A Letter Campaign On Behalf Of Jerome White-Bey - Occupy The Prison Mail Room

This is a call out for a new letter writing campaign to protest the
treatment of Jerome White-Bey, who yet again is being held in
isolation on the punishment blocks under a false investigation. His
situation in his own words:

I would like to bring your attention to the abuse, harassment, and
unjust treatment I have been receiving at the hands of prison
officials over the last ten years or more here in the Missouri prison
system. Beginning from the Director George A. Lombardi and Dave
Dormire, Director, Division of Adult Institutions, and each warden at
every prison I am sent to are all involved in a plot to harass,
punish, and even maybe murder me, all because of my founding the
Missouri Prisoner's Labor Union here in the Missouri prison system.
The abuses, the lies, the frame-ups, are well documented, yet nothing
seems to stop the prison officials from harassing and abusing me.

It seems that the closer I get to release from prison the more
aggressive they have become in their unjust treatment of me; here
lies their two most painful and recent attacks. In 2011, my Custody
Level was dropped from a Custody Level of C-5 to C-3 based upon good
behaviour, so I was transferred to WMCC which is a Custody Level-3
Prison. While I was at WMCC, prison officials claim to have received
a letter threatening the staff there by me, I was put in the 'hole'
under an investigation, it was later proven that I did not write the
letter, I received no conduct violation; but I was still
punished for it because my Custody Level was raised from a Custody
Level-3 back to a Custody Level-5 which places me into a maximum
security prison that has extremely violent inmates, and orders were
issued from the Director to the Classification staff, that my Custody
Level is not to be dropped again; and I am to remain at Charleston
prison until I am released from prison on December 25, 2015.

Now, while in Charleston, since 4/6/2012, I am in Ad Seg, under a false
investigation claim. This time it revolves around prison officials
who have claimed they received information my name was on some kind
of 'hit list', so the claim now is I am in the 'hole' under an
investigation for my protection, yet their records will show I
have no enemies at S.E.C.C., but here I am in the 'hole' again
unjustly. It means nothing to prison officials that I have not had
any problem with anybody since I've been at Charleston; the
investigation is nothing but a sham to harass and punish me. I have
not made a request for protection, nor do I need it, so why am I in
the 'hole'? The Missouri Department of Corrections has a system in
place to where they reward informants by placing money on their
accounts for information received regardless of whether it's true or
not, and if it is on someone who is targeted, the more money the
informant gets. Since my name is well known I am an east target for
these people, giving the information to prison staff that they want
to hear.

I am calling upon you to help me by writing to the following state
officials demanding my release from Ad Seg., and a transfer back to a
lower Custody Level. The Director George A. Lombardi and Dave Dormire
should be fired, and the MDOC should be investigated for 'hate
crimes'. Please send letters of concern about my unjust treatment to
the U.S. Department of Justice, and if you do, please mention and
'CC' the Missouri State & U.S. Senators/Representatives herein
listed, and feel free to write to me here as well.

So please lets flood the mail rooms with letters of support for Jerome
White-Bey. Write letters to:

Governor
Jeremiah X Nixon
State
Capitol
P.O.
Box 720
Jefferson
City
MO.
65102, USA

George
A. Lombardi, Director
Missouri
Department of Corrections
P.O.
Box 236
Jefferson
City
MO.
65102, USA
Tel:
(573)751-2399
Fax:
(573) 751-4099

U.S.
Senate:

U.S.
Senator Roy Blunt
260
Russell Senate Office Bldg.
Washington
D.C.
20510, USA

U.S.
Senator Claire McCaskill
506
Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington
D.C.
20510, USA

Missouri
Senate:

Sen.
Joseph Keaveny
Sen.
Robin Wright-Jones
Sen.
S. Kiki Curls
Sen.
Victor Callahan
Sen.
Scott T. Rupp

Address:
State
Capitol
201
W. Capitol Avenue
Jefferson
City
MO.
65101, USA

Missouri
State Representatives:

Rep.
Linda Black
Rep.
Ron Casey
Rep.
Pat Conway
Rep.
Anne Zerr
Rep.
Jamilah Nasheed
Rep.
Sharon L.Pace

Address:
State
Capitol
201
W. Capitol Avenue
Jefferson
City
MO.
65101, USA

Please
write letters of support to:

Jerome
White-Bey
#37479,
S.E.C.C.
300
East Pedro Simmons Drive
Charleston
MO.
63834, USA

'Off The Hook' Relaunch

Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011
From: brightonabc@riseup.net
 
Brighton Anarchist Black Cross has for many years supported Jerome White
Bey, both as an anarchist and class struggle prisoner and as president of
the Missouri Prisoner Labour Union. Recently we have also been involved in
his on-going struggle to get even the most basic health care provision in
prison and, because of that commitment, he has asked us to help him
relaunch the MPLU's occasional newsletter 'Off The Hook', which sadly has
not appeared in recent years.
 
We have grudgingly accepted his request. Obviously this reticence is not
because we do not want to help him and the MPLU but because we are a
continent away. That said, the tentacles of the Prison Industrial Complex
have long spread across the Atlantic and the struggles in North America
are not a great deal different than here in Airstrip One.
 
So we are therefore asking other prisoner support groups for help in two
main ways. Firstly, we need contributions on the subject of organisation
and resistance in prisons across the globe, especially where these involve
prison labour issues. Past editorial collectives have tried to maintain
the ideal of making 'OTH' a useful tool in the prison abolition struggle
and we wish to continue down that path.
 
We also know that those of you that have previously taken on the Editorial
role have struggled to publish 'OTH' on a regular basis, whether that be
because of time commitments or simply find enough text to fill it on a
regular basis. So the second thing we are asking is that groups commit to
participating in a rotating editorial collective to help relaunch 'OTH',
that way the pressure does not fall upon one particular bunch of people
for any prolonged period of time and they can still get on with all their
other commitments to the struggle.

Lastly, we note that Prison Action News is currently coming out twice
yearly and we would hope we could at least do the same, acting as a
complementary sister publication to PAN.
 
Please contact us with your thoughts on relaunching 'Off The Hook'.
Thanks
Brighton ABC
 
PS. Off The Hook #12 available here
[http://zinelibrary.info/files/offthehook12.pdf] if you've not seen a copy
before.

Letter Appeal For Jerome White-Bey - Still Being Denied Medical Treatment!!

Jerome White-Bey is the founder and president of the Missouri Prisoner Labor
Union, an organization of Missouri prisoners and their outside supporters who
are organizing around labor and other prison conditions. Since the founding of
the MPLU, Jerome has been subject to administrative harassment and retaliation.
He was in the "hole" (administrative segregation) for two years following the
formation of the MPLU and has constantly been moved in and out of segregation
since. 

Jerome had been told over a 3-4 year period by doctors at three different
prisons that he had kidney problems which was a result of having diabetes. This
kidney infection had been left untreated for a long period of time and after
letters of complaint and phone calls made to the prison from a previous letter
appeal Jerome was then sent for tests and told that it was not in fact his
kidneys that had been making him unwell but that he has serious liver problems
from having Hepatitis C, which he was unaware he had till that point. He was
then told that he needs a course of Interferon treatment that will last for 12
months and he'll have to be transferred to another prison to have the treatment.

Then, after further time and more letters of complaint, he was told his transfer
to start the treatment had to be delayed because he had a hypothyroid. He was
given medication to take and told that this medication should bring his thyroid
to a normal state after two months. Shortly after he was moved to the
segregation unit under an investigation but no-one has ever told him why. Jerome
feels that this was nothing more than retaliation against him for the previous
letter appeals.  After many months passed and filing numerous complaints he was
eventually told that he had been cleared of all the allegations made against
him. But all the time that he was in the Segregation Unit his health relating to
his thyroid condition, which should have been brought back to normal a long time
ago now, and his Hepatitis C has not been monitored at all. He was not even seen
by a doctor during this time. 

Jerome now faces a new problem. After being cleared of all the allegations
against him he should be released back into the general population but because
his custody level has just recently been dropped from a C-4 to a C-3 that means
that he can not be housed in that prison so he will have to remain in
segregation until he is transferred, which could take a while. All this time his
health is not being monitored and gives the prison administration more excuses
for delays. But the answer is simple! A place in a C-3 level prison does not
need to be found yet because he should be transferred to start the Interferon
treatment for his Hepatitis C and the longer they take approving this the worse
his condition becomes.

Jerome thanks everyone for the complaints that have been made previously to get
him this far but asks that we write letters or call the prison again to get him
transferred and started on the treatment he needs.

Please write letters of complaint to:

Lisa Jones, Constituent Services Officer
Missouri Department of Corrections 
2729 Plaza Drive 
P.O. Box 236 
Jefferson City, MO 65102 
USA
(573) 751-2389


Ms.Angela Chandler, Health Services Administrator
Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center
2727 Highway K
Bonne Terre, MO 63628
USA 
(573) 358-5516

Ms.Shanta Pribble, Director of Nursing
Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center
2727 Highway K
Bonne Terre, MO 63628
USA 
(573) 358-5516

Write letters of support to:
Jerome White-Bey
#37479
ERDCC
2727 Highway K
Bonne Terre, MO 63628
USA