For corporate journalists, a story without input from government or corporate officials is no story at all. For these so-called reporters, the story has a big hole in it as long as state officials decline to comment, even though official misconduct on the part of government IS the story. If the state declines to comment until Sunday or Monday, they will sit on the story till then. Establishment journalists are nothing if not disciplined and well-trained.”
Bruce A. Dixon is managing editor at Black Agenda Report, based in Marietta GA, and a member of the state committee of the Georgia Green Party. Both Black Agenda Report and the Georgia Green Party are members of the Concerned Coalition to Respect Prisoner's Rights [4].
Source URL: http://blackagendareport.
--
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Governor Perdue: Stop the Violence against GA Prisoners.
This in today via the Freedom Archives' Political Prisoner News list-serve. You can join it by contacting them at the addresses below. Note that former Black Panther Elaine Brown is front and center here, along with the Georgia NAACP (they've been pretty active in the prison scene there) and the Nation of Islam. If I ever end up in prison, I'd want them all on my team, too... Go like their facebook page. They need more friends from across the country.
------------------------------------
Press ReleaseConcerned Coalition to Respect Prisoners’ Rights (Coalition of NAACP, Nation of Islam, Elected Officials, Prisoner Activists) Demand Governor Perdue and DOC Commissioner Brian Owens Stop Violence Against Striking Prisoners
PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY
December 13, 2010, 3:30 p.m.
State Capitol
100 Washington Street
Atlanta, Georgia
NAACP State Chairman Edward Dubose joined by representatives from the Nation of Islam, elected officials and others, who have formed the Concerned Coalition to Respect Prisoners’ Rights, will hold a press conference at 3:30 p.m. today at the Capitol to urge Governor Perdue and Department of Corrections Commissioner Owens to halt the violent tactics being employed by guards against thousands of striking prisoners. They have reached out to Perdue and Owens for meetings earlier in the day.
Begun on December 9, 2010, the prisoners’ peaceful protest has been historic in scope and in the unity of thousands of black, brown, white, Muslim, Christian, Rastafarian prisoners, including those at Augusta, Baldwin, Calhoun, Hancock, Hays, Macon, Rogers, Smith, Telfair, Valdosta and Ware State Prisons. For five days, now, these men have shut down all activity at most of these facilities.
The prisoners are petitioning the DOC for their human rights, including being paid for their labor, provided educational opportunities, decent health care and nutritional meals, a halt to cruel and unusual punishments, and just parole decisions.
While the prisoners’ protest has remained non-violent, the DOC has used violent measures to force the men back to workunder the banner of law, despite the 13th Amendment’s abolition of slavery. At Augusta State Prison, several inmates were brutally ripped from their cells by CERT Team guards and beaten, resulting in broken ribs, one man beaten beyond recognition. At Telfair, the Tactical Squad roughed up prisoners and destroyed all their property. At Macon and Hays State Prisons, Tactical Squads have menaced the men for days, removing some to the “hole,” the wardens ordering heat and hot water turned off. Tear gas has been used to force men out of their cells at various prisons, while guards patrol grounds with assault rifles.
The DOC has made itself unavailable to the press and prisoner family members, creating fears that, behind closed doors, the Department will escalate this peaceful protest to a violent confrontation. The Coalition is urging the DOC to come to the table in peace to address the prisoners’ concerns.
“Due to the harsh conditions faced behind bars and the need for prison reform, the men are staying in their cells as a form of peaceful protest. No officials or staff have been threatened and no property has been damaged. These men’s requests are reasonable and in accord with the basic respect and treatment every human being deserves,” said Elaine Brown, a social activist and former Black Panther Party leader. Brown is spearheading the Concerned Coalition to Respect Prisoners’ Rights. More information about the Coalition can be found on its Facebook page.
# # #
Contact: Concerned Coalition to Respect Prisoners’ Rights concernedcoalitionga@gmail.com
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
Questions and comments may be sent to claude@freedomarchives.org
Monday, December 13, 2010
Resist Abuse and Conditions of Confinement: Solidarity with Georgia's Prisoners.
Where have I been the past few days? (Sleeping or hanging out at Conspire, I guess.) Hooray for the Georgia Green Party for posting the prisoners' Press Release!!! I'm re-posting it here because it's both historic and phenomenal.
Do we have any political parties with similar guts in AZ? Our prisoners are suffering, too.
Anyway, this is how it began, folks - the massive prisoner resistance to conditions of confinement in Georgia. I'll be posting updates soon (here's a quick one - the fight goes on!).
Arizona prison families and friends: keep in close touch with your loved ones and talk up what's going on at Prison Talk and all the blogs. I'm hearing that surveillance, strip searches, and over-all security has been dramatically stepped-up in recent days, and yards are being locked down for "no apparent reason"....well this is the reason. I bet it's happening all over the country - nothing freaks out jailers more than non-violent resistance and reasonable demands.
Those sixteen women at Perryville who protested being locked down in September all got cuffed up and put into detention as soon as we stopped paying attention, by the way, and the whole yard (Santa Cruz) was screwed for quite some time. Those women still are, really. I originally posted on the Santa Cruz women's protest here, but recently edited it out because I had given too much credit where it wasn't due (to the General Counsel at the ADC). I planned to revise it (and will soon) - I just didn't want my correspondents to get into even deeper trouble. There are still a couple of posts from that month about Perryville conditions (both before and after the protest). I even tried to get Oprah out there.
We need to keep a close eye on both the Georgia resistance and the Arizona Department of Corrections (and all the county jails) reactions - they're going to do whatever they have to in order to make every prisoner look mean and violent to justify their own brutality, if need be - don't believe the BS for a minute if things do get ugly. Call those numbers in Georgia, please, to tell them those prisoners better not get hurt - let them know they'll be held accountable for their crimes, too.
As for this place: if you're hearing real bad stuff from your loved ones locked up here in Arizona, don't just hit the chat rooms and leave it at that: put your complaints in writing to the ADC's General Counsel, Karyn Klausner, and copy it to your legislator, if you think you can trust them not to do something stupid. Follow up with their office, however it turns out; just make a point of addressing the ADC's general counsel directly with serious (urgent health/safety) concerns - and call her people if you don't get a response in a reasonable period of time.
Don't bother with the Governor's staff or the Office of Constituent Services at the ADC, by the way, unless you're talking about visitation hassles, mail being delayed, the cost of phone calls home, etc. Even if your complaint is about upper administration at the prison or guard harassment and you haven't had success at the warden's level, they'll still just pass it back to the people you're complaining about (with the message for them to "deal with it", basically) and someone may get hurt. The legal team at the ADC is there to keep the state from getting sued, so they would be inclined to exercise better judgment, in my unschooled assessment. Here's the ADC's Constituent Services' handbook for friends and family, though, so you know what their standard procedure is for families to address concerns (it's even been updated within the past month).
Prisoners should really file formal grievances about their mistreatment, if they dare to - if they're being threatened, placed in danger, or otherwise retaliated against, report that in your letter to the ADC attorney, or feel free to contact me and we'll strategize about your options - just know that I have no legal training and I'm learning all this from other families as we go.
I include that disclaimer because even legitimate, responsible resistance to the state can be especially dangerous to people in prison - I also have no friends in high places, politicians in my pocket, vast sums of money (I barely scrape by) or other ways of protecting people. I can't promise success; I am an antagonist more than I am a diplomat, so consider what strategies you want to employ carefully.
All I can really offer is what I've gleaned from my experience as an advocate for people who are homeless or imprisoned (including someone I love), the visibility of my blogging and street activism, and the power of a growing network of prisoners and their loved ones - including those presently in litigation with the ADC, some for wrongful deaths. I'm a community organizer and do believe that together we are strong - but no one is invincible (including the state...).
The Day the Fascists Came to Town
November 14, 2010. W. Jefferson/4th Ave., Phoenix, AZ
original photo: Robert Haaschchalk art/post-photographic rendition: Margaret J. Plews
You may also want to contact Donna or James Hamm at Middle Ground Prison Reform for some advice - they do have some legal connections and experience, and have been at this longer than I have. I suspect Donna is far more of a diplomat than I am. They should be your first resort, actually - I'm usually the last resort for prisoners - mostly the poorest ones. Their address is 139 East Encanto Dr. Tempe, AZ 85281. Phone: 480-966-8116.
In any case, make sure the prisoner him/herself feels as if these are issues worth fighting for - even this fight in Georgia isn't just about cigarettes - it's about respect, and dignity, and autonomy for people who have been stripped of all. We should be focused on their health and sanity and civil rights, not just their leisure and privileges; they will pay for your activity and support the most. Be mindful, though, that she/he has no expectation of privacy (nor do you) when you communicate about these things - all calls and mail can (and probably will) be monitored. It can be a difficult balance to get their direction and consent while not making them a target. Sometimes I have to go with "I trust you" after making sure they know what the possible ramifications may be.
That said, here's the ADC contact info you need (Karyn's really going to love me for this):
Karyn Klausner
Office of the General Counsel
Arizona Department of Corrections
1601 West Jefferson St.
Phoenix, AZ 85007
(602) 542 1532
kklausner@azcorrections.gov
If you send a copy of any of that documentation to me, though, I'll put it in the hands of the ACLU and the Department of Justice - with or without identifying you and the prisoner, as he/she wishes (if it's not possible to consult them on that privately, I'll hold back names for now).
The ADC website has policies posted on it, by the way, and my sites have a Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook and an even more comprehensive Jailhouse Lawyer Manual. Explore them all so you know what you're talking about. Don't just take my word for everything - or theirs.
Here's the main contact info for the AZ state legislature:
Arizona State Senate/
House of Representatives
Capitol Complex
1700 West Washington
Phoenix, AZ 85007-2890(toll free) 1-800-352-8404
And here's the main event. I'll try to stay on top of this now.
-----------------------From the Georgia Green Party--------------------
GA Inmates Stage Historic One Day Prison Strike Today
By Bruce A. Dixon
In an action which is unprecedented on several levels, black, brown and white inmates of Georgia's notorious state prison system are standing together for a historic one day peaceful strike today, during which they are remaining in their cells, refusing work and other assignments and activities. This is a groundbreaking event not only because inmates are standing up for themselves and their own human rughts, but because prisoners are setting an example by reaching across racial boundaries which, in prisons, have historically been used to pit oppressed communities against each other.
PRESS RELEASE BELOW THE FOLD
The action is taking place today in at least half a dozen of Georgia's more than one hundred state prisons, correctional facilities, work camps, county prisons and other correctional facilities. We have unconfirmed reports that authorities at Macon State prison have aggressively responded to the strike by sending tactical squads in to rough up and menace inmates.
Outside calls from concerned citizens and news media will tend to stay the hand of prison authorities who may tend to react with reckless and brutal aggression. So calls to the warden's office of the following Georgia State Prisons expressing concern for the welfare of the prisoners during this and the next few days are welcome.
Macon State Prison is 978-472-3900.
Hays State Prison is at (706) 857-0400
Telfair State prison is 229-868-7721
Baldwin State Prison is at (478) 445- 5218
Valdosta State Prison is 229-333-7900
Smith State Prison is at (912) 654-5000
The Georgia Department of Corrections is at http://www.dcor.state.ga.us and their phone number is 478-992-5246
This is all the news we have for now, more coming.
One in every thirteen adults in the state of Georgia is in prison, on parole or probation or some form of court or correctional supervision.
*********************************
Press Release
BIGGEST PRISONER STRIKE IN U.S. HISTORY
Thousands of Georgia Prisoners to Stage Peaceful Protest
December 8, 2010?Atlanta, Georgia
Contacts: Elaine Brown, 404-542-1211, sistaelaine@gmail.com; Valerie Porter, 229-931-5348, lashan123@att.net; Faye Sanders, 478-550-7046
Tomorrow morning, December 9, 2010, thousands of Georgia prisoners will refuse to work, stop all other activities and remain in their cells in a peaceful, one-day protest for their human rights. The December 9 Strike is projected to be the biggest prisoner protest in the history of the United States.
These thousands of men, from Baldwin, Hancock, Hays, Macon, Smith and Telfair State Prisons, among others, state they are striking to press the Georgia Department of Corrections (?DOC?) to stop treating them like animals and slaves and institute programs that address their basic human rights. They have set forth the following demands:
A LIVING WAGE FOR WORK: In violation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude, the DOC demands prisoners work for free.
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES: For the great majority of prisoners, the DOC denies all opportunities for education beyond the GED, despite the benefit to both prisoners and society.
DECENT HEALTH CARE: In violation of the 8th Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments, the DOC denies adequate medical care to prisoners, charges excessive fees for the most minimal care and is responsible for extraordinary pain and suffering.
AN END TO CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENTS: In further violation of the 8th Amendment, the DOC is responsible for cruel prisoner punishments for minor infractions of rules.
DECENT LIVING CONDITIONS: Georgia prisoners are confined in over-crowded, substandard conditions, with little heat in winter and oppressive heat in summer.
NUTRITIONAL MEALS: Vegetables and fruit are in short supply in DOC facilities while starches and fatty foods are plentiful.
VOCATIONAL AND SELF-IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES: The DOC has stripped its facilities of all opportunities for skills training, self-improvement and proper exercise.
ACCESS TO FAMILIES: The DOC has disconnected thousands of prisoners from their families by imposing excessive telephone charges and innumerable barriers to visitation.
JUST PAROLE DECISIONS: The Parole Board capriciously and regularly denies parole to the majority of prisoners despite evidence of eligibility.
Prisoner leaders issued the following call: No more slavery. Injustice in one place is injustice to all. Inform your family to support our cause. Lock down for liberty!?
Contacts: Elaine Brown, 404-542-1211, sistaelaine@gmail.com; Valerie Porter, 229-931-5348, lashan123@att.net; Faye Sanders, 478-550-7046
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Write a Letter. Save a Life.
I have an old Amnesty International poster I've been lugging around for 20 years now; I always hang it on the wall in front of my desk, so I see it when I look over the top of my computer screen. It's a black and white photograph of an old Royal typewriter, with the caption at the bottom reading: "This is one of the most powerful weapons in the fight for human rights. Write a letter. Save a life."
So, when Amnesty asks me to sign a petition, send an email, or write a prisoner a card, I often do. I write even if it looks my letter will be just one of thousands going to an embassy mailroom. Even if it looks like my letter may be just one of a handful drowned out by the silence of millions, I write. And I write even if it seems like it won't really matter, because for all I know that letter could be just what was needed for the collective conscience to finally register a resounding "no!" to torture, rape, genocide, slavery, and the death penalty.
As a result of organizing by Amnesty, the NAACP, and several other international groups and celebrities, a couple of congressmen from Georgia are looking at drafting legislation specifically to stop the execution of Troy Anthony Davis. The Supreme Court is giving the case one final look - they've refused to consider it several times already. In the meantime, the NAACP is training 300 organizers to take up the PR campaign to get Georgia - or someone - to stop the execution and give him a new trial.
The link at the bottom of the column to the left goes to Amnesty International's website about Troy. Whatever else one thinks about the death penalty, we have a principle of justice in America that precludes us from executing the innocent, and if Troy Davis' jury had available to them then what we have now, they never would have found him guilty - much less sentenced him to die.
I don't believe in the death penalty for either the innocent or the guilty, but I hope this campaign saves Troy's life, and that it leads to the truth about innocence. Troy's case may not be all that exceptional. In one prominent study, 68% of all death sentences were reversed on appeal because of serious errors in the original trial. Black men have been found to be mistakenly identified as guilty parties in cross-racial identifications more often than white men. Black men are also intentionally portrayed as criminals to deflect attention from white people's crimes. And then there are the Baldus studies, which demonstrated that in Georgia defendants convicted of killing whites were 4.3 times more likely to get the death penalty than anyone convicted of killing blacks - evidence that the state values the lives of white people more than it values the lives of blacks. That pattern has been repeated in studies across the country.
Need I say that Troy - an African American man - was convicted of killing a white police officer?
I'm inclined to agree with Thurgood Marshall: that if most Americans really knew the truth about the death penalty, it would be so disturbing to them that capital punishment would be abolished. Specifically, we would find it "shocking, unjust, and unacceptable..." Yes, it costs a lot more money to prosecute someone under the death penalty than it does to just send them to prison for life. And yes, sometimes the innocent are condemned and executed. But that's not what Justice Marshall found so repugnant about it. It's that it's outright racist, and has a long history of racist application across the country. Out of the approximately 16,000 executions conducted in America from 1608-1945, only 30 were of whites for crimes against blacks. Thirty. Now look at the Baldus findings, presented to the Supreme Court in the McCleskey v. Kemp case in 1987. By a 5-4 majority the Court ruled that evidence of institutionalized racism isn't enough to show that one's consitutional rights are violated by discrimination. As Powell essentially argued in the majority opinion, if we give an inch on the death penalty, the legitimacy of the whole criminal justice system is in question. In retirement he said that was one decision he would rule differently on now, by the way. Think of what that might have changed...
So I have concerns about the direction of death penalty abolition campaigns these days, though I understand the temptation of an open door where there was once a stone wall. A campaign emphasizing abolition because of the risk of executing the innocent implies that executing the "guilty" is okay, leaving open the use of capital punishment in cases where evidence of guilt is "incontrovertible". Having abandoned the whole principle of humanity and dignity, then, where are we on arguing it's cruel and unusual to execute anyone?
Then there's the economic argument - some bills are getting pushed through to repeal the death penalty because implementing it is so expensive. A few states, though, did what I'd expect death penalty adherents to do: they tried changing their laws to expedite the capital punishment process, making it cheaper to ultimately execute someone. The economic argument would suggest skipping the appeals process altogether and having everyone summarily shot once sentenced. That would save money.
But it's not like I'm the one in there fighting on this one - I just write letters, sign petitions, and try to spread the word. I want to make it clear why I oppose the death penalty, though: it's racist and it brutalizes us as a people. I hope the folks leading the charge to abolish it don't let us forget those very basic things. If Americans abolish it because it's too expensive or needs to be tweaked, then there's room for improvement. State executions, we should maintain, cannot be "improved"; there's no such thing as a good death penalty.
It may be awhile yet before the death penalty is abolished across the country. In the meantime there are people like Troy Davis. Even the Innocence Project has taken up his case. So, if you get a minute, visit Amnesty's site, and write a letter today; save a life.
So, when Amnesty asks me to sign a petition, send an email, or write a prisoner a card, I often do. I write even if it looks my letter will be just one of thousands going to an embassy mailroom. Even if it looks like my letter may be just one of a handful drowned out by the silence of millions, I write. And I write even if it seems like it won't really matter, because for all I know that letter could be just what was needed for the collective conscience to finally register a resounding "no!" to torture, rape, genocide, slavery, and the death penalty.
As a result of organizing by Amnesty, the NAACP, and several other international groups and celebrities, a couple of congressmen from Georgia are looking at drafting legislation specifically to stop the execution of Troy Anthony Davis. The Supreme Court is giving the case one final look - they've refused to consider it several times already. In the meantime, the NAACP is training 300 organizers to take up the PR campaign to get Georgia - or someone - to stop the execution and give him a new trial.
The link at the bottom of the column to the left goes to Amnesty International's website about Troy. Whatever else one thinks about the death penalty, we have a principle of justice in America that precludes us from executing the innocent, and if Troy Davis' jury had available to them then what we have now, they never would have found him guilty - much less sentenced him to die.
I don't believe in the death penalty for either the innocent or the guilty, but I hope this campaign saves Troy's life, and that it leads to the truth about innocence. Troy's case may not be all that exceptional. In one prominent study, 68% of all death sentences were reversed on appeal because of serious errors in the original trial. Black men have been found to be mistakenly identified as guilty parties in cross-racial identifications more often than white men. Black men are also intentionally portrayed as criminals to deflect attention from white people's crimes. And then there are the Baldus studies, which demonstrated that in Georgia defendants convicted of killing whites were 4.3 times more likely to get the death penalty than anyone convicted of killing blacks - evidence that the state values the lives of white people more than it values the lives of blacks. That pattern has been repeated in studies across the country.
Need I say that Troy - an African American man - was convicted of killing a white police officer?
I'm inclined to agree with Thurgood Marshall: that if most Americans really knew the truth about the death penalty, it would be so disturbing to them that capital punishment would be abolished. Specifically, we would find it "shocking, unjust, and unacceptable..." Yes, it costs a lot more money to prosecute someone under the death penalty than it does to just send them to prison for life. And yes, sometimes the innocent are condemned and executed. But that's not what Justice Marshall found so repugnant about it. It's that it's outright racist, and has a long history of racist application across the country. Out of the approximately 16,000 executions conducted in America from 1608-1945, only 30 were of whites for crimes against blacks. Thirty. Now look at the Baldus findings, presented to the Supreme Court in the McCleskey v. Kemp case in 1987. By a 5-4 majority the Court ruled that evidence of institutionalized racism isn't enough to show that one's consitutional rights are violated by discrimination. As Powell essentially argued in the majority opinion, if we give an inch on the death penalty, the legitimacy of the whole criminal justice system is in question. In retirement he said that was one decision he would rule differently on now, by the way. Think of what that might have changed...
So I have concerns about the direction of death penalty abolition campaigns these days, though I understand the temptation of an open door where there was once a stone wall. A campaign emphasizing abolition because of the risk of executing the innocent implies that executing the "guilty" is okay, leaving open the use of capital punishment in cases where evidence of guilt is "incontrovertible". Having abandoned the whole principle of humanity and dignity, then, where are we on arguing it's cruel and unusual to execute anyone?
Then there's the economic argument - some bills are getting pushed through to repeal the death penalty because implementing it is so expensive. A few states, though, did what I'd expect death penalty adherents to do: they tried changing their laws to expedite the capital punishment process, making it cheaper to ultimately execute someone. The economic argument would suggest skipping the appeals process altogether and having everyone summarily shot once sentenced. That would save money.
But it's not like I'm the one in there fighting on this one - I just write letters, sign petitions, and try to spread the word. I want to make it clear why I oppose the death penalty, though: it's racist and it brutalizes us as a people. I hope the folks leading the charge to abolish it don't let us forget those very basic things. If Americans abolish it because it's too expensive or needs to be tweaked, then there's room for improvement. State executions, we should maintain, cannot be "improved"; there's no such thing as a good death penalty.
It may be awhile yet before the death penalty is abolished across the country. In the meantime there are people like Troy Davis. Even the Innocence Project has taken up his case. So, if you get a minute, visit Amnesty's site, and write a letter today; save a life.
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