New Abolitionist, PAC Newsletter 25 january 2006
January 25, 2006 issue
Dear friends,
Thanks for all the positive suggestions and constructive criticisms sent back to our office. Rest assured, they were heard, and even if we don’t comment directly here, we will keep those suggestions in mind.
There are a couple of points that are worth discussing with this wider audience. One is our political/radical stance. Most comments suggested that we remain or become more political, and some of those same comments suggested a less radical stance. What is apparent in that suggestion is the perception that “reasonable” lobbying for reform through political avenues is the solution to this incarceration catastrophe. This gives us the opportunity restate our mis-sion and purpose, we advocate for the abolition of prisons, not the reform of prisons. Martin Luther King answers this question beautifully, "The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists will we be?"
So, we will remain radical and bring views and news that reflect our opinion that prisons do not solve the socio-economic problems that drive people to commit “crime”. Prisons exacerbate the problem by brutalizing citizens who are then returned to our communities, hardened and angry.
One other point that needs to be reiterated here, our newsletter is called The New Abolitionist and it seems that many equate this with the former abolition movement and an afro-centric perspective. The original abolitionist move-ment was about the abolition of slavery, and as observed in the 13th Amendment, slavery remains a part of our basic laws. We look to the first and original abolitionists because they too rejected government (they rejected man’s laws and followed God’s laws). Many were Quakers, and although they hated slavery, many also rejected the idea of equality of the races.
What we take from those predecessors is the rejection of government and man’s laws, although we do not look to any scripture to define our moral outrage, and contrary to many of the former abolitionists, we embrace racial equality and thereby deny the oppressors that tool of division.
But most of all, as New Abolitionists we seek the abolition of prisons; more than that, we seek the abolition of the systems of oppression that create the need for prisons; we seek the abolition of police who are the enforcers of the systems of oppression that create the need for prisons; we seek the abolition of capitalism as a system that divides us, destroys our environment, and commodifies all things.
We had considered not sending this issue to the families and friends. We hoped that they would send word (or money) if they wanted to keep receiving the newsletter, but we’ve had few paid subscriptions. We understand that you want us to tell them what prison is all about, but we also want to spend our meager resources effectively, so if you have an opinion on this matter, let us know. Also, many of you have been moved about, and if you want to keep getting this newsletter, let us know when your address changes.
“Old Law” lawsuit members and their families will find an update enclosed. If there is no update enclosed, you’re not signed on. There have been some very interesting devel-opments. Around 150 prisoners have now signed onto the suit. We feel that we are reaching a point in our research and preparation where we will be seeking outside counsel and/or organizational help to file the case. One of our members had a meeting with Lenard Wells, and his report is enclosed for all.
WSPF hijacked the last two issues of the New Abolitionist and many of our comrades are appealing, but we don’t expect they will succeed. Like George Jackson said, “those in power use the law when it is convenient, but disregard it when it suits them.” The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is one of those pesky laws that get in the way of suppression of information.
Wisconsin State Senator Brian Burke, charged with 19 felonies will serve 2 months of home detention. He spent 300 thousand dollars to buy this (in)justice. In the meantime, thousands of poor people sit in prisons for writing a phony check in order to feed their children. So it goes in Amerika.
We know that attention spans are short, and Tookie Williams is “old news,” but the piece by Bin Wahad says so much more than any other piece written about the murder-by-state of Tookie, that it had to be part of this newsletter. It deserves reading and re-reading. Just yesterday, Choctaw Indian Clarence Allen, a 76 year old, blind and deaf, diabetic, wheelchair bound prisoner was put to death in California. Women, children, elderly, infirm, and mentally retarded get no mercy in this culture of violence.
Steve Rundel was sent to WSPF to serve 240 days. As it turns out this was a death sentence. Mr. Rundel was found hanging from a bed sheet tied to the bar in the window of his cell. He died on December 20th. Sensory deprivation is a killer. We have been in contact with his sisters and they say he was awaiting their visit during Christmas. We’ve not had any success in getting the conduct report that sent him to that tomb.
WSPF will be taking ‘general population’ prisoners soon. Even though this is strictly a matter of “efficiency and cost”, perhaps the pressure to keep 509 beds full of “bad people” will ease somewhat. For those who remain in isolation, things may change very little. There’s some talk of property being allowed into cells. We’ll see. To those locked up there, keep the information coming from the bowels of the beast.
There is so much news and so few pages here to report it. Our file, “next newsletter” keeps getting fatter, so if your submission didn’t make it this time, don’t give up hope, some day we’ll get to it.
In solidarity, PAC
“My last words will be ‘Hoka Hey it's a good day to die.’” - Clarence Allen
[p2]
THE URBAN UNDERGROUND
YOUTH EMPOWERMENT CENTER COMING SOON
Now more than ever, Milwaukee teens need opportunities to access alternatives to violence, support for academic achievement, and guidance toward college instead of incarcer-ation. The Youth Empowerment Center will provide a space for youth to pursue these opportunities through programming in leadership, technol-ogy, education, and enterprise. Since its birth in 2000, thousands of teens have turned to Urban Underground for support in pursuing educational and career goals while developing skills in leadership and technology. Urban Underground has implemented a successful model for engaging youth ages 13-19, primarily from low-income backgrounds in developing their social, academic, and leadership skills. This year alone over 1,000 teens submitted applications to join Urban Under-ground. Sadly, we only had the capacity to accept 100 for the year. The YEC will enable us to accommodate over 100 youth every night! In a city where students of color have a 50/50 chance of completing high school, over 90% of Urban Underground members success-fully complete high school, and more than 60% go to college. Using a social justice framework, Urban Under-ground has provided opportunities for some of Milwaukee’s most challenged youth to transform their lives while transforming the lives of those around them.
The concept behind the Youth Empowerment Center was initiated by a group of Urban Underground mem-bers back in 2002. After two years of research, surveys, and site visits to urban youth centers across the country, it was decided that the YEC would model itself after The Spot located in Denver, CO. The Spot was started in 1994 at a time when gang violence was consuming the streets of Denver. Founded by a group of homeless youth, artists, and former gang members, The Spot was struct-ured to provide a safe and supportive place for urban youth to access education, employment, health, arts, and career development opportunities.
The Youth Empowerment Center rep-resents the collective vision of individ-uals and groups committed to advan-cing the social and educational develop-ment of Milwaukee's youth. Thank you for sharing our vision.
To learn more about this amazing endeavor, please contact Reggie Moore at 414.384.8308.
Women in Prisons
by Ali Khalid Abdullah #148130
Mound Correctional Facility
17601 Mound Rd.
Detroit, MI 48212
There are well over 100,000 women in prison in the U.S. today. The majority are in prison for economic so-called crimes. The most typical convictions resulting in imprisonment for women are property so-called crimes, such as check forgery and illegal credit card use. Of the women convicted of violent so-called crimes, the vast majority were convicted for defending them-selves or their children from abuse. In California alone there are 600 women in prison for killing their abuser in self defense. Average prison terms are twice as long for killing husbands as for killing wives. 54% of women in prison are women of color, and women of color are the fastest growing popul-ation in U.S. prisons today.
One such woman in prison is Michelle Burks. A woman who came to prison as a youth and as is now in her 30’s and has been repeatedly been denied parole by the Parole Board in Oregon. Michelle has been a long time supporter of Political Prisoners and it is time she is given support as well.
Currently, Michelle is trying to win legal relief in court and needs financial support. We encourage you to write to Michelle Burks and ask what help she could use that would help her gain her freedom. Write: Michelle Burks #7743377, Oregon Department of Corrections, P.O. Box 9000, Wilsonville, OR 97070. Financial contributions can be sent to: Michelle Burks #7743377, Oregon Department of Corrections, P.O. Box 14400, Salem, OR 97309
End Juvenile Life Without Parole
Amnesty International
“Adult time for adult crime” might be a prosecutor’s snappy catchphrase to describe life without parole for juveniles. But it effectively ignores what even the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized - that children are less culpable than adults for the crimes they commit. If that is true, then children must be held accountable for their crimes in a manner that reflects their special capacity for rehabilitation. But courts across the United States have been prosecuting children - who are too young to vote, get married or drink alcohol legally - as adults and meting out the extreme punishment of life without parole.
In Pennsylvania, for example, a tenth grade boy named Stacey T. got life without parole for a second degree murder conviction. His crime was participating in a robbery scheme in which two adults (one was Stacey’s cousin) used Stacy to lure the victim and them killed him after taking Stacy home. Stacey, who had no juvenile record and went straight to adult court, says, “Is it fair that I spend the rest of my life in prison for a crime which was committed by someone else without my knowledge or without my being present?”
In the first national analysis of life without parole sentences for children, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch discovered that there are presently 2,225 people in the United States sentenced to life without parole for crimes they committed as children. Contrary to popular belief, most of these children do not have long rap sheets of vicious crimes; an estimated 59% received the sentence for their first ever conviction. There are also marked racial disparities. Black youth are ten times more likely to receive life without parole sentences than white youths.
The United States stands alone with Somalia as the only countries that have not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which explicitly prohibits life imprisonment without the possibility of release for children under 18. At least 132 countries forbid life without parole for juvenile offenders in domestic law or practice. Only four countries have juvenile offenders serving life without parole, with only a dozen cases in total outside of the United States.
"The state calls its own violence law, & that of the individual, crime" - Max Stirner
[p3]
LEGAL NOTES
This is a new column for the PAC newsletter. We will try to highlight the efforts of some of our members seeking justice in the courts. If you have a case pending or have recently won a case, and think that case may help others, send us a brief (100 word) synopsis.
* Terrance Shaw, with the assistance of Vance (Moso) Smith and Oscar (OB) McMillian, has filed litigation (Case No. 05-C-008272) in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District, which raises the issues of ex post facto regarding the Parole Commission guidelines. Those who have singed up on the “old law” class action suit will find a full essay regarding this case in this newsletter. Mr. Shaw will keep us updated as his case moves through the courts.
.* Anthony Robinson, filed a motion for Sentence Modification in which he alleged the Parole Commission policy of making prisoners serve two-thirds of their sentence in prison constituted a new factor which was not known at the time of his sentencing. He quotes State v. Carter, 208 Wis. 2.d 142, 560 N.W. 2.d 256 (1997), as authority to consider post sentence rehabilitation efforts. Anthony has given PAC permission to share his motion with those who want to review it. His motion resulted in a five year reduction of his 20 year sentence. For a copy of this motion, send 3 - 39 cent stamps to PAC in order to cover copying and postage.
* PAC is in the process of filing a 1983 action in Federal Court to challenge the banning of The New Abolitionist newsletter from certain institutions. The issue is denial of free speech under the 1st Amendment. Thornburgh is the defining case law, but many other cases have redefined this issue. We welcome suggestions from anyone who has had some experience in this area.
That’s all for this issue. I’m sure there will be many submissions next time.
*********************************************************
If it wasn’t so tragic it would be funny
Here’s a suggestion from Shaun Nichols:
“Have a contest for The Most Bogus Ticket.”
Sounds like fun. Send us a copy and explanation of your most bogus ticket. We’ll publish the winner and honorable mentions. Prize? Ok, one year free subscription to The New Abolitionist.
Policy keeps shackles on during labor
Wendy Harris
Post-Crescent staff writer
Of all the state's prison policies, the gender-neutral requirement of restr-aining prisoners who must go to a community hospital or clinic for care has ramifications unique to the preg-nant, female offender: she labors in leg shackles.
Samantha Luther, who entered Tay-cheedah Correctional Institution preg-nant last March, knew what to expect. But her baby's birthday came without warning. On the morning of Sept. 6, Luther, 38 weeks pregnant, was awakened by a guard and told to "get ready for her doctor's appointment," said Luther, who grew up in Menasha.
Wearing customary handcuffs and leg shackles, she was escorted under a guard's watch to Fond du Lac's St. Agnes Hospital's fourth floor - labor and delivery -- not the doctor's office where she had been going for prenatal checkups.
Her baby's due date was still 12 days away. "(The doctor) came in and said he was going to pop my water," said Luther, a drug offender who violated her probation. "I was so mad. I was not prepared. I was in shock. ... I felt like all of my rights had been taken away."
Her handcuffs were removed, but her shackles, giving her about 18 inches between her ankles, remained on. The doctor then ruptured her amniotic sac. Wearing socks, the shackles and a hospital gown, she and the guard paced the hallway on and off for several hours.
"They made me walk the halls in my shackles in front of all these women," Luther said. "It was so humiliating. My ankles were raw." When her labor failed to start, she was given a drug to start her contractions. "I had shackles on up until the baby was coming out and then they took them off for me to push," Luther said. "It was unbelievable. Like I was going to go anywhere."
The practice of shackling laboring in-mates for most of labor and immed-iately after childbirth is common across the country. Amnesty International considers the practice "cruel and degrading," saying it "endangers the woman and her child."
The practice also violates United Nations standards and is opposed by the American Public Health Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
In 2001, Amnesty reported 21 states allowed the use of shackles. Wisconsin officials say they must balance security and inmates' access to care.
"Obviously, our goal is decent, humane treatment of all our offenders in our custody," state corrections Secretary Matt Frank said. "Security and prev-enting escape are an important part of the job. ... Our goal is to accomplish both of those things and I don't think they are mutually exclusive."
Frank has ordered his staff, however, to review the use of restraints and the overall pregnancy and childbirth processes, spokesman John Dipko said Saturday.
Ana Boatwright, warden of Wisconsin's women's correctional system, added that the use of restraints is deter-mined on a case-by-case basis. "When-ever we take offenders outside the institutions, we have to be careful how we do it," she said. "We don't want to have more victims."
Inmates also have the option of wearing plastic ties in lieu of the heavy shackles, an alternative Luther claims she was not offered.
Baby boy Rhylee was born weighing 6 pounds, 6 ounces. "Then they put (the shackles) back on after (the doctor) sewed me up from my episiotomy," Luther said.
Dr. Robert J. Schuster, a Fond du Lac ob/gyn who has delivered babies of Taycheedah inmates for more than 30 years, said it's common to bring pregnant inmates in and induce them to prevent them from giving birth in their cells.
"We bring them in after 38 weeks to make sure they are in the hospital and everything is taken care of," said Schuster, who also provides prenatal care to the inmates.
However, this is not a prison policy and an inmate must sign a consent form to be induced, said Jim Greer, director of the Bureau of Health Services of the Department of Corrections.§
ed. note - We have heard that this policy has been reviewed and changed, but at the time of this printing, have not found any official statements by the DOC.
[p4]
Statement by Lori Berenson
Lori Berenson is a US citizen currently being held as a political prisoner in Perú. November 30th 2005 marked the tenth enniversary of her arrest.-ed
Statement:
My name is Lori Berenson. I am a New York born and raised political prisoner in Perú. I have spent many years in Central and South America, trying to contribute to the efforts of those who seek social justice for all. I continue this work from prison.
On November 30, 1995, I was pulled off of a public bus in Lima, Perú. Like thousands of Peruvians, I was detained by the anti-terrorist police, tried for treason by a hooded military tribunal under draconian anti-terrorism laws and condemned to life in prison.
This all occurred in the context of an internal conflict in Perú that began in the early 1980's with the armed insurgence of the Peruvian Communist Party, also known as the Shining Path, and later with the Tupac Amaru Revo-lutionary Movement - the MRTA. This conflict had parallels with other conflicts that occurred in much of Latin America.
When I was arrested, Peruvian President Fujimori made me a symbol for his anti-terrorist campaign. His ability to use the media for his own publicity purposes led to my case being very high profile.
Because of the tireless efforts of my family, friends and many others in the US and elsewhere in the world, the Fujimori regime was forced to bring my case to a civilian anti-terrorist court in 2000. During the period of the falling of the Fujimori regime and the formation of a transitional government in 2001, I received a new trial and was sentenced to 20 years for collaboration with terrorism. A year and a half later, the anti-terrorism legislation was modified slightly and those incarcerated under it began to receive new trials. In 2004, in light of the international anti-terrorism campaign in our post 9/11 world and under extreme pressure from Perú's political class, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ratified my sentence.
The details of what happened to me are irrelevant in the broader picture of the thousands of Peruvians who have been killed, disappeared, tortured and detained during the internal conflict. Since history has always been re-written by those who have the upper-hand, the issue of subversion became the scapegoat for all of Perú's problems.
In all parts of the world, symbolic culprits are used to obscure the root causes of social discontent, to distract attention and distort realities when any group of people questions the existing order.
The world order, especially in this era of globalized capitalism is designed to benefit a powerful few at the expense of the majority of our world's peoples. This system is unjust, immoral, ter-rifying, and just plain insane. We must change it.
People all over the world are im-prisoned today and suffering tremen-dous injustices for challenging this order. I express my solidarity with all of those prisoners, and in particular my admiration for those whose cour-age we can hear in the voice of Mumia Abu Jamal, in the writings about Leonard Peltier, in the struggle for the liberation of Puerto Rico, and many others. The dignity demonstrated throughout long years of struggle and resistance under one of the harshest jail regimes on earth is an example for all prisoners and for human beings in general.
For prisoners, the struggle for basic dignity is a daily plight. Prisons are just a smaller version of the general system that operates in this world, and that is what is wrong. The desire to change it is why many of us are here in the first place. It is a worthy cause to be behind bars for.
en Español:
Mi nombre es Lori Berenson. Nací en Nueva York, y soy una prisionera política en el Perú. Ya llevo muchos años viviendo en Centro y Sur América, intentando contribuir a los esfuerzos de quienes buscan la justicia social para todos y todas. Desde la cárcel, sigo con en este trabajo.
El 30 de Noviembre de 1995, fui bajada de un autobus público en Lima, Perú. Como miles de peruanos, fui detenida por la policía antiterrorista, juzgada bajo leyes antiterroristas draconianas en un tribunal militar con jueces sin rostro, y condenada a cadena perpetua.
Todo eso ocurrió dentro del contexto del conflicto interno en el Perú que empezó a los inicios de los años 80 con los insurgentes armados del Partido Comunista del Perú, también conocido como Sendero Luminoso, y después con el Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru- MRTA. Este conflicto tenía paralelos con los otros conflictos que ocurrieron en muchas partes de Latinoamérica.
Cuando fui detenida, el Presidente Fujimori me convirtió un símbolo de su campaña contra el terrorismo. Con su habilidad de usar los medios de comunicación por sus fines personales, mi caso llegó a tener de un perfil alto.
Gracias a los esfuerzos inagotables de mi familia, amistades y tantas otras personas en los Estados Unidos y otras partes del mundo, el régimen de Fujimori fue forzado a permitir que mi caso fuera visto en un tribunal civil antiterrorista en el año 2000. Durante el periodo de la caída del gobierno de Fujimori y la formación de un gobierno de transición en 2001, recibí un juicio nuevo en lo cual fui condenada a 20 años pena privativa de libertad por el delito de colaboración con el terrorismo. Un año y media después, la legislación antiterrorista fue parcialmente modificada y las personas privadas de libertad empezaron a iniciar juicios nuevos. En un mundo cambiado por el 11 de septiembre, la campaña internacional contra el terrorismo y bajo la presión de la clase política del Perú, en 2004 la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos ratificó esta sentencia de 20 años.
Dentro del contexto mayor de los miles de peruanos que fueron asesinados, desaparecidos, torturados, y detenidos durante el conflicto armado interno, los detalles de mi caso son irrelevantes. Dado que siempre se re escribe la historia por parte de aquellos que mantienen el poder, la subversión llegó a ser utilizado como el chivo expiatorio por todos los males en el Perú.
En todo el mundo, cuando cualquier grupo cuestiona el orden existente, se utiliza culpables simbólicos para encubrir las causas profundas del descontento social y distraer y tergiversar la atención publica.
El sistema mundial, especialmente en esta época de capitalismo globalizado, está diseñado para beneficiar a un grupo reducido de personas poderosas al costo de la mayoría. Este sistema es injusta, inmoral, horrorosa, y simplemente enferma. Tenemos que cambiarlo.
Hoy hay personas en todas partes del mundo que están detenidas y sufren extremas injusticias por desafiar este orden. Expreso mi solidaridad con todos aquellos prisioneros y prisioneras, y especialmente mi admiración por aquellos cuya valentía se escucha en la voz de Mumia Abu-Jamal, los escritos sobre Leonard Peltier, la lucha independentista de Puerto Rico, y tantos otros. La dignidad demostrada durante los largos años de lucha y resistencia bajo uno de los regimenes mas severos del mundo es un ejemplo para todo prisionero y para la humanidad en general.
Para nosotros prisioneras y prisioneros, la lucha para la dignidad básica es una tarea cotidiana. Las prisiones son simplemente una versión en escala menor del sistema general de opresión que opera en el mundo. La razón por la cual muchos de nosotros estamos aquí es precisamente nuestro anhelo de cambiarlo. Es una causa digna por estar atrás rejas.
[p.5]
Old Law Research Update
Research of the challenge to parole guidelines is completed. We are ready to format and structure the complaint to clearly provide - in the Statement of Facts - the legal claim, that will clearly meet the criteria we need to show that the action of the Parole Board, in denying parole under guidelines that were promulgated after our crime was committed, created a violation of the Ex Post Facto Clause.
The U.S. Supreme Court has expansively interpreted the Ex Post Facto Clause to cover a broad range of Government actions. See Miller v. Florida, 482 U.S. 423 (1987), in which the court held that the Ex Post Facto Clause protected against vindictive legislation.
There are many cases dealing with ex post facto legislation. Almost any ret-roactive application of the law which makes more onerous the sentence or the ability to obtain parole will be held to violate ex post facto provisions. In Medley, 134, U.S. 160 (1980), “any law passed after the commission of an offense is an ex post facto law if it inflicts greater punishment than that in place when the crime was committed... or which alters the situation of the accused to his disadvantage.”
In the course of research, every case which has made reference to the April 28, 1994 letter of Tommy Thompson to Secretary Sullivan as being a policy directive, and arguing that it had been applied retroactively, constituted an ex post facto violation, the courts have either held that this claim does not state a claim upon which relief can be granted or dismissed the claim with prejudice.
While it is clear that not all actions of the Executive are exempt from ex post facto scrutiny, the courts have distinguished between legislative rules and “interpretive guides,” Prater v. United States Parole Commission, 802 F.2d 948 (7th Cir.1986); U.S. v. Ellen, 961 F.2d 462 (4th Cir. 1992). In Ellen, the court explained that “Interpretive rules simply state what an administrative agency thinks the statute means, and only remind affected parties of existing duties.” Thus, while interpretive rules or statements of enforcement policy are merely guidelines, legislative rules have the “force of law.” The reason for the distinction was explained in Rodriguez v. the United States Parole Commission, 594 F.2d at 173, “When Congress has delegated to an agency the authority to make a rule instead of making the rule itself, the resulting rule is an extension of the statute for purposes of the clause. What Congress cannot do directly, it cannot do by delegation.”
In Mickens-Thomas v. Vaugh, 321 F.3d 374, 378 (3rd Cir. 2003) the court held that state prison inmates were entitled, under Ex Post Facto Clause, to have parole boards grant or deny parole based on factors prescribed by board policies as they existed at the time of conviction.
In a recent case finding(s), Glascoe v. Bezy, 421 F.3d 543 (7th Cir. Aug. 30, 2005), the court stated the proper question to ask is, whether the new procedure creates a significant risk of increased punishment.
“This is not to be confused with the question of whether the new parole practice is harsher for a class of prisoners”, Id. 421 F.3d at 547. The court then goes on to assert: “Generally, we must focus on the consequences of the new practice on the sentence of the particular inmate bringing the challenge, (the individual) must show that as applied to his own sentence the law created a significant risk of increasing his punishment.” Garner v. Jones, 529 U.S. at 255, 120 S.Ct 1362. Id. 421 F.3d at 548.
Also in Blair-Bey v. Quick, 151 F.3d 1036,1049 (D.C. Cir 1998), “If it can be shown that the 1987 revision was motivated by a punitive desire to extend the incarceration of a particular category of inmates, see Miller, 482 U.S. at 433-34, 107 S.Ct 2446, finding that a statute whose ‘sole reason’ was to punish sex offenders more heavily, violated the ex post facto clause.”
In assembling the Statement of Facts that our claims will be derived from it is essential that we include each guideline which prescribed Parole Commission policies as they existed at the time each member’s conviction. Therefore, we will need each class member to write directly to the head of the research committee with information about the existing parole guidelines at the time of their conviction. Please forward any documentation of parole policies to be included as an exhibit to: Frank Ratcliff #200947, Fox Lake Correctional Institution, P.O. Box 147, Fox Lake, WI 53933-147
For those individuals convicted before 1977, according to the Revisor of Statutes Bureau, there was no authority for rule making on this topic and chapter HSS 30 was not in existence in 1973. Therefore, what-ever statute you have in your posses-sion related to parole, please forward us a copy. This will saves us time and money if we don’t have to file so many open record requests.
While drafting the complaint, we will also be drafting a letter to be sent to lawyers and legal organizations asking for representation and support. We welcome your assistance in this mat-ter. If we cannot get representation and/or support, PAC will be organizing fund raising events to gather the need-ed funds to secure representation.
The research committee wants to thank our outside support, without which this endeavor would be much more difficult. The few outside people working on this are dedicated but overworked.
Some very gifted artists have donated their art work to the cause, and we thank them for their support. Unfor-tunately, old law prisoners will not see the art work in this newsletter, it went to all other prisoners instead of this page.
Special thanks to Brother Oscar McMillan, Ron Schilling, Vance Smith, Al Curtis, Robert Flynn, Anthony Robinson, Terrance Bridges, Ben Sanders, Terrence Shaw and others who have helped research this complicated issue, and shared with us their legal successes and failures, they all helped formulate a winning argument. It is because of them that we have gotten to this point. We look forward to their help in the next phase of this endeavor.
Thanks to all the old law prisoners who have spread the word, and we hope you continue to do so. There are no women in the class as of yet, so if you are in contact with any female old law prisoners, please have them contact our office.
Send the good folks at PAC your support, offer your help, or send a few dollars. We are our own liberators, they are there to help.
For freedom we struggle!!!!
Frank Ratcliff,
research committee
*********************************************************
The people have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take. - Emma Goldman
[p. 6]
Old Law Litigant
Terrance J. Shaw #138254
Oshkosh Correctional Institution (WI)
I have been asked to draft an article to be included in the next PAC newsletter. As my fellow inmates subscribers to PAC know, a couple of newsletters ago PAC asked for input from any jailhouse lawyers to assist PAC in prosecuting a class action law suit on behalf of all old law Wisconsin inmates. I responded by sharing a copy of my Case No.05-CV-00872, that I filed back in August 2005 in the Federal Eastern District Court of Wisconsin, under Title 42 U.S.C. Section 1983. I want to point out that I am not much of a jailhouse lawyer myself. However, I am being given legal assis-tance by what I consider two of the most competent jailhouse lawyers in the Wisconsin prison system.
First I’ll give you a short background on my case, and then I will follow that with up with a succinct overview of the main points of my Federal law suit against the WI DOC Parole Board because I am an old law inmate.
In 1981 I raped and murdered an adult female (for which I am so very sorry). I was convicted in 1982 and sentenced to life plus 20 years to run consecutively. I was sent directly to Waupun Correc-tional Institution because back in 1982 Assessment and Evaluation (A&E) was done in Waupun for all prisoners coming into the system. After I went through the evaluation process I went to my first PRC in January 1983. My first parole eligibility date was eleven years and six months after I was convicted and sentenced, because that was the law for inmates convicted with the crime and given the time I was given by Wisconsin Statute back at the time of my conviction and sentencing. At my first PRC I was initially Assessed an Evaluated, I was given participation in sex offender treatment (SOT) because of the nature of my crime. Since I had never committed a felony or been in prison ever before, according to the Initial Inmate Custody Rating that was in place when I came into the prison system, my total score came to a two (2), and back then, a score of six or less rated minimum custody. But due to the severity of my offense, PRC gave me a maximum custody override and sent me to Waupun. I spent almost twelve years in maximum custody before I saw the Parole Board for the first time. They didn’t give me a parole at that time nor in any subsequent hearings that periodically came up. Over the course of my incarceration I partici-pated in WCI SOT for which I was given a DOC-1423 Program Report by the Chief Sex Offender Psychologist at that time, wherein he stated, “Shaw has benefitted greatly from his partici-pation in SOT and has displayed his understanding of the treatment prin-ciples in his self-disclosure an feedback. Clinical judgment alone would suggest that he has sufficient progress in those areas to have completed his SOT need.” That is part of the quote the doctor gave me in his written evaluation of me. On the other side of the DOC 1423 report, he lists that I have “No high treatment need areas at this time”. The date of the report is 2-7-03 and signed by the Waupun Chief Psychologist whose treatment group I was in for a total of three years.
The reason I filed my Federal law suit against the WI DOC Parole Board is because abut 6-8 years after my 1982 conviction and sentencing, and subse-quent January 1983 Assessment and Evaluation, Initial Custody Rating, Needs Assessment, and Inmate Classification Summary, the WI DOC created a new sex offender treatment program, referred to as SOTP. Also over the course of time, the WI Parole Board created new criteria that inmate parole candidates were evaluated by when being considered for parole.
One of the new criteria is that I must complete SOTP before I will be seriously considered for release on parole. And that is where the rub comes in, and is the basis of my current Federal law suit against the WI DOC Parole Board. I’m complaining that the newly created program and newly created parole criteria violates the Ex Post Facto law, because at the time of my 1982 con-viction and sentencing none of this new-ly created programming and parole criteria was in place until many years later. I’m complaining that the WI DOC Parole Board is violating my Con-stitutional Rights because the adoption of new parole criteria and policies are intended to lengthen my incarceration after I was convicted and sentenced, and this violates my right against imposition of the Ex Post Facto laws. Ex Post Facto, for those who don’t know is a Latin term meaning “After The Fact.” Keep in mind that I have fil-led out the End of Confinement Review Board (ECRB) MN-SOST-R and RRASOR questionnaires with my own personal information to the questions and scored the LOWEST possible score range. That means that when I get paroled, not only am I not eligible to be put under Wisconsin’s 980 sexual predator law, but with the Low and Below Low Risk Rating Score that I got on the ECRB questionnaires, the police won’t even have to notify the community. That is as Low Risk as someone who has been convicted of a sex offense can get.
I credit my progress to many factors that took place during my incarcer-ation. During my first year in prison I got clean and sober and accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, and have grown exponentially in my daily spiritual walk as each day and year went by. During my past 25 years of incarceration I graduated from the Kenneth E. Hagin RHEMA Bible College out of Tulsa Oklahoma (through correspondence courses) and went on to get a Masters Degree in Religious Studies and a Doctorate in Biblical Studies, a Ph.D. in the Philosophy of Religion, and been awarded an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. Combine that with the three years I participated in the WCI SOT, being treated by sincere and caring profes-sionals that run SOT there, and I stand before you the man I am today, fit and ready to reenter society again and become a contributing member and a tax paying citizen. However, due to the newly created SOTP (which takes about four years to complete) and newly created parole criteria, I am not getting seriously considered for parole.
That is the overview of what my Federal law suit is all about. I and my jailhouse lawyer assistants, base my Ex Post Facto Complaint on: Mickens-Thomas v. Vaughn, 321 F3d 374 (3rd Cir. 2003), California Department of Corrections v. Morales, 514 U.S. 499, 506 N.3 115 S.Ct. 1597, 131 L.Ed2d 588 (1995), and Wilkinson v. Dotson, 125 S.Ct. 1242 (2005), to name a few case law precedent decisions. In actuality, my case is much more complicated to prosecute, but I have given you readers a general overview of the facts.
At this point in time the court is “reviewing” my case. I know they are supposed to get that done within the first 90 days, so I wrote to the court and asked what my standing was. They wrote back and gave me the case number they assigned to my case, but asked me to be patient because they were behind and would get to it as soon as they could. So this is where I am with it. As my case progresses thr-ough its due process, from time to time I will send updates to PAC to keep them and their readers informed. From what I explained about my case here, it’s easy to see that if I am successful, my case will help all old law Wisconsin prisoners who are similarly being oppressed by the illegal application of new programs and parole criteria that was created after their sentencing and conviction. Until next time, I will sign off and wish all the blessings of 3John2 to all my fellow inmates.
-Terrance Shaw
[p. 7-9]
HOW PRISONERS RIG THE VOTE
NY TIMES EDITORIAL - A startling analysis by Peter Wagner of the Prison Policy Initiative found seven upstate New York Senate districts meeting the population requirements only because in-mates were included in the count. The Republican Party in New York re-lies on its large upstate delegation for its majority in the State Senate - and for its political power statewide. New York is not alone. The Prison Policy Init-iative's researchers found 21 counties nationally where at least 21 percent of so-called residents lived behind bars.
By counting these nonvoting in-mates as residents, the prison counties offend the principle of one person one vote, while siphoning off political power from the home districts to which the inmates will return as soon as they are released. Since inmates are jobless, their presence also allows prison dist-ricts to lower their per capita incomes, unfairly increasing their share of federal funds earmarked for the poor. Congress, which has just caught on to this, recently gave the Census Bureau 90 days to file a report on the feasibility of counting inmates at their homes of record rather than in prison. At the same time, a committee over-seen by the National Academy of Sciences has been studying the residency issue and is expected to make its final report this spring. But why does the bureau need another study to decide whether it wants to uphold the one-person-one-vote principle?
The bureau should get to work immediately on procedures that would allow it to count inmates where they actually live - and get those procedures locked in place by the 2010 census.
THE ETHICS OF BLACK ATONEMENT IN RACIST AMERICA:
THE EXECUTION OF STANLEY TOOKIE WILLIAMS
By Dhoruba al-Mujahid Bin-Wahad
As one of the individuals Stanley Tookie Williams dedidcated his book to, I thought it important to comment on his execution and the sad state of affairs that now determines the para-meters of debate around the death penalty.
First of all, Tookie Williams was a pro-duct of the African experience in racist America. Lets not get it twisted. Nuns can lament his execution, Preachers can pontificate about how valuable he could be to Black youth, and Law enforcement can talk about legal and judicial rulings, but the bottom line is that Tookie Williams was a consequence of his communities racist marginalization - of America's internal Black colony and its occupation by racist and brutal police armies. This being the case, his execution by the enemies of African-America, and I know there are scores of born again Negroes out there who don't believe that the nation-state of America is their enemy, (a faith they must have if they are to attach any meaning to their life), but history and recent events emphatically substantiate the racist character and morality of America.
Tookie Williams is a product of social and political forces we have permitted to take control of our collective destiny. African-America should have judged and punished Tookie Williams itself. But it didn't.
It was incapable of holding its denizens accountable. Street gangs that started out as expressions of our community's inability to control our own streets and in opposition to police terror, were led down a certain path by the likes of Tookie. These gangs became pred-atory, apolitical, and reactionary. Our communities suffered as a consequence. Those who followed in Tookie's footsteps did so because not one Black institution existed that embraced and channeled their warrior spirit in a positive direction. Black nationalist were too busy "getting the right political line"; The Black Clergy was to busy mobilizing themselves to influence a body politic hat considered them nothing more than mouth-pieces for the Black middle class; Black professors and militant academician were hollering at white educational institutions for inclusion and relevancy...none spoke the lanquage nor harnessed the ener-gies of our street soldiers. The only organization that did so was the Black Panther Party - and that was destroyed by a potent combination of forces over three decades ago. Nothing ever replaced it.
As a Muslim, and even in the Panthers, I never opposed the execution of criminals and butchers of people. There can be no true justice without retribution - without balance. Having said that, I must point out that the European nation-state, and America in particular, given the racist nature of its evolution has absolutely no right whatsoever to act as a surrogate executer of justice for people of color. But because the African-American community, and its ersatz leaders have no temporal power, no institutions for social justice, or to exact a political consequence on those who make war on our commun-ity, we are left to debate the merits of the "death penalty" as a deterent to crime or state murder.
The state says it executed Tookie Williams because he killed four people - three of them Asians and people of color. But California has never exe-cuted one white man for killing Blacks, Latinos, or Asians during the course of armed robberies. And if they did would that justify executing one Blackman? If Guilt or innocence were the real issue rather than a pretext, I would still say no. Why? Because the death penalty in America has always operated as a legal instrument of racial terror. The death penalty evolved from, and assumed the psychological role of Lynching. Least we forget, every Black man lynched was "guilty of a crime". Tookie Williams could have murdered Black folks in droves and would have never faced the death pen-alty. It was law enforce-ment's role in the politics of drugs, and urban gang warfare that made his case extraordinary.
If I were to say the present regime in Washington qualifies for judicial prose-cution and probable execution for crimes against humanity, not one newspaper or major media outlet would treat that statement with respect rather incredulity. But if Law enforcement officials were to say that to embrace the likes of Gorge Jackson meant that one was "criminal minded" there is not one media outlet that would question that proposition.
Which brings me to my major point: The Tookie William's execution by the state of California is not just about the efficacy of the death penalty in America, or punishment for a heinous crime, but about the ethics of atonement and redemption in a racist culture and society. Indeed, the Governor of California in his Hollywood portrayal as the "terminator" and other violent monosyllabic killers is himself a role model for countless thugs, bandits, and murders around the globe, some of whom I've met personally. Liberia's murderous rebels, Sierra Leonean butchers of children, and scores of other misguided youth have adopted the violent persona of the Sylvester Stallone's "Rambo" and Arnold Scharzenegger..the "Teminator"!
Although Schwarzenegger notes that Williams dedicated his 1998 book to a group that includes myself, Assata Shakur, Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X and Mumia Abu-Jamal he is particularly upset by praise for Gorge Jackson. Schwarzenegger said the inclusion of a dedication to George Jackson, who was charged with the murder of a Califor-nia prison guard, "defies reason and is a significant indicator that Williams is not reformed." Defies whose reason?
Apparently Scharzenegger, or the ex-perts on African subculture in America find it absolutely abhorrent that Black redemption can or should embrace a radical political paradigm. They find it absolutely repugnant that the heroes and sheroes for an entire generation of Black youth don't look or behave like Hop-Along Cassidy, Arnold Scharz-enegger's "Last Action Hero" or GI Joe.
To many Black people (with an iota of consciousness), George Jackson is a hero. Why? Because Comrade George represented uncompromising resist-ance to a racist system and its political institutions, a system that incarcer-ated him his entire adult life for crime that a white boy from suburbia would have done community service for. Scharzenneger, never considered this. He never asked himself why should one black man or woman who has been savaged and brutalized by police and prison guards, agents of a state that has historically exhibited utter con-tempt for them, their community, and their lives, mourn the death of any prison guard? That would be like the Jewish alumnae of Dachau morning the death of a concentration camp guard. Were the murders of countless men and women behind prison walls by sadistic guards ever a subject of public outrage except when the state under John D. Rockefeller murdered both prisoners and guards at Attica in September of 1971?
Lest the Governor of California forget, in regions like New York and New Jersey fully 85% of prison inmates come from only several communities in the area - all Black, Latino, and poor. What that means is that almost every black person has a relative either behind bars, on parole, or under pretrial detention. So who cares about the prison guards? Their union, the state, and a racist society that has always viewed Black people as criminals or potential criminals that is who. But thanks to "The Patriot Act" even white citizens are potential criminals before they are law abiding citizens.
What wonderful icons Tookie chose to offer his respect to; Nelson Mandela, Malcom X, Mumia, all respected and revered freedom fighters - except to those who have spent half of their lives living off of the misery and disen-franchisement of Black folks. The utter absurdity of a Jamie Foxx begging a fellow actor to exercise progressive politics is a sickening commentary on the state of African-American lead-ership.
"Governor Schwarzenegger, we're not trying to push you into a corner. We realize that you have a tough job to do and you're very busy, but in being very busy, you may not get a chance to hear everything with the case." Foxx is re-ported to have moaned. Like Richard Pryor once joked about praying to god for help, "I know your busy, cause I checked your schedule". Whether they are busy or not, there is not one legal or "constitutional" right African People have in America that white folks don't have the veto over, or not subject to judicial review -including the right to life. A Blackman's life is subject to termination by a cop or agent of the state at any given moment - without recourse to appeal.
Indeed for many of today's so called leaders from Jessie and Sharpton to national "talk show hosts" (who in the age of instant communication sub-stitute for ideological movements) the issue of African-America's right to self defense has been a taboo subject, yet it was the destruction of militant groups such as the Black Panther's that left a social, political, and ideological void in African-America to be filled by street gangs and the distorted politics of individuals like Tookie Williams.
Although Law Enforcement experts are anxious to dispel and distort the social and political roots of street gangs such as the Crips, the fact of the matter is that gangs like the Crips were in part, a consequence of the success of COINTELPRO's devastation of the militant Black liberation movement in America.
COINTELPRO was a government cam-paign directed at the African-American community that Black leaders to this day have failed to fully investigate or even wish to investigate. It was the selective repression of COINTELPRO and its spin offs that has conferred credibility on some of today's Black leaders. That lynching, a historical instrument of anti-Black terror evolved into the modern death penalty system, only further highlight the illegitimacy of Tookie Williams execution by the state. Indeed California's governor all-udes to this when he says, "there is little mention of atonement in his writings and his plea for clemency of the countless murders committed by the Crips following the lifestyle Williams once espoused. The senseless killing that has ruined many families, particularly in African-American communities, in the name of the Crips and gang warfare is a tragedy of our modern culture." A tragedy of "our modern culture" the body builder says? The Austrian Oak never lived one minute in the South Bronx, or Watts. Never ducked bullets in the Projects or watched helplessly as cops gunned down a teenager on "suspicion of having a gun."
Yes Black families have been ruined by gang warfare, Black communities have also been occupied by police armies as well - cops who also believe they are the biggest and baddest gang in the 'hood and act accordingly. The rise of street gangs directly coincide with the destruction of grass root militant movements that would have otherwise occupied the energies of several gen-erations of African-American youth. What the Governor of California fails to mention is that the "tragedy of our modern culture" was contrived, and created by a society and a nation of people who have absolutely no shame, little sense of history, and absolutely no sense of themselves as pigs rather than saints. What's a tragedy is that the people of California failed to make a distinction between the plastic imagery of Hollywood and the reality of Amer-ican politics when they elected Schwarznegger Governor!
Robert Martin, Tookie's prosecutor, questioned whether there was any mo-ral equivalence "between coauthoring some children's books and the senseless murder of four people in cold blood."
I have always asked similar questions, was there any moral equivalence between starting a bloody war by lying to the world and thereby causing the deaths of thousands and justifying the lies with the rhetoric of decency and humanity? Or was there a moral red-emptive equivalent between security agents of apartheid who brutally tor-tured and murdered Steven Biko, and their apologies thirty years later be-fore a "truth and reconciliation com-mission" as Winnie Mandela would have us believe, while descendants of white settlers still control the land in South Africa even though Blacks are in pol-itical power and Racists Europeans still dominate the gold and diamond indust-ries and call the shots? Or should the apologies of the Belgian, French, and American murderers of Patrice Lumu-mba who now enjoy their old age and write self-justifying memoirs while the Congo wallows in chaos and blood-shed because of their imperial machinations be accepted as true atonement? Or even closer to home, is there a moral equivalence between a government's collusion with organized crime and right wing Asian cartels and paramil-itaries to flood the African-American communities with drugs and then de-clare a war on drugs thereby incarcer-ating and killing thousands of Black youth?
Lets not talk about moral and ethical atonement for heinous crimes - there is so much America needs to atone for that "clemency" is out of the question. Why should African's debate a non issue as if it were relevant to the real deal? If the African community in America hadn't turned its back on its youth by failing to seize control of their own community, its institutions, its econ-omics, and its cultural instruments of self-verification, Tookie Williams could have been another freedom fighter, rather than a redeemed thug who died at the hands of our enemy and their hypocritical system of democratic fascism.
Al Sharpton is dead wrong when he says Tookie Williams has shown a lot of young Americans, particularly in urban areas, the folly of being involved in gang life. It would be far more positive for him to live behind bars and continue that work. There's nothing gained by executing him."
By "Young American", I am assuming Sharpton is referring to an audience not enthralled by the war on drugs, the war on terrorism, and war on us, because if he is - ain't none of them took Tookie's books as a guide down the yellow brick road to mainstream suc-cess. Nor is there such a quality as "life behind bars" everyone in prison is socially dead, and politically mummified - ask Sharpton and the rest of our national Black leaders how alive to him are the Bashir Hameeds, Herman Bells, Russel Shoats and countless other Black Political Prisoners?
Indeed, if anything young Blacks realize is that the biggest "gang" is the US government and its law enforcement agencies. And if nothing is gained by executing Tookie Williams, then surely nothing is lost with his demise. But something is lost and something is achieved. In the age in which we live information is intelligence and manipulation of public perception is key in the manufacture of public opinions.
Tookie Williams was executed to send a clarion signal to African youth that redemptive militancy is unacceptable - only rejection of your social history and complete surrender to the myths of white America could possibly save your life. In this sense, his execution was a commentary on the cowardice of many of today's Black leaders - who want to be both patriots and champions of -Africans in America. This is the age of American empire, you can't be both.
As for America's African-American youth ...don't believe the hype - stay strapped - stay alert, and stay Black. But most of all, don't mourn - organize!
Dhoruba al-Mujahid Bin Wahad
West Africa
##################################
Statement by Muhammad Ali
"Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No, I'm not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over.
This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality.... If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people, they wouldn't have to draft me, I'd join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I'll go to jail, so what? We've been in jail for 400 years."
*********************************************************
So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly rise and make them miserable: Aldous Huxley
EAT CRAP AND SHUT UP
The commentary at the beginning is from Paul Wright of the excellent Prison Legal News. -ed
A new low has been reached by a federal district court in TX holding it does not violate the constitution for a guard to place feces in a prisoner’s food. Note that prisoners accused of throwing urine or feces are sentenced to decades in prison, yet guards doing the same can’t even be sued over it! Apparently the court’s view is that eating a little shit never hurt anyone.
From Trevino v. Johnson, Slip Copy, 2005 WL 3360252 at *5 (ED.Tex. Dec 08, 2005):
"The Plaintiff also alleged that either Officer Kevin Powell or Officer Rodney Powell placed feces in a meal. An "isolated incident of non-remarkable proportions" does not rise to the level of a constitutional violation. See James v. Alfred, 835 F.2d 605, 607 (5th
Cir.1990) and George v. King, 837 F.2d 705, 707 (5th Cir.1988). At most, the allegations can be viewed as an isolated prank. Moreover, to the extent that the claim can be viewed as a denial of food claim, the Court notes that the prison system must furnish its prisoners with reasonably adequate food. Newman v. Alabama, 559 F.2d 283, 291 (5th Cir1977). The meals must be well balanced and containing nutritional value to preserve health. Smith v. Sullivan, 553 F.2d 373, 380 (5th Cir.1977). "The fact that the food occasionally contains foreign objects or sometimes is served cold, while unpleasant, does not amount to a constitutional deprivation." Hamm v DeKalb County, 774 F.2d 1567, 1575 (5th Cir.1985).
The prison system is not required to provide inmates with three meals a day. Green v. Ferrell, 801 F.2d 765, 770 (5th Cir.1986). The Plaintiff does not have a basis for a potentially meritorious civil rights lawsuit based on the deprivation of a single meal because it purportedly contained feces."
Paul Wright, Editor
Prison Legal News
972 Putney Rd. PMB 251
Brattleboro, VT 05301
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.
Harriet Tubman
[p. 10]
The United States spends about $57 billion annually on its prison and jail system. Over $500 billion on the military budget. Hundreds of billions on police and courts. How much on schools?
THE WORLD’S HIGHEST INCARCERATION RATES
Incarceration rates per 100,000 population
Incarcerated population on the planet... 8,750,000
United States: 726
Russia: 532
South Africa: 413
Incarcerated population in U.S.... 2,131,180
Canada: 116
Germany: 96
Finland: 71
Japan: 58
THE U.S. WITH 4.5% OF THE WORLD’S POPULATION HAS 25% OF THE WORLD’S PRISONERS
Violent crime in the United States fell by over 33 percent from 1994 to 2003 and property crimes fell by 23 percent yet, incarceration rates have increased at a steady 3.5% annually
U.S. incarceration rates for males ages 25-29 per 100,000 (June 2003):
White : 1,666 / 1.7% Latino : 3,606 / 3.6% Black : 12,603 / 12.6%
South Africa under apartheid (1993), Black males: 851 per 100,000
U.S. under George Bush (2003), Black males: 4,919 per 100,000
Visit these great web sites for more statistics and information:
Prison Policy.org, Prison Sucks.com, Sentencing Project.org.
Dear friends,
Thanks for all the positive suggestions and constructive criticisms sent back to our office. Rest assured, they were heard, and even if we don’t comment directly here, we will keep those suggestions in mind.
There are a couple of points that are worth discussing with this wider audience. One is our political/radical stance. Most comments suggested that we remain or become more political, and some of those same comments suggested a less radical stance. What is apparent in that suggestion is the perception that “reasonable” lobbying for reform through political avenues is the solution to this incarceration catastrophe. This gives us the opportunity restate our mis-sion and purpose, we advocate for the abolition of prisons, not the reform of prisons. Martin Luther King answers this question beautifully, "The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists will we be?"
So, we will remain radical and bring views and news that reflect our opinion that prisons do not solve the socio-economic problems that drive people to commit “crime”. Prisons exacerbate the problem by brutalizing citizens who are then returned to our communities, hardened and angry.
One other point that needs to be reiterated here, our newsletter is called The New Abolitionist and it seems that many equate this with the former abolition movement and an afro-centric perspective. The original abolitionist move-ment was about the abolition of slavery, and as observed in the 13th Amendment, slavery remains a part of our basic laws. We look to the first and original abolitionists because they too rejected government (they rejected man’s laws and followed God’s laws). Many were Quakers, and although they hated slavery, many also rejected the idea of equality of the races.
What we take from those predecessors is the rejection of government and man’s laws, although we do not look to any scripture to define our moral outrage, and contrary to many of the former abolitionists, we embrace racial equality and thereby deny the oppressors that tool of division.
But most of all, as New Abolitionists we seek the abolition of prisons; more than that, we seek the abolition of the systems of oppression that create the need for prisons; we seek the abolition of police who are the enforcers of the systems of oppression that create the need for prisons; we seek the abolition of capitalism as a system that divides us, destroys our environment, and commodifies all things.
We had considered not sending this issue to the families and friends. We hoped that they would send word (or money) if they wanted to keep receiving the newsletter, but we’ve had few paid subscriptions. We understand that you want us to tell them what prison is all about, but we also want to spend our meager resources effectively, so if you have an opinion on this matter, let us know. Also, many of you have been moved about, and if you want to keep getting this newsletter, let us know when your address changes.
“Old Law” lawsuit members and their families will find an update enclosed. If there is no update enclosed, you’re not signed on. There have been some very interesting devel-opments. Around 150 prisoners have now signed onto the suit. We feel that we are reaching a point in our research and preparation where we will be seeking outside counsel and/or organizational help to file the case. One of our members had a meeting with Lenard Wells, and his report is enclosed for all.
WSPF hijacked the last two issues of the New Abolitionist and many of our comrades are appealing, but we don’t expect they will succeed. Like George Jackson said, “those in power use the law when it is convenient, but disregard it when it suits them.” The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is one of those pesky laws that get in the way of suppression of information.
Wisconsin State Senator Brian Burke, charged with 19 felonies will serve 2 months of home detention. He spent 300 thousand dollars to buy this (in)justice. In the meantime, thousands of poor people sit in prisons for writing a phony check in order to feed their children. So it goes in Amerika.
We know that attention spans are short, and Tookie Williams is “old news,” but the piece by Bin Wahad says so much more than any other piece written about the murder-by-state of Tookie, that it had to be part of this newsletter. It deserves reading and re-reading. Just yesterday, Choctaw Indian Clarence Allen, a 76 year old, blind and deaf, diabetic, wheelchair bound prisoner was put to death in California. Women, children, elderly, infirm, and mentally retarded get no mercy in this culture of violence.
Steve Rundel was sent to WSPF to serve 240 days. As it turns out this was a death sentence. Mr. Rundel was found hanging from a bed sheet tied to the bar in the window of his cell. He died on December 20th. Sensory deprivation is a killer. We have been in contact with his sisters and they say he was awaiting their visit during Christmas. We’ve not had any success in getting the conduct report that sent him to that tomb.
WSPF will be taking ‘general population’ prisoners soon. Even though this is strictly a matter of “efficiency and cost”, perhaps the pressure to keep 509 beds full of “bad people” will ease somewhat. For those who remain in isolation, things may change very little. There’s some talk of property being allowed into cells. We’ll see. To those locked up there, keep the information coming from the bowels of the beast.
There is so much news and so few pages here to report it. Our file, “next newsletter” keeps getting fatter, so if your submission didn’t make it this time, don’t give up hope, some day we’ll get to it.
In solidarity, PAC
“My last words will be ‘Hoka Hey it's a good day to die.’” - Clarence Allen
[p2]
THE URBAN UNDERGROUND
YOUTH EMPOWERMENT CENTER COMING SOON
Now more than ever, Milwaukee teens need opportunities to access alternatives to violence, support for academic achievement, and guidance toward college instead of incarcer-ation. The Youth Empowerment Center will provide a space for youth to pursue these opportunities through programming in leadership, technol-ogy, education, and enterprise. Since its birth in 2000, thousands of teens have turned to Urban Underground for support in pursuing educational and career goals while developing skills in leadership and technology. Urban Underground has implemented a successful model for engaging youth ages 13-19, primarily from low-income backgrounds in developing their social, academic, and leadership skills. This year alone over 1,000 teens submitted applications to join Urban Under-ground. Sadly, we only had the capacity to accept 100 for the year. The YEC will enable us to accommodate over 100 youth every night! In a city where students of color have a 50/50 chance of completing high school, over 90% of Urban Underground members success-fully complete high school, and more than 60% go to college. Using a social justice framework, Urban Under-ground has provided opportunities for some of Milwaukee’s most challenged youth to transform their lives while transforming the lives of those around them.
The concept behind the Youth Empowerment Center was initiated by a group of Urban Underground mem-bers back in 2002. After two years of research, surveys, and site visits to urban youth centers across the country, it was decided that the YEC would model itself after The Spot located in Denver, CO. The Spot was started in 1994 at a time when gang violence was consuming the streets of Denver. Founded by a group of homeless youth, artists, and former gang members, The Spot was struct-ured to provide a safe and supportive place for urban youth to access education, employment, health, arts, and career development opportunities.
The Youth Empowerment Center rep-resents the collective vision of individ-uals and groups committed to advan-cing the social and educational develop-ment of Milwaukee's youth. Thank you for sharing our vision.
To learn more about this amazing endeavor, please contact Reggie Moore at 414.384.8308.
Women in Prisons
by Ali Khalid Abdullah #148130
Mound Correctional Facility
17601 Mound Rd.
Detroit, MI 48212
There are well over 100,000 women in prison in the U.S. today. The majority are in prison for economic so-called crimes. The most typical convictions resulting in imprisonment for women are property so-called crimes, such as check forgery and illegal credit card use. Of the women convicted of violent so-called crimes, the vast majority were convicted for defending them-selves or their children from abuse. In California alone there are 600 women in prison for killing their abuser in self defense. Average prison terms are twice as long for killing husbands as for killing wives. 54% of women in prison are women of color, and women of color are the fastest growing popul-ation in U.S. prisons today.
One such woman in prison is Michelle Burks. A woman who came to prison as a youth and as is now in her 30’s and has been repeatedly been denied parole by the Parole Board in Oregon. Michelle has been a long time supporter of Political Prisoners and it is time she is given support as well.
Currently, Michelle is trying to win legal relief in court and needs financial support. We encourage you to write to Michelle Burks and ask what help she could use that would help her gain her freedom. Write: Michelle Burks #7743377, Oregon Department of Corrections, P.O. Box 9000, Wilsonville, OR 97070. Financial contributions can be sent to: Michelle Burks #7743377, Oregon Department of Corrections, P.O. Box 14400, Salem, OR 97309
End Juvenile Life Without Parole
Amnesty International
“Adult time for adult crime” might be a prosecutor’s snappy catchphrase to describe life without parole for juveniles. But it effectively ignores what even the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized - that children are less culpable than adults for the crimes they commit. If that is true, then children must be held accountable for their crimes in a manner that reflects their special capacity for rehabilitation. But courts across the United States have been prosecuting children - who are too young to vote, get married or drink alcohol legally - as adults and meting out the extreme punishment of life without parole.
In Pennsylvania, for example, a tenth grade boy named Stacey T. got life without parole for a second degree murder conviction. His crime was participating in a robbery scheme in which two adults (one was Stacey’s cousin) used Stacy to lure the victim and them killed him after taking Stacy home. Stacey, who had no juvenile record and went straight to adult court, says, “Is it fair that I spend the rest of my life in prison for a crime which was committed by someone else without my knowledge or without my being present?”
In the first national analysis of life without parole sentences for children, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch discovered that there are presently 2,225 people in the United States sentenced to life without parole for crimes they committed as children. Contrary to popular belief, most of these children do not have long rap sheets of vicious crimes; an estimated 59% received the sentence for their first ever conviction. There are also marked racial disparities. Black youth are ten times more likely to receive life without parole sentences than white youths.
The United States stands alone with Somalia as the only countries that have not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which explicitly prohibits life imprisonment without the possibility of release for children under 18. At least 132 countries forbid life without parole for juvenile offenders in domestic law or practice. Only four countries have juvenile offenders serving life without parole, with only a dozen cases in total outside of the United States.
"The state calls its own violence law, & that of the individual, crime" - Max Stirner
[p3]
LEGAL NOTES
This is a new column for the PAC newsletter. We will try to highlight the efforts of some of our members seeking justice in the courts. If you have a case pending or have recently won a case, and think that case may help others, send us a brief (100 word) synopsis.
* Terrance Shaw, with the assistance of Vance (Moso) Smith and Oscar (OB) McMillian, has filed litigation (Case No. 05-C-008272) in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District, which raises the issues of ex post facto regarding the Parole Commission guidelines. Those who have singed up on the “old law” class action suit will find a full essay regarding this case in this newsletter. Mr. Shaw will keep us updated as his case moves through the courts.
.* Anthony Robinson, filed a motion for Sentence Modification in which he alleged the Parole Commission policy of making prisoners serve two-thirds of their sentence in prison constituted a new factor which was not known at the time of his sentencing. He quotes State v. Carter, 208 Wis. 2.d 142, 560 N.W. 2.d 256 (1997), as authority to consider post sentence rehabilitation efforts. Anthony has given PAC permission to share his motion with those who want to review it. His motion resulted in a five year reduction of his 20 year sentence. For a copy of this motion, send 3 - 39 cent stamps to PAC in order to cover copying and postage.
* PAC is in the process of filing a 1983 action in Federal Court to challenge the banning of The New Abolitionist newsletter from certain institutions. The issue is denial of free speech under the 1st Amendment. Thornburgh is the defining case law, but many other cases have redefined this issue. We welcome suggestions from anyone who has had some experience in this area.
That’s all for this issue. I’m sure there will be many submissions next time.
*********************************************************
If it wasn’t so tragic it would be funny
Here’s a suggestion from Shaun Nichols:
“Have a contest for The Most Bogus Ticket.”
Sounds like fun. Send us a copy and explanation of your most bogus ticket. We’ll publish the winner and honorable mentions. Prize? Ok, one year free subscription to The New Abolitionist.
Policy keeps shackles on during labor
Wendy Harris
Post-Crescent staff writer
Of all the state's prison policies, the gender-neutral requirement of restr-aining prisoners who must go to a community hospital or clinic for care has ramifications unique to the preg-nant, female offender: she labors in leg shackles.
Samantha Luther, who entered Tay-cheedah Correctional Institution preg-nant last March, knew what to expect. But her baby's birthday came without warning. On the morning of Sept. 6, Luther, 38 weeks pregnant, was awakened by a guard and told to "get ready for her doctor's appointment," said Luther, who grew up in Menasha.
Wearing customary handcuffs and leg shackles, she was escorted under a guard's watch to Fond du Lac's St. Agnes Hospital's fourth floor - labor and delivery -- not the doctor's office where she had been going for prenatal checkups.
Her baby's due date was still 12 days away. "(The doctor) came in and said he was going to pop my water," said Luther, a drug offender who violated her probation. "I was so mad. I was not prepared. I was in shock. ... I felt like all of my rights had been taken away."
Her handcuffs were removed, but her shackles, giving her about 18 inches between her ankles, remained on. The doctor then ruptured her amniotic sac. Wearing socks, the shackles and a hospital gown, she and the guard paced the hallway on and off for several hours.
"They made me walk the halls in my shackles in front of all these women," Luther said. "It was so humiliating. My ankles were raw." When her labor failed to start, she was given a drug to start her contractions. "I had shackles on up until the baby was coming out and then they took them off for me to push," Luther said. "It was unbelievable. Like I was going to go anywhere."
The practice of shackling laboring in-mates for most of labor and immed-iately after childbirth is common across the country. Amnesty International considers the practice "cruel and degrading," saying it "endangers the woman and her child."
The practice also violates United Nations standards and is opposed by the American Public Health Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
In 2001, Amnesty reported 21 states allowed the use of shackles. Wisconsin officials say they must balance security and inmates' access to care.
"Obviously, our goal is decent, humane treatment of all our offenders in our custody," state corrections Secretary Matt Frank said. "Security and prev-enting escape are an important part of the job. ... Our goal is to accomplish both of those things and I don't think they are mutually exclusive."
Frank has ordered his staff, however, to review the use of restraints and the overall pregnancy and childbirth processes, spokesman John Dipko said Saturday.
Ana Boatwright, warden of Wisconsin's women's correctional system, added that the use of restraints is deter-mined on a case-by-case basis. "When-ever we take offenders outside the institutions, we have to be careful how we do it," she said. "We don't want to have more victims."
Inmates also have the option of wearing plastic ties in lieu of the heavy shackles, an alternative Luther claims she was not offered.
Baby boy Rhylee was born weighing 6 pounds, 6 ounces. "Then they put (the shackles) back on after (the doctor) sewed me up from my episiotomy," Luther said.
Dr. Robert J. Schuster, a Fond du Lac ob/gyn who has delivered babies of Taycheedah inmates for more than 30 years, said it's common to bring pregnant inmates in and induce them to prevent them from giving birth in their cells.
"We bring them in after 38 weeks to make sure they are in the hospital and everything is taken care of," said Schuster, who also provides prenatal care to the inmates.
However, this is not a prison policy and an inmate must sign a consent form to be induced, said Jim Greer, director of the Bureau of Health Services of the Department of Corrections.§
ed. note - We have heard that this policy has been reviewed and changed, but at the time of this printing, have not found any official statements by the DOC.
[p4]
Statement by Lori Berenson
Lori Berenson is a US citizen currently being held as a political prisoner in Perú. November 30th 2005 marked the tenth enniversary of her arrest.-ed
Statement:
My name is Lori Berenson. I am a New York born and raised political prisoner in Perú. I have spent many years in Central and South America, trying to contribute to the efforts of those who seek social justice for all. I continue this work from prison.
On November 30, 1995, I was pulled off of a public bus in Lima, Perú. Like thousands of Peruvians, I was detained by the anti-terrorist police, tried for treason by a hooded military tribunal under draconian anti-terrorism laws and condemned to life in prison.
This all occurred in the context of an internal conflict in Perú that began in the early 1980's with the armed insurgence of the Peruvian Communist Party, also known as the Shining Path, and later with the Tupac Amaru Revo-lutionary Movement - the MRTA. This conflict had parallels with other conflicts that occurred in much of Latin America.
When I was arrested, Peruvian President Fujimori made me a symbol for his anti-terrorist campaign. His ability to use the media for his own publicity purposes led to my case being very high profile.
Because of the tireless efforts of my family, friends and many others in the US and elsewhere in the world, the Fujimori regime was forced to bring my case to a civilian anti-terrorist court in 2000. During the period of the falling of the Fujimori regime and the formation of a transitional government in 2001, I received a new trial and was sentenced to 20 years for collaboration with terrorism. A year and a half later, the anti-terrorism legislation was modified slightly and those incarcerated under it began to receive new trials. In 2004, in light of the international anti-terrorism campaign in our post 9/11 world and under extreme pressure from Perú's political class, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ratified my sentence.
The details of what happened to me are irrelevant in the broader picture of the thousands of Peruvians who have been killed, disappeared, tortured and detained during the internal conflict. Since history has always been re-written by those who have the upper-hand, the issue of subversion became the scapegoat for all of Perú's problems.
In all parts of the world, symbolic culprits are used to obscure the root causes of social discontent, to distract attention and distort realities when any group of people questions the existing order.
The world order, especially in this era of globalized capitalism is designed to benefit a powerful few at the expense of the majority of our world's peoples. This system is unjust, immoral, ter-rifying, and just plain insane. We must change it.
People all over the world are im-prisoned today and suffering tremen-dous injustices for challenging this order. I express my solidarity with all of those prisoners, and in particular my admiration for those whose cour-age we can hear in the voice of Mumia Abu Jamal, in the writings about Leonard Peltier, in the struggle for the liberation of Puerto Rico, and many others. The dignity demonstrated throughout long years of struggle and resistance under one of the harshest jail regimes on earth is an example for all prisoners and for human beings in general.
For prisoners, the struggle for basic dignity is a daily plight. Prisons are just a smaller version of the general system that operates in this world, and that is what is wrong. The desire to change it is why many of us are here in the first place. It is a worthy cause to be behind bars for.
en Español:
Mi nombre es Lori Berenson. Nací en Nueva York, y soy una prisionera política en el Perú. Ya llevo muchos años viviendo en Centro y Sur América, intentando contribuir a los esfuerzos de quienes buscan la justicia social para todos y todas. Desde la cárcel, sigo con en este trabajo.
El 30 de Noviembre de 1995, fui bajada de un autobus público en Lima, Perú. Como miles de peruanos, fui detenida por la policía antiterrorista, juzgada bajo leyes antiterroristas draconianas en un tribunal militar con jueces sin rostro, y condenada a cadena perpetua.
Todo eso ocurrió dentro del contexto del conflicto interno en el Perú que empezó a los inicios de los años 80 con los insurgentes armados del Partido Comunista del Perú, también conocido como Sendero Luminoso, y después con el Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru- MRTA. Este conflicto tenía paralelos con los otros conflictos que ocurrieron en muchas partes de Latinoamérica.
Cuando fui detenida, el Presidente Fujimori me convirtió un símbolo de su campaña contra el terrorismo. Con su habilidad de usar los medios de comunicación por sus fines personales, mi caso llegó a tener de un perfil alto.
Gracias a los esfuerzos inagotables de mi familia, amistades y tantas otras personas en los Estados Unidos y otras partes del mundo, el régimen de Fujimori fue forzado a permitir que mi caso fuera visto en un tribunal civil antiterrorista en el año 2000. Durante el periodo de la caída del gobierno de Fujimori y la formación de un gobierno de transición en 2001, recibí un juicio nuevo en lo cual fui condenada a 20 años pena privativa de libertad por el delito de colaboración con el terrorismo. Un año y media después, la legislación antiterrorista fue parcialmente modificada y las personas privadas de libertad empezaron a iniciar juicios nuevos. En un mundo cambiado por el 11 de septiembre, la campaña internacional contra el terrorismo y bajo la presión de la clase política del Perú, en 2004 la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos ratificó esta sentencia de 20 años.
Dentro del contexto mayor de los miles de peruanos que fueron asesinados, desaparecidos, torturados, y detenidos durante el conflicto armado interno, los detalles de mi caso son irrelevantes. Dado que siempre se re escribe la historia por parte de aquellos que mantienen el poder, la subversión llegó a ser utilizado como el chivo expiatorio por todos los males en el Perú.
En todo el mundo, cuando cualquier grupo cuestiona el orden existente, se utiliza culpables simbólicos para encubrir las causas profundas del descontento social y distraer y tergiversar la atención publica.
El sistema mundial, especialmente en esta época de capitalismo globalizado, está diseñado para beneficiar a un grupo reducido de personas poderosas al costo de la mayoría. Este sistema es injusta, inmoral, horrorosa, y simplemente enferma. Tenemos que cambiarlo.
Hoy hay personas en todas partes del mundo que están detenidas y sufren extremas injusticias por desafiar este orden. Expreso mi solidaridad con todos aquellos prisioneros y prisioneras, y especialmente mi admiración por aquellos cuya valentía se escucha en la voz de Mumia Abu-Jamal, los escritos sobre Leonard Peltier, la lucha independentista de Puerto Rico, y tantos otros. La dignidad demostrada durante los largos años de lucha y resistencia bajo uno de los regimenes mas severos del mundo es un ejemplo para todo prisionero y para la humanidad en general.
Para nosotros prisioneras y prisioneros, la lucha para la dignidad básica es una tarea cotidiana. Las prisiones son simplemente una versión en escala menor del sistema general de opresión que opera en el mundo. La razón por la cual muchos de nosotros estamos aquí es precisamente nuestro anhelo de cambiarlo. Es una causa digna por estar atrás rejas.
[p.5]
Old Law Research Update
Research of the challenge to parole guidelines is completed. We are ready to format and structure the complaint to clearly provide - in the Statement of Facts - the legal claim, that will clearly meet the criteria we need to show that the action of the Parole Board, in denying parole under guidelines that were promulgated after our crime was committed, created a violation of the Ex Post Facto Clause.
The U.S. Supreme Court has expansively interpreted the Ex Post Facto Clause to cover a broad range of Government actions. See Miller v. Florida, 482 U.S. 423 (1987), in which the court held that the Ex Post Facto Clause protected against vindictive legislation.
There are many cases dealing with ex post facto legislation. Almost any ret-roactive application of the law which makes more onerous the sentence or the ability to obtain parole will be held to violate ex post facto provisions. In Medley, 134, U.S. 160 (1980), “any law passed after the commission of an offense is an ex post facto law if it inflicts greater punishment than that in place when the crime was committed... or which alters the situation of the accused to his disadvantage.”
In the course of research, every case which has made reference to the April 28, 1994 letter of Tommy Thompson to Secretary Sullivan as being a policy directive, and arguing that it had been applied retroactively, constituted an ex post facto violation, the courts have either held that this claim does not state a claim upon which relief can be granted or dismissed the claim with prejudice.
While it is clear that not all actions of the Executive are exempt from ex post facto scrutiny, the courts have distinguished between legislative rules and “interpretive guides,” Prater v. United States Parole Commission, 802 F.2d 948 (7th Cir.1986); U.S. v. Ellen, 961 F.2d 462 (4th Cir. 1992). In Ellen, the court explained that “Interpretive rules simply state what an administrative agency thinks the statute means, and only remind affected parties of existing duties.” Thus, while interpretive rules or statements of enforcement policy are merely guidelines, legislative rules have the “force of law.” The reason for the distinction was explained in Rodriguez v. the United States Parole Commission, 594 F.2d at 173, “When Congress has delegated to an agency the authority to make a rule instead of making the rule itself, the resulting rule is an extension of the statute for purposes of the clause. What Congress cannot do directly, it cannot do by delegation.”
In Mickens-Thomas v. Vaugh, 321 F.3d 374, 378 (3rd Cir. 2003) the court held that state prison inmates were entitled, under Ex Post Facto Clause, to have parole boards grant or deny parole based on factors prescribed by board policies as they existed at the time of conviction.
In a recent case finding(s), Glascoe v. Bezy, 421 F.3d 543 (7th Cir. Aug. 30, 2005), the court stated the proper question to ask is, whether the new procedure creates a significant risk of increased punishment.
“This is not to be confused with the question of whether the new parole practice is harsher for a class of prisoners”, Id. 421 F.3d at 547. The court then goes on to assert: “Generally, we must focus on the consequences of the new practice on the sentence of the particular inmate bringing the challenge, (the individual) must show that as applied to his own sentence the law created a significant risk of increasing his punishment.” Garner v. Jones, 529 U.S. at 255, 120 S.Ct 1362. Id. 421 F.3d at 548.
Also in Blair-Bey v. Quick, 151 F.3d 1036,1049 (D.C. Cir 1998), “If it can be shown that the 1987 revision was motivated by a punitive desire to extend the incarceration of a particular category of inmates, see Miller, 482 U.S. at 433-34, 107 S.Ct 2446, finding that a statute whose ‘sole reason’ was to punish sex offenders more heavily, violated the ex post facto clause.”
In assembling the Statement of Facts that our claims will be derived from it is essential that we include each guideline which prescribed Parole Commission policies as they existed at the time each member’s conviction. Therefore, we will need each class member to write directly to the head of the research committee with information about the existing parole guidelines at the time of their conviction. Please forward any documentation of parole policies to be included as an exhibit to: Frank Ratcliff #200947, Fox Lake Correctional Institution, P.O. Box 147, Fox Lake, WI 53933-147
For those individuals convicted before 1977, according to the Revisor of Statutes Bureau, there was no authority for rule making on this topic and chapter HSS 30 was not in existence in 1973. Therefore, what-ever statute you have in your posses-sion related to parole, please forward us a copy. This will saves us time and money if we don’t have to file so many open record requests.
While drafting the complaint, we will also be drafting a letter to be sent to lawyers and legal organizations asking for representation and support. We welcome your assistance in this mat-ter. If we cannot get representation and/or support, PAC will be organizing fund raising events to gather the need-ed funds to secure representation.
The research committee wants to thank our outside support, without which this endeavor would be much more difficult. The few outside people working on this are dedicated but overworked.
Some very gifted artists have donated their art work to the cause, and we thank them for their support. Unfor-tunately, old law prisoners will not see the art work in this newsletter, it went to all other prisoners instead of this page.
Special thanks to Brother Oscar McMillan, Ron Schilling, Vance Smith, Al Curtis, Robert Flynn, Anthony Robinson, Terrance Bridges, Ben Sanders, Terrence Shaw and others who have helped research this complicated issue, and shared with us their legal successes and failures, they all helped formulate a winning argument. It is because of them that we have gotten to this point. We look forward to their help in the next phase of this endeavor.
Thanks to all the old law prisoners who have spread the word, and we hope you continue to do so. There are no women in the class as of yet, so if you are in contact with any female old law prisoners, please have them contact our office.
Send the good folks at PAC your support, offer your help, or send a few dollars. We are our own liberators, they are there to help.
For freedom we struggle!!!!
Frank Ratcliff,
research committee
*********************************************************
The people have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take. - Emma Goldman
[p. 6]
Old Law Litigant
Terrance J. Shaw #138254
Oshkosh Correctional Institution (WI)
I have been asked to draft an article to be included in the next PAC newsletter. As my fellow inmates subscribers to PAC know, a couple of newsletters ago PAC asked for input from any jailhouse lawyers to assist PAC in prosecuting a class action law suit on behalf of all old law Wisconsin inmates. I responded by sharing a copy of my Case No.05-CV-00872, that I filed back in August 2005 in the Federal Eastern District Court of Wisconsin, under Title 42 U.S.C. Section 1983. I want to point out that I am not much of a jailhouse lawyer myself. However, I am being given legal assis-tance by what I consider two of the most competent jailhouse lawyers in the Wisconsin prison system.
First I’ll give you a short background on my case, and then I will follow that with up with a succinct overview of the main points of my Federal law suit against the WI DOC Parole Board because I am an old law inmate.
In 1981 I raped and murdered an adult female (for which I am so very sorry). I was convicted in 1982 and sentenced to life plus 20 years to run consecutively. I was sent directly to Waupun Correc-tional Institution because back in 1982 Assessment and Evaluation (A&E) was done in Waupun for all prisoners coming into the system. After I went through the evaluation process I went to my first PRC in January 1983. My first parole eligibility date was eleven years and six months after I was convicted and sentenced, because that was the law for inmates convicted with the crime and given the time I was given by Wisconsin Statute back at the time of my conviction and sentencing. At my first PRC I was initially Assessed an Evaluated, I was given participation in sex offender treatment (SOT) because of the nature of my crime. Since I had never committed a felony or been in prison ever before, according to the Initial Inmate Custody Rating that was in place when I came into the prison system, my total score came to a two (2), and back then, a score of six or less rated minimum custody. But due to the severity of my offense, PRC gave me a maximum custody override and sent me to Waupun. I spent almost twelve years in maximum custody before I saw the Parole Board for the first time. They didn’t give me a parole at that time nor in any subsequent hearings that periodically came up. Over the course of my incarceration I partici-pated in WCI SOT for which I was given a DOC-1423 Program Report by the Chief Sex Offender Psychologist at that time, wherein he stated, “Shaw has benefitted greatly from his partici-pation in SOT and has displayed his understanding of the treatment prin-ciples in his self-disclosure an feedback. Clinical judgment alone would suggest that he has sufficient progress in those areas to have completed his SOT need.” That is part of the quote the doctor gave me in his written evaluation of me. On the other side of the DOC 1423 report, he lists that I have “No high treatment need areas at this time”. The date of the report is 2-7-03 and signed by the Waupun Chief Psychologist whose treatment group I was in for a total of three years.
The reason I filed my Federal law suit against the WI DOC Parole Board is because abut 6-8 years after my 1982 conviction and sentencing, and subse-quent January 1983 Assessment and Evaluation, Initial Custody Rating, Needs Assessment, and Inmate Classification Summary, the WI DOC created a new sex offender treatment program, referred to as SOTP. Also over the course of time, the WI Parole Board created new criteria that inmate parole candidates were evaluated by when being considered for parole.
One of the new criteria is that I must complete SOTP before I will be seriously considered for release on parole. And that is where the rub comes in, and is the basis of my current Federal law suit against the WI DOC Parole Board. I’m complaining that the newly created program and newly created parole criteria violates the Ex Post Facto law, because at the time of my 1982 con-viction and sentencing none of this new-ly created programming and parole criteria was in place until many years later. I’m complaining that the WI DOC Parole Board is violating my Con-stitutional Rights because the adoption of new parole criteria and policies are intended to lengthen my incarceration after I was convicted and sentenced, and this violates my right against imposition of the Ex Post Facto laws. Ex Post Facto, for those who don’t know is a Latin term meaning “After The Fact.” Keep in mind that I have fil-led out the End of Confinement Review Board (ECRB) MN-SOST-R and RRASOR questionnaires with my own personal information to the questions and scored the LOWEST possible score range. That means that when I get paroled, not only am I not eligible to be put under Wisconsin’s 980 sexual predator law, but with the Low and Below Low Risk Rating Score that I got on the ECRB questionnaires, the police won’t even have to notify the community. That is as Low Risk as someone who has been convicted of a sex offense can get.
I credit my progress to many factors that took place during my incarcer-ation. During my first year in prison I got clean and sober and accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, and have grown exponentially in my daily spiritual walk as each day and year went by. During my past 25 years of incarceration I graduated from the Kenneth E. Hagin RHEMA Bible College out of Tulsa Oklahoma (through correspondence courses) and went on to get a Masters Degree in Religious Studies and a Doctorate in Biblical Studies, a Ph.D. in the Philosophy of Religion, and been awarded an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. Combine that with the three years I participated in the WCI SOT, being treated by sincere and caring profes-sionals that run SOT there, and I stand before you the man I am today, fit and ready to reenter society again and become a contributing member and a tax paying citizen. However, due to the newly created SOTP (which takes about four years to complete) and newly created parole criteria, I am not getting seriously considered for parole.
That is the overview of what my Federal law suit is all about. I and my jailhouse lawyer assistants, base my Ex Post Facto Complaint on: Mickens-Thomas v. Vaughn, 321 F3d 374 (3rd Cir. 2003), California Department of Corrections v. Morales, 514 U.S. 499, 506 N.3 115 S.Ct. 1597, 131 L.Ed2d 588 (1995), and Wilkinson v. Dotson, 125 S.Ct. 1242 (2005), to name a few case law precedent decisions. In actuality, my case is much more complicated to prosecute, but I have given you readers a general overview of the facts.
At this point in time the court is “reviewing” my case. I know they are supposed to get that done within the first 90 days, so I wrote to the court and asked what my standing was. They wrote back and gave me the case number they assigned to my case, but asked me to be patient because they were behind and would get to it as soon as they could. So this is where I am with it. As my case progresses thr-ough its due process, from time to time I will send updates to PAC to keep them and their readers informed. From what I explained about my case here, it’s easy to see that if I am successful, my case will help all old law Wisconsin prisoners who are similarly being oppressed by the illegal application of new programs and parole criteria that was created after their sentencing and conviction. Until next time, I will sign off and wish all the blessings of 3John2 to all my fellow inmates.
-Terrance Shaw
[p. 7-9]
HOW PRISONERS RIG THE VOTE
NY TIMES EDITORIAL - A startling analysis by Peter Wagner of the Prison Policy Initiative found seven upstate New York Senate districts meeting the population requirements only because in-mates were included in the count. The Republican Party in New York re-lies on its large upstate delegation for its majority in the State Senate - and for its political power statewide. New York is not alone. The Prison Policy Init-iative's researchers found 21 counties nationally where at least 21 percent of so-called residents lived behind bars.
By counting these nonvoting in-mates as residents, the prison counties offend the principle of one person one vote, while siphoning off political power from the home districts to which the inmates will return as soon as they are released. Since inmates are jobless, their presence also allows prison dist-ricts to lower their per capita incomes, unfairly increasing their share of federal funds earmarked for the poor. Congress, which has just caught on to this, recently gave the Census Bureau 90 days to file a report on the feasibility of counting inmates at their homes of record rather than in prison. At the same time, a committee over-seen by the National Academy of Sciences has been studying the residency issue and is expected to make its final report this spring. But why does the bureau need another study to decide whether it wants to uphold the one-person-one-vote principle?
The bureau should get to work immediately on procedures that would allow it to count inmates where they actually live - and get those procedures locked in place by the 2010 census.
THE ETHICS OF BLACK ATONEMENT IN RACIST AMERICA:
THE EXECUTION OF STANLEY TOOKIE WILLIAMS
By Dhoruba al-Mujahid Bin-Wahad
As one of the individuals Stanley Tookie Williams dedidcated his book to, I thought it important to comment on his execution and the sad state of affairs that now determines the para-meters of debate around the death penalty.
First of all, Tookie Williams was a pro-duct of the African experience in racist America. Lets not get it twisted. Nuns can lament his execution, Preachers can pontificate about how valuable he could be to Black youth, and Law enforcement can talk about legal and judicial rulings, but the bottom line is that Tookie Williams was a consequence of his communities racist marginalization - of America's internal Black colony and its occupation by racist and brutal police armies. This being the case, his execution by the enemies of African-America, and I know there are scores of born again Negroes out there who don't believe that the nation-state of America is their enemy, (a faith they must have if they are to attach any meaning to their life), but history and recent events emphatically substantiate the racist character and morality of America.
Tookie Williams is a product of social and political forces we have permitted to take control of our collective destiny. African-America should have judged and punished Tookie Williams itself. But it didn't.
It was incapable of holding its denizens accountable. Street gangs that started out as expressions of our community's inability to control our own streets and in opposition to police terror, were led down a certain path by the likes of Tookie. These gangs became pred-atory, apolitical, and reactionary. Our communities suffered as a consequence. Those who followed in Tookie's footsteps did so because not one Black institution existed that embraced and channeled their warrior spirit in a positive direction. Black nationalist were too busy "getting the right political line"; The Black Clergy was to busy mobilizing themselves to influence a body politic hat considered them nothing more than mouth-pieces for the Black middle class; Black professors and militant academician were hollering at white educational institutions for inclusion and relevancy...none spoke the lanquage nor harnessed the ener-gies of our street soldiers. The only organization that did so was the Black Panther Party - and that was destroyed by a potent combination of forces over three decades ago. Nothing ever replaced it.
As a Muslim, and even in the Panthers, I never opposed the execution of criminals and butchers of people. There can be no true justice without retribution - without balance. Having said that, I must point out that the European nation-state, and America in particular, given the racist nature of its evolution has absolutely no right whatsoever to act as a surrogate executer of justice for people of color. But because the African-American community, and its ersatz leaders have no temporal power, no institutions for social justice, or to exact a political consequence on those who make war on our commun-ity, we are left to debate the merits of the "death penalty" as a deterent to crime or state murder.
The state says it executed Tookie Williams because he killed four people - three of them Asians and people of color. But California has never exe-cuted one white man for killing Blacks, Latinos, or Asians during the course of armed robberies. And if they did would that justify executing one Blackman? If Guilt or innocence were the real issue rather than a pretext, I would still say no. Why? Because the death penalty in America has always operated as a legal instrument of racial terror. The death penalty evolved from, and assumed the psychological role of Lynching. Least we forget, every Black man lynched was "guilty of a crime". Tookie Williams could have murdered Black folks in droves and would have never faced the death pen-alty. It was law enforce-ment's role in the politics of drugs, and urban gang warfare that made his case extraordinary.
If I were to say the present regime in Washington qualifies for judicial prose-cution and probable execution for crimes against humanity, not one newspaper or major media outlet would treat that statement with respect rather incredulity. But if Law enforcement officials were to say that to embrace the likes of Gorge Jackson meant that one was "criminal minded" there is not one media outlet that would question that proposition.
Which brings me to my major point: The Tookie William's execution by the state of California is not just about the efficacy of the death penalty in America, or punishment for a heinous crime, but about the ethics of atonement and redemption in a racist culture and society. Indeed, the Governor of California in his Hollywood portrayal as the "terminator" and other violent monosyllabic killers is himself a role model for countless thugs, bandits, and murders around the globe, some of whom I've met personally. Liberia's murderous rebels, Sierra Leonean butchers of children, and scores of other misguided youth have adopted the violent persona of the Sylvester Stallone's "Rambo" and Arnold Scharzenegger..the "Teminator"!
Although Schwarzenegger notes that Williams dedicated his 1998 book to a group that includes myself, Assata Shakur, Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X and Mumia Abu-Jamal he is particularly upset by praise for Gorge Jackson. Schwarzenegger said the inclusion of a dedication to George Jackson, who was charged with the murder of a Califor-nia prison guard, "defies reason and is a significant indicator that Williams is not reformed." Defies whose reason?
Apparently Scharzenegger, or the ex-perts on African subculture in America find it absolutely abhorrent that Black redemption can or should embrace a radical political paradigm. They find it absolutely repugnant that the heroes and sheroes for an entire generation of Black youth don't look or behave like Hop-Along Cassidy, Arnold Scharz-enegger's "Last Action Hero" or GI Joe.
To many Black people (with an iota of consciousness), George Jackson is a hero. Why? Because Comrade George represented uncompromising resist-ance to a racist system and its political institutions, a system that incarcer-ated him his entire adult life for crime that a white boy from suburbia would have done community service for. Scharzenneger, never considered this. He never asked himself why should one black man or woman who has been savaged and brutalized by police and prison guards, agents of a state that has historically exhibited utter con-tempt for them, their community, and their lives, mourn the death of any prison guard? That would be like the Jewish alumnae of Dachau morning the death of a concentration camp guard. Were the murders of countless men and women behind prison walls by sadistic guards ever a subject of public outrage except when the state under John D. Rockefeller murdered both prisoners and guards at Attica in September of 1971?
Lest the Governor of California forget, in regions like New York and New Jersey fully 85% of prison inmates come from only several communities in the area - all Black, Latino, and poor. What that means is that almost every black person has a relative either behind bars, on parole, or under pretrial detention. So who cares about the prison guards? Their union, the state, and a racist society that has always viewed Black people as criminals or potential criminals that is who. But thanks to "The Patriot Act" even white citizens are potential criminals before they are law abiding citizens.
What wonderful icons Tookie chose to offer his respect to; Nelson Mandela, Malcom X, Mumia, all respected and revered freedom fighters - except to those who have spent half of their lives living off of the misery and disen-franchisement of Black folks. The utter absurdity of a Jamie Foxx begging a fellow actor to exercise progressive politics is a sickening commentary on the state of African-American lead-ership.
"Governor Schwarzenegger, we're not trying to push you into a corner. We realize that you have a tough job to do and you're very busy, but in being very busy, you may not get a chance to hear everything with the case." Foxx is re-ported to have moaned. Like Richard Pryor once joked about praying to god for help, "I know your busy, cause I checked your schedule". Whether they are busy or not, there is not one legal or "constitutional" right African People have in America that white folks don't have the veto over, or not subject to judicial review -including the right to life. A Blackman's life is subject to termination by a cop or agent of the state at any given moment - without recourse to appeal.
Indeed for many of today's so called leaders from Jessie and Sharpton to national "talk show hosts" (who in the age of instant communication sub-stitute for ideological movements) the issue of African-America's right to self defense has been a taboo subject, yet it was the destruction of militant groups such as the Black Panther's that left a social, political, and ideological void in African-America to be filled by street gangs and the distorted politics of individuals like Tookie Williams.
Although Law Enforcement experts are anxious to dispel and distort the social and political roots of street gangs such as the Crips, the fact of the matter is that gangs like the Crips were in part, a consequence of the success of COINTELPRO's devastation of the militant Black liberation movement in America.
COINTELPRO was a government cam-paign directed at the African-American community that Black leaders to this day have failed to fully investigate or even wish to investigate. It was the selective repression of COINTELPRO and its spin offs that has conferred credibility on some of today's Black leaders. That lynching, a historical instrument of anti-Black terror evolved into the modern death penalty system, only further highlight the illegitimacy of Tookie Williams execution by the state. Indeed California's governor all-udes to this when he says, "there is little mention of atonement in his writings and his plea for clemency of the countless murders committed by the Crips following the lifestyle Williams once espoused. The senseless killing that has ruined many families, particularly in African-American communities, in the name of the Crips and gang warfare is a tragedy of our modern culture." A tragedy of "our modern culture" the body builder says? The Austrian Oak never lived one minute in the South Bronx, or Watts. Never ducked bullets in the Projects or watched helplessly as cops gunned down a teenager on "suspicion of having a gun."
Yes Black families have been ruined by gang warfare, Black communities have also been occupied by police armies as well - cops who also believe they are the biggest and baddest gang in the 'hood and act accordingly. The rise of street gangs directly coincide with the destruction of grass root militant movements that would have otherwise occupied the energies of several gen-erations of African-American youth. What the Governor of California fails to mention is that the "tragedy of our modern culture" was contrived, and created by a society and a nation of people who have absolutely no shame, little sense of history, and absolutely no sense of themselves as pigs rather than saints. What's a tragedy is that the people of California failed to make a distinction between the plastic imagery of Hollywood and the reality of Amer-ican politics when they elected Schwarznegger Governor!
Robert Martin, Tookie's prosecutor, questioned whether there was any mo-ral equivalence "between coauthoring some children's books and the senseless murder of four people in cold blood."
I have always asked similar questions, was there any moral equivalence between starting a bloody war by lying to the world and thereby causing the deaths of thousands and justifying the lies with the rhetoric of decency and humanity? Or was there a moral red-emptive equivalent between security agents of apartheid who brutally tor-tured and murdered Steven Biko, and their apologies thirty years later be-fore a "truth and reconciliation com-mission" as Winnie Mandela would have us believe, while descendants of white settlers still control the land in South Africa even though Blacks are in pol-itical power and Racists Europeans still dominate the gold and diamond indust-ries and call the shots? Or should the apologies of the Belgian, French, and American murderers of Patrice Lumu-mba who now enjoy their old age and write self-justifying memoirs while the Congo wallows in chaos and blood-shed because of their imperial machinations be accepted as true atonement? Or even closer to home, is there a moral equivalence between a government's collusion with organized crime and right wing Asian cartels and paramil-itaries to flood the African-American communities with drugs and then de-clare a war on drugs thereby incarcer-ating and killing thousands of Black youth?
Lets not talk about moral and ethical atonement for heinous crimes - there is so much America needs to atone for that "clemency" is out of the question. Why should African's debate a non issue as if it were relevant to the real deal? If the African community in America hadn't turned its back on its youth by failing to seize control of their own community, its institutions, its econ-omics, and its cultural instruments of self-verification, Tookie Williams could have been another freedom fighter, rather than a redeemed thug who died at the hands of our enemy and their hypocritical system of democratic fascism.
Al Sharpton is dead wrong when he says Tookie Williams has shown a lot of young Americans, particularly in urban areas, the folly of being involved in gang life. It would be far more positive for him to live behind bars and continue that work. There's nothing gained by executing him."
By "Young American", I am assuming Sharpton is referring to an audience not enthralled by the war on drugs, the war on terrorism, and war on us, because if he is - ain't none of them took Tookie's books as a guide down the yellow brick road to mainstream suc-cess. Nor is there such a quality as "life behind bars" everyone in prison is socially dead, and politically mummified - ask Sharpton and the rest of our national Black leaders how alive to him are the Bashir Hameeds, Herman Bells, Russel Shoats and countless other Black Political Prisoners?
Indeed, if anything young Blacks realize is that the biggest "gang" is the US government and its law enforcement agencies. And if nothing is gained by executing Tookie Williams, then surely nothing is lost with his demise. But something is lost and something is achieved. In the age in which we live information is intelligence and manipulation of public perception is key in the manufacture of public opinions.
Tookie Williams was executed to send a clarion signal to African youth that redemptive militancy is unacceptable - only rejection of your social history and complete surrender to the myths of white America could possibly save your life. In this sense, his execution was a commentary on the cowardice of many of today's Black leaders - who want to be both patriots and champions of -Africans in America. This is the age of American empire, you can't be both.
As for America's African-American youth ...don't believe the hype - stay strapped - stay alert, and stay Black. But most of all, don't mourn - organize!
Dhoruba al-Mujahid Bin Wahad
West Africa
##################################
Statement by Muhammad Ali
"Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No, I'm not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over.
This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality.... If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people, they wouldn't have to draft me, I'd join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I'll go to jail, so what? We've been in jail for 400 years."
*********************************************************
So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly rise and make them miserable: Aldous Huxley
EAT CRAP AND SHUT UP
The commentary at the beginning is from Paul Wright of the excellent Prison Legal News. -ed
A new low has been reached by a federal district court in TX holding it does not violate the constitution for a guard to place feces in a prisoner’s food. Note that prisoners accused of throwing urine or feces are sentenced to decades in prison, yet guards doing the same can’t even be sued over it! Apparently the court’s view is that eating a little shit never hurt anyone.
From Trevino v. Johnson, Slip Copy, 2005 WL 3360252 at *5 (ED.Tex. Dec 08, 2005):
"The Plaintiff also alleged that either Officer Kevin Powell or Officer Rodney Powell placed feces in a meal. An "isolated incident of non-remarkable proportions" does not rise to the level of a constitutional violation. See James v. Alfred, 835 F.2d 605, 607 (5th
Cir.1990) and George v. King, 837 F.2d 705, 707 (5th Cir.1988). At most, the allegations can be viewed as an isolated prank. Moreover, to the extent that the claim can be viewed as a denial of food claim, the Court notes that the prison system must furnish its prisoners with reasonably adequate food. Newman v. Alabama, 559 F.2d 283, 291 (5th Cir1977). The meals must be well balanced and containing nutritional value to preserve health. Smith v. Sullivan, 553 F.2d 373, 380 (5th Cir.1977). "The fact that the food occasionally contains foreign objects or sometimes is served cold, while unpleasant, does not amount to a constitutional deprivation." Hamm v DeKalb County, 774 F.2d 1567, 1575 (5th Cir.1985).
The prison system is not required to provide inmates with three meals a day. Green v. Ferrell, 801 F.2d 765, 770 (5th Cir.1986). The Plaintiff does not have a basis for a potentially meritorious civil rights lawsuit based on the deprivation of a single meal because it purportedly contained feces."
Paul Wright, Editor
Prison Legal News
972 Putney Rd. PMB 251
Brattleboro, VT 05301
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.
Harriet Tubman
[p. 10]
The United States spends about $57 billion annually on its prison and jail system. Over $500 billion on the military budget. Hundreds of billions on police and courts. How much on schools?
THE WORLD’S HIGHEST INCARCERATION RATES
Incarceration rates per 100,000 population
Incarcerated population on the planet... 8,750,000
United States: 726
Russia: 532
South Africa: 413
Incarcerated population in U.S.... 2,131,180
Canada: 116
Germany: 96
Finland: 71
Japan: 58
THE U.S. WITH 4.5% OF THE WORLD’S POPULATION HAS 25% OF THE WORLD’S PRISONERS
Violent crime in the United States fell by over 33 percent from 1994 to 2003 and property crimes fell by 23 percent yet, incarceration rates have increased at a steady 3.5% annually
U.S. incarceration rates for males ages 25-29 per 100,000 (June 2003):
White : 1,666 / 1.7% Latino : 3,606 / 3.6% Black : 12,603 / 12.6%
South Africa under apartheid (1993), Black males: 851 per 100,000
U.S. under George Bush (2003), Black males: 4,919 per 100,000
Visit these great web sites for more statistics and information:
Prison Policy.org, Prison Sucks.com, Sentencing Project.org.
posted by F. at 1:34 AM
<< Home