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#1749 From: <ckrugman@...>
Date: Sun Dec 6, 2009 5:57 am
Subject: Re: Pleasant Valley State Prison Contact
ckrugman@...
Send Email Send Email
 
While I have not had specific dealings with Pleasant Valley State Prison I
am near there in Fresno and I may be able to help. Contact me off list if
needed.
Chuck Krugman, M.S.W., Paralegal
1237 P Street
Fresno ca 93721
559-266-9237
----- Original Message -----
From: "leonna" <nvopres@...>
To: <prisonersolidarity@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 3:45 PM
Subject: [prisonersolidarity] Pleasant Valley State Prison Contact


> Greetings Colleagues
>
> I am trying to contact a client. I don't know how any of the advocates can
> help prisoners if they cannot even get through to these prisons. I stayed
> on the phone for a half hour and no one picked up the phone. Who do I call
> and how can I speak to a Counselor at the Pleasant Valley State Prison?
> This is crazy!!! CA is the only state that I have ever heard of, which
> does not provide an inmate locator, nor do they even seem to pick up their
> phones. This is a farce.
>
> Please advise.
> In Solidarity
>
> Leonna
>
> Leonna A. Brandao, S.W. III
> Writer/Author/Notary Public
> New Vision Organization, Inc.
> Tel/Fax (508) 941-5367
> www.newvisionorg.4t.com
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>

#1748 From: "leonna" <nvopres@...>
Date: Wed Dec 2, 2009 9:01 pm
Subject: Fw: for lawyers and paralegals
ramjole
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Jordan Rosenberg
To: leonna
Sent: Wednesday, December 02, 2009 3:32 PM
Subject: for lawyers and paralegals


Leonna, please tell the lawyers and paralegals that there is a new free service
from google,

http://scholar.google.com/schhp?hl=en

(select "legal opinions and journals")

that does a major part of what Lexis and Westlaw do and does it in a way that is
much more user friendly.
It gives you codes and cases, federal and state.

It is a tremendous service for anyone in the legal field.

Jordan

#1747 From: Christopher Eckhardt <r25288@...>
Date: Tue Dec 1, 2009 2:45 am
Subject: Fw: Thanks to FL DOC Attorney Kendra Jowers
r25288
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
[moderator's note - Christopher shares the positive outcome of his inquiry
regarding a prison's mail policy that did not allow inmates to receive colored
paper ... thereby making it difficult for them to receive birthday and holiday
cards.]


From: Christopher Eckhardt [mailto:r25288@...]
Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2009 2:36 PM
To: Jowers, Kendra


Dear Kendra,

The 7 pages of MySpace comments, and 3 Christmas cards with stamped envelopes
(for him to mail to his family), along with a 1 page letter, which I mailed to
Donald J Adams Jr. # J04746 on 11-19-09, was returned to me on 11-27-09.

I don't know if you are still checking my mail, but the Unauthorized Mail Return
Receipt was dated 11-24-09, and signed by S. Porter of the NWFRC.  It x'd off
"Blank stationary may only be white, ivory, or yellow. Card stock, sketch paper
and other types of craft paper are not permitted."  There were no comments in
the "Other" section.

That was the only box x'd.  I did not, and have not ever sent D.j. any type of
stationary, card stock, sketch paper, or craft paper.

However, I noticed on my enveloped that the word, "Colored Envelope" was written
on it. 1 of the 3 Christmas cards had a red envelope. No where in the
"Unauthorized Mail" form of 7/2/09 state that colored enveloped Greeting cards
are impermissable.

In fact, since January, 2006, until November, 2009, I have sent D.j. red and
green greeting cards envelopes for Mother's, Father's, & Christmas day. In fact
the Reverend at NWFRC passes out red envelopes to inmates to use for mailing. 
Was this an innocent mistake, a misinterpretation of the mail rules, or am I
purposely being discriminated against?

Wishin u n urs a Happy Holiday season!

Sincerely,
Christopher Eckhardt


From: Jowers, Kendra <Jowers.Kendra@...>
Date: Monday, November 30, 2009, 10:20 AM

Dear Christopher,

Last year we amended the routine mail rule, 33-210.101, F.A.C., to restrict
enclosed stationery and paper to white, off white, or yellow. This was based on
a recommendation from institutions, as the pigment in colored paper can be
extracted and used for illicit purposes (tattoos, dying clothing etc.). It was a
mistake on my part that the form did not get updated to reflect this change.

We are in the process of removing this restriction from the rule, as it has
created quite a few problems. Specifically, it has had the effect of preventing
most greeting card envelopes from being permissible, as in your situation.
Obviously, this makes it quite difficult for families to find appropriate
greeting cards, as they are worthless without an accompanying envelope.

While the rulemaking process takes time, and we will not be able to adopt the
amendment before the holiday season, I have been tasked to draft a memo
instructing staff to abide by the change despite that it hasn't gone into
official effect (in other words, to permit colored paper and envelopes etc.).
This memo will likely be provided to staff today.

Sincerely,
Kendra Jowers





Dear Kendra, Family & Friends,

I just want to you all to know that I appreciate your (Kendra) assistance &
professionalism to me and my partner. I encourage all of myfamily & friends to
support legislators who support raises and increased training for DOC employees.
I have lived on both sides of the razor wire, and this side is the best. I wish
you and all DOC employees a safe and Happy Holidays, and thanks for workingwith
some of the worst among us, and treating them with respectful Human Rights!

Sincerely,

Christopher Eckhardt/R25288

#1746 From: Brendan Story <brendanstory@...>
Date: Sat Nov 28, 2009 6:55 pm
Subject: Don't Miss a Thing! NYC and Beyond!
brendanstory@...
Send Email Send Email
 
SAT DEC 12- Art Auction for Daniel McGowan!

SUN DEC 13- Celebrate International Human Rights Day with Jericho and
Friends!

DEC 3-12: Panthers and Lords Film Festival


NOW- HELP ex-POW OJORE LUTALO MAKE A NEW HOME ON THE OUTSIDE

- Leonard Peltier Holiday Gift Drive 2009


SOON- STAND UP FOR OSO BLANCO!

- Free Dhoruba Bin Wahad and Naji Mujahid from Israeli Political
Detention!

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---SATURDAY, DEC 12---
ART BENEFIT SHOW AND AUCTION FOR DANIEL MCGOWAN
AND AGAINST POLITICAL REPRESSION, INCARCERATION, AND ISOLATION!

Bid on amazing, inspirational work from artists such as Swoon, BORF,
Nikki McClure and many more!

Mark your calendars:
Doors open - 1pm
Reception (DJ/bar) - 7pm
Bids close - 9pm

Location:
ADC Gallery
106 West 29th Street (bet 6th/7th aves)


Artists! There's still time to send in work. Go here for more
information: http://supportdaniel.org/art/


The 2006 show and auction featured some of the most respected and
prolific street artists working today, including the Barnstorme's David Ellis,
Banksy, Swoon, Borf, Chris Stain, Arofish, Kelly Burns, GoreB, Josh MacPhee, and
MOMO, as well as veterans of the landmark political comics journal World War 3
Illustrated, including Eric Drooker, Seth Tobocman, Peter Kuper, Nicole
Schulman, and Christopher Cardinale, as well as dozens of other participating
artists. See photos here: http://tiny.cc/Lwlk8

friendsofdanielmcg [at] yahoo [dot] com
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--------- Sunday, December 13, 2009, 1 to 5 p.m.------

Celebrate International Human Rights Day
with NYC Jericho and Friends

6th International Day in Solidarity
with Political Prisoners and POWs

The Brecht Forum
451 West Street (between Bank & Bethune Streets)

Salal from Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
on Political Prisoners in Exile

Film of Sister Nehanda in Cuba

Ashanti Alston, National Jericho

Former Puerto Rican Political Prisoner

Speaker from Irish Freedom Committee

and other special guests!

Sponsored by (list in formation): NYC Jericho, Malcolm X Grassroots
Movement

For more information: jerichony.org  nycjericho@... 
718-853-0893
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-----------*December 3rd-12th 2009----------------

Panthers & Lords: In Unity & Struggle
*Films, Panels and Reunion*

The Maysles Institute will be hosting a series of films that will
explore the roles played by two vital, revolutionary civil-rights groups, The
Black Panthers and The Young Lords.

The series is entitled "Panthers & Lords: In Unity & Struggle."
Screenings will be followed by lively and provocative panel discussions by many
of the films' various participants.

The series marks the 40th anniversary of several important historical
events: the "New York Panther 21" case, the murder of Fred Hampton, the founding
of the Young Lords Political Party, and its subsequent take over of the "peoples
church." The series explores the interlocking vision of the Panthers and the
Lords. They were not only connected by their similar visions, but also by the
fact that the Young Lords' founder Jose "Cha Cha" Jimenez met Fred Hampton in
prison and from that meeting grew Jimenez's determination to form The Young
Lords. It, thus, became inevitable that the Panthers and Lords would jointly
cooperate on many endeavors.

Suggested Admission: $10.00*. No one will be turned away for lackof
funds. *Proceeds Benefit: The SafiyaNuh Foundation's Political Prisoner
Projects.

TO view complete schedule, point your web browser here:

http://www.bronx.com/news/Society/655.html
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REPOST FAR AND WIDE:

OJORE HAS MOVED IN

NOW IS THE TIME TO HELP WITH THE REMAINING ITEMS

HELP ex-POW OJORE LUTALO MAKE A NEW HOME ON THE OUTSIDE

In Northern Ireland, despite compromises and setbacks to the
revolutionary tradition, there is still an organization called, Teach
na Failte (Welcome Home), an ex-POWs organization for former
republican socialist prisoners that has helped with housing,
employment, and the many difficult transitions that prisoners, and
especially POWs, face when finally released to the minimum custody
here on the outside.

Unfortunately there is no such organization for New Afrikan and/or
Anarchist Prisoners of War held in the US. We, the movement
community, are the only support they have.

For anyone who aligns themselves with New Afrikan struggle,
Anarchism, anti-imperialism, or any of the above, Ojore Lutalo is a
warrior and comrade who has made conscious sacrifices and paid with
his freedom without compromise or regret.

Now they have finally released him, as he's served the maximum time
of his sentence and then some.

Now, more than ever, it is time to support him.

Help him put together his new home on the outside.

Those of you who have already purchased so many of the requested
items, thank you. We're still looking for help on the ironing board
($59.99), the chest of drawers ($109.99), and the dining set
($259.99). If you can afford one of these items, please don't
hesitate now is the time.

Paste this into your web browser: https://www.target.com/lists/
2G4Y0IKDCZMNX

If you can only afford a smaller contribution we are also accepting
donations towards the remaining items. Send your check or money
order today.

To make a donation without selecting an item from the gift registry,
checks or money orders payable to Tim Fasnacht can be sent to:

Philadelphia ABCF
Post Office Box 42129
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19101

Solidarity and Struggle!

-- THE ANARCHIST BLACK CROSS FEDERATION (ABCF)

Registry Contact- nycabc [at] riseup [dot] net
(ABCF-NYC)

Donation Contact- TimABCF [at] aol [dot] com
(ABCF- Philadelphia)

ABCF.net


覧覧覧
Anarchist, New Afrikan political prisoner Ojore Lutalo was recently
released from prison. He served 26 years, most of it in isolation, or
"the hole," all in the service of revolutionary struggle. The NYC
branch of the Anarchist Black Cross Federation has set up a gift
registry to insure that of the challenges of shifting from prisoner
to civilian, having basic apartment furnishings is not among them.
New Afrikan Anarchist Political Prisoner, Ojore N. Lutalo, is out
after 26 years of imprisonment!

Ojore Lutalo was locked down in Trenton, New Jersey, for actions
carried out in the fight for Black Liberation. In Ojore's own words,
he is, "serving a parole violation sentence (we received 14 to 17
years) stemming from a 1977 conviction for expropriating monies from
a capitalist state bank (in order to finance our activities) and
engaging the police in a gun battle in December 1975 in order to
effect our departure from the bank, and to ensure success of the
military operation..." "After my parole violation sentence terminated
in December 1987, I started serving a forty year sentence with a
twenty year parole ineligibility (I was paroled in 1980, and I have
been back in captivity since April 20, 1982) that I have received in
1982 for having a gun-fight with a drug dealer. The overall strategy
of assaulting a drug dealer is to secure monies to finance one's
activities, and to rid the oppressed communities of drug dealers."

Ojore was originally arrested with New Afrikan prisoner of war Kojo
Bomani Sababu, and was struggling with comrade Andaliwa Clark.
Andaliwa was killed in action within the confines of New Jersey's
infamous Trenton State Prison after he shot two of the prison's
security guards in the repressive Management Control Unit (M.C.U.) on
January 19th, 1976 when they tried to stop him from escaping from
captivity. Ojore was a comrade of the late Kuwasi Balagoon, a New
Afrikan Anarchist former prisoner of war who passed way in captivity.

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2009 Peltier Gift Drive

Leonard Peltier is organizing a holiday gift drive for the children
of Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and the Turtle Mountain Reservation in
Belcourt, North Dakota. Leonard grew up on the Turtle Mountain Reservation and
many of his family members still live there.

This annual gift drive is one way in which Leonard continues his
humanitarian work for his people. Help Leonard reach out beyond the bars that
imprison him.

Remember ... The gift drive helps the children and families, but also
Leonard himself. Help keep Leonard's spirit strong through the difficult holiday
season.

Mail all gifts to:
Waha Peltier
PO Box 159
Pine Ridge, SD 57770

Turtle Mountain Tribal Agency
Gifts from Leonard Peltier
c/o Cindy Malaterre
PO Box 900
Belcourt, ND 58316

Send new (unwrapped) toys, warm clothing, books, school supplies,
etc., for children of ALL ages (newborn to 18 years). To ensure delivery by
Christmas, mail your gift no later than December 17. Thank you for your generous
support.

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Sisters and Brothers,

Indigenous Political Prisoner Oso Blanco has been beaten, tortured, and had his
native rights broken. Indigenous Political Prisoner Oso Blanco (along with his
cellmate) was attacked by prison authorities. They beat him, tortured him, and
assaulted his dignity as a Native person.

PASS THIS STATEMENT AROUND EVERYWHERE AND BE PREPARED FOR A LETTER
WRITING CAMPAIGN.

JUSTICE FOR OSO BLANCO!

Contact-
-Sinapu, Arcata Anarchist Black Cross- arcata.abcf [at] yahoo [dot] com
-Mapache, Los Angeles Anarchist Black Cross- la [at] abcf [dot] net

THE ANARCHIST BLACK CROSS FEDERATION (ABCF.NET)
--------------------------------------------

The following is Oso Blanco's account of what happened:

On Nov/07/09 at Hour of 11:00am myself and my cellmate were assaulted by Lt.
Galletta and Lt. Sassaman and many staff. We were shot, gassed
with a Rapid Fire pepper-ball gun  same as a paint ball gun but with
pepper agent powder inside not paint. Then we were sprayed with oc agent a lot.
I cuffed up and was being shot and gassed anyway. My
cellie coyote hardly had time to cuff up and they started shooting us
in the cell. Its very painful then they stopped shooting so my cellie
came to the door and cuffed up. They put us in a freezing cold cell
and they then cam and rushed in(goon squad) the cell and took us to a
mop closet where they forced my head back as the guard was digging his
fingers under my side jaw bone, pulling my head back, and 7 or 8 were
holding my arms, legs  they squirted hot water on my face and up my
nose. I let out a native war cry scream and yelled to all the men here
to stay strong! This was all on camera. They then took me on camera to
the four point cell where its very cold and stripped me naked and put
very, very, very tight restraints on me. Locking the belly chain and
black box cuffs down to the bone. I told Lt. Sassamen what, 展hat
you're doing to me is a violation of the U.S. Constitution, a
violation of my human rights! It's wrong and evil what you are doing
to me! All on Camera. Sovereign Cherokee Nation citizen have the full
protection of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Then they held
me down on the cement table and PA Potter cut off 4 inches of my
ponytail braid. This is and illegal act and crime committed against an
enrolled Native American! To cut off part of my ponytail. And a great
insult!

We were left in separate freezing cold cells in tight restraints
cutting into our wrists for 9 hours. After the 4th hour a dark Lt. a
Spanish Lt. came and told my cellie across the hall we were being
charged with assaulting Lt. Galletta, that he was in the hospital and
the FBI would be coming to see us. And he gave me a false charge 
writeup for a weapon.

The sun went down and the cold cell had its large window 2 feet by 3
feet wide open and its Nov in PA. I was laying on the floor with these
cuffs and belly chain and shackles cutting into me . So I prayed in
Cherokee  鼎REATOR why is this happening? I have done nothing! Why
are you letting my oppressor hurt me with out cause and torture me?" A
few min later they came and let me out of restraints, and told me I
was going back to the cell. It was full of about 50 pepper call rounds
and OC Agent. One young guard said in a low voice, 典hey messed up
doing this to you guys. He said he is tired of this place and he is
going to quit his job. The next shift staff who took our cuffs and
restraints off 9 hours later looked at my hands ballooned up and
looked at each other  with a shake of the head and one said, 展ho did
Chubbuck piss off? asking the other guard. The guard just looked away
shaking his head. I have at least 20 witnesses. It was unprovoked
100 percent. I have statements.

-Oso Blanco

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For Immediate Release: Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The New York City Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild condemns
the actions of the Israeli government for its unlawful and racially
motivated detention of two African-American political activists.

On November 23, 2009, Dhoruba Bin Wahad, a former U.S. political
prisoner and leader of the Black Panther Party, and Naji Mujahid, a
student-activist from Washington D.C. were on a tourist bus enroute from Amman,
Jordan to the West Bank of occupied Palestine. Both had been invited to attend a
conference on political detention in Jericho that was sponsored by the
Palestinian Authority. As the bus crossed the King Hussein Bridge that connects
Jordan with the Israeli-occupied West Bank, it stopped for a border inspection
by Israeli officers. Of the numerous individuals on the bus, only Dhoruba and
Naji were ordered to disembark. Significantly, both were the only Black people
on the bus. Within a short time, the border officials searched under Dhoruba痴
name on the internet. They discovered
that he is Muslim, a former Black Panther leader and someone who
spent 19 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. (Dhoruba, a target of
COINTELPRO, was arrested in 1971 and sentenced to life in prison. His conviction
was overturned in 1990). Both Dhoruba and Naji were interrogated, strip searched
and their property confiscated and
searched.

Despite their cooperation and offer to return into Jordan, their
detention continued for over 12 hours. They were ultimately released but denied
permission to enter occupied Palestine and returned to Jordan.

The treatment accorded Dhoruba and Naji would be outrageous if it
occurred to anyone. And as Naji Mujahid himself stated shortly after
returning to Amman, 鍍he humiliation and frustration that we endured
was a small taste of what we can be sure the Palestinians go through on a daily
basis. But the incident is rendered even more shameful because its genesis
appears to have been racial profiling. Dhoruba and Naji were ordered off the bus
before Israeli border officials had any idea of their country of origin or
personal histories. They only knew that they were Black. Moreover, the incident
occurred only days after it was reported that the South African government
deported an Israeli official following allegations that a member of Shin Bet,
the Israeli secret police, had infiltrated the airport in Johannesburg in an
effort to get information on South African citizens, particularly Black and
Muslim travelers (Reuters, November 22, 2009).

The New York City Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild calls
upon the United States State Department to lodge a formal protest
over the treatment of Dhoruba Bin Wahad and Naji Mujahid. We further call upon
the Israeli government to end its racist and unjust detention and interrogation
policies.

For further information contact:
Robert J. Boyle, Esq.
212-431-0229


_____________________________________________

Remember: Political Prisoner Letter-writing Dinner is every other week
alternating btw Brooklyn and the Bronx! The next dinner will be Tues, Dec 8th at
7 pm at Red Roots Community Art Space in the
Bronx:bronxredroots.org.



--
Support the 1-2-3 Community Space in our transition to a new location! *
123communityspace.org

Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/nycabc

ABCF-NYC
Post Office Box 110034
Brooklyn, New York 11211

nycabc[at]riseup[dot]net
http://nycabc.wordpress.com
http://myspace.com/nycanarchistblackcross
http://www.abcf.net/nyc

Free all Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War!
For the Abolition of State Repression and Domination!


Support my friend Daniel McGowan!  supportdaniel.org

Free all Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War!
For the Abolition of State Repression and Domination! ABCF- NYC
nycabc[at]riseup[dot]net
myspace.com/nycanarchistblackcross
ABCF.net

#1745 From: "Leonna A. Brandao" <ramjole@...>
Date: Mon Dec 7, 2009 4:41 am
Subject: David W. Koontz, another inmate at Frackville Prison in Pennsylvania being subjected to.............
ramjole
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
Hi Cheryl

I am so sorry you are going through this painful endeavor. However, Pennsylvania
DOC/Prisons, have been doing this to a multitude, not just a few, but a
multitude of prisoners in their custody. They have made the prisoner's financial
debt, so high, that prisoners can no longer even receive monies from their
family members, because the Prison officials, will only take it. PA prison
officials and all the way to to the DOC's Secretary, Jeffery Beard and to the
Governor's Office, are getting away with so many violations and I cannot
comprehend, how the Media does not adhere to the pleas, of not only the
prisoners; but advocates and family members of prisoners. It's as though the
families, as well as the prisoners, in the eyes of the media, are 'scum', the
lowest of humans. However, the media, as well as others in higher places, will
have their day. They don't seem to believe this. But, there is a God, the
Highest of all. HE is real and HE does not like evil.
  I will keep David, as well as all other prisoners, being subjected to such
abuses and provocations, in my prayers.  I am disappointed to see such
deception, even with the media outlets.
In Solidarity

Leonna
Leonna A. Brandao, S.W. III
Writer/Author/Notary Public
New Vision Organization, Inc.
Tel/Fax (508) 941-5367
www.newvisionorg.4t.com


----- Original Message -----
From: flame60@...
To: incoming.verizon.net
Sent: Sunday, December 06, 2009 9:37 AM
Subject: Re: Letter from Cheryl in Florida


December 4, 2009
To Whom It May Concern:

David W. Koontz is an inmate in the Frackville SCI Prison in Pennsylvania. This
October has been 20 years that David has been in prison for a crime he
committed. Did David commit the crime? Yes he did. Did he kill someone? No he
did not. Has he served his time? I believe that he has served more than his
time.

David went up for parole on June 10, 2009. In July he received the response that
he was turned down because parole board said he was not remorseful enough. This
is the only fault they could find with him. They gave David another year so he
won窶冲 be eligible for parole until December 2010.

David has completed all the schooling that he was required to complete before he
would be eligible for parole. He has even received a degree from the State
University of New York, Fredonia in 2007. David has been the ideal inmate. He
was living in the cubes. He worked in the maintenance department.

The only thing David had left to do was pay the remainder of his restitution. He
sent in an inmate窶冱 request on a staff member sheet on August 3, 2009. On
September 7, 2009, he received the answer. The amount due was $3,525.61. He was
informed that it was to be paid in full, a year before parole. He also has
requested to be transferred to Florida upon his parole and he has to pay an
additional $100.00 in order for this to happen.

As it is December, my sister窶冱 life companion, Louis Matte-Alair, who is a
Canadian citizen and also resides in Florida during the winter months, paid the
money. On November 9 he sent a certified letter, via UPS Canada from Windsor
Ontario (Tracking # 127R64246848094981) with the money. Also a letter for David
was enclosed. The prison received this on November 11, 2009 at 9:03am and it was
signed by someone named Swift, in the mailroom. However, David never received
the letter.

Around November 15, 2009, David was notified that the money was there, however,
Captain Kneal had it under investigation because the check came from Canada and
had a Florida return address. The reason for the Florida return address was
because Louis Matte-Alair was preparing to return to his home in Florida and if
for some reason it was sent back to Canada, he wouldn窶冲 be there to receive
it.

Louis Matte-Alair then placed a call to the prison to find out the whereabouts
of the money. He was given the run around. My sister, Colleen Alair-White, also
called the prison from Florida, and she too was given the run around.

On November 19, 2009, David was interrogated by Captain Kneal for approximately
25 minutes in regards of this money order. He was asked whom is this person? Who
is that? The finale decision was the money was to be sent back to Louis because
David W. Koontz was being dishonest.

November 20, 2009, I, Cheryl Fretwell, called the York County Court House and
spoke with Kate at 11:02a.m. She told me the amount due was $3,393.59, a
different amount than the prison claimed, however, we weren窶冲 going to be
concerned with such a minute detail. She said we could pay the court directly
and I told her that as soon as the money was returned, we would do just that. A
receipt would then be sent to David stating, 窶徘aid in full,窶 and he would
send me a copy to keep for my records.

November 25, 2009, David was taken by Captain Kneal to see Pete Damiter. They
had David sign the money order and they were going to send it to the court.

November 26, 2009, David W. Koontz, DB 4437, was taken into lock down and for
what reason? He has been placed under 窶廣dministrative Custody,窶 and he is
currently being investigated.

Is this what happens to all inmates when they pay their restitution in full?
This is not something that David asked my family to do for him. I took it upon
myself to do this. I know he committed a crime, and yes I am aware of what that
crime is. However, I believe that David is also a changed man. We all make
mistakes.

The only contact I have had with David is three letters that I received this
week. No phone calls, because of this 窶徑ock-down.窶 He didn窶冲 even get
Thanksgiving Dinner a luxury I am sure even Charles Manson received.

The temperature in lock-down is stifling and the lights are on 24 hours a day.
He only had 3 pieces of paper to write on and the pen is made out of rubber. The
man next door yells constantly. What kind of treatment is this?

On the Governor of Pennsylvania窶冱 web page it states, 窶弋ell me what窶冱
important to you.窶 This is very important to me and my entire family! As I
understood the information on the web sit, Jeffrey Beard, the Secretary of
Corrections, is charged with overseeing the overall management and operation of
the Department to ensure the safe, humane incarceration of adult offenders
committed by the Commonwealth窶冱 judicial system.窶 I don窶冲 believe that
David窶冱 treatment is 窶徂umane窶.

On December 4, 2009 at 3p.m., I called the York County Court House again and
spoke to Kate. She stated that they have not yet received any payment on behalf
of inmate Koontz.

I have two questions?

1. Where is the $3,525.61 that was sent to David W. Koontz?

2. Why is David W. Koontz in lock down?


I appreciate your time concerning this matter and I am hopeful that a resolution
can be obtained.

Sincerely,

Cheryl Alair Fretwell

#1744 From: "oorweekaz" <KarenELizabeth1@...>
Date: Fri Dec 4, 2009 10:48 pm
Subject: Please send a Christmas Card to a Scottish Prisoner
oorweekaz
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
Christmas time is the most difficult for people in prison. It is even more
difficult when you have evidence of innocence like these people below.

We can help brighten a prisoners day by sending a card to them to let them know
that they are not forgotten by people on the outside world.

Below is a small list of prisoners whom I am sure would appreciate a bit of
Christmas Cheer. If you could send one card to any of these prisoners it would
be so very much appreciated. It would also make their day to get a card outside
of Scotland.


Thank you

Karen x



Mr William Gage

2319

C3/15

HMP Shotts

Lanarkshire

ML7 4LE


http://www.freewebs.com/justiceforallinnocents/williamgage.htm


Mr Patrick Docherty

17841

Forth A32

HMP Addiwell

Station Road

Addiwell

West Lothian

EH55 8QA


http://justiceforpatrickdocherty.webs.com/

Mr Nat Fraser

Cell 3/08

47143 C / Hall

HMPrison

Perth

PH2 8FT

http://www.freewebs.com/justiceforallinnocents/natfraser.htm

Mr Brendan Dixon 14854

HMP Dumfries

Terreagles Street

Dumfries

DG29AX


Mr Luke Mitchell

HMPrison

Perth

PH2 8FT


www.justiceforallinnocents.webs.com

#1743 From: wandavaldes@...
Date: Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:53 pm
Subject: Fwd: A Broken System Documentary
wandavaldes@...
Send Email Send Email
 
Kohl Harrington is a young friend who is getting his master痴 at the University
of S. California in film making. The death penalty film below is a documentary
that Kohl hopes to sell to a network. Let痴 wish him the best.

Thanks

Ron



Ron McAndrew
Prison & Jail Consultant
20390 The Granada
Dunnellon, FL 34432-6082
http://www.RonMcAndrew.com
Office: 352 465 5919
Cellular: 352 342 1450



From: Kohl Harrington [mailto:kohltrain13@...]
Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2009 4:23 PM
To: Abagayle33@...; billbabbi2t@...; judi@...; mclyn82
Subject: A Broken System Documentary



Hello Everyone,



I am still working on creating a playable DVD. Some people have received DVDs
that are not working for some reason so I am resolving the issue. I have created
a digital version of the film. The links are below.



For my first project, this film turned out really great. I want to personally
thank you all again. I love speaking about the death penalty and I LOVE getting
into heated debates. I find once I mention you all, no one has anything left to
say to support capital punishment. Hopefully in the future as I progress as a
film maker (and eventually get a budget), I really hope to revisit the topic of
the death penalty. Your stories are INCREDIBLE!



Here are the links to the film. It's broken into 5 parts.



http://www.vimeo.com/7244254

http://www.vimeo.com/7247742

http://www.vimeo.com/7248757

http://www.vimeo.com/7250314

http://www.vimeo.com/7251452



Stay in touch,



Kohl Harrington

#1742 From: John Gallagher <johnniecakes59@...>
Date: Tue Dec 8, 2009 12:23 am
Subject: Re: Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual
johnniecakes59
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
And thank you Sister.  As Red Skelton would say, may God bless.
                                                                                                 John G

--- On Sat, 12/5/09, Jennifer Bland <jenniferjbland@...> wrote:

From: Jennifer Bland <jenniferjbland@...>
Subject: Re: [prisonersolidarity] Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual
To: prisonersolidarity@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, December 5, 2009, 8:16 AM

 
God Bless You for "thinking" to send this most valuable Manual to the Prison Solidarity Group - I almost tried to "order" one, after one of your emails "mentioning" this Manual. I am in Jail/Prison Ministry, and this will be so helpful to those inmates I help and support - Much Appreciated!
Thank You!
Happy Holidays!
Sister Bland

--- On Tue, 12/1/09, leonna <nvopres@verizon. net> wrote:

From: leonna <nvopres@verizon. net>
Subject: Re: [prisonersolidarity ] Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual [1 Attachment]
To: prisonersolidarity@ yahoogroups. com
Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 11:44 AM

 
[Moderator's note: Leonna has created a pdf of the Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual, which is attached here.]



#1741 From: robert smith <Robertsmith532@...>
Date: Thu Dec 3, 2009 8:38 pm
Subject: CUYAHOGA COUNTY PROSECUTER BILL MASON SEEMS CONTENT TO LET 2009 END WITH NO PROGRESS ON RACIAL DISPARITY IN DRUG SENTENCING BY DAMIAN GUEVARA
Robertsmith532@...
Send Email Send Email
 

TIME SERVED 

Mason seems content to let '09 end with no progress on racial disparity in drug sentencing

Local black leaders say the perception persists: At each turn, the criminal justice system crashes down harder on blacks than it does whites. Drug arrests occur at a greater rate on the city's predominantly black East Side; Ohio prisons maintain a disproportionately black population; even the lines to get into the downtown Cleveland justice center seem overwhelmingly black, one leader says.
Efforts to understand and address apparent disparities in the system have come in waves, with varying degrees of success. Last year, academic and media reports about racial inequities in Cuyahoga County prosecutions brought the latest round of outrage and the latest calls for reform ("Disparate Times," Scene, July 30, 2008). At the center of the reheated debate was county prosecutor Bill Mason, who vehemently defended his office after a October '08 Plain Dealer series highlighted favorable sentences and treatment programs for white defendants in low-level drug cases the same types of cases that typically end in jail sentences and felony records for black defendants.
Mason put himself at the helm of the reform effort one that is currently in a holding pattern. More than a year has passed since Mason and other county and city officials met with leaders in the black community to discuss inequities in drug-case sentencing, with no reports of progress.
The movement is agonizingly slow. A group of public officials and community leaders convened by Mason has commissioned a study that may not see the light of day until next spring, said Cleveland councilman Kevin Conwell, a participant in the reform group. The study conducted by researchers at Cleveland State University and the University of Cincinnati is expected to examine police and court records on the city and county level, looking at sentencing patterns and variables like referrals to treatment programs, plea deals and whether a defendant used a private lawyer.
But Ryan Miday, a spokesman for Mason, says the study is stuck on the launching pad because researchers are still seeking access to law-enforcement records and a contract with the University of Cincinnati had not been finalized.
Mason did not respond to a request to comment about his goals for the study or reform.


Leaders who have fought for reform in the past are waiting patiently and with a healthy degree of skepticism as to what this will mean in the long run.
"I'm hoping something will come out of the county prosecutor's effort," says Cleveland municipal judge Ronald Adrine, considered by many to be one of the most dedicated advocates for criminal-justice reform in Northeast Ohio. "It'll be a precursor for doing some good things.
"But realistically, I'm not prepared to say that I'm expecting anything more than a report," he adds. "I just have to sit back and wait and see what happens."
It's hard to blame Adrine for his somewhat weary, wary view he's been on the front lines of these fights for years, and changes have come in "slow motion," he says. The fight for racial fairness has long been fought by lawyers and judges of all colors, backgrounds and ethnic groups. Some goals have been met, including improved language-interpretation services and a greater awareness of racial fairness among judges, but "no victory is ever final," says Adrine. "Unless you're still pushing for additional progress, you'll never see it. The law by definition is about the status quo and protecting the status quo."
Scene met last month with three reformers: lawyer James Hardiman, ACLU Ohio education director Shakyra Diaz and Cleveland NAACP executive director Stanley Miller. All three are involved in a local coalition called Citizens for a Safe and Fair Cleveland. They describe Cleveland's black community's continuing suspicions regarding the role of race in justice. The 1980s case of Arthur Feckner, a white drug dealer who sold drugs in a predominantly black neighborhood with the blessing of Cleveland police, still strikes a nerve.
For these advocates, it seems obvious: The criminal-justice system gobbles up blacks at a much higher rate than whites.
Numbers support this: In the United States, blacks are imprisoned at nearly six times the rate of whites, according to a 2007 study published by the Sentencing Project, a national reform organization (that rate is roughly the same for Ohio, according to the same study). Blacks make up 12 percent of the population in Ohio, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau statistics, yet black inmates make up 48 percent of the state's prison population, according to Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction statistics from January 2009.
But local statistics are needed to quantify the apparent sentencing disparities here. Hardiman says advocates need data and statistics to back up the anecdotal claims of injustice, he says. Only then can the problems and solutions be pinpointed.
"We suspect there's a problem, but unless there's data collection, we don't know," says Hardiman. "Minorities nationwide feel they are unfairly profiled, targeted, arrested, prosecuted and subject to harsher sentences. Judges nationwide deny that they would ever discriminate on the basis race, gender or any other impermissible factor.
"Until we start to collect data, you have a significant portion of the population that look at the judiciary with [suspicion] on their mind."


The call to gather such information stretches back to at least 1993.
That year, the Ohio State Bar Association and the Ohio Supreme Court established the Ohio Commission on Racial Fairness (which Adrine chaired). That group released an 89-page report that made more than 60 recommendations. The job of turning those suggestions into reality went to a Racial Fairness Implementation Task Force. That group came up with a plan that included a recommendation that the Supreme Court require detailed reporting of sentencing data by local courts.
In 1995, state legislators passed a law that asked judges to take note of whom they sentenced, how they sentenced them and why they chose that sentence. But the judges across the state never signed on, and Ohio chief justice Thomas Moyer has repeatedly said that he can't force judges to do so. (In Cuyahoga County, at least one judge, Timothy McGinty, has said he's in favor of collecting such information.)
Mark Schweikert, a former Hamilton county judge and now head of the Ohio Judicial Conference, tells Scene that judges remain reluctant to collect such data because they're afraid the information would be used against them politically. Schweikert says the information gathering would be extensive and likely expensive considering just how many factors judges have to take into account when they issue sentences.
But Diaz of the Ohio ACLU points out that Minnesota and Iowa already have statewide databases that collect this sort of data. 
"It's really the only way you can prove that there are issues, but you have to be motivated to acknowledge that those things exist and want to fix it," says Diaz. "By avoiding the data collection, you're avoiding having to acknowledge and fix any of these problems."
There has been a reform movement in Cuyahoga County this decade, thanks to some who have gotten an inside look at how grand juries work. In 2001, the Reverend Marvin McMickle, after serving as a grand-jury foreman, raised concerns over the volume of low-level drug cases that involved blacks. After others raised similar concerns, the American Civil Liberties Union commissioned a report that showed that although whites and blacks abuse drugs at a similar rate, African Americans in Cuyahoga County were more likely to get saddled with a felony conviction.
The report highlighted a troubling practice: When a cop in Cleveland confiscated a crack pipe from someone on the street, prosecutors treated the cases as a felony, even if there was only residue on the pipe. In contrast, suburban prosecutors kept those types of cases in municipal courts as misdemeanors (mostly as a cost-saving move, according to one judge).
Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson later announced that the city would no longer treat these cases as felonies.


Mason has taken a different approach to reform concerns and requests. In 2003, the debate over crack-pipe cases led to a clash between prosecutor Mason and Judge Burt Griffin, now retired. When Griffin instructed a grand jury to consider that suburban courts were treating the crack-pipe cases as misdemeanors, Mason called for the disbanding of the grand jury and argued to the Ohio Supreme Court that Griffin had shown disregard for the law and Mason's office. Griffin told Scene last year that the battle was about control, a notion reinforced by a Cleveland-Marshall College law professor Phyllis Crocker, the foreman of the grand jury who received Griffin's instructions.
"The lesson I learned, intellectually and emotionally, is the depth and tenacity of the prosecutor's assumption that he does control, and has the right to control, the grand jury process," said Crocker in a law-review article about her experience. The Ohio Supreme Court eventually ruled in Grffin's favor.
In October 2008, The Plain Dealer published a two-part series that highlighted apparent injustices. The series, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bob Paynter, examined hundreds of low-level felony drug cases in Cuyahoga County and concluded that whites were 55 percent more likely to get misdemeanors than blacks charged with the same crime. Whites also had a better chance (35 percent) of receiving drug treatment instead of jail time.
Though lauded by reformers, the series drew a strong reaction from Mason, who went on the offensive. In a Sunday editorial piece with the headline "Race not a factor in prosecutions," Mason ripped Paynter, saying the veteran reporter "got it wrong very wrong." Mason said the series was riddled with inaccuracies and failed to touch on many variables that went into sentencing.
Paynter took a buyout from his job the day after Mason's op-ed ran. He declined to comment for this article, but has defended his reporting.
When The Columbia Journalism Review, a trade publication, criticized Plain Dealer editors for not sticking up for Paynter, Mason chastised CJR for not calling him for his side of the story. "We would have reviewed this article with you just as we did with the Plain Dealer editors and staffers," wrote Mason to the CJR (seemingly hinting at behind-the-scenes pressure on the PD to tell the story his way). "Unfortunately, the benefits that could have resulted from this series were diminished by Paynter's shoddy reporting."
But for all his ranting a year ago, Mason has shown little sense of urgency in even getting this new round of studies under way, let alone implementing policy changes.
And so the disturbing perception of racial unfairness persists. Either minority individuals are more criminal by nature, or there is something about the administration of justice that creates a disparate racial effect.
dguevara@...


Get gifts for them and cashback for you. Try Bing now.

#1740 From: lisaanne123@...
Date: Sun Dec 6, 2009 5:28 pm
Subject: Re:anarchist black cross para-legal services urgent matter
lisaanne123@...
Send Email Send Email
 
Robert
If you get no reply from these people. Then write to the US Dept of
Justice , Civil Rights Division . They can do something about any prison
if they choose to.  In 1999 * correctional officers beat my husband to
death while he was on death row. His name was Frank Valdes.  The  Dept
of Justice in Washington Dc was going to take over as the guards were
acquitted in their home town. We filed a lawsuit against the Dept of
Corrections in Florida and won.

Blessings
Wanda Valdes
wandavaldes@...

#1739 From: "leonna" <nvopres@...>
Date: Sat Dec 5, 2009 5:34 pm
Subject: Re: Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual
ramjole
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
Thank you

I hope everyone was able to open the file and I hope it helps all the prisoners
who have not been able to fight for themselves. Unfortunately, some chapters,
when sending by chapters to prisoners, are being confiscated because some
chapters are too big. But, then again, we don't have to mail the full chapter/s
in one mailing.

Peace
Leonna


   ----- Original Message -----
   From: Jennifer Bland
   To: prisonersolidarity@yahoogroups.com
   Sent: Saturday, December 05, 2009 8:16 AM
   Subject: Re: [prisonersolidarity] Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual



         God Bless You for "thinking" to send this most valuable Manual to the
Prison Solidarity Group - I almost tried to "order" one, after one of your
emails "mentioning" this Manual. I am in Jail/Prison Ministry, and this will be
so helpful to those inmates I help and support - Much Appreciated!
         Thank You!
         Happy Holidays!
         Sister Bland

         --- On Tue, 12/1/09, leonna <nvopres@...> wrote:


           From: leonna <nvopres@...>
           Subject: Re: [prisonersolidarity] Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual [1
Attachment]
           To: prisonersolidarity@yahoogroups.com
           Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 11:44 AM



           [Moderator's note: Leonna has created a pdf of the Jailhouse Lawyer's
Manual, which is attached here.]

#1738 From: "leonna" <nvopres@...>
Date: Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:45 pm
Subject: Pleasant Valley State Prison Contact
ramjole
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
Greetings Colleagues

I am trying to contact a client. I don't know how any of the advocates can help
prisoners if they cannot even get through to these prisons. I stayed on the
phone for a half hour and no one picked up the phone. Who do I call and how can
I speak to a Counselor at the Pleasant Valley State Prison? This is crazy!!! CA
is the only state that I have ever heard of, which does not provide an inmate
locator, nor do they even seem to pick up their phones. This is a farce.

Please advise.
In Solidarity

Leonna

Leonna A. Brandao, S.W. III
Writer/Author/Notary Public
New Vision Organization, Inc.
Tel/Fax (508) 941-5367
www.newvisionorg.4t.com

#1737 From: Carol L <carolleo864@...>
Date: Mon Nov 16, 2009 10:10 pm
Subject: American Youth in the 21st Century: Pathologized, Criminalized and Disposable
carolleo864
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
American Youth in the 21st Century: Pathologized, Criminalized and
Disposable
By Henry A. Giroux, AlterNet
Posted on November 16, 2009, Printed on November 16, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/143875/

Editor's note: the following is an excerpt from Henry Giroux' new
book, Youth in a Suspect Society: Democracy or Disposability
(Palgrave MacMillan).

Punishment and fear have replaced compassion and social
responsibility as the most important modalities mediating the
relationship of youth to the larger social order. Youth within the
last two decades have come to be seen as a source of trouble rather
than as a resource for investing in the future, and in the case of
poor black and Hispanic youth are increasingly treated as either a
disposable population, cannon fodder for barbaric wars abroad, or the
source of most of society's problems. Hence, young people nowツ
constitute a crisis that has less to do with improving the future
than with denying it. As Larry Grossberg points out, It has become
common to think of kids as a threat to the existing social order and
for kids to be blamed for the problems they experience. We slide from
kids in trouble, kids have problems, and kids are threatened, to kids
as trouble, kids as problems, and kids as threatening. This was
exemplified when the columnist Bob Herbert reported in the New York
Times "that parts of New York City are like a police state for young
men, women, and children who happen to be black or Hispanic. They are
routinely stopped, searched, harassed, intimidated, humiliated and,
in many cases, arrested for no good reason." No longer "viewed as a
privileged sign and embodiment of the future," youth are now
increasingly demonized by the popular media and derided by
politicians looking for quick-fix solutions to crime and other social
ills. While youth have always had to bear the misplaced fear and
distrust of adults, how youth are represented, talked about, andツ
treated has changed dramatically in the last two decades.

Under the reign of neoliberal politics with its hyped-up socialツ
Darwinism and theater of cruelty, the popular demonization and
"dangerousation" of the young now justifies responses to youth that
were unthinkable 20 years ago, including criminalization and
imprisonment, the prescription of psychotropic drugs, psychiatric
confinement, and zero tolerance policies that model schools after
prisons. School has become a model for a punishing society in which
children who commit a rule violation as minor as a dress code
infraction or slightly act out in class can be handcuffed, booked,
and put in a jail cell. Racism, inequality, and poverty are on full
display in the growing resegregation of public schools in the United
States. Now more than ever, many schools either simply warehouse
young black males or put them on the fast track to prison
incarceration or a future of control under the criminal justice
system. All across America, black and brown youth are being suspended
or expelled at rates much higher than their white counterparts who
commit similar behavioral infractions. For example, as Howard Witt
writes in the Chicago Tribune, "In the average New Jersey public
school, African-American students are almost 60 times as likely as
white students to be expelled for serious disciplinary infractions.
In Minnesota, black students are suspended 6 times as often as whites
[and ] in Iowa, blacks make up just 5 percent of the statewide public
school enrollment but account for 22 percent of the students who get
suspended. . . . And on average across the nation, black students are
suspended and expelled at nearly three times the rate of white
students." As schools become increasingly militarized, drug-sniffing
dogs, metal detectors, and cameras have become common features in
schools, and administrators appear more willing if not eager "to
criminalize many school infractions, saddling tens of thousands of
students with misdemeanor criminal records for offenses such as
swearing[,] disrupting class," or pushing another student. Trust and
respect now give way to fear, disdain, and suspicion, creating an
environment in which critical pedagogical practices wither, while
pedagogies of surveillance and testing flourish.ツ If young people
were once defined as part of the vocabulary of innocence and
compassion, they are now largely understood through the discourse of
fear, guilt, and punishment.

Clearly, there is more at stake under the current regime of
neoliberal politics than an attack on children largely characterized
by "negative labels and characterizations of youth [that] are falsely
totalizing" and punitive laws and public policies. Youth have also
become collateral damage for conservatives and neoliberal advocates
who want to dismantle the social state and in doing so justify
themselves by pointing to an alleged rise of a generation of
disorderly and dangerous youth dependent upon government
entitlements. Within this discourse, government support for young
people is both undermined and inappropriately blamed for creating a
generation of kids labeled as psychologically damaged, narcissistic,
violent, and out of control. Scapegoating youth as both a generation
of suspects and a threat to the social order allows conservatives and
neoliberals to further privatize those public spheres that youth
need, such as education and health care, while developing policies
that move away from social investment to matters of punishment and
containment. In this instance, the punishing state combines with the
logic of the market to produce priorities and policies that disinvest
in the future of children and assert a ruthlessness that largely
treats them as reified commodities or disposable populations. Both
childhood and the state are now being reimagined in ways that reveal
the priorities of a society that has fully embraced the reckless
abandon of casino capitalism, where the only rules that matter are
made to order by powerful corporations and rich investors. How else
to interpret neoliberal-inspired government programs that in the
midst of deepening inequality, rising levels of poverty, catastrophic
increases in failed mortgages, and growing unemployment invest more
in prisons than in public and higher education?

It is more necessary than ever to register youth as a theoretical,
moral, and political center of concern, even as it is increasingly
evident that youth are one of our lowest national priorities. It is
crucial to connect the current crisis in democracy to the war against
young people. Doing so will remind adults of their ethical and
political responsibility to invest in youth as a symbol for not only
securing a democratic future but also keeping alive those elements of
civic imagination, culture, and education that subordinate economic
principles to democratic values. The category of youth may be one of
the most important referents for beginning a critical examination
about the pernicious consequences of a society driven by market
values, one that not only abstracts young people from the future but
shapes the present in a theater of war in which youth become the most
innocent victims. Youth provide a powerful touchstone for a critical
discussion about the long-term consequences of neoliberal policies,
which undermine any viable notion of justice, equality, and freedom,
while also gesturing toward those conditions that make a democratic
future possible. Many young people are part of social movements that
not only address these crucial issues but also provide a politics,
modes of resistance, and connective relations that adults should take
seriously as part of their own civic and political formation at the
beginning of the new millennium.



Henry A. Giroux currently holds the Global TV Network Chair
Professorship at McMaster University in the English and Cultural
Studies Department. His most recent books include "The University in
Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex" (2007)
and "Against the Terror of Neoliberalism" (2008).

#1736 From: robert smith <Robertsmith532@...>
Date: Sun Nov 15, 2009 8:22 pm
Subject: anarchist black cross para-legal services urgent matter read
Robertsmith532@...
Send Email Send Email
 
November 14, 2009

Office of the Ohio
Inspector General,
30 E. Broad Street, Suite 2940,
Columbus, Ohio 43215-3414
oig_watchdog@...
[Fax:] (614) 644-9504
(Attn: Intake Screening Committee


Re: PUBLIC COMPLAINT: 1st Amendment abuse going on too long at
       the T.O.C.I. in Toledo


       Dear, Inspector General,

       I realize you might be more apt to be interested in 吐ree world issues
dealing with financial fraud and the like, but there have been, and probably
will continue to be, conditions of Constitutional Civil Rights Free Speech
abuses and outright conspiracies that entail fraudulent behavior by correctional
officials to gain the higher ground for the institution痴/administration痴
advantage, to stifle the unvarnished truth as documented from a prisoner痴
perspective; especially one prisoner in particular who was  formerly a free
world news journalist and uniquely learned in investigative reportage.

       Sean Swain, #A243-205, (T.O.C.I.), Toledo, Ohio, is a prisoner and good
friend of mine that I assist in his legal appeals and general support, that is
being subjected to retaliation by prison authorities because of his published
work critical of the prison system, and because of his litigation resulting from
this retaliation; the Institutional Inspector (at T.O.C.I.) has held up his
civil action by not responding to his grievances related to the current civil
case as policy prescribes within a 14-day time period  instead has purposely
allowed their responses to languish and take over one full year to finally
complete the process (a blatant breach of guaranteed due process and access to
the courts).


[1]
       I fear for Sean痴 safety because he has been assaulted and punitively
transferred before in 2004; and I hear reports this may have already transpired.
       I respectfully request that you send an Investigator to T.O.C.I. to look
into the matter and interview Mr. Swain at your earliest convenience, because
his long delayed and overdue Civil Action, that had been about to be sent in to
be filed at the U.S. District Court at the time of his last letter on November
4th; I am not even sure if that only copy (塗and done) document to the Court
cleared the Institution - due to all the barriers put up and the overt
resistance to continuing this civil action.

       Please, I urge you to personally call these T.O.C.I. officials most
concerned in this case:

       Assistant Warden Meredith Rinna: (419) 726-7977 ext. 7211;

       Ohio DRC Assistant Chief Inspector Don Coble: (614) 752-1164.

       I am concerned also about Sean痴 health issues, he has been medicated
regularly with High Blood Pressure medicine, 50 mg. of Atenolol I believe it is
called; that his access to the courts now that he has been 田ased and given
time in the hole is naturally impairing his legal work and is also being denied
certain legal materials; and too - you値l need to determine when Sean will be
released from segregation and ascertain the reason for their confining him.

       I appreciate you giving me this time to explain a little to you a
perplexing ongoing dilemma there at this facility; and I am afraid that the
retaliation will continue unabated till they can try to completely neutralize
his basic rights to redress to the courts for relief on these issues which have
been hampered.

       Yours,

       John S. Dolley, Jr.,
       Director,
       ABC Para-Legal Services,
       P.O. Box 7187,
       Austin, Texas 78713

Cc: Governor Ted Strickland,
       Governor痴 Office,
       Riffe Center 30th Floor,
       77 South High Street,
       Columbus, OH. 43215-6108
       [Fax:] (614)466-9354


[2]

       Sen. Shirley Smith, C.I.I.C. Secretary,
       Committee Member,
       SD21@...

       Sen. David Goodman,
       (C.I.I.C.) Vice Chair,
       Committee Member,
       SD03@...
       (614) 466-8064

       Rep. Tyrone Yates,
       (C.I.I.C.) Chair,
       Committee Member,
       <district33@...>
       (614) 466-1308
       [Fax:] (614) 719-3587

       (C.I.I.C.) Correctional Institution Inspection Committee,
       (Ohio General Assembly),
       [Attn:] Committee Staff Member Darin Furderer,
       [Fax:] (614) 466-6929

       Warden Robert Welch,
       T.O.C.I.,
       P.O. Box 80033,
       2001 E. Central Avenue,
       Toledo, OH. 43608-2241
       [Fax:] (419) 726-7157





File: S.S. T.O.C.I. 11/14/09





       John S. Dolley, Jr.,
       Director,
       ABC Para-Legal Services,
       P.O. Box 7187,
       Austin, Texas 78713

Cc: Governor Ted Strickland,
       Governor痴 Office,
       Riffe Center 30th Floor,
       77 South High Street,
       Columbus, OH. 43215-6108
       [Fax:] (614)466-9354

1 of 1 File(s)


#1735 From: "Andrea Ball" <aball001@...>
Date: Wed Dec 2, 2009 5:39 pm
Subject: Fw: Jurist commentary - Dieter: Ohio's execution of Kenneth Biros an experiment on involuntary human subject
aball001@...
Send Email Send Email
 
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Hall" <shall@...>

This e-mail contains commentary from:

Jurist - Dieter: Ohio's execution of Kenneth Biros an experiment on
involuntary human subject News articles from: Youngstown Vindicator - State asks
federal court to deny Biros' challenge AP via WTAP-TV - Ohio Backup Execution
Plan Allows At Least 3 Tries

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/hotline/2009/12/ohios-execution-of-kenneth-biros.php

Tuesday, December 01, 2009 | 4:33 PM ET
>
Ohio's execution of Kenneth Biros an experiment on involuntary human subject

By Richard Dieter | Executive Director, Death Penalty Information Center
>
> "In a rapid sequence of events, the state of Ohio has abandoned its
> longstanding commitment to the standard method of lethal injection,
> adopted a new protocol (and even more novel "backup plan") that no other state
employs, and has asserted that it is ready to carry out its first execution
under these new procedures in a few days. The execution of Kenneth Biros should
not go forward on December 8 without further review.
>
> Ohio's track record with lethal injections has been dismal. In 2006, Ohio
finally succeeded in killing Joseph Clark after 90 minutes of bungling in the
lethal injection chamber. Clark repeatedly called out "It don't work. It don't
work." In 2007, Ohio executed Christopher Newton with similar problems, and he
was not declared dead until two hours after the process started. Despite
> revisions to their procedures, Ohio failed in its attempt to execute Romell
Broom in September 2009. After two hours, the execution team gave up and Broom
was removed from the chamber. Ohio confidently said that it was ready to put
Broom through another execution attempt one week later, but that attempt was
blocked by the courts, exercising well-deserved skepticism.
>
Very recently, Ohio has proposed a one-drug protocol - a massive (5000
milligram) overdose of an anesthetic - to kill those on death row. Surely, this
latest experiment on involuntary human subjects needs to be examined more
closely before the state's word is taken at face value. Ohio consulted with Dr.
Mark Dershwitz regarding their new execution plan. But even Dr. Dershwitz admits
that the effects of this massive dose are untested, even if lethal. He stated in
the Fordham Urban Law Journal that "We are unaware of an indication
> in clinical medicine in which a 5000mg dose of thiopental is given to a 80kg
patient...there is circumstantial evidence that a 5000mg dose of thiopental may
have caused, in some inmates, virtual cessation of circulation."
>
Other doctors had even more serious reservations about this one-drug
protocol in the same journal. Dr. Susi Vasallo said that to view this new method
as an improvement was an "illusion." Dr. Teresa Zimmers said the drug might not
be sufficient to cause death. The Royal Dutch Society rejected this method for
euthanasia. The new protocol still requires an insertion of an IV, a process
that the Ohio prison guards have not been able to complete in a humane manner.
Ohio's backup plan is to insert other drugs into the muscles of the inmate.
This, too, is without precedent. Perhaps experts from the medical profession
will agree that Ohio has chosen the best available alternative to the risky
three-drug process. But such a conclusion requires an evidentiary and
adversarial hearing - not a doormat of blind acceptance."
> - - - - -
Opinions expressed in JURIST's Hotline are the sole responsibility of their
authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of JURIST's editors, staff, or
the University of Pittsburgh.
>
> / / / / /
>
http://www.vindy.com/news/2009/dec/02/state-asks-federal-court-to-deny-biros82

17/?newswatch
Wed, December 2, 2009
>
> State asks federal court to deny Biros' challenge
> By Marc Kovac
>
COLUMBUS - The state attorney general has asked a federal court to deny a
petition for rehearing Kenneth Biros' legal challenge to Ohio's
> lethal-injection methods, arguing that the court was correct to lift a stay on
the Trumbull County murderer's planned execution next week.
>
The filing Tuesday afternoon with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
Cincinnati came in response to filings late last week by Biros' attorneys,
seeking a rehearing on the matter before the full court.
>
Biros had sought federal intervention in his execution, arguing that  Ohio's
three-drug lethal injection process was unconstitutional. But the Ohio
Department of Rehabilitation and Correction changed its execution process,
switching to a single-drug method.
>
That move prompted the federal appellate court to rule that Biros' legal claim
was moot, and it lifted a stay, giving the green light for next week's scheduled
execution.
>
But the federal court added in its decision last week, "Whether a stay is
warranted under the new protocol is not before us at this time. Should Biros
bring a new challenge on this ground, the district court and we can consider
whether it has met the requirements for granting a stay, including the
requirement of establishing a likelihood of success on the merits."
>
The attorney general's filing Tuesday afternoon came in response to a petition
for a rehearing by Biros' legal counsel.
>
In their filing Friday, legal counsel for Biros argued that the new protocol
raised more questions than it answered.
>
According to documents, "Will these drugs bring about death? Will such a death
be painless? Will such a death be quick? Will it take many minutes or many hours
before death occurs? Will these drugs allow for a dignified death, or will the
death be ugly and undignified as the inmate vomits all over himself and/or
convulses with hallucinations caused by the powerful opiate? There is no
evidence presented by the defendants on any of these important issues."
>
But in its response, the attorney general's office argued that the appellate
court decision to lift the stay was appropriate.
>
According to documents, "The core of Biros' suit is the alleged substantial risk
of severe pain posed by the administration of the second and third drugs in the
so-called three-drug protocol and therefore, in view of the state's discontinued
use of the second and third drugs, the conjectured risk of harm cannot occur in
the manner alleged by the suit."
>
Biros is scheduled to be executed Tuesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional
Facility in Lucasville, pending any additional legal delays. Biros, 51, formerly
of Brookfield, was convicted in 1991 for killing Tami Engstrom, 22, of Hubbard.
> - - - - -
> mkovac@...
>
> / / / / /
>
> http://www.wtap.com/news/headlines/78282627.html
> Dec 1, 2009 |  9:40 PM
>
> Ohio Backup Execution Plan Allows At Least 3 Tries
> Ohio's new backup plan for executing inmates by injection allows at least
three attempts to administer drugs through muscles in the arms or legs.
>
> Associated Press
>
> Columbus, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio's new backup plan for executing inmates by
injection allows at least three attempts to administer drugs through muscles in
the arms or legs.
>
> The backup would be used if administering a single powerful anesthetic through
a vein doesn't work.
>
> The plan filed in federal court Monday requires executioners to check the
inmate five minutes after the backup drugs are administered and inject a second
dose if the inmate is still breathing.
>
> The plan requires executioners to check again after five minutes and
> administer a much larger dose of just one drug if the inmate continues to
breathe.
>
> The plan says executioners can continue to administer the larger dose as
needed.
>
> The state adopted the new procedures in time for the execution of Kenneth
Biros scheduled on Dec. 8.
> - - - - -
> Copyright 2009 by the Associated Press
>
> / / / / /
> Steve Hall
> 512.879.1675  (o)
> 512.627.3011  (c)
> Skype: shall78711
> shall@...
> www.StandDown.org
>

#1734 From: Jennifer Bland <jenniferjbland@...>
Date: Sat Dec 5, 2009 1:16 pm
Subject: Re: Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual [1 Attachment]
jenniferjbland
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
God Bless You for "thinking" to send this most valuable Manual to the Prison Solidarity Group - I almost tried to "order" one, after one of your emails "mentioning" this Manual. I am in Jail/Prison Ministry, and this will be so helpful to those inmates I help and support - Much Appreciated!
Thank You!
Happy Holidays!
Sister Bland

--- On Tue, 12/1/09, leonna <nvopres@...> wrote:

From: leonna <nvopres@...>
Subject: Re: [prisonersolidarity] Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual [1 Attachment]
To: prisonersolidarity@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 11:44 AM

 
[Moderator's note: Leonna has created a pdf of the Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual, which is attached here.]


#1733 From: Nancy Lockhart <thewrongfulconviction@...>
Date: Sun Oct 11, 2009 5:30 pm
Subject: Sarah Kruzan: Sentenced to Life Without Parole at Age 16 for the murder of her pimp
techienan
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
*Video*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR7mno6p9iQ

--
Support Freedom Of Trafficking Victim Sara Kruzan
http://criminaljustice.change.org/actions/view/support_freedom_of_trafficking_vi\
ctim_sara_kruzan_2


*To:* Your U.S. House Representative, Your U.S. Senators and The President
of the United States, see
more...<http://criminaljustice.change.org/actions/view/support_freedom_of_traffi\
cking_victim_sara_kruzan_2#>Women's
Commission (County of Riverside), Your U.S. House Representative, Your U.S.
Senators and The President of the United States

*Started by:* Michelle Quann <http://www.change.org/profile/view/510080>

There are approximately 225 juveniles in California serving a life without
parole sentence. California has the worst racial disparity rate in the
nation for sentencing juveniles to life without parole.  Black youth are
given this sentence at 22 times the rate of white youth.

A number of California cases have recently been highlighted in the media due
to the background of the juveniles who received the sentences, and the
circumstances surrounding their crimes. One such case involves Sara Kruzan,
now 28. She was raised in Riverside by her abusive, drug-addicted mother.
Sara met her father only three times in her life because he was in prison.

Since the age of 9, Sara suffered from severe depression for which she was
hospitalized several times.  At the age of 11, she met a 31-year-old man
named G.G. who molested her and began grooming her to become a prostitute.
At age 13, she began working as a child prostitute for G.G. and was
repeatedly molested by him. At age 16, Sara was convicted of killing him.
She was sentenced to prison for the rest of her life despite her background
and a finding by the California Youth Authority that she was amendable to
treatment offered in the juvenile system. (See
*video*<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2Aa4uMIm8c>of Sara Kruzan).

鏑ife without parole means absolutely no opportunity for release, said
Senator Yee. (of California)  的t also means minors are often left without
access to programs and rehabilitative services while in prison.  This
sentence was created for the worst of criminals that have no possibility of
reform and it is not a humane way to handle children.  While the crimes they
committed caused undeniable suffering, these youth offenders are not the
worst of the worst.

鄭s a society we致e learned a lot since the time we started using life
without parole for children, said Elizabeth Calvin, a children痴 rights
advocate with Human Rights Watch.  展e now know that this sentence provides
no deterrent effect.  While children who commit serious crimes should be
held accountable, public safety can be protected without subjecting youth to
the harshest prison sentence possible.

To email the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, directly follow
this link: http://gov.ca.gov/interact#email



http://nancylockhart.blogspot.com

#1732 From: "leonna" <nvopres@...>
Date: Tue Dec 1, 2009 5:44 pm
Subject: Re: Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual
ramjole
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
[Moderator's note: Leonna has created a pdf of the Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual,
which is attached here.]

1 of 1 File(s)


#1731 From: Letter Campaign <inmate_letter_campaign@...>
Date: Mon Nov 23, 2009 1:39 pm
Subject: NC - Terrance Taylor - Adequate Medical Needed
inmate_lette...
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
***Referrals to a North Carolina Civil Attorney would be appreciated***
Update:  Mr. Taylor was supposed to be seen on 11/04/09 but that didn't happen and he was still charged $10.  He hasn't been getting any of his pain medication so he's been in pain for over a month now.  His soap & vitamin orders have expired and he has yet to be told the results of any of the test that he's taken recently.  He's been having blood in his stool/urine for weeks now.   Terrance sends his "thank you" to everyone; he sure does appreciate everything. 

History:

On June 15, 2009 Terrance writes, in part:

"They've been trying to kill me by denying me; adequate medical care, clean water, decent food, clean clothes, access to my legal materials and to the courts.  I've been on solitary confinement since 2007 for fabricated disciplinary charges "again" out of retaliation by the administration at this prison.   They are keeping me on solitary confinement "indefinitely" in violation of the law and their own policy and procedures. My sink pumps improperly treated recycled toilet water and has infected my liver, kidneys, bladder and skin.  The water is sometimes green, brown or black and smells like feces.  We are only given a 5 minute shower 2-3 times a week if we don't mind our cells being ravaged by guards while we are in the shower.  Inmates are being jumped on by the guards everyday on solitary confinement - having to hear their screams is very painful to me . . . "


We are asking you to PLEASE help save Terrance's life by emailing, snail mailing or faxing a letter to the following officials to help secure legitimate medical treatment for Terrance:


Governor Bev Perdue
20301 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699
Phone: 919.733.4240
Fax:   919.733.2120
Email:  governor.office@...


Senator Eleanor Kinnaird
NC Senate
16 West Jones Street, Room 2115
Raleigh, NC  27601-2808
Phone:  919.733.5804
Fax:  919.715.7586
Email:  EllieK@...


Senator Marc Basnight, President Pro Tempore
NC Senate
16 West Jones Street, Room 2007
Raleigh, NC  27601-2808
Phone:  919.733.6854
Email:  Marc Basnight@...

North Carolina C.U.R.E
P.O. Box 49572
Charlotte, NC  28277
Email:  northcarolinacure@...

ACLU of North Carolina
NC Prisoner Legal Services
P.O. Box 25397
Raleigh, NC 27611
Fax:  919.856.2223

R. David Henderson, J.D., Executive Director
North Carolina Medical Board
P.O. Box 20007
Raleigh, NC  27619-0007
Phone:  1.800.253.9653
Fax:  919.326.0036
Email:  info@...

U.S. Department of Justice - Civil Rights Division
Special Litigation Section
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC  20530
Phone:  202.514.6255
Fax:  202.514.0212
Website:  www.usdoj.gov

Edward Harrison, CCHP, President
National Commission on Correctional Healthcare
1145 W. Diversey Pkwy
Chicago, IL  60614
Phone:  773.880.1460
Fax:  773.880.2424
Email:  info@...

Jane Perkins, Legal Director
North Carolina Law Program
1025 Connecticut Av, Suite 600
Washington, DC  20036-5495
Email:  perkins@...
Website:  www.healthlaw.org

NAACP
Raleigh - Apex
P.O. Box 25427
Raleigh, NC  27611
Phone:  919.833.4873

Dr. Abhay Agarwal
Deputy Medical Director
Cary Medical Group
530 New Waverly Place - Suite 200
Cary, NC  27518
Phone:  919.859.5955

Special Litigation Section
U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Special Litigation Section
Washington, D.C. 20530
 
Telephone (202-514-6255 or 877-218-5228) or fax  (202-514-0212 or 202-514-6273)


Cards of Encouragement and Inspiration may be sent to Terrance at:
Mr. Terrance Taylor #0539901
Central Prison
1300 Western Blvd.
Raleigh, NC  27606





Inmate Letter Campaign
 
Saving lives one letter at a time


3 of 3 Photo(s)

#1730 From: Carol L <carolleo864@...>
Date: Sat Nov 21, 2009 10:51 pm
Subject: Indiana prison stops serving lunch three days a week
carolleo864
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 

Indiana prison stops serving lunch three days a week

Civil rights groups, lawmakers critical of program at Plainfield eliminating midday meal 3 days a week
Posted: November 20, 2009
The inmates at Plainfield Correctional Facility can't be accused of getting a free lunch.Or any lunch at all. At least on some days.

The medium security prison in Hendricks County has eliminated lunch on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays -- part of a pilot program that could go statewide.

http://www.in.gov/idoc/" target="_blank">The Indiana Department of Correction insists it's not about saving money but what's in the best interest of prisoners. Officials say they have received few complaints since rolling out the changes last month.

But others, including civil rights organizations and lawmakers, are highly skeptical of any benefits -- and think it's potentially dangerous.

Because of tight budgets, a handful of other states have cut meals to save money. But Indiana prison officials said the driving force here was to give prisoners more classroom and recreational time.

"Serving meals is a time-consuming effort that takes hours," Indiana Department of Correction spokesman Doug Garrison said. "By eliminating one meal, we are able to operate our programs more efficiently."

Plainfield Correctional spokesman Kevin Mulroony said two square meals a day provide the same calories -- 2,500 -- as three meals. Breakfast and lunch are combined into what is being called "brunch" -- but is predominantly breakfast food served at 6 a.m. Dinner is served 10 hours later, at 4 p.m. Lunch is served at 11:30 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays.

Mulroony said the new schedule frees up weekends for education classes, religious services and family visits for the inmates, who often have busy schedules into the night.

But the Republican chairman of the state Senate corrections and criminal subcommittee said he can see few benefits in such a drastic change.

"We should treat our inmate population like human beings," said Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel. "Denying food or cutting back on meals is beneath the dignity of the state of Indiana and is not in sync with our Hoosier values. It is my hope that the corrections officials will come before us and reassure us that they are treating the prisoners in a humane way."

State Rep. Bill Crawford, D-Indianapolis, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he doubts that the prisoners are still getting their recommended calories.

"I'd like to see an accounting of that," Crawford said.

A review of four weeks of menus reveals that the prisoners are getting shortchanged a main-course item each Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

For example, during the first week of the pilot program, the four lunch main courses were goulash, bologna, taco meat and sloppy Joes. At weekend brunch, they were bologna, peanut butter, and oatmeal and sausage. Dinners remained generally the same -- one main course.

Mulroony acknowledged that traditional lunch offerings such as chicken quarters and meat with macaroni and cheese were missing at brunch. But he said the heavier foods aren't included because they are served just as early as breakfast.

"You try to serve more breakfast-type items because the offenders are still eating at 6 in the morning," he said.

Although prison officials said they were not trying to cut expenses when they made the move, the private contractor that handles food service for prisons has had trouble staying within its promised budget since landing the $258 million, 10-year deal in 2005.

At the time, Aramark boasted that it would save the state $11 million and cut the average cost of a meal from $1.41 to 99 cents. But since then, it has exceeded its projected annual budget increase of 6 percent.

The company told the committee that rising gas prices had driven up the cost of food and that the rising prison population was increasing its expenses.

The DOC's food service allocation jumped from $28.9 million for 2009 to $36 million for 2010 and to $40 million for 2011, according to the House Ways and Means Committee.

Aramark was provided a list of written questions by The Indianapolis Star but referred all inquiries about the program to the DOC.

Whatever the reason for cutting meals, advocates for inmates' rights think it is dangerous to tinker with a prisoner's food.

Elizabeth Alexander, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project, said cutting lunch creates "a tremendous gap between meals."

"Making prisoners go hungry for long periods is not the way to solve anything," she said. "Food is not the place to make cuts, especially since it is such a small percentage of a prison's budget."

Food service accounts for about 5 percent of DOC's $726 million budget in 2010.

Skipping meals can be dangerous for certain inmates, such as those with diabetes and hepatitis. But Mulroony said 33 inmates with special needs still receive regular lunches on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

He said there have been few complaints from the 1,600 inmates about the change.

Gil Holmes, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, said the organization was aware of the change but had not received any complaints from prisoners.

Until it does, the ACLU of Indiana probably won't take any action, Holmes said.

The DOC said the pilot program would last an indefinite length of time and is being reviewed to determine other prisons where it might work. Eventually, all 30 prisons in the system could switch to the new eating schedule, Garrison said.

And, DOC officials said, inmates can always get chips, cookies and Ramen noodles in the commissary to tide them over between meals. Prisoners have to pay for those.

"You'd be amazed at what prisoners can do with a bag of Ramen," Mulroony said. "It's good as anything served in a restaurant."


http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009911200392




#1729 From: "Angela" <jancius@...>
Date: Sun Nov 22, 2009 5:57 pm
Subject: Fw: Prisoner's Family Conference Early Bird Deadline - Dec. 15
jancius
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
From: Community Solutions <solutionsforelpaso@...>

Don't Miss The Early Bird Registration
Deadline:  December 15th
For
The 2ND Annual National
PRISONER'S FAMILY CONFERENCE
~~~
February 25 & 26, 2010
Crowne Plaza Hotel
Orlando, Florida

A Project of Community SOLUTIONS of El Paso
~~~
For Details & Listing of Presenters
Please Visit
www.solutionsforelpaso.org

Click on "Prisoner's Family Conference"

SAVE $30.00 BY REGISTERING BEFORE DECEMBER 15TH
  Registration & Bonus Activity Forms Attached!

FOR QUESTIONS CONTACT:
Carolyn Esparza, LPC
Executive Director, Community SOLUTIONS of El Paso

Prisoner's Family Conference, Chair
Phone:  915-861-7733   FAX:  915-855-0602
E-Mail: solutionsforelpaso@...
Website:  www.solutionsforelpaso.org

2 of 2 File(s)


#1728 From: Stephen Kovacik <tupamaros@...>
Date: Wed Nov 25, 2009 2:24 am
Subject: Re: Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual
tupamaros
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
Thanks Leonna,
 
Anything you can do to make the Manual more accessable and easier to download would help.
Stephen


From: leonna <nvopres@...>
To: prisonersolidarity@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Mon, November 23, 2009 11:36:27 AM
Subject: Re: [prisonersolidarity] Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual

 

Thanks Jan

Someone mentioned they couldn't open it. So, I am going to convert the
documents into a pdf. file format and send it around again. We really do
need to have this Manual because Lawyers are becoming less helpful to a
population of indigent and incarcerated men, women and youth.
In solidarity

Leonna

----- Original Message -----
From: Janet E. Peterson-Bryan
To: prisonersolidarity@ yahoogroups. com
Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2009 1:49 PM
Subject: [prisonersolidarity ] Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual

Leona,

This is really helpful and, as you say, much less cost than purchasing the book.

Thank you for the link.

Jan


#1727 From: GellyBean1974 <gellybean1974@...>
Date: Wed Nov 18, 2009 2:36 pm
Subject: RE: namaiam's son wanting a lady to write
gellybean1974
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
I am sending you a link. it is a form to print up & then send him to fill out &
mail to the address on the bottom. They are a pen pal for inmates site & will
match him with a Christian Lady to write to. If you do not have a printer & you
would like me to print & mail to him I will gladly just let me know. ok? Also I
have a list of inmates that need holiday mail( Christmas cards sent) I will
gladly add him here & in my other sites plus one in Florida for Holiday mail if
you would send me his address! God bless you &yours this Holiday
season~Gellybean*

-------------------
http://www.inmatepenpalconnection.org/penpalap.htm

#1726 From: "Gellybean*" <gellybean1974@...>
Date: Fri Nov 13, 2009 9:40 am
Subject: Free Books To Prisoners
gellybean1974
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
They ask for stamps for mailing but if the prisoner doesnt have any they will
send book list any ways. I send stamps for my daughter because she isnt allowed
them from me. anyways~ Hope they help you!



1>DC Books To Prisons

P.O. Box 5243

Hyattsville MD 20782

Nation wide 2 books per inmate



2>Books To Prisoners c/o Left Banks Books (All States Except Calif.)

92 pike St.

Seattle Wash.98101



3> Books Thru Bars c/o Autumn leaves Book Store

115 The Commons-2nd Floor

Ithaca NY 14850

(Serves States:CT. DE. MA. ME. MD.NH.NY.NJ.PA.RI.VT. Only)



4>Prison  Library Project

915c west Foothill Blvd.

Claremont Ca. 91711

Free self help,personal & spirtual growth, wellness and metaphysical books.

Free resource guide upon request:



5>NYC Books Thru bars c/o Bluestockings Bookstore

172 Allen St.

  New York Ny 10002

Nation wide except MI. Literary fiction and educational books no religion books



6>Prison literature Project c/o Bound together Bookstore

1369 Haight St.

San Francisco Ca. 94117

  All States Except TX. & OR

#1725 From: "Andrea Ball" <aball001@...>
Date: Wed Oct 21, 2009 1:57 am
Subject: Life after death row
aball001@...
Send Email Send Email
 
----- Original Message -----
From: "guardian.co.uk" <noreply@...>

>
> To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to
>
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/joepublic/2009/oct/21/death-row-survivor-support\
-group
>
> Life after death row
>
> Erwin James finds survivor John Thompson campaigning to help other former
> prisoners who have been exonerated and released from death row
>
> Erwin James
> Wednesday October 21 2009
> guardian.co.uk
>
>
>
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/joepublic/2009/oct/21/death-row-survivor-support\
-group
>
>
> Death-row survivor John Thompson is angry, but not bitter. Which is
> remarkable, given that the prosecutor in his original trial for murder in
> 1984 deliberately withheld evidence that proved he was innocent. "I'm
> angry," he says, "because that man was trying to murder me. He knew I did
> not commit that crime, had the evidence to prove it, but it made no
> difference. He was going to have me killed in the chair to further his own
> career." Of all the cases of death-row prisoners who have been exonerated
> in recent years, Thompson's is one of the most troubling. Jerry Deagan,
> the prosecutor in question, only confessed that he had concealed the blood
> evidence that would have absolved Thompson when he found he was dying of
> liver cancer, 11 years after Thompson's conviction. In an attempt to clear
> his conscience, Deagan told his colleague, Mike Riehlmann, what he had
> done.
>
> But even when Deagan died, it was almost five years before Riehlmann came
> clean and earned a brief suspension from Louisiana's Supreme Court for his
> "inaction". After 14 years on death row and seven execution dates,
> Thompson was given a retrial in 2004. The jury took just a few minutes to
> acquit him, and later he walked out of Louisiana's Angola State prison
> with just $10 in his pocket for his trouble. Now he campaigns against the
> death penalty. And not just for those who might be innocent. "There is
> nothing about justice in death penalty cases in the US," he told me at the
> annual conference of Lifelines (www.lifelines-uk.org), the organisation
> that arranges pen-friends for those on death row, where he and I were
> guest speakers. "It's all about votes and careers."
>
> He opened his briefcase and took out a large photograph of a burly-looking
> man wearing gold-rimmed spectacles. The man, Jim Williams, was the senior
> prosecutor who oversaw Thompson's original trial. In the picture, Williams
> wears a look of pride and stands behind a large desk, upon which stands a
> small model of an electric chair. Attached to the chair are the
> photographs of five black men. Thompson's picture, in the centre, is the
> largest. "He was especially proud to send me to the chair," says Thompson,
> "and it was all based on lies."
>
> Now none of the men in the model chair remain on death row. Two were
> exonerated, two had their sentences commuted to life and one is awaiting a
> retrial. "Because the officials who do that work are all elected, it means
> that the whole process is political. It is the political pressure on these
> people to convict and to secure the death penalty that leads to the kind
> of corruption that almost killed me," says Thompson. "And do you know what
> really angers me? It's when these people, [the prosecutors] are found out.
> When those on death row are found to be innocent, nobody in the
> prosecutor's office ever faces charges, nobody has to pay. A slap on the
> wrist for 'malfeasance' and then they're back at work doing the same old
> thing."
>
> Concerned about the lack of support for other death-row survivors who had
> been exonerated and released, Thompson founded Resurrection after
> Exoneration (www.r-a-e.org/stories), a campaigning body that supports
> those affected while they adjust to life back on the outside. Exonerees
> are many. In the last 30 years, 135 people have been exonerated from death
> row in 25 states ? since 1990, 26 were from Louisiana alone. Has Thompson
> got over what happened to him yet? "No sir," he says quietly, "not
> completely. I might get over it. But to tell you the truth, I don't want
> to get over it. I want it to stay with me, to keep driving me to resolve
> this thing."
>
>
> If you have any questions about this email, please contact the
> guardian.co.uk user help desk: userhelp@....
>
>
> guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2009
> Registered in England and Wales No. 908396
> Registered office: Number 1 Scott Place, Manchester M3 3GG

#1724 From: robert smith <Robertsmith532@...>
Date: Wed Nov 18, 2009 8:29 pm
Subject: 2009 Peltier Gift Drive
Robertsmith532@...
Send Email Send Email
 
> From: vorse@...

> 2009 Peltier Gift Drive
>
Leonard Peltier is organizing a holiday gift drive for the children of
> Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and the Turtle Mountain Reservation
> in Belcourt, North Dakota. Leonard grew up on the Turtle Mountain
> Reservation and many of his family members still live there.
>
> This annual gift drive is one way in which Leonard continues his
humanitarian work for his people. Help Leonard reach out beyond the bars that
imprison him.
>
> Remember... The gift drive helps the children and families, but also
> Leonard himself. Help keep Leonard's spirit strong through the difficult
holiday season.
>
> Mail all gifts to:
> Waha Peltier
> PO Box 159
> Pine Ridge, SD 57770
>
> Turtle Mountain Tribal Agency
> Gifts from Leonard Peltier
> c/o Cindy Malaterre
> PO Box 900
> Belcourt, ND 58316
>
> Send new (unwrapped) toys, warm clothing, books, school supplies, etc., for
children of ALL ages (newborn to 18 years). To ensure delivery by Christmas,
mail your gift no later than December 17. Thank you for your generous support.
>
----- The ZOOM IN Campaign---------

The outpouring of support for the new campaign is
> overwhelming and we can't thank everyone enough for their enthusiastic
participation. Support branches that haven't checked in, please do so today.
Send an e-mail to zoom@....
>
> We're planning some special activities to help you with the public
> education aspects of the campaign. We need to hear from you to help with
scheduling. The first response to the new campaign was received from Verlon
Jose, Chairman, Tohono O'odham Legislative Council (AZ) and we've heard from
many long-time supporters like Ted Glick and Pam Africa.
>
> We're very pleased to have them on board. One of our support branches in New
Mexico already has plans to canvass community events to educate folks and get as
many people involved as possible. Not to be outdone, supporters in Europe are
hard at work, as well. People are having fun with the idea, too--showing their
hobbies, occupations, and cultures through the clothes they wear for their
photos. Leonard is thrilled with the response. Keep up
the great work. It's easy to join in. Learn all about the campaign on our Web
site at www.whoisleonardpeltier.info. Don't have a printer? Make your own sign.
>
> Just make certain it's large and clear enough to be visible in your photo and
that it says, "Executive Review NOW!" Don't know how to create your personal
flyer? Drop us a line and we'll help. For the answers to your questions and
technical assistance, send an e-mail to
> zoom@.... Okay, everybody, strike a pose!
>
> Art Prints
How about giving a Peltier print to that someone special on your Christmas list?
We have new prints of several of Leonard's paintings: "Visions of Freedom,"
"White Mountain Lady," and "Woman Coming Out of the Water." They really are
special and look fantastic framed. We're accepting orders now.

Each print sells for $35.00 (USD). Check out our Merchandise Page at
www.whoisleonardpeltier.info.

#1723 From: "s1ipkn0t94102" <netstat@...>
Date: Wed Nov 18, 2009 9:07 pm
Subject: Drugs - How many victims do these laws have?
s1ipkn0t94102
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
The CIA has been experimenting on the public with drugs since the MK Ultra
experiements (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKULTRA). Ironically all
street drugs have male impotence as a least a temporary side-effect. Are we
imprisoning persons for merely participating in some government experiement and
covert population control mechanism??

#1722 From: Letter Campaign <inmate_letter_campaign@...>
Date: Mon Nov 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Subject: AR - John Caldwell - Adequate Medical Needed
inmate_lette...
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
***Referrals to Arkansas Civil Attorney would be appreciated***
Update:  John remains in excruciating pain and his inguinal hernias have torn larger.  He has not been provided exam or treatment by a hernia specialist.

History:
John Caldwell has a long history of inguinal hernias that received immediate surgery in the free world.   Early 2007, he  experienced ripping, tearing, burning, and stinging beneath his old left and right side hernia scars .This condition is compounded by abdominal bleeding which could be due to the buildup of old scar tissue.  In May 2007, Mr. Caldwell requested to be seen by a hernia specialist.  The DOC denied this grievance in August 2007.  Mr. Caldwell's remained in constant and unbearable pain with his hernia attempting to strangulate and his blood pressure now elevated.

In May 2008, he submitted another request to see a hernia specialist.  At this point, his symptoms include swelling of the abdomen up to the base of his rib cage and he must pull his intestines back through the abdominal tear to prevent it's entrapment.   The DOC denied this grievance in August 2008. By late November, his hernias have ripped a new tear on his right side.

As of September 2009, Mr. Caldwell has not been seen by a hernia specialist for exam and treatment.   He experiences heart fluctuations and continued extreme pain as he continues to wait to be seen by a hernia specialist.  The only other treatment received to date, is a high blood pressure medication, aspirin, ibuprofen, metafiber and an ill-fitting hernia belt.

Please contact the following officials urging them to secure a hernia specialist that will provide the much needed surgery:

Mike Beebe, Governor
Governor's Office
250 State Capitol Building
Little Rock, AR  72201
Ph: 501.682.2345
Email:  governor.arkansas.gov/contact/index.php

Dustin McDaniel, Attorney General
323 Center Street, Suite 200
Little Rock, AR 72201
Website:www.ag.state.ar.us/contact_us.html


ACLU of Arkansas
904 West Second Street - Suite 1
Little Rock, AR  72201
Ph:  501.374.2660

Grant Harris, Warden
Arkansas Department of Correction
Varner Super Max Unit
P.O. Box 400
Grady, AR  71644
Ph:  870-267-6999

Special Litigation Section
U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Special Litigation Section
Washington, D.C. 20530
 
Telephone (202-514-6255 or 877-218-5228) or fax  (202-514-0212 or 202-514-6273)

Cards of Encouragement can be sent to Mr. Caldwell at:

Mr. John Caldwell - ADC#090188
Varner SuperMax Unit
P.O. Box 400
Grady, AR 71644


Inmate Letter Campaign
 
Saving lives one letter at a time


4 of 4 Photo(s)


#1721 From: "Gellybean*" <gellybean1974@...>
Date: Fri Nov 13, 2009 4:39 am
Subject: Inmates That Need Holiday mail
gellybean1974
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
Hi~ I have a list of addresses for inmates that will not get Christmas cards or
Holiday mail if others do not help! Any one that would like to send a card or 2
please write me @ yahoo & I will send you the list. Thank you God Bless you &
yours this Holiday season`gellybean*

#1720 From: "leonna" <nvopres@...>
Date: Mon Nov 23, 2009 4:36 pm
Subject: Re: Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual
ramjole
Offline Offline
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Thanks Jan

Someone mentioned they couldn't open it. So, I am going to convert the
documents into a pdf. file format and send it around again. We really do
need to have this Manual because Lawyers are becoming less helpful to a
population of indigent and incarcerated men, women and youth.
In solidarity

Leonna


   ----- Original Message -----
   From: Janet E. Peterson-Bryan
   To: prisonersolidarity@yahoogroups.com
   Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2009 1:49 PM
   Subject: [prisonersolidarity] Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual




   Leona,

   This is really helpful and, as you say, much less cost than purchasing the
book.

   Thank you for the link.

   Jan

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