Voting rights for jail inmates reinstated
SUPPORT THE DEMANDS OF THE WOMEN OF
EIGHT FORMER PANTHERS ARRESTED
Prison Proposal Is Disturbingly Akin to Eugenics
Great-grandma seeks Justice for Marijuana Possession
Please
ACT NOW to support freedom for two domestic violence
survivors serving life sentences in
Elnora
Francis is a 66-year-old African American woman who has been in prison since
1985 after being convicted of 2nd degree murder for the death of her
abusive husband. The California
Board of Parole Hearings (e.g., parole board) has granted Ms. Francis parole for
the third time. Ms. Francis
is a very positive person who has made the most of her over two decades in
prison by participating in numerous self-help groups, educational and vocational
programs, and volunteer activities.
Sandra
Redmond is an African American woman who has been in prison since 1983 for the
death of her abusive boyfriend. Although
Ms. Redmond survived physical, sexual, and psychological abuse by her boyfriend
(and by others before him), expert testimony about domestic violence was not
considered when her case originally was prosecuted.
A parole board investigation found evidence documenting her history of
abuse, and has granted her parole for the second time.
Ms. Redmond is now in her 24th year of a 17-to-life sentence.
Neither
of these women pose any risk to public safety – although the Governor has
claimed that they do when blocking their release in the past.
In the meantime,
Please
send a strong message to Governor Schwarzenegger that the people support these
women's freedom! Here’s how to act:
§
Call Governor Schwarzenegger’s office at (916) 445-0873 and tell the
Legal Affairs staff that you support Sandra Redmond and Elnora Francis’
release.
§
Email Governor Schwarzenegger at http://www.govmail.ca.gov/
(see http://www.freebatteredwomen.org/alerts.html
for sample letters)
§
Send the Governor a
free fax from http://www.freebatteredwomen.org/alerts.html
For more information,
contact Free Battered Women at (415) 255-7036 ext. 320 or
Free
Battered Women seeks to end the re-victimization of incarcerated survivors of
domestic violence as part of the movement for racial justice and the struggle to
resist all forms of intimate partner violence against women and transgender
people. We achieve this through
community organizing, parole advocacy, public education, media campaigns, and
policy work.
We are outraged to report that on February 2nd, 2007,
Governor Schwarzenegger reversed the
Vonda has been in
prison since 1979 after
being convicted of 1st degree murder.
She was ordered by her abusive husband/cult leader to kill a rival.
She did so for fear of her life and the lives of her children if she did
not comply with her husband's orders. Vonda
was seven months pregnant when she committed the crime.
She and her children had experienced physical and emotional abuse for 11
years from her husband and other cult leaders.
Our hearts go out to
Vonda as she faces another year in state prison.
Victories for Activists
In twin victories for activists, the Ninth Circuit court reversed the U.S.
District Court contempt order against animal rights activist Nadia Winstead and
in
Winstead: The contempt order, which
had been imposed on Winstead for her refusal to testify before a federal grand
jury investigating Bay Area Activists, was overturned December 22 when the Ninth
Circuit found that the government had not made an adequate response to
Winstead’s claim of being the subject of unlawful electronic surveillance.
Winstead was facing incarceration for the duration of empanelment the grand
jury.
In their decision, the Ninth Circuit found that there was indeed just cause for
Winstead not to answer questions posed to her by the grand jury.
The government has filed an opposition to the Ninth Circuit’s decision, and
the case will likely go back before U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston.
Myers: On January 8th, the SF
District Attorney's Office decided not to pursue the case against Gabriel Myers
because of potential witness testimony and video footage that indicated that
police had unsafely sped into a crowd of demonstrators, of which Meyers was a
part. Prosecutors were originally saying that Gabriel Meyers was arrested that
night for placing a styrofoam sign under this patrol car's wheels.
Meyers was in final stages of jury selection when the decision to drop the
charges was made. He had been awaiting trial for 15 months and had made some 40
court appearances in that time period. He made no statement as he left court,
other than that he was glad and grateful to be free.
For ongoing information, see www.FBIWitchhunt.com
Voting
rights for jail inmates reinstated
County
jail inmates serving time for felonies or on felony probation have a right to
vote, the state Court of Appeal ruled on 12/22/06. The
state constitution bars from voting only those in state prison or on parole for
a felony conviction, a three-judge panel concluded, ordering the Secretary of
States office to inform county clerks, superior court clerks and voter
registrars.
The court ruling vindicates the voting rights of more than 100,000 Californians. We need more people voting, not less.
Toxic Sweatshops: How UNICOR Prison Recycling
Harms Workers, Communities, the Environment, and the Recycling Industry
PARC is proud to release a new report, "Toxic
Sweatshops: How UNICOR Prison Recycling Harms Workers, Communities, the
Environment, and the Recycling Industry." For the first time, prisoners
speak out on deplorable health and safety conditions within electronics
recycling factories run by UNICOR. UNICOR, also known as Federal Prison
Industries, is a government-owned corporation operated under the Department of
Justice that uses captive prison labor in a range of industries, including the
dismantling of electronics. Leroy Smith, a former safety manager at Atwater
Prison, blew the whistle on UNICOR's facility there and was named "Public
Servant of the Year" by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in September
2006. Download the report www.prisonactivist.org.
Click on publications. Or write to PARC,
SUPPORT
THE DEMANDS OF THE WOMEN OF
The following was written by Global
Women’s Strike. They met with women from
The state of
In 2004, Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz came to power through electoral fraud.
Indigenous people, teachers and others were attacked, detained, disappeared and
killed.
On the 1st of May, International Workers Day, the teachers unions presented a
petition to the government. Instead of responding to the demands, Ulises Ruiz
spent millions of pesos on a media campaign which claimed that the teachers had
everything they needed. On the 22nd of May, the teachers called a strike and a
people-teachers picket in the Zócalo, which was joined by Indigenous and other
grassroots organizations. The Indigenous communities lack all kinds of basic
services and they joined the teachers in defense of their own economic and
social demands.
On the 2nd of June, the first people-teachers Mega-march was held – 100,000
people took part. On the 7th, there was a second Mega-march of 200,000. On the
14th of June, Ulises Ruiz violently evicted the picket. People were killed. From
that moment the main demand was that Ulises Ruiz had to go. The movement called
its 3rd Mega-march and succeeded in reinstating the mass picket.
By the end of June the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO) was
formed as an independent movement, with 365 organizations of different sectors.
In November in
On the 25th of November the
8th Mega-march took place. 141 people were arrested. Many men and women are
still disappeared or in different prisons, especially in Nayarit. Another
Mega-march took place in December, to demand the release of all those who are
being held arbitrarily and illegally, that all those who have been disappeared
be returned alive, and the cancellation of the arrest warrants.
Together with our sisters in
Your support is needed:
Email womenstrike8m@server101.com
or huelgamundialdemujeres@terra.es For
donations, make checks payable to
Global Women’s Strike,
Rape is a War Crime
Haitian Women Targets of US/UN Occupation
Speaking
at several Bay Area locations in January, Athena Kolbe and Royce Hutson
presented findings from their study examining Haiti’s human rights situation
following the US-sponsored coup that removed democratically-elected President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.
Kolbe and Hutson's study highlights the extraordinary violence and human rights
violations at a time when
Their study, published in the prestigious Lancet medical journal in September
2006, found that 8,000 people were murdered and 35,000 women and girls were
raped in
The Lancet study was very significant because it provided solid evidence - by
scientific methodology (random survey) - of a pattern of violence against
The Lancet report calls for a response from all of us to work for justice, to
work for reparations and material aid for the victims, and to work to ensure
that our tax dollars are not complicit in this human suffering.
For more information www.haitisolidarity.net
or www.haitiaction.net
Trial proceedings have begun in
(FARC). FARC is a 30,000-member guerrilla army that governs nearly 40% of
Sonia was captured in Nov. 2004,
in the southern mountains of
Sonia is charged with drug crimes
under
Sonia,
is the daughter of hard working peasants and joined
FARC at the end of the 1980's. She says they interrogated her at the
Tom Burke, spokesperson for the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera
said, "Just like the extradition and trial of Ricardo Palmera, (fellow FARC
leader imprisoned in the
EIGHT
FORMER PANTHERS ARRESTED
Eight former
Black Panthers were arrested January 23rd in
Richard Brown,
Richard O'Neal, Ray Boudreaux, and Hank Jones were arrested in
Harold Taylor
and John Bowman (recently deceased) as well as Ruben Scott (thought to be a
government witness) were first charged in 1975. But a judge tossed out the
charges, finding that Taylor and his two co-defendants made confessions after
police in New Orleans tortured them for several days employing electric shock,
cattle prods, beatings, sensory deprivation, plastic bags and hot, wet blankets
for asphyxiation.
The first court
hearing for the four defendants who live in
SUPPORT THE DEFENDANTS:
Excerpted
from article by Judy Gerber
John Bowman, a former Black Panther Party member who was recently jailed for
refusing to cooperate with a grand jury investigation of a 35-year-old crime
died of liver cancer just before Christmas.
Bowman, 59, was a lifelong community activist living in
Bowman never talked publicly about his treatment by the
Before his death, Bowman was interviewed for a documentary, The Legacy of
Torture.
In it, he said, "The people who tried to kill me in 1973 are here today, trying to destroy me. I mean it literally. People from the San Francisco Police Department who participated in harassment, torture and my interrogation in 1973. none of these people have ever been brought to trial, charged with anything, or been questioned about that." John Bowman will be missed.
Legacy of Torture:
The War Against The Black Liberation Movement, was produced by and is available
from The Freedom Archives,
Prison
Proposal Is Disturbingly Akin to Eugenics
[With little public attention, the Gender Responsiveness Strategies Commission
of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation proposed last
summer "elective" sterilization" for incarcerated women once
their babies have been delivered Following are excepts from the commentary of
Robin Levi, Human Rights Director and Vanessa Huang Media Director of Justice
Now, ,from the Los Angeles Daily Journal, 1/807.- OOT]
Given California’s shameful history with the forced sterilizations of
thousands of people during the 20th century, you would think that bureaucrats
would think twice before suggesting that the sterilization of an imprisoned
woman could ever be freely chosen. And you would be wrong.
“Doing what is medically necessary” is how the Gender Responsiveness
Strategies Commission of the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation termed its July 18 recommendation to consider providing, in the
course of delivering a baby, “elective” sterilization of women who give
birth in prison, “either post-partum or coinciding with cesarean section.”
To describe a sterilization performed under such circumstances as voluntary is
absurd. One’s ability to consent to sterilization — or anything else —
during pregnancy and labor is limited in any setting, not to mention in a
coercive environment such as a prison. Moreover, Robert Sillen, whom U.S.
District Judge Thelton Henderson appointed last year as federal receiver over
Given the over-representation of people of color in
Because the state has yet to thoroughly examine its own longtime enthusiasm for
eugenics practices, it’s difficult to know how many of the estimated 20,000
Californians forcibly sterilized by the state in the 20th century were people of
color, but it’s a good bet that many were. What we do know is that, upon
embarking on their own eugenics program, the Nazis were inspired by
To truly respond to the needs of people in women’s prisons, we need to end
the use of imprisonment as a de facto response to social problems.
Legislators in
Great-grandma seeks
Justice for Marijuana Possession
Last week Kay Lee appeared in intake court with her lawyer
and pleaded “not guilty.” She presented the judge with her prescription
papers and hoped to be let off.
Unfortunately, the intake court judge has no power to dismiss charges. Kay Lee now must face the DA who will decide whether to pursue the case to jury trial or dismiss it. If the prosecutor decides against her, the next court date is February 28th.
Kay Lee tells her life story on her website at http://www.angelfire.com/planet/cannabis . It includes her own extensive research and helpful links to medical marijuana use and other justice concerns such as charging people probation supervision fees.
Every month OOC receives new letters talking about the
extra difficulties of being a lesbian in prison. A woman in
Fem 27 years, looking
for a special woman to share my dreams, thoughts. Open-minded, adventurous,
spontaneous. Phyllis Arispe #1163042,
Hobby Unit, 742 FM 712,
30 year old, friendly
honest person looking for friendship. Anxious to meet new people. Ronnie
Zamora #1367228, Sycamore Unit/3-B-31,
I’m 23,
brown-skinned, love to listen to music, play sports, gather knowledge and learn.
Very open to other people’s ideas and like to share.
Joyce Walker #287555, FCCW,
39, Intelligent
French/Black/Indian wants lifemate but needs friendship first. Loyal, honest,
understanding. Jackie M. Perry
#651325, Lane Murray Unit, 1916 N. Hwy. 36 ByPass,
In my 40’s, young
at heart. Spanish/Italian classic butch. Keep it real, I don’t live in fantasy
worlds. It’s a hard knock life and that’s the way it is. Christina
Clark W#78555, CCWF/511-17-1L,
I’m looking for
people to correspond with who may be able to lend a helping hand in all fields.
Monica Cappadonna #1260499, Hobby Unit,
742 FM 712,
I’m 32 looking for
a stud that’s still in touch with her fem side. Write this Jamaican Queen.
Fawtel Graves W#59728, VSPW/A1-13-1L,
by
Pat Foley, Campaign to End the Death
Penalty www.nodeathpenalty.org
Kevin Cooper has been on death row at
In February of 2004 after Kevin was taken to the death cell
to await his execution, he was granted a stay less than four hours before it was
due to take place. Since then, because of the activism inside and outside the
courtroom on Kevin’s behalf, the ninth circuit court of appeals granted Kevin
a hearing that would look at ten different issues in his trial including actual
innocence and prosecutorial misconduct. The
hearing was held on January 9th in
We do not know how long the Ninth circuit will take to
decide the issues brought forward in the hearing. He could be granted a new
trial or a new death warrant could be signed, There is a de facto moratorium in
The latest updates on Kevin’s case can be found at www.savekevincooper.org. Also on this website are many of his writings. With the momentum across the country building against the death penalty, now is the time to get involved.
Many thanks to the Sisters
of Perpetual Indulgence! In December, the Sisters Saturnalia Grant Cycle gifted
us, OutofControl, $620, the cost of one issue of our newsletter Out
of Time.
The awards event (see photo
of me getting the $) was fun, outrageous and educational. I learned a lot. It
was great to meet the other queer groups who got grants. We know The Sisters are
always FUN and OUTrageous but also they are committed to the queer community and
progressive politics.
In case you all don’t know
the dish: founded in 1979, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are the largest
and oldest Order in the world. Unlike more traditional Nuns, they are an Order
of many faiths, religions and beliefs. Such diverse folks unite by taking common
vows like universal joy and serving the community. Since 1979 they have raised
and granted over $500,00 to non-profits that serve the queer and sex positive
community. Awesome! The Sisters give grants to under funded, smaller projects
– progressive organizations. Their vision includes groups and communities with
common interests, including human rights, gender identity, race and class. If
you want more info or to apply for a granting cycle: www.thesisters.org.
LockedOut is a resource list for queer (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
trans) prisoners in the
ACLU LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,
TRANSGENDER RIGHTS/AIDS PROJECT
Experts in constitutional
law and civil rights, specializing in sexual orientation, gender identity, and
HIV.
BROTHERS BEHIND BARS c/o RFD magazine
(Radical Faerie Digest)
A quarterly list of gay/bi/trans male inmates produced and
distributed upon request by RFD magazine.
A donation of $3-$10 is requested for the list. At no charge to the inmate, ads
are placed once per year. Each list contains between 200 and 300 ads. Inmates
are also offered a special $10.00 per year subscription rate to RFD
magazine.
Sends to women prisoners in CT, FL, IL, IN, MS, and OH.
FANORAMA SOCIETY PUBLISHER and PRISONER
ZINE DISTRO
Publishes
zines created by people in prison and provides these zines to other prisoners.
Several are queer/trans. Payments may be made in cash, state
money orders, or postage. Write for list.
Offers some
gay-bi-lesbian-transgender zines and other good stuff including resource lists.
Stamps welcomed.
GENDER MUTINY COLLECTIVE
A radical
transgender activist group engaged in supporting
trans and queer prisoners through a growing pen pal
program. If you are queer or trans and looking for a pen pal, write for details.
Sends free
booklets, pamphlets, resource guides, and zines (no books) to male
prisoners in KS, MO, and OR and all female prisoners. No legal aid.
Stamps/donations welcomed.
OFF
OUR BACKS magazine
2337B
A radical feminist newsjournal free to women in prison.
Lesbian & Gay Insurrection (LAGAI)
A grassroots organization doing direct
action and education for radical social change from a queer perspective.
Free newspaper, ULTRAVIOLET
.
POZ
magazine
Free subscription to any HIV+ person can't afford it. Write for
details.
Also POZ en Espanol.
SINISTER
WISDOM magazine
Publishes prose, poetry, essays, graphics, and book reviews by
lesbians only. Free to women in
prison.
STOP PRISONER RAPE, INC.
Dedicating to helping stop the sexual assault and harassment of
men, women, and children in
T.I.P. JOURNAL,c/o
A newsletter for transgender prisoners. Write for details.
Transgender, Gender Variant and Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP)
& Trans/Gender Variant in Prison Committee (TIP)
Attn: Alex Lee, Attorney at
Law,
TGIJP provides legal advice to transgender, gender variant, and
intersex (TGI) people in
TIG
PRISONER PENPAL PROJECT
Accepting requests ONLY from
transgender/transsexual, intersex, and gender questioning prisoners who would
like a pen pal. Requests must include a brief paragraph about yourself and your
interests and what kind of pen pal you are interested in. Free.
WOMEN'S PRISON BOOK PROJECT
c/o Arise Bookstore
Sends to women and transgender prisoners
in all states except OR, MI, CO, and WV.
WOMEN'S
PRISONS LITERACY INITIATIVE OF
Sends to women and
transgender prisoners in all states
A FEW GENERAL PRISONER RESOURCES
ACLU
National Prison Project
Handles class action suits
involving prison conditions and related issues in state and federal
institutions. Advocates for criminal justice policy reform.
Produces the Prisoner Support Directory.
Free
to prisoners on request. Write for details.
PRISON
LEGAL NEWS
Reports
on all aspects of the criminal justice system. For a sample copy send $2.00.
Subscriptions for prisoners $18 per year (subscriptions can be pro rated at
$1.50 per issue, do not send less than $9.00). PLN accepts new, unused stamps.