4strugglemag

By Books to Bars Hamilton, Dignidad Migrante, Fuerza/Puwersa, No One Is Illegal

Montreal/Personne n’est illégal, No One Is Illegal Toronto, No One Is Illegal Vancouver, Solidarity Across Borders/Solidarité sans frontières (Montréal)

endimmigrationdetention.wordpress.com

Over 180 immigration detainees in Lindsay, Ontario’s Central East Correctional Centre (CECC), began protest actions on Tuesday, September 18 against conditions of their detention. The detainees were recently moved from other prisons in the Greater Toronto Area, about two hours away, and have lost touch with families and legal support as a result. Conditions at Lindsay are substantially worse for them than before. Some prisoners began a hunger strike on Wednesday which has now ended, but other strike actions are continuing.

The striking immigration detainees in Lindsay are demanding:

• Better access to medical care and social workers.
• Cheaper phone calls and access to international calling cards (many have family overseas).
• Access to better food, like the food on the non-immigration ranges.
• An end to constant lockdowns.
• Keep the improved canteen program going.
• Better access to legal aid and legal services.

Additionally, detainees are demanding that the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) grant specific requests to move individuals to facilities nearer to their families, legal resources and social services.

Some of the prisoners are long-term detainees, people immigration enforcement cannot deport but will not release. Others have been designated as “high security” based on prior criminal history but this can be as little as an arrest that has not led to conviction. Some people have been in jail for over seven years because Canada, unlike the US and UK, has no limit on how long someone can be held prior to deportation.

About Superintendent Neil Neville: Neville was in charge of Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre in 2009, when two inmates died. He left EMDC in May 2011, and took on several roles within the provincial bureaucracy before taking over in Lindsay. Inquests held into the 2009 deaths painted a picture of an overcrowded, understaffed EMDC with inadequate medical care and supervision of inmates.

About Immigration Detention in Canada: Between 2004 and 2011, 82,000 people were locked up in immigration detention. At least another 25,000 have been imprisoned since 2011. In 2012, 289 of the detainees were children, many of them under the age of 10. There are three dedicated immigration detention centres in Canada: in Toronto, in Laval and in Vancouver. The Kingston centre, specially built for the security certificate detainees, known as “Guantanamo North,” was quietly closed in 2011. The rest of the detainees, about 35% of the total, are held in maximum security provincial prisons, some unable to leave their cells for 18 hours a day. $53,775,000 in public money is spent on immigration detention annually or $239 per day. Comparatively, a unit of social housing can be provided at less than $31 per day. The total cost of immigration detention including surveillance and supervision of immigrants, particularly of security certificate detainees and those not in detention, is much higher. Immigration detention centres are a $50 million business, run in partnership with private companies like G4S, Garda and Corbel Management Corporation. In Toronto alone, G4S and Corbel were paid $19 million between 2004 and 2008. Garda has the contract for the Laval Immigration Holding Centre.

Freedom to Move, Return, Stay: In the last ten years, the number of people without full status (refugee claimants, temporary workers, etc.) has increased by 60% but permanent residency visas have stayed constant. Refugee acceptance rates are less than 25%. Too many migrants are denied full status and are forced to live in the country without papers, services, justice or dignity. Migrants without full status live in daily fear of detention and deportation. Those arrested are locked up in cages in brutish conditions awaiting forced deportations. This system is broken. We insist: No One Is Illegal! End Immigration Detentions! Freedom for All Prisoners!

freejasonhammond.blogspot.com

Jason Hammond, 28, a resident of Chicago, was arrested on July 11, 2013 for allegedly being involved in the interruption of a meeting of white supremacists in Tinley Park, over a year ago. Jason Hammond is a talented musician and a respected popular educator. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison.

Jason and his twin Jeremy had a stimulating and creative childhood in the west suburb of Villa Park. Jason found music to be his life passion and Jeremy became well-known for his aptitude in computer programs. Since the age of 15, Jason worked consistently at a music store and school in his hometown of Villa Park. There, he taught a plethora of string instruments to an average of 30 students per week. In addition to teaching music, Jason has been performing in bands since he was 16 and has been deeply involved in local band circuits of diverse musical genres. Jason has recorded many CDs and toured the country performing.

Jason was quick to value equality and he always stood up for people’s rights. After Jason began college in 2003, he committed his life to social justice activism. This manifested itself in his day-to-day experiences, as he became involved in the anti-war movement, attending marches and community organizing. He used his creative talents to help educate and inspire people through popular music lessons. He also volunteered at a food distribution program for low-income families, which he was still involved in up until the day of his arrest. Jason demonstrated solidarity directly with the immigrant, student and workers’ rights, environmental justice and LGBTQ movements. His reasons for doing so?

“Everyone deserves a fair opportunity to lead a good and meaningful life and at the moment we have a long way to go before this is achieved. Sometimes we cry, other times we rejoice, but we must rise to the challenge and work through these difficult endeavors to create a beautiful and free society.”

Please support Jason in this time of need; he is a very valued member of our community.
From Jason:

To all my friends, family, and supporters,

First and foremost, I want to thank all of the truly amazing people that have showed me love and support, I am forever indebted to you. I was bonded out of Cook County Jail late last week and I am now back amongst my beloved community in Chicago. I am happy and on way to pick up where I left off. My heart was warmed by all the letters and messages of solidarity I received and it was very awesome to have communicated with people while in custody. I am excited to be able to start playing music and support my brother Jeremy (freejeremy.net). In regards to my arrest, I am being charged with allegedly being involved in the interruption of a white supremacist and Neo-Nazi gathering in Tinley Park in May, 2012. While I am [out on] bond, I will be able to better work on the defense of my case. So again, thank you all for the support for me and my brother in these times of struggle.

BY FREE MARISSA NOW

FreeMarissaNow@gmail.com
Facebook.com/FreeMarissaNow

[On September 26], a Florida Appeals Court overturned the guilty verdict against Marissa Alexander! The appeals court found extreme errors—the instructions to the jury said Marissa had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she acted in self-defense. This is the exact opposite of the legal principle that defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty by the prosecution.

Free Marissa Now has launched a national campaign to get Florida to drop the case, dismiss all charges and release Marissa now.

What happens next: From now until October 11, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi could ask the Appeals Court to change its decision. This is called a rehearing. If Bondi does not request a rehearing, the case will be returned to Jacksonville. Beginning on October 11, the ball is in State Prosecutor Angela Corey’s court to move forward on the case or to drop it. This is the crucial period to get the case dismissed and flood Florida with messages to drop the case. [Editor’s

Note: An update on Marissa’s legal proceedings was not available at the time this issue went to press.]

Marissa Alexander is a mother of three children (twins plus one) and is presently incarcerated in Jacksonville, Florida, which is located in Duval county. Marissa was convicted by a jury of six on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon with no intent to harm. Marissa Alexander did not have a criminal record before this incident. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison due to mandatory minimum sentencing laws.

Marissa’s husband has a documented history of violence and domestic abuse toward women. The history of Marissa Alexander and her husband includes an injunction for protection against violence and was active during August 2010. In a rage, Marissa’s husband violently confronted her while she used the bathroom. She was assaulted, shoved, strangled and held against her will. She was prevented from escaping and was not able to obtain her cell phone to call 911.
Her husband was asked to leave repeatedly. He and his two sons (Marissa’s stepsons) were supposed to have exited through the front door but did not. Her husband entered the kitchen, which leads to the garage, and saw that Marissa was unable to leave via the malfunctioning garage door. Her husband yelled, “Bitch, I will kill you!” and charged toward her. Marissa retrieved her licensed and registered gun—which she owned for years before even meeting her husband—from her vehicle. She held the weapon in her right hand down by her side as he charged toward her. In fear and desperation, Marissa Alexander lifted her weapon, turned away and discharged a single shot in the ceiling. That single shot prevented him from doing that which he had threatened. He ran out of the house, contacted the police, and falsely reported that Marissa Alexander shot at him and his two sons. The police took Marissa Alexander into custody.

The state of Florida has a self-defense law which includes the right to Stand Your Ground.

Marissa Alexander did not receive immunity under this law. Alexander’s husband admitted that he was the aggressor, threatened her life and was so enraged that he did not know what he would do. This was his sworn statement in November 2010. Alexander’s husband was arrested for domestic violence twice—once for abuse against Alexander. That attack landed Alexander in the hospital.

BY LEONARD PELTIER DEFENSE/OFFENSE COMMITTEE

whoisleonardpeltier.info

Sisters, brothers, friends and supporters,

Greetings. I hope you’re well.

Yes, I’m still here in my cage, fighting for my freedom. The battle has reached a critical stage. As has always been the case, I face tremendous odds and a government that has unlimited resources—despite the budget woes we keep hearing about, too. That’s a big problem, right?
The solution rests with my legal team and their efforts to convince President Obama to grant me clemency. Plans are underway to launch a massive campaign on my behalf—bigger and better than ever before. Events will be held to educate the public, outreach will occur with Members of Congress, media contacts will be made and meetings will be held with people and organizations that can influence President Obama in my favor. Everything possible will be done to gain public support for my release. I’m very excited by and optimistic about the work my team is doing.
We desperately need your help. My freedom won’t come easily. My legal team needs the funds to make our plan a reality. Please contribute what you can to the campaign for my freedom. No amount is too small. My Committee accepts money orders, checks, and credit/debit card payments (at whoisleonardpeltier.info/donate.htm).

To make a tax deductible donation, send a check or money order made payable to “Wind Chases the Sun,” a 501(c)3 tax exempt entity (and our fiscal sponsor) and write “LPDOC” on the Memo line. Send your donation to:

Wind Chases the Sun
Attn: Clemency Campaign
N5679 Skylark Drive
DePere, WI 54115

I truly believe that, with your help, I’ll see home again. I’m placing my faith—my very life—in your hands. You can get behind my legal team right? Help spread the word to your friends and family, too.  If we join together, we can’t help but to succeed.

Thank you for your good thoughts and prayers. Thank you for all you do on my behalf. You can’t know what your support means to me. Someday soon I’ll be able to meet and thank you in person (smile). I eagerly look forward to that day.

Doksha.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,
Leonard Peltier

Jeremy has pled guilty to one count of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. His sentencing will be held on November 15, 2013 at 10am. He faces up to ten years in prison for a politically motivated act of civil disobedience from which he personally gained nothing, and which he only hoped would make the world a better place.
We would like to fill the courtroom with as many supporters as possible. Sentencing is always an emotional event, and it is incredibly encouraging for him to see friendly faces in the gallery. Hearing date and time: November 15, 2013 at 10am. United States Courthouse, Southern District of New York, 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10007. Please Note: There will be a small rally before the sentencing. Please join us in Foley Square (directly across the street from the courthouse) at 9am. After the rally, we will all walk over to the courthouse together.

supportkevinandtyler.com

Tyler Lang and Kevin Olliff are two Los Angeles animal rights activists who were arrested in rural Illinois for “possession of burglary tools.” After a traffic stop in which they refused consent to a police search, their car was searched anyway. Inside, police allege they found bolt cutters, wire cutters, muriatic acid, ski masks, and cammo clothing.

Police believe these items were “burglary tools” intended to be used in a crime, and arrested Kevin and Tyler. The two are held on felony charges which carry up to three years in prison. They have remained in jail since their arrest on August 14.

There is no evidence linking them to any crime or intended crime, nor were they arrested on anyone’s property, and their history as animal advocates is the only basis for these serious felony charges.

For over a month now, Woodford County Jail has blocked books sent by family and friends from reaching inmates. This means that not only Kevin and Tyler, but every other inmate, has had zero access to new reading material sent from the outside—we do not need to tell you that this is a serious violation of their First Amendment rights.

Grievances have been filed by Kevin, officials have been contacted by liaisons, and still there has been no movement from Superintendent Mike Waterforth or Sheriff James Pierceall to lift this arbitrary ban.

On October 9, Kevin and Tyler had a pre-trial hearing. They have new attorneys, who appeared in court and officially took over the defense from the public defender (who had been defending them so far).  They are hard-working attorneys from Chicago who are committed to fighting hard for Kevin and Tyler, and they are in good hands. Kevin’s attorney received some evidence being used against him from the police on his case, and another piece of evidence from the State’s Attorney. The next court date was set for November 6. They actually have a trial date set for November 18, although that date is expected to be pushed back.

Their attorneys had a visit with both of them after the court date. Both were said to be in good spirits.  They said the food situation has improved greatly. Tyler is playing a lot of chess and cards. They are still being refused access to books and the boredom has been strenuous on both of them.

cleveland4solidarity.org

Editor’s note: Skelly was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after being found guilty of three felony counts. He and his co-defendants were charged with attempting to destroy a bridge with C4 explosives in a plot orchestrated by the FBI. Since the judge applied the terrorism enhancement to his sentence, he also has life-time supervised release after his prison term.

You do not offer a dangerous terrorist a plea deal for three years.

That was the deal the government offered Joshua Stafford, the deal that he left on the table when he chose a trial where he hoped to present evidence of his innocence against charges that carried a minimum of thirty years. It takes a great deal of courage to stand up against a prosecution that badly wishes you and your case would just go away quietly. Most people would be bullied by the threat of the long decades ahead, and go on to take the deal. Whatever his sentence today, Josh will have already served nearly a year and a half of it.

Whatever his sentence today, Josh will have had an insufficient chance to present his side of the case. Those who witnessed his trial are already aware that it played out as a farce, in which he was derailed from every attempt to explain the circumstances and the events that led up to his arrest on April 30, 2012. Those in the courtroom may not have been aware that they were witnessing the height of hypocrisy. A prosecution that would have been happy to settle for a three-year sentence just the day before trial presented the scant evidence they had of his involvement while painting him as a person far too dangerous to let back out on the streets.

Thus, the jury convicted him without a chance to understand why a young man whose fast metabolism gave him his nickname “Skelly” got in a car with his friends and their boss: an empty stomach and the offer of dinner at Applebee’s. They only saw Josh stumbling as best he could through the legal system as his prosecution laid every well-crafted brick stacked against him neatly. They never heard that they were deciding the fate of a young man who has never had much in his life but has always been willing to share what he had; a young man who never hesitated to help a friend.

For the Cleveland 4 Support Committee and for all those who support political prisoners, an important question remains: What are WE going to do? It is time to shine a very bright light on the methods used by FBI agents and prosecutors in an attempt to justify continued funding and personal advancement by entrapping the most vulnerable members of our society. We will continue to expose the use of paid informants with extensive criminal rap sheets as they are routinely misrepresented as accidental witnesses rather than as amoral leaders highly motivated to create simulated crimes.

We will continue to support those incarcerated simply for others’ political and personal gain.

BY SUPPORT DANE ROSSMAN

supportdanerossman.blogspot.com

Dane is out of prison and back in the US! He took a non-cooperating plea, was sentenced to one day and about $1,500 in restitution. We will be posting a statement about his case in the coming month, more or less. Thank you all so much for your support during this time.

Please remember that there are still four other people who need support to deal with G20 extradition charges and consider donating funds or putting together an anti-repression event in your city if you are able.

About the case:

Early on the morning of Thursday, February 21, US Marshals arrested Dane Rossman at his home in Tucson, AZ on a provisional arrest warrant issued by the US Attorney’s office, acting on a Canadian extradition request. Dane is one of five Americans sought in Canada for alleged offenses stemming from the G20 summit.

On June 26th and 27th, 2010, tens of thousands of individuals gathered in Toronto to protest the G20 summit. The G20 is a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 19 powerful countries plus the European Union. During the 2010 summit, Canadian authorities specifically targeted people involved in migrant justice, indigenous solidarity and anarchist organizing for prosecution. Dane was arrested along with over 1100 other protesters in the largest mass arrest in Canada’s history.  He was processed and released without charges. Now, three years later, he is facing three charges related to alleged property damage.

Dane is a dedicated social justice advocate, humanitarian aid volunteer, and student. He has spent the past several years in Arizona providing humanitarian relief on the US/Mexico border, and organizing against racist profiling laws and mass incarceration.

thejerichomovement.com

June 24—Greetings and thanks for all your support and help in putting pressure on the Butner administration to get me my shoulder operation. I just heard from the warden who stopped by my cell to let me know that I should have the rotor cup operation within two weeks, no exact day due to security issues. So thank you again for your support.

I remain in Struggle your comrade,

Tom Manning
#10373-016
FMC Butner,
P.O. Box 1600
Butner, NC 27509

BY TIM PHILLIPS, MINNEAPOLIS CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY

activistdefense.wordpress.com

On October 10, Rebecca Rubin pled guilty to arson and conspiracy charges, but refused to turn over the names of other people who were involved in the actions she took in the name of the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front. She will serve at least five years in prison, with the exact amount of time to be decided by U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken at Rubin’s sentencing on January 27, 2014. The prosecution is apparently seeking a terrorism enhancement, which could mean an upward departure in Rubin’s sentence.

Rubin’s plea agreement was reached after many months of argument and discussion between Rubin’s attorney and the Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case. Plea bargaining now plays the central role in securing convictions and determining sentences in the U.S. criminal legal system. According to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Lafler v. Cooper (2012), “criminal justice today is for the most part a system of pleas, not a system of trials. Ninety-seven percent of federal convictions and ninety-four percent of state convictions are the result of guilty pleas.”

North American Anarchist Black Cross Medical Justice Committee statement on the state of health care of Political Prisoners in the United States

On October 4, 2013, the world lost one of its greatest fighters in the struggle against oppression and injustice. Herman Wallace spent 41 years in solitary confinement after being targeted by the state for his work against racism and oppression from within the prison system. Amnesty International and mainstream news sources recently highlighted the release of Herman Wallace from prison. Tragically, Herman was able to breathe the air of freedom for only three days before he passed away. Herman was denied any kind of compassionate release by the state of Louisiana, despite his advanced liver cancer and the prognosis of a mere two months to live. Though it was the circumstances of his original conviction that compelled a judge to grant Herman his freedom, it was the state’s lack of concern for his medical condition that led to the resurgence of public and media interest in his case.

Herman was just one of many aging political prisoners (and prisoners of war) in the United States who are currently being denied adequate medical care and the compassionate release for which they qualify. These people are incarcerated for their opposition to actions or policies of the US government that are in violation of human rights, and as such should be afforded the protections of international law. It is the opinion of the North American Anarchist Black Cross Medical Justice Committee that these captured dissidents and combatants be granted compassionate release and dignified medical care, with respect to their age, health and sacrifice in service of legitimate struggles against oppression and exploitation. It was too little, too late for Herman; that must not be the fate of our other elder comrades.

Unfortunately, cases like Herman’s are far too common. Albert “Nuh” Washington, Bashir Hameed and Marilyn Buck are other recent victims of prison medical neglect. Some, such as Merle Africa, have died under suspicious medical circumstances. More will soon follow, if swift action is not taken.

Lynne Stewart is a 73-year-old movement attorney convicted of materially aiding a terrorist organization for issuing two press releases on behalf of her client Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman. Lynne was initially sentenced to two years in prison. But after publicly claiming that she could survive the 2 years, the government appealed her sentencing and she was punitively re-sentenced to an outrageous 10 years in prison. Diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer prior to her sentencing in 2009, Lynne was denied compassionate release because the BOP (Bureau of Prisons) claimed, “she is not suffering from a condition which is terminal within 18 months,” though treating physicians have estimated her life expectancy at 12 to 18 months. She is currently awaiting a decision from an independent committee within the BOP. From there, it will go to the director of the BOP for the final recommendation and request for a motion to the Judge. Lynne’s health deteriorates daily. Her case is one example of many ongoing cases of medical neglect, including Abdul Majid, Robert Seth Hayes, Tom Manning, Jalil Muntaqim, Dr. Mutulu Shakur, Chelsea Manning and Leonard Peltier.

There are currently over 100 political prisoners in the United States. These women and men are listed and recognized as political prisoners by numerous human rights, legal defense and progressive/socialist organizations. They come from the Civil Rights/Black Power/New African Liberation struggles, the Puerto Rican Independence Movement, Indigenous Peoples survival struggles, Chicano/Mexicano Movements, anti-imperialist/anti-war movements, anti-racist/anti-fascist struggles, the Women’s Movement, social and economic justice struggles and, especially in the past several years, from the Environmental/Animal Rights movement. They are Black, white, Latino and Native American. Most of these political prisoners have been in captivity since the 1970s and 1980s. Some were convicted on totally fabricated charges, others for nebulous political conspiracies or for acts of resistance. All received huge sentences for their political beliefs or actions in support of these beliefs.

Despite international recognition of political prisoners within the US, the US government continues to deny their existence. An article in the Harvard Black Letter Law Journal Vol. 18 states that “Despite their prevalence in United States society, US Government officials have long denied the very existence of political prisoners. When Andrew Young, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, publicly acknowledged the existence of over 100 political prisoners in his country, he was swiftly removed from office.” – The Reality of Political Prisoners in the United States: What September 11 Taught Us About Defending Them by J. Soffiyah Elijah.

The harsh punitive conditions of confinement, often in special “control unit” type prisons, that political prisoners face daily, decade after decade, exposes and refutes this government myth.
The Geneva Conventions contain the internationally recognized standard of care for prisoners of war. The standard of care for Political Prisoners in the United States ought to be at least as sound as the Geneva Conventions. It currently is not. We have many aging comrades struggling for the most basic health care while incarcerated. Even the Office of the Inspector General found that the existing BOP compassionate release program has been poorly managed and implemented inconsistently, likely resulting in eligible inmates not being considered for release and in terminally ill inmates dying before their requests were decided, as noted in the Department of Justice April 2013 review of the BOP compassionate release program. We cannot allow this to keep happening. What has happened to Herman Wallace should never happen again. No one should die in prison. Least of all, perhaps, those who have spent their lives fighting oppression and injustice.

BY PORTLAND ABC
pdxabc.com

It is a time to celebrate!!! Comrade Coyote Sheff is scheduled to be released from Ely State Penitentiary on November 8, 2013. He has some good time coming to him, so he may be released sooner than that. He will not be paroled and will have done all his time so he will not be a continued ward of the state. As you may know, Coyote has been organizing the Ely Prison chapter of ABC and has plans to continue organizing upon his release, in Olympia, WA. He is planning on moving there with his mother and would like to continue his work with writing, educating and organizing. As you know, this transition is going to be challenging for him, as he has spent most of his adult life behind enemy lines, and the last three of those years in solitary, a direct punishment for his radical organizing.

We at the PDX ABC are planning on hosting a “Freedom Celebration” and fundraiser for Coyote. Our plans are to host it during the “Thankstaking” holiday as a Ending Colonial Legacies event. First and foremost, we want to celebrate the release of our comrade from colonial control and his slavery, but to also help support him in his transition to this society. I have been in contact with his mother and partner and they are both struggling financially. I have gotten his mother in contact with some comrades in WA, who are helping the best they can.

Coyote and his family are looking for any support that this community can offer him to help with this transition. This could be by also hosting a freedom celebration in your community, raising funds in other ways, or any other way you may have access to. For info and updates go to simpleregistry.com/coyoterelease.

osoblanco.org

Editor’s note: At the time of publication, Oso had been transferred to USP Atlanta but it was unknown whether he would be kept there or transferred again.

“I want to thank you all for calling Florence USP, in Colorado. This unity has motivated Ms. McDermott to relent and give me medical attention” – Oso Blanco

Greeting friends, comrades and supporters,

The call in days went well! Oso Blanco says we all did an awesome job and he would like to thank everyone for their support. On June 12, USP Florence-High was slammed with in-coming calls from all over the country! The phones started ringing first thing in the morning, and by afternoon the staff members were exhausted. Others who were not present on this day returned to find their message boxes flooded.

Early the next morning, our comrade was taken from his cell and given another blood test, and round two of calls and emails rolled in. USP Florence-High, with its already existing reputation of medical neglect, experienced the strength of our solidarity. They can no longer brush off Oso Blanco’s request for medical attention. Staff members confirmed to some callers that all our information is accurate, so whether intentional or not, they can no longer deny that he needs the care requested. So great job everyone!

He still has yet to receive an actual ultrasound, and still needs one, but has gotten something smaller and similar. Which he is very happy about and excited to see progress being made for the first time, since he arrived at Florence on January 9, 2013.

September 4, 2013 Campaign Update—Just five days after observing his 70th birthday, on August 28, 2013, former Black Panther and political prisoner Russell “Maroon” Shoatz was transferred to the State Correctional Institution (SCI) at Frackville, a maximum security institution. He has once again been immediately placed in a restricted housing unit (RHU): solitary confinement of 23-hour-a-day lock down. Shoatz was not given a reason for the transfer.

The transfer came one week before Pennsylvania Department of Corrections’ (PA DOC) officials, including Secretary John Wetzel, must report to a federal judge on the progress of Shoatz’s release into the general population. DOC defendants in the case Shoatz v. Wetzel have represented to the court on multiple occasions that they intend to release Shoatz into the general population, but have so far failed to do so.

Coming on the heels of a weekend of events held around the country in honor of Shoatz’s birthday, the transfer highlights the refusal of the PA DOC to respond to a major international campaign, launched in May 2012, to win the release of this senior citizen into General Population. In a birthday message sent jointly to Shoatz and PA DOC Secretary Wetzel, three Nobel Peace Prize recipients—Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, Jose Ramos-Horta of East Timor and Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Ireland—demanded “in the strongest possible humanitarian terms” that “now is the time for the immediate and unconditional release” of Shoatz.

Archbishop Tutu, a founder of the Elders group which includes Nelson Mandela and former US President Jimmy Carter, and Ramos-Horta, former President of East Timor and a Special Representative of the United Nations, have vowed that they will continue to monitor the situation of Shoatz until his “unfair and unjust treatment” is alleviated. A report of Shoatz’s case has been formally filed with the office of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan E. Mendez.

Recognizing that the transfer to SCI Frackville represents an arbitrary and unjustifiable delay of his release to population, forcing Shoatz to wait for another indeterminate processing period in this new institution, now is the time to re-activate the phone calls, letters and faxes demanding Maroon’s immediate release!

It is important to remember that on March 28, shortly before a team of lawyers filed a suit against the PA DOC for violating Shoatz’s constitutional rights by holding him in an 8-by-12-foot cell for over 2 decades, prison officials moved Shoatz from SCI Greene (where he had spent a total of 18 years on lockdown) to SCI Mahanoy for the stated purpose of ending his 22 consecutive years in solitary confinement. That transfer coincided with the first leg of a 16-city national tour of Maroon’s recently published book of essays, which has since been banned by the PA DOC.

Juan E. Mendez, who reports directly to the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights, has repeatedly likened conditions in restricted housing units to torture and called for a moratorium on isolation exceeding 15 days. Yet Maroon has endured these torturous conditions for almost half of his life, despite the fact that he has no disciplinary problems in over 20 years.

BY PHIL FAIRBANKS, THE BUFFALO NEWS

Editor’s note: Updates can be found at lesliejamespickering.com.

Leslie James Pickering knows the FBI is watching him.

He wants to know how, when it will end and whether others are targeted.

Pickering, a former spokesman for the press office of the Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental group, has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Buffalo to learn the answers.

“I’m looking to find out what they’re doing to me, my family, my community and my business,” Pickering said Wednesday. “And if it will ever end.”

Pickering’s ties to the Earth Liberation Front, or ELF, are well known. He was a founder and spokesman for its press office, but he claims he was never involved in their illegal activities.

The group is best known for a series of arsons in the late 1990s and early 2000s at dozens of businesses—the timber companies, car dealerships and slaughterhouses that it believed were destroying the environment.

Pickering, who grew up in East Aurora and West Seneca and now owns Burning Books on Connecticut Street, said he quit the press office more than 10 years ago.

His goal, he said, is to end the government’s surveillance and determine if other social activists are being watched by the government.

“It’s not just me,” he said. “I’m trying to find out what the government is doing to groups involved in social change. I don’t think you should be treated as a criminal when you haven’t been involved in any criminal activity.”

The alternative weekly Artvoice has joined in the action.

The FBI declined to comment on Pickering’s suit, but in the past, the agency has described the ELF as the nation’s No. 1 domestic terror threat.

“The FBI’s policy is not to comment on anything going before the court,” said Supervisory Special Agent Gregory D. Nelsen, spokesman for the FBI office in Buffalo.

The government is not the only one that views the ELF as a threat. The Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center consider the group an “eco-terrorism” group responsible for at least $30 million in property damage.

Since his departure from the group, Pickering has found himself the target of government surveillance, including FBI interviews with his associates, grand jury subpoenas for his records and the U.S. Postal Service’s monitoring of his mail.

Eager to find out what else the government may have done, his lawyers filed several Freedom of Information requests that, so far, have produced little or no information from the Postal Service and FBI.

“They came up with all kinds of ploys to avoid complying with the Freedom of Information Act,” said Buffalo attorney Michael Kuzma.

Daire B. Irwin and Joseph M. Finnerty, one of Buffalo’s premier First Amendment lawyers, are assisting Kuzma with the lawsuit.

june11.org

This year, we celebrated the third annual international day of solidarity with Marie Mason, Eric McDavid, and long-term anarchist prisoners….We’ve noted with pleasure how comrades from diverse locales have appropriated the call for solidarity, by:

Continuing to provide direct support to Marie, Eric, and other prisoners via letter-writing and fundraising.

Organizing, with increasing frequency, events like conversations, dinners and debates. These strengthen local struggles and better connects them to companions who have been kidnapped by the state to be held in cells.

Further elaborating the direct struggle against the structures of domination, not only by continuing to carry out actions but by concretely demonstrating new connections in the web of power (particularly by acting against surprising targets) that imprisons our friends, comrades and loved ones.

Building new networks against repression and imprisonment, and connecting via solidarity seemingly disconnected prisoners.

In the spirit of this last point, we would like to thank everyone who organized events and carried out actions that made it clear that Marie and Eric are not the only prisoners facing repression, but are instead part of a worldwide movement. In particular, local organizers linked June 11 to these other prisoners and comrades: Oso Blanco, Walter Bond, Chilean anarchists in both the old and new cases, grand jury resisters in the USA, Richard Williams (combatant who died in a US prison in 2005), those facing the campaign of anti-anarchist state violence in Greece, the Cleveland 4, the Tinley Park 5, along with others we have overlooked. It is important that long-term anarchist prisoners receive specific solidarity, since they are particularly susceptible to being lost in the oblivion of the state’s dungeons and communications management units. However, it is also clear that they must not be treated in isolation from others struggling against repression.

We are also heartened that so many of the events linked Marie and Eric’s experiences to ongoing struggles in defense of the earth and animals. Multiple cities organized solidarity events that were also in explicit opposition to the Tar Sands pipelines, while others linked the organizing to action against animal exploitation and prisons. Many of the solidarity dinners were vegan, echoing the conscious choice of both Marie and Eric to maintain their vegan diets, despite the challenges of doing so in prison.

The fight for Marie and Eric’s freedom is not limited to a single day per year, but is present whenever we resist prison-society and the forces of domination. They, and all of us, will be a little closer to freedom if the hunger strikers up and down the West Coast of the USA succeed at challenging the power of the prison system. We will all be safer if the repressive drive of the grand juries in NYC and the Pacific Northwest is brought to a halt, and if the Mapuche indictees are acquitted in Chile.

Jock Palfreeman, a long-term anarchist prisoner in Bulgaria, was just denied the transfer to Australia that he has been fighting for, and has requested support and pressure against the prison officials. Further, Krow, arrested on June 11 in an eco-action against mining in the Penokee mountains of Wisconsin, urgently needs support. We call for solidarity with everyone facing repression in these situations. The happy news of Kostas Sakkas’ recent release from jail, secured by his hunger strike alongside intense collective struggle, confirms the importance of revolutionary solidarity. Regardless of whether our actions successfully return our comrades to the streets, the practice of solidarity always leaves us stronger.

We are demanding:

• An end to maximum security detention: Immigration detainees should should not be held in maximum security  provincial jails, and must have access to basic services and be close to family members.
• An end to indefinite detention: If removal cannot happen past 90 days, detainees must be released. Canada’s current immigration detention system is in direct contravention of the United Nations’ ruling on indefinite detention.
• Extend access to legal aid for detention reviews.
• Overhaul the adjudication appointment process for detention review.

In addition to the original #MigrantStrike demands:

• Better access to medical care and social workers.
• Cheaper phone calls and access to international calling cards (many have family overseas).
• Access to better food, like the food on the non-immigration ranges.
• An end to constant lockdowns.
• Keep the improved canteen program going.
• Better access to legal aid and legal services.
• Granting of specific requests to move individuals to facilities nearer to their families, legal resources, and social services.

“I was granted refugee status, but within that time, after I got my permanent residency, I was convicted. They tried to send me to Liberia, I was sent there with two officers to Liberia with two border guards, but the government of Liberia refused to let me in. I came back and they kept me in jail for 14 months, and then they released me. Since 2011, I have been in jail, they tried to send me to Ghana, because they think my voice and appearance is like Ghanians but Ghana didn’t want me. They tried to send me to Somalia because Somalia has no government, so they offered me $4,000 to go there but I didn’t want to go. So I have been in jail, and Canadian government has sent investigation teams to other countries but but nobody wants to take me. I’ve been in jail, and no country wants to take me. I did the program from Salvation Army, from John Howard society, I’ve eight certificates, I did family development, account management, social skills, I am doing another program. This organization ‘Redemption Reintegration Services wrote a letter saying  they would help me to reintegrate into society. They said they would give me a job but immigration turns me down. I have done everything immigration asked me to do but they don’t want to release me.”

Erik K. is 48 years old from Liberia, West Africa and has been in Canada since 1989.

191 detainees on immigration hold in the maximum security prison in Lindsay have been on strike since September 17. These migrants are kept locked in cages for 18-22 hours a day, some of them for up to 7 years because Canada cannot deport them to home countries that will not take them back. In contravention of the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights, Canada refuses to release them. They are being punished for being arbitrarily deemed a flight risk, and for the crime of being born elsewhere.

The strike began after the detainees were moved to Lindsay jail from prisons across Ontario where they face lockdowns, sub-standard food, limited access to telephones, and denial of family and legal visits. Despite this crackdown, many of them have been on hunger strike for 12 days now. At least six detainees have been hospitalized or received medical treatment, and at least one is on dry hunger strike. The detainees are now also collectively boycotting their detention review hearings, which have become a charade with no hope for release. This resistance is lifting the lid on what is arbitrary and indefinite detention.

BY LARRY HOLMES

workersworld.org

The following letter was written for the opening of a Book of Condolence in honor of Senior Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, former Minister of National Defense and Commander-in-Chief of the People’s Army of Vietnam and former Permanent Deputy Prime Minister of  Vietnam, who passed away on October 4, 2013. It will be delivered to the Vietnam Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Workers World Party pays our comradely and deep respect to the Vietnamese people, government and Communist Party upon the death of Comrade Vo Nguyen Giap, the great general and exemplary communist leader. His role in developing a people’s war was decisive in the liberation of Vietnam and inspired peoples and nations fighting for freedom from imperialism around the world. Those of us whose political education occurred during the U.S.-American War against Vietnam always considered Gen. Giap to be also our hero. Every victory in battle of the Vietnamese fighters, every sign that the Vietnamese would never give in to U.S. imperialism, every setback for the Pentagon, we knew was also a victory for the working class of the United States against the common enemy. We were in awe of the Vietnamese people’s determination to go on fighting whatever the hardships, whatever the sacrifices, and it made perfect sense that they chose Comrade Giap to prepare the strategy.

Internal bleeding went untended for two days due to shock.

BY MILES HOWE

halifax.mediacoop.ca

It has taken three days, but sadly there is now the potential of a very serious injury arising from last Thursday’s early morning RCMP attack on the anti-shale gas encampment that occurred on a piece of Crown land adjacent to highway 134.

Tyson Peters, a member of the Mi’kmaq Warriors Society, today appeared at a community meeting in Elsipogtog using two friends for support. His left leg was heavily bandaged. He tells the Halifax Media Co-op that after being shot in the leg by a ‘rubber bullet’ shotgun blast, fired by an RCMP officer at close range, there is extensive internal bleeding in his leg. Doctors have advised him that they will know better tomorrow whether the leg will require amputation.

Peters, who was asked by his uncle to join the Warriors Society, was amongst several people shot by the RCMP with rubber bullet shotgun shells during the violent arrest of 40 people on Thursday. Peters was at the second confrontation between anti-shale gas activists and police, which occurred after an RCMP tactical squad arrived in the pre-dawn hours with about 60 guns drawn to serve an SWN Resource’s Canada injunction to about 15 odd people.

“I had to jump in front of a woman and take a rubber bullet,” says Peter. “I didn’t go for help for two days. I was walking on it for two days and couldn’t feel it. I was in too much shock.

“[Doctors at St. Anne hospital in New Brunswick] told me I might be losing my leg.”

While the RCMP has been very forthcoming in their public display of three apparently-seized rifles from the Warriors encampment near highway 134 (none of which were ever used at the encampment), the police have remained totally mum on their use of rubber bullet shotgun shells during both confrontations with anti-shale gas activists on the 17th. Numerous incidents of maiming and blinding by rubber bullets and slugs have been documented over the history of their use.

BY DYLAN POWELL

So much confusion over the events at Elsipogtog on October 17th results from a complete lack of media access on site and the arrest of one of the two independent media sources on site. The timeline below is pieced together from my position outside of the Highway side police line from 1pm onward–combined with coverage from Media Co-op’s Miles Howe, SubMedia.Tv’s Frank Lopez and APTN’s Ossie Michelin. Many times are approx–any more definitive times or information, or conflicting information–please contact at dylanjamespowell@gmail.com to correct.

Above all else I want to reiterate and make clear that by the time the first RCMP car was set ablaze those on site had endured 7 hours of hundreds of RCMP, pepper spray, tear gas, attack dogs, sock rounds, rubber bullets, semi-automatic weapons (off safety) pointed indiscriminately, racist comments from some RCMP officers, mass arrests and the arrest of Elsipogtog Chief Aaron Sock.

October 16th

Evening – Mi’kmaq van blocking the SWN compound is removed. Mi’kmaq encampment given tobacco offering from RCMP NB Negotiator as token of peace. SWN Private Security leave site.

October 17th

Approx 6:00am – RCMP close off Highway 134 on both sides. Dawn Raid Begins – Hundreds of RCMP including K-9 units, less lethal force, semi automatic weapons descend on camp. RCMP NB Negotiator claims that online social media post from the night before that situation was “no longer peaceful” was pretext for raid. Arrests begin including Media Co-op Journalist Miles Howe. Response from camp includes Molotov cocktails thrown from the woods around the camp.

9:55 AM – Elsipogtog community members and allies break police line in Rexton side. Enter area drumming and singing. Met with pepper spray, dogs, sock rounds and claims of rubber bullets. Mass arrests continue.

11:27am – APTN reporter Ossie Michelin hears a camo RCMP say, “Crown land belongs to the government not the fucking natives.”

12:40pm – Elsipogtog Chief Aaron Sock arrested.

1:00pm – Two Row Times reporter arrives on Site. RCMP refuse entry claim “public safety” concern. Ask made for RCMP spokesperson denied.

1:07pm – APTN Report Ossie Michelin posts viral photo of protest–woman bended on knees holding feather at police line.

1:15pm – Independent Media SubMedia.Tv reports first RCMP cop car set ablaze.

1:31pm – SWN Trucks begin to leave site Irving Compound and head out on highway.

1:49pm – 6 RCMP cars now ablaze.

2:28pm – RCMP unload Riot Gear from Quebec Bus out front Highway side Police line.

3:00pm – RCMP NB news release – 40 arrested, claims one shot fired “not from RCMP.”

3:25pm – RCMP line up with Riot Gear.

3:45pm – Road Blockade of HWY 6 taken up by Six Nations of the Grand River supporters showing solidarity with Elsipogtog. One of the first Elsipogtog solidarity actions.

4:00pm – Elsipogtog Chief Aaron Sock release negotiated, he returns to site.

4:08pm – Mi’kmaq Warrior arrested in the woods. Possibly last arrest of the day.

6:40pm – RCMP begin withdrawal from site.

7:00pm – RCMP withdrawal from site complete.

Albert Woodfox Bids Farewell to his Angola 3 Brother, Herman Wallace, Fights on for Freedom

sfbayview.com

Well, the old man has decided to leave us! I am sure it was a very hard choice for him: Who will I serve, the ancestors who have called me home or humanity whom I love so much?

Old man was my term of endearment; it had to do with the age of everything to do with his heart and soul. Herman “Hooks” Wallace was not a perfect human being and, like all men, he had faults and weaknesses, but he also had character! He could make me so mad that I wanted to rip his head off! Then he would melt my heart with a word or act of kindness to another human being.

He was the best of us. As long as we remember him, he lives on.

On Oct. 1 sitting in a hospital room with the other part of my heart, Robert H. King, I tried to will a miracle, and it was granted—not the miracle of life that I wanted but the miracle of freedom! After 42 years of tireless struggle against evil, he was a free man!

I wanted so badly to witness his walk to freedom, but it was not to be. I had to leave. But after losing my mother, sister and brother-in-law to cancer, I was at peace!

I had a chance to say goodbye to my comrade in the struggle, my mentor in life, my fellow Panther and most of all, my friend. Herman taught me that a man can stumble, even fall, as long as he gets up. That it s OK to be afraid, but hold on to your courage. To lose a battle is not the loss of a war!

Herman Wallace’s greatest pride was joining the Black Panther Party for Self Defense! He believed in duty, honor and dedication. He never broke the faith of the party, his comrades or the people. As I bent to kiss his forehead, my heart said, “Goodbye, I love you forever”; my soul said, “Separated but never apart, never touching, but always connected.”

He was the best of us. As long as we remember him, he lives on.

All Power to the People!
Albert “Shaka Cinque” Woodfox

Dear All,

On Saturday October 12th hundreds of supporters from across the globe congregated in New Orleans to lay Herman Wallace to rest. It was a powerful memorial that did justice to Herman’s life with eulogies in song, art, verse and a full Black Panther Tribute.

Although we are mourning the loss of this revolutionary life, we are committed to maintaining the legacy and intentions of Herman’s dreams. Artist Jackie Sumell committed herself to building Herman’s House 10 years ago- and that commitment was made regardless of the outcome of Herman’s circumstances. Herman’s house is a tool designed to expose the abuses associated with long term solitary confinement, mass incarceration and wrongful conviction.

Herman Wallace died free, and an innocent man in the eyes of the law. Herman’s House asks that the tragedy of his short life outside of prison not overshadow the miracle of his overdue release. In order to honor Herman we ask supporters to transform their sadness, anger, pain, and frustration in to a collective power that ensures the end of long term solitary confinement in the united states. Let us channel the momentum of his overturned conviction towards securing the IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ALBERT WOODFOX.

Herman had a transformative power that enabled him to survive the impossible with compassion and kindness. Take the resonance of his voice, his power and his legacy to transform your anger into justice for the last remaining member of the Angola 3 behind bars. See below for actions and upcoming events and an Amnesty International drive determined to ensure that the next large gathering of Angola 3 supporters will be to welcome Albert Woodfox home.

In Revolutionary Spirit,
The Herman’s House Team

Herman Wallace died nine days before his 72nd birthday. The famed ‘Angola 3’ prisoner succumbed to liver cancer on Friday, 3 days after being released from prison.

Herman survived more than 41 years of isolation, becoming a fierce activist calling for an end to the cruel, inhuman use of solitary confinement.

He died a free man, but the search for justice is far from over. The third member of the Angola 3, Albert Woodfox, is STILL being held in solitary confinement.

Enough is enough—call on Louisiana authorities to free Albert Woodfox.

Albert was placed in solitary after a 1972 murder that he maintains he did not commit. There is no physical evidence linking him to the crime.

Albert’s conviction has already been overturned three times—most recently by a federal district court—but the state obsessively appeals every time the court rules in his favor.

Tell the Louisiana authorities to free Albert Woodfox today.

Before he died, Herman said this about Albert and their struggle for human rights:

“I want the world to know that I am an innocent man and that Albert Woodfox is innocent as well…The state may have stolen my life, but my spirit will continue to struggle along with Albert and the many comrades that have joined us along the way here in the belly of the beast.”

I never met Herman, and yet I will always remember him as larger-than-life—a symbol of resistance to human rights abuses and injustice who refused to be silenced. More than 110,000 people like you rose up to free him—Now it’s time to shine the light for Albert—take action.

In solidarity,
Jasmine Heiss
Campaigner, Individuals and Communities at Risk
Amnesty International USA

BY KEVIN GOSZTOLA

dissenter.firedoglake.com

The movement for human rights and justice mourns the loss of Herman Wallace, a former prisoner of the Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola prison) who was held in solitary confinement for forty-one years before having his conviction and sentence for murder vacated by a judge this week.

Wallace was released from prison because his Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection under the law had been violated when he was convicted by a jury with no women. The judge immediately moved to have Wallace released. Only after the district court judge threatened to hold the state in contempt of court if they did not obey him and let him go free did the prison allow him to be put into an ambulance that would take him to a hospital.

This conduct on the part of the state took place in spite of the fact that the man known as a member of the Angola 3 was dying from advanced liver cancer and would be dead very soon.

Yet, the callousness did not stop there. Two days after he was sent home to die amongst his friends and family, the terminally ill political prisoner and former Black Panther was re-indicted by a grand jury in Louisiana.

Wallace’s legal team reacted, “If it is true, we are shocked that a state grand jury was asked to indict a man who has only days to live.”
West Feliciana District Attorney Samuel D’Aquilla said, “I say he is a murderer, and he is not innocent,” and, “The conviction was overturned because the federal judge perceived a flaw in the indictment—not his murder conviction.”

D’Aquilla made it seem like the state was being compassionate by not moving to immediately have him jailed again and by planning to not schedule any dates in court until December. However, anyone familiar with Wallace’s case will understand that the state was nothing but barbaric toward Wallace and that is because he tried to organize a Black Panther Party chapter in the prison in the 1970s.

Several details highlighted by NPR help prove Wallace did not murder the prison guard he was convicted of killing. Hezekiah Brown, a serial rapist who claimed to be the key witness to the murder, was apparently offered a pardon for his testimony. The deputy warden even recalled that “you could make him say anything you wanted him to say.” There was a “single bloody fingerprint ” found at the scene. It did not match Wallace, but the print was never tested by the state because it said it was not going to test the fingerprint.

Anne Butler, a forewoman of the grand jury that reindicted him in the 1990s, was the former wife of a warden in the Angola prison, Murray Henderson. She is known to have passed around a book to fellow jurors informing them that Woodfox and Wallace committed the murder. She even wondered why she was allowed to be a part of the jury and said to the district attorney at the time, “You are going to put me off this,” and he said “no.”

On top of that, Wallace was never given an opportunity to challenge his cruel confinement conditions. Every time officials “reviewed” his status in the prison, he was never given a chance to speak and would be handed a piece of paper indicating that nothing would change. And the reason for this was the fact that he had a past history of “Black Pantherism” and could not be allowed to be in the prison organizing younger inmates.

Angola 3 News, which has been advocating for justice for not just Wallace but also Albert Woodfox (who remains imprisoned for his involvement in the same murder despite the fact his conviction has been overturned), published a tribute to Wallace, who it described as the “Muhammad Ali of the criminal justice system.”

This morning we lost without a doubt the biggest, bravest, and brashest personality in the political prisoner world.  It is with great sadness that we write with the news of Herman Wallace’s passing.

Herman never did anything half way.  He embraced his many quests and adventures in life with a tenacious gusto and fearless determination that will absolutely never be rivaled.  He was exceptionally loyal and loving to those he considered friends, and always went out of his way to stand up for those causes and individuals in need of a strong voice or fierce advocate, no matter the consequences.

Anyone lucky enough to have spent any time with Herman knows that his indomitable spirit will live on through his work and the example he left behind.  May each of us aspire to be as dedicated to something as Herman was to life, and to justice.

Below is a short obituary/press statement for those who didn’t know him well in case you wish to circulate something.  Tributes from those who were closest to Herman and more information on how to help preserve his legacy by keeping his struggle alive will soon follow.

The fight is not over. Attention should be turned now to Albert Woodfox. He remains in solitary confinement and it was Wallace’s hope that his case would help ensure that others like his good friend did not “continue to suffer such cruel and unusual confinement” even after he was gone.

Woodfox remains in solitary confinement and, according to Wallace’s lawyer, George Kendall, is being subjected to further degrading treatment in the prison:

GEORGE KENDALL…[H]e has just recently again been subjected to anal searches every time he leaves his cell, whether it’s just a walk down the tier to take a shower. Albert, 30 years ago, on his own, filed a lawsuit and won a lawsuit that prohibited the Department of Corrections from engaging in those kind of searches. And we called that to the attention of the Corrections Department when they started doing it again, and they said, “We’re going to continue to do it.” We filed yesterday in federal court in Baton Rouge a lawsuit seeking an injunction barring the Department of Corrections from using that kind of search on Mr. Woodfox and others in that cell block.

AMY GOODMAN: The judge who issued the order that he should not be strip-searched like this—anal cavity, oral cavity strip-searched—died.

GEORGE KENDALL: That’s correct.

There is a lawsuit involving violations of the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Eighth Amendment and violations of the Fourteenth Amendment that is set to go to trial in Baton Rouge in June next year. That will continue the effort to bring about some modicum of justice.

Amnesty International, which was a key advocate of justice for Wallace, explained in a post that he was “denied access to meaningful social interaction, work opportunities, education and rehabilitation programs.” Also, “During his 41 years in solitary confinement he was only allowed out of his cell for seven hours a week, which he would spend showering or in solitary recreation. Under international law, these conditions amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.”

“Amnesty International knows of only one other person in the US who has been held for longer under such harsh conditions,” the human rights organization added.

The organization has also pushed for Woodfox’s release from solitary confinement. “In a case that has always been more about vengeance than justice, the state should immediately withdraw their appeal, and allow Albert Woodfox his freedom before it is too late,” it declared.

The racial violence of the state of Louisiana is heinous. The complicity and indifference, which led him to remain in isolation for decades, is reprehensible, but let’s not end on that note. Let’s recall the spirit of Wallace as a fighter.

These words, published by Justice: Denied magazine in 1999, show the context in which he viewed his case.

On January 10, 1974, I was convicted of the 1972 murder of Brent Miller, a security guard who happened to be white. This was around the time of the “Prison Movement” around the country. There was “Death On the Yard,” Folsom Prison; The San Quentin Six, from the murder of the revolutionary George Jackson; and, there was the infamous “Attica.” Then, deep down in the swamp of Louisiana, we had the death of a white security guard at Angola Penitentiary, a prison dominated by black prisoners. All security guards and personnel were white. It is significant to mention race, because it played a role and continues to play a role in the frameup against me.

The times were sweeping the country with change, and that change was making its way to our swamp at Angola. After Guard Brent Miller’s death, fear struck the hearts of all security guards who were guilty of having beaten, mangled, and even killed inmates who could not be controlled. The guards became so fearful that they refused to work unless they were allowed to carry weapons. The National Guard was called in to fill in for those who refused to work, but peace was still far from arriving…

Even more moving and powerful is this poem written by Herman Wallace called “A Defined Voice.”

They removed my whisper from general population
To maximum security I gained a voice
They removed my voice from maximum security
To administrative segregation
My voice gave hope
They removed my voice from administrative segregation
To solitary confinement
My voice became vibration for unity
They removed my voice from solitary confinement
To the Supermax of Camp J
And now they wish to destroy me
The louder my voice the deeper they bury me
I SAID, THE LOUDER MY VOICE THE DEEPER THEY BURY ME!
Free all political prisoners, prisoners of war, prisoners of consciousness.

The quote he reads before the poem is from social philosopher and author of The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon: “If death is the realm of freedom, then through death I escape to freedom.”

Today, Herman Wallace made his escape to freedom.

nlg.org

The National Lawyers Guild, and several legal and social justice organizations, today called on Attorney General Eric Holder to direct the Bureau of Prisons to grant compassionate release to Lynne Stewart, whose medical condition continues to deteriorate. Citing reforms to the Bureau of Prison’s (BOP) compassionate release program, which Holder announced to the American Bar Association in San Francisco in August 2013, the letter urges that the process of consideration be expedited, given that compassionate release was previously approved by the warden at the Federal Medical Center at Carswell, where Ms. Stewart is serving her ten-year sentence, and given that her condition clearly falls within the newly-announced standards for compassionate release.

During an August 8 hearing, Judge John Koeltl agreed that Ms. Stewart’s medical condition had seriously deteriorated.  The U.S. Attorney did not refute this assessment. Judge Koeltl noted additionally: “The petitioner has appropriately submitted a renewed petition for compassionate release to the BOP, and the court is prepared to give prompt and sympathetic consideration to any motion by the BOP that seeks compassionate release.

In summer 2013 members of several ABC groups discussed the necessity of introducing an International Day for Anarchist Prisoners. Given there are already established dates for Political Prisoners Rights Day or Prison Justice Day, we found it important to emphasise the stories of our comrades as well. Many imprisoned anarchists will never be acknowledged as ‘political prisoners’ by formal human-rights organisations, because their sense of social justice is strictly limited to the capitalist laws which are designed to defend the State and prevent any real social change. At the same time, even within our individual communities, we know so little about the repression that exists in other countries, to say nothing of the names and cases involving many of our incarcerated comrades.

This is why we have decided to introduce an annual Week for Anarchist Prisoners on August 23-30. We chose August 23 as a starting point, because on that very day in 1927 the Italian-American anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in prison. They were convicted of murdering two men during an armed robbery at a shoe factory in South Braintree, Massachusetts, United States. Their arrest was a part of a bigger anti-radical campaign led by the American government. The State’s evidence against the two was almost totally non-existent and many people still today believe that they were punished for their strong anarchist beliefs.
Given the nature and diversity of anarchist groups around the globe, we have proposed a week of common action rather than a single campaign on a specific day making it easier for groups to be able to organise an event within a longer target period.

Therefore, we call on everyone to spread the information about the Week for Anarchist Prisoners among other groups and communities and think about organising event(s) in your city or town. The events can vary from info-evenings, screenings and benefit concerts to solidarity and direct actions. Let your imagination run free.

Till all are free.

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Nizhny Novgorod antirepression group
ABC St. Petersburg

BY JALIL MUNTAQIM

jalilmuntaqim-behindthewalls.blogspot.com

The Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution reads as follows:

Section 1. Slavery prohibited.

“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

The primary objective of the Thirteenth Amendment was to end a barbaric and vicious period in American history of chattel slavery, peonage, and involuntary servitude. The Thirteenth Amendment was the last Government effort to institute legislative and congressional policy to dispute with the slave trade and mode of slavery being practiced by Southern states. Prior to its enactment, the ordinance of 1787 embraced the concept for the abolition of chattel slavery, as the Supreme Court stated in Bailey v. Alabama, 219 U.S. 219 (1911):

“The language of the Thirteenth Amendment was not new. It reproduced the historic words of the ordinance of 1787 for the government of the Northwest Territory and gave them unrestricted application within the United States and all places subject to their jurisdiction.

The plain intent was to abolish slavery of whatever name or form, and all badges and incidents; to render impossible any state of bondage; to make labor free, by prohibiting that control by which the personal service of man is disposed of or coerced for another’s benefit which is the essence of involuntary servitude.”

Here, emphasis is directed to the exception clause presently in the Thirteenth Amendment that virtually informs slavery in America was never abolished. Slavery and involuntary servitude were institutionalized in the prison system. As aptly stated by the U.S. Supreme Court in its long standing precedent in Ruffin v. Commonwealth, 62, Va (21 Gratt.) 790, 796 (1871):

“A convicted felon, whom the law in its humanity punishes by confinement in penitentiary(s) instead of death, is subject while undergoing punishment, to all the laws which the legislature in its wisdom may enact for the government of that institution and control of its inmates. For the time being, during his term of service in the penitentiary, he is in a state of penal servitude to the state. He has, as a consequence of his crime, not only forfeited his liberty, but all of his personal rights except those which the law in its humanity accords him. He is for the time being a slave of the State. … They are slaves of the State undergoing punishment for heinous crimes committed against the laws of the land. …”

Therefore, there is no adequate or substantial debate on mass incarceration that fails to begin with this understanding of the law. In essence, the U.S. Constitution sanctifies the very vestige and foundation of the inhumane treatment of U.S. prisoners. A conference, debate or meeting that does not begin with a clear understanding of the historic, legal determinant leading to the present reality of mass incarceration, misses the basis in which any discussion of abolition must begin.

In 1994, I wrote in response to a May 12, 1994, Wall Street Journal featured article entitled, “Making Crime Pay—Triangle of Interests Created Infrastructure to Fight Lawlessness—Cities See Jobs; Politicians Sense a Popular Issue and Businesses Cash In—The Cold War of the 90s”:

“If contemporary history is any indication, it is evident that government and business “Cold War of the 90s” is targeted at the New Afrikan (Black) and Latino community. In searching for people to pillage and conquer for profits, the collusion of government, military, and business interests has turned inward, and now the enemy is us, it is the poor, it is the new immigrants of color, and it is the disenfranchised. … To gain support for this new conquest of manifest destiny, this opening of the new domestic frontier, the general public, i.e., Euro-Americans, must be persuaded to support what ultimately is the resurrection of involuntary servitude and slavery in America. To ensure that this happens, the government’s nefarious alliance with the mass media has created an air of hysteria about crime. It has done so even though the Federal Bureau of Investigation recently reported that crime in America is decreasing—not increasing. The power of the media and government is extremely awesome. It is the power to shape our collective consciousness and attitudes. The politicians are then able to pass into law draconian sanctions—sanctions that appease the will of the people demanding a safe society, but ultimately serve the interest of restructuring the industrial-military-complex, by forging an infrastructure for the proliferation of prison building.”

The unholy “Triangle of Interest” of government, media and business, throughout the 90’s, shaped the public dialogue to grow the prison industrial complex, creating a profit-motive foundation for mass incarceration. Being cognizant of the method in which the U.S. has grown to the distinction of holding more citizens imprisoned than any other industrialized nation, serves to formulate a strategy to deconstruct the prison industrial complex. As such, it is easily discovered the present reality of mass incarceration was planned, it is a result of government public policy, as stated by W.E.B. Dubois, in Black Reconstruction in America: “It was the policy of the State to keep Negro laborer poor, to confine him as far as possible to menial occupations, to make him a surplus labor reservoir and to force him into peonage and unpaid toil.” (1935) (See, also, Report, Asst. Att. Gen. (Charles W. Russell) to Att. Gen. 1908, in Dubois, Occasional Papers, American Negro Academy, No. 15p). Hence, it was the State’s determination to maintain oppressive living conditions, such conditions that breed crime and eventual imprisonment and slave labor. How else can anyone come to terms with the fact that it costs more to house a prisoner per year than to send a student to college for four years?

Since the growing national debate on mass incarceration has raised the moral bankruptcy of America’s prison policy, the religious community has sought to enjoin a challenge to the prison industrial complex. In “Religion and Revolution,” an essay I wrote in 1999 on the Progressive National Baptist Convention call for the end to jailing and killing of Black youth, I stated: “… For the Progressive National Baptist Convention to require its 2.5 million members and 2,000 churches to take a forward political position on this issue, should serve notice on all religious denominations of the need to aggressively challenge and politically counter state governments and private business prison-building.” However, since 1994, it is believed and alleged the Progressive National Baptist Convention of 1999 dropped the ball, failing to forge a national determination prohibiting the mass incarceration of millions of young people of color.
Ergo, the principle lesson that needs to be confronted to deconstruct the prison industrial complex by the religious community in alliance with legal and progressive organizations is to borne an approach consistent with “liberation theology.” In the above mentioned essay, I expounded that: “With this understanding, we note that liberation theology is to create a fresh theological approach to reflection and praxis, or committed involvement in struggle. Yet, as here argued, the genesis of liberation theology has evolved from the efforts of people wanting to be free of oppression and appealing to God or the divine for intervention of their oppression. Thus Prophet Moses applied liberation theology when he freed the Hebrews from Egyptian domination. The same can be said of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) when he liberated Mecca from the idolatry of the Arabian clans. Therefore, it is not farfetched to rediscover and qualify theology as a potential liberation force. This is particularly significant, given that Prophet Jesus sought to restore moral and religious principles at a time when Roman oppression prevailed in his land, castigating the money lenders, prostitutes, fraudulent rabbis and avaricious land owners.

Hence, worship in this context is based on the premise there is a need for liberation—to be liberated from conditions that hinder spiritual growth and evolvement, conditions that deny basic human quality of life that allows for the spirit of God to reign. Thus, God becomes the liberator, the spirit of God as the liberator is evoked and religion develops the means and method by which the spirit of a liberating God is manifested. There is no one set pattern in which to evoke or manifest the spirit of a liberating God. Rather, peoples struggling to be liberated must call upon their God in accord to given conditions of their exploitation, and oppression and the form of worship they practice. … The hearing the word of God anew must turn revelation into revolution; in a sense, liberation theology is the spiritual revelation of revolution.” This is what Dr. Martin L. King, Jr., understood when he wrote his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” challenging the religious community to evoke a liberating God in enjoining the civil rights movement to bring an end to Jim Crow segregation.

Given the task of challenging the multi-layered reality of the New Jim Crow, the prison industrial complex, it behooves the religious community to come to terms with liberation theology praxis. “Liberation theology,” Paulo Freire explains in The Politics of Education, “demands of its followers a knowledge of socio-political science … (and) since science cannot be neutral this demands an ideological choice.” He further explains that the church must be prophetic in its approach, applying the Exodus story to incarnate the spirit of liberation or the God of liberation. Ideological choice in respects to socio-political science definitely puts theopraxis to task, causing its practitioners to consider how best to manifest materially their spiritual faith and inclinations. As stated in the Holy Qur’an, “oppression and tumult is worse than slaughter … fight oppression where you may find it.”

Hence, any theopraxis must, according to the New Afrikan theologian James H. Cones, have the following components: “(1) be a transformation of the self-identity of the communities that have been crushed by oppression and an affirmation of those communities; (2) be a vision of solidarity among the particular communities; (3) and the empowerment coming from an enhanced self-image and commitment to solidarity must be translated into goals for political, socio-economic, and united actions.”

Thereby, it is established that to build a national determination to end mass incarceration and deconstruct the prison industrial complex demands a broad-based uniform and united campaign. The bankrupt moral posture of the U.S. criminal justice system requires a bottom-up restructuring of public policy pertaining to crime and punishment, beginning with a public discussion and policy of redistribution of wealth to end poverty, homelessness, and forge a right to work with living wages program. To ensure money appropriated for prison building or maintenance is not greater than the cost to send a student to 4 years of college. To further raise the moral determinant to abolish prison slavery, by demanding that the exception clause of the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution be excised, removing the profit-motive base from the prison industrial complex. It is this kind of socio-political science that Paulo Freire, Dr. James H. Cones, and Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. forward as the means and method of evolving revelation into revolution.