March 23, 2006 The New Abolitionist Newsletter
Friends,
Back atcha with another kite from the outside. Our mailing list is growing, more and more people want to hear some news about the Wisconsin Human Warehousing System, lots of guys (no women unfortunately) are signing up to the old law class action, and best of all, some of our good friends and allies are getting out.
One of them, Tony Robinson, has sent in a personal story of the first few weeks on the outside. We wish him luck and are thankful that he will remain active in the struggle. Another top litigator now lives in Milwaukee, and vows to continue the fight. One more good friend lives in Beloit, so we�ve got some important areas of the state covered. This is the key to building strong connections between outside and inside. Effective change from the inside alone is very difficult, but with good alliances of community activists, prisoner advocates, and prisoners we can be a powerful force for change.
The next page of this newsletter is proof of this premise. We hope that our alliance building through the walls and barbed wire, will transfer to community building and political awareness on the streets.
Speaking of the first few weeks out, Voices Beyond Bars is putting a self-published book together relating the stories of some of it�s members on their first 29 days of �freedom.� We asked them to write a small story for this issue, but they were too busy right now. As with all of us, there are too many problems and needs, and not enough time and resources. Maybe next issue.
We do have a couple of articles from other organizations concerned with reentry. Community Reintegration Pro-gram (CRP) is the newest of these types of organizations, and their plan sounds real solid. The Director is dedicated to helping returning prisoners and he knows the ins and outs. He also understands the dynamics of political awareness and how that awareness changes one�s perception of how the systems (don�t) work. PAC looks forward to working with CRP.
A computer proficient PAC member has created a blogsite for us. This newsletter, January�s newsletter, and some stuff related to the changes at WSPF are posted there. Go to www.prisoneractioncoaliton.blogspot.com. Comments can be posted there as well, so if you want to comment on what we are doing, here�s another route.
Speaking of the changes at WSPF... there is a page of art-icles that are more or less designed for �public consumption� later in this newsletter. These changes are most definitely positive. Canteen, TV, phone, and reading material will no longer be tools used to �break the will� of prisoners there. The High Risk Offender Program (HROP) is voluntary, and those who choose to remain in ad seg indefinitely will not be harassed into participation in �behavior modification� programming. The pressure to keep 500+ cells full of �bad people� has been eased, and rehabilitation can now begin.
How the general population prisoners will be housed, who they will be, what jobs, schooling, recreation, cafeteria, dayroom, visitation area and lots of other concerns remain, and we will keep a watchful eye along those lines. How the HROP prisoners and the long term ad seg prisoners are kept will remain a major concern of PAC. How the overzealous security culture at WSPF leaks into the way general population prisoners are handled is also a concern.
For instance, will the general population prisoners be denied this newsletter if it is denied to HROP�s? WSPF has denied the last three issues of this publication. As you know this is all very dangerous material. WSPF can�t afford to have prisoners actually think about their conditions of con-finement, or about the politics of this state and nation. WSPF prisoners can now watch all the soft porn, gratuitous violence, mindless daytime babble, and sports, along with all the state sponsored propaganda that is disguised as �news�. Cops, CSI, Law and Order, The Apprentice, The Bachelor, Fear Factor, Bill O�Rielly, and The News Hour are all OK, but not this �inciteful� (not a word) publication.
They are denied thought provoking political news and opinions, but are allowed the drivel of corporate TV. In the absence of real rehabilitation and mental stimulation, WSPF has adopted the TV baby sitter to calm the rabble. Soma in the form of electronic impulses shot through a picture tube are OK, political thought are forbidden. Lobotomy by entertainment is a tactic with deep historical roots; �bread and circuses� was a phrase coined by the Roman poet Juvenal sometime around 100 AD, when another Empire was repressing its own population. What the heck, if it works on the rest of Americans, it ought to work on HRO�s.
In solidarity, PAC
Community Stands Up! Ordinance Voted Down
The Common Council voted today to close the door on the Gang Loiter-ing/Youth Incarceration ordinance, opening the door to opportunities for mending police/community relations and empowering youth to help stabilize
Milwaukee�s neighborhoods.
Aldermen and community members in opposition to the law have committed to work together to aggressively pursue educational and economic opportunities for young people.
"A clear message was sent today by the Common Council that our youth are not
enemies nor criminals, but rather par-tners in growing Milwaukee�s future," said Matt Nelson of Education for the People!. "We will continue work with the Common Council to create sound policy addressing safety in our neig-hborhoods and not leading our youth from the schoolhouse to the jailhouse."
Led by Education for the People! and the Milwaukee Police Accountability Coalition, Northside and Southside neighborhoods linked arms in oppos-ition to Alderman Zielinski�s Gang Loitering/Youth Incarceration ordinan-ce. The law, if passed, would have targeted Black and Latino communities for increased police harassment, arrests, and detentions.
"This is testament of what can happen when Blacks and Latinos are united," said Carey Jenkins from the Campaign Against Violence. "Let this not be the end. Together, we can come up with creative solutions to the problems in our neighborhoods."
The majority of Aldermen agreed that this ordinance would "do more harm than good", citing racist enforcement, the redundancy of the law, and the con-sequences of further dividing the city while increasing the strain on police-community relations.
Milwaukee has one of the highest rates of jailing African-Americans, compared to whites in the country. Milwaukee�s massive Black and Latino youth incar-ceration rate is fueled not by an actual increase in crime rates, but in the racial profiling and criminalization of people of color, poor people, and young people. Gang activity and violence in the city are a result of failed economic policy.
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Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
DOC (code) Crackers
By Carlos Pabellon
March 16, 2006
The Wisconsin Department of Corrections, the statewide agency in charge of the prisons, develops and enacts regulations that prisons in Wisconsin are required to follow. One of these regulations is called "Unauthorized Forms of Communication" and says, "Any inmate who communicates with another person by a method not authorized by the institution is guilty of an offense." The penalties for violating the rule could include extending an inmate's sentence.
It's not hard to imagine why the Department of Corrections would want every prison to have the ability stop unauthorized communications. Safety and security are the paramount concerns in any prison or jail, and stopping inmates from using indecipherable code or doublespeak to assist them in planning an escape or some other harmful act is critical. But at least one prison in Wisconsin is using the regulation to not only prevent inmates from conspiring in code, but also to make the institution into a virtual "English Only" facility.
The Wisconsin Secure Program Facility (WSPF) in Boscobel, which used to be called the "supermax" prison, has been using this regulation as a way to stop Latino inmates from speaking in Spanish when family and friends call or visit. Latino inmates can petition the security staff at WSPF for an exception, but granting the petition is up to the discretion of the staff.
Thus, many of these inmates are faced with one of two frustrating choices: either attempt to speak in English despite the difficulty in doing so and the humiliation of knowing that WSPF staff are listening in, or suffer through another way that WSPF isolates its inmates.
Reasonable alternatives to this institutional policy such as the hiring of bilingual staff apparently are not being pursued, even though hiring someone who can read, speak and understand a language other than English is critical in a number of contexts when it comes to communicating with inmates who may be Latino or Hmong. With clear communication, inmates who may have ulterior motives in using their native language could be more properly and reliably monitored. Isn't this the level of security we have a prison to house the "worst of the worst" for in the first place?
Milwaukee Community Stands Up For Latinos in Supermax
On February 10, 2006 Robert Miranda of the Milwaukee Spanish Journal, called together a group of local activists to hear a presentation by two members of PAC.
Mr. Miranda was stimulated to take action because one family member of a prisoner at WSPF called him with an outrageous story of abuse. This uncle of a prisoner was enough to get the ball rolling on a campaign to end this particular abuse at WSPF.
PAC had been collecting data and reports from Spanish speaking prisoners at WSPF who had been denied visitation or phone calls from their family if they spoke Spanish. WSPF has an internal policy (this is not a DOC policy) that requires prisoners to get pre-approval to speak Spanish on the phone or during a visit. Guys have had their visits and phone calls terminated because they spoke Spanish to their family. Tickets were written and one prisoner has had his prison sentence extended by more than a year because of these �Spanish speaking� tickets.
We called the prison and Deputy Warden Huibregtse explained it this way... �the inmate gives us the name and number of their family member, we call that number when they are not expecting us, and if they answer in Spanish, we know the prisoner is lying.�
The prison claims there is a security concern, but all phone calls are recorded or monitored, and all visits are on closed circuit TV and recorded. To cite security concerns is bogus, what is really going on is that internal policies like this were used to ticket and retain prisoners at WSPF. Maybe now that the pressure to retain prisoners has diminished some, these types of bogus policy violations will also end.
One thing is for sure, this policy will be exposed and perhaps litigated. An attorney has taken up an investigation and is researching the violation of 1st Amendment Rights. The Latino community in Milwaukee is coming together to expose this racist, stupid policy.
All this comes about because one person spoke out. Imagine the strength of a thousand voices speaking on behalf of our friends and lived ones behind bars.
Power to the people!!!
Community Reintegration Program
Michael Goldsby, Director
(608) 446-1147
P.O. Box 3232 Madison, WI 53704
We�ve found that many potentially dangerous problems arise for returning persons out of the lack of planning on the part of the releasing authority. Many persons returning from insti-tutions are ill equipped to handle the massive onslaught of rejection from agencies designed to aid them. Most of these organizations are under funded and overwhelmed by demand, unable to serve all who need support. Those un-lucky persons who are unable to receive the services they deserve are at risk for homelessness, return to active drug addiction, and complications from untreated medical conditions. It is a severe blow to someone who has served a sentence and is prepared to take up life anew to be denied those basic human necessities which we as taxpayers have so heavily invested in and trusted our officials to carry out. Without the efforts of CRP and other agencies, the burden on the justice system will continue to increase.
Employment issues are another ever-rising concern among returning persons, due to the large number of temporary job service providers now operating in the Madison area. What seems to be taking place is a front door filtering system designed to protect the employing entity from discrimination complaints. It is evident that persons who are saddled with felonies are us-ually dismissed from the potential work list by most of these temp services. Black males also seem to be excluded as a routine practice, or given very few of the available opportunities to move into quality full-time positions. This issue within our community should be addressed in order to allow returning persons to become self-sufficient.
We are highly aware of these and other vital issues that affect returning persons. The primary mission of the Community Reintegration Program (CRP) is to serve people who are returning from experiences of incar-ceration. We are dedicated to provid-ing former offenders with the skills, resources, and networks necessary for successful reentry as valuable and legitimate members of the community.
The belief that everyone has a stake in the successful reintegration of former offenders is central to our vision. CRP works within a value-based model of successful reentry that recognizes the competencies in each client, strength-ens existing competencies and nurtures new ones, and builds a network of supportive relationships for the client. We also seek to encourage and partner with social service programs focused on issues that hinder returning persons to become productive citizens by using effective communication with gate-keepers, transforming the formal request process to be more inclusive, and healing the emotional, spiritual, and social challenges that can result from the experience of incarceration.
The process of reentry presents multiple challenges, and balancing all the different needs and obligations required for success can be difficult. To meet these many needs, CRP offers primary services related to housing, employment, mentoring, and life skills, and secondary services when available, related to health care, food and clothing, child support, and transport-ation. CRP also partners with existing organizations that impact the lives of returning persons and their families in order to offer the most comprehensive support for our clients, empowering them to act independently and develop their capacity to advocate for them-selves.
The goal of our organization is to reduce factors that might lead to recidivism for returning persons and increase their potential to contribute meaningfully to their communities, thereby reducing taxpayer costs and increasing safety and human potential for everyone.�
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ARISE Family Services
James Hawk, Director
1603 Monroe St.
Madison, WI 53711
608-335-4564
Returning prisoners are often homeless. Homelessness leads to recidivism, which has caused the swell in the incarceration rate of people in Wisconsin. Seventy-five percent of people entering prison have been in prison previously. The budget for corrections in Wisconsin is now over $1 billion annually, which is more than what the state budgets for the University of Wisconsin System. By ending the revolving door of prisoners returning to prison, our society will have more resources for education. Education is the key to success.
The cost of incarceration is not only monetary; there are severe costs to families who lose their sons, daughters, and parents. The loss of stable families in our communities leads to higher crime rates and higher incarceration rates. By slowing the flow of prisoners back into prison, we can create a better community for everyone.
The ARISE program has four functional areas to assist people recently released in reentering the community from the criminal justice system. They include the following cognitive treatment programs:
* AODA Outpatient Treatment
* Employment Training and Rehabilita-tion
* Supportive Living Arrangements
The first two programs consist of classroom training, counseling and on-the-job experiences. To accommodate the supportive living arrangements, ARISE operates two residences in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, where clients can find a stable, supervised living environment for up to one year. Clients who live in the residences must pay a program fee, for their lodging, and must be enrolled in the counseling services and rehabilitation programs. Certified AODA counselors and qualified employment training specialists provide training.
ARISE Family Services Inc., began with a Christian Intervention Program (CIP) offered at Calvary Gospel Church on Madison�s far east side. This program has been held on Sunday afternoons since October 2001. CIP is supported by the Dane County Sheriff�s Office. A bus picks up prisoners held at Ferris Huber Center in Madison to bring them to Calvary Church where they received AODA treatment, and a positive support group. Although CIP is Christian based, it is available to people with other beliefs. Being a Christian is not a prerequisite for the program.
As CIP was born, many needs of prisoners became evident. They commonly experience emotional and physical loss from being imprisoned. Their family structures are broken after years of substance abuse, dependency, and incarceration. ARISE Family Services began collecting clothes and furniture to assist returning prisoners as they reentered Dane County from the Huber Centers and the Dane Co. jail. Clean living environments were sorely needed. It is very difficult for an individual without a good rental history to find housing in Madison. ARISE began looking for houses to rent to provide housing to returning prisoners allowing them to develop a positive rental history, and habilitation in a safe and secure setting.
PRESS RELEASE
DATE: 2-24-2006
RE: Supermax transition
From: PRISONER�S ACTION COALITION
The Supermax (now WSPF) is going through a major transition. After a six years of attempting to justify a terrible mistake the Wisconsin DOC has finally pulled the plug. This stupendously expensive boondoggle is now being reconfigured into a more sane and humane facility.
General population prisoners will be arriving soon, and those who have endured six years of deprivation are now allowed the same �privileges� as segregated prisoners in other Wisconsin prisons.
A new color coded system of prisoner classification called the HIGH RISK OFFENDER PROGRAM (HROP) is replacing the notorious Level System. A more realistic number of cells will continue to house �truly dangerous� men, and the pressure to keep 509 cells filled with dangerous prisoners will finally be abandoned.
This change does not come with fanfare. The DOC has not trumpeted these changes because to do so would acknowledge the reality of a failed experiment. Activists and prisoners applaud the DOC. We just ask, �what took you so long?�
For more information, contact:
Frank Van den Bosch
Spokesperson,
Prisoner�s Action Coalition
ed note - please notice the dates of the press release and the following article. It was only through our efforts that the main stream press played this at all.
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Up to 110 inmates to be moved into ex-Supermax
State aims to make better use of Boscobel prison
By David Callender
Capitol Times
February 28, 2006
The first of up to 110 maximum security inmates will move into a newly converted wing of the former Super-max prison beginning next month, state prison officials announced Monday.
The move comes as part of an ongoing effort to fill empty beds in the $47 million Boscobel prison, now known as the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility, which has been operating at about 80 percent of its 500-bed capacity since it opened in 1999.
"We think these changes will allow us to make better use of the prison," Corrections Secretary Matt Frank said in an interview.
Frank said a pilot program to move about 15 inmates from other maximum security facilities into the Boscobel prison will begin next month and will add inmates over time.
It will cost about $100,000 to make physical changes to the prison, but there will be no additional staff costs, he said. The conversion costs will be paid out of the prison system's overall budget and will not require legislative approval, Frank said.
The prison, which Gov. Tommy Thompson said at the time was intended to house the "worst of the worst" of the state's inmate population, has been at the center of controversy since before it opened.
Department of Corrections officials opposed housing all of the state's most dangerous and disruptive inmates at a single facility and pushed for smaller disciplinary units at existing prisons. But Thompson and Republican law-makers argued that siting a large prison in Boscobel would help the area's economy.
In 2001, inmates launched a federal class-action lawsuit, arguing that the prison's use of extreme isolation and deprivation violated constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
As part of a settlement, the state agreed to remove seriously mentally ill inmates from the prison and to reform some prison policies.
One such target has been the so-called "level system," a five-step program that stripped disruptive inmates of most of their possessions and kept them in near-total isolation for up to 23 hours a day. Inmates were supposed to earn back privileges with good behavior, but critics argued that many inmates never progressed in the program.
Frank said the five-step level system will be replaced with a three-step system that allows inmates to keep more of their possessions and provides incentives for good behavior.
"Our goal is really to increase the number of inmates who make it through the program," he said.
Madison attorney Ed Garvey, who represented Supermax inmates in the class-action suit, said corrections officials have not shared details of the new program with him.
"I hope this is the dagger in the heart of Supermax," he said. "They're finally admitting this was a mistake from the outset."
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PAC Member interviewed on Wisconsin Public Radio
As a follow-up to the press release, Gil Halsted of WPR call PAC�s office and conducted a taped interview with Frank Van den Bosch.
Mr. Halsted also called Walter Dickey who refused to go on record and Matt Frank who asked that the story be held for a week.
Ed Garvey was also interviewed and the news report on 2-24 had short clips from both Garvey and Van den Bosch.
The following week, Matt Frank and Walter Dickey made statements that were incorporated into another news report on WPR.
So, thanks to Gil Halsted for pressing the issue and producing two radio news reports on an issue that is usually hidden from public attention.
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"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws." Tacitus, Roman senator and historian (A.D. c.56-c.115)
Old Law Update - March 2006
Comrades,
First, I wish to address the concerns raised that we incorporate other arguments into the �old law� litigation, including and related to: Procedural Due Process, the separation of powers, and the functions of the Parole Commission as tied to the Program Review Com-mittee. While these issues are valid, members of the research committee all agree, as experience has taught us, that presenting other claims along with the ex post facto argument would in actuality, become a very serious dis-traction to the argument. The policies of the Wisconsin Parole Commission which denies parole based on new criterion, not in effect at the time of arrest, conviction and senten-cing is primarily an ex post facto issue. The issue is, and must remain based on the ex post facto imposition of new reg-ulations and practices, new guidelines, legislative and institutional amend-ments, Gubernatorial decrees or rec-ommendations and the application of those new criterion to prisoners sentenced under the old law. Old law prisoners are entitled to have the parole board grant or deny parole based on factors proscribed by policies as they existed at the time of their arrest, convictions and sentencing. They should expect to serve time based on the Sentencing Court�s understand-ing of sentence structure at the time of conviction.
Anyone sentenced prior to 1997, those under the old law, are affected by the new criterion being applied by the parole commission to grant or deny them parole have a claim under the original definition of ex post facto as the courts decided in the case of Calder v. Bull, 3 U.S. 386 (1798), which is a precedent the government has yet ot overturn or create a loophole in.
We are in a position to argue general ex post facto clause protection appli-cation thereto because the courts held in Himes v Thompson, 336 F.3d 848 854-855 & n.5 (9th Cir. 2003), �although the new parole regulations were applied in a 1994 hearing, they affected the pun-ishment Himes received for crimes committed in 1978. Therefore, the regulation was applied retroact-ively.� Weaver v. Graham, 450 U.S. at 31-32, 101 S. Ct. 960,67 L. Ed. 2d 17 (1981). See also, Flemming, 998 F. 2d at 722-24 (applying the analysis of Weaver, 450 U.S. at 32, 101 S. Ct. 960, �and holding that parole regulations enacted after the date of conviction, but before the Board of Parole hearing in which they were applied, were applied retro-actively.� The court also in Himes further acknowledged, �The ex post facto clause applies by its term to �law�. As such, the clause reaches every form in which the legislative power of a state is exerted, including a regulation or order.� (emphasis added)
Thus, let us keep our efforts focused on the key issue because there is a battle coming, like a storm never before in Wisconsin. The issue of parole release is huge, and vested interests will rise to the challenge. We are in for a fight and for there to be any meaningful chance of weathering the forces that will rise against us, we must be fully prepared to execute our ability to present brilliant insights as if they were self-evident truths. Mr. Oscar McMillian said, �this is the only path to a landscape high above the roar of the storm.� Too true.
I must give thanks and credit to Mr. McMillian and Malcolm J. Campbell for their dedication in researching this cause and unselfishly sharing it with us. Mr. McMillian has also provided us with invaluable information to be used as exhibits that will clearly demonstrate to the court, in support of the claim of ex post facto, how the policies of the Wisconsin Parole Commission denies parole based on new criterion.
Mr. McMilllian has provided us with a copy of the August 1981 written by Mr. Fred W. Hinickle, then Chairman of the Parole Board, along with copies of the Parolability Range Guidelines used during his tenancy as chairman. This PRG was used to tell an individual how much time he or she might expect to serve. Mr. McMillian also provided us with copies of the Wisconsin Depart-ment of Corrections Inmate Release Reports, by month from 1992 through 2001. This information will also be used as exhibits.
Membership in the Old Law Class Action has increased to over 200. That is a small percentage of the number of persons eligible for parole who will be affected by the results of this litigation. We need more to join in our struggle so we ask you to reach out to your brothers and sisters and family and friends and get them involved.
We are truly in this together. This is our fight for liberation and we must liberate ourselves from these oppressive conditions. The battle plan has been put in action and now we must assume our rightful position and fight this battle to win. We will mount a campaign never before seen in Wisconsin.
For Freedom We Struggle,
The Research Committee
Letter seeking representation
This letter was sent to most of the more well known legal organizations in the U.S., and a few private legal firms in Wisconsin.
Dear Friends,
This letter is written with the hope that you will take up the cause of Wisconsin prisoners seeking relief from ex post facto violations of the U.S. and Wisconsin State Constitutions. A team of researchers has gathered the relevant case law and formed a legal argument that challenges the policies of the Wisconsin Parole Commission which denies parole based on new criterion, not in effect at the time of their arrest, conviction and sentencing.
Briefly, following are three precedent setting cases that support our claim:
The United States Supreme Court has expansively interpreted the Ex Post Facto Clause to cover a wide range of government actions. See, Miller v. Florida, 482 U.S. 432 (1982).
In Medley, 134 U.S. 160 (1980), the courts held that almost any retroactive application of the law which makes more onerous the sentence or the ability to obtain parole will be held to violate the Ex Post Facto provisions. 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 Micken-Thomas v. Vaugh, 321 F.3d 374,378 (3rd Cir. 2003), the court held that state prison inmates were entitled, under the ex post facto clause, to have parole boards grant or deny parole based on factors proscribed by policies as they existed at the time of conviction.
Thousands of prisoners convicted prior to Wisconsin�s �Truth In Sentencing� legislation (1999) suffer from a mani-pulated parole system. Truth In Senten-cing brought in a new era of harsh sentencing, and the parole board was presented the task of bringing parole eligible sentences into closer alignment with TIS sentences. This is a clear violation of the ex post facto clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Parole Commission Chairperson, Mr. Lenard Wells has admitted that he �has no risk assessment tools� with which to determine the all important �risk to public safety� issue, and therefore �prefers to err on the side of public safety� when considering grants of parole. This is used as a justification for ever lengthening terms of incarceration for parole eligible prisoners. The net effect is to increase punishment beyond that expected by the sentencing court, the legislature, and the prisoner.
Prisoner�s Action Coalition has gathered the names of 200 �old law� prisoners whose family and friends stand ready to mount a public campaign to bring light to this issue. We are also prepared to mount a legislative lobbying campaign to support the proposed litigation. We understand that 200 is a small percentage of possible class Mimbres, but our resources are limited and the effort to gather dedicated Mimbres began only six months ago.
Other States have successfully add-ressed this issue and brought about reform of their State parole boards. The Wisconsin Parole Commission remains nearly unregulated, giving an agency of the state more authority than the courts or legislature. We hope you share our concern about the manner in which the laws are being manipulated by the Wisconsin Parole Commission and the far reaching consequences to society, caused by this civil violation.
If this is not the sort of litigation your firm or organization cares to take on, perhaps you will forward this plea to a colleague who might assist us.
If you have any questions, please write or call.
Sincerely, PAC
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Update From Old Law Litigant
Terrance J. Shaw, #138254
Oshkosh Correctional Institution
Here is an update to keep the readers of PAC informed of how my case, No. 05-CV-00872 is progressing through its due process in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin, in my Title 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 federal law suit. I have some good news. The court filed its Decision and Order on my Complaint. The decision was handed down on February 15, 2006. The court decided among my seven (7) following complaints that I presented to the court.
Count I - Equal protection
Count II - Ex Post Facto Clause
Count III - Ex Post facto Clause
Count IV - Retaliation
Count V - Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA)
Count VI - Conspiracy to Violate Constitutional Rights
Count VII - Free Exercise Claims
The court will permit me to proceed on my counts I, III, IV, V, and VII. The court dismissed count II outright. The court dismissed count VI to the extent that it is based on a depriva-tion of due process. The judge said that if I can establish the denial of some other Constitutional Right, I may proceed on this claim in Count VI too. At this point in time, I and my jailhouse lawyer assistants are dis-cussing how Count VI can be restated under a different Constitutional Right so that we may proceed on Count VI as well.
So, the bottom line is that I may proceed. The part of my federal law suit that is of particular interest to the other prisoners under Wisconsin�s old law, is Count III, the Ex Post Facto Clause Violation. If I can win in court on my count III, the illegal application of new programs and parole criteria that was created after my conviction and sentencing, it will benefit all the Wisconsin prisoners who are similarly situated as I am, under the old law.
The other Counts that I am proceeding with, Counts I, IV, V, VII, and maybe VI (if we can get it in too), are all tailored to me and Constitutional violations the WDOC has committed against me personally. As I said above, it is Count III, the Ex Post Facto Clause Violation that will effect other similarly situated Wisconsin prisoners who are under old law. I will continue to send updates to PAC to keep PAC members and readers informed as my case progresses through the federal court system. Until net time, I will sign of, and wish the blessings of 3John2 to all my fellow inmates.
Terrance J. Shaw
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As the state is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from
violence to which it owes its very existence. -Mohandas K. Gandhi
Good News from Pennsylvania
March 15, 2006
Dear Prison Society Member:
Victory at last! I have extraordinary and exciting news which I want to share with you. Almost nine years after the statewide referendum (1997) made it virtually impossible for clemency to be extended to life-sentenced prisoners in Pennsylvania, a federal judge has ruled that those changes in the commutation policy violate ex post facto provisions of the U.S. Constitution.
The finding lights the candle of hope for many among the thousands of life-sentenced prisoners who have waited now for years for a crack in the punitive shell that has encased the criminal justice system since the earliest days of the administration of former Governor Ridge.
The ruling (included with this letter) handed down on Monday by A. Richard Caputo of the Middle District Court in Scranton means that individuals sentenced to life for crimes committed prior to November 1997 will be eligible for Pardon's Board recommendations on a simple majority vote of the five members, instead of the unanimous vote required by the referendum. The favorable recommendations of the board are necessary before the governor can consider commuting sentences to life on parole.
As many of you will recall, the Prison Society and other plaintiffs initiated court action prior to the referendum and pursued it through Commonwealth Court, the state Supreme Court and, most recently, federal District Court. Stephen Whinston, solicitor of the Prison Society, carried the ball on this pro bono mission in the federal court for years. We are deeply indebted to him and to the other lawyers who assisted in this effort - Gerald Grimaud, Ernie Preate, Greg Knight and J. Shane Creamer.
Thank you for your continued support of the Prison Society. This hard-fought legal victory should be an inspiration for all the battles we fight and frustrations we endure in pursuit of a more humane form of justice. Hope is alive!
Best regards,
The Pennsylvania Prison Society
245 N. Broad Street, Suite 300
Philadelphia, PA 19107
www.prisonsociety.org
Greetings From the Streets!!
As some may recall from our last news-letter, I was fortunate to have received a five-year time cut off my 20-year sentence. This put my MR at November of this year, but due to the substantial cut, and the sustained involvement of my wife with phone calls to the Parole Commission, I received a grant on January 24th.
I had found out about the grant on December 18th, but the only person I told was my celly. Now, January 24th is my son�s 15th birthday and I found out on a visit a couple days earlier that my folks (who have been raising him since my incarceration) were planning a party for him at his favorite restaurant. My wife and I showed up at this restaurant about a half-hour before the entourage arrived. Looking back on those events I think that maybe such a tremendous surprise wasn�t such a good idea. My sister came in first and almost fainted. My mother was speechless and my dad thought I had escaped! My son was stunned to disbelief but it turned out to be a happy day for everyone.
Many, both in and out, have asked me how it feels to be free after ninety-nine months of incarceration. It is absolutely wonderful! People haven�t changed and human nature remains the same, but at times I feel like Rip Van Winkle waking up to a new electronic age. There is so much to learn to stay up-to-pace in this faster moving world that sometimes it seems overwhelm-ing. I thank God for my wife and son!
I failed my first driving test, which was very embarrassing. I drove truck before my incarceration and was shocked to hear the driving examiner tell me just how bad I messed up (50 points with 0 being the best!). I should have known I was in trouble when I couldn't find the light switch when the examiner asked for me to turn them on. The lights on these new cars stay on all the time when the car is running and I had been driving that way for over a month. At least the �ordeal� caused some laughter in some circles. I did get my license last week and it sure feels good to hop in the car and go somewhere alone!
I have only encountered one situation where my record caused me any problems since I�ve been out. My wife and I found an apartment a few days after I was out and when we spoke to the landlords and signed the lease there were no questions that came up about my prison time. I had left the �past residency� portion of the lease blank but was never asked about it. We paid cash for the pro-rated days, first months rent, and security deposit with the expectation of moving in a couple of days with no problems. The following morning my dad called me at the motel we were staying at and told me the landlady called saying she found out I was a felon and wanted to return our money. I immediately called her and she told me her daughter looked me up on the Internet and found out I was a felon. I explained that my con-viction wasn�t something I liked to discuss unless the subject came up, but it didn�t. I also told her that although it might be construed as discrimination on her part, I wouldn�t want to live someplace where I wasn�t wanted. I asked her to first allow me an oppor-tunity to show my record over the past nine years and who I�ve become before she made a harsh decision. I also explained that as a parolee, my conduct is still under scrutiny and that I would be a more desirable renter then the average person on the street. She agreed to hold off and look at my prison record that I put together for her and her husband to read prior to rejecting our lease.
Later that night a friend called me and said his sister had a nice place for rent if I was interested. My wife and I drove by the place and immediately knew we wanted to see more. The following morning we got to check the place out, fell in love with it, and decided to ask our �landlords� for our money back so we could rent it. The new place was in better shape and the rent was cheaper too. When I called the landlady and told her we found someplace new and wanted the money back, she became upset because after reading through the material I gave them, they decided I wasn�t such a bad person after all and they really wanted us to stay. They tried to sweeten up the deal to change our minds but I explained that I didn�t want to live under a cloud of suspicion and that I might have trouble with the other tenants if they found out I was a felon. It was with regret that she handed our money back to us and in the long run they wished us well.
Except for this instance, I have been treated well by those who know of my past. Even my son�s teachers have been kind and gracious. This may not be the case in many of our exper-iences, but I cannot complain. If I had a sex offense to deal with, you can bet that I would be attending those neigh-borhood meetings to defend myself. I think it is only when things are kept secretive and people have a chance to gossip and whisper that there is trouble brewing. There can be no hatred against truth and knowledge. We are not monsters and until the public can put a human face to us there will be hatred and discrimination.
I have been �in the world� for nearly two months and only now are things starting to slow down a little. I have found it very important and difficult, to maintain a balance between work, my relationships, and all the things I�d like to get done. It is easy to get ones priorities mixed up and it takes constant vigilance and a strong support system to cope with such a faster moving world. You can be sure that I haven�t forgotten where I�ve been and that I will always stay involved in trying to help make my little piece of the world a better place to live in.
Peace, Anthony (Tony) Robinson #337008 3/15/06
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Legal Notes
Tony�s Motion for Sentence Modification is available from PAC.Send 3-39� stamps to cover postage and copying.
We continue to receive papers from prisoners who have won sentence mod-ification based on parole board �changes� of guidelines. Anyone else who has gone through this process, claiming ex post facto violations, whether successful or not, please send us your case work. It will help us refine our argument.
Anyone who has transcripts of parole hearings where the commissioner said something like �times have changed� or �that�s the way it used to work�, please send those as well. Anyone going before the commission soon might want to ask why they are serving more time than what the sentencing judge expected them to serve.
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Equitable Telephone Charges
The eTc Campaign has been restarted. This is primarily a letter writing campaign targeting legislators, phone company executives, prison system leaders, and other policy makers to educate them on the impacts of unfair phone charges to families of incar-cerated.
Customized letters can be downloaded off the internet and sent to these officials. Please check out their website at: www.etccampaign.co
Campaign to Repeal Truth-In-Sentencing
There have been many calls to begin a campaign to repeal Truth in Senten-cing. We know this is an issue of great concern, it affects many prisoners. The truth is, that because of PACs limited resources and personnel this campaign can only become a reality with the help of many volunteers. It is only with public pressure that this issue will ever see the light of day. For this to succeed, your families and loved ones on the outside must take on this challenge.
Momentum for repealing truth in sentencing is building in Wisconsin. When enough citizens demand that truth in sentencing be repealed legislators will act.
Legislators know that the cost of incarceration is an issue drawing public attention. They have begun to show signs that they are aware of the public�s concern. In the 2005-07 bud-get, the state of Wisconsin created a fund to help counties finance treatment alternatives to incarceration. The law specifies the types of nonviolent crimes for which such alternatives can be established. Each county in Wisconsin that wishes to participate must apply for funding and create an advisory board including law enforcement, judicial, human services and community representatives. For approval, the county must present its plan to the office of justice assistance.
Judges from three regions of the state were convened at the request of Senator Carol Roessler (R- Oshkosh). They represented a broad cross-section of views and experience, yet they expressed substantial agreement that increasing the supply of treatment op-tions and upgrading community super-vision could substantially reduce cor-rectional costs and enhance community safety.
A poll of metro Milwaukee area citizens by the Public Policy Forum, three-fourths (75%) of the respondents said they favored spending tax dollars on preventative approaches over prison. Almost two-thirds (65%) would be willing to raise taxes to create more alternatives to prison for nonviolent offender.
Over 12 years ago, Wisconsin taxpay-ers invested three times as much money in education as in prison. Over the past five years money has been drained from the he State�s funding of education, in part to feed the prison system with predominantly nonviolent prisoners. These cuts in education spending feed the spiral of criminality which plays a large role in the increased prison population.
In 1997 Wisconsin Act 283 marked the transition in this state from indeterm-inate sentencing to truth in sentencing. This was applicable to felonies commit-ted on and after December 31, 1999. The criminal penalties study committee responded to legislative mandates in August 1999 with a lengthy report and statutory proposals for full implement-ation of truth in sentencing. (the CPSC�s final report and appendices may be found at www.doa.state.wi.us/ secy/index.asp.).
It was anticipated that these proposals would be enacted prior to December 31, 1999, when the new sentencing policy would go into effect. However, that did not occur. The state assembly promptly considered and passed the CPSC�s proposals (with few minor changes), but the bill stalled in the state senate. Accordingly, Act 283 went into effect without the additional implemen-ting legislation. It was signed into law by the governor without both the as-sembly and senate agreeing on the bill.
Both the United States and Wisconsin Constitutions mandate procedures in which laws are enacted and created. There must be an agreement between both the senate and assembly on the bill, before forwarding it to the Governor for signature. The law man-dates that the legislature must comply with Constitutional requisites in pas-sing legislation. Read the cases of In re Rounds, 659 N.W. 2d 374, 2003 SD 30; and State v. Gonzales, 645 N.W 2d 264, 253 Wis. 2d 134, 202 WI 59.
This would mean Act 283 would there-fore be unlawful and void and everyone sentenced under it would have a re-medy to seek relief form this invalid law. Before this litigation can be undertaken it is necessary to complete research and we welcome the opinions and research assistance from every-one.
The best way to accomplish the repeal of TIS is to organize politically. Once organized and politically active, family members of prisoners have a much better opportunity to get the message across to the public and legislators. Under DOC rules prisoners are pro-hibited from organizing politically or in any other way, yet they are not prohibited from encouraging family members and friends outside of prison to become actively involved in an issue or campaign. Plus, obviously prisoners cannot vote, therefore, their demands would have little or no impact on influencing legislators to introduce legislation that would repeal truth in sentencing. What prisoners should do:
1. Contact family members and friends and let them know that Prisoners Action Coalition is gathering names of folks interested in becoming actively involved in this issue.
2. Send a donation to PAC, and request PAC to forward you an infor-mation packet that includes a member-ship application and instructions as to what they can do.
Fighting for political change is by no means an easy task. Groups such as HALT, a DC based legal aid organization has sponsored legislation, but their success was dependent on the involve-ment of the people. Our success depends upon how well our family members participate.
Truth in sentencing needs repealing as it currently exist and this can only be accomplished when you and your families get involved. We can no longer sit back and wait in hope that legislation will be enacted to address the problem. Liberation now, Liberation forever.
Your comrade,
Truth in sentencing campaign committee
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The Golden Rule is the same in any language or religion
Christianity: All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.: Matthew 7:12
Islam: No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother what which he desires for himself. Sunnah
Buddhism: Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.: Udana Varga 5:18
Judaism: What is hateful to you, do not to your fellowmen. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.: Talmud, Shabbat 31:a
Confucianism: Surely it is the maxim of loving-kindness: Do not unto others that you would not have them do unto you.: Analects 15:23
Taoism: Regard your neighbor�s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor�s loss as your own loss.: T�ai Shag Kan Ying P�ien
THE US GULAG PRISON SYSTEM - THE SHAME OF THE NATION AND CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY
Stephen Lendman
(ed. note - this is a short excerpt of a larger essay available on line at: http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=21544&s2=15)
No, not the one you think, outrageous as it is. I'm referring to the US prison system that's with no exaggeration about as shockingly abusive as the gulag abroad. It qualifies for that label by its size alone - more than 2.1 million as of June, 2004 and growing larger by about 900 new inmates every week. Blacks (mostly poor and disadvantaged) especially are affected. While they make up just 12.3% of the population, they account for half the prison population, and their numbers there have grown fivefold in the last 25 years. Hispanics (also poor) account for another 15%.
About half of those incarcerated are there for non-violent offenses, and half of those (500,000) are drug related. But while blacks make up 15% of ilicit drug users, they account for 37% of drug arrests, 42% of drug offenders in federal prison and 62% in state prisons. And Human Rights Watch reported in 2000 that in one third of the states 75% of all prisoners for drug-related offenses are black. In my home state of Illinois they reported the number to be an astonishing 89%, a total exceed by only one other state. Further, in a so-called free society, below the radar are hundreds of political prisoners, mostly people of color, there only because they represent a threat to the state from their pursuit of justice for their people if they were free.
Today the US shamelessly has more people behind bars than any other nation including China with over 4 times our population. And things have become especially repressive against those in society least able to defend themselves including immigrants of color and our newest head of the queue demon - Muslims. The Bush adminis-tration has made a bad situation far worse taking full advantage of their fear-induced "permanent state of war" and sham "global war on terrorism" to target all those seen as a potential threat to their plan for global dominance and full control at home.
Taken as a whole, this is a national disgrace and outrage, but the effect on those targeted is pretty much below the radar, unreported and undiscussed in the mainstream. Who cares about a couple of million mostly poor, mostly people of color (including immigrants, many of whom are undocumented and have no legal rights at all) languishing behind bars out of sight and out of mind. When any of this is discussed, it's to let the (voter eligible) public know our political leaders are "tough on crime" and working to keep us safe. Safe from whom or what? In the words of a great world class journalist, that kind of talk is "what comes out of the rear end of a bull." What's really going on has little to do with public safety but lots to do with controlling a justifiably restive population of poor and desperate people, the inability of those people to afford a proper defense in our so-called criminal justice system stacked against them, and a growing opportunity for big business to profit on human misery. It's a kind of modern day slavery - a growing state and privately run criminal injustice and prison industry using human beings as their product. In this land of opportunity and the "free market", all things (and people) are commodities to be exploited for profit.
THE SHAMEFUL FACTS PAINT AN UGLY PICTURE OF ANOTHER (LOCKED UP) AMERICA, OUT OF SIGHT AND OUT OF MIND
Here are some key facts. Nationwide black males over 18 are incarcerated at 9 times the rate of comparable white males, and in 11 states those rates range from 12 to 26 times the rate for whites. In my home state of Illinois the rate is 15 times, and in the nation's capital the rate is an astonishing 49 times. The most current data on incarceration for blacks in the US was 1,815 per 100,000 vs. 609 per 100,000 for Latinos, 235 for whites and 99 for Asians. For adult black males the rate was 4,630 per 100,000, 1,668 for Latinos and 482 for whites. In 1999, 11% of black males in their 20s and early 30s were in prison including one third of black male high school dropouts. Even worse, the statistical model used by the Bureau of Justice Statistics at the turn of the century to determine racial and ethnic differences in their chances for incarceration at sometime in their lifetime predicts a 29% chance of serving prison time for a black male aged 16 in 1996. The comparable chance for a white male in the same age group was 4%. In 2002 the Justice Policy Institute reported there were more black men behind bars than in colleges or universities. It also reported that 30% of black males between 20 and 29 are either in prison or on probation or parole.
From the numbers above we know that one in every 20 black men over 18 is now in a state or federal prison compared to one in every 180 whites. And in some states like Oklahoma, Iowa, Rhode Island, Texas and Wisconsin, the black male incarceration rate incredibly is between 13 -14% of all black men in those states - a devastating blow to the black families and communities there. It's also true that the best predictor of a state's incarceration rate and its total prison population is the size of its black population.
By almost all measure the state of what can only be called the US criminal injustice system is shocking and out-rageous. In the last 35 years the total number incarcerated has exploded from less than 300,000 in 1970 to more than 7 times that number now. Today the US is number one not only in its total prison population but in the highest number per 100,000 population imprisoned - 690. Only Russia is a close second with 675 while in South Africa it's 400, England - 125, France - 90, Sweden - 60 and Italy - 40. Would an-yone suggest the US is 17 times more non-law-abiding than Italy, or is there a simpler explanation?
It's also true that race is the most prominent reason why states deny voting rights to convicted felons and ex-felons. The greater the percentage of blacks in a state, the more likely it is for that state to disenfranchise its residents who've served time in jail. A prison record in those states means a loss of a citizen's most fundamental democratic right. The laws vary by state, but The Sentencing Project estimates 4.7 million Americans, or 1 in 43 adults, have currently or perman-ently lost their right to vote because of a felony conviction. And 1.4 million black men, or 13% of all black men, are so disenfranchised, a rate 7 times the national average. Even more shocking, the same report estimates that given the current rates of incarceration, 30% of the next generation of black men will be disenfranchised at some time in their life. And in states that disen-franchise ex-offenders, as many as 40% of black men may permanently lose their right to vote.
Let's be very clear. Based on the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitu-tion it can, and I believe should, be argued that all state disenfranchise-ment laws are unconstitutional. Section 1 of that amendment reads: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous servitude." It remains for a future Congress and/or the courts to address this issue and decide whether we're to be a democracy for all our citizens or just for those we decide are eligible and for the reasons we choose. ian.co.uk /
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Back atcha with another kite from the outside. Our mailing list is growing, more and more people want to hear some news about the Wisconsin Human Warehousing System, lots of guys (no women unfortunately) are signing up to the old law class action, and best of all, some of our good friends and allies are getting out.
One of them, Tony Robinson, has sent in a personal story of the first few weeks on the outside. We wish him luck and are thankful that he will remain active in the struggle. Another top litigator now lives in Milwaukee, and vows to continue the fight. One more good friend lives in Beloit, so we�ve got some important areas of the state covered. This is the key to building strong connections between outside and inside. Effective change from the inside alone is very difficult, but with good alliances of community activists, prisoner advocates, and prisoners we can be a powerful force for change.
The next page of this newsletter is proof of this premise. We hope that our alliance building through the walls and barbed wire, will transfer to community building and political awareness on the streets.
Speaking of the first few weeks out, Voices Beyond Bars is putting a self-published book together relating the stories of some of it�s members on their first 29 days of �freedom.� We asked them to write a small story for this issue, but they were too busy right now. As with all of us, there are too many problems and needs, and not enough time and resources. Maybe next issue.
We do have a couple of articles from other organizations concerned with reentry. Community Reintegration Pro-gram (CRP) is the newest of these types of organizations, and their plan sounds real solid. The Director is dedicated to helping returning prisoners and he knows the ins and outs. He also understands the dynamics of political awareness and how that awareness changes one�s perception of how the systems (don�t) work. PAC looks forward to working with CRP.
A computer proficient PAC member has created a blogsite for us. This newsletter, January�s newsletter, and some stuff related to the changes at WSPF are posted there. Go to www.prisoneractioncoaliton.blogspot.com. Comments can be posted there as well, so if you want to comment on what we are doing, here�s another route.
Speaking of the changes at WSPF... there is a page of art-icles that are more or less designed for �public consumption� later in this newsletter. These changes are most definitely positive. Canteen, TV, phone, and reading material will no longer be tools used to �break the will� of prisoners there. The High Risk Offender Program (HROP) is voluntary, and those who choose to remain in ad seg indefinitely will not be harassed into participation in �behavior modification� programming. The pressure to keep 500+ cells full of �bad people� has been eased, and rehabilitation can now begin.
How the general population prisoners will be housed, who they will be, what jobs, schooling, recreation, cafeteria, dayroom, visitation area and lots of other concerns remain, and we will keep a watchful eye along those lines. How the HROP prisoners and the long term ad seg prisoners are kept will remain a major concern of PAC. How the overzealous security culture at WSPF leaks into the way general population prisoners are handled is also a concern.
For instance, will the general population prisoners be denied this newsletter if it is denied to HROP�s? WSPF has denied the last three issues of this publication. As you know this is all very dangerous material. WSPF can�t afford to have prisoners actually think about their conditions of con-finement, or about the politics of this state and nation. WSPF prisoners can now watch all the soft porn, gratuitous violence, mindless daytime babble, and sports, along with all the state sponsored propaganda that is disguised as �news�. Cops, CSI, Law and Order, The Apprentice, The Bachelor, Fear Factor, Bill O�Rielly, and The News Hour are all OK, but not this �inciteful� (not a word) publication.
They are denied thought provoking political news and opinions, but are allowed the drivel of corporate TV. In the absence of real rehabilitation and mental stimulation, WSPF has adopted the TV baby sitter to calm the rabble. Soma in the form of electronic impulses shot through a picture tube are OK, political thought are forbidden. Lobotomy by entertainment is a tactic with deep historical roots; �bread and circuses� was a phrase coined by the Roman poet Juvenal sometime around 100 AD, when another Empire was repressing its own population. What the heck, if it works on the rest of Americans, it ought to work on HRO�s.
In solidarity, PAC
Community Stands Up! Ordinance Voted Down
The Common Council voted today to close the door on the Gang Loiter-ing/Youth Incarceration ordinance, opening the door to opportunities for mending police/community relations and empowering youth to help stabilize
Milwaukee�s neighborhoods.
Aldermen and community members in opposition to the law have committed to work together to aggressively pursue educational and economic opportunities for young people.
"A clear message was sent today by the Common Council that our youth are not
enemies nor criminals, but rather par-tners in growing Milwaukee�s future," said Matt Nelson of Education for the People!. "We will continue work with the Common Council to create sound policy addressing safety in our neig-hborhoods and not leading our youth from the schoolhouse to the jailhouse."
Led by Education for the People! and the Milwaukee Police Accountability Coalition, Northside and Southside neighborhoods linked arms in oppos-ition to Alderman Zielinski�s Gang Loitering/Youth Incarceration ordinan-ce. The law, if passed, would have targeted Black and Latino communities for increased police harassment, arrests, and detentions.
"This is testament of what can happen when Blacks and Latinos are united," said Carey Jenkins from the Campaign Against Violence. "Let this not be the end. Together, we can come up with creative solutions to the problems in our neighborhoods."
The majority of Aldermen agreed that this ordinance would "do more harm than good", citing racist enforcement, the redundancy of the law, and the con-sequences of further dividing the city while increasing the strain on police-community relations.
Milwaukee has one of the highest rates of jailing African-Americans, compared to whites in the country. Milwaukee�s massive Black and Latino youth incar-ceration rate is fueled not by an actual increase in crime rates, but in the racial profiling and criminalization of people of color, poor people, and young people. Gang activity and violence in the city are a result of failed economic policy.
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Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
DOC (code) Crackers
By Carlos Pabellon
March 16, 2006
The Wisconsin Department of Corrections, the statewide agency in charge of the prisons, develops and enacts regulations that prisons in Wisconsin are required to follow. One of these regulations is called "Unauthorized Forms of Communication" and says, "Any inmate who communicates with another person by a method not authorized by the institution is guilty of an offense." The penalties for violating the rule could include extending an inmate's sentence.
It's not hard to imagine why the Department of Corrections would want every prison to have the ability stop unauthorized communications. Safety and security are the paramount concerns in any prison or jail, and stopping inmates from using indecipherable code or doublespeak to assist them in planning an escape or some other harmful act is critical. But at least one prison in Wisconsin is using the regulation to not only prevent inmates from conspiring in code, but also to make the institution into a virtual "English Only" facility.
The Wisconsin Secure Program Facility (WSPF) in Boscobel, which used to be called the "supermax" prison, has been using this regulation as a way to stop Latino inmates from speaking in Spanish when family and friends call or visit. Latino inmates can petition the security staff at WSPF for an exception, but granting the petition is up to the discretion of the staff.
Thus, many of these inmates are faced with one of two frustrating choices: either attempt to speak in English despite the difficulty in doing so and the humiliation of knowing that WSPF staff are listening in, or suffer through another way that WSPF isolates its inmates.
Reasonable alternatives to this institutional policy such as the hiring of bilingual staff apparently are not being pursued, even though hiring someone who can read, speak and understand a language other than English is critical in a number of contexts when it comes to communicating with inmates who may be Latino or Hmong. With clear communication, inmates who may have ulterior motives in using their native language could be more properly and reliably monitored. Isn't this the level of security we have a prison to house the "worst of the worst" for in the first place?
Milwaukee Community Stands Up For Latinos in Supermax
On February 10, 2006 Robert Miranda of the Milwaukee Spanish Journal, called together a group of local activists to hear a presentation by two members of PAC.
Mr. Miranda was stimulated to take action because one family member of a prisoner at WSPF called him with an outrageous story of abuse. This uncle of a prisoner was enough to get the ball rolling on a campaign to end this particular abuse at WSPF.
PAC had been collecting data and reports from Spanish speaking prisoners at WSPF who had been denied visitation or phone calls from their family if they spoke Spanish. WSPF has an internal policy (this is not a DOC policy) that requires prisoners to get pre-approval to speak Spanish on the phone or during a visit. Guys have had their visits and phone calls terminated because they spoke Spanish to their family. Tickets were written and one prisoner has had his prison sentence extended by more than a year because of these �Spanish speaking� tickets.
We called the prison and Deputy Warden Huibregtse explained it this way... �the inmate gives us the name and number of their family member, we call that number when they are not expecting us, and if they answer in Spanish, we know the prisoner is lying.�
The prison claims there is a security concern, but all phone calls are recorded or monitored, and all visits are on closed circuit TV and recorded. To cite security concerns is bogus, what is really going on is that internal policies like this were used to ticket and retain prisoners at WSPF. Maybe now that the pressure to retain prisoners has diminished some, these types of bogus policy violations will also end.
One thing is for sure, this policy will be exposed and perhaps litigated. An attorney has taken up an investigation and is researching the violation of 1st Amendment Rights. The Latino community in Milwaukee is coming together to expose this racist, stupid policy.
All this comes about because one person spoke out. Imagine the strength of a thousand voices speaking on behalf of our friends and lived ones behind bars.
Power to the people!!!
Community Reintegration Program
Michael Goldsby, Director
(608) 446-1147
P.O. Box 3232 Madison, WI 53704
We�ve found that many potentially dangerous problems arise for returning persons out of the lack of planning on the part of the releasing authority. Many persons returning from insti-tutions are ill equipped to handle the massive onslaught of rejection from agencies designed to aid them. Most of these organizations are under funded and overwhelmed by demand, unable to serve all who need support. Those un-lucky persons who are unable to receive the services they deserve are at risk for homelessness, return to active drug addiction, and complications from untreated medical conditions. It is a severe blow to someone who has served a sentence and is prepared to take up life anew to be denied those basic human necessities which we as taxpayers have so heavily invested in and trusted our officials to carry out. Without the efforts of CRP and other agencies, the burden on the justice system will continue to increase.
Employment issues are another ever-rising concern among returning persons, due to the large number of temporary job service providers now operating in the Madison area. What seems to be taking place is a front door filtering system designed to protect the employing entity from discrimination complaints. It is evident that persons who are saddled with felonies are us-ually dismissed from the potential work list by most of these temp services. Black males also seem to be excluded as a routine practice, or given very few of the available opportunities to move into quality full-time positions. This issue within our community should be addressed in order to allow returning persons to become self-sufficient.
We are highly aware of these and other vital issues that affect returning persons. The primary mission of the Community Reintegration Program (CRP) is to serve people who are returning from experiences of incar-ceration. We are dedicated to provid-ing former offenders with the skills, resources, and networks necessary for successful reentry as valuable and legitimate members of the community.
The belief that everyone has a stake in the successful reintegration of former offenders is central to our vision. CRP works within a value-based model of successful reentry that recognizes the competencies in each client, strength-ens existing competencies and nurtures new ones, and builds a network of supportive relationships for the client. We also seek to encourage and partner with social service programs focused on issues that hinder returning persons to become productive citizens by using effective communication with gate-keepers, transforming the formal request process to be more inclusive, and healing the emotional, spiritual, and social challenges that can result from the experience of incarceration.
The process of reentry presents multiple challenges, and balancing all the different needs and obligations required for success can be difficult. To meet these many needs, CRP offers primary services related to housing, employment, mentoring, and life skills, and secondary services when available, related to health care, food and clothing, child support, and transport-ation. CRP also partners with existing organizations that impact the lives of returning persons and their families in order to offer the most comprehensive support for our clients, empowering them to act independently and develop their capacity to advocate for them-selves.
The goal of our organization is to reduce factors that might lead to recidivism for returning persons and increase their potential to contribute meaningfully to their communities, thereby reducing taxpayer costs and increasing safety and human potential for everyone.�
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ARISE Family Services
James Hawk, Director
1603 Monroe St.
Madison, WI 53711
608-335-4564
Returning prisoners are often homeless. Homelessness leads to recidivism, which has caused the swell in the incarceration rate of people in Wisconsin. Seventy-five percent of people entering prison have been in prison previously. The budget for corrections in Wisconsin is now over $1 billion annually, which is more than what the state budgets for the University of Wisconsin System. By ending the revolving door of prisoners returning to prison, our society will have more resources for education. Education is the key to success.
The cost of incarceration is not only monetary; there are severe costs to families who lose their sons, daughters, and parents. The loss of stable families in our communities leads to higher crime rates and higher incarceration rates. By slowing the flow of prisoners back into prison, we can create a better community for everyone.
The ARISE program has four functional areas to assist people recently released in reentering the community from the criminal justice system. They include the following cognitive treatment programs:
* AODA Outpatient Treatment
* Employment Training and Rehabilita-tion
* Supportive Living Arrangements
The first two programs consist of classroom training, counseling and on-the-job experiences. To accommodate the supportive living arrangements, ARISE operates two residences in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, where clients can find a stable, supervised living environment for up to one year. Clients who live in the residences must pay a program fee, for their lodging, and must be enrolled in the counseling services and rehabilitation programs. Certified AODA counselors and qualified employment training specialists provide training.
ARISE Family Services Inc., began with a Christian Intervention Program (CIP) offered at Calvary Gospel Church on Madison�s far east side. This program has been held on Sunday afternoons since October 2001. CIP is supported by the Dane County Sheriff�s Office. A bus picks up prisoners held at Ferris Huber Center in Madison to bring them to Calvary Church where they received AODA treatment, and a positive support group. Although CIP is Christian based, it is available to people with other beliefs. Being a Christian is not a prerequisite for the program.
As CIP was born, many needs of prisoners became evident. They commonly experience emotional and physical loss from being imprisoned. Their family structures are broken after years of substance abuse, dependency, and incarceration. ARISE Family Services began collecting clothes and furniture to assist returning prisoners as they reentered Dane County from the Huber Centers and the Dane Co. jail. Clean living environments were sorely needed. It is very difficult for an individual without a good rental history to find housing in Madison. ARISE began looking for houses to rent to provide housing to returning prisoners allowing them to develop a positive rental history, and habilitation in a safe and secure setting.
PRESS RELEASE
DATE: 2-24-2006
RE: Supermax transition
From: PRISONER�S ACTION COALITION
The Supermax (now WSPF) is going through a major transition. After a six years of attempting to justify a terrible mistake the Wisconsin DOC has finally pulled the plug. This stupendously expensive boondoggle is now being reconfigured into a more sane and humane facility.
General population prisoners will be arriving soon, and those who have endured six years of deprivation are now allowed the same �privileges� as segregated prisoners in other Wisconsin prisons.
A new color coded system of prisoner classification called the HIGH RISK OFFENDER PROGRAM (HROP) is replacing the notorious Level System. A more realistic number of cells will continue to house �truly dangerous� men, and the pressure to keep 509 cells filled with dangerous prisoners will finally be abandoned.
This change does not come with fanfare. The DOC has not trumpeted these changes because to do so would acknowledge the reality of a failed experiment. Activists and prisoners applaud the DOC. We just ask, �what took you so long?�
For more information, contact:
Frank Van den Bosch
Spokesperson,
Prisoner�s Action Coalition
ed note - please notice the dates of the press release and the following article. It was only through our efforts that the main stream press played this at all.
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Up to 110 inmates to be moved into ex-Supermax
State aims to make better use of Boscobel prison
By David Callender
Capitol Times
February 28, 2006
The first of up to 110 maximum security inmates will move into a newly converted wing of the former Super-max prison beginning next month, state prison officials announced Monday.
The move comes as part of an ongoing effort to fill empty beds in the $47 million Boscobel prison, now known as the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility, which has been operating at about 80 percent of its 500-bed capacity since it opened in 1999.
"We think these changes will allow us to make better use of the prison," Corrections Secretary Matt Frank said in an interview.
Frank said a pilot program to move about 15 inmates from other maximum security facilities into the Boscobel prison will begin next month and will add inmates over time.
It will cost about $100,000 to make physical changes to the prison, but there will be no additional staff costs, he said. The conversion costs will be paid out of the prison system's overall budget and will not require legislative approval, Frank said.
The prison, which Gov. Tommy Thompson said at the time was intended to house the "worst of the worst" of the state's inmate population, has been at the center of controversy since before it opened.
Department of Corrections officials opposed housing all of the state's most dangerous and disruptive inmates at a single facility and pushed for smaller disciplinary units at existing prisons. But Thompson and Republican law-makers argued that siting a large prison in Boscobel would help the area's economy.
In 2001, inmates launched a federal class-action lawsuit, arguing that the prison's use of extreme isolation and deprivation violated constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
As part of a settlement, the state agreed to remove seriously mentally ill inmates from the prison and to reform some prison policies.
One such target has been the so-called "level system," a five-step program that stripped disruptive inmates of most of their possessions and kept them in near-total isolation for up to 23 hours a day. Inmates were supposed to earn back privileges with good behavior, but critics argued that many inmates never progressed in the program.
Frank said the five-step level system will be replaced with a three-step system that allows inmates to keep more of their possessions and provides incentives for good behavior.
"Our goal is really to increase the number of inmates who make it through the program," he said.
Madison attorney Ed Garvey, who represented Supermax inmates in the class-action suit, said corrections officials have not shared details of the new program with him.
"I hope this is the dagger in the heart of Supermax," he said. "They're finally admitting this was a mistake from the outset."
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PAC Member interviewed on Wisconsin Public Radio
As a follow-up to the press release, Gil Halsted of WPR call PAC�s office and conducted a taped interview with Frank Van den Bosch.
Mr. Halsted also called Walter Dickey who refused to go on record and Matt Frank who asked that the story be held for a week.
Ed Garvey was also interviewed and the news report on 2-24 had short clips from both Garvey and Van den Bosch.
The following week, Matt Frank and Walter Dickey made statements that were incorporated into another news report on WPR.
So, thanks to Gil Halsted for pressing the issue and producing two radio news reports on an issue that is usually hidden from public attention.
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"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws." Tacitus, Roman senator and historian (A.D. c.56-c.115)
Old Law Update - March 2006
Comrades,
First, I wish to address the concerns raised that we incorporate other arguments into the �old law� litigation, including and related to: Procedural Due Process, the separation of powers, and the functions of the Parole Commission as tied to the Program Review Com-mittee. While these issues are valid, members of the research committee all agree, as experience has taught us, that presenting other claims along with the ex post facto argument would in actuality, become a very serious dis-traction to the argument. The policies of the Wisconsin Parole Commission which denies parole based on new criterion, not in effect at the time of arrest, conviction and senten-cing is primarily an ex post facto issue. The issue is, and must remain based on the ex post facto imposition of new reg-ulations and practices, new guidelines, legislative and institutional amend-ments, Gubernatorial decrees or rec-ommendations and the application of those new criterion to prisoners sentenced under the old law. Old law prisoners are entitled to have the parole board grant or deny parole based on factors proscribed by policies as they existed at the time of their arrest, convictions and sentencing. They should expect to serve time based on the Sentencing Court�s understand-ing of sentence structure at the time of conviction.
Anyone sentenced prior to 1997, those under the old law, are affected by the new criterion being applied by the parole commission to grant or deny them parole have a claim under the original definition of ex post facto as the courts decided in the case of Calder v. Bull, 3 U.S. 386 (1798), which is a precedent the government has yet ot overturn or create a loophole in.
We are in a position to argue general ex post facto clause protection appli-cation thereto because the courts held in Himes v Thompson, 336 F.3d 848 854-855 & n.5 (9th Cir. 2003), �although the new parole regulations were applied in a 1994 hearing, they affected the pun-ishment Himes received for crimes committed in 1978. Therefore, the regulation was applied retroact-ively.� Weaver v. Graham, 450 U.S. at 31-32, 101 S. Ct. 960,67 L. Ed. 2d 17 (1981). See also, Flemming, 998 F. 2d at 722-24 (applying the analysis of Weaver, 450 U.S. at 32, 101 S. Ct. 960, �and holding that parole regulations enacted after the date of conviction, but before the Board of Parole hearing in which they were applied, were applied retro-actively.� The court also in Himes further acknowledged, �The ex post facto clause applies by its term to �law�. As such, the clause reaches every form in which the legislative power of a state is exerted, including a regulation or order.� (emphasis added)
Thus, let us keep our efforts focused on the key issue because there is a battle coming, like a storm never before in Wisconsin. The issue of parole release is huge, and vested interests will rise to the challenge. We are in for a fight and for there to be any meaningful chance of weathering the forces that will rise against us, we must be fully prepared to execute our ability to present brilliant insights as if they were self-evident truths. Mr. Oscar McMillian said, �this is the only path to a landscape high above the roar of the storm.� Too true.
I must give thanks and credit to Mr. McMillian and Malcolm J. Campbell for their dedication in researching this cause and unselfishly sharing it with us. Mr. McMillian has also provided us with invaluable information to be used as exhibits that will clearly demonstrate to the court, in support of the claim of ex post facto, how the policies of the Wisconsin Parole Commission denies parole based on new criterion.
Mr. McMilllian has provided us with a copy of the August 1981 written by Mr. Fred W. Hinickle, then Chairman of the Parole Board, along with copies of the Parolability Range Guidelines used during his tenancy as chairman. This PRG was used to tell an individual how much time he or she might expect to serve. Mr. McMillian also provided us with copies of the Wisconsin Depart-ment of Corrections Inmate Release Reports, by month from 1992 through 2001. This information will also be used as exhibits.
Membership in the Old Law Class Action has increased to over 200. That is a small percentage of the number of persons eligible for parole who will be affected by the results of this litigation. We need more to join in our struggle so we ask you to reach out to your brothers and sisters and family and friends and get them involved.
We are truly in this together. This is our fight for liberation and we must liberate ourselves from these oppressive conditions. The battle plan has been put in action and now we must assume our rightful position and fight this battle to win. We will mount a campaign never before seen in Wisconsin.
For Freedom We Struggle,
The Research Committee
Letter seeking representation
This letter was sent to most of the more well known legal organizations in the U.S., and a few private legal firms in Wisconsin.
Dear Friends,
This letter is written with the hope that you will take up the cause of Wisconsin prisoners seeking relief from ex post facto violations of the U.S. and Wisconsin State Constitutions. A team of researchers has gathered the relevant case law and formed a legal argument that challenges the policies of the Wisconsin Parole Commission which denies parole based on new criterion, not in effect at the time of their arrest, conviction and sentencing.
Briefly, following are three precedent setting cases that support our claim:
The United States Supreme Court has expansively interpreted the Ex Post Facto Clause to cover a wide range of government actions. See, Miller v. Florida, 482 U.S. 432 (1982).
In Medley, 134 U.S. 160 (1980), the courts held that almost any retroactive application of the law which makes more onerous the sentence or the ability to obtain parole will be held to violate the Ex Post Facto provisions. 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 Micken-Thomas v. Vaugh, 321 F.3d 374,378 (3rd Cir. 2003), the court held that state prison inmates were entitled, under the ex post facto clause, to have parole boards grant or deny parole based on factors proscribed by policies as they existed at the time of conviction.
Thousands of prisoners convicted prior to Wisconsin�s �Truth In Sentencing� legislation (1999) suffer from a mani-pulated parole system. Truth In Senten-cing brought in a new era of harsh sentencing, and the parole board was presented the task of bringing parole eligible sentences into closer alignment with TIS sentences. This is a clear violation of the ex post facto clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Parole Commission Chairperson, Mr. Lenard Wells has admitted that he �has no risk assessment tools� with which to determine the all important �risk to public safety� issue, and therefore �prefers to err on the side of public safety� when considering grants of parole. This is used as a justification for ever lengthening terms of incarceration for parole eligible prisoners. The net effect is to increase punishment beyond that expected by the sentencing court, the legislature, and the prisoner.
Prisoner�s Action Coalition has gathered the names of 200 �old law� prisoners whose family and friends stand ready to mount a public campaign to bring light to this issue. We are also prepared to mount a legislative lobbying campaign to support the proposed litigation. We understand that 200 is a small percentage of possible class Mimbres, but our resources are limited and the effort to gather dedicated Mimbres began only six months ago.
Other States have successfully add-ressed this issue and brought about reform of their State parole boards. The Wisconsin Parole Commission remains nearly unregulated, giving an agency of the state more authority than the courts or legislature. We hope you share our concern about the manner in which the laws are being manipulated by the Wisconsin Parole Commission and the far reaching consequences to society, caused by this civil violation.
If this is not the sort of litigation your firm or organization cares to take on, perhaps you will forward this plea to a colleague who might assist us.
If you have any questions, please write or call.
Sincerely, PAC
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Update From Old Law Litigant
Terrance J. Shaw, #138254
Oshkosh Correctional Institution
Here is an update to keep the readers of PAC informed of how my case, No. 05-CV-00872 is progressing through its due process in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin, in my Title 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 federal law suit. I have some good news. The court filed its Decision and Order on my Complaint. The decision was handed down on February 15, 2006. The court decided among my seven (7) following complaints that I presented to the court.
Count I - Equal protection
Count II - Ex Post Facto Clause
Count III - Ex Post facto Clause
Count IV - Retaliation
Count V - Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA)
Count VI - Conspiracy to Violate Constitutional Rights
Count VII - Free Exercise Claims
The court will permit me to proceed on my counts I, III, IV, V, and VII. The court dismissed count II outright. The court dismissed count VI to the extent that it is based on a depriva-tion of due process. The judge said that if I can establish the denial of some other Constitutional Right, I may proceed on this claim in Count VI too. At this point in time, I and my jailhouse lawyer assistants are dis-cussing how Count VI can be restated under a different Constitutional Right so that we may proceed on Count VI as well.
So, the bottom line is that I may proceed. The part of my federal law suit that is of particular interest to the other prisoners under Wisconsin�s old law, is Count III, the Ex Post Facto Clause Violation. If I can win in court on my count III, the illegal application of new programs and parole criteria that was created after my conviction and sentencing, it will benefit all the Wisconsin prisoners who are similarly situated as I am, under the old law.
The other Counts that I am proceeding with, Counts I, IV, V, VII, and maybe VI (if we can get it in too), are all tailored to me and Constitutional violations the WDOC has committed against me personally. As I said above, it is Count III, the Ex Post Facto Clause Violation that will effect other similarly situated Wisconsin prisoners who are under old law. I will continue to send updates to PAC to keep PAC members and readers informed as my case progresses through the federal court system. Until net time, I will sign of, and wish the blessings of 3John2 to all my fellow inmates.
Terrance J. Shaw
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As the state is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from
violence to which it owes its very existence. -Mohandas K. Gandhi
Good News from Pennsylvania
March 15, 2006
Dear Prison Society Member:
Victory at last! I have extraordinary and exciting news which I want to share with you. Almost nine years after the statewide referendum (1997) made it virtually impossible for clemency to be extended to life-sentenced prisoners in Pennsylvania, a federal judge has ruled that those changes in the commutation policy violate ex post facto provisions of the U.S. Constitution.
The finding lights the candle of hope for many among the thousands of life-sentenced prisoners who have waited now for years for a crack in the punitive shell that has encased the criminal justice system since the earliest days of the administration of former Governor Ridge.
The ruling (included with this letter) handed down on Monday by A. Richard Caputo of the Middle District Court in Scranton means that individuals sentenced to life for crimes committed prior to November 1997 will be eligible for Pardon's Board recommendations on a simple majority vote of the five members, instead of the unanimous vote required by the referendum. The favorable recommendations of the board are necessary before the governor can consider commuting sentences to life on parole.
As many of you will recall, the Prison Society and other plaintiffs initiated court action prior to the referendum and pursued it through Commonwealth Court, the state Supreme Court and, most recently, federal District Court. Stephen Whinston, solicitor of the Prison Society, carried the ball on this pro bono mission in the federal court for years. We are deeply indebted to him and to the other lawyers who assisted in this effort - Gerald Grimaud, Ernie Preate, Greg Knight and J. Shane Creamer.
Thank you for your continued support of the Prison Society. This hard-fought legal victory should be an inspiration for all the battles we fight and frustrations we endure in pursuit of a more humane form of justice. Hope is alive!
Best regards,
The Pennsylvania Prison Society
245 N. Broad Street, Suite 300
Philadelphia, PA 19107
www.prisonsociety.org
Greetings From the Streets!!
As some may recall from our last news-letter, I was fortunate to have received a five-year time cut off my 20-year sentence. This put my MR at November of this year, but due to the substantial cut, and the sustained involvement of my wife with phone calls to the Parole Commission, I received a grant on January 24th.
I had found out about the grant on December 18th, but the only person I told was my celly. Now, January 24th is my son�s 15th birthday and I found out on a visit a couple days earlier that my folks (who have been raising him since my incarceration) were planning a party for him at his favorite restaurant. My wife and I showed up at this restaurant about a half-hour before the entourage arrived. Looking back on those events I think that maybe such a tremendous surprise wasn�t such a good idea. My sister came in first and almost fainted. My mother was speechless and my dad thought I had escaped! My son was stunned to disbelief but it turned out to be a happy day for everyone.
Many, both in and out, have asked me how it feels to be free after ninety-nine months of incarceration. It is absolutely wonderful! People haven�t changed and human nature remains the same, but at times I feel like Rip Van Winkle waking up to a new electronic age. There is so much to learn to stay up-to-pace in this faster moving world that sometimes it seems overwhelm-ing. I thank God for my wife and son!
I failed my first driving test, which was very embarrassing. I drove truck before my incarceration and was shocked to hear the driving examiner tell me just how bad I messed up (50 points with 0 being the best!). I should have known I was in trouble when I couldn't find the light switch when the examiner asked for me to turn them on. The lights on these new cars stay on all the time when the car is running and I had been driving that way for over a month. At least the �ordeal� caused some laughter in some circles. I did get my license last week and it sure feels good to hop in the car and go somewhere alone!
I have only encountered one situation where my record caused me any problems since I�ve been out. My wife and I found an apartment a few days after I was out and when we spoke to the landlords and signed the lease there were no questions that came up about my prison time. I had left the �past residency� portion of the lease blank but was never asked about it. We paid cash for the pro-rated days, first months rent, and security deposit with the expectation of moving in a couple of days with no problems. The following morning my dad called me at the motel we were staying at and told me the landlady called saying she found out I was a felon and wanted to return our money. I immediately called her and she told me her daughter looked me up on the Internet and found out I was a felon. I explained that my con-viction wasn�t something I liked to discuss unless the subject came up, but it didn�t. I also told her that although it might be construed as discrimination on her part, I wouldn�t want to live someplace where I wasn�t wanted. I asked her to first allow me an oppor-tunity to show my record over the past nine years and who I�ve become before she made a harsh decision. I also explained that as a parolee, my conduct is still under scrutiny and that I would be a more desirable renter then the average person on the street. She agreed to hold off and look at my prison record that I put together for her and her husband to read prior to rejecting our lease.
Later that night a friend called me and said his sister had a nice place for rent if I was interested. My wife and I drove by the place and immediately knew we wanted to see more. The following morning we got to check the place out, fell in love with it, and decided to ask our �landlords� for our money back so we could rent it. The new place was in better shape and the rent was cheaper too. When I called the landlady and told her we found someplace new and wanted the money back, she became upset because after reading through the material I gave them, they decided I wasn�t such a bad person after all and they really wanted us to stay. They tried to sweeten up the deal to change our minds but I explained that I didn�t want to live under a cloud of suspicion and that I might have trouble with the other tenants if they found out I was a felon. It was with regret that she handed our money back to us and in the long run they wished us well.
Except for this instance, I have been treated well by those who know of my past. Even my son�s teachers have been kind and gracious. This may not be the case in many of our exper-iences, but I cannot complain. If I had a sex offense to deal with, you can bet that I would be attending those neigh-borhood meetings to defend myself. I think it is only when things are kept secretive and people have a chance to gossip and whisper that there is trouble brewing. There can be no hatred against truth and knowledge. We are not monsters and until the public can put a human face to us there will be hatred and discrimination.
I have been �in the world� for nearly two months and only now are things starting to slow down a little. I have found it very important and difficult, to maintain a balance between work, my relationships, and all the things I�d like to get done. It is easy to get ones priorities mixed up and it takes constant vigilance and a strong support system to cope with such a faster moving world. You can be sure that I haven�t forgotten where I�ve been and that I will always stay involved in trying to help make my little piece of the world a better place to live in.
Peace, Anthony (Tony) Robinson #337008 3/15/06
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Legal Notes
Tony�s Motion for Sentence Modification is available from PAC.Send 3-39� stamps to cover postage and copying.
We continue to receive papers from prisoners who have won sentence mod-ification based on parole board �changes� of guidelines. Anyone else who has gone through this process, claiming ex post facto violations, whether successful or not, please send us your case work. It will help us refine our argument.
Anyone who has transcripts of parole hearings where the commissioner said something like �times have changed� or �that�s the way it used to work�, please send those as well. Anyone going before the commission soon might want to ask why they are serving more time than what the sentencing judge expected them to serve.
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Equitable Telephone Charges
The eTc Campaign has been restarted. This is primarily a letter writing campaign targeting legislators, phone company executives, prison system leaders, and other policy makers to educate them on the impacts of unfair phone charges to families of incar-cerated.
Customized letters can be downloaded off the internet and sent to these officials. Please check out their website at: www.etccampaign.co
Campaign to Repeal Truth-In-Sentencing
There have been many calls to begin a campaign to repeal Truth in Senten-cing. We know this is an issue of great concern, it affects many prisoners. The truth is, that because of PACs limited resources and personnel this campaign can only become a reality with the help of many volunteers. It is only with public pressure that this issue will ever see the light of day. For this to succeed, your families and loved ones on the outside must take on this challenge.
Momentum for repealing truth in sentencing is building in Wisconsin. When enough citizens demand that truth in sentencing be repealed legislators will act.
Legislators know that the cost of incarceration is an issue drawing public attention. They have begun to show signs that they are aware of the public�s concern. In the 2005-07 bud-get, the state of Wisconsin created a fund to help counties finance treatment alternatives to incarceration. The law specifies the types of nonviolent crimes for which such alternatives can be established. Each county in Wisconsin that wishes to participate must apply for funding and create an advisory board including law enforcement, judicial, human services and community representatives. For approval, the county must present its plan to the office of justice assistance.
Judges from three regions of the state were convened at the request of Senator Carol Roessler (R- Oshkosh). They represented a broad cross-section of views and experience, yet they expressed substantial agreement that increasing the supply of treatment op-tions and upgrading community super-vision could substantially reduce cor-rectional costs and enhance community safety.
A poll of metro Milwaukee area citizens by the Public Policy Forum, three-fourths (75%) of the respondents said they favored spending tax dollars on preventative approaches over prison. Almost two-thirds (65%) would be willing to raise taxes to create more alternatives to prison for nonviolent offender.
Over 12 years ago, Wisconsin taxpay-ers invested three times as much money in education as in prison. Over the past five years money has been drained from the he State�s funding of education, in part to feed the prison system with predominantly nonviolent prisoners. These cuts in education spending feed the spiral of criminality which plays a large role in the increased prison population.
In 1997 Wisconsin Act 283 marked the transition in this state from indeterm-inate sentencing to truth in sentencing. This was applicable to felonies commit-ted on and after December 31, 1999. The criminal penalties study committee responded to legislative mandates in August 1999 with a lengthy report and statutory proposals for full implement-ation of truth in sentencing. (the CPSC�s final report and appendices may be found at www.doa.state.wi.us/ secy/index.asp.).
It was anticipated that these proposals would be enacted prior to December 31, 1999, when the new sentencing policy would go into effect. However, that did not occur. The state assembly promptly considered and passed the CPSC�s proposals (with few minor changes), but the bill stalled in the state senate. Accordingly, Act 283 went into effect without the additional implemen-ting legislation. It was signed into law by the governor without both the as-sembly and senate agreeing on the bill.
Both the United States and Wisconsin Constitutions mandate procedures in which laws are enacted and created. There must be an agreement between both the senate and assembly on the bill, before forwarding it to the Governor for signature. The law man-dates that the legislature must comply with Constitutional requisites in pas-sing legislation. Read the cases of In re Rounds, 659 N.W. 2d 374, 2003 SD 30; and State v. Gonzales, 645 N.W 2d 264, 253 Wis. 2d 134, 202 WI 59.
This would mean Act 283 would there-fore be unlawful and void and everyone sentenced under it would have a re-medy to seek relief form this invalid law. Before this litigation can be undertaken it is necessary to complete research and we welcome the opinions and research assistance from every-one.
The best way to accomplish the repeal of TIS is to organize politically. Once organized and politically active, family members of prisoners have a much better opportunity to get the message across to the public and legislators. Under DOC rules prisoners are pro-hibited from organizing politically or in any other way, yet they are not prohibited from encouraging family members and friends outside of prison to become actively involved in an issue or campaign. Plus, obviously prisoners cannot vote, therefore, their demands would have little or no impact on influencing legislators to introduce legislation that would repeal truth in sentencing. What prisoners should do:
1. Contact family members and friends and let them know that Prisoners Action Coalition is gathering names of folks interested in becoming actively involved in this issue.
2. Send a donation to PAC, and request PAC to forward you an infor-mation packet that includes a member-ship application and instructions as to what they can do.
Fighting for political change is by no means an easy task. Groups such as HALT, a DC based legal aid organization has sponsored legislation, but their success was dependent on the involve-ment of the people. Our success depends upon how well our family members participate.
Truth in sentencing needs repealing as it currently exist and this can only be accomplished when you and your families get involved. We can no longer sit back and wait in hope that legislation will be enacted to address the problem. Liberation now, Liberation forever.
Your comrade,
Truth in sentencing campaign committee
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The Golden Rule is the same in any language or religion
Christianity: All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.: Matthew 7:12
Islam: No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother what which he desires for himself. Sunnah
Buddhism: Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.: Udana Varga 5:18
Judaism: What is hateful to you, do not to your fellowmen. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.: Talmud, Shabbat 31:a
Confucianism: Surely it is the maxim of loving-kindness: Do not unto others that you would not have them do unto you.: Analects 15:23
Taoism: Regard your neighbor�s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor�s loss as your own loss.: T�ai Shag Kan Ying P�ien
THE US GULAG PRISON SYSTEM - THE SHAME OF THE NATION AND CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY
Stephen Lendman
(ed. note - this is a short excerpt of a larger essay available on line at: http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=21544&s2=15)
No, not the one you think, outrageous as it is. I'm referring to the US prison system that's with no exaggeration about as shockingly abusive as the gulag abroad. It qualifies for that label by its size alone - more than 2.1 million as of June, 2004 and growing larger by about 900 new inmates every week. Blacks (mostly poor and disadvantaged) especially are affected. While they make up just 12.3% of the population, they account for half the prison population, and their numbers there have grown fivefold in the last 25 years. Hispanics (also poor) account for another 15%.
About half of those incarcerated are there for non-violent offenses, and half of those (500,000) are drug related. But while blacks make up 15% of ilicit drug users, they account for 37% of drug arrests, 42% of drug offenders in federal prison and 62% in state prisons. And Human Rights Watch reported in 2000 that in one third of the states 75% of all prisoners for drug-related offenses are black. In my home state of Illinois they reported the number to be an astonishing 89%, a total exceed by only one other state. Further, in a so-called free society, below the radar are hundreds of political prisoners, mostly people of color, there only because they represent a threat to the state from their pursuit of justice for their people if they were free.
Today the US shamelessly has more people behind bars than any other nation including China with over 4 times our population. And things have become especially repressive against those in society least able to defend themselves including immigrants of color and our newest head of the queue demon - Muslims. The Bush adminis-tration has made a bad situation far worse taking full advantage of their fear-induced "permanent state of war" and sham "global war on terrorism" to target all those seen as a potential threat to their plan for global dominance and full control at home.
Taken as a whole, this is a national disgrace and outrage, but the effect on those targeted is pretty much below the radar, unreported and undiscussed in the mainstream. Who cares about a couple of million mostly poor, mostly people of color (including immigrants, many of whom are undocumented and have no legal rights at all) languishing behind bars out of sight and out of mind. When any of this is discussed, it's to let the (voter eligible) public know our political leaders are "tough on crime" and working to keep us safe. Safe from whom or what? In the words of a great world class journalist, that kind of talk is "what comes out of the rear end of a bull." What's really going on has little to do with public safety but lots to do with controlling a justifiably restive population of poor and desperate people, the inability of those people to afford a proper defense in our so-called criminal justice system stacked against them, and a growing opportunity for big business to profit on human misery. It's a kind of modern day slavery - a growing state and privately run criminal injustice and prison industry using human beings as their product. In this land of opportunity and the "free market", all things (and people) are commodities to be exploited for profit.
THE SHAMEFUL FACTS PAINT AN UGLY PICTURE OF ANOTHER (LOCKED UP) AMERICA, OUT OF SIGHT AND OUT OF MIND
Here are some key facts. Nationwide black males over 18 are incarcerated at 9 times the rate of comparable white males, and in 11 states those rates range from 12 to 26 times the rate for whites. In my home state of Illinois the rate is 15 times, and in the nation's capital the rate is an astonishing 49 times. The most current data on incarceration for blacks in the US was 1,815 per 100,000 vs. 609 per 100,000 for Latinos, 235 for whites and 99 for Asians. For adult black males the rate was 4,630 per 100,000, 1,668 for Latinos and 482 for whites. In 1999, 11% of black males in their 20s and early 30s were in prison including one third of black male high school dropouts. Even worse, the statistical model used by the Bureau of Justice Statistics at the turn of the century to determine racial and ethnic differences in their chances for incarceration at sometime in their lifetime predicts a 29% chance of serving prison time for a black male aged 16 in 1996. The comparable chance for a white male in the same age group was 4%. In 2002 the Justice Policy Institute reported there were more black men behind bars than in colleges or universities. It also reported that 30% of black males between 20 and 29 are either in prison or on probation or parole.
From the numbers above we know that one in every 20 black men over 18 is now in a state or federal prison compared to one in every 180 whites. And in some states like Oklahoma, Iowa, Rhode Island, Texas and Wisconsin, the black male incarceration rate incredibly is between 13 -14% of all black men in those states - a devastating blow to the black families and communities there. It's also true that the best predictor of a state's incarceration rate and its total prison population is the size of its black population.
By almost all measure the state of what can only be called the US criminal injustice system is shocking and out-rageous. In the last 35 years the total number incarcerated has exploded from less than 300,000 in 1970 to more than 7 times that number now. Today the US is number one not only in its total prison population but in the highest number per 100,000 population imprisoned - 690. Only Russia is a close second with 675 while in South Africa it's 400, England - 125, France - 90, Sweden - 60 and Italy - 40. Would an-yone suggest the US is 17 times more non-law-abiding than Italy, or is there a simpler explanation?
It's also true that race is the most prominent reason why states deny voting rights to convicted felons and ex-felons. The greater the percentage of blacks in a state, the more likely it is for that state to disenfranchise its residents who've served time in jail. A prison record in those states means a loss of a citizen's most fundamental democratic right. The laws vary by state, but The Sentencing Project estimates 4.7 million Americans, or 1 in 43 adults, have currently or perman-ently lost their right to vote because of a felony conviction. And 1.4 million black men, or 13% of all black men, are so disenfranchised, a rate 7 times the national average. Even more shocking, the same report estimates that given the current rates of incarceration, 30% of the next generation of black men will be disenfranchised at some time in their life. And in states that disen-franchise ex-offenders, as many as 40% of black men may permanently lose their right to vote.
Let's be very clear. Based on the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitu-tion it can, and I believe should, be argued that all state disenfranchise-ment laws are unconstitutional. Section 1 of that amendment reads: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous servitude." It remains for a future Congress and/or the courts to address this issue and decide whether we're to be a democracy for all our citizens or just for those we decide are eligible and for the reasons we choose. ian.co.uk /
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