New prison statement from Daniel McGowan

July 9, 2007

Friends,

Well, I have been here one week now and although I don’t have any stamps yet, and writing with a 4 inch pen that bends is miserable, I thought I would write if only to say I’m OK. The two months I did back in 2005 did not, unfortunately, leave a lasting enough impression on me and my entrance back to prison has been jarring in many ways. A good place to start and a question you may have is “why did I have to report so early?" I’ll start from my sentencing.

On June 4th, Judge Aiken sentenced me to a term in federal prison of 84 months, just 8 months less than what the prosecution wanted, citing my activism from 2001 to my arrest. When the Judge asked the Department of Probation person how long it would take for the BOP (Bureau of Prisons) to classify and designate me, she mistakenly said “30 days.” I never objected to this despite the fact I knew the BOP takes 4-6 weeks to designated prisoners. Fast forward a few weeks. My legal team files a motion asking for me to stay out on bond pending designation. I thought it would be successful since my time on pre-trial release had been incident-free and both the Department of Probation and Pre-Trial services did not object. However, the prosecution objected citing three reasons:

1. They said my interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! in early June showed I had no remorse from my crimes.
2. My support website, supportdaniel.org was “operational.”
3. That had a link to sell a children’s book which encouraged children to employ arson and sabotage as a tactic.

As luck would have it, I lost and was directed to report to prison on July 2. Regarding the prosecution’s brief, my interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! was quite long and I expressed regret at many points. I expressed regret in using arson as a tactic as well as not having people in my life at that time who could have steered me off the path I was on. My assertion that I did not do anything morally wrong seems to be the quote that got a reaction. The website, supportdaniel.org , run by my wife Jenny since January 2006 is online and last I checked, will continue to be online for the indefinite future. Since it’s a website set up by people close to me who love and support me, I see no reason why it would be taken down.

As I write this, I realize that I am indeed opening up a can of worms. I have a 7 year prison sentence and a lot of time to write. Being publicly silenced to comment on my case has not been easy and I assure you I have a lot to say. We have a lot of time to cover all these topics. For now, I’m ok. I’m at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. It is a boring, lifeless jail housing over 2000 men either awaiting trial, or like me, awaiting designation. The prisoners (not inmates) are mostly alright and I have had lots of interesting conversations so far. Even the guards are chill and I’m swapping the meat off my plate for more veggies. I’ve been working out, shooting hoops and doing a lot of laps in the rec area. I should be here for a few more weeks before being transferred somewhere by the BOP.

There is no way I can adequately thank you all but please accept my heart felt thank you for the bottom of my heart for all the incredible support. After a boring weekend I was greeted with 20 letters today!

Keep fighting and don’t let them get you down.

With love from behind enemy lines,
Daniel

PS – Please don’t forget about my fellow non-cooperating defendants Joyanna, Nathan and Jonathan. The first two, like me, are awaiting designation and Jonathan is to be sentenced on August 1st. More to say about my other codefendants later…