Friends,
First, an apology. Personal matters have interrupted my life and drained some of my energy and fight. With every letter I received asking “where’s my May issue?”, I said to myself, well, I’ll get one out soon so the questions will be answered. But, days turned into weeks and weeks into months and the longer I waited the harder it became to get something on paper. Life on the outside is full of distractions and responsibilities and when we don’t see the inhumanity on a daily basis (through letters) we lose our outrage, we become complacent. The Beast never sleeps, it is continually growing stronger while the few of us who care, get tired and weak. That’s how the system works, that’s why we need lots of fighters.
Anyone who understands the prison issues, knows that all the hoopla about releasing nonviolent offenders doesn’t amount to a hill of beans in the scheme of things. Over policing, career building prosecutions, and harsh sentencing remain the standard. The problem isn’t that prisoners aren’t being released soon enough (well, that’s a problem too) but rather that too many are being locked up to begin with.
Once in, we face another set of stupid reactionary people who’s ideology determines policy. Alfonzo Graham continues to give lengthy defers to guys who were ready to go home long ago; BOCM and PRC continue to place “program needs” on people and then keep them from entering the programs; Wardens and guards taunt and harass prisoners with write-ups for minor infractions, rotating the seg population to make use of all the beds.
In the meantime, politicians posture and weasel word and pass a John Doe “reform” Bill even though they KNOW the reason prisoners file with the courts is because the ICRS is worthless. The complaint system is fraught with nepotism and cronyism where justice and fair play are totally absent.
Hey, but you guys know all this. These have been constant and repeated themes in this newsletter. In fact, this newsletter has held its tongue and curbed its words lately in light of the “changes” that many perceived taking place in this country and state. Many prisoners believed Barak Obama would set a new standard and bring civility and dignity to the way America does business. They hoped that this new way would trickle down to the bottom of the barrel, the prisons. So many were under the spell of Hope-ium that speaking the truth, that Obama is a corporate salesman intent on maintaining empire abroad and repression at home, was out of bounds.
The same Hope-ium addiction afflicts many prisoners regarding the situation here in Wisconsin. The false hope that weasel-wording politicians will reform the prison system in any meaningful way, keeps prisoners pacified and complacent. Just in case you really don’t get it, things ain’t changin’. Punishment, retribution, and violence are the true values the privileged of this country hold and they ain’t giving in. Things won’t change unless YOU make them change. Sucking on that Hope-ium pipe only prolongs the misery. In the mean time, days and weeks and years slip by and the prisons get fuller and the conditions get worse.
That said, Wisconsin’s financial mess is not resolved and more and bigger cuts in all sorts of spending areas will be needed. Prisons are part of the conversation and that’s a good thing. We only wish the motivation was some sort of enlightened thinking instead of financial reality. Word is, some of the old timers with lots of time in, will be released this October. That’s just a rumor at this point so don’t start packing your bags.
Our brother Warren Lilly won a court order halting his forced feeding. The order is stayed while it runs through the appeal process. For those of you who did not receive our January 2009 issue, it is because we ran a piece written by Warren.
Judge Bissonnette actually had himself strapped into a restraint chair to understand the brutality Warren has been subjected to. Judge Bissonnette said in his order, in part, “Certainly, this Court, nor the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, nor the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, should in any way condone any type of mistreatment or torture of an inmate in a Wisconsin correctional facility. This debate should form no part of a discussion about how medical care is to be delivered to a U.S. citizen over his constitutional objection.” In other words, STOP THE TORTURE!!
Another comrade, Harlan Richardts has submitted an article on the continued ideologically (and politically) driven parole commission. His research is on the status of lifers but the trends he has teased out of the statistics are similar through every category of parole eligible prisoner. A recent report from the Sentencing Project, Life Without Parole, confirms the trends Harlan reports.
We hope this newsletter helps you sort out the conflicting news and dis-information presented by the DOC and the mainstream press. We hope to continue our efforts to bring critical analysis and revolutionary inspiration but make no promises. We always hold out hope that others will join our effort, providing the needed energy and vision. Thousands of prisoners are released every year and a few have offered assistance when released but the pressure of day to day survival along with the heavy and threatening hand of their POs as left us overwhelmed, stressed out, and tired.
We have engaged the Beast in the courts. Our case #09-C-062-C is moving forward in U.S. District Court WDWI. Hopefully the DOC will fund future newsletters. That will relieve some of our stress and invigorate our spirit. We’ll still be overwhelmed and tired but that’s the nature of battle. Onward!
in solidarity,
WPW
Quote to Ponder: "The press is so powerful in its image-making role, it can make a criminal look like he's the victim and make the victim look like he's the criminal. This is the press, an irresponsible press. If you aren't careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing." - Malcolm X
Doyle's Legacy
By Harlan Richardts
Back in the 1980s a person with a life sentence (lifer) would serve on average 13-15 years before release on parole. In the 1970s it was much shorter because Wisconsin's governors routinely granted clemency to lifers by commuting their sentences to 50 years or less. This allowed lifers to receive parole hearings far in advance of the statutorily mandated 11 years, 3 months (one lifer had his sentence commuted to “time served” after only 5 years).
It was so rare for a lifer to spend more than 20 consecutive years in prison that in 1980 there were only two prisoners with that distinction. In 1990, it was a newsworthy item when Steve Urban died in prison after serving 47 years on a life sentence. He was released on parole in the early 1970s but by that time he had become institutionalized and quickly demanded that he be allowed to return to prison. When he died, he no longer had any family to claim his body, which was buried in a pauper's grave outside of Waupun. The Waupun Correctional Institution Lifers Group took up a collection and bought a headstone for his grave.
Times have changed. The constant drum beat of vengeance, retribution and punishment has changed the political landscape. Newly convicted lifers no longer automatically become eligible for parole after 11 years, 3 months. The judge sets the length of time to eligibility and it is not uncommon for lifers to have to serve 30 or more years to their first parole hearing.
Fast forward to 2009, and those same lifers who could have been paroled in 13-15 years are now hoping for release after serving twice that amount of time. In the 1980s, release on parole was virtually assured based on past practice. While there are a few lifers still being released on parole after an average of 30 years, it has become the exception rather than the rule.
From only 2 lifers with 20 or more consecutive years served in 1980, there are now 255. The number is increasing every year. One of those lifers who had already served 20 years in 1980 is still in prison. Garold Rheinschmidt has now served 49 years. He is not alone. There are 6 lifers who have served over 40 years and an additional 37 lifers who have served over 30. There were none in 1980.
When data on lifers is evaluated based on year of admission, the critical year is currently 1979. That is the first year for which there are more lifers still in prison than have been released. The percentage of lifers incarcerated increases until 1989; none of the lifers who entered prison that year have been released.
Curiously, there are some anomalies. Two women came to prison in 1992 and were paroled relatively early. Lashonda Mayhall was released in 2005 after 12.5 years and Mary Leggate. One wonders why these two women were released in such a relatively short period of time while all other lifers spend years, or decades more.
To the lay person, it may seem right that “life means life”; that regardless of what was done in the 1980s and before, murderers belong in prison forever. It may seem that murderers are only now getting their just desserts. Perhaps that is true. Ex-governor Tommy Thompson made being “tough on crime” his mantra and served multiple terms as governor. The prison population was just 3,980 in 1980, grew to 7,362 in 1990 and hit 21,110 in 2005. Thompson made the warehousing of prisoners an established policy and became infamous among prisoners for his 1994 letter where he stated: “The policy of this Administration is to keep violent offenders in prison as long as possible under the law.”
The data reflect this change in attitude as most of the growth in time served to release occurred in the late 1990s and beyond. Dierdra Morgan, chairperson of the parole commission in 2001-02, is the only chairperson with the distinction of having gone an entire calendar year without paroling a single lifer (2002). In 2001, she paroled one lifer. He was housed in maximum security at the time and that generally means he was either paroled to a in prison or was released because he was terminally ill.
Jerry Smith, Ms. Morgan's predecessor, was not much better. He released only 2 lifers in each of the two years he was chairman.
Lenard Wells was Governor Doyle's first chairman. He started out slowly but once he gained confidence he began paroling many lifers. In 2005, he released 18 lifers. But he was forced to resign in 2006 due to the public outcry when he paroled two “cop killers.” The news media never did tell the whole story, prefering sensationalism to fair and accurate reporting. Robert Prihoda and LaVern Rogers were convicted in the 1975 shooting death of an off-duty police officer during a tavern robbery. They were both young men who made poor choices and paid the price of over 30 years in prison. Now approaching middle age, they no longer pose a threat to anyone and were appropriately released on parole. Neither one has been involved in any further criminal activity although they have now been free for years.
But Governor Doyle, ever the weather vane of public opinion, was spooked by the press coverage and replaced Wells with someone he could be sure would never make him look bad in the media again. Political expediency took precedence over fair paroling policies. The outcome of the 2010 gubernatorial election is more important than letting rehabilitated prisoners return to society. After all, nobody wants ta be "Willie Hortoned" in an election.
Governor Doyle's adoption of Thompson's warehousing policy seems very puzzling considering who Doyle's father was. Honorable James E. Doyle, Sr., was a federal judge in the Western District of Wisconsin and was instrumental in bringing Wisconsin's prison system out of the dark ages in the 1960s and 1970s. Gone are the days of bread and water diets, the silent system and a raft of draconian restrictions prison administrators once claimed were necessary to running a prison. It was so-called activist judges like Doyle who brought the cleansing light of judicial scrutiny to a medieval prison system. How ironic that decades later it is his son who is behind the erosion of those principles of justice and fair play upon which Judge Doyle's legacy stands.
One of the basic constitutional protections our founding fathers guaranteed us was the right to be free from ex post facto laws. This includes not being subjected to increased punish-ment for a crime previously committed. It seems only fair that this principle be respected in our country. Still, many oppose such a basic guarantee.
The problem is that when the constitution was written it only proscribed actual changes in laws, not reinterpretation of existing laws. Although the spirit of the ex post facto Clause would prohibit doubling a prisoner's time in prison after the fact,
the devil is in the details. In other words, our judges have chosen to rely on a strict literal interpretation rather than a more equitable analysis based on the intent of the constitution.
Many people listen to the controversy over judicial appointments to the federal bench with a yawn. For most citizens it does not matter who becomes a judge because they will never see the inside of a federal courthouse. But for those on the fringes of society - the prisoners and other social outcasts - federal courts are their only hope for justice. After decades of conservative judicial appointments, few judges remain who are willig to stand up for society's most oppressed people.
Wisconsin's lifers are trapped in a system which exists solely to perpetuate itself. In 1990, Thompson funded a study which called for the prison population to reach 20,000 by 2000. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy. The growing population of lifers has contributed to that growth. Those 255 lifers with more than 20 years served have cost taxpayers millions of dollars over the decades of their captivity. The annual cost to house a prisoner in fiscal year 2005 was $44,118. It is easy for Governor Doyle to blame our $6 billion budget shortfall on a bad economy. Much of it, however, appears to be the direct result of ill-considered corrections policies over the last 25 years.
There are hundreds of lifers still in prison under the old sentencing laws who could be safely released on parole. Jesse Derickson is 85 years old, serving double life for shooting 2 men and trying to make it look like they shot each other. Jesse has spent 26 years in prison and is now a doddering old man, wasting away in a prison cell. Wayne Lowe is 81 years old and has spent 21 years in prison on a life sentence for killing his wife's boyfriend. Wayne weighs about 90 pounds and can best be described as frail. These men have spent decades in prison, are near the end of their lives and no longer pose a threat to anyone. Who would you rather see in a prison cell? One of the many aging, now harmless, lifers or the young gun toting gang member selling crack on a street corner near you? Which one do you have the most to fear from?
The time for vengeance is over. What Wisconsin needs is restorative justice: A system which heals the victim, the community and the offender. Now is the time to restore sanity to the correctional system. The Department of Corrections has numerous programs to help prisoners learn to be good citizens. When prisoners change their thoughts, beliefs and actions, it should be acknowledged and they should be permitted to return to being productive members of society.
Parole decisions should be based on suitability for release rather than the next gubernatorial election. Our elected officials are squandering tens of millions of dollars on misguided corrections policies while children go hungry and schools are
under funded. Isn't it time that Wisconsin's citizens speak out on this issue?
About the author:
Harlan Richartds is serving a life sentence for stabbing another man in a fight. He has served 24 years in prison. In April 2008, after 2 1/2 years at a work release center and 19 months on work release, Alfonso Graham increased the length of Richards’ parole defer which resulted in Richards’ transfer back to a prison for additional years of warehousing. Richards is a self-taught jailhouse lawyer who has litigated prison rights issues extensively during his incarceration. He earned a bachelors degree in business administration from UW Platteville in 1997, graduating summa cum laude. He is currently housed in Oakhill Correctional Institution.
All raw data and calculations may be found at: WisconsinLifers.blogspot.com
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Report wants life without parole abolished
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — A record 140,610 inmates in state and federal prisons are serving life sentences and nearly one-third of those have no possibility of parole, according to a criminal justice research group that supports alternatives to incarceration.
The Sentencing Project, whose reports are regularly cited in academic and government reviews examining criminal justice policy, concluded that the number of inmates sentenced to life without parole has more than tripled to 41,095 since 1992. The report, citing in part the rising cost of incarceration, urges that life without parole be abolished.
The recommendation was met with strong opposition from some law enforcement officials who said life sentences, including life without parole, help drive down violent crime.
Joseph Cassilly, past president of the National District Attorneys Association, acknowledged that long prison terms are a "huge drain on resources."
He said life sentences are appropriate for violent offenders and even some repeat drug dealers.
"Sometimes there is no way of getting through to these (criminals,)" said Cassilly, who did not dispute the report's statistical findings.
In the project's review, titled "No Exit," researchers also found "overwhelming" racial and ethnic disparities for those serving life terms: 66% are non-white and 77% of juveniles sentenced to life in prison are non-white.
"Life sentences imposed on juveniles represent a fundamental and unwise shift from the long-standing tradition that juveniles are less culpable than adults ... and are capable of change," said Ashley Nellis, a co-author of the report.
Among other findings:
• In Alabama, California, Massachusetts, Nevada, and New York at least one in 6 prisoners is serving a life sentence.
• California, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, and Pennsylvania each have more than 3,000 people serving life without parole.
• Pennsylvania leads the nation with 345 juveniles serving life without parole.
• The costs of housing an aging prison population also are rising. States should expect to pay $1 million for each prisoner who spends at least 40 years incarcerated, the report concluded.
Todd Clear, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the cost of maintaining a permanent prison population is daunting. The total price tag to keep today's "lifers" incarcerated for the rest of their lives could cost the nation tens of billions of dollars, he said.
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'LIFER' NUMBERS CLIMB
Number of people sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the U.S.:
1992 12,453
2003 33,633
2008 41,095
The National Criminal Justice Act of 2009 - "undertake a top-to-bottom review of our entire criminal justice system" and to offer recommendations for reform."
Senator Jim Webb of VA has introduced The National Criminal Justice Act of 2009.
Here is a fact sheet on the Bill which according to Senator Webb will be "undertake a top-to-bottom review of our entire criminal justice system" and to offer recommendations for reform."
Here is part of Webb's statement:
The National Criminal Justice Act of 2009 that I introduced in the Senate on March 26, 2009 will create a blue-ribbon commission to look at every aspect of our criminal justice system with an eye toward reshaping the process from top to bottom. I believe that it is time to bring together the best minds in America to confer, report, and make concrete recommendations about how we can reform the process.
Why We Urgently Need this Legislation:
With 5% of the world's population, our country now houses 25% of the world's reported prisoners.
Incarcerated drug offenders have soared 1200% since 1980.
Four times as many mentally ill people are in prisons than in mental health hospitals.
Approximately 1 million gang members reside in the U.S., many of them foreign-based; and Mexican cartels operate in 230+ communities across the country.
Post-incarceration re-entry programs are haphazard and often nonexistent, undermining public safety and making it extremely difficult for ex-offenders to become full, contributing members of society.
America's criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace. Its irregularities and inequities cut against the notion that we are a society founded on fundamental fairness. Our failure to address this problem has caused the nation's prisons to burst their seams with massive overcrowding, even as our neighborhoods have become more dangerous. We are wasting billions of dollars and diminishing millions of lives.
We need to fix the system. Doing so will require a major nationwide recalculation of who goes to prison and for how long and of how we address the long-term consequences of incarceration.
Matlock on a Mission
Our friend Ken Harris is taking it to ‘em. Resistance to the abuse and oppression can take many forms. Some guys refuse to work, some refuse to eat, some stay in the hole, some write to politicians, some write to the press, and some learn the law and use the “tools of the Master” against the master. Our friend Matlock has done the latter, with vigor.
He recently settled his case, similar to Johnson v. Raemisch regarding the violation of his First Amendment rights in the denial of our newsletter.
He also won his Federal civil suit against the guards who abused him. That civil suit arose from the original John Doe filed by Harris in 2005. As we reported, Columbia County DA Bauer (now Judge Bauer) refused to prosecute the two guards and then Sauk Co. DA Barrett refused to interview Harris or his witnesses and asked to be removed from the case.
This case also created quite a stir when the DOC retaliated against a nurse who verified Harris’ claim of abuse.
In June, Judge George closed the case, falsely claiming that the prosecutors determined the case “lacked prosecutorial merit”. This, after 4 years of “investigation” where none of Harris’ witnesses were interviewed.
Harris has filed a Writ of Mandamus in the Court of Appeals forcing the Judge George to subpoena witnesses and documents that will prove the abuse.
The DOC, DAs, and courts want to keep their record intact - no prisoner will ever win a John Doe complaint on the 940.29 statute “Abuse of residents of a penal institution.” Who knows what pressure was applied on Judge George.
If you recall, Harris filed an ICRS against KMCI Deputy Warden Beck for foul-mouthing a group of prisoners. This resulted in Conduct Reports and other retaliation against Harris. He was removed from his program and transferred to a max.
He’s about ready to file suit in Federal Court on a claim of retaliation. You can bet he’ll prove his case. He’s a pit bull and he’s got a good chunk of their ass in his jaws.
He’s suffered a lot of abuse for standing up and fighting, but he’s satisfied and happy that he has done what he can to fight the abusive system. Fight on!
Stanley prison sucks up more state money
Published: August 14, 2009
Paul Snyder
The chorus of anger and resignation gets louder every time the state has to shell out more money for the Stanley Correctional Institution.
“It’s a white elephant,” said David Helbach, administrator for the Wisconsin Department of Administration’s Division of State Facilities and secretary to the state Building Commission. “It was a bad deal, and it never should have happened.”
But it happened and has cost taxpayers ever since.
Construction of the 43-acre prison began in 1998 as a joint venture between the city of Stanley and Dominion Venture Group, Edmond, Okla. The prison was built to state specifications with the understanding the state would buy the prison upon completion.
Helbach, who joined DOA two years ago, said the state negotiated an $82 million deal to buy the prison. But, he said, it was a curious deal considering the state was in the midst of a prison construction boom in the late 1990s.
“We bought it for about 30 percent more than we could have built it for,” Helbach said. “And we could have done it better.”
Since paying the $82 million and opening the prison in 2000, Wisconsin has dumped almost $20 million into upgrades and repairs, Helbach said.
That trend extended Wednesday when state Building Commission members unanimously approved a $313,250 boost to a security upgrade project, increasing the total cost of the security project to $1.4 million.
The project will add new door-locking and monitoring systems and fix defects in the buildings’ security systems, said John Dipko, spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.
“We’re so far into the hole, we can’t get out,” Risser said.
State Rep. Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah, agreed, saying Wisconsin is stuck with the building.
“I don’t know if we can throw up our hands and say, ‘Forget it, we’ll build something new,’” he said. “I don’t know where the tipping point is, and I don’t think we can throw in the towel.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Link to Warren Lilly's Forced Feeding Video
Isthmus article of June 18, 2009
Here are the snippets of the forced feeding of Warren Lilly, taken from Isthmus:
Here are the snippets of the forced feeding of Warren Lilly, taken from Isthmus:
Lilly- "Idiot's Club" from The Daily Page on Vimeo.
Lilly- talk with "Seaweed" from The Daily Page on Vimeo.
Lilly - 2/28/09 breakfast "stop this" from The Daily Page on Vimeo.
Lilly - 2/28/09 Breakfast "Oscar Mayer" from The Daily Page on Vimeo.
Lilly - "Lavern and Shirley reruns" from The Daily Page on Vimeo.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
March 2009 Newsletter
Friends,
Prisons are in the news! There’s a lot of press and a lot of discussion, and not just the usual nonsense stories like the State Journal ran about “Anything Can Be A Weapon, In Prison”, and “State Plans Hospice Beds in Every Prison”. We emailed the author of those two pieces... see page 4.
The truth about the decaying, overcrowded, ineffective and, costly prison system are big news. Most of you have been reading the papers and watching on TV, so we won’t repeat what everyone already heard. But for a quick synopsis...
In early January, Mead & Hunt came with a study that recommended the DOC spend 1.2 billion to build and upgrade the system.
Then, news of yet another study by the Justice Reinvestment Strategies that will, when it’s finished, tell us what we already know. THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN!!!
Then, Governor Doyle announced his budget including some provisions for releasing non-violent offenders.
Then, the PEW Institute came with a study indicating that one in every thirty-one citizens of Wisconsin is under the heel of the State.
So now, due to monetary constraints, the Governor sounds like a progressive on prison policy. Rick Raemisch sounds like a born-again reformer and even the prison guards’ union has endorsed the early release scheme. It’s scary to be on the same side of an issue with those criminals.
Your editor joined a delegation of PAW members on a lobbying day in Madison. We met with Senators, Representatives and members of Governor Doyle’s staff. Our primary focus was objecting to the reappointment of Alfonso Graham and we used the Governor’s budget proposal and the new studies to assert our view that keeping men locked up, doing dead time, is a stupid waste of money and lives. We didn’t say it like that, but they got the message.
We made sure the Governor’s staff understood that we are opposed to the idea of Al Graham as head of the new proposed commission that will review all prisoners for early release. We see a golden opportunity to say good bye to the Fonz when a new commission is organized, melding the Parole Commission and an Early Release program for TIS prisoners.
One important facet of this coming struggle, and one that every politico mentioned is that they need political cover, meaning that they need people to be loud and vocal in their support of the Governor’s proposals. They will be getting
flack from the right-wing, including politicians, the press, the cops, and DAs. Those of us who agree with the Governor’s proposal must be loud and clear in support.
PAW will be attending some of the Joint Finance Committee hearings being held around the state, with signs, press interviews, press conferences, and testimony to the Committee members. We urge all concerned citizens to write to your representative and to the Joint Finance Committee to let them know you support Governor Doyle’s proposal to release non-violent offenders. Contact info on page 5.
The reasons for the proposed changes are budgetary shortfalls. Fear mongering politicians and “successful” DAs have driven the budget over a cliff. They’ve built their careers on the backs of the poor and minorities and this ugly truth must be exposed at every opportunity.
Since this “change of heart” is not based on moral or ethical grounds it is not likely that we are witnessing a turn towards a more progressive criminal (in)justice policy or a more rehabilitative prison policy. What we are likely to see is further “cost cutting” which could mean anything to the DOC. One thing for sure, we won’t see a reduction in the overuse of segregation cells, or an improvement in the conditions of confinement, or a functioning ICRS, or improved health care, or job training, or education, or rehab.
So, we support the proposed changes but we must not become complacent and eager to join the reformers. We must remain vigilant and aggressive in our pursuit of HUMANITY for prisoners and ultimately abolishing the Prison Industrial Complex.
At NLCI a prisoner was yelled at because he had forgotten to take his hat off inside the main building. He turned to the guard and said, “I’m human, I forgot”. The guard responded, “you’re not human, you’re an inmate”. Debasement is the first necessary step towards abuse and worse. If you’re not human, they can do anything to you.
The guards are revving up the John Doe “reform” again. Both the Senate and Assembly had hearings on this Bill. I wonder why we even care about this because the DA’s will never prosecute “one of their own”. Look, Ken Harris has been trying to get his case investigated for 3 years now. He has a nurse witness (who the DOC retaliated against). He just won $75,000 in civil court on the same abuse but can’t even get a DA to listen to his story. DA Steve Bauer (now Judge Bauer) refused to investigate. Sauk Co. DA Barrett refused to investigate. When you’re an inmate, you’re not human and when you’re abused, you probably deserved it. That’s why WPW is out here!
in solidarity, WPW
page 1,
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Lawsuit Calls Prison Meds Program 'disaster Waiting'
Wisconsin State Journal
Saturday, January 24, 2009
By CARRIE ANTLFINGER Associated Press
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion in federal court Friday asking that Wisconsin's largest women's prison reform the way it administers medication, calling the current system a "disaster waiting to happen."
The ACLU and the law firm Jenner & Block claim prisoners at Taycheedah Correctional Institution near Fond du Lac are forced to wait weeks for medicine, and when their medications arrive, they are often the wrong types or doses. The prison houses 700 maximum and medium security prisoners.
"The medication system at Taycheedah is a disaster waiting to happen," Gabriel Eber, staff attorney with the ACLU National Prison Project, said in a statement. "For some medications, there is not even a system of checking for dangerous interactions between drugs before a prisoner starts taking a new prescription."
John Dipko, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, issued a statement saying progress has been made in improving health care for Taycheedah inmates, "and this commitment to improved health care will continue into the future."
No hearing has been scheduled yet on the motion for preliminary injunction, but Eber said in an interview that if the judge rules in the favor of the ACLU, the prison would have to institute the changes within 60 days.
The motion was filed in U.S. District Court as part of a 2006 class-action lawsuit on behalf of all Taycheedah prisoners. The lawsuit claims the prison's medical, mental and dental care is grossly deficient and has caused its female prisoners great physical and mental suffering.
The motion asks state officials to ensure that medical prescriptions are filled quickly and accurately and administered by nurses.
Currently, correctional officers with no medical training administer medications, according to the motion. Taycheedah is one of the few state prisons in the nation that does not require nurses or trained medical personnel to administer medications.
Leaving a Paper Trail
by Debi Christie, TCI
Everyone knows that the Department of Corrections hires the corrupt and the lazy but the staff hired for the female prisons are unbelievably corrupt. I am one of those people who believe in leaving a paper trail through the Inmate Complaint System and have even had some of those complaints “affirmed”.
My most recent complaints deal with getting my property sent from the John Burke Center. Many personal items and legal paperwork were not returned to me after my move back to TCI. Just because a DOC flunky doesn’t want me to have these items, I supposed to accept this warped thinking.
After filing many complaints with the ICRS I was FINALLY granted the right to have my legal paperwork but now TCI property officers have deemed these items “contraband” because they didn’t like the ICRS decision. They even forged a money disbursement to send these items out of the institution!
This is typical of TCI staff, so now I’ve filed a Notice of Claim with the Attorney General against these corrupt state employees. I will also ask for a John Doe investigation into the theft of my property.
I want everyone who is subjected to this sort of corruption and incom-petence to remember that an administrative decision is NOT FINAL. Take your grievance to court and make their corruption known to the public.
Some times it just feels good to know we have done all we can to hold these people accountable. That is why it is so important to exhaust our administrative remedies and follow up through the court system.
Silence, they say, is the voice of complicity. But silence is impossible. Silence screams. Silence is a message, just as doing nothing is an act. Let who you are ring out & resonate in every word & every deed. Yes, become who you are. There's no sidestepping your own being or your own responsibility. What you do is who you are. You are your own comeuppance. You become your own message. You are the message. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse : Leonard Peltier
March 9, 2009
Members of the Judiciary Committee,
I write in opposition to the proposed John Doe reforms.
There have been a lot of hysterical cries from the prison guards’ union who claim John Doe filings are used to persecute guards.
The truth of the matter is, there are some abusive guards in the DOC system and the internal mechanisms are unable to control them. 95% of all complaints filed by prisoners against guards are dismissed by the Inmate Complaint Examiners, and many prisoners do not complain for fear of retaliation.
The system is either not willing or unable to clean its own house. John Doe complaints allow prisoners to get beyond the nepotism and cronyism of the internal complaint system and find some semblance of justice.
District Attorneys are not keen on prosecuting guards accused of abusing prisoners either. They are “team players” and see themselves as part of the team along with police and prison guards upholding the law. They are not unbiased in their prosecutorial discretion. To allow them to filter reports of abuse will only increase the frustration and resignation building in the prisons.
The real and lasting way to stop (or slow) John Doe filings is to reform the Inmate Complaint Review System. Thwarting prisoners’ access to the courts is a regressive way of dealing with the symptom of a disease while allowing the cause to continue growing.
Respectfully submitted,
Frank Van den Bosch
Wisconsin Prison Watch
P.O. Box 292
Boscobel, WI 53805
Prisons are in the news! There’s a lot of press and a lot of discussion, and not just the usual nonsense stories like the State Journal ran about “Anything Can Be A Weapon, In Prison”, and “State Plans Hospice Beds in Every Prison”. We emailed the author of those two pieces... see page 4.
The truth about the decaying, overcrowded, ineffective and, costly prison system are big news. Most of you have been reading the papers and watching on TV, so we won’t repeat what everyone already heard. But for a quick synopsis...
In early January, Mead & Hunt came with a study that recommended the DOC spend 1.2 billion to build and upgrade the system.
Then, news of yet another study by the Justice Reinvestment Strategies that will, when it’s finished, tell us what we already know. THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN!!!
Then, Governor Doyle announced his budget including some provisions for releasing non-violent offenders.
Then, the PEW Institute came with a study indicating that one in every thirty-one citizens of Wisconsin is under the heel of the State.
So now, due to monetary constraints, the Governor sounds like a progressive on prison policy. Rick Raemisch sounds like a born-again reformer and even the prison guards’ union has endorsed the early release scheme. It’s scary to be on the same side of an issue with those criminals.
Your editor joined a delegation of PAW members on a lobbying day in Madison. We met with Senators, Representatives and members of Governor Doyle’s staff. Our primary focus was objecting to the reappointment of Alfonso Graham and we used the Governor’s budget proposal and the new studies to assert our view that keeping men locked up, doing dead time, is a stupid waste of money and lives. We didn’t say it like that, but they got the message.
We made sure the Governor’s staff understood that we are opposed to the idea of Al Graham as head of the new proposed commission that will review all prisoners for early release. We see a golden opportunity to say good bye to the Fonz when a new commission is organized, melding the Parole Commission and an Early Release program for TIS prisoners.
One important facet of this coming struggle, and one that every politico mentioned is that they need political cover, meaning that they need people to be loud and vocal in their support of the Governor’s proposals. They will be getting
flack from the right-wing, including politicians, the press, the cops, and DAs. Those of us who agree with the Governor’s proposal must be loud and clear in support.
PAW will be attending some of the Joint Finance Committee hearings being held around the state, with signs, press interviews, press conferences, and testimony to the Committee members. We urge all concerned citizens to write to your representative and to the Joint Finance Committee to let them know you support Governor Doyle’s proposal to release non-violent offenders. Contact info on page 5.
The reasons for the proposed changes are budgetary shortfalls. Fear mongering politicians and “successful” DAs have driven the budget over a cliff. They’ve built their careers on the backs of the poor and minorities and this ugly truth must be exposed at every opportunity.
Since this “change of heart” is not based on moral or ethical grounds it is not likely that we are witnessing a turn towards a more progressive criminal (in)justice policy or a more rehabilitative prison policy. What we are likely to see is further “cost cutting” which could mean anything to the DOC. One thing for sure, we won’t see a reduction in the overuse of segregation cells, or an improvement in the conditions of confinement, or a functioning ICRS, or improved health care, or job training, or education, or rehab.
So, we support the proposed changes but we must not become complacent and eager to join the reformers. We must remain vigilant and aggressive in our pursuit of HUMANITY for prisoners and ultimately abolishing the Prison Industrial Complex.
At NLCI a prisoner was yelled at because he had forgotten to take his hat off inside the main building. He turned to the guard and said, “I’m human, I forgot”. The guard responded, “you’re not human, you’re an inmate”. Debasement is the first necessary step towards abuse and worse. If you’re not human, they can do anything to you.
The guards are revving up the John Doe “reform” again. Both the Senate and Assembly had hearings on this Bill. I wonder why we even care about this because the DA’s will never prosecute “one of their own”. Look, Ken Harris has been trying to get his case investigated for 3 years now. He has a nurse witness (who the DOC retaliated against). He just won $75,000 in civil court on the same abuse but can’t even get a DA to listen to his story. DA Steve Bauer (now Judge Bauer) refused to investigate. Sauk Co. DA Barrett refused to investigate. When you’re an inmate, you’re not human and when you’re abused, you probably deserved it. That’s why WPW is out here!
in solidarity, WPW
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Lawsuit Calls Prison Meds Program 'disaster Waiting'
Wisconsin State Journal
Saturday, January 24, 2009
By CARRIE ANTLFINGER Associated Press
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion in federal court Friday asking that Wisconsin's largest women's prison reform the way it administers medication, calling the current system a "disaster waiting to happen."
The ACLU and the law firm Jenner & Block claim prisoners at Taycheedah Correctional Institution near Fond du Lac are forced to wait weeks for medicine, and when their medications arrive, they are often the wrong types or doses. The prison houses 700 maximum and medium security prisoners.
"The medication system at Taycheedah is a disaster waiting to happen," Gabriel Eber, staff attorney with the ACLU National Prison Project, said in a statement. "For some medications, there is not even a system of checking for dangerous interactions between drugs before a prisoner starts taking a new prescription."
John Dipko, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, issued a statement saying progress has been made in improving health care for Taycheedah inmates, "and this commitment to improved health care will continue into the future."
No hearing has been scheduled yet on the motion for preliminary injunction, but Eber said in an interview that if the judge rules in the favor of the ACLU, the prison would have to institute the changes within 60 days.
The motion was filed in U.S. District Court as part of a 2006 class-action lawsuit on behalf of all Taycheedah prisoners. The lawsuit claims the prison's medical, mental and dental care is grossly deficient and has caused its female prisoners great physical and mental suffering.
The motion asks state officials to ensure that medical prescriptions are filled quickly and accurately and administered by nurses.
Currently, correctional officers with no medical training administer medications, according to the motion. Taycheedah is one of the few state prisons in the nation that does not require nurses or trained medical personnel to administer medications.
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Leaving a Paper Trail
by Debi Christie, TCI
Everyone knows that the Department of Corrections hires the corrupt and the lazy but the staff hired for the female prisons are unbelievably corrupt. I am one of those people who believe in leaving a paper trail through the Inmate Complaint System and have even had some of those complaints “affirmed”.
My most recent complaints deal with getting my property sent from the John Burke Center. Many personal items and legal paperwork were not returned to me after my move back to TCI. Just because a DOC flunky doesn’t want me to have these items, I supposed to accept this warped thinking.
After filing many complaints with the ICRS I was FINALLY granted the right to have my legal paperwork but now TCI property officers have deemed these items “contraband” because they didn’t like the ICRS decision. They even forged a money disbursement to send these items out of the institution!
This is typical of TCI staff, so now I’ve filed a Notice of Claim with the Attorney General against these corrupt state employees. I will also ask for a John Doe investigation into the theft of my property.
I want everyone who is subjected to this sort of corruption and incom-petence to remember that an administrative decision is NOT FINAL. Take your grievance to court and make their corruption known to the public.
Some times it just feels good to know we have done all we can to hold these people accountable. That is why it is so important to exhaust our administrative remedies and follow up through the court system.
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Silence, they say, is the voice of complicity. But silence is impossible. Silence screams. Silence is a message, just as doing nothing is an act. Let who you are ring out & resonate in every word & every deed. Yes, become who you are. There's no sidestepping your own being or your own responsibility. What you do is who you are. You are your own comeuppance. You become your own message. You are the message. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse : Leonard Peltier
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Letter to Judiciary Committee re John Doe ReformMarch 9, 2009
Members of the Judiciary Committee,
I write in opposition to the proposed John Doe reforms.
There have been a lot of hysterical cries from the prison guards’ union who claim John Doe filings are used to persecute guards.
The truth of the matter is, there are some abusive guards in the DOC system and the internal mechanisms are unable to control them. 95% of all complaints filed by prisoners against guards are dismissed by the Inmate Complaint Examiners, and many prisoners do not complain for fear of retaliation.
The system is either not willing or unable to clean its own house. John Doe complaints allow prisoners to get beyond the nepotism and cronyism of the internal complaint system and find some semblance of justice.
District Attorneys are not keen on prosecuting guards accused of abusing prisoners either. They are “team players” and see themselves as part of the team along with police and prison guards upholding the law. They are not unbiased in their prosecutorial discretion. To allow them to filter reports of abuse will only increase the frustration and resignation building in the prisons.
The real and lasting way to stop (or slow) John Doe filings is to reform the Inmate Complaint Review System. Thwarting prisoners’ access to the courts is a regressive way of dealing with the symptom of a disease while allowing the cause to continue growing.
Respectfully submitted,
Frank Van den Bosch
Wisconsin Prison Watch
P.O. Box 292
Boscobel, WI 53805
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"When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to suscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe; he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime."~Thomas Paine "The Age of Reason"
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Court of Appeals Rules Against Pigs That Don’t Fly Straight
by: Mustafa-El K.A. Ajala
Madison, WI - On December 30, 2008, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals issued its ruling in the case of State v. Raynard R. Jackson, 2008 Wisc. App Lexis 1042. The Court ruled that Jackson, as others before him, should have been allowed to present, at his trial, evidence of corruption and abuse by the arresting officers in his case, one of which was convicted for his criminal acts in Federal Court - although, only misdemeanors.
Ala W Awadallah, convicted in U.S. v Awadallah, 05-M-408 (E.D. Wis.), was one of a ring of corrupt District 3 and District 5 Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) pigs that didn’t fly straight. They specifically targeted young brothas and sistahs of Alkebulan (Afrikan) descent. Their criminal acts included planting drugs and guns on “suspects”, robbing them of their possessions, extorting them for weapons, and engaging in serious physical assaults. In Jackson’s case, the drop gun planted on him was a .40 Glock that had no prints of Jackson on it, was not reported stolen, was identical to the police issued guns, and was placed in inventory by Awadallah - no surprise.
Other pigs associated with the corruption, though not charged criminally were, Paul Lough, Thomas Dineen, Virgil Cotton, Jason Mucha, and Kathleen Huber, as well as officers by the name of Harris, Dodd, and Westergard. If any of them were involved in your case you may want to review Jackson’s decision, along with State v Missiouri, 714 MW. 2d 595 (Wis.App.2006) - the corruption case that preceded Jackson’s and led to a favorable ruling.
Jackson’s appellate counsel was James R. Lucius during the time when the MPDs pattern of corruption became public, although Lucius failed to cite Missouri or bring any of this up on appeal. Lucius’s license has since been suspended in Disclipinary Proceedings against James R. Lucius, 2008 WI 12.
No MPD pig was ever charged with any serious felony, such as extortion, possession of drugs, illegal weapons possession, robbery, intimidating witnesses, etc., etc. However, the untold story here is that of Earl Cosey and Michelle Mac Donald, a Milwaukee couple who had the sense and nerve to record Awadallah’s attempt to shake them down for a “chopper” or 2 pistols in exchange for the return of $200 and an eightball of cocaine. If obtained, that “chopper” and/or the pistols would, no doubt, have been planted on other unsuspecting targets and, to be sure, there are lousy creeps in the system right now who have done and continue to do the same thing - working deals with corrupt pigs and other members of the judicial mob (State’s attorneys or their own attorney) in exchange for lenient plea deals.
There’s a moral to this story... A pig, as opposed to a police officer has no morals. When you step comrades, be prepared to battle them, legitimately, ie. with your own surveillance apparatus - home camcorders and security cameras (indoors and out), built in cameras on the ride (and in the trunk), hidden mics, cell phone cameras and recorders. You’re bound to encounter one of these pigs, on the take, or worse. Exercise your 5 Ps (Proper Protection in Preparation for Pigs on the Prowl) and you just might preserve your freedom, possibly your life, the life and or freedom of others, and likely get paid in the process, Insha’ Allah.
In the trenches,
your Bro. Mu-El
Mustafa-El K.A. Ajala
(FKA Dennis E. Jones-El)
P.O. Box 9900 - WSPF
Boscobel, WI 53805
Doyle’s Budget Proposal
Budget in Brief 2009
http://www.doa.state.wi.us/debf/pdf_files/bib.pdf
Ensure wise allocation of taxpayer resources and the highest levels of public safety through better use of data, new measures to reduce recidivism and streamlined sentence review processes:
* Transfer to the Division of Hearing and Appeals the authority to determine the length of reconfinement for revocation from extended supervision, not to exceed the time remaining on the bifurcated sentence.
* Allow the secretary of the Department of Corrections to release to extended supervision persons serving the confinement portion of a bifurcated sentence who are within 12 months of release to extended supervision and meet certain eligibility criteria.
* Transfer from the sentencing court to the secretary of the Department of Corrections the authority to review petitions and release terminally ill inmates to extended supervision so long as the public safety is maintained.
* Rename the Parole Commission as the Earned Release Review Commission and expand its duties to include sentence adjustment for Class C to I felonies for both the confinement and extended supervision portions of a sentence.
* Expand the Earned Release Program and the Challenge Incarceration Program to include inmates with programming needs other than substance abuse, to allow the inmates deemed eligible at sentencing to earn early release by fulfilling certain requirements while in prison.
* Eliminate community supervision of certain low-risk misdemeanor probationers, as determined by the offense and a risk assessment performed by the Department of Corrections.
* Provide $6.5 million and 18.00 FTE positions to improve offender reentry into the community by providing tools for offender risk assessment, to better manage purchase of services dollars, research and measure programs, and maintain dual-diagnosis rehabilitation programming.
* Expand eligibility for record expungement to include individuals up to 25 years of age, and to include nonviolent Class H to I felonies, allowing more young people to learn from their mistakes and start a new life with a clean slate.
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Greek Prisoner Hunger Strike Ends
By James Jameson
Political prisoner or not, inmates are widely known to be some of the most horribly treated and forgotten people, abused as though they are not human. In a nationwide act of solidarity, more than 7,000 prisoners throughout Greece went on hunger strike on November 3, to finally fight back for their own rights. A dedicated 19 prisoners went so far as to sew their own mouths shut. The move to boycott food ended after 18 days when the inmates won their protest as the Ministry of Justice conceded to a series of requests. This is a notable for prisoners all over the world. There is hope that more inmates will take cue and demand humane treatment for themselves, and it’s important that those of us in radical, active movements who aren’t in prison do what we can to assist in this cause.
The hunger strike was enacted to highlight a 45-point list of demands. Involving 21 prisons across Greece, inmates protested unreasonable living conditions, such as poor access to basic hygiene and sanitation, a reduction of exacerbated sentences, improper medical care and severe overcrowding. Greece has the most over-crowded prisons in Europe, with nearly 11,000 inmates sardined into jails designed to hold slightly more than 7,000 people. Many of these prisoners are drug addicts and offenders with no opportunity for rehabilitation services. Detainees wait an average of 12 months in pre-trial detention before they are able to have their cases heard.
During the hunger strike, many solidarity actions were carried out by anarchists, humanitarians and other sympathizers. Greek embassies in many countries were targeted, as several mass protest marches added to the solidarity movement.
In response to the prisoners’ demands, the Ministry agreed to the following:
1) All persons convicted to a sentence of up to five years for any offense, including drug related crimes, can transform their sentence into a monetary penalty. This will not be allowed in the case that the jury decides that the payment is not enough to deter the convict from committing punishable acts in the future.
2) The minimum sum for transforming one day of prison sentence to monetary penalty is reduced from around $13 to around $4, with the provision of being reduced to around $1.50 by decision of the jury.
3) All people who have served one-fifth of their prison sentence for two-year sentences and one-third for sentences longer than two years are to be released, with no exceptions.
4) The minimum limit of served sentence is reduced to three-fifths for conditional release and for convicts of drug related crimes. Those condemned under conditions of certain laws are exempted.
5) The maximum limit of pre-trial imprisonment is reduced from 18 to 12 months, with the exception of crimes punished by life or 20-year sentences.
6) The annual tome of days-off prison is increased by one day.
7) Disciplinary penalties are to be integrated.
8) Integration after four years into national law of European council decision of drug trafficking.
9) Expansion of implementation of conditional release of convicts suffering from AIDS, kidney failure, persistent Tuberculosis and tetraplegics.
“The amendment submitted to the Parliament by the Ministry of Justice tackles but a few of our demands,” said the Prisoner’s Committee in a press release. “The minister ought to materialize his promises for the immediate release of the suggested number of prisoners announced, and, at the same time, implement concrete measures regarding the totality of the demands. We, the prisoners, treat this amendment as the first step, a result of our struggle and of the solidarity shown by society. Yet, it fails to cover us, it fails to solve our problems. With our struggle, we have first-of-all fought for our dignity—and this dignity we can not offer as a present to no minister, to no screw. We shall tolerate no arbitrary facts, no vengeful relocation, no terrorizing disciplinary act. We are standing, and we shall remain standing.
“We demand from the parliament to move towards a complete abolition of the limit of four-fifths of served sentence, the abolition for accumulated time for disciplinary penalties, the expansion of beneficial arrangements regarding days-off, and conditional releases for all categories of prisoners,” continued the Prisoner’s Committee.
“Moreover, we demand the immediate legislation on the presently vague promises of the minister of justice regarding the improvement of prison conditions (abolition of juvenile prisons, foundation of therapeutic centers for drug dependants, implementation of social labor in exchange for prison sentences, upgrading of hospital care of prisoners, incorporation of European legislation favorable to the prisoners in Greek law, etc.).
“Finally, we offer our thanks to the solidarity movement, to every component, party, medium and militant who stood by us with all and any means of his or her choice, and we want to declare that our struggle against these human refuse dumps and for the victory of all of our demands continues.”
As these prisoners have demonstrated, when people pull together, the authorities must listen. All we can do now is wait for proof that the ministry will keep it’s end of the bargain. One has to wonder about all of the things that could be accomplished if enough of us made ourselves heard as loud and clear as these prisoners have done.
ATTENTION CONS
In November of ‘08, myself and Shaun Matz were appointed counsel by Judge Crocker in our lawsuit against WCI. (Schumacher v Frank et al. 08-CV-228 and Matz v. Frank et al. 08-CV-491). Both cases deal with the conditions of confinement in segregation & we are looking for anyone who has been in segregation here to write up affidavits. We want to know what your experience was like; what you went through. We want to know how you were treated, cell extractions you went through, observation placements, suicide/self harm attempts, how clinical services treated you, recreation, temperature in the cells, lights, property, etc.
Were also looking for affidavits from anyone on AC at GBCI, CCI, WSPF showing how these segregation units are run.
You can send the affidavits to myself or Shaun through legal route. Matthew Schumacher #369487 or Shaun Matz #264654 at WCI. We will get this info to our attorneys. We are on the brink of getting this place changed and would appreciate your support.
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Committee on Judiciary, Corrections, Insurance, Campaign Finance Reform, and Housing (Senate)
Senator Lena Taylor (Chair) D
Room 415 South
State Capitol
P.O. Box 7882
Madison, WI 53707-7882
(608) 266-5810
District Telephone
(414) 342-7176
Jim Sullivan (Vice Chair) D
Room 15 South
State Capitol
P.O. Box 7882
Madison, WI 53707
(608) 266-2512 Or (866) 817-6061
Jon Erpenbach D
Room 8 South
State Capitol
P.O. Box 7882
Madison, WI 53707-7882
(608) 266-6670 Or (888) 549-0027
Glenn Grothman R
Room 20 South
State Capitol
P.O. Box 7882
Madison, WI 53707-7882
(608) 266-7513 Or (800) 662-1227
Randy Hopper R
Room 108 South
State Capitol
P.O. Box 7882
Madison, WI 53707-7882
(608) 266-5300
Committee on Corrections and the Courts (Assembly)
Representative Joe Parisi (Chair) D
Room 126 North
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8953
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-5342
Chuck Benedict (Vice Chair) D
Room 306 West
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-9967
Donna Siedel D
Room 218 North
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8953
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-0654 Or
(888) 534-0085
Frederick Kessler D
Room 302 North
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-5813
Sondy Pope-Roberts D
Room 209 North
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8953
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-3520 Or (888) 534-0079
Ted Zigmunt D
Room 420 North
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-9870
Sandy Pasch D
Room 122 North
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8953
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-7671 Or (888) 534-0022
Karl Van Roy R
Room 123 West
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8953
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-0616 Or (888) 534-0090
Mark Gundrum
Room 119 West
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 267-5158 Or (888) 534-0084
Steve Kestell R
Room 15 West
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-8530 Or (888) 529-0027
Daniel LaMahieu R
Room 17 North
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-9175 Or (888) 534-0059
Edwards Brooks
Room 20 North
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-8531 Or (877) 947-0050
Joint Committee on Finance (budget)
Senate Members
Senator Mark Miller, Co-Chair D
Senator Dave Hansen D
Senator Lena Taylor D
Senator John Lehman D
Senator Judy Robson D
Senator Julie Lassa D
Senator Alberta Darling R
Senator Luther Olsen R
Assembly Members
Representative Mark Pocan, Co-Chair D
Representative Pedro Colón D
Representative Cory Mason D
Representative Jennifer Shilling D
Representative Gary Sherman D
Representative Tamara Grigsby D
Representative Robin Vos R
Representative Phil Montgomery R
Committee Clerk:
Charlene Vrieze
Room 305 East, State Capitol
Madison, WI 53702
(608) 264-8314
Office of the Governor, Jim Doyle
Madison Office
P.O. Box 7863
Madison, WI 53707
608-266-1212
Northern Office
400 4th Avenue South
Park Falls, WI 54552
715-762-5900
Milwaukee Office
Room 560
819 North 6th St.
Milwaukee, WI 53203
414-227-4344
NOTE:
As you will notice, the Democrats outweigh the Republicans in every committee and are the Chair of every committee. You can write to the Republicans if you feel like getting something off your chest, but don’t expect a response or to change their minds.
When writing any of these officials, try to be respectful and polite... even if you’re mad as Hell.
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We are here in support Governor Doyle’s budget provision calling for an Early Earned Release program for non-violent offenders sentenced under Truth in Sentencing. This provision is smart on crime, not “tough on crime”. Tough on crime has clogged our judicial system and overfilled our prisons. Governor Doyle’s provision addresses one of those problems in a safe, sane and just manner. We are at a turning point - either we follow the proposals outlined in the Hunt & Mead survey and spend 1.2 billion on upgrading and building new prisons as the study suggests or we reduce the pressure on the facilities and staff by releasing nonviolent offenders.
Following are some of the reasons we support the Governor’s proposal:
1. Prisons are overcrowded. They are at 120% occupancy. The facilities and rehabilitative programs are inadequate to handle this amount of prisoners. This overcrowding creates unsafe conditions for both guards and prisoners.
2. The cost of housing 22,000+ prisoners in Wisconsin is nearly $30,000 per year per prisoner. Taxpayers cannot afford to sustain these costs any longer. This money could be more effectively spent in the communities for rehabilitation and job training.
3. The majority of prisoners are incarcerated for crimes committed because of drug and/or alcohol problems. The “Treatment Instead of Prisons” legislation which has been passed will save millions of dollars. It is, in fact, what is being done in Minnesota and they have less than half the number of prisoners as Wisconsin. Minnesota has the same demographics as Wisconsin in crime rates and population.
4. The human costs must also be taken into consideration. The families of the inmates are suffering. Children need fathers and mothers for stability. Keeping offenders in their community will help stabilize the families and prevent another generation of prison expansion.
5. Under the Earned Early Release program there will be extended supervision which is a good corrections policy to help ex-offenders become productive members of society through rehabilitation and treatment programs. It will encourage better behavior and make the streets safer.
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Economic crisis propels prison system changes
Shelley Nelson Superior Telegram
Published Tuesday, March 03, 2009
With the cost of housing just one of the state’s 23,000 prison inmates at $29,000 per year, Wisconsin is looking for ways to get smart on crime.
Department of Corrections Secretary Rick Raemisch was in Superior on Monday to meet with local law enforcement to highlight some of the changes proposed as the state faces a $5.7 billion budget shortfall. Among the changes is a new evaluation system that could keep low-risk, nonviolent offenders out of state prisons and low-risk offenders who’ve committed misdemeanor crimes off the state’s probation system.
Superior Police Capt. Chad La Lor said Monday’s session was the first he heard of dropping supervision for misdemeanor offenders. He said even if offenders aren’t actively supervised, probation provides a mechanism to bring an offender in quicker when they reoffend. “You get in this cycle ‘it’s a minor crime,’ but when there are true victims, there are no minor crimes,” La Lor said.
The budget for corrections is about $1.2 billion, a cost that could double in the next 10 years if the state doesn’t develop new strategies, Raemisch said.
“There always will be a need for prisons to house violent criminals who pose a threat to public safety, but … we need to invest in strategies beyond prison expansion to curtail corrections spending and reduce recidivism,” Raemisch said.
The budget proposed by Gov. Jim Doyle for the next two years would start the state on that path.
The goal of the new strategy is to protect public safety by keeping violent offenders in prison, but providing opportunities for nonviolent offenders to complete treatment so they can succeed and become productive citizens when they return to their communities, Raemisch said. Under the proposed changes, offenders would be evaluated to determine the level of risk they pose to the community and provide services to help low-risk offenders.
The state would expand services in the Earned Release Program to provide services needed for successful reintegration in the community. Currently, drug and alcohol treatment are provided, but an offender may need education and job skills, Raemisch said. He said the goal is to provide what the offender needs. “This whole do-the-crime, do-the-time strategy is taxing people out of their homes and probably closing schools as we build prisons,” said District Attorney Dan Blank.
Currently, 1 in 39 Wisconsin adults are under some form of control of the state’s corrections department, whether probation, extended supervision, local jails or prison, according to a study released Monday by the Pew Center, an independent nonprofit that uses analysis to improve public policy.
While 1 in 26 Minnesota adults are under some form of corrections control, the state’s prison population is only about 9,000, Raemisch said, suggesting there could be a better way to deal crime.
“If we reduce our population more, that just means less cost for criminal justice system, less crime, less victims, and the savings just goes on and on,” Raemisch said. “We’re talking about changing people’s lives and working in a positive nature, and that’s just going to help the state.” Of the 23,000 people currently in the state prison system, 3,000 automatically would be evaluated for risk when the law passes, he said. “That doesn’t mean they’ll get out of prison right away. It will take months and months.”
Since the 1990s, Blank said the state’s focus has been incarceration and getting tough on crime, when the state needs to be smart on crime. “I think the important thing is this represents a philosophical change that recognizes the way we’ve done business probably is not as effective as we wanted it to be and it’s turned out to be horribly expensive,” Blank said. “We took the easy way out in a lot of cases and we started dumping people in the prison system because it looks like we’re tough on crime and that’s what gets headlines and votes.”
One of the things county officials hope to see come from this is an opportunity to reintegrate prison inmates in the community by using the county jails to house state prisoners and allow them a chance, under Huber work release, to get jobs to ensure a successful transition from incarceration to release in the community.
“I’d like to work with the sheriff’s on a re-entry program … and get them acclimated in the community,” Raemisch said.
By Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel, Mar. 11, 2009
Madison - Correctional officers say they support Gov. Jim Doyle's plan to give early release to some low-risk inmates because of rising security concerns at the state's overcrowded prisons.
Officers who also serve as Wisconsin State Employees Union leaders said they would be safer if inmates had an incentive to behave themselves.
"There's no incentive to do good time," said Daniel Meehan, a Waupun Correctional Institution officer and union local president. "If I'm doing 20 years, I'm going to act the fool for 20 years."
Doyle has proposed allowing some offenders to be released early to save money and better rehabilitate criminals. His fellow Democrats who control the Legislature have shown support for the idea, even as Republicans rip it as dangerous.
"To release criminals - felons - before their sentence is up is hogwash," said Rep. Joel Kleefisch (R-Oconomowoc). "It's insulting to the citizens of Wisconsin to pretend you're tough on crime when those committing the egregious crimes are given a free pass for not acting out while they're incarcerated."
Doyle's plan focuses on nonviolent criminals, but some have criticized it for including drug offenders.
The backing for Doyle's proposal from correctional officers comes at a time when a legislative committee is looking into ways to overhaul the state's prison system.
Experts told the Justice Reinvestment Initiative Oversight Committee on Wednesday that revocations of probation and extended supervision are major drivers of the state's exploding prison costs, fueling $286 million in new expenses in 2007. Those costs will be spread over several years because many of the offenders will serve more than a year behind bars.
The findings were presented by the nonpartisan Council of State Governments Justice Center, which is analyzing Wisconsin's corrections data for the committee.
The group's analysts said 61% of those who entered prison in 2007 did so because they had violated rules - but not broken any laws - while on probation or extended supervision. The 61% represents 5,598 new inmates.
One reason for the increasing revocations: The average amount of time former inmates spend on supervision more than doubled between 2000 and 2007 - from 23 months to 54 months.
That increase is because of the state's 10-year-old truth-in-sentencing law, which lawmakers passed to make sure offenders served their full sentences. At the time, they planned to also shorten the length of sentences, but they never did so.
Many offenders have problems following probation and extended supervision rules because of drug addiction, mental health issues and difficulty finding jobs, the group told lawmakers.
Many of those returning have had their supervision revoked multiple times, said Tony Fabelo, the group's research director.
"Whatever you're doing, you're not slowing down this recycling of people coming in," Fabelo said.
The committee is trying to find ways to cut recidivism and trim the $1 billion annual budget for corrections. Wisconsin prisons hold more than 22,000 people.
The state budget Doyle proposed last month would allow low-risk inmates to shave off up to a third of their sentences if they followed prison rules. Doyle has said 500 to 1,000 inmates would likely be released over two years, saving up to $27 million.
Lawmakers will decide whether to go along with the governor in the coming months.
Correctional officers have long complained that truth in sentencing has created a dangerous environment for them by overcrowding prisons with inmates who have little motive to follow rules.
But Kleefisch and some other Republicans said Doyle's plan would put the public in danger.
"No question the public will be at risk if? ...felons are released early," Kleefisch said.
page 7,
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Write to Legislators
The following agencies are currently investigating Corrections and are trying to address concerns with mental health treatment and/or availability of programs for inmates. Such treatment or programs may be necessary for your personal well being or for satisfying A&E or Parole Commission requirements.
Rep. Joe Parisi, Chair
Assembly Committee on Corrections and the Courts
E-mail: Rep. Parisi@legis.wisconsin.gov
Room 126 North, State Capital
P.O. Box 8953, Madison, WI 53708
Sen. Lena C. Taylor, Chair
Special Committee on Justice Reinvestment Oversight
E-mail Sen. Taylor@legis.wisconsin.gov
Room 415 South, State Capital
P.O. Box 7882, Madison, WI 53707-7882
Janis Mueller; (mental health audit)
Legislative Audit Bureau
22 E. Mifflin Suite 500
Madison, WI 53703
If you are being denied, delayed, or having problems getting treatment or programs essential to your rehabilitative progress, mental health, and/or are being denied parole release or minimum security because you lack having completed such DOC requirements, then enlighten the Legislature by sharing your story and problems.
You may know what you are experiencing but the Legislatures may not. An audit is requested for all past PRC decisions, DOC-1292 Appeals, and for all Parole Commission written decisions.
The Parole Commission denies many parole releases based upon a single statement; ''you have not served sufficient time as to not depreciate the seriousness of the crime." We all know this is a hollow statement and it provides no guiding rationale. Inmates are in prison because of the seriousness of the crime! This reasoning based on the same factors you were sentenced to prison makes little sense. Public safety is a concern to all, but rehabili-tation and the social reintegration of one of societies members must be part of that goal.
Similarly the DOC's Program Review Committee (PRC) routinely assigns a security (risk) classification to inmates' by simply referencing a guideline manual titled; "Risk Rating Instructions" (Instructions). In 2002, the DOC made rule changes to its own Administrative Codes on the justification the rules were outdated, yet they continue to use the 1990 Instruction manual unchanged. This Instruction manual is a general guideline that does not distinguish between the many distinct sentencing schemes which have been legislated throughout the years and which inmates are now serving in Wisconsin's overcrowded prison system; such as Old Law Parole, New Law Parole, PMR, TIS-I, TIS-II.
Notably, a 15 year sentence under the parole scheme is not similar to a 15 year sentence under the Truth in Sentencing Law. Yet all these sentencing schemes are being placed under a single "15 year" threshold rule for determining inmates' security custody levels. A Sentence Structure section of these Instructions work to the exclu-sion of all other relevant factors, such as your rehabilitative achievements.
If the Sentence Structure factor rates high then the total risk rates high, even if all other factors rate low. The DOC is denying programs, or movement to a lower classification such as Minimum, and/or place inmates on program waiting lists under this cover-all-umbrella known as the Risk Rating Instructions.
In addition, the PRC's written decisions or reasons for denying requests for entry into treatment or programs or requests for reduced custody are typically boiler plate statements being universally applied to inmates such as; "to much time to MR"; "time likely to be served" ; or "potential parolability." The boiler plate reasons or excuses seem designed to block your interests in improving or maintaining your mental health or your interests in achieving "suitability" for parole release.
Former Governor Thompson actually issued a memorandum in 1994 directing the DOC to do just that, "block" your release from prison, which runs counter to your efforts to be released. And notoriously, the Parole Commission during the mid-1990s tightened parole release standards. Legislative, Executive, and Private influences for the past years seem to be working against your efforts to be released. (Ref. American Legislative Exchange Council). A complete audit of these agencies is requested.
Friends and family members should phone, write, or E-mail their congress member and state their support for Governor Doyle's early release proposals.
Write to Legislators (cont. from 7)
Maybe even suggest expanding them? If you generally agree with and/or your situation relates to the above statements either write your own letter or send this commentary as being representative of your view, send along with personal samples of decisions, records, etc... as evidence for the legislature to consider. "Do Not" send your original documents, instead send copies of the originals. Ask that the material be submitted as testimony into the congressional record. This may be the best moment in time and opportunity to voice your opinion on Corrections in Wisconsin and its management.
LEGISLATIVE ADDRESSES
www.legis.state.wi.us
http://notify.legis.state.wi.us
SENATE:
P.O. Box 7882
Madison, WI 53707
ASSEMBLY:
A-L= P.O. Box 8952
M-Z=P.O. Box 8953
Madison, WI 53708
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Judges Plead Guilty in Scheme to Jail Youths for Profit
By IAN URBINA and SEAN D. HAMILL
At worst, Hillary Transue thought she might get a stern lecture when she appeared before a judge for building a spoof MySpace page mocking the assistant principal at her high school in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. She was a stellar student who had never been in trouble, and the page stated clearly at the bottom that it was just a joke.
Instead, the judge sentenced her to three months at a juvenile detention center on a charge of harassment.
She was handcuffed and taken away as her stunned parents stood by.
“I felt like I had been thrown into some surreal sort of nightmare,” said Hillary, 17, who was sentenced in 2007. “All I wanted to know was how this could be fair and why the judge would do such a thing.”
The answers became a bit clearer on Thursday as the judge, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., and a colleague, Michael T. Conahan, appeared in federal court in Scranton, Pa., to plead guilty to wire fraud and income tax fraud for taking more than $2.6 million in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers run by PA Child Care and a sister company, Western PA Child Care.
While prosecutors say that Judge Conahan, 56, secured contracts for the two centers to house juvenile offenders, Judge Ciavarella, 58, was the one who carried out the sentencing to keep the centers filled.
“In my entire career, I’ve never heard of anything remotely approaching this,” said Senior Judge Arthur E. Grim, who was appointed by the State Supreme Court this week to determine what should be done with the estimated 5,000 juveniles who have been sentenced by Judge Ciavarella since the scheme started in 2003. Many of them were first-time offenders and some remain in detention.
The case has shocked Luzerne County, an area in northeastern Pennsylvania that has been battered by a loss of industrial jobs and the closing of most of its anthracite coal mines.
And it raised concerns about whether juveniles should be required to have counsel either before or during their appearances in court and whether juvenile courts should be open to the public or child advocates.
If the court agrees to the plea agreement, both judges will serve 87 months in federal prison and resign from the bench and bar. They are expected to be sentenced in the next several months. Lawyers for both men declined to comment.
Since state law forbids retirement benefits to judges convicted of a felony while in office, the judges would also lose their pensions.
With Judge Conahan serving as president judge in control of the budget and Judge Ciavarella overseeing the juvenile courts, they set the kickback scheme in motion in December 2002, the authorities said.
They shut down the county-run juvenile detention center, arguing that it was in poor condition, the authorities said, and maintained that the county had no choice but to send detained juveniles to the newly built private detention centers.
Prosecutors say the judges tried to conceal the kickbacks as payments to a company they control in Florida.
Though he pleaded guilty to the charges Thursday, Judge Ciavarella has denied sentencing juveniles who did not deserve it or sending them to the detention centers in a quid pro quo with the centers.
But Assistant United States Attorney Gordon A. Zubrod said after the hearing that the government continues to charge a quid pro quo.
“We’re not negotiating that, no,” Mr. Zubrod said. “We’re not backing off.”
No charges have been filed against executives of the detention centers. Prosecutors said the investigation into the case was continuing.
For years, youth advocacy groups complained that Judge Ciavarella was unusually harsh. He sent a quarter of his juvenile defendants to detention centers from 2002 to 2006, compared with a state rate of 1 in 10. He also routinely ignored requests for leniency made by prosecutors and probation officers.
“The juvenile system, by design, is intended to be a less punitive system than the adult system, and yet here were scores of children with very minor infractions having their lives ruined,” said Marsha Levick, a lawyer with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center.
“There was a culture of intimidation surrounding this judge and no one was willing to speak up about the sentences he was handing down.”
Last year, the Juvenile Law Center, which had raised concerns about Judge Ciavarella in the past, filed a motion to the State Supreme Court about more than 500 juveniles who had appeared before the judge without representation. The court originally rejected the petition, but recently reversed that decision.
The United States Supreme Court ruled in 1967 that children have a constitutional right to counsel. But in Pennsylvania, as in at least 20 other states, children can waive counsel, and about half of the children that Judge Ciavarella sentenced had chosen to do so. Only Illinois, New Mexico and North Carolina require juveniles to have representation when they appear before judges.
Clay Yeager, the former director of the Office of Juvenile Justice in Pennsylvania, said typical juvenile proceedings are kept closed to the public to protect the privacy of children.
“But they are kept open to probation officers, district attorneys, and public defenders, all of whom are sworn to protect the interests of children,” he said. “It’s pretty clear those people didn’t do their jobs.”
On Thursday in Federal District Court in Scranton, more than 80 people packed every available seat in the courtroom. At one point, as Assistant United States Attorney William S. Houser explained to Judge Edwin M. Kosik that the government was willing to reach a plea agreement with the men because the case involved “complex charges that could have resulted in years of litigation,” one man sitting in the audience said “bull” loud enough to be heard in the courtroom.
One of the parents at the hearing was Susan Mishanski of Hanover Township.
Her son, Kevin, now 18, was sentenced to 90 days in a detention facility last year in a simple assault case that everyone had told her would result in probation, since Kevin had never been in trouble and the boy he hit had only a black eye.
“It’s horrible to have your child taken away in shackles right in front of you when you think you’re going home with him,” she said. “It was nice to see them sitting on the other side of the bench.”
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WISCONSIN PRISON WATCH NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIPTION FORM
Dear WPW,
Please subscribe me to your newsletter
Enclosed is a remittance in the required amount (cash, money order, postage stamps, check)
I am currently incarcerated in the state of __________________ ___ $5.00 per year
I am an “outside” friend, relation, or supporter of a prisoner ___ $15.00 per year
I work for the DOC, FBI, ATF, DEA, CIA, Milwaukee Police Dept. ___ $100.00 per year
Please also accept $_________ as a donation to be used in the struggle for justice.
Please send your newsletter to:
Name____________________________________DOC#___________
Institution________________________________________________
Address__________________________________________________
City_____________________________State_______ZIP___________
Remit to: Wisconsin Prison Watch - P.O. Box 292 - Boscobel, WI 53805
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Court of Appeals Rules Against Pigs That Don’t Fly Straight
by: Mustafa-El K.A. Ajala
Madison, WI - On December 30, 2008, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals issued its ruling in the case of State v. Raynard R. Jackson, 2008 Wisc. App Lexis 1042. The Court ruled that Jackson, as others before him, should have been allowed to present, at his trial, evidence of corruption and abuse by the arresting officers in his case, one of which was convicted for his criminal acts in Federal Court - although, only misdemeanors.
Ala W Awadallah, convicted in U.S. v Awadallah, 05-M-408 (E.D. Wis.), was one of a ring of corrupt District 3 and District 5 Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) pigs that didn’t fly straight. They specifically targeted young brothas and sistahs of Alkebulan (Afrikan) descent. Their criminal acts included planting drugs and guns on “suspects”, robbing them of their possessions, extorting them for weapons, and engaging in serious physical assaults. In Jackson’s case, the drop gun planted on him was a .40 Glock that had no prints of Jackson on it, was not reported stolen, was identical to the police issued guns, and was placed in inventory by Awadallah - no surprise.
Other pigs associated with the corruption, though not charged criminally were, Paul Lough, Thomas Dineen, Virgil Cotton, Jason Mucha, and Kathleen Huber, as well as officers by the name of Harris, Dodd, and Westergard. If any of them were involved in your case you may want to review Jackson’s decision, along with State v Missiouri, 714 MW. 2d 595 (Wis.App.2006) - the corruption case that preceded Jackson’s and led to a favorable ruling.
Jackson’s appellate counsel was James R. Lucius during the time when the MPDs pattern of corruption became public, although Lucius failed to cite Missouri or bring any of this up on appeal. Lucius’s license has since been suspended in Disclipinary Proceedings against James R. Lucius, 2008 WI 12.
No MPD pig was ever charged with any serious felony, such as extortion, possession of drugs, illegal weapons possession, robbery, intimidating witnesses, etc., etc. However, the untold story here is that of Earl Cosey and Michelle Mac Donald, a Milwaukee couple who had the sense and nerve to record Awadallah’s attempt to shake them down for a “chopper” or 2 pistols in exchange for the return of $200 and an eightball of cocaine. If obtained, that “chopper” and/or the pistols would, no doubt, have been planted on other unsuspecting targets and, to be sure, there are lousy creeps in the system right now who have done and continue to do the same thing - working deals with corrupt pigs and other members of the judicial mob (State’s attorneys or their own attorney) in exchange for lenient plea deals.
There’s a moral to this story... A pig, as opposed to a police officer has no morals. When you step comrades, be prepared to battle them, legitimately, ie. with your own surveillance apparatus - home camcorders and security cameras (indoors and out), built in cameras on the ride (and in the trunk), hidden mics, cell phone cameras and recorders. You’re bound to encounter one of these pigs, on the take, or worse. Exercise your 5 Ps (Proper Protection in Preparation for Pigs on the Prowl) and you just might preserve your freedom, possibly your life, the life and or freedom of others, and likely get paid in the process, Insha’ Allah.
In the trenches,
your Bro. Mu-El
Mustafa-El K.A. Ajala
(FKA Dennis E. Jones-El)
P.O. Box 9900 - WSPF
Boscobel, WI 53805
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Doyle’s Budget Proposal
Budget in Brief 2009
http://www.doa.state.wi.us/debf/pdf_files/bib.pdf
Ensure wise allocation of taxpayer resources and the highest levels of public safety through better use of data, new measures to reduce recidivism and streamlined sentence review processes:
* Transfer to the Division of Hearing and Appeals the authority to determine the length of reconfinement for revocation from extended supervision, not to exceed the time remaining on the bifurcated sentence.
* Allow the secretary of the Department of Corrections to release to extended supervision persons serving the confinement portion of a bifurcated sentence who are within 12 months of release to extended supervision and meet certain eligibility criteria.
* Transfer from the sentencing court to the secretary of the Department of Corrections the authority to review petitions and release terminally ill inmates to extended supervision so long as the public safety is maintained.
* Rename the Parole Commission as the Earned Release Review Commission and expand its duties to include sentence adjustment for Class C to I felonies for both the confinement and extended supervision portions of a sentence.
* Expand the Earned Release Program and the Challenge Incarceration Program to include inmates with programming needs other than substance abuse, to allow the inmates deemed eligible at sentencing to earn early release by fulfilling certain requirements while in prison.
* Eliminate community supervision of certain low-risk misdemeanor probationers, as determined by the offense and a risk assessment performed by the Department of Corrections.
* Provide $6.5 million and 18.00 FTE positions to improve offender reentry into the community by providing tools for offender risk assessment, to better manage purchase of services dollars, research and measure programs, and maintain dual-diagnosis rehabilitation programming.
* Expand eligibility for record expungement to include individuals up to 25 years of age, and to include nonviolent Class H to I felonies, allowing more young people to learn from their mistakes and start a new life with a clean slate.
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Greek Prisoner Hunger Strike Ends
By James Jameson
Political prisoner or not, inmates are widely known to be some of the most horribly treated and forgotten people, abused as though they are not human. In a nationwide act of solidarity, more than 7,000 prisoners throughout Greece went on hunger strike on November 3, to finally fight back for their own rights. A dedicated 19 prisoners went so far as to sew their own mouths shut. The move to boycott food ended after 18 days when the inmates won their protest as the Ministry of Justice conceded to a series of requests. This is a notable for prisoners all over the world. There is hope that more inmates will take cue and demand humane treatment for themselves, and it’s important that those of us in radical, active movements who aren’t in prison do what we can to assist in this cause.
The hunger strike was enacted to highlight a 45-point list of demands. Involving 21 prisons across Greece, inmates protested unreasonable living conditions, such as poor access to basic hygiene and sanitation, a reduction of exacerbated sentences, improper medical care and severe overcrowding. Greece has the most over-crowded prisons in Europe, with nearly 11,000 inmates sardined into jails designed to hold slightly more than 7,000 people. Many of these prisoners are drug addicts and offenders with no opportunity for rehabilitation services. Detainees wait an average of 12 months in pre-trial detention before they are able to have their cases heard.
During the hunger strike, many solidarity actions were carried out by anarchists, humanitarians and other sympathizers. Greek embassies in many countries were targeted, as several mass protest marches added to the solidarity movement.
In response to the prisoners’ demands, the Ministry agreed to the following:
1) All persons convicted to a sentence of up to five years for any offense, including drug related crimes, can transform their sentence into a monetary penalty. This will not be allowed in the case that the jury decides that the payment is not enough to deter the convict from committing punishable acts in the future.
2) The minimum sum for transforming one day of prison sentence to monetary penalty is reduced from around $13 to around $4, with the provision of being reduced to around $1.50 by decision of the jury.
3) All people who have served one-fifth of their prison sentence for two-year sentences and one-third for sentences longer than two years are to be released, with no exceptions.
4) The minimum limit of served sentence is reduced to three-fifths for conditional release and for convicts of drug related crimes. Those condemned under conditions of certain laws are exempted.
5) The maximum limit of pre-trial imprisonment is reduced from 18 to 12 months, with the exception of crimes punished by life or 20-year sentences.
6) The annual tome of days-off prison is increased by one day.
7) Disciplinary penalties are to be integrated.
8) Integration after four years into national law of European council decision of drug trafficking.
9) Expansion of implementation of conditional release of convicts suffering from AIDS, kidney failure, persistent Tuberculosis and tetraplegics.
“The amendment submitted to the Parliament by the Ministry of Justice tackles but a few of our demands,” said the Prisoner’s Committee in a press release. “The minister ought to materialize his promises for the immediate release of the suggested number of prisoners announced, and, at the same time, implement concrete measures regarding the totality of the demands. We, the prisoners, treat this amendment as the first step, a result of our struggle and of the solidarity shown by society. Yet, it fails to cover us, it fails to solve our problems. With our struggle, we have first-of-all fought for our dignity—and this dignity we can not offer as a present to no minister, to no screw. We shall tolerate no arbitrary facts, no vengeful relocation, no terrorizing disciplinary act. We are standing, and we shall remain standing.
“We demand from the parliament to move towards a complete abolition of the limit of four-fifths of served sentence, the abolition for accumulated time for disciplinary penalties, the expansion of beneficial arrangements regarding days-off, and conditional releases for all categories of prisoners,” continued the Prisoner’s Committee.
“Moreover, we demand the immediate legislation on the presently vague promises of the minister of justice regarding the improvement of prison conditions (abolition of juvenile prisons, foundation of therapeutic centers for drug dependants, implementation of social labor in exchange for prison sentences, upgrading of hospital care of prisoners, incorporation of European legislation favorable to the prisoners in Greek law, etc.).
“Finally, we offer our thanks to the solidarity movement, to every component, party, medium and militant who stood by us with all and any means of his or her choice, and we want to declare that our struggle against these human refuse dumps and for the victory of all of our demands continues.”
As these prisoners have demonstrated, when people pull together, the authorities must listen. All we can do now is wait for proof that the ministry will keep it’s end of the bargain. One has to wonder about all of the things that could be accomplished if enough of us made ourselves heard as loud and clear as these prisoners have done.
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ATTENTION CONS
In November of ‘08, myself and Shaun Matz were appointed counsel by Judge Crocker in our lawsuit against WCI. (Schumacher v Frank et al. 08-CV-228 and Matz v. Frank et al. 08-CV-491). Both cases deal with the conditions of confinement in segregation & we are looking for anyone who has been in segregation here to write up affidavits. We want to know what your experience was like; what you went through. We want to know how you were treated, cell extractions you went through, observation placements, suicide/self harm attempts, how clinical services treated you, recreation, temperature in the cells, lights, property, etc.
Were also looking for affidavits from anyone on AC at GBCI, CCI, WSPF showing how these segregation units are run.
You can send the affidavits to myself or Shaun through legal route. Matthew Schumacher #369487 or Shaun Matz #264654 at WCI. We will get this info to our attorneys. We are on the brink of getting this place changed and would appreciate your support.
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The masses have never thirsted after truth. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim". Gustave Le Bon;"The Crowd"
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Committee on Judiciary, Corrections, Insurance, Campaign Finance Reform, and Housing (Senate)
Senator Lena Taylor (Chair) D
Room 415 South
State Capitol
P.O. Box 7882
Madison, WI 53707-7882
(608) 266-5810
District Telephone
(414) 342-7176
Jim Sullivan (Vice Chair) D
Room 15 South
State Capitol
P.O. Box 7882
Madison, WI 53707
(608) 266-2512 Or (866) 817-6061
Jon Erpenbach D
Room 8 South
State Capitol
P.O. Box 7882
Madison, WI 53707-7882
(608) 266-6670 Or (888) 549-0027
Glenn Grothman R
Room 20 South
State Capitol
P.O. Box 7882
Madison, WI 53707-7882
(608) 266-7513 Or (800) 662-1227
Randy Hopper R
Room 108 South
State Capitol
P.O. Box 7882
Madison, WI 53707-7882
(608) 266-5300
Committee on Corrections and the Courts (Assembly)
Representative Joe Parisi (Chair) D
Room 126 North
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8953
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-5342
Chuck Benedict (Vice Chair) D
Room 306 West
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-9967
Donna Siedel D
Room 218 North
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8953
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-0654 Or
(888) 534-0085
Frederick Kessler D
Room 302 North
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-5813
Sondy Pope-Roberts D
Room 209 North
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8953
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-3520 Or (888) 534-0079
Ted Zigmunt D
Room 420 North
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-9870
Sandy Pasch D
Room 122 North
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8953
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-7671 Or (888) 534-0022
Karl Van Roy R
Room 123 West
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8953
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-0616 Or (888) 534-0090
Mark Gundrum
Room 119 West
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 267-5158 Or (888) 534-0084
Steve Kestell R
Room 15 West
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-8530 Or (888) 529-0027
Daniel LaMahieu R
Room 17 North
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-9175 Or (888) 534-0059
Edwards Brooks
Room 20 North
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708
(608) 266-8531 Or (877) 947-0050
Joint Committee on Finance (budget)
Senate Members
Senator Mark Miller, Co-Chair D
Senator Dave Hansen D
Senator Lena Taylor D
Senator John Lehman D
Senator Judy Robson D
Senator Julie Lassa D
Senator Alberta Darling R
Senator Luther Olsen R
Assembly Members
Representative Mark Pocan, Co-Chair D
Representative Pedro Colón D
Representative Cory Mason D
Representative Jennifer Shilling D
Representative Gary Sherman D
Representative Tamara Grigsby D
Representative Robin Vos R
Representative Phil Montgomery R
Committee Clerk:
Charlene Vrieze
Room 305 East, State Capitol
Madison, WI 53702
(608) 264-8314
Office of the Governor, Jim Doyle
Madison Office
P.O. Box 7863
Madison, WI 53707
608-266-1212
Northern Office
400 4th Avenue South
Park Falls, WI 54552
715-762-5900
Milwaukee Office
Room 560
819 North 6th St.
Milwaukee, WI 53203
414-227-4344
NOTE:
As you will notice, the Democrats outweigh the Republicans in every committee and are the Chair of every committee. You can write to the Republicans if you feel like getting something off your chest, but don’t expect a response or to change their minds.
When writing any of these officials, try to be respectful and polite... even if you’re mad as Hell.
STAND UP AND HOLLER!!!
****************
****************
"My generation's apathy. I'm disgusted with it. I'm disgusted with my own apathy too, for being spineless and not always standing up against racism, sexism and all those other -isms the counterculture has been whinning about for years." : Kurt Cobain
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PRISON ACTION WISCONSIN
PREPARED STATEMENT TO JOINT FINANCE COMMITTEE – MARCH 25, 2009
PREPARED STATEMENT TO JOINT FINANCE COMMITTEE – MARCH 25, 2009
We are here in support Governor Doyle’s budget provision calling for an Early Earned Release program for non-violent offenders sentenced under Truth in Sentencing. This provision is smart on crime, not “tough on crime”. Tough on crime has clogged our judicial system and overfilled our prisons. Governor Doyle’s provision addresses one of those problems in a safe, sane and just manner. We are at a turning point - either we follow the proposals outlined in the Hunt & Mead survey and spend 1.2 billion on upgrading and building new prisons as the study suggests or we reduce the pressure on the facilities and staff by releasing nonviolent offenders.
Following are some of the reasons we support the Governor’s proposal:
1. Prisons are overcrowded. They are at 120% occupancy. The facilities and rehabilitative programs are inadequate to handle this amount of prisoners. This overcrowding creates unsafe conditions for both guards and prisoners.
2. The cost of housing 22,000+ prisoners in Wisconsin is nearly $30,000 per year per prisoner. Taxpayers cannot afford to sustain these costs any longer. This money could be more effectively spent in the communities for rehabilitation and job training.
3. The majority of prisoners are incarcerated for crimes committed because of drug and/or alcohol problems. The “Treatment Instead of Prisons” legislation which has been passed will save millions of dollars. It is, in fact, what is being done in Minnesota and they have less than half the number of prisoners as Wisconsin. Minnesota has the same demographics as Wisconsin in crime rates and population.
4. The human costs must also be taken into consideration. The families of the inmates are suffering. Children need fathers and mothers for stability. Keeping offenders in their community will help stabilize the families and prevent another generation of prison expansion.
5. Under the Earned Early Release program there will be extended supervision which is a good corrections policy to help ex-offenders become productive members of society through rehabilitation and treatment programs. It will encourage better behavior and make the streets safer.
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PRISON ACTION WISCONSIN
P.O. Box 05669
Milwaukee, WI 53205
Meetings: second and fourth Saturday of every month
Time: 10 am to noon
Place: All God’s Children Church
3356 N. Martin Luther King
Milwaukee WI.
Pastor Lee Shack
P.O. Box 05669
Milwaukee, WI 53205
Meetings: second and fourth Saturday of every month
Time: 10 am to noon
Place: All God’s Children Church
3356 N. Martin Luther King
Milwaukee WI.
Pastor Lee Shack
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Economic crisis propels prison system changes
Shelley Nelson Superior Telegram
Published Tuesday, March 03, 2009
With the cost of housing just one of the state’s 23,000 prison inmates at $29,000 per year, Wisconsin is looking for ways to get smart on crime.
Department of Corrections Secretary Rick Raemisch was in Superior on Monday to meet with local law enforcement to highlight some of the changes proposed as the state faces a $5.7 billion budget shortfall. Among the changes is a new evaluation system that could keep low-risk, nonviolent offenders out of state prisons and low-risk offenders who’ve committed misdemeanor crimes off the state’s probation system.
Superior Police Capt. Chad La Lor said Monday’s session was the first he heard of dropping supervision for misdemeanor offenders. He said even if offenders aren’t actively supervised, probation provides a mechanism to bring an offender in quicker when they reoffend. “You get in this cycle ‘it’s a minor crime,’ but when there are true victims, there are no minor crimes,” La Lor said.
The budget for corrections is about $1.2 billion, a cost that could double in the next 10 years if the state doesn’t develop new strategies, Raemisch said.
“There always will be a need for prisons to house violent criminals who pose a threat to public safety, but … we need to invest in strategies beyond prison expansion to curtail corrections spending and reduce recidivism,” Raemisch said.
The budget proposed by Gov. Jim Doyle for the next two years would start the state on that path.
The goal of the new strategy is to protect public safety by keeping violent offenders in prison, but providing opportunities for nonviolent offenders to complete treatment so they can succeed and become productive citizens when they return to their communities, Raemisch said. Under the proposed changes, offenders would be evaluated to determine the level of risk they pose to the community and provide services to help low-risk offenders.
The state would expand services in the Earned Release Program to provide services needed for successful reintegration in the community. Currently, drug and alcohol treatment are provided, but an offender may need education and job skills, Raemisch said. He said the goal is to provide what the offender needs. “This whole do-the-crime, do-the-time strategy is taxing people out of their homes and probably closing schools as we build prisons,” said District Attorney Dan Blank.
Currently, 1 in 39 Wisconsin adults are under some form of control of the state’s corrections department, whether probation, extended supervision, local jails or prison, according to a study released Monday by the Pew Center, an independent nonprofit that uses analysis to improve public policy.
While 1 in 26 Minnesota adults are under some form of corrections control, the state’s prison population is only about 9,000, Raemisch said, suggesting there could be a better way to deal crime.
“If we reduce our population more, that just means less cost for criminal justice system, less crime, less victims, and the savings just goes on and on,” Raemisch said. “We’re talking about changing people’s lives and working in a positive nature, and that’s just going to help the state.” Of the 23,000 people currently in the state prison system, 3,000 automatically would be evaluated for risk when the law passes, he said. “That doesn’t mean they’ll get out of prison right away. It will take months and months.”
Since the 1990s, Blank said the state’s focus has been incarceration and getting tough on crime, when the state needs to be smart on crime. “I think the important thing is this represents a philosophical change that recognizes the way we’ve done business probably is not as effective as we wanted it to be and it’s turned out to be horribly expensive,” Blank said. “We took the easy way out in a lot of cases and we started dumping people in the prison system because it looks like we’re tough on crime and that’s what gets headlines and votes.”
One of the things county officials hope to see come from this is an opportunity to reintegrate prison inmates in the community by using the county jails to house state prisoners and allow them a chance, under Huber work release, to get jobs to ensure a successful transition from incarceration to release in the community.
“I’d like to work with the sheriff’s on a re-entry program … and get them acclimated in the community,” Raemisch said.
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Corrections workers back Doyle's early release planBy Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel, Mar. 11, 2009
Madison - Correctional officers say they support Gov. Jim Doyle's plan to give early release to some low-risk inmates because of rising security concerns at the state's overcrowded prisons.
Officers who also serve as Wisconsin State Employees Union leaders said they would be safer if inmates had an incentive to behave themselves.
"There's no incentive to do good time," said Daniel Meehan, a Waupun Correctional Institution officer and union local president. "If I'm doing 20 years, I'm going to act the fool for 20 years."
Doyle has proposed allowing some offenders to be released early to save money and better rehabilitate criminals. His fellow Democrats who control the Legislature have shown support for the idea, even as Republicans rip it as dangerous.
"To release criminals - felons - before their sentence is up is hogwash," said Rep. Joel Kleefisch (R-Oconomowoc). "It's insulting to the citizens of Wisconsin to pretend you're tough on crime when those committing the egregious crimes are given a free pass for not acting out while they're incarcerated."
Doyle's plan focuses on nonviolent criminals, but some have criticized it for including drug offenders.
The backing for Doyle's proposal from correctional officers comes at a time when a legislative committee is looking into ways to overhaul the state's prison system.
Experts told the Justice Reinvestment Initiative Oversight Committee on Wednesday that revocations of probation and extended supervision are major drivers of the state's exploding prison costs, fueling $286 million in new expenses in 2007. Those costs will be spread over several years because many of the offenders will serve more than a year behind bars.
The findings were presented by the nonpartisan Council of State Governments Justice Center, which is analyzing Wisconsin's corrections data for the committee.
The group's analysts said 61% of those who entered prison in 2007 did so because they had violated rules - but not broken any laws - while on probation or extended supervision. The 61% represents 5,598 new inmates.
One reason for the increasing revocations: The average amount of time former inmates spend on supervision more than doubled between 2000 and 2007 - from 23 months to 54 months.
That increase is because of the state's 10-year-old truth-in-sentencing law, which lawmakers passed to make sure offenders served their full sentences. At the time, they planned to also shorten the length of sentences, but they never did so.
Many offenders have problems following probation and extended supervision rules because of drug addiction, mental health issues and difficulty finding jobs, the group told lawmakers.
Many of those returning have had their supervision revoked multiple times, said Tony Fabelo, the group's research director.
"Whatever you're doing, you're not slowing down this recycling of people coming in," Fabelo said.
The committee is trying to find ways to cut recidivism and trim the $1 billion annual budget for corrections. Wisconsin prisons hold more than 22,000 people.
The state budget Doyle proposed last month would allow low-risk inmates to shave off up to a third of their sentences if they followed prison rules. Doyle has said 500 to 1,000 inmates would likely be released over two years, saving up to $27 million.
Lawmakers will decide whether to go along with the governor in the coming months.
Correctional officers have long complained that truth in sentencing has created a dangerous environment for them by overcrowding prisons with inmates who have little motive to follow rules.
But Kleefisch and some other Republicans said Doyle's plan would put the public in danger.
"No question the public will be at risk if? ...felons are released early," Kleefisch said.
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Write to Legislators
The following agencies are currently investigating Corrections and are trying to address concerns with mental health treatment and/or availability of programs for inmates. Such treatment or programs may be necessary for your personal well being or for satisfying A&E or Parole Commission requirements.
Rep. Joe Parisi, Chair
Assembly Committee on Corrections and the Courts
E-mail: Rep. Parisi@legis.wisconsin.gov
Room 126 North, State Capital
P.O. Box 8953, Madison, WI 53708
Sen. Lena C. Taylor, Chair
Special Committee on Justice Reinvestment Oversight
E-mail Sen. Taylor@legis.wisconsin.gov
Room 415 South, State Capital
P.O. Box 7882, Madison, WI 53707-7882
Janis Mueller; (mental health audit)
Legislative Audit Bureau
22 E. Mifflin Suite 500
Madison, WI 53703
If you are being denied, delayed, or having problems getting treatment or programs essential to your rehabilitative progress, mental health, and/or are being denied parole release or minimum security because you lack having completed such DOC requirements, then enlighten the Legislature by sharing your story and problems.
You may know what you are experiencing but the Legislatures may not. An audit is requested for all past PRC decisions, DOC-1292 Appeals, and for all Parole Commission written decisions.
The Parole Commission denies many parole releases based upon a single statement; ''you have not served sufficient time as to not depreciate the seriousness of the crime." We all know this is a hollow statement and it provides no guiding rationale. Inmates are in prison because of the seriousness of the crime! This reasoning based on the same factors you were sentenced to prison makes little sense. Public safety is a concern to all, but rehabili-tation and the social reintegration of one of societies members must be part of that goal.
Similarly the DOC's Program Review Committee (PRC) routinely assigns a security (risk) classification to inmates' by simply referencing a guideline manual titled; "Risk Rating Instructions" (Instructions). In 2002, the DOC made rule changes to its own Administrative Codes on the justification the rules were outdated, yet they continue to use the 1990 Instruction manual unchanged. This Instruction manual is a general guideline that does not distinguish between the many distinct sentencing schemes which have been legislated throughout the years and which inmates are now serving in Wisconsin's overcrowded prison system; such as Old Law Parole, New Law Parole, PMR, TIS-I, TIS-II.
Notably, a 15 year sentence under the parole scheme is not similar to a 15 year sentence under the Truth in Sentencing Law. Yet all these sentencing schemes are being placed under a single "15 year" threshold rule for determining inmates' security custody levels. A Sentence Structure section of these Instructions work to the exclu-sion of all other relevant factors, such as your rehabilitative achievements.
If the Sentence Structure factor rates high then the total risk rates high, even if all other factors rate low. The DOC is denying programs, or movement to a lower classification such as Minimum, and/or place inmates on program waiting lists under this cover-all-umbrella known as the Risk Rating Instructions.
In addition, the PRC's written decisions or reasons for denying requests for entry into treatment or programs or requests for reduced custody are typically boiler plate statements being universally applied to inmates such as; "to much time to MR"; "time likely to be served" ; or "potential parolability." The boiler plate reasons or excuses seem designed to block your interests in improving or maintaining your mental health or your interests in achieving "suitability" for parole release.
Former Governor Thompson actually issued a memorandum in 1994 directing the DOC to do just that, "block" your release from prison, which runs counter to your efforts to be released. And notoriously, the Parole Commission during the mid-1990s tightened parole release standards. Legislative, Executive, and Private influences for the past years seem to be working against your efforts to be released. (Ref. American Legislative Exchange Council). A complete audit of these agencies is requested.
Friends and family members should phone, write, or E-mail their congress member and state their support for Governor Doyle's early release proposals.
Write to Legislators (cont. from 7)
Maybe even suggest expanding them? If you generally agree with and/or your situation relates to the above statements either write your own letter or send this commentary as being representative of your view, send along with personal samples of decisions, records, etc... as evidence for the legislature to consider. "Do Not" send your original documents, instead send copies of the originals. Ask that the material be submitted as testimony into the congressional record. This may be the best moment in time and opportunity to voice your opinion on Corrections in Wisconsin and its management.
LEGISLATIVE ADDRESSES
www.legis.state.wi.us
http://notify.legis.state.wi.us
SENATE:
P.O. Box 7882
Madison, WI 53707
ASSEMBLY:
A-L= P.O. Box 8952
M-Z=P.O. Box 8953
Madison, WI 53708
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Judges Plead Guilty in Scheme to Jail Youths for Profit
By IAN URBINA and SEAN D. HAMILL
At worst, Hillary Transue thought she might get a stern lecture when she appeared before a judge for building a spoof MySpace page mocking the assistant principal at her high school in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. She was a stellar student who had never been in trouble, and the page stated clearly at the bottom that it was just a joke.
Instead, the judge sentenced her to three months at a juvenile detention center on a charge of harassment.
She was handcuffed and taken away as her stunned parents stood by.
“I felt like I had been thrown into some surreal sort of nightmare,” said Hillary, 17, who was sentenced in 2007. “All I wanted to know was how this could be fair and why the judge would do such a thing.”
The answers became a bit clearer on Thursday as the judge, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., and a colleague, Michael T. Conahan, appeared in federal court in Scranton, Pa., to plead guilty to wire fraud and income tax fraud for taking more than $2.6 million in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers run by PA Child Care and a sister company, Western PA Child Care.
While prosecutors say that Judge Conahan, 56, secured contracts for the two centers to house juvenile offenders, Judge Ciavarella, 58, was the one who carried out the sentencing to keep the centers filled.
“In my entire career, I’ve never heard of anything remotely approaching this,” said Senior Judge Arthur E. Grim, who was appointed by the State Supreme Court this week to determine what should be done with the estimated 5,000 juveniles who have been sentenced by Judge Ciavarella since the scheme started in 2003. Many of them were first-time offenders and some remain in detention.
The case has shocked Luzerne County, an area in northeastern Pennsylvania that has been battered by a loss of industrial jobs and the closing of most of its anthracite coal mines.
And it raised concerns about whether juveniles should be required to have counsel either before or during their appearances in court and whether juvenile courts should be open to the public or child advocates.
If the court agrees to the plea agreement, both judges will serve 87 months in federal prison and resign from the bench and bar. They are expected to be sentenced in the next several months. Lawyers for both men declined to comment.
Since state law forbids retirement benefits to judges convicted of a felony while in office, the judges would also lose their pensions.
With Judge Conahan serving as president judge in control of the budget and Judge Ciavarella overseeing the juvenile courts, they set the kickback scheme in motion in December 2002, the authorities said.
They shut down the county-run juvenile detention center, arguing that it was in poor condition, the authorities said, and maintained that the county had no choice but to send detained juveniles to the newly built private detention centers.
Prosecutors say the judges tried to conceal the kickbacks as payments to a company they control in Florida.
Though he pleaded guilty to the charges Thursday, Judge Ciavarella has denied sentencing juveniles who did not deserve it or sending them to the detention centers in a quid pro quo with the centers.
But Assistant United States Attorney Gordon A. Zubrod said after the hearing that the government continues to charge a quid pro quo.
“We’re not negotiating that, no,” Mr. Zubrod said. “We’re not backing off.”
No charges have been filed against executives of the detention centers. Prosecutors said the investigation into the case was continuing.
For years, youth advocacy groups complained that Judge Ciavarella was unusually harsh. He sent a quarter of his juvenile defendants to detention centers from 2002 to 2006, compared with a state rate of 1 in 10. He also routinely ignored requests for leniency made by prosecutors and probation officers.
“The juvenile system, by design, is intended to be a less punitive system than the adult system, and yet here were scores of children with very minor infractions having their lives ruined,” said Marsha Levick, a lawyer with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center.
“There was a culture of intimidation surrounding this judge and no one was willing to speak up about the sentences he was handing down.”
Last year, the Juvenile Law Center, which had raised concerns about Judge Ciavarella in the past, filed a motion to the State Supreme Court about more than 500 juveniles who had appeared before the judge without representation. The court originally rejected the petition, but recently reversed that decision.
The United States Supreme Court ruled in 1967 that children have a constitutional right to counsel. But in Pennsylvania, as in at least 20 other states, children can waive counsel, and about half of the children that Judge Ciavarella sentenced had chosen to do so. Only Illinois, New Mexico and North Carolina require juveniles to have representation when they appear before judges.
Clay Yeager, the former director of the Office of Juvenile Justice in Pennsylvania, said typical juvenile proceedings are kept closed to the public to protect the privacy of children.
“But they are kept open to probation officers, district attorneys, and public defenders, all of whom are sworn to protect the interests of children,” he said. “It’s pretty clear those people didn’t do their jobs.”
On Thursday in Federal District Court in Scranton, more than 80 people packed every available seat in the courtroom. At one point, as Assistant United States Attorney William S. Houser explained to Judge Edwin M. Kosik that the government was willing to reach a plea agreement with the men because the case involved “complex charges that could have resulted in years of litigation,” one man sitting in the audience said “bull” loud enough to be heard in the courtroom.
One of the parents at the hearing was Susan Mishanski of Hanover Township.
Her son, Kevin, now 18, was sentenced to 90 days in a detention facility last year in a simple assault case that everyone had told her would result in probation, since Kevin had never been in trouble and the boy he hit had only a black eye.
“It’s horrible to have your child taken away in shackles right in front of you when you think you’re going home with him,” she said. “It was nice to see them sitting on the other side of the bench.”
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Wisconsin Prison Watch
P.O. Box 292
Boscobel, WI 53805
The United States spends about $57 billion annually on its prison and jail system. Over $750 billion on the military budget. Hundreds of billions on police and courts. How much on schools?P.O. Box 292
Boscobel, WI 53805
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WISCONSIN PRISON WATCH NEWSLETTER
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Remit to: Wisconsin Prison Watch - P.O. Box 292 - Boscobel, WI 53805
Saturday, January 31, 2009
January 2009 Newsletter
Friends,
Three questions have presented themselves in letters during these past few months that I would like to address. Question 1. Does WPW avoid news articles and opinion about sex offenders? Question 2. Should WPW “tone down” the rhetoric and seek credibility? Question 3. Why don’t you do more investigative articles and more research?
Question 1. Does WPW avoid news articles and opinion about sex offenders? No, our mission is to highlight and expose the crimes committed by the DOC, Parole Commission and (in)justice system. We never ask, nor do we feel it important to consider the crime of the prisoner. Our newsletter also tries to highlight the societal penchant and immorality of putting people in cages as a method of solving social problems. We do not express an opinion on the crimes of those behind bars - it is not our concern. Our concern is with the crimes committed by those in uniform.
Question 2. Should WPW “tone down” the rhetoric and seek credibility? We are what we are. Actually, we do curb our contempt and disgust with the abuse and indignity heaped on prisoners. We are outraged and hope that message is loud and clear. We wonder, from whom the questioner thinks we should seek credibility? Certainly not from the institutions and bureaucrats who run them, they are not responsive to polite pleas or reasoned arguments. Have you filed an ICI lately?
Maybe the questioner thinks the public needs to hear a “reasonable” articulation of the “problems” behind the walls? On this point we agree - to a degree. WPW does inform the press whenever important stories arise. For the most part, the press is not interested, because the public is not interested and if the public’s not interested the advertisers lose interest. In a capitalist system the merit of the story is subjugated to the profit margins. But, as I said, we agree and do our best to inform the main stream press.
But, we are not the main stream press; our newsletter goes to prisoners who already know they are being abused, degraded and dehumanized. The families kinda know it but don’t believe it from their loved ones. So, the purpose of the WPW newsletter is to, not only expose the rot, but to heighten political awareness and understanding of “how the system works”, and how we need to resist the oppression. If you don’t think you’re being oppressed then this newsletter is not for you. If you think prisons serve a legitimate purpose then this newsletter is not for you. If you think bending a knee to the powers that be will reform prison policies, this newsletter is not for you. If you think the public will be moved to compassion if one more story of abuse gets published, you’re deluding yourself.
Question 3. Why don’t you do more investigative articles and more research? The primary reason is, we don’t have the time or resources. There’s an important book written by the feminist group INCITE!, titled The Revolution Will Not Be Funded, from which we draw a lesson. We don’t seek funding from institutions, charities, or foundations because we do not want our message or objectives to be blunted or coerced by the funders. We are funded by YOU, the people who are impacted by the prison system. If what we say and do serves a purpose, the funding will continue. If we become insipid and ineffective, we will disappear.
Another reason why we don’t do investigative journalism is because we don’t have a large volunteer staff. We would love to have a bunch of people sitting around with nothing to do, ready to research and investigate. Hey wait a minute, there are a bunch of guys sitting around with nothing to do. Get busy and send in articles and reports.
So, you see, it’s up to you. Send us contributions and ask others to subscribe and support our work. Also, send us your reports and investigations or just send your reflections on “how the system works”. Send us news articles and court cases. This is your newsletter.
Some of you are really busy. We’ve received some really powerful court cases. Some guys are trying to shake things up in the courts. Some have sent us reports of success despite the many hurdles placed on their efforts. Many of us don’t understand the law and its convoluted language. Many of us are frustrated by the lying, cheating, and corruption we face when trying to get some justice. Here at WPW we are continually frustrated by the lack of public concern, the lack of revolutionary spirit, the lack of political awareness, and the lack of outrage, but we fight on. Not because we think we can win, but because we must. We must resist, we are compelled to resist the dehumanization and stupidity of prisons. We cannot do otherwise but resist this culture of oppression.
The winter weather has chilled the desire to protest and leaflet outside of the DOC and prisons but PAW is making plans for the spring. One thing for sure, a contingent of PAW members will be visiting the Capitol to let the Governor know that Al Graham needs to go. He’s up for reappointment in March and PAW wants to make it clear, families are being victimized by the Parole Commission. We urge all families of incarcerated to call or write to the governor to let him know what you think of Al Graham. More info on page 5.
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has organized a campaign called STOPMAX whose mission states, in part: “To promote and support a national movement to end the use of solitary confinement and related forms of torture in US prisons”. Your editor has been invited to sit on the steering committee and I will bring my knowledge and experience in dealing with Wisconsin’s overuse of segregation units to the national discussion. Comments from those suffering this barbarity are welcome.
We are in the process of compiling a handbook for families of incarcerated. The purpose is to help families understand the process and negotiate the bureaucracy while supporting their loved one. Suggestions are welcome - please tell us what you think your families should have known or should know in order to help you on the inside
in solidarity,
WPW
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Illinois Prisoners Win $8 Million for Failure to Treat Hep C, from PLN
A federal jury has awarded four Illinois prisoners over $2 million apiece in a civil rights action filed against state prison officials for denying treatment for Hepatitis C (Hep C).
In 2005, Edward J. Roe, Anthony P. Stasiak, Timothy J. Stephen and Jackson Walker, all state prisoners at the Logan Correctional Center (LCC) in Lincoln, Illinois, were denied Hep C treatment. Hep C is a blood-borne disease that can cause liver failure if left untreated; it is most often spread through IV drug use, needle sharing (including tattoo needles) and unprotected sex.
Larry Sims, the Chief Administrative Officer at LCC; Willard Elyea, Medical Director for the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC); and IDOC Director Roger Walker refused to provide Hep C treatment based on a blanket policy that denied such treatment to prisoners with fewer than 18 months left to serve on their sentences.
In September 2005, the four LCC prisoners filed a lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. They claimed the non-treatment policy resulted from the defendants’ deliberate indifference to their serious medical needs, in violation of the 8th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
On February 15, 2008 a federal jury agreed that the policy was unconstitutional, and awarded the prisoners $20,000 each in actual damages and $2,000,000 each in punitive damages.
Attorney H. Kent Heller of Mattoon, Illinois represented the plaintiffs; he said this was the largest monetary judgment he had ever won for a client. Attorney fees have not yet been awarded in this case. See: Roe v. Sims, U.S.D.C. CD Ill., Case No. 3:06-cv-03034-HAB-CHE.
Hep C-related prison litigation appears to be on the upswing, since large numbers of prisoners are infected with the disease and most prison systems are unwilling to provide the expensive – though necessary – medical treatment for it.
For example, on July 8, 2008, a class action lawsuit was filed against the California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) on behalf of California’s 159,000 state prisoners. The complaint states they do not receive adequate treatment for Hep C, which infects an estimated 40 percent of the CDCR population. See: Jackson v. Dezember, U.S.D.C. CD Cal., Case No. 2:08-cv-04454-GHK-FMO.
“This is a nasty, nasty disease,” said attorney Shawn Khorrami, who filed the class action suit. “We don’t allow this kind of punishment in America, where someone has a disease and we have them suffer from it and have all kinds of problems going forward in their lives just because they’ve committed a crime.”
Actually prison officials routinely allow such punitive medical neglect to occur, which is why such lawsuits are necessary.
UPDATE ON THE HEP-C CLASS ACTION
A few of you have contacted attorney Heller on this but we know more under-treated and untreated cases of Hep-C are out there. Spread the word because this action could have some deep implications for the DOC (financial) and for those suffering this disease (financial and health). For more information write to:
Attorney Kent Heller
Heller, Holmes & Associates, P.C.
1101 Broadway
P.O. Box 889
Mattoon, IL 61938
Dear Prison Watch,
Hey! I’ve been down for 25 years all together in this fucked up system and all I can say is, it’s about time somebody kept an eye on these freaks!
This is my eighth time in, 4 were revocations, and the other four were all property crimes, yet I’ve served more time than a few lifers I’ve met.
Right now I’m almost done with a five year sentence for breaking my probation by going to Texas (absconding) for two months. This five year sentence stems from a 1998 burglary conviction where I stole a check for $420 and cashed it.
So, yes it’s true, I’m sitting here, taking up a single cell (red tag) in Green Bay, for a crime that occurred over ten years ago. And, it was my only violation after three years of supervision; working, paying rent and minding my own business. No ATR, no work release; five years on a ten year withheld sentence. They extradited me 1620 miles on an eight day bus ride from Hell.
All this for going down to Texas to roof houses damaged in Katrina, to make $15 an hour cash instead of $11.50 minus taxes here in Wisconsin. The state has spent thirty thousand dollars a year “punishing” me for stealing a check and then leaving the state for a better job.
Anyway, I’ll be out soon with 20 months of parole which I may or may not get revoked on. And of course when I get released I will have zero dollars and zero cents because that’s the way the DOC likes to see you leave. But you can bet I’ll get that “good luck out there” on the way out the door, because they always smile and say that when you leave prison, just to let you know they care, you’re their friend and it’s not personal.
Sincerely,
Scott McLeod
Doyle named Obama’s Commerce Secretary (parody by Bonnie Abzug)
Wisconsin Governor was recently chosen to replace Gov. Bill Richardson for US Commerce Secretary. Doyle was chosen and then his name was quickly withdrawn due to the fact that the State of Wisconsin stands at the top (worst) ranking of Black incarceration rates in the whole United States of Amerikkka!
Wisconsin Prison Activists were elated by the nomination, hoping that a new Governor would realize the highest ranking of top Black Incarceration rates were sure signs of the racism in Wisconsin state laws, justice system and its whole state government. Activists hoped a new Governor would stand on a bully pulpit and make this gross and shameful record a thing of the past. They were sure that a new governor would get rid of the regressive Parole Chair, Al Graham.
Obama and his aides must have made note of Doyle’s and the State of Wisconsin’s abysmal treatment of its Black population and decided that this type of politician is not wanted in their cabinet. Unfortunately Obama’s de-cision does not bode well for our state.
As a matter of reference, Minnesota and Wisconsin both have the same minority population demographics and crime rate. Minnesota houses 9000 prisoners while Wisconsin houses over 22,000. How many times must these statistics be shown before our state’s citizens force our government representatives to rectify this inequity.
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Notes from Starvin’ Naked Marvin: The Day After
What does Barack Obama’s election mean for Black prisoners?
Very little and a great deal. Very little in that it’s unlikely he’ll make sweeping changes to the justice system. Obama was not elected on a platform for social change, he ran and won with an economic agenda and was supported by the same money ‘strokers’ that have supported every president. IF Blacks, especially those imprisoned, expect social change they’re going to be disappointed.
Obama’s election though, in a psychological sense, means a great deal to prisoners. Prisoners are quicker than free persons to believe they can not fight and win against an entrenched system and that color is an inherent bar to success. Obama has shown that the bar to success of Black men is mostly a bar of their own making, a self-imposed limit on how high they can climb.
Obama’s victory is a classic lesson in vision and persistence all prisoners should study, especially Black prisoners. For in that lesson is the means to overcome the horrors of both imprisonment and the justice system. His victory instructs us to first recognize our own worth and to respect the worth of others, then to establish a goal and pursue it through planning and preparation, and finally, most importantly, to embrace a single-minded focus toward achieving that goal.
Obama’s victory has shown us that even ‘blue sky’ is not limited to one who’s determined to achieve a goal. How then can we, given his example, fail to take on and defeat the problems of injustice and imprisonment we face?
Let me propose a goal for all prisoners: The reduction and reformation of the prison system into a more human-centered service through the non-violent destabilization of the current dehumanizing system. Prisons operate efficiently and effectively because we prisoners allow them to do so. Without our support, mentally by obeying orders, and physically by working in prisons, the prison system, as it now stands, would collapse. This is a fact we’ve known but have been afraid to exploit.
To achieve this goal we must first set aside our fear. Fear is the mind killer, it prevents self defense. For unless you are willing to abandon your fears and risk everything you stand to gain nothing. Ask yourself if your life has value and worth not just to you but also those with whom you interact - your family, your friends. If you answer is yes then you must vigorously defend your life from the ravages of a system which as declared your life worthless.
Since, to this system, you’re only a body give them that body without its mind. Do not perform any function or obey any order which supports the orderly running of any prison. Non-violently refuse to be an intelligent but willing victim of a rogue system. Refuse to accept their pronouncement of you as worthless. Make them work like hell to maintain you and this system.
In this country we’ve allowed morality and conscience to be replacement with bad laws. To obey such law is to deny your humanity and the responsibility you bear, as an American , to raise protest in the face of injustice.
Look to President-Elect Obama as your inspiration towards this goal. It only seems like ‘blue sky’ because we fear to fight for our worth.
Warren G. Lilly, Jr.,, pen name Starvin’ Naked Marvin, has been hunger striking for over four years in protest of Wisconsin’s and America’s abusive overuse of imprisonment. He refuses to eat, wear clothing, and obey orders, and is force fed thrice daily, Monday through Saturday. Warren asks prisoners and free persons to fast with him every Sunday then to e-mail or write to their Governor in support of his protest.
Contact Warren at: Warren G. Lilly, Jr.
DOC # 447655
WCI, P.O. Box 351
Waupun, WI 53963-0351
Warrenlilly.blogspot.com
Studies: Wisconsin has highest racial disparity in drug sentences
Associated Press
05/06/2008
MILWAUKEE — Two new studies show Wisconsin has the highest racial disparity in the nation when it comes to sentences for drug convictions.
Blacks in the Badger State are 42 times more likely than whites to be sentenced to prison for drug convictions, according to studies by Human Rights Watch and The Sentencing Project. In Minnesota, blacks are ten-times more likely to be sentenced, the report said.
The Sentencing Project examines data from 43 of the nation's largest cities between 1980 and 2003. The Human Rights Watch study looks at racial disparities among drug offenders sent to prison in 34 states.
According to the research, blacks are sent to prison for drug offenses at a rate at least 10 times that of whites in 16 states, with the disparity the greatest in Wisconsin.
Ratio of black/white rates of prison admissions for drug offenses, 2003.
(Rates calculated per 1,000 residents of each race)
Alabama **** 3.5
California *********** 10.6
Colorado ***************14.4
Florida ************11.7
Georgia ***** 5.0
Hawaii ****** 5.8
Illinois ************************* 23.6
Iowa ******** 7.7
Kentucky ******6.2
Louisiana ******* 7.3
Maryland ***************** 17.4
Michigan ************ 11.8
Minnesota ********** 10.1
Mississippi ** 3.0
Missouri *** 2.7
Nebraska ***** 4.6
Nevada *******6.6
New Hampshire *******7.1
New Jersey *********************20.6
New York **************14.3
North Carolina *********** 10.9
North Dakota **** 3.8
Oklahoma **** 4.4
Oregon **** 4.1
Pennsylvania ************* 13.1
South Carolina ********* 9.3
South Dakota ********* 9.0
Tennessee ******** 8.4
Texas ************ 11.7
Utah ******** 7.5
Virginia *************13.2
Washington ********** 10.1
West Virginia **************** 16.3
Wisconsin ***************************************** 42.4
Total ********** 10.1
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HOME DEPOT ACCUSED OF VIOLATING CIVIL RIGHTS OF JOB APPLICANTS WITH CRIMINAL RECORDS---National Employment Law Project seeking other people who have been denied employment
Two African-American men have filed charges of discrimination against Home Depot alleging that the company's rejection of their job applications based on their past criminal records violates federal civil rights laws forbidding race discrimination because the practice has an adverse impact on African Americans and Hispanics. The charges were filed with the New York office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The charging parties are being represented by the Legal Action Center (www.lac.org), Outten & Golden LLP (www.outtengolden.com), the National Employment Law Project (www.nelp.org) and Goldstein, Demchak, Baller, Borgen & Dardarian (www.gdblegal.com).
As part of their investigation of these claims, the charging parties counsel are interested in speaking to other African Americans and Hispanics who have been rejected for employment by Home Depot because of a past criminal record.
People in New York State should contact the Legal Action Center, 212-243-1313 (outside of NY City, call 800-223-4044), and ask to speak to a paralegal about the Home Depot case. People in California should contact the National Employment Law Project, 510-409-2427. People outside of New York or California should contact Justin Swartz at Outten & Golden, 212-245-1000.
A note from a friend at WCI
As a Wisconsin State prisoner at the Waupun “correctional” Institution (WCI), the guards, the wardens, and other administrative staff don’t have to say out loud what they really think of me and other state prisoners, (That prisoners are sub-human), they show it to us every day by exploiting our labor; by locking us up in cells - some of us double celled - that even animals would deteriorate in; by keeping us away from those we love; by instilling in our minds, fear, anger, hatred, disgust and a deep contempt for the injustices inherent in the “rule of law”; by keeping us prisoners locked up, away from, and alienated from each other when we try to educate and organize ourselves to do something about our sub-human conditions and subhuman treatment; and by subjecting us to endure years and years of this systemic dehumanization without ever knowing if, when, or how we will finally be released.
Such is the stuff that keeps Wisconsin prisons overcrowded and the recidivism rate at nearly 70% which begs the question, what are they correcting? And even more deplorable, all this state sponsored systematic dehumanization takes place in the name of “corrections” at taxpayers expense of $30,000 or more per year per prisoner!
Signed - Just another forgotten and anonymous WCI state prisoner. (I am not afraid to sign my name to this letter to the editor of WPW; I’m just not stupid enough to sign it publicly as I know if I do, I’ll end up in HSU again for stating what I know to be the facts and truth... so much for the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and for freedom of speech!)
11-13-08
5,000 prisoners on hunger strike across Greece in demand for reforms!
All 21 Greek prisons are in the grip of prisoners 3-stage campaign in demand of 45-point reform. As part of the protest, more than 5,000 inmates are now on hunger strike.
As of Monday the 3rd of November the totality of prison across Greece are under a 3-stage campaign in demand of a 45-point reform, asking amongst other things for abolition of all juvenile prisons, greater freedoms, reduction of prison service and better conditions. The first stage of the prisoners struggle in which 8,000 out of 15,000 inmates took part consisted of refusing food from the prison catering. On Friday the 7th, 1,000 of them upgraded to the second stage of the campaign by going on hunger strike. The number of the hunger strikers today (11/7/08) is 5,120, 17 of whom have sewn their mouths. The third stage of the campaign, general uprising, looms over the prison establishment as outside the prisons solidarity campaigns are filling the streets of the Greek cities with protest marches, concerts and various forms of direct action.
Sen. Webb’s Call for Prison Reform
January 1, 2009
Editorial - N.Y. Times
This country puts too many people behind bars for too long. Most elected officials, afraid of being tarred as soft on crime, ignore these problems. Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat of Virginia, is now courageously stepping into the void, calling for a national commission to re-assess criminal justice policy. Other members of Congress should show the same courage and rally to the cause.
The United States has the world’s highest reported incarceration rate. Although it has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, it has almost one-quarter of the world’s prisoners. And for the first time in history, more than 1 in 100 American adults are behind bars.
Many inmates are serving long sentences for nonviolent crimes, including minor drug offenses. It also is extraordinarily expensive. Billions of dollars now being spent on prisons each year could be used in far more socially productive ways.
Senator Webb — a former Marine and secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration — is in many ways an unlikely person to champion criminal justice reform. But his background makes him an especially effective advocate for a cause that has often been associated with liberals and academics.
In his two years in the Senate, Mr. Webb has held hearings on the cost of mass incarceration and on the criminal justice system’s response to the problems of illegal drugs. He also has called attention to the challenges of prisoner re-entry and of the need to provide released inmates, who have paid their debts to society, more help getting jobs and resuming productive lives.
Mr. Webb says he intends to introduce legislation to create a national commission to investigate these issues. With Barack Obama in the White House, and strong Democratic majorities in Congress, the political climate should be more favorable than it has been in years. And the economic downturn should make both federal and state lawmakers receptive to the idea of reforming a prison system that is as wasteful as it is inhumane.
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Prison Action Wisconsin General Membership meetings are held on the second Saturday of every month at:
All God’s Children Church
3356 N. Martin Luther King Dr.
Milwaukee, WI
January 10, 2009
February 14, 2009
March 14, 2009
Committees meet more often and on different days.
We ask all prisoners to urge their family attend our meetings and support our effort. It is only through a united voice that we will be heard.
Prison Action Wisconsin asks that all who read this message call or write governor Doyle to let him know we are being victimized by Alfonso Graham and the Parole Commission. Many of our loved ones are ready to come home and we are ready to help them restart their lives.
Let the Governor know it is cruel and unusual punishment to keep families waiting, not knowing what is expected of their loved ones and what they need to do to get released.
Tell the Governor to appoint a progressive and reasonable Parole Commission Chair who will listen to the families.
PAW also asks that you call your State Senator and Representative with the same message.
We can force a change. We need to make the calls. We need to lobby the legislators. Please join us at the Capitol in February for a day of lobbying. Please make the calls.
Office of the Governor
608-266-1212
Senator Lena Taylor
608-266-5810
Senator Spencer Coggs
608-266-2500
Representative Marc Pocan
608-266-8570
Representative Leon Young
608-266-3786
Representative Tamara Grigsby
608-266-0645
Legislative Hotline
Toll-free: 1-800-362-9472
WORT - Madison’s progressive, community owned, volunteer operated radio station sent holiday messages over the airwaves to those locked up behind the walls. Families called and left a recorded message for their loved one which was compiled and aired during the holiday season. We hope you caught the show. Some of the folks who called in:
Beverly Pittman, Unity Brown, Draylon Oliver, Roy Taylor, Wayco, Lavail Coleman, Chazna Hopkins, Rhonda Oliver, Duvila Rivers, Carl Brown, LaQuanda Jones, Carolyn Arrington, Rosenil Hicks, Awdarrah Bowman, Zolo Farrior, Kathleen Hart, Sarah Freeman, Montrell Oliver, Frank Van den Bosch, Avishareail Stringfellow, Cencreaha Alexander, Ajinai Kenyadah, and many others.
WORT is not a powerful radio station and many in the remote areas of Wisconsin probably didn’t get the holiday greeting so...
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ARTISTS AGAINST THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
PROJECT LODGE
817 E. Johnson St. Madison
January 30 - Feb 5
Reception, Fri., Jan 30 7pm -10pm
Gallery Hours - 10am - 5pm M-F
Sponsored by Justseeds’ Artists
Cooperative & WI Books to Prisoners,
A project of Rainbow Bookstore
Over 30 prints by printmakers nationwide addressing the use of policing, prisons and,
punishment as a “solution” to social, political and, economic problems and more than
70 critical drawings by prisoners will be on display.
Artwork is welcome year around for public education.
Please send or deliver artwork to:
Wisconsin Books to prisoners
Rainbow Bookstore
426 W. Gilman St.
Madison, WI 53703
Contact: Camy or John at 608-262-9036
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WSPF - When will it ever convert into a general population?
by: Comrade Muhammad Crutchfield
For almost two years now WSPF, formerly the WI SuperMax, has supposedly been converting into a “general population” prison. Prisoners who first arrived have told me that the place has been a mess from day one, with no real format as to how it operates. I’ve been here since Sept. 17, 2008 and know from personal experience that the place is nothing more than a continued human experiment, as it was originally designed to be.
Every week there’s a new rule on top of a rule. Memos are constantly being put out by the so-called Charlie and Delta Unit Manager on just about everything you can imagine, mainly non-sense.
For instance, no prisoner can get state soap unless they are indigent. Also, only prisoners without type-writers may put in a request to use the so-called ‘law-library’ type-writer. They must get the typing ribbon from the bubble Sgt. and return it to him once done. They must also show him/her what they typed to prove that it was strictly legal materials.
About a month and a half ago a prisoner wanted to call his attorney, but had to go through all kinds of hoops. The reason being, his so-called social worker thought that the forms he produced to her (DOC FORMS) were fake, because she’d never seen them before. He was told by her that she’d been a social worker at WSPF for years and had never seen such forms, nor had she ever heard of any prisoner having a non-monitored phone call to his attorney. She told him that she “felt he was getting away with something and am going to investigate”.
Her investigation found that she’d been un-informed, WSPF was/is recording/ monitoring even prisoners attorney calls, at least one of his attorney phone calls had been “monitored” (which was quickly denied by the Warden after an outside concerned person called and inquired about the matter), and that WSPF is basically violating client/ attorney confidential rights. He was told that notices would be put up in each phone call area notifying prisoners of the bogus monitoring of even attorney calls. This was at least two months ago and still nothing is posted.
Among the numerous other problems here of major significance, the lack of contact visiting is the biggest felt, especially on those who get regular visits. Because WSPF was not designed for population there was never an area built for visiting. However, as soon as it was decreed that WSPF would be converting into a general max, it became the DOC’s responsibility to build a visiting room or convert some area in the prison into a temporary visiting room until one was built. Denying us contact visits is a violation of the WI Admin. Code (see visiting regulations regarding visits in its entirety). The WI Admin. Code clearly states that the only way a prisoners visits can be made non-contact is for punitive reasons. I can’t speak for everyone else, but I haven’t violated any WI Admin. Code, nor have my visits been restricted (except forcefully by the DOC sending me here). Rumors have it that a visiting room will be built within another one or two years.
WSPF has made an art of penny-pinching. Three times a week prisoners are fed bag breakfasts, they aren’t given state boots, no state hygiene items are given out, job wages are being intentionally kept low that normally pay higher elsewhere. The main kitchen better not catch a worker-prisoner eating an extra sugar packet or salt packet if he values his job.
There is no population here. Prisoners are constantly being put through one form of psychological game play after another by staff. Last week prisoners signed up for “rec.” only to be told they didn’t have it, even though a schedule was passed to all saying they did. After complaints, they were eventually let out that afternoon. Ironically, later that evening, the list with all of the names on it for phone calls was suspiciously “lost” and guys were told they couldn’t call their loved ones. These are just some of the problems, but the real problem is us......
DARE TO STRUGGLE!!!!!!!
“SETTLE YOUR QUARRELS, COME TOGETHER, UNDERSTAND THE REALITY OF THE SITUATION, UNDERSTAND THAT FASCISM IS ALREADY HERE.”
“DO WHAT MUST BE DONE, DISCOVER YOUR HUMANITY AND YOUR LIFE IN THE REVOLUTION. PASS ON THE TORCH, JOIN US, GIVE UP YOUR LIFE FOR THE PEOPLE.”
Comrade/Brother, George Jackson
WA-ALAYKUM AS-salaam
Comrade Muhammad Crutchfield
Notes pertaining to SORP:
from Chris Klingeisen
The DOC is administrating Civil Punishment on the persons who are incarcerated by enforcing the policy 301.45 (10) and thus turned the punishment towards the families of the incarcerated, due to the fact that 95% of the inmates cannot afford to pay this fee. This fee has doubled, prior was $50.00 a year, now $100.00 a year. This action by itself is punishment especially when it is administered to the incarcerated. It is different when the offender is released and then he can take this responsibility. The only factor that is in question is the timing of this policy.
Also, the threat of submitting offenders to collections will cause issues in the future. This can have adverse effects on the person while he is attempting to apply for a job, (many employers look at a person’s credit history). There are some offenders like myself who have good credit and this action threatens it. Also, this action would cause issue when a person is applying for credit, DVR, school, S.S., & grants. This may seem small at first but it is major to a person who is trying to be a positive person in the community. This action over time will explode into many infractions in a person’s life. Simply by waiting when the offender is released it then would be more responsible to apply this action. In some cases, offenders may be incarcerated for a number of years and building debt. This action is added stress and possibly a factor on one’s desire to correct their issues.
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Message from Moso
Dear Comrades,
I'm writing this article to hopefully welcome our new readers. As mentioned in the last edition, there has been an effort by PAW to bring more attention to our struggle by passing out material in front of the prisons during visiting hours.
I believed this was a good idea because, as we have seen, most prisoners have not attempted to get their families and loved ones involved. We have been depending on inmates to contact their families from prison and have them sign them up or join them up with the organization.
It appears only when they face adversity and experience abuse of power by correctional officials by getting a unjustified conduct reports or having their visitors mistreated, do they then seek assistance from a outside source once they realize they themselves have no power. But unless the organization itself has a sufficient amount of members and resources, it can help no one. So we ourselves have to be the leaders, as no one else will save us, but us.
I think Frank did a good job of explaining the different mission of this organization from that of the others. It's nice to have them attempt to at least do something different than what a lot of progressives are doing. Now that society has made some progress with the recent election of Barack Obama, doors are about to open.
Insanity has been defined as when a person does the same thing over and over, but always expects a different result. A lot of the progressives now want to institute a lot of the same things tried in the past, in the belief that it will make things better such as treatment programs and counseling, etc., etc.
These are good intentions, but are misguided. This stuff has already been tried back in the late 60s and 70s when liberals were in control. It had a lot of beneficial results, however, we still have a lot of the same problems today as we had then.
So now, it's time to think of a radical solution, which even the so called "Progressives" are afraid to tackle for fear of not being "politically correct". They want to talk about: the problem of the incarceration rate. However, they don't want to discuss the root cause of the high rate of incarceration.
Why is there no discussion of what was really behind this conspiracy called the War on Drugs? Everyone want to speak on the ill effects of drugs and how it is destroying communities and society. That's really a sham. The drugs are not what's causing the crime and violence, instead it is the laws that are the culprit. It is the enactment of these draconian laws that has reinvented prohibition.
Most have some limited knowledge of history - it was prohibition that gave rise to the "gangster age". It was only after seeing the effects on the White Majority population, (mass arrests and prison sentences), that a Constitutional Amendment was passed, to abolish the Prohibition Act. However, the effects of the prohibition laws were studied and mastered by social scientists, to where they have now been reapplied to carry out a agenda of political power, population control, and subversion of the United States Constitution.
The only way these power hungry "one worlders" can take people’s rights away, is if citizens voluntarily give them up. Before Bush and his backers so clumsily exposed this secret technology and plot under the guise of the war on terror, it was being used to target people and organizations under the guise of the war on drugs. They already knew the prohibition of drugs would cause rival drug gangs and warfare, armed robberies and violent crimes, just as gangsters did back in the prohibition era, lured by profits and riches. This is assured by making the product illegal. Look at the prisons today. Once we could buy tobbacco in pouches which cost about 85 cents. However, now that this item is "prohibited", the same item will sell for over $50.00 a pouch.
The same principle applies. Thus, it is the law that is causing the destruction of poor people and making them "victims" of the conspiracy. This is why over 80% of us are in prison. We walked into the trap and many more will follow unless and until we deal with the real causes of these social ills. As long as they have the community's eyes stuck on the trick that the drugs are the problem, and the false “solution” to stop using, selling and buying drugs, they will be blind to the real crooks who knows it is the law (which they control), that is the real enemy. However, it is politically incorrect to say drugs should not be illegal even though they were only made illegal as part of a conspiracy. So even though it’s the truth, it is a radical truth whose time for light has come.
For those who have access to a library, a book entitled Down by the River, authored by Charles Bowden, reveals a lot of information and history about the secret dealings of the United States Government and the Mexican Government and this fake "war on drugs" and its real purpose. So it will be the WPW that will be reporting on and organizing to address such topics.
Additionally, who is advocating for the prisoner victims to these past plots? Who speaks for those who have been given these life ending terms of incarceration for crimes like armed robbery, burglary, felony murder, etc., etc.? Who will expose how they stacked the state Courts with these Federalist Judges, (which is a judicial cult), bent on protecting the corporate and police state interests against the little people who have no power?
With sufficient political power, relief could be gained by organizing and getting the political power to have laws changed to where inmates can get adequate post conviction relief and sentence modifications. When these extreme Right Wing Republicans were in power, they pretty much shut the door to make sure a lot of their handy work does not get undone. We have to change that. And as the recent election of Barack Obama has shown, if you organize from the grass roots, ordinary people can do extraordinary things. If you want justice and relief, get involved and support the WPW and PAW. More information will be submitted in future editions.
MoSo,
page 8,
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The United States: A Country Without Mercy
By Paul Craig Roberts
December 16, 2008 The Christmas season is a time to remember the unfortunate, among whom are those who have been wrongly convicted.
In the United States, the country with the largest prison population in the world, the number of wrongly convicted is very large. Hardly any felony charges are resolved with trials. The vast majority of defendants, both innocent and guilty, are coerced into plea bargains. Not only are the innocent framed, but the guilty as well. It is quicker and less expensive to frame the guilty than to convict them on the evidence.
Many Americans are wrongfully convicted, because they trust the justice system. They naively believe that police and prosecutors are moved by evidence and have a sense of justice. The trust they have in authorities makes them easy victims of a system that has no moral conscience and is untroubled by the injustice it perpetrates.
Lt. William Strong, son of a military family, tired of his wife’s unfaithfulness and filed for divorce. The unfaithful wife retaliated by accusing Strong of rape. There was no evidence of rape, but Strong was deceived into a plea bargain. Once Strong entered a plea, he was double-crossed and given 60 years.
Christophe Gaynor took an adolescent skate board team to New York City for a competition. One of the kids attempted to buy illicit drugs. Gaynor threatened to tell the boy’s parents, and the boy preempted Gaynor by accusing him of sexual molestation.
Gaynor was openly framed in the Arlington, Virginia, court system.
Americans, or perhaps more accurately some Americans, were horrified by the photographs showing the torture of Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib by the US military. The Senate Armed Services Committee has issued a report which concludes that the torture policy originated at the highest level of the Bush administration. Those Americans with a moral conscience have reeled under further revelations--the torture of Guantanamo detainees, the transport of people seized by US authorities to third world countries to be tortured.
We have to ask ourselves why American service men and women and CIA operatives delight in torturing people about whom they know nothing? It has been well known since the Stalin era that torture never produces accurate information. Yet, US soldiers and CIA personnel jumped at the green light given to torture by President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, and the US Department of Justice. Why weren’t our soldiers shocked instead at the immorality of their leaders?
One answer is that the US military no longer operates according to a code of honor. Military discipline in the traditional sense does not exist. The ethos of the US military has degenerated into kick-ass macho. Major General Taguba, who, instead of covering up the Abu Ghraib scandal, attempted in his report to hold the US military to its traditional principles, was forced to resign from the US Army.
Another answer is that the work of torture, like police work and prosecutorial work, attracts brutal people who enjoy inflicting harm on others. The two Republican female US Attorneys in Alabama who framed Democratic Governor Seligman enjoyed ruining Seligman and bringing grief to his family.
Deborah Davies of the BBC’s Channel 4 undertook a four-month investigation of the torture of American prisoners inside American prisons. Videos taken by sadistic prison guards and videos recovered from surveillance cameras reveal horrible acts of torture and even of murder of prisoners by prison guards.
An American prison reformer told Deborah Davies, “We’ve become immune to the abuse. The brutality has become customary.”
Few Americans seem to be disturbed as these inhumane and illegal practices continue unabated. Americans continue to see themselves as the salt of the earth, the “indispensable people.”
“Law and order conservatives” have a great responsibility for this evil. Just as “law and order conservatives” created hysteria among the people about crime, they created hysteria about terrorists. Hysterical people condone great evils and arm government with power in the mistaken belief that it will protect them.
What kind of people have we become when we exercise no oversight over a criminal justice (sic) system that destroys the lives of innocent people and locks them away in prisons to be tortured by sadistic guards?
Results of a Washington and Lee School of Law examination into the principle causes of wrongful convictions.
DNA Inclusions *
Other Forensic Inclusions *****
False Confessions ************
Informant/Snitches ************
False Witness Testimony ************
Bad Lawyering **************
Microscopic Hair Comparison ****************
Defective/Fraudulent Science ********************
Prosecutorial Misconduct ***********************
Police Misconduct **************************
Serology Inclusion ***************************
Mistaken Identification *******************************************
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
page 9,
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Dear Prison Watch,
Please subscribe me to your newsletter
Enclosed is a remittance in the required amount (please check one)
I am currently incarcerated in the state of __________________ ___ $5.00 per year
I am an “outside” friend, relation, or supporter of a prisoner ___ $15.00 per year
I work for the DOC, FBI, ATF, DEA, CIA, Milwaukee Police Dept. ___ $100.00 per year
Please also accept $_________ as a donation to be used in the struggle for justice.
Postage stamps are acceptable as payment.
Please send your newsletter to:
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Remit to: Wisconsin Prison Watch - P.O. Box 292 - Boscobel, WI 53805
Three questions have presented themselves in letters during these past few months that I would like to address. Question 1. Does WPW avoid news articles and opinion about sex offenders? Question 2. Should WPW “tone down” the rhetoric and seek credibility? Question 3. Why don’t you do more investigative articles and more research?
Question 1. Does WPW avoid news articles and opinion about sex offenders? No, our mission is to highlight and expose the crimes committed by the DOC, Parole Commission and (in)justice system. We never ask, nor do we feel it important to consider the crime of the prisoner. Our newsletter also tries to highlight the societal penchant and immorality of putting people in cages as a method of solving social problems. We do not express an opinion on the crimes of those behind bars - it is not our concern. Our concern is with the crimes committed by those in uniform.
Question 2. Should WPW “tone down” the rhetoric and seek credibility? We are what we are. Actually, we do curb our contempt and disgust with the abuse and indignity heaped on prisoners. We are outraged and hope that message is loud and clear. We wonder, from whom the questioner thinks we should seek credibility? Certainly not from the institutions and bureaucrats who run them, they are not responsive to polite pleas or reasoned arguments. Have you filed an ICI lately?
Maybe the questioner thinks the public needs to hear a “reasonable” articulation of the “problems” behind the walls? On this point we agree - to a degree. WPW does inform the press whenever important stories arise. For the most part, the press is not interested, because the public is not interested and if the public’s not interested the advertisers lose interest. In a capitalist system the merit of the story is subjugated to the profit margins. But, as I said, we agree and do our best to inform the main stream press.
But, we are not the main stream press; our newsletter goes to prisoners who already know they are being abused, degraded and dehumanized. The families kinda know it but don’t believe it from their loved ones. So, the purpose of the WPW newsletter is to, not only expose the rot, but to heighten political awareness and understanding of “how the system works”, and how we need to resist the oppression. If you don’t think you’re being oppressed then this newsletter is not for you. If you think prisons serve a legitimate purpose then this newsletter is not for you. If you think bending a knee to the powers that be will reform prison policies, this newsletter is not for you. If you think the public will be moved to compassion if one more story of abuse gets published, you’re deluding yourself.
Question 3. Why don’t you do more investigative articles and more research? The primary reason is, we don’t have the time or resources. There’s an important book written by the feminist group INCITE!, titled The Revolution Will Not Be Funded, from which we draw a lesson. We don’t seek funding from institutions, charities, or foundations because we do not want our message or objectives to be blunted or coerced by the funders. We are funded by YOU, the people who are impacted by the prison system. If what we say and do serves a purpose, the funding will continue. If we become insipid and ineffective, we will disappear.
Another reason why we don’t do investigative journalism is because we don’t have a large volunteer staff. We would love to have a bunch of people sitting around with nothing to do, ready to research and investigate. Hey wait a minute, there are a bunch of guys sitting around with nothing to do. Get busy and send in articles and reports.
So, you see, it’s up to you. Send us contributions and ask others to subscribe and support our work. Also, send us your reports and investigations or just send your reflections on “how the system works”. Send us news articles and court cases. This is your newsletter.
Some of you are really busy. We’ve received some really powerful court cases. Some guys are trying to shake things up in the courts. Some have sent us reports of success despite the many hurdles placed on their efforts. Many of us don’t understand the law and its convoluted language. Many of us are frustrated by the lying, cheating, and corruption we face when trying to get some justice. Here at WPW we are continually frustrated by the lack of public concern, the lack of revolutionary spirit, the lack of political awareness, and the lack of outrage, but we fight on. Not because we think we can win, but because we must. We must resist, we are compelled to resist the dehumanization and stupidity of prisons. We cannot do otherwise but resist this culture of oppression.
The winter weather has chilled the desire to protest and leaflet outside of the DOC and prisons but PAW is making plans for the spring. One thing for sure, a contingent of PAW members will be visiting the Capitol to let the Governor know that Al Graham needs to go. He’s up for reappointment in March and PAW wants to make it clear, families are being victimized by the Parole Commission. We urge all families of incarcerated to call or write to the governor to let him know what you think of Al Graham. More info on page 5.
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has organized a campaign called STOPMAX whose mission states, in part: “To promote and support a national movement to end the use of solitary confinement and related forms of torture in US prisons”. Your editor has been invited to sit on the steering committee and I will bring my knowledge and experience in dealing with Wisconsin’s overuse of segregation units to the national discussion. Comments from those suffering this barbarity are welcome.
We are in the process of compiling a handbook for families of incarcerated. The purpose is to help families understand the process and negotiate the bureaucracy while supporting their loved one. Suggestions are welcome - please tell us what you think your families should have known or should know in order to help you on the inside
in solidarity,
WPW
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Illinois Prisoners Win $8 Million for Failure to Treat Hep C, from PLN
A federal jury has awarded four Illinois prisoners over $2 million apiece in a civil rights action filed against state prison officials for denying treatment for Hepatitis C (Hep C).
In 2005, Edward J. Roe, Anthony P. Stasiak, Timothy J. Stephen and Jackson Walker, all state prisoners at the Logan Correctional Center (LCC) in Lincoln, Illinois, were denied Hep C treatment. Hep C is a blood-borne disease that can cause liver failure if left untreated; it is most often spread through IV drug use, needle sharing (including tattoo needles) and unprotected sex.
Larry Sims, the Chief Administrative Officer at LCC; Willard Elyea, Medical Director for the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC); and IDOC Director Roger Walker refused to provide Hep C treatment based on a blanket policy that denied such treatment to prisoners with fewer than 18 months left to serve on their sentences.
In September 2005, the four LCC prisoners filed a lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. They claimed the non-treatment policy resulted from the defendants’ deliberate indifference to their serious medical needs, in violation of the 8th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
On February 15, 2008 a federal jury agreed that the policy was unconstitutional, and awarded the prisoners $20,000 each in actual damages and $2,000,000 each in punitive damages.
Attorney H. Kent Heller of Mattoon, Illinois represented the plaintiffs; he said this was the largest monetary judgment he had ever won for a client. Attorney fees have not yet been awarded in this case. See: Roe v. Sims, U.S.D.C. CD Ill., Case No. 3:06-cv-03034-HAB-CHE.
Hep C-related prison litigation appears to be on the upswing, since large numbers of prisoners are infected with the disease and most prison systems are unwilling to provide the expensive – though necessary – medical treatment for it.
For example, on July 8, 2008, a class action lawsuit was filed against the California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) on behalf of California’s 159,000 state prisoners. The complaint states they do not receive adequate treatment for Hep C, which infects an estimated 40 percent of the CDCR population. See: Jackson v. Dezember, U.S.D.C. CD Cal., Case No. 2:08-cv-04454-GHK-FMO.
“This is a nasty, nasty disease,” said attorney Shawn Khorrami, who filed the class action suit. “We don’t allow this kind of punishment in America, where someone has a disease and we have them suffer from it and have all kinds of problems going forward in their lives just because they’ve committed a crime.”
Actually prison officials routinely allow such punitive medical neglect to occur, which is why such lawsuits are necessary.
UPDATE ON THE HEP-C CLASS ACTION
A few of you have contacted attorney Heller on this but we know more under-treated and untreated cases of Hep-C are out there. Spread the word because this action could have some deep implications for the DOC (financial) and for those suffering this disease (financial and health). For more information write to:
Attorney Kent Heller
Heller, Holmes & Associates, P.C.
1101 Broadway
P.O. Box 889
Mattoon, IL 61938
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Dear Prison Watch,
Hey! I’ve been down for 25 years all together in this fucked up system and all I can say is, it’s about time somebody kept an eye on these freaks!
This is my eighth time in, 4 were revocations, and the other four were all property crimes, yet I’ve served more time than a few lifers I’ve met.
Right now I’m almost done with a five year sentence for breaking my probation by going to Texas (absconding) for two months. This five year sentence stems from a 1998 burglary conviction where I stole a check for $420 and cashed it.
So, yes it’s true, I’m sitting here, taking up a single cell (red tag) in Green Bay, for a crime that occurred over ten years ago. And, it was my only violation after three years of supervision; working, paying rent and minding my own business. No ATR, no work release; five years on a ten year withheld sentence. They extradited me 1620 miles on an eight day bus ride from Hell.
All this for going down to Texas to roof houses damaged in Katrina, to make $15 an hour cash instead of $11.50 minus taxes here in Wisconsin. The state has spent thirty thousand dollars a year “punishing” me for stealing a check and then leaving the state for a better job.
Anyway, I’ll be out soon with 20 months of parole which I may or may not get revoked on. And of course when I get released I will have zero dollars and zero cents because that’s the way the DOC likes to see you leave. But you can bet I’ll get that “good luck out there” on the way out the door, because they always smile and say that when you leave prison, just to let you know they care, you’re their friend and it’s not personal.
Sincerely,
Scott McLeod
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Doyle named Obama’s Commerce Secretary (parody by Bonnie Abzug)
Wisconsin Governor was recently chosen to replace Gov. Bill Richardson for US Commerce Secretary. Doyle was chosen and then his name was quickly withdrawn due to the fact that the State of Wisconsin stands at the top (worst) ranking of Black incarceration rates in the whole United States of Amerikkka!
Wisconsin Prison Activists were elated by the nomination, hoping that a new Governor would realize the highest ranking of top Black Incarceration rates were sure signs of the racism in Wisconsin state laws, justice system and its whole state government. Activists hoped a new Governor would stand on a bully pulpit and make this gross and shameful record a thing of the past. They were sure that a new governor would get rid of the regressive Parole Chair, Al Graham.
Obama and his aides must have made note of Doyle’s and the State of Wisconsin’s abysmal treatment of its Black population and decided that this type of politician is not wanted in their cabinet. Unfortunately Obama’s de-cision does not bode well for our state.
As a matter of reference, Minnesota and Wisconsin both have the same minority population demographics and crime rate. Minnesota houses 9000 prisoners while Wisconsin houses over 22,000. How many times must these statistics be shown before our state’s citizens force our government representatives to rectify this inequity.
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Notes from Starvin’ Naked Marvin: The Day After
What does Barack Obama’s election mean for Black prisoners?
Very little and a great deal. Very little in that it’s unlikely he’ll make sweeping changes to the justice system. Obama was not elected on a platform for social change, he ran and won with an economic agenda and was supported by the same money ‘strokers’ that have supported every president. IF Blacks, especially those imprisoned, expect social change they’re going to be disappointed.
Obama’s election though, in a psychological sense, means a great deal to prisoners. Prisoners are quicker than free persons to believe they can not fight and win against an entrenched system and that color is an inherent bar to success. Obama has shown that the bar to success of Black men is mostly a bar of their own making, a self-imposed limit on how high they can climb.
Obama’s victory is a classic lesson in vision and persistence all prisoners should study, especially Black prisoners. For in that lesson is the means to overcome the horrors of both imprisonment and the justice system. His victory instructs us to first recognize our own worth and to respect the worth of others, then to establish a goal and pursue it through planning and preparation, and finally, most importantly, to embrace a single-minded focus toward achieving that goal.
Obama’s victory has shown us that even ‘blue sky’ is not limited to one who’s determined to achieve a goal. How then can we, given his example, fail to take on and defeat the problems of injustice and imprisonment we face?
Let me propose a goal for all prisoners: The reduction and reformation of the prison system into a more human-centered service through the non-violent destabilization of the current dehumanizing system. Prisons operate efficiently and effectively because we prisoners allow them to do so. Without our support, mentally by obeying orders, and physically by working in prisons, the prison system, as it now stands, would collapse. This is a fact we’ve known but have been afraid to exploit.
To achieve this goal we must first set aside our fear. Fear is the mind killer, it prevents self defense. For unless you are willing to abandon your fears and risk everything you stand to gain nothing. Ask yourself if your life has value and worth not just to you but also those with whom you interact - your family, your friends. If you answer is yes then you must vigorously defend your life from the ravages of a system which as declared your life worthless.
Since, to this system, you’re only a body give them that body without its mind. Do not perform any function or obey any order which supports the orderly running of any prison. Non-violently refuse to be an intelligent but willing victim of a rogue system. Refuse to accept their pronouncement of you as worthless. Make them work like hell to maintain you and this system.
In this country we’ve allowed morality and conscience to be replacement with bad laws. To obey such law is to deny your humanity and the responsibility you bear, as an American , to raise protest in the face of injustice.
Look to President-Elect Obama as your inspiration towards this goal. It only seems like ‘blue sky’ because we fear to fight for our worth.
Warren G. Lilly, Jr.,, pen name Starvin’ Naked Marvin, has been hunger striking for over four years in protest of Wisconsin’s and America’s abusive overuse of imprisonment. He refuses to eat, wear clothing, and obey orders, and is force fed thrice daily, Monday through Saturday. Warren asks prisoners and free persons to fast with him every Sunday then to e-mail or write to their Governor in support of his protest.
Contact Warren at: Warren G. Lilly, Jr.
DOC # 447655
WCI, P.O. Box 351
Waupun, WI 53963-0351
Warrenlilly.blogspot.com
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"One of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the great struggle for independence."
Charles Austin Beard
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Studies: Wisconsin has highest racial disparity in drug sentences
Associated Press
05/06/2008
MILWAUKEE — Two new studies show Wisconsin has the highest racial disparity in the nation when it comes to sentences for drug convictions.
Blacks in the Badger State are 42 times more likely than whites to be sentenced to prison for drug convictions, according to studies by Human Rights Watch and The Sentencing Project. In Minnesota, blacks are ten-times more likely to be sentenced, the report said.
The Sentencing Project examines data from 43 of the nation's largest cities between 1980 and 2003. The Human Rights Watch study looks at racial disparities among drug offenders sent to prison in 34 states.
According to the research, blacks are sent to prison for drug offenses at a rate at least 10 times that of whites in 16 states, with the disparity the greatest in Wisconsin.
Ratio of black/white rates of prison admissions for drug offenses, 2003.
(Rates calculated per 1,000 residents of each race)
Alabama **** 3.5
California *********** 10.6
Colorado ***************14.4
Florida ************11.7
Georgia ***** 5.0
Hawaii ****** 5.8
Illinois ************************* 23.6
Iowa ******** 7.7
Kentucky ******6.2
Louisiana ******* 7.3
Maryland ***************** 17.4
Michigan ************ 11.8
Minnesota ********** 10.1
Mississippi ** 3.0
Missouri *** 2.7
Nebraska ***** 4.6
Nevada *******6.6
New Hampshire *******7.1
New Jersey *********************20.6
New York **************14.3
North Carolina *********** 10.9
North Dakota **** 3.8
Oklahoma **** 4.4
Oregon **** 4.1
Pennsylvania ************* 13.1
South Carolina ********* 9.3
South Dakota ********* 9.0
Tennessee ******** 8.4
Texas ************ 11.7
Utah ******** 7.5
Virginia *************13.2
Washington ********** 10.1
West Virginia **************** 16.3
Wisconsin ***************************************** 42.4
Total ********** 10.1
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HOME DEPOT ACCUSED OF VIOLATING CIVIL RIGHTS OF JOB APPLICANTS WITH CRIMINAL RECORDS---National Employment Law Project seeking other people who have been denied employment
Two African-American men have filed charges of discrimination against Home Depot alleging that the company's rejection of their job applications based on their past criminal records violates federal civil rights laws forbidding race discrimination because the practice has an adverse impact on African Americans and Hispanics. The charges were filed with the New York office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The charging parties are being represented by the Legal Action Center (www.lac.org), Outten & Golden LLP (www.outtengolden.com), the National Employment Law Project (www.nelp.org) and Goldstein, Demchak, Baller, Borgen & Dardarian (www.gdblegal.com).
As part of their investigation of these claims, the charging parties counsel are interested in speaking to other African Americans and Hispanics who have been rejected for employment by Home Depot because of a past criminal record.
People in New York State should contact the Legal Action Center, 212-243-1313 (outside of NY City, call 800-223-4044), and ask to speak to a paralegal about the Home Depot case. People in California should contact the National Employment Law Project, 510-409-2427. People outside of New York or California should contact Justin Swartz at Outten & Golden, 212-245-1000.
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A note from a friend at WCI
As a Wisconsin State prisoner at the Waupun “correctional” Institution (WCI), the guards, the wardens, and other administrative staff don’t have to say out loud what they really think of me and other state prisoners, (That prisoners are sub-human), they show it to us every day by exploiting our labor; by locking us up in cells - some of us double celled - that even animals would deteriorate in; by keeping us away from those we love; by instilling in our minds, fear, anger, hatred, disgust and a deep contempt for the injustices inherent in the “rule of law”; by keeping us prisoners locked up, away from, and alienated from each other when we try to educate and organize ourselves to do something about our sub-human conditions and subhuman treatment; and by subjecting us to endure years and years of this systemic dehumanization without ever knowing if, when, or how we will finally be released.
Such is the stuff that keeps Wisconsin prisons overcrowded and the recidivism rate at nearly 70% which begs the question, what are they correcting? And even more deplorable, all this state sponsored systematic dehumanization takes place in the name of “corrections” at taxpayers expense of $30,000 or more per year per prisoner!
Signed - Just another forgotten and anonymous WCI state prisoner. (I am not afraid to sign my name to this letter to the editor of WPW; I’m just not stupid enough to sign it publicly as I know if I do, I’ll end up in HSU again for stating what I know to be the facts and truth... so much for the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and for freedom of speech!)
11-13-08
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5,000 prisoners on hunger strike across Greece in demand for reforms!
All 21 Greek prisons are in the grip of prisoners 3-stage campaign in demand of 45-point reform. As part of the protest, more than 5,000 inmates are now on hunger strike.
As of Monday the 3rd of November the totality of prison across Greece are under a 3-stage campaign in demand of a 45-point reform, asking amongst other things for abolition of all juvenile prisons, greater freedoms, reduction of prison service and better conditions. The first stage of the prisoners struggle in which 8,000 out of 15,000 inmates took part consisted of refusing food from the prison catering. On Friday the 7th, 1,000 of them upgraded to the second stage of the campaign by going on hunger strike. The number of the hunger strikers today (11/7/08) is 5,120, 17 of whom have sewn their mouths. The third stage of the campaign, general uprising, looms over the prison establishment as outside the prisons solidarity campaigns are filling the streets of the Greek cities with protest marches, concerts and various forms of direct action.
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Sen. Webb’s Call for Prison Reform
January 1, 2009
Editorial - N.Y. Times
This country puts too many people behind bars for too long. Most elected officials, afraid of being tarred as soft on crime, ignore these problems. Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat of Virginia, is now courageously stepping into the void, calling for a national commission to re-assess criminal justice policy. Other members of Congress should show the same courage and rally to the cause.
The United States has the world’s highest reported incarceration rate. Although it has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, it has almost one-quarter of the world’s prisoners. And for the first time in history, more than 1 in 100 American adults are behind bars.
Many inmates are serving long sentences for nonviolent crimes, including minor drug offenses. It also is extraordinarily expensive. Billions of dollars now being spent on prisons each year could be used in far more socially productive ways.
Senator Webb — a former Marine and secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration — is in many ways an unlikely person to champion criminal justice reform. But his background makes him an especially effective advocate for a cause that has often been associated with liberals and academics.
In his two years in the Senate, Mr. Webb has held hearings on the cost of mass incarceration and on the criminal justice system’s response to the problems of illegal drugs. He also has called attention to the challenges of prisoner re-entry and of the need to provide released inmates, who have paid their debts to society, more help getting jobs and resuming productive lives.
Mr. Webb says he intends to introduce legislation to create a national commission to investigate these issues. With Barack Obama in the White House, and strong Democratic majorities in Congress, the political climate should be more favorable than it has been in years. And the economic downturn should make both federal and state lawmakers receptive to the idea of reforming a prison system that is as wasteful as it is inhumane.
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Prison Action Wisconsin
P.O. Box 05669
Milwaukee, WI 53205
P.O. Box 05669
Milwaukee, WI 53205
Prison Action Wisconsin General Membership meetings are held on the second Saturday of every month at:
All God’s Children Church
3356 N. Martin Luther King Dr.
Milwaukee, WI
January 10, 2009
February 14, 2009
March 14, 2009
Committees meet more often and on different days.
We ask all prisoners to urge their family attend our meetings and support our effort. It is only through a united voice that we will be heard.
Prison Action Wisconsin asks that all who read this message call or write governor Doyle to let him know we are being victimized by Alfonso Graham and the Parole Commission. Many of our loved ones are ready to come home and we are ready to help them restart their lives.
Let the Governor know it is cruel and unusual punishment to keep families waiting, not knowing what is expected of their loved ones and what they need to do to get released.
Tell the Governor to appoint a progressive and reasonable Parole Commission Chair who will listen to the families.
PAW also asks that you call your State Senator and Representative with the same message.
We can force a change. We need to make the calls. We need to lobby the legislators. Please join us at the Capitol in February for a day of lobbying. Please make the calls.
Office of the Governor
608-266-1212
Senator Lena Taylor
608-266-5810
Senator Spencer Coggs
608-266-2500
Representative Marc Pocan
608-266-8570
Representative Leon Young
608-266-3786
Representative Tamara Grigsby
608-266-0645
Legislative Hotline
Toll-free: 1-800-362-9472
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WORT - Madison’s progressive, community owned, volunteer operated radio station sent holiday messages over the airwaves to those locked up behind the walls. Families called and left a recorded message for their loved one which was compiled and aired during the holiday season. We hope you caught the show. Some of the folks who called in:
Beverly Pittman, Unity Brown, Draylon Oliver, Roy Taylor, Wayco, Lavail Coleman, Chazna Hopkins, Rhonda Oliver, Duvila Rivers, Carl Brown, LaQuanda Jones, Carolyn Arrington, Rosenil Hicks, Awdarrah Bowman, Zolo Farrior, Kathleen Hart, Sarah Freeman, Montrell Oliver, Frank Van den Bosch, Avishareail Stringfellow, Cencreaha Alexander, Ajinai Kenyadah, and many others.
WORT is not a powerful radio station and many in the remote areas of Wisconsin probably didn’t get the holiday greeting so...
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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ARTISTS AGAINST THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
PROJECT LODGE
817 E. Johnson St. Madison
January 30 - Feb 5
Reception, Fri., Jan 30 7pm -10pm
Gallery Hours - 10am - 5pm M-F
Sponsored by Justseeds’ Artists
Cooperative & WI Books to Prisoners,
A project of Rainbow Bookstore
Over 30 prints by printmakers nationwide addressing the use of policing, prisons and,
punishment as a “solution” to social, political and, economic problems and more than
70 critical drawings by prisoners will be on display.
Artwork is welcome year around for public education.
Please send or deliver artwork to:
Wisconsin Books to prisoners
Rainbow Bookstore
426 W. Gilman St.
Madison, WI 53703
Contact: Camy or John at 608-262-9036
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WSPF - When will it ever convert into a general population?
by: Comrade Muhammad Crutchfield
For almost two years now WSPF, formerly the WI SuperMax, has supposedly been converting into a “general population” prison. Prisoners who first arrived have told me that the place has been a mess from day one, with no real format as to how it operates. I’ve been here since Sept. 17, 2008 and know from personal experience that the place is nothing more than a continued human experiment, as it was originally designed to be.
Every week there’s a new rule on top of a rule. Memos are constantly being put out by the so-called Charlie and Delta Unit Manager on just about everything you can imagine, mainly non-sense.
For instance, no prisoner can get state soap unless they are indigent. Also, only prisoners without type-writers may put in a request to use the so-called ‘law-library’ type-writer. They must get the typing ribbon from the bubble Sgt. and return it to him once done. They must also show him/her what they typed to prove that it was strictly legal materials.
About a month and a half ago a prisoner wanted to call his attorney, but had to go through all kinds of hoops. The reason being, his so-called social worker thought that the forms he produced to her (DOC FORMS) were fake, because she’d never seen them before. He was told by her that she’d been a social worker at WSPF for years and had never seen such forms, nor had she ever heard of any prisoner having a non-monitored phone call to his attorney. She told him that she “felt he was getting away with something and am going to investigate”.
Her investigation found that she’d been un-informed, WSPF was/is recording/ monitoring even prisoners attorney calls, at least one of his attorney phone calls had been “monitored” (which was quickly denied by the Warden after an outside concerned person called and inquired about the matter), and that WSPF is basically violating client/ attorney confidential rights. He was told that notices would be put up in each phone call area notifying prisoners of the bogus monitoring of even attorney calls. This was at least two months ago and still nothing is posted.
Among the numerous other problems here of major significance, the lack of contact visiting is the biggest felt, especially on those who get regular visits. Because WSPF was not designed for population there was never an area built for visiting. However, as soon as it was decreed that WSPF would be converting into a general max, it became the DOC’s responsibility to build a visiting room or convert some area in the prison into a temporary visiting room until one was built. Denying us contact visits is a violation of the WI Admin. Code (see visiting regulations regarding visits in its entirety). The WI Admin. Code clearly states that the only way a prisoners visits can be made non-contact is for punitive reasons. I can’t speak for everyone else, but I haven’t violated any WI Admin. Code, nor have my visits been restricted (except forcefully by the DOC sending me here). Rumors have it that a visiting room will be built within another one or two years.
WSPF has made an art of penny-pinching. Three times a week prisoners are fed bag breakfasts, they aren’t given state boots, no state hygiene items are given out, job wages are being intentionally kept low that normally pay higher elsewhere. The main kitchen better not catch a worker-prisoner eating an extra sugar packet or salt packet if he values his job.
There is no population here. Prisoners are constantly being put through one form of psychological game play after another by staff. Last week prisoners signed up for “rec.” only to be told they didn’t have it, even though a schedule was passed to all saying they did. After complaints, they were eventually let out that afternoon. Ironically, later that evening, the list with all of the names on it for phone calls was suspiciously “lost” and guys were told they couldn’t call their loved ones. These are just some of the problems, but the real problem is us......
DARE TO STRUGGLE!!!!!!!
“SETTLE YOUR QUARRELS, COME TOGETHER, UNDERSTAND THE REALITY OF THE SITUATION, UNDERSTAND THAT FASCISM IS ALREADY HERE.”
“DO WHAT MUST BE DONE, DISCOVER YOUR HUMANITY AND YOUR LIFE IN THE REVOLUTION. PASS ON THE TORCH, JOIN US, GIVE UP YOUR LIFE FOR THE PEOPLE.”
Comrade/Brother, George Jackson
WA-ALAYKUM AS-salaam
Comrade Muhammad Crutchfield
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Free the San Francisco Eight!!!!! Notes pertaining to SORP:
from Chris Klingeisen
The DOC is administrating Civil Punishment on the persons who are incarcerated by enforcing the policy 301.45 (10) and thus turned the punishment towards the families of the incarcerated, due to the fact that 95% of the inmates cannot afford to pay this fee. This fee has doubled, prior was $50.00 a year, now $100.00 a year. This action by itself is punishment especially when it is administered to the incarcerated. It is different when the offender is released and then he can take this responsibility. The only factor that is in question is the timing of this policy.
Also, the threat of submitting offenders to collections will cause issues in the future. This can have adverse effects on the person while he is attempting to apply for a job, (many employers look at a person’s credit history). There are some offenders like myself who have good credit and this action threatens it. Also, this action would cause issue when a person is applying for credit, DVR, school, S.S., & grants. This may seem small at first but it is major to a person who is trying to be a positive person in the community. This action over time will explode into many infractions in a person’s life. Simply by waiting when the offender is released it then would be more responsible to apply this action. In some cases, offenders may be incarcerated for a number of years and building debt. This action is added stress and possibly a factor on one’s desire to correct their issues.
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"The two greatest obstacles to democracy in the United States are, first, the widespread delusion among the poor that we have a democracy, and second, the chronic terror among the rich, lest we get it." - Edward Dowling
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"...it is essential if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression that human rights should be protected by the rule of law." (preamble) - Universal Declaration of Human Rights
"The two greatest obstacles to democracy in the United States are, first, the widespread delusion among the poor that we have a democracy, and second, the chronic terror among the rich, lest we get it." - Edward Dowling
************
"...it is essential if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression that human rights should be protected by the rule of law." (preamble) - Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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Message from Moso
Dear Comrades,
I'm writing this article to hopefully welcome our new readers. As mentioned in the last edition, there has been an effort by PAW to bring more attention to our struggle by passing out material in front of the prisons during visiting hours.
I believed this was a good idea because, as we have seen, most prisoners have not attempted to get their families and loved ones involved. We have been depending on inmates to contact their families from prison and have them sign them up or join them up with the organization.
It appears only when they face adversity and experience abuse of power by correctional officials by getting a unjustified conduct reports or having their visitors mistreated, do they then seek assistance from a outside source once they realize they themselves have no power. But unless the organization itself has a sufficient amount of members and resources, it can help no one. So we ourselves have to be the leaders, as no one else will save us, but us.
I think Frank did a good job of explaining the different mission of this organization from that of the others. It's nice to have them attempt to at least do something different than what a lot of progressives are doing. Now that society has made some progress with the recent election of Barack Obama, doors are about to open.
Insanity has been defined as when a person does the same thing over and over, but always expects a different result. A lot of the progressives now want to institute a lot of the same things tried in the past, in the belief that it will make things better such as treatment programs and counseling, etc., etc.
These are good intentions, but are misguided. This stuff has already been tried back in the late 60s and 70s when liberals were in control. It had a lot of beneficial results, however, we still have a lot of the same problems today as we had then.
So now, it's time to think of a radical solution, which even the so called "Progressives" are afraid to tackle for fear of not being "politically correct". They want to talk about: the problem of the incarceration rate. However, they don't want to discuss the root cause of the high rate of incarceration.
Why is there no discussion of what was really behind this conspiracy called the War on Drugs? Everyone want to speak on the ill effects of drugs and how it is destroying communities and society. That's really a sham. The drugs are not what's causing the crime and violence, instead it is the laws that are the culprit. It is the enactment of these draconian laws that has reinvented prohibition.
Most have some limited knowledge of history - it was prohibition that gave rise to the "gangster age". It was only after seeing the effects on the White Majority population, (mass arrests and prison sentences), that a Constitutional Amendment was passed, to abolish the Prohibition Act. However, the effects of the prohibition laws were studied and mastered by social scientists, to where they have now been reapplied to carry out a agenda of political power, population control, and subversion of the United States Constitution.
The only way these power hungry "one worlders" can take people’s rights away, is if citizens voluntarily give them up. Before Bush and his backers so clumsily exposed this secret technology and plot under the guise of the war on terror, it was being used to target people and organizations under the guise of the war on drugs. They already knew the prohibition of drugs would cause rival drug gangs and warfare, armed robberies and violent crimes, just as gangsters did back in the prohibition era, lured by profits and riches. This is assured by making the product illegal. Look at the prisons today. Once we could buy tobbacco in pouches which cost about 85 cents. However, now that this item is "prohibited", the same item will sell for over $50.00 a pouch.
The same principle applies. Thus, it is the law that is causing the destruction of poor people and making them "victims" of the conspiracy. This is why over 80% of us are in prison. We walked into the trap and many more will follow unless and until we deal with the real causes of these social ills. As long as they have the community's eyes stuck on the trick that the drugs are the problem, and the false “solution” to stop using, selling and buying drugs, they will be blind to the real crooks who knows it is the law (which they control), that is the real enemy. However, it is politically incorrect to say drugs should not be illegal even though they were only made illegal as part of a conspiracy. So even though it’s the truth, it is a radical truth whose time for light has come.
For those who have access to a library, a book entitled Down by the River, authored by Charles Bowden, reveals a lot of information and history about the secret dealings of the United States Government and the Mexican Government and this fake "war on drugs" and its real purpose. So it will be the WPW that will be reporting on and organizing to address such topics.
Additionally, who is advocating for the prisoner victims to these past plots? Who speaks for those who have been given these life ending terms of incarceration for crimes like armed robbery, burglary, felony murder, etc., etc.? Who will expose how they stacked the state Courts with these Federalist Judges, (which is a judicial cult), bent on protecting the corporate and police state interests against the little people who have no power?
With sufficient political power, relief could be gained by organizing and getting the political power to have laws changed to where inmates can get adequate post conviction relief and sentence modifications. When these extreme Right Wing Republicans were in power, they pretty much shut the door to make sure a lot of their handy work does not get undone. We have to change that. And as the recent election of Barack Obama has shown, if you organize from the grass roots, ordinary people can do extraordinary things. If you want justice and relief, get involved and support the WPW and PAW. More information will be submitted in future editions.
MoSo,
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"What is the great American sin? Extravagance? Vice? Graft? No; it is a kind of half-humorous, good-natured indifference, a lack of "concentrated indignation" as my English friend calls it, which allows extravagance and vice to flourish. Trace most of our ills to their source, and it is found that they exist by virtue of an easy-going, fatalistic indifference which dislikes to have its comfort disturbed....The most shameless greed, the most sickening industrial atrocities, the most appalling public scandals are exposed, but a half-cynical and wholly indifferent public passes them by with hardly a shrug of the shoulders; and they are lost in the medley of events. This is the great American sin.": Joseph Fort Newman, Atlantic Monthly, October 1922
page 8,
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The United States: A Country Without Mercy
By Paul Craig Roberts
December 16, 2008 The Christmas season is a time to remember the unfortunate, among whom are those who have been wrongly convicted.
In the United States, the country with the largest prison population in the world, the number of wrongly convicted is very large. Hardly any felony charges are resolved with trials. The vast majority of defendants, both innocent and guilty, are coerced into plea bargains. Not only are the innocent framed, but the guilty as well. It is quicker and less expensive to frame the guilty than to convict them on the evidence.
Many Americans are wrongfully convicted, because they trust the justice system. They naively believe that police and prosecutors are moved by evidence and have a sense of justice. The trust they have in authorities makes them easy victims of a system that has no moral conscience and is untroubled by the injustice it perpetrates.
Lt. William Strong, son of a military family, tired of his wife’s unfaithfulness and filed for divorce. The unfaithful wife retaliated by accusing Strong of rape. There was no evidence of rape, but Strong was deceived into a plea bargain. Once Strong entered a plea, he was double-crossed and given 60 years.
Christophe Gaynor took an adolescent skate board team to New York City for a competition. One of the kids attempted to buy illicit drugs. Gaynor threatened to tell the boy’s parents, and the boy preempted Gaynor by accusing him of sexual molestation.
Gaynor was openly framed in the Arlington, Virginia, court system.
Americans, or perhaps more accurately some Americans, were horrified by the photographs showing the torture of Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib by the US military. The Senate Armed Services Committee has issued a report which concludes that the torture policy originated at the highest level of the Bush administration. Those Americans with a moral conscience have reeled under further revelations--the torture of Guantanamo detainees, the transport of people seized by US authorities to third world countries to be tortured.
We have to ask ourselves why American service men and women and CIA operatives delight in torturing people about whom they know nothing? It has been well known since the Stalin era that torture never produces accurate information. Yet, US soldiers and CIA personnel jumped at the green light given to torture by President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, and the US Department of Justice. Why weren’t our soldiers shocked instead at the immorality of their leaders?
One answer is that the US military no longer operates according to a code of honor. Military discipline in the traditional sense does not exist. The ethos of the US military has degenerated into kick-ass macho. Major General Taguba, who, instead of covering up the Abu Ghraib scandal, attempted in his report to hold the US military to its traditional principles, was forced to resign from the US Army.
Another answer is that the work of torture, like police work and prosecutorial work, attracts brutal people who enjoy inflicting harm on others. The two Republican female US Attorneys in Alabama who framed Democratic Governor Seligman enjoyed ruining Seligman and bringing grief to his family.
Deborah Davies of the BBC’s Channel 4 undertook a four-month investigation of the torture of American prisoners inside American prisons. Videos taken by sadistic prison guards and videos recovered from surveillance cameras reveal horrible acts of torture and even of murder of prisoners by prison guards.
An American prison reformer told Deborah Davies, “We’ve become immune to the abuse. The brutality has become customary.”
Few Americans seem to be disturbed as these inhumane and illegal practices continue unabated. Americans continue to see themselves as the salt of the earth, the “indispensable people.”
“Law and order conservatives” have a great responsibility for this evil. Just as “law and order conservatives” created hysteria among the people about crime, they created hysteria about terrorists. Hysterical people condone great evils and arm government with power in the mistaken belief that it will protect them.
What kind of people have we become when we exercise no oversight over a criminal justice (sic) system that destroys the lives of innocent people and locks them away in prisons to be tortured by sadistic guards?
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Wrongful ConvictionsResults of a Washington and Lee School of Law examination into the principle causes of wrongful convictions.
DNA Inclusions *
Other Forensic Inclusions *****
False Confessions ************
Informant/Snitches ************
False Witness Testimony ************
Bad Lawyering **************
Microscopic Hair Comparison ****************
Defective/Fraudulent Science ********************
Prosecutorial Misconduct ***********************
Police Misconduct **************************
Serology Inclusion ***************************
Mistaken Identification *******************************************
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
page 9,
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