Prison Reformers to detail deadly practices this Fri, Dec 4, 9:30 am, Sacramento, CA

This Friday, December 4, 2009, at 9:30 a.m. sharp, the UNION will conduct an emergency press conference rally on the North Side of the Capitol (at L and llth Streets ) near the outdoor cafes. Use mapquest.com for detailed directions from your city. The rally flyer is here, just hit print and share widely.

http://www.1union1.com/dec4_press_conf_black_white.html

The UNION is an acronym for United for No Injustice, Oppression or Neglect and is the communications network of prison reformers all over California. During ll years of activism, the UNION has consistently held rallies and press conferences  to alert the media, the public, and lawmakers of the status of the humanitarian crisis taking place in the overcrowded prisons. UNION members include people from all walks of life, many of whom are well-educated, professional people. Some have a loved one in prison, many are employed in the helping professions. Physicians, teachers, nurses, social workers, business owners, whistleblowers who are often employed in state service, and members of the clergy have worked together in the UNION for years trying to get lawmakers to enact life-saving reforms. With three million people related to a state prisoner or someone on parole/probation, the human bondage industry has affected people from every socio-economic background.

On many occasions since 1998, whenever the families of prisoners in the UNION network filed a wrongful death or abuse lawsuit, a press conference was called so that everyone would be alerted as to the reasons that relief in the courts was the only recourse. Years later, the cases finally come to court. Due to the "Code of Silence" where evidence is routinely withheld or distorted, restricted media access to inmates, and biased Conservative judges, it is very difficult to actually win the lawsuits, even when litigated by skillful private attorneys. Given laws that treat prisoners more harshly than any other class of litigants and procedural obstacles that seem designed to preclude access to the courts, litigation on behalf of prisoners is always a last resort.

The December 4 press conference/rally is focused on a recent favorable judgment and a six-figure pay out in the case of a young man's wrongful death. The attorneys plan to describe in detail the practices, conditions and violations of the Coleman/Plata lawsuit, as well as the unconscionable wrongs suffered by the deceased prisoner.

The mother whose son was victimized by a system out of control will describe her long David-and-Goliath battle over the wrongful death of her son. Though the lawsuit is vindication of a kind, it is small recompense for the loss of a loved one. Yet, one can hope that this courageous UNION member's victory will deliver a sobering message that killing young men and women in the care and custody of the State will have serious consequences.

About 4,000 prisoners have died in the past ten years, many of these deaths were preventable. Inadequate oversight and a lack of accountability will apparently end only when the courts enforce the Constitution. a legal action wins. The prisons are so mismanaged that they are violating both State and Federal laws including The flouting of 77 federal court orders demonstrates that deference and patience are clearly inadequate.

In addition to the attorneys and the mother of the victim, there will be many other speakers whose loved ones died preventable and/or suspicious deaths in California prisons. Each will describe their nightmare experiences, tirelessly trying to get help for their loved ones who were in distress, ultimately without success.

Another legal victory happened was achieved in April, 2009. James Moore was arrested for yelling in his front yard (he had committed no crime) and was beaten for four hours by many Kern County Sheriffs in Bakersfield, California. He subsequently died of the grievous injuries those officers inflicted. My high school classmate, Attorney David Cohn, won a civil judgment in the amount of $6 million, which will go to Moore's two sons when they reach the age of 18 years old - a poor substitute of a loving father.

A separate criminal trial was just concluded in the prison town of Bakersfield.. It was amazing to see two of the sheriff's deputies actually convicted for Mr. Moore's homicide. More than a dozen others will not be held accountable for failing to intervene, or for spitting on, kicking, and hitting Moore long after he was down. The courageous young woman who stood tall against this murder by "public servants," Sentencing of two of the rogue detention officers has been delayed until January 19, 2010. Alicia Moore will describe her experience and call for changes that might prevent a similar tragedy from happening in the future.

In January, there were two inmate murders at California State Prison, Lancaster. An elderly, mentally ill man, Robert Mobley, was allegedly killed by his cellmate due to careless double- celling when prison officials ignored the warnings of impending violence. The second death is alleged to have resulted from the deliberate indifference of prison officials to the pleas Greg Thomas' family when they begged that assistance be given to the young man, who was obviously in dire distress. Richard Thomas, the brother of Greg Thomas, appeared with me to share the story in an NBC investigative report which aired recently. This is the link to view it online at the KNBC Channel 4 Los Angeles' website.:

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local-beat/Prison_Predators_Los_Angeles.html

Many suspicious deaths at CSP Lancaster caused the UNION families to protest in 2005. Lt. Charles Hughes was reportedly fired over his role in the Eddie Arraiga death, and yet he is back to work as the head of the CCPOA at the same prison Where is accountability?

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/PRISON+GUARD+SET+TO+APPEAL+HIS+FIRING+LIEUTENANT+CALLS+DISMISSAL...-a0139381957

Richard Thomas will be speaking at the event to describe the total lack of information and failure to protect his brother, even though he called out for help.

Linda Ward, an employee of the Department of Defense for twenty years, now retired , was shocked when she received a call that her sister, Shirley Ward, had suddenly died at Chowchilla Institute for Women in January, 2009. She was just days from her release. When Linda Ward tried to find out how she died, prison employees were extremely dismissive and refused to give her any information. A year later, there are still no answers. Linda Ward has become an advocate for change as a result of that horrible treatment. She will address the need for expansive reforms in the prison system, lest others not suffer similarly in the future.

Rev. Andre Shumake, whose nephew Anthony Shumake died from a neglected tooth infection at CSP-Solano in 2005 will speak about the many wrongful deaths in prison. Rev. Shumake is the President of the Richmond Improvement Association, a famous Baptist and human rights leader, and has been active in the UNION for years. He has spoken out many times about changes needed in the prison system yet the death toll continues.

Not every family can afford to sue over such malevolence or deliberate indifference that took their loved ones. For these families, there is never any closure and they lose faith in their government and in a society that permits such practices in taxpayer-financed institutions.

Theresa Vaughn, has appeared many times on 60 Minutes to discuss the death of her son, Timothy Souders. Timothy, was a mentally ill young man only 20 years old, who was denied water and strapped down on a slab until he died of dehydration in a Michigan prison. She, too, fought a courageous battle and won millions in a wrongful death lawsuit in that state because the many moments of the abusive event was were caught on videos. Theresa Vaughn is a fierce advocate for change and she is helping the UNION campaign to have video cameras put into areas where the mentally ill are housed. Visiting rooms and exercise yards have up to 20 cameras, but none are positioned where they can provide a monitoring function on the actions of unprofessional prison employees. Theresa will appear on the new "We Channel" that 60 Minutes has created which will feature several episodes focusing on prisoner deaths. The UNION families are working to expose this hidden crisis with all national networks.

I will be speaking on several victories achieved by a number of inmate lawyers in 2009 and update everyone on the importance of continuous communications with journalists on disease outbreaks, riots, beatings, and all suspicious deaths that occur in our prisons. The state-imposed media restrictions keeps these human and material costs to the voters in the shadows.quiet. That is no longer acceptable. a

These ridiculous mindlessly harsh laws passed in the early 90's have fueled a spiraling prison population that had no funding sources and incarceration has grown from 20,000 to 170,000 with about 10,000 now locked away in out of state for-profit prisons. About $11 billion per year is diverted from human services and education budgets. The bottomless hole of waste known as the California Department of Corrections (and Rehabilitation) is a key reason our state is broke. There are 80,000 non-violent prisoners including terminally ill, paraplegic, frail elderly, and even more who are mentally ill who shouldn't be in prison at all. It would be far more effective to change the sentencing laws and to place those who need help into healing places instead of paying onerous price of a misguided justice system.

Other issues will be discussed at the rally, such as the transfers of thousand of prisoners in January to out- of- state private facilities, while three prisons here are closed and others are being built. The breaking up of families benefits no one and harms many children and prisoners who need to hold on to those family ties. And how can private prisons be permitted to profit by depriving our citizens of liberty while too often providing low standards of care? Their lobbyists in the legislature can certainly respond to such a question, if they can pause momentarily in their advocacy for even harsher criminal penalties.

There will be other speakers as well, so pack-up your cars and be there to support these families and attorneys fellow advocates who have done this very important, painful, work for years. There is only a 10% chance of rain, which is good news, but this group of Californians is so committed, that rain or shine, they are coming to tell all. The speakers are planning to stay after the event to make themselves available for individual interviews by journalists who could not otherwise find them or in many cases, even realize that a death occurred, since the lockdown of information is so tight. They want the public to know what is being done in our names, paid for with our tax dollars, and then hidden from we, the voters.

There are still some rides available from various points in California. If you have a ride or need a ride because you care about these issues and are aware that a prisoner dies almost every day, email uniondatabase@aol.com. The flyer is online, bring others! This shouldn't be happening in California and will only get cleared up when enough people write to editors and show up to such gatherings. Until then, the practices, conditions, and lack of accountability will continue to claim lives and result in serious, permanent disabilities.

No one knows how many people die shortly after release from prison from long-neglected diseases or epidemics caught in prison. The Center for Disease Control says that 39% of the prisoners leaving have Hepatitis. This means that half the prisoners have life-threatening diseases and two have already died (that we know about) from the Swine flu. With such overcrowded conditions the inmates and prison workers are all endangered which is why the public outcry needs to be very loud right now.

Fill your car, the size of the crowd determines the media coverage and these families deserve to be heard.

If you need to share a ride or a hotel room, email Susan at uniondatabase@aol.com. Bring a folding chair, snacks and drinks, and prepare to be informed and - indeed, most likely shocked. Protest signs are permitted, the event will be outside, the weather will be slightly cloudy and about 50 degrees, so dress warmly and make a difference by showing up.