Newsletter of theFedUp

Hello Friends,

Welcome to issue number 7. Our biggest accomplishment since you last heard from us was the rally that took place in Richmond. Below you will find a little news article on the event. It went well. Also a previous letter that censored by staff at Red Onion was sent to Virginia Headquarters for review and was approved. So 3 months later, inmates at ROSP are finally receiving it. So that’s optimistic, considering we have about 150 people on that list. Make sure to take note of the list of upcoming events and try to attend the Rally on the 16^th!! It’s really important. Tell the legislatures to support SB805 and that you are in support of a Prison Oversight Board. This will help keep guards and staff in check, the proposed board would consist of a medical person, a law person, staff from the doc and prisoners family members. (that’s rough I might not have it exactly right, but it is a project of VA CURE so contact them for more info)

On December 10, in honor of International Human Rights day, 50 people gathered in Richmond, Virginia across the street from the Richmond city jail. The group consisted of former prisoners, family members of people in prison, community organizers and concerned citizens speaking out against the torture and abuse of the United States run-prisons abroad and at home, here in the federal prisons and local jails across the United States. The event was organized by the People United, who are a network of Virginia based grassroots organizations, as well as FedUp!, an organization of prisoners, family members and citizens that are monitoring the abuse and living conditions at Red Onion State Prison, Wallens Ridge State Prison, and Keen Mountain Correctional Facility in Virginia. Just across the street from the protestors at the Richmond City Jail overcrowding and unsanitary conditions have led to an unsafe environment for the prisoners housed there. This has led to many instances of abuse including the incident last memorial day where one inmate, whose cell was not locked properly, was able to murder another inmate. The jail was built to house 800 inmates and now currently houses about 1500 people, most of who have yet to be convicted and can not afford to post bail. The prisoners could hear us. Afterwords a member of RIHD’s grandson called her and said “Gramma, there all these people yelling out side.” She said “That was your gramma” and he was all “Go Gramma Go!

Lillie Branch Kennedy, founder of Resource Information and Help for the disadvantaged (RIHD) was one of the speakers at the rally. The mission of RIHD is to uplift and empower prisoners through education. They also strong advocate’s for senate bill 805 which would allow inmates to earn reduced sentences by participating in rehabilitation programs Ms. K kicked her speech off with the statement, “We are all from one race, the human race and when you hurt people abroad it is the same as hurting us at home.” She then went into detail over reports of abuse that her organization had received from inmates including an account where an 18 year old first time offender was beaten and then sexually abused for an hour by staff at Red Onion State Prison. She also commented that, “Nobody cares because [the prisoners] are so far away. You know what the guards tell them? By the time your family gets up here the wounds will have healed. Well the wounds on the outside may have healed but not the wounds that are forever inside. When that 18 year old boy gets out of prison, just what do you expect him to be like?”

The demonstration illustrated the connection between the abuse of inmates in Virginia with the U. S. Immigration detention centers in Guantanomo Bay, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other detention centers hidden in nations that have come under considerable international pressure for their use of torture and abuse of Muslims and Arab peoples. Sue Frankel- Streit reported on a solidarity action at Guantanomo Bay. On that same day, 25 citizens from the United States finishe up their 50 mile walk to the detention center in Cuba where 500 inmates are being illegally detained, denied lawyers and made to suffer horrible conditions. Protestors chanted, “No Torture No Way From Richmond to Guantanomo Bay!”

Since January of this year FedUp! has documented at least 7 cases of unwarranted abuse including the beatings of prisoners in isolation while handcuffed and shackled. Representatives of FedUp! stated that “One person being unjustly treated, One person being denied food, One person being beat down is One to Many.” Many prisoners report that they are being denied meals and medical care, that they are being held for excessive periods in isolation, and that the staff continually obstructs the standard grievance procedure. Due to outside pressure (That’s you all calling and complaining to the Governor, the DOC and the warden) Things have been reported to have quieted down considerably. There has been news of officials investigating ROSP and Wallens Ridge.

Last week, we received a letter stating that in September an inmate at Wallens Ridge was racially targeted and severely beaten while in ambulatory restraints. He has since been transferred to Red Onion. We are waiting to hear back from him for more specific details of the attack. Also at Wallens Ridge, the water has been turned back on, so the toilets are once again flushing.

On December 11^th, the day after the rally at the city jail, 10 activists rode out to Red Onion State Prison to serve prison officials with a petition. The petition was signed by people who attended the previous rally and called for an immediate end to the abuse. Also attached to the petition was a list of 18 demands written by inmates at ROSP, and approved by inmates at Keen Mt, and Wallens Ridge.

Peter Gelderloss an anarchist organizer from Harrisonburg VA, read a statement from Rashid Johnson, a prisoner at Red Onion State and co-founder of FedUp who documented 11 instances of brutal and excessive force from staff in 2004. One part of Rashid’s statement commented on the disenfranchisement of prisoners and declared all elections illegal until there was universal suffrage for all.

Other speakers included Art Burton and Peter Lincoln from the People United, Lorrene Maynard from Our Daughters and Sons support group, Janet Taylor from the The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, and etta from FedUp! (that’s moi)

The demonstrators made a clear point that they want an end to the racist imprisonment and abuse of the poor at home and abroad. Racism, illegal detention, prison abuse and torture make our world more insecure. True security comes from justice and equality.

The protest was followed by a panel discussion at PaperStreet, a new infoshop and book store on 2506 Carey Street in the Richmond. Phil Wilayto, editor of The Richmond Defender, spoke about the efforts of the Defenders to address the conditions at the Jail. He said the paper, which is available for free around VA would be interested in hearing from prisoners directly and maybe even publishing articles. You can find out how to contact the Defenders at the end. They have A Court Watch project that involves a group of volunteers who attend trials and other court proceedings. The purpose is to ensure that the community has an independent source of news about controversial court cases. The Defenders also do a bi-weekly radio program on WRIR 97.3 FM, every other Monday at 12:30 pm.

People on the inside are encouraged to keep FedUp! in the loop about what you are seeing and hearing. And also, share this info with other people and encourage them to pass on the names and address of their loved ones and friends on the outside who may be interested in receiving a copy of these letters.

So a couple things on my mind… I have been wondering about and would like to hear what you all think about parenting from prison. Do you all with kids “parent” as much as you can from prison? I was just wondering about that and wondering if anyone wanted to share some parenting from prison tips with people who may read this. (Do you talk to your kids about sex and drugs etc?) Also, been wondering on what kind of response would you all give to a person who asks, “Well if not prisons what then?” You know how people who work any job can devise a better way to go about it. If anybody knows what would work instead of prisons it’s probably you. Let’s dream it up peops. A world without prisons. What does it look like?

And those of you who listen to holler to the hood can insert my sing songy voice as I say to you..

Chhhiiinnnsss tooooo thhhheeee sssskkkkkkkkkkkkkkyyyyyyyy! Ha ha.. For real though! Support each other, educate each other, listen to each other, and heaven above, show some love! I got’s it for you. Oh and keep up the struggle when you get out. There’s a lot of work to do. One brother from Keen Mt. was just released talking revolutionary as hell before he got saying he wanted to help and all this. And you know it was just a front. (Incarnation of George Jackson my butt. Ancestors would be turnin’ if they heard what he said about them speakin’ through him) Nothin’ I hate more than people who don’t keep their word. That’s all we got. Word is Bond. I have no problem with people who want to focus on themselves when they get out to get on their feet or whatever. I actually encourage him to get himself together before he dove into the madness of organizing. Whatev’s.

Peace, etta (your rather short, FedUp! editor)

Erica Zauzig from FedUp! Va Beach writes:

Hello everybody,

Congratulations to all of you who appealed the banning of our newsletter and prevailing!! I'm very happy. I enjoy reaching out to all of you. We at FED UP! were not deterred. We were still out here fighting for you. As promised, I offered to help those with mental illness. I have found a great agency that has power to advocate for you and actually accomplish things to have your needs met. The agency is the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy. My contact person is a lovely woman by the name of Claunita Jackson-Jones. Her address is: Claunita Jackson-Jones 1910 Byrd Avenue Suite #5 Richmond, Va. 23230. (Prisoners who want help from this organization should write directly to her as well as to FedUp! so we can follow up to make sure they got your letter. This group helps folks in institutions with mental and physical disabilities.)
I have both written and spoken with her and am confident she cares about all of you at ROSP, WRSP and Keen Mountain. Take care to all of you,

Erika Zauzig

Contact FedUp!-Pittsburgh - 5125 Penn Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15224 412-802-8575 (no collect calls) de_tritus@yahoo.com Focused on Red Onion State, Wallens Ridge, and Keen Mountain. FedUp!- Virgina Beach 5506 Rock Creek Lane Virginia Beach, VA 23462 (focus on mental health related concerns) 757-490-1550 (no collect calls) FedUp!- Roanoke P.O. Box 7861 Roanoke, VA 24019 434-426-3701(no collect calls)

The People United: PO Box 875 Nellysford, VA 22958 or info@thepeoplunited.org.

(434) 361-2397.The Defenders for Freedom, Justice, and Equality – PO Box 23202

Richmond, VA 23223 phone 804-644-5834 www.defendersfje.org or DefendersFJE@hotmail.com

THE ETHICS OF BLACK ATONEMENT IN RACIST AMERICA:

                                                                        THE EXECUTION OF STANLEY TOOKIE WILLIAMS

                                                        By Dhoruba al-Mujahid Bin-Wahad

As one of the individuals Stanley Tookie Williams dedicated his book to, I thought it important to comment on his execution and the sad state of affairs that now determines the parameters of debate around the death
penalty.

First of all, Tookie Williams was a product of the African experience in racist America. Let’s not get it twisted. Nuns can lament his execution, Preachers can pontificate about how valuable he could be to Black youth, and Law enforcement can talk about legal and judicial rulings, but the bottom line is that Tookie Williams was a consequence of his communities racist marginalization - of America's internal Black colony and its occupation by racist and brutal police armies.   This being the case, his execution by the enemies of African-America, and I know there are scores of born again Negroes out there who don't believe that the nation-state of America is their enemy, (a faith they must have if they are to attach any meaning to their life), but history and recent events emphatically substantiate the racist character and morality of America.

Tookie Williams is a product of social and political forces we have permitted to take control of our collective destiny. African-America should have judged and punished Tookie Williams itself. But it didn't.

It was incapable of holding its denizens accountable. Street gangs that started out as expressions of our community's inability to control our own streets and in opposition to police terror, were led down a certain path by the likes of Tookie. These gangs became predatory, apolitical, and reactionary. Our communities suffered as a consequence. Those who followed in Tookie's footsteps did so because not one Black institution existed that embraced and channeled their warrior spirit in a positive direction. Black nationalist were to busy "getting the right political line"; The Black Clergy was to busy mobilizing themselves to influence a body politic that considered them nothing more than mouth-pieces for the Black middle class; Black professors and militant academician were hollering at white educational institutions for inclusion and relevancy...none spoke the lanquage nor harnessed the energies of our street soldiers. The only organization that did so was the Black Panther Party - and that was destroyed by a potent combination of forces over three decades ago. Nothing ever replaced it.

As a Muslim, and even in the Panthers, I never opposed the execution of criminals and butchers of people. There can be no true justice without retribution - without balance. Having said that, I must point out that the European nation-state, and America in particular, given the racist nature of its evolution has absolutely no right whatsoever to act as a surrogate executer of justice for people of color. But Because the African-American community, and its ersatz leaders have no temporal power, no institutions for social justice, or to exact a political consequence on those who make war on our community, we are left to debate the merits of the "death penalty" as a deterent to crime or state murder. The state says it executed Tookie Williams because he killed four people - three of them Asians and people of color. But the California has never executed one white man for killing Blacks, Latinos, or Asians during the course of armed robberies. And if they did would that justify executing one Blackman? If Guilt or innocence were the real issue rather than a pretext, I would still say no.   Why? Because the death penalty in America has always operated as a legal instrument of racial terror. The death penalty evolved from, and assumed the psychological role of Lynching. Least we forget, every Black man lynched was "guilty of a crime". Tookie Williams could have murdered Black folks in droves and would have never faced the death penalty. It was law enforcement's role in the politics of drugs, and urban gang warfare that made his case extraordinary.

If I were to say the present regime in Washington qualify for judicial prosecution and probable execution for crimes against humanity, not one newspaper or major media outlet would treat that statement with respect rather incredulity. But if Law Enforcement officials were to say that to embrace the likes of Gorge Jackson meant that one was "criminal minded" there is not one media outlet that would question that proposition.

Which brings me to my major point: The Tookie William's execution by the state of California is not just about the efficacy of the death penalty in America, or punishment for a heinous crime, but about the ethics of atonement and redemption in a racist culture and society. Indeed, the Governor of California in his Hollywood portrayal as the "terminator" and other violent monosyllabic killers is himself a role model for countless thugs, bandits, and murders around the globe, some of whom I've met personally. Liberia's murderous rebels, Sierra Leonean butchers of children, and scores of other misguided youth have adopted the violent persona of the Sylvester Stallone's "Rambo" and Arnold Scharzenegger...the "Teminator"!

Although Schwarzenegger notes that Williams dedicated his 1998 book to a group that includes myself, Assata Shakur, Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X and Mumia Abu-Jamal he is particularly upset by praise for George Jackson.   Schwarzenegger said the inclusion of a dedication to George Jackson, who was charged with the murder of a California prison guard, "defies reason and is a significant indicator that Williams is not reformed." Defies whose reason?

Apparently Scharzenegger, or the Experts on African sub-culture in America find it absolutely abhorrent that Black redemption can or should embrace a radical political paradigm. They find it absolutely repugnant that the heroes and sheroes for an entire generation of Black youth don't look or behave like Hop-Along Cassidy, Arnold Scharzenegger's "Last Action Hero" or GI Joe.

To many Black people (with an iota of consciousness), George Jackson is a hero. Why? Because Comrade George represented uncompromising resistance to a racist system and its political institutions, a system that incarcerated him his entire adult life for crime that a white boy from suburbia would have done community service for.   Scharzenneger, never considered this. He never asked himself why should one black man or woman who has been savaged and brutalized by police and prison guards, agents of a state that has historically exhibited utter contempt for them, their community, and their lives, mourn the death of any prison guard? That would be like the Jewish alumnae of Dachau morning the death of a concentration camp guard. Were the murders of countless men and women behind prison walls by sadistic guards ever a subject of public outrage except when the state under John D. Rockefeller murdered both prisoners and guards at Attica in September of 1971? Least the Governor of California forget, in regions like New York and New Jersey fully 85% of prison inmates come from only several communities in the area - all Black, Latino, and poor. What that means is that almost every black person has a relative either behind bars, on parole, or under pretrial detention. So who cares about the prison guards? Their Union, the state, and a racist society that has always viewed Black people as criminals or potential criminals that is who. But thanks to "The Patriot Act" even white citizens are potential criminals before they are law abiding citizens.

What wonderful icons Tookie chose to offer his respect to; Nelson Mandela, Malcom X, Mumia, all respected and revered freedom fighters - except to those who have spent half of their lives living off of the misery and disenfranchisement of Black folks. The utter absurdity of a Jamie Foxx begging a fellow actor to exercise progressive politics is a sickening commentary on the state of African-American leadership.

"Governor Schwarzenegger, we're not trying to push you into a corner. We realize that you have a tough job to do and you're very busy, but in being very busy, you may not get a chance to hear everything with the case." Foxx is reported to have moaned. Like Richard Pryor once joked about praying to god for help, "I know your busy, cause I checked your schedule". Whether they are busy or not, there is not one legal or "constitutional" right African People have in America that white folks don't have the veto over, or not subject to judicial review –including the right to life. A Blackman's life is subject to termination by a cop or agent of the state at any given moment - without recourse to appeal.

Indeed for many of today's so called leaders from Jessie and Sharpton to national "talk show hosts" (who in the age of instant communication substitute for ideological movements) the issue of African-America's right to self-defense has been a taboo subject, yet it was the destruction of militant groups such as the Black Panther's that left a social, political, and ideological void in African-America to be filled by street gangs and the distorted politics of individuals like Tookie Williams.   Although Law Enforcement experts are anxious to dispel and distort the social and political roots of street gangs such as the Crips, the fact of the matter is that gangs like the Crips were in part, a consequence of the success of COINTELPRO's devastation of the militant Black liberation movement in America.

COINTELPRO was A government campaign directed at the African-American community that Black leaders to this day have failed to fully investigate or even wish to investigate. It was the selective repression of COINTELPRO and its spin offs that has conferred
credibility on some of today's Black leaders. That lynching, a historical instrument of anti-Black terror evolved into the modern death
penalty system, only further highlight the illegitimacy of Tookie Williams execution by the state. Indeed California's governor alludes
to this when he says, "there is little mention of atonement in his writings and his plea for clemency of the countless murders committed by the Crips following the lifestyle Williams once espoused. The senseless killing that has ruined many families, particularly in African-American communities, in the name of the Crips and gang warfare is a tragedy of our modern culture." A tragedy of "our modern culture" the body builder says? The Austrian Oak never lived one minute in the South Bronx, or Watts. Never ducked bullets in the Projects or watched helplessly as cops gunned down a teenager on "suspicion of having a gun."

Yes Black families have been ruined by gang warfare, Black communities have also been occupied by police armies as well - cops who also believe they are the biggest and baddest gang in the 'hood and act accordingly. The rise of street gangs directly coincide with the destruction of grass root militant movements that would have otherwise occupied the energies of several generations of African-American youth. What the Governor of California fails to mention is that the "tragedy of our modern culture" was contrived, and created by a society and a nation of people who have absolutely no shame, little sense of history, and absolutely no sense of themselves as pigs rather than saints. What's a tragedy is that the people of California failed to make a distinction between the plastic imagery of Hollywood and the reality of American politics when they elected Schwarznegger Governor!

Robert Martin, Tookie's prosecutor, questioned whether there was any moral equivalence "between co-authoring some children's books and the senseless murder of four people in cold blood."

I have always asked similar questions, was there any moral equivalence between starting a bloody war by lying to the world and thereby causing the deaths of thousands and justifying the lies with the rhetoric of decency and humanity? Or was there a moral redemptive equivalent between security agents of apartheid who brutally tortured and murdered Steven Biko, and their apologies thirty years later before a "truth and reconciliation commission" as Winnie Mandela would have us believe, while descendants of white settlers still control the land in South Africa even though Blacks are in political power and Racists Europeans still dominate the gold and
diamond industries and call the shots?   Or should the apologies of the Belgian, French, and American murderers of Patrice Lumumba who now enjoy their old age and write self-justifying memoirs while the Congo wallows in chaos and bloodshed because of their imperial machinations be accepted as true atonement? Or even closer to home, is there a moral equivalence between a government's collusion with organize crime and right wing Asian cartels and paramilitaries to flood the African-American communities with drugs and then declare a war on drugs thereby incarcerating and killing thousands of Black youth?

Lets not talk about moral and ethical atonement for heinous crimes - there is so much America needs to atone for that "clemency" is out of the question. Why should African's debate a non issue as if it were relevant to the real deal? If the African community in America hadn't turned its back on its youth by failing to seize control of their own community, its institutions, its economics, and its cultural instruments of self-verification, Tookie Williams could have been another freedom fighter, rather than a redeemed thug who died at the hands of our enemy and their hypocritical system of democratic fascism.

Al Sharpton is dead wrong when he says Tookie Williams has shown a lot of young Americans, particularly in urban areas, the folly of being involved in gang life. It would be far more positive for him to live behind bars and continue that work. There's nothing gained by executing him."

By "Young American", I am assuming Sharpton is referring to an audience not enthralled by the war on drugs, the war on terrorism, and
war on us, because if he is - ain't none of them took Tookie's books as a guide down the yellow brick road to mainstream success. Nor is there such a quality as "life behind bars" everyone in prison is socially dead, and politically mummified - ask Sharpton and the rest of our national Black leaders how alive to him are the Bashir Hameeds, Herman Bells, Russel Shoats and countless other Black Political Prisoners?

Indeed, if anything young Blacks realize is that the biggest "gang" is the US government and its law enforcement agencies.   And if nothing is gained by executing Tookie Williams, then surely nothing is lost with his demise. But something is lost and something is achieved. In the age in which we live information is intelligence and manipulation of public perception is key in the manufacture of public opinions.

Tookie Williams was executed to send a clarion signal to African youth that redemptive militancy is unacceptable - only rejection of your social history and complete surrender to the myths of white America could possibly save your life. In this sense, his execution was a commentary on the cowardice of many of today's Black leaders - who want to be both patriots and champions of Africans in America. This is the age of American empire, you can't be both.

As for America's African-American youth...don't believe the hype - stay strapped - stay alert, and stay Black.
But most of all, don't mourn - organize!

Dhoruba al-Mujahid Bin Wahad
West Africa

Upcoming Meetings, Events and Announcements

Tell a Legislator What is on Your Mind!! Public Forum!

Thursday January 5th – Newport News, VA 5pm

Downing Street Cross Culture Art Center 2410 Wickham Avenue Newport News, VA 23607

Bring your concerns and solutions about the current prison system to a public forum

Legislator and Guest Speaker will be: Senator Yvonne Miller

Hosted By: Our Daughters and Sons support Group

Contact: Ms. Lorrene Maynard (757) 595-1483 Email: professionalcna@hotmail.com

(this letter is probably going out to late for you to attend but contact for future meetings like this one)

Resource Information and Help for the Disadvantaged (RIHD) Monthly Meeting

Wednesday, January 18th 2006 (Every 3rd Wednesday) 5pm --Richmond

Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church – 1720 Mechanicsville Turnpike Richmond, VA 23223 I-64 Mechanicsville Turnpike West Exit

(804) 737-9624 Email: InmateResource@aol.com

January 16^th Virginia C.U.R.E. s Advocacy Day Richmond Virginia 7:30 am to 5:00 pm

On the morning of January 16th, we will meet as usual at 7:30 am for a briefing before moving to the

General Assembly building for meetings with legislators. We will plan to break for Lunch from Noon to 1pm.

Then, we will gather again from 4 to 5 pm in the GAB to report on the day s activities.

The morning briefing and planning discussion will be held at: Centenary United Methodist Church

411 East Grace Street Richmond, VA 23219

Due to the renovations to the Capitol both House and Senate floor sessions will be held in the Patrick Henry Building where there are no galleries. House floor sessions can viewed at the GAB in House Rooms C and D. Senate floor sessions can be viewed in Senate Rooms A and B.

A Cry for Families Gathering and Press Conference 1:00 to 2:00 pm Capitol Square Bell Tower

Richmond, VA 23219 For more information or to RSVP, contact:

Virginia C.U.R.E. P.O. Box 19453 Alexandria, Virginia 22320-0453 Phone/fax: 703-765-6549 Email: virginiacure@cox.net Web site: www.vacure.org

Virginia Literacy Education Rehabilitation Act – We need your support!!

VaLERA (a.k.a SB 805, SB 75, Good Conduct, 50% BILL) This bill will give inmates an earned second chance for participating in programs and exhibiting good behavior inmates would be able to receive time of their sentences. We need 50,000 signatures. Pre-Written Petition Drive Until Bill Becomes LAW
We need your help getting signatures from your families in friends in support of this bill.

For Copy of Petition Package Send SASE to::VaLERA PO Box 55 Highland Springs, VA 23075

You can return all completed petitions to the same address for an E-mail Request: SB805LERA@aol.com (804) 737-9624

Further comments about this from RIHD-- The 2006 Virginia General Assembly officially begins January 11, 2006. The Legislative Calendar is forthcoming, RIHD will be making announcements every Monday on Holla to the Hood.

RIHD, Inc will be sending out flyers/brochures with the entire 2006 Virginia General Assembly Legislative Calendar for ALL Bills pertaining to incarcerated persons and ex-offenders. Those connected with UNIA-ACL will be kept informed through their newsletter channels. Contact RIHD to get on the mailing list, email or snail mail.

We ask that, all incarcerated persons give their families a heads up on what is about to take place regarding the VaLERA Bill and other proposed Bills. Please share information with people inside and on the outside.

Those able to attend the Virginia General Assembly and give strength towards the passing of many of the upcoming Bills. If any families, communities wish to speak on behalf of any of the upcoming Bills, to let us know. Those who wish not to speak, that's fine, however, PLEASE SHOW UP ANYWAY, we need physical, visual support especially for the VaLERA Bill.

Also. RIHD, Inc. is seeking assistance and input regarding writing an upcoming proposed bill for those under the parole sentencing. If anyone is interested in participating, contact Ms "K" directly. Write to: Ms. "K" - PO Box 55 - Highland Springs, VA 23075. All those directly connected with the proposed bill will share "author-ship" when completed.

Lastly, Ms "K" and all of RIHD, Inc. wish all those at a disadvantage and disenfranchised, who seek and "Earned" second chance, "Peace and Blessings throughout 2006".

Virginia Prison Directory Action – A new resource guide for prisoners and prison advocates in Virginia is now available. This guide is over 50 pages and has local and national prison advocacy groups listed as well as listings for legal, health, government contacts, penpals, book programs etc. It is currently Free to people in Virginia and available thru Book ‘Em – a books to prisoner program. Write to Book ‘Em at P.O. Box 71357 Pittsburgh, PA 15213. If you are a prisoner and need prior approval for publications please specify this and send a self addressed stamped envelope if you can.

Sponsor an Inmate – Rehabilitation through Education (S.I.R.E) R.I.H.D., Inc’s mission is to send 10-15 inmates to vocational/community correspondence college through S.I.R.E. a self-rehabilitation program. Thanks to private donations by inmate’s families, the community & private donors we are able to help people in prison educate themselves. Help us to help those who entered the VA DOC as liabilities and who wish to leave the VA DOC as productive, responsible assets.

Spring/Summer 2006 Semester, 10 deserving inmates one-3 credit correspondence community college cost per semester: Tuition: $200 Books & Fees: $50-$75

Donations: $5.00, $10.00, $25.00, $50.00, $100.00 Any amount

Please make check or money order out to: RIHD, SIRE Tuition Program

PO Box 55 Highland Springs, VA 23075

Additional Information Call: (804) 737-9624 Email: InmateResource@aol.com

Thank You For Your Support For Public Safety

IT’S TIME TO RESTORE VOTER RIGHTS… AND THE CLOCK IS TICKING!

The Advancement Project is leading a campaign to encourage outgoing Virginia Governor Mark Warner to restore the voting rights of the estimated 243,000 citizens of that state who have completed a felony sentence. Virginia is one of the most restrictive states in the nation, with all felony convictions leading to permanent disenfranchisement. Although Governor Warner has been very receptive to applications for restoration of rights during his term, less than 2% of the disenfranchised population has regained the right to vote The Advancement Project and its allies are calling on the governor to follow the lead of Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack by issuing an executive order before his term ends on January 14th to automatically restore voting rights to all people who have completed a sentence. See the call to action below and make your voices heard.

The overwhelming majority of Americans—more than 80%!—believe that people who have completed their sentences should be allowed to vote.
Virginia is one of only four states—all former slave states—that still permanently disenfranchise individuals with felony convictions.
Virginia disenfranchises 1 in every 6 African Americans in the Commonwealth.

It doesn’t have to be that way! The time for change is now.
Call Governor Warner today at 804-786-2211 or email him via his website: http://www.governor.virginia.gov/Contact/email_form.html Urge him to issue an executive order to restore voting rights to Americans in Virginia who have completed the conditions of their criminal sentences.

Governor Warner’s term ends January 14, 2006. Before he leaves office, let’s make a bold, historic move for democracy. Let’s trounce a history of felony disenfranchisement laws that were intended to exclude African Americans, and still do.
Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack restored voting rights for disenfranchised voters this past summer. Ask Governor Warner to join Governor Vilsack in leading the way for a just democracy.
Governor Warner has already restored the voting rights of over 3,000 individuals—a number greater than his 4 predecessors combined—but this is only an estimated 2% of the eligible population. Now we need him to take the next step to strengthen voter justice and democracy in Virginia. It’s the right thing to do. And the time is now!

CONTACT INFORMATION: Governor Mark R. Warner Patrick Henry Building, 3rd Floor
1111 East Broad Street Richmond, Virginia 23219 Phone:(804) 786-2211; Fax: (804) 371-6351
Email correspondence: Follow link at http://www.governor.virginia.gov/Contact/email_form.html

The Advancement Project 1730 M Street, NW #930 Washington, DC 20036 Ph:202-728-9557

FX:202-728-9558 http://www.advancementproject.org/

Inside NOLA jails by Walidah Imarisha 12/26/2005

“It ain’t easy, doing hard time for somebody else’s crime” – Michael Franti and Spearhead

Philadelphia Journalist and activist Walidah Imarisha reports on the conditions she witnessed inside New Orleans–area jails while doing relief work with the Common Ground Collective. In addition to horribly inadequate record-keeping systems and austere conditions, there is a suspicious number of people of color being jailed for minor offenses like curfew violations which give the government the opportunity to collect fines and/or obtain community service labor. Legal support efforts being organized by Critical Resistance, the Juvenile Justice Project, the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund, and Louisiana’s Friends and Families of Incarcerated Children.

I went down to New Orleans at the beginning of October to do relief work with a community based organized called Common Ground Collective. Before going, I had scoured reports about the situation after Katrina looking for any information on the prisoners in the south. As a prisoner rights activist with the Human Rights Coalition who has a loved one incarcerated, I knew that if the government was so callous and murderous in its treatment of “free” black people, that it must have been even worse when dealing with what many consider “the dregs of society.” What I heard and read before and while down there was appalling. Prisoners were shipped all over the state and all over the country, without adequate records kept of who was where, so their family members were unable to locate them. Prisoners are still being shoved into already overcrowded prisons, and the conditions have rapidly deteriorated. Orleans Parish Prison, which was the county jail for New Orleans, flooded and prisoners were left trapped in their cells, abandoned by the guards who got out. If it wasn’t for other prisoners crowbarring cell doors open, many more prisoners would have died in their cell. As it is, 500 prisoners are still unaccounted for. At the time I was down in New Orleans, courts had not resumed for people who were having trials, so they were being held indefinitely in prison. Many of the court documents and records had been damaged during the flood, including large stores of evidence that could have been essential to someone’s case or appeal. Jury trials were not running, and instead one judge was presiding for all of Orleans Parish. NOLA was at that time and I believe still is under de facto martial law. While I was there, there were curfews in every part of town, many parts of it were still not opened, there were checkpoints all over and bands of National Guard roamed with M-16s and other automatic weapons in full view. The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) are notorious through the country, as are Philadelphia Police Department cops, for brutality and corruption. While I was down in New Orleans I interviewed numerous people who reported brutality by the police before, during and after the flooding. People who were trying to rescue others were allegedly shot at by the police who accused them of “looting.” There was a video released of Robert Davis (who I interviewed as well), a 64-year-old elder black schoolteacher who was beaten by NOPD until his blood literally flowed in the streets. So this is the context for “justice” when we talk about the criminal justice system in New Orleans, and I’m sure the rest of the south. The last couple days I was in NOLA I spent most of my time at the Greyhound/Amtrak station, which is the current jail. Through some crazy twists, I actually got inside the jail and filmed and got to interview some of the folks being held there. When they first started using the Greyhound as the jail, they called it Angola South (after the infamous Angola Prison. A former plantation where the majority black prisoners work the fields just like our enslaved ancestors did, it’s notorious for its brutality), but then changed it to Camp Amtrak. They have since opened up Orleans Parish Prison again, even though it is heavily infested with mold, the sewage system is backed up, the water is incredibly contaminated and in many people’s estimations, it is nowhere near fit for habilitation. The prisoners at Camp Amtrak were kept caged in the place where the buses depoted, around which fencing had been put up. It was open to the elements, and to everyone’s line of vision (there were porta-potties in each cell with no door on them). The prisoners slept on the concrete and were each issued one blanket (though some prisoners reported not receiving a blanket because they ran out). They were given MREs (meals ready to eat, which are military rations) to eat, and water. There were reports of pepper spray and physical violence being used without provocation or restraint. Prisoners all reported being denied their phone call, so their families had no idea where they were. For those who say this isn’t about race, I know what the faces coming out of that jail looked like, I know what color almost all of the officers I saw were. In Algiers, we saw three young black men arrested for curfew violations while a dozen white activists were let off the hook. People are being arrested for curfew violations in parts of the city where curfew is no longer in effect. While police and the government wanted to portray at that time that they were keeping the streets safe from violent criminals, from lootings and robberies, the prison itself gave The New Standard newspaper a list of the charges everyone had received since Katrina up until that day Oct. 9, 2005. The number one offense people were arrested for was “possession of stolen property,” at 524. Next was looting, at 294. Curfew violation was third at 123 arrests. The vast majority of the other crimes (including violent crimes) were all in single or low teens, except for “driving against traffic,” which had 45 arrests.) The question of why were people being arrested for mostly minor offenses (curfew violations had risen dramatically to be the number one offense when I went in, along with public intoxication) became very clear when you looked at the court system. Prisoners told me that people were being brought into court, addressed as a group of 30 or so by their public defender who told them if they pled guilty, they would receive 40 hours of community service. If they pled not guilty, however, they would be shipped to Hunts Prison (already horribly overcrowded) to await trial for up to three weeks, and bond was usually around $2500. Everyone that I spoke to or saw pled guilty. And so the city then received hundreds of hours of free labor every day to help with the clean up, rather than paying people a living wage to do that work. But there are groups working on the ground to address these issues. Critical Resistance, a national prison abolitionist organization, has joined with The Juvenile Justice Project, People’s Hurricane Relief Fund and other organizations to demand amnesty for everyone arrested during and after Hurricane Katrina. They have formed a legal collective that can provide not just criminal justice support, but also support around the right to return, for people to come back and get their land. These groups are working on the targeting of the black community and immigrants by the police. Louisiana’s Friends and Families of Incarcerated Children organized right after Katrina hit to create a network to track prisoners and their family members, to be able to get them in contact with each other, to provide assistance and support to family members and ex-prisoners (who were not eligible often for federal assistance or Red Cross because of their record), and to put pressure on the prison administration. There are numerous lawsuits being filed on behalf of prisoners, poor folks and folks of color in New Orleans. Please get in touch with these organizations and find out about the amazing work they are doing, and find ways to support it, because all of our struggles are intricately connected.

From DP: I spent 6 years in the mountains before being transferred to Sussex II I’ve seen more abuse, oppression, injustice and devilshment in theos 6 years than I have throughout the rest of my time of existence. Coming to Sussex was so much of a change in the Atmoshphere that it made me realize evenmore how these pigs assault our dignity and step on our humanity! I encourage every single prisoner currently at Red Onion, or Wallens Ridge who claims to be a “MAN” to stand up, come together and speak out against the inhumanity! You have to first respect yourself if you ever hope to have anyone else respect you. It’s time that you help those trying to help you. Get involved and make a contribution. By all means its only your honor and dignity that you are protecting. To Ms. Etta and all the people who care enough about the guys in the mountains to fight for us, Thank You! To all my comrades in struggle, Outlaw, UN, Reality, Pitt, Shabazz, Psycho, Dawoo, Big C, and my #1 right hand man, Deuce Big - Always know that no matter where or what, your struggle is my struggle! The war will be one. In love, peace, struggle and war - DP

"Ain’t No Mountain High Enough" 2006

Bus Trips to Keen MT. Red Onion and Wallens Ridge State Prisons

Long Distance - Overnight - 2-3 Day Visits Trips

Monthly van trip schedule - 2006

Van Leaves from the Fair Field Common Mall Parking Lot (formerly East Gate Mall) on Nine Mile Road; Richmond, VA 23223 You will see a big Van and people standing around or in cars! That’s us!

If you cannot pay for your seat by the deadline but would like to hold a seat you can put down a $25 NON-REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT. It is necessary for us to be strict about this deadline because we are a non profit organization and need all the seats to be filled in order to pay for the trip. Your money pays for a professional driver, the van rental and pays for gas. Prices are subject to change without notice if there is a gas increase. If all the seats are not filled or for any reason we have to cancel or reschedule the trip you will receive a full refund.

IMPORTANT: Please include with your payment Your Name, Address, Telephone Number, Email, which Prison you are Visiting, and the Date you are going to visit. Because we are in a group we can receive Discounted Hotel Rate that we Pay @ Check In

For More Information : web site: http://www.rihd.org/ Telephone: (804) 422-9150 or (804) 737-9624