Taliban tunnel more than 480 out of Afghan prison

By MIRWAIS KHAN and HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Apr 25, 2011

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – During the long Afghan winter, Taliban insurgents
were apparently busy underground.

The militants say they spent more than five months building a 1,050-foot
tunnel to the main prison in southern Afghanistan, bypassing government
checkpoints, watch towers and concrete barriers topped with razor wire.

The diggers finally poked through Sunday and spent 4 1/2 hours ferrying
away more than 480 inmates without a shot being fired, according to the
Taliban and Afghan officials. Most of the prisoners were Taliban
militants.

Accounts of the extraordinary prison break, carried out in the dead of
night, suggest collusion with prison guards, officials or both.

Following a recent wave of assassinations here, the breakout underscores
the weakness of the Afghan government in the south despite an influx of
international troops, funding and advisers. It also highlights the spirit
and resourcefulness of the Taliban despite months of battlefield setbacks.

Officials at Sarposa prison in Kandahar city, the one-time Taliban
capital, say they discovered the breach at about 4 a.m. Monday, a
half-hour after the Taliban say they had gotten all the prisoners safely
to a house at the other end of the tunnel.

Government officials corroborated parts of the Taliban account. They
confirmed the tunnel was dug from a house within shooting distance of the
prison and that the inmates had somehow gotten out of their locked cells
and disappeared into the night. Kandahar remains relatively warm even
during winter and the ground would not have frozen while insurgents were
digging the tunnel.

Police showed reporters the roughly hewn hole that was punched through the
cement floor of the prison cell. The opening was about 3 feet (1 meter) in
diameter, and the tunnel dropped straight down for about 5 feet (1.5
meters) and then turned in the direction of the house where it originated.

But access was denied to the tunnel itself, and it was unclear how the
Taliban were able to move so many men out of the prison so quickly. Also
unclear was why guards would not have heard the diggers punch through the
cement floor, and whether they supervise the inside of the perimeters at
night.

A man who claimed he helped organize those inside the prison told The
Associated Press in a phone call that he and his accomplices obtained
copies of the keys for the cells ahead of time from "friends." He did not
say who those friends were.

Click image to see photos of the prison break in Afghanistan


AP/Allauddin Khan

"There were four or five of us who knew that our friends were digging a
tunnel from the outside," said Mohammad Abdullah, who said he had been in
Sarposa prison for two years after being captured in nearby Zhari district
with a stockpile of weapons. "Some of our friends helped us by providing
copies of the keys. When the time came at night, we managed to open the
doors for friends who were in other rooms."

He said the diggers broke through Sunday morning and that the inmates in
the cell covered the hole with a prayer rug until the middle of the night,
when they started quietly opening the doors of cells and ushering
prisoners in small groups into the tunnel.

He said they woke the inmates up four or five at a time to sneak them out
quietly. They also didn't want too many people crawling through the narrow
and damp tunnel at one time because of worries that they would run out of
oxygen, Abdullah said.

The AP reached Abdullah on a phone number supplied by a Taliban spokesman.
His account could not immediately be verified.

The Taliban statement said it took 4 1/2 hours for all the prisoners to
clear the tunnel, with the final inmates emerging into the house at 3:30
a.m. They then used a number of vehicles to shuttle the escaped convicts
to secure locations.

Reporters were not allowed into that building, but officials pointed out
the mud-walled compound with a brown gate and shops on either side.

The city's police mounted a massive search operation for the escaped
convicts. They shot and killed two inmates who tried to evade capture and
re-arrested another 26, said Tooryalai Wesa, the provincial governor.

But there was no ignoring that the Taliban had pulled off a daring success
under the noses of Afghan and NATO officials.

"This is a blow," presidential spokesman Waheed Omar said. "A prison break
of this magnitude of course points to a vulnerability."

At least 486 inmates escaped from Sarposa, most of them Taliban fighters,
according to Gov. Wesa. The Taliban said they had freed more than 500 of
their fellow insurgents and that about 100 of them were commanders — four
of them former provincial chiefs.

Government officials declined to provide details on any of the escaped
inmates or say whether any were considered high-level commanders.

The highest-profile Taliban inmates would likely not be held at Sarposa.
The U.S. keeps detainees it considers a threat at a facility outside of
Bagram Air Base in eastern Afghanistan. Other key Taliban prisoners are
held by the Afghan government in a high-security wing of the main prison
in Kabul.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said the military command in
Afghanistan had "not been asked by the Afghans to provide any assistance"
such as intelligence help in looking for the escaped inmates.

Asked if the incident would prompt a rethinking or delay in the planned
June turnover of the Parwan detention operation in the east to Afghans,
Lapan said: "I think it's still too soon to tell. I have not gotten any
indications of that, but it's too soon to tell."

The 1,200-inmate Sarposa prison has been part of a plan to bolster the
government's presence in Kandahar. The facility underwent security
upgrades and tightened procedures after a brazen 2008 Taliban attack freed
900 prisoners. In that assault, dozens of militants on motorbikes and two
suicide bombers attacked the prison. One suicide bomber set off an
explosives-laden tanker truck at the prison gate while a second bomber
blew open an escape route through a back wall.

Afghan government officials and their NATO backers have repeatedly
asserted that the prison has vastly improved security since that attack.

There are guard towers at each corner of the prison compound, which is
illuminated at night and protected by a ring of concrete barriers topped
with razor wire. The entrance can be reached only by passing through
multiple checkpoints and gates.

An Afghan government official familiar with Sarposa prison said that while
the external security has been greatly improved, the internal controls
were not as strong. He said the Taliban prisoners in Sarposa were very
united and would rally together to make demands from their jailers for
better treatment or more privileges. He spoke anonymously because he was
not authorized to talk to the media.

The Kandahar escape is the latest in a series of high-profile Taliban
operations that show the insurgency is fighting back. Over the past year,
tens of thousands of U.S. and NATO reinforcements routed the Taliban from
many of their southern strongholds, captured leading figures and destroyed
weapons caches.

The militants have responded with major attacks across the nation as the
spring fighting season has kicked off. In the past two weeks, Taliban
agents have launched attacks from inside the Defense Ministry, a Kandahar
city police station and a shared Afghan-U.S. military base in the east. In
neighboring Helmand province on Saturday, a gunman assassinated the former
top civilian chief of Marjah district. That's where U.S. Marines started
the renewed push into the south early last year.

___

Vogt reported from Kabul. Associated Press writers Amir Shah and Rahim
Faiez in Kabul and Pauline Jelinek in Washington contributed to this
report.

Radio Interview with Sac Prisoner Support about Eric McDavid

April 26, 2011 by dj Questionmark frolympia.org

Interview recorded at Free Radio Olympia by dj Questionmark on April 25, 2011

Download at:

http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2011/04/26/ericmcdavid042511.mp3 (24 mb) 27
minutes

Interview with Jenny of Sacramento Prisoner Support about the case of Eric
McDavid. Eric was entrapped by government agent "Anna" in early 2006 in a
fake plot to blow up a dam. Anna used FBI money to recruit, house and
transport her fake eco-cell. After the arrests, Eric's co-defendants took
cooperating plea-deals and testified against him. Eric was then tried and
convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to 20 years.

Sac Prisoner Support has supported Eric throughout this experience and is
developing long term strategies. An international day of action is called
this June 11th, 2011 in solidarity with Eric and eco-defender Marie Mason.
For more information about the day of action visit: http://june11.org

For more information on Eric McDavid and ways to support him visit:
http://supporteric.org

http://frolympia.org

Radio Interview with Tre Arrow

April 26, 2011 by dj Questionmark frolympia.org

Download at:

http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2011/04/26/trearrow042511.mp3 (50 mb) 56
minutes

Interview with environmental activist and former international political
prisoner Tre Arrow. Tre talks about his current activities in Portland and
his past efforts to preserve forest eco-systems. He recounts his
participation in the Eagle Creek and Tillimook forest campaigns. Tre
became well known for standing on the ledge of the US forest Service
building in downtown Portland for 11 days. He then ran for congress for
the Green Party and got over 15,000 votes.

Tre became a suspect for the Ross Island Sand and Gravel arson after his
co-defendant bragged to his girlfriend, who told her dad, who told the
FBI. While a fugitive on the FBI's most wanted list, Tre crossed Canada
and was arrested in Vancouver. Tre fought his extradition and lack of raw
vegan food in jail with a series of hunger strikes. His weight dropped to
around 80 pounds at one point.

Tre served his prison time and is currently on parole. He remains
committed to social and ecological justice.

Lifer Lessons: Marshall “Eddie” Conway talks about prison life

Photo from Marshall Law: The Life & Times of a Baltimore Black Panther

Eddie Conway

More on Marshall "Eddie" Conway

• Lifer Lessons Marshall “Eddie” Conway talks about prison life | 4/27/2011
• Prison Prose A lifer explains his life | 4/27/2011
• No Excuse Cop killer’s treatise doesn’t add up | 4/27/2011

By Van Smith

Published: April 27, 2011 City Paper

Now 65 years old, Marshall “Eddie” Conway started serving a life sentence for murdering Baltimore police officer Donald Sager when he was 24. Back then, Conway was a postal worker and U.S. Army veteran. He was also a civil rights activist who, as a member of the NAACP and the Congress of Racial Equality, had helped organize efforts to better working conditions for African-Americans at a number of major employers in the Baltimore area. His most renowned role, though, was as Minister of Defense in the Maryland chapter of the Black Panther Party—a position that put him on the front lines of a successful government effort to undermine the party.

Now, Conway is a published author with two books to his credit. In 2009, iAWME Publications issued Conway’s The Greatest Threat: The Black Panther Party and COINTELPRO, in part as a fundraiser for Conway’s legal defense. And earlier this month, AK Press published Conway’s memoir, Marshall Law: The Life and Times of a Baltimore Black Panther, a release party for which takes place April 29 at 2640 Space featuring readings from the book by Bashi Rose and WombWorks Productions, Pam Africa talking about the Mumia Abu-Jamal case, and a performance by Lafayette Gilchrist. (Visit redemmas.org/2640 for more details.)

The new memoir provides an ideal opportunity to consider the man and his life from different perspectives. Edward Ericson Jr. takes a serious look at Conway’s claims to be a political prisoner in his essay about The Greatest Threat. Michael Corbin, who taught at the Metropolitan Transition Center, the former Maryland Penitentiary in Baltimore, places Marshall Law in the American tradition of prison literature. And since decades in prison have tempered Conway’s revolutionary zeal, in a recent phone interview from the Jessup Correctional Institution, he spoke of what hurts and helps the corrective function of prisons, the challenges of fatherhood on the inside, the folly of drug dealing, his own unrealized aspirations in life, and what he would do as a free man.

City Paper: Maryland has a life-means-life policy, essentially denying the possibility for parole for those serving life sentences. It was put in place in 1995 by then governor Parris Glendening, who recently admitted his regrets.

Marshall “Eddie” Conway: Yes, I’m aware of his regrets, 16 years later and after about 50 of my associates are dead. During the course of waiting for this policy to be changed, they passed away.

CP: In your mind, what is wrong with this policy?

MEC: The real problem is that young people coming into the prison system see people that have been participating in the programs, doing all they can to turn their lives around and become usual citizens in the community, and they see how they’ve spent 10, 20, 30, 40 years doing that, with no kind of possibility of release. Well, right away, young guys end up saying, “Well, what’s the point?” It increases the potential for violence, because there is frustration, and it increases hopelessness, which means that people tend to act out. It doesn’t give an incentive for people to rehabilitate themselves, and instead creates negative activity and energy. If you take away hope in a system like this, then you’re going to receive a lot of people returning back to the community very frustrated and hopeless—which is not good, considering the unemployment situation. Also, when a person reaches a certain age, just the fact that a person is, like, 45, 50, or over, means that he becomes a safer risk for release in the community. And most of the time, when you get people that have done an extensive amount of time in prison, they got an associate degree or a bachelor’s degree, so they are more capable of taking care of themselves.

CP: Since the policy has been in place, have you seen an increase in violence, hopelessness, and nihilistic approaches to serving time?

MEC: There was a real spike in violence immediately after that policy was announced. In this institution, for maybe a 10-year period after 1995, pretty much every week there was something fatal or near-fatal occurring. I’m not saying that’s a direct result of Glendening’s policy, but it got so bad that the guards actually refused to come to work. And that violence spread from this institution to others.

CP: If the policy is overturned, would prisons become more suited for rehabilitation?

MEC: Well, of course it would. There are a lot of older prisoners, like myself, working to decrease the level of violence and conflict, and that’s really having a good impact. But in terms of people turning their lives around and having hope and having a desire to motivate change—if you can’t show them something at the end, there’s no incentive for that, and I’m kind of like swimming against the tide. But if they see a way to get out of this predicament—if they work, if they develop, if they grow and change their paradigm—that’s going to probably change the climate within the prison population.

CP: Do you suspect you would have been paroled if this policy hadn’t been in place?

MEC: I don’t know if I would have been paroled, but I have to assume that I would have. I was a model prisoner, quote unquote, meaning that I was—and I am—working to improve the conditions among the prisoners.

CP: Let’s pretend you hadn’t been convicted. What would have been your career?

MEC: I want to believe that, if the community hadn’t been drugged and the jobs hadn’t been shipped overseas, we could have turned this around, and I would have probably ended up teaching somewhere. I had two interests. One was history and education, and the other was the medical profession. I had an aspiration to go into school at Johns Hopkins University, trying to engage in further training for the medical profession. I don’t know that that would have happened, but the teaching probably would have. Either way, I would have been constantly engaging in the community, trying to better the conditions.

CP: What do your sons do?

MEC: I have two sons. One of my sons is an instructor at Bowling Green University in Ohio, teaching computer science. The other is a manager of a water-purification plant in Maryland.

CP: How did you manage as a father in prison?

MEC: Right at the beginning, I have to admit that I succeeded in the case of one and I failed in the case of the other. In the case of my second son, I was estranged from him all the way until he was 18. It was my fault that that was the case, and I certainly never was a father to him. We tried to recover and establish some sort of relationship, and it just didn’t seem to work out. My oldest son, who I knew from the time he was born, I kept in touch with his mother, but I kind of lost track of him through my early years in the prison system simply because, of my initial seven years, I spent six of them in solitary confinement. Somewhere along the line, his mother came to me and just pretty much said, “Look, you need to talk to your son.” So at that time I had organized a 10-week counseling program for young people, and I actually had my son brought to the program. I would sit down and talk to him, one on one, and we would counsel in larger groups. We developed and we started bonding. Like all young black men at the time, he was like, “I’m going to the NBA, going to be a baller.” He was really good, but only so many people get selected to go into the NBA, and he needed to be considering a profession. So he decided to go to college and do the computer-science thing. I’ve supported him as much as I could, and I tried to get him to get his doctorate, but he had had enough of that. I think it was a good experience for both of us.

CP: How do you see it going with other inmates, and their issues with fatherhood?

MEC: It’s one of the things that we deal with a lot. I’ve been working with young guys for the whole entire 40 years, but at some point I had to stop for a while. They were just so angry, and the morals and values had changed to such a degree that I couldn’t be a neutral observer when somebody is talking about beating up their grandmother or disrespecting their mother. But after I started back working with them, I noticed this great hostility to fathers, this great anger at being abandoned.

But the other side of that is that they really want to be very connected and attached to their children, even though they’re locked up. They’re trying to break that cycle, even though the cycle continues due to the simple fact that they are here. They’re trying to be the father that they didn’t have. So that’s good, and it’s more young people like that than not, and a lot of them actually do end up going back out, and they realize that they almost blew that opportunity to be that father. So they tend to get jobs and do what they need to do to stay there because of that.

But, I’m in here now with three generations of people. I’m looking across the generations of absent fathers. And I don’t know how that cycle gets broken if there’s no jobs. One of the great negatives is that maybe 80 percent of people in the prisons around the country are there for drug-related activity, not necessarily violent. Just selling drugs, buying drugs, using drugs, or fighting over drugs, based on the fact that there’s no jobs out there.

CP: It strikes me that these low-level drug dealing jobs are just bad jobs. Low pay, long hours, harsh management.

MEC: You think? And there’s not very good health care!

CP: People tend to think drug dealers get into it because it’s an easy buck.

MEC: It’s not an easy buck. It’s day-to-day survival—and it’s detrimental to your survival. If you manage to make any money, the state comes and scoops up any you might have around, and what you may have stashed away is used for the lawyers. So you end up with nothing.

CP: I wonder, are there any drug dealers out there for whom it doesn’t end badly? The odds are probably better that you’d make it to the NBA.

MEC: This is the bottom line: The nature of drug trafficking itself means that you are going to be highly publicized, that people are going to know who you are, that there’s always going to be a chain of evidence back to you, and that there’s always going to be someone who’s going to want to avoid being incarcerated by saying, “Go look at him or her.” It’s definitely a loser’s proposition.

CP: What do you know about gangs in Maryland prisons?

MEC: The real problem is that anybody in prison that associates with street organizations is pretty much tagged or targeted, be it the Black Guerilla Family, Crips, Bloods, Dead Man Incorporated, or any of them. It has made it impossible to interact in any kind of a positive way with members of those organizations without being tagged. I was educating people, and on the days that I made myself available, I would be in the yard and anybody could approach me to talk about things like how to make parole, how to deal with domestic situations. The result was the prison authorities tagged me. When I talked to the lieutenant about it, I said, “These are the same guys that are going back into our communities, and if they go back in with negative attitudes they are going to be destructive, they’re going to hurt people—your family, my family, everybody else’s families—and I’m not going to ignore that, so I’m going to work with them.”

But you can’t get too close without being labeled, without it being reported that you’re associating with them. So I don’t even go into the yard anymore, but I still work with organizations that provide information, education, insight, and skills to manage conflicts. You get penalized if you try to work with these groups any closer than that. It’s almost as if the prison authorities want them to proliferate, so they can have “X” amount of members or associates documented and get funds for, quote unquote, anti-gang activities. I don’t know what the end is, other than everybody at some point will end up in Big Brother’s files.

CP: What would you do if you were released tomorrow?

MEC: With the rest of my life, I would try to get a house with a nice garden and grow some food and smell the roses. I would still be involved in developing good, positive communities, but I’m a big supporter now of organic food, growing your own food, developing your way to sustain yourself into the future. So I would want to do that and encourage other people to do it.

> Email Van Smith

Jaggi Singh pleads guilty to urging people to tear down G20 security fence, facing six months prison

[français ci-dessous]

Jaggi Singh pleads guilty to urging people to tear down G20 security fence

Crown asks for six months in prison

"Sometimes you put up walls not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down." - Anonymous
---
Media Contacts (English/French):
Craig Fortier, No One Is Illegal-Toronto: 416-735-0409
Blandine Juchs, Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC), Montreal: 438 323 1456

For updates from the court on April 28, please phone/text: Jessica Denyer, Community Solidarity Network: 416-708-3195
---

TORONTO, APRIL 28, 2011 -- Today, at the Ontario Court of Justice at Old City Hall, Montreal-based G20 protester Jaggi Singh has pled guilty to urging people to tear down the G20 security fence.

Jaggi, a member of the Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC) and No One Is Illegal-Montreal, has technically pled guilty to “counselling to commit mischief over $5000”. His specific crime occurred during a short speech and subsequent replies to media questions during a No One Is Illegal press conference at the $5.5 million G20 security fence on June 24, 2010, just a few days before the G20 conference officially began in downtown Toronto.

Jaggi’s remarks, which will be entered into evidence, can be viewed online in two segments:
i) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ymRoN54CCc;
ii) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9NnAorPigc (begin at :030).

For Jaggi’s words, the Crown is demanding six months in prison, while his lawyer, Peter Rosenthal, is arguing for a much lesser penalty.

In return for Jaggi’s plea, the Crown is withdrawing all criminal conspiracy charges, charges still being faced by 17 other former co-accused who will begin their preliminary inquiry in September.

As part of the plea agreement between the Crown and Jaggi: i) the Crown will not call Jaggi as a witness in any G20-related case; ii) Jaggi’s plea cannot be used by the Crown in any other G20 prosecutions; iii) Jaggi will offer no cooperation to the Crown or the police; iv) Jaggi will offer no apologies for his actions and words; v) the entirety of my agreement will be public and not subject to any publication ban (plea agreement and related exhibits are linked below).

Sentencing arguments are being heard in front of Justice Bigelow at the Ontario Court of Justice today, and it is expected that he will deliver his ruling on sentence on June 21.
----------

The following groups have today issued public support letters in support of Jaggi:

* No One Is Illegal (Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto & Vancouver): On the Justice of Tearing Down Fences and Dismantling Borders

* Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC): In Montreal, In Toronto and Everywhere, the Walls Must Fall!

* Solidarité sans frontières: Déclaration de soutien avec Jaggi

* QPIRG Concordia: A Public Statement in Support of Jaggi Singh

* Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP): Support Jaggi Singh and Resistance to Capitalist Austerity

* Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW): (to be posted shortly)

If your group or organization would also like to write a support letter, or endorse an existing one, please contact the CLAC in Montreal via blocampmontreal@gmail.com
----------

- PLEA AGREEMENT: http://www.clac-montreal.net/sites/default/files/PLEA AGREEMENT - English.pdf

- Exhibit A: Agreed Statement of Facts

- Exhibit B: Jaggi Singh twitter feed (June 3-July 6, 2010)
(Why the twitter feed?: The twitter feed was public and intended for a general audience. The Crown is using Jaggi’s twitter feed (June 3 to July 6, 2010) to highlight that he posted information like: 1) CLAC’s Anti-Capitalist Reader produced before the G20 called “Warning Shot!”; 2) No One Is Illegal statements produced before and after the G20; 3) a video posted by Jaggi (but not produced or made by him) called “Mon voyage à Toronto”, which includes the Dead Prez song “Fuck the Law.” You can access the relevant excerpts of the twitter feed directly at http://www.twitter.com/JaggiMontreal)

- Exhibit C: Jaggi Singh Speech and Q&A at the G20 Security Fence (June 24, 2010)
The speech can be viewed at the following links: i) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ymRoN54CCc; ii) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9NnAorPigc (begin at :030). A transcript of the speech is available HERE.
----------

276 letters were submitted to the judge today in support of Jaggi. Many letter-writers indicated their full support for Jaggi’s words at the fence, and expressed agreement that the G20 security fence should have been removed. All letter-writers have urged the judge to impose a minimal sentence.

Among the groups who submitted support letters for Jaggi (as organizations, or as individuals on behalf of the organization): Anarchist Bookfair Collective (Montreal), Artivistic, l’Association pour la Défense des Droits et l’Inclusion des personnes qui Consomment des drogues du Québec (ADDICQ), Beehive Design Collective, Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), Center for Community Organizations (CoCo), le Centre des femmes d’ici et d’ailleurs, CKUT Board of Directors, Committee to Aid Refugees (CAR), Le comité exécutif de L’R, Coopérative Nos Rêves (Parc Extension), Community Solidarity Network (Toronto), Dignidad Migrante, le Bibliothèque Anarchiste DIRA, Le Frigo Vert Collective, le Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU), le Front commun des personnes assistées sociales du Québec, le Groupe de Recherche en Intérêt Public de l’Université du Québec à Montréal (GRIP-UQÀM), Head & Hands (NDG), Immigrant Workers Center, Institut de recherche et d’informations socio-économiques (IRIS), JOC-Montréal, Montréal-Nord Républik, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (Oakland, CA), Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (Toronto), OPIRG Toronto, People’s Potato Collective, Prisoner Correspondence Project, le Projet accompagnement solidarité Colombie (PASC), Purple Thistle Collective (Vancouver), QPIRG Concordia, QPIRG McGill, Radical Reference Montréal, Re-Con, le Regroupement intersectoriel des organismes communautaires de Montréal, Solidarité sans frontières, South Asian Women’s Community Centre, Stella, le Table des regroupemens provinciaux d’organismes communautaires et bénévoles, Toronto People’s Assembly on Climate Justice

As well, many more individuals (and other groups) from Montreal, Toronto, as well as all over Quebec, Canada, the USA and overseas have submitted letters of support.

-----
After today’s plea, Jaggi Singh has issued the following short statement:

“By pleading guilty to counseling to commit mischief, I can openly state that the fence deserved to come down, and that the G20 deserved to be confronted. I'll pay a price for having said so openly, but I am ready to assume that responsibility,

I assume that responsibility knowing that I have amazing and deep support from an engaged community of social justice organizers and activists in Quebec, Canada and beyond. I would like to express my profound thanks to everyone who’s offered me support in the past few months, in so many touching and diverse ways.

Importantly, I would like to particularly express a public note of solidarity and support for all remaining G20 defendants who continue to fight their criminal charges. They are all deserving of everyone’s interest and active support, and I encourage all concerned about police and state repression to provide it, tangibly.

By pleading guilty now, I am ending this legal matter, relatively speaking, on my own terms and timetable, and I’m looking forward to returning to the streets and protests of Montreal shortly.”
-----

SUPPORT G20 DEFENDANTS:

- “Support G20 Defendants” Flyer: http://guelphprisonersolidarity.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/new-g20-support...

- Free Byron Sonne: http://freebyron.org/index.php/Main_Page

- Community Solidarity Network Updates: http://g20.torontomobilize.org/

CONTRIBUTE:

- The G20 Legal Fund (Québec): http://www.clac2010.net/en/node/193
"The G20 Legal Fund considers that all arrests occurred in the context of a legitimate struggle against the capitalist policies of the G20, and that all charges should be dropped immediately."

- Guelph ABC G20 Support Fund: http://guelphprisonersolidarity.wordpress.com/g20-support/
"An accessible alternate fund for G20 arrestees, mostly those facing serious charges. The fund is for immediate short-term needs of the defendants."

- The G20 Legal Defence Fund (Toronto): http://g20legaldefencefund.wordpress.com/
"A fund that exists to hold and give out funds raised to support legal costs, fees, and other associated costs of legal defense for people facing charges stemming from the June 2010 Toronto G20 Summit."

INFO: www.clac-montreal.net/en/jaggi

___________________

Subject: Jaggi Singh plaide coupable d’avoir incité les gens à démolir la clôture de sécurité du G20

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| Jaggi Singh plaide coupable d’avoir incité les gens à démolir la clôture de sécurité du G20

Pour diffusion immédiate] [English: http://www.clac-montreal.net/en/jaggi]

Jaggi Singh plaide coupable d’avoir incité les gens à démolir la clôture de sécurité du G20

La Couronne demande six mois de prison

TORONTO, LE 28 AVRIL 2011 -- Aujourd’hui, à la Cour de justice de l’Ontario, au Old City Hall, le militant montréalais Jaggi Singh a plaidé coupable d’avoir incité les gens à démolir la clôture de sécurité du G20.

Jaggi, un membre de la Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes (CLAC) et de Personne n’est illégal-Montréal, à plaidé coupable techniquement pour avoir « conseillé de commettre un méfait de plus de 5000$ ». Ce crime a eu lieu pendant un court discours et lors des réponses aux médias qui l’ont suivi, pendant une conférence de presse de Personne n’est illégal. Celle-ci s'est déroulée près de la clôture de sécurité de 5,5 millions de dollars du G20, le 24 juin 2010, quelques jours avant que la conférence du G20 ne débute officiellement, au centre-ville de Toronto.

Les propos de Jaggi, qui font partie de la preuve, peuvent être visionnés en ligne en deux parties : i) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ymRoN54CCc; ii) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9NnAorPigc (à 0:30).

La Couronne demande six mois de prison pour les propos tenus par Jaggi; son avocat Peter Rosenthal, argumentera pour une peine plus clémente.

En échange du plaidoyer de Jaggi, la Couronne retire toutes les accusations criminelles de complot contre Jaggi, des accusations auxquelles font toujours face ses 17 ancien(ne)s co-accusé(e)s dont les enquêtes préliminaires débuteront en septembre.

L’entente entre la Couronne et Jaggi inclut les points suivants: i) la Couronne n’appellera pas Jaggi à témoigner lors d’une cause reliée au G20; ii) le plaidoyer de Jaggi ne peut pas être utilisé par la Couronne lors d’autres poursuites reliées au G20; iii) Jaggi ne coopérera pas avec la Couronne ou la police; iv) Jaggi ne présentera pas d’excuses pour ses actions et ses paroles; v) la totalité de l’entente de Jaggi sera publique et ne sera sujette à aucun interdit de publication.

Les représentations pour la détermination de la peine sont entendues aujourdhui par le Juge Bigelow à la Cour de Justice de l’Ontario et il est prévu qu’il rende sa décision sur la sentence le 21 juin.
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Les groupes suivants ont envoyé des déclarations de soutien publique à Jaggi aujourd'hui:

* No One Is Illegal (Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto & Vancouver): On the Justice of Tearing Down Fences and Dismantling Borders

* La Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes (CLAC): À Montréal, À Toronto et partout! Les murs doivent tomber!

* Solidarité sans frontières: Déclaration de soutien avec Jaggi

* QPIRG Concordia: A Public Statement in Support of Jaggi Singh

* Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP): Support Jaggi Singh and Resistance to Capitalist Austerity

* Syndicat des travailleurs et travailleuses des postes (STTP): (à venir)

Si votre groupe ou organisme désire rédiger une lettre de soutien également, ou endosser une lettre déjà écrite, veuillez contacter la CLAC à Montréal via blocampmontreal@gmail.com
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ACCORD DE PLAIDOYER

Pièce A: Exposé des faits

Pièce B: Flux Twitter de Jaggi Singh, 3 juin au 6 juillet 2010
(Pourquoi le flux sur Twitter? Celui-ci était public et à l'intention d'un lectorat général. La Couronne utilise le flux du compte Twitter de Jaggi (du 3 juin au 6 juillet 2010) afin de souligner des informations qu'il a diffusées comme: 1) La CLAC publie son journal anti-capitaliste "Coup de semonce!" avant le G20; 2) Des déclarations de Personne n'est illégal diffusées avant et après le G20; 3) Une vidéo diffusée par Jaggi (mais dont il n'est pas l'auteur ni le réalisateur) intitulée "Mon voyage à Toronto", incluant une chanson de Dead Prez nommée "Fuck the Law". Vous pouvez lire les extraits des différents billets directement sur http://www.twitter.com/JaggiMontreal)

Pièce C: Jaggi Singh devant la clôture de sécurité du G20 (24 juin 2010)
Les propos de Jaggi, qui font partie de la preuve, peuvent être visionnés en ligne en deux segments : i) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ymRoN54CCc; ii) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9NnAorPigc (à 0:30). Le verbatim des remarques sont disponsible ICI.
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276 lettres ont été remises au juge aujourd'hui en appui à Jaggi. Plusieurs auteurs ont aussi pleinement soutenu les déclarations faites par Jaggi à la clôture et ont exprimé leur accord avec l'idée voulant que la clôture de sécurité du G20 aurait dû être retirée. À l'unanimité, les auteurs des lettres exhortent le juge d'imposer une peine minimale.

Parmi les groupes qui ont envoyé des lettres de soutien à Jaggi (en tant qu'organisme ou en tant qu'individus au nom d'un organisme): Artivistic, l’Association pour la Défense des Droits et l’Inclusion des personnes qui Consomment des drogues du Québec (ADDICQ), Beehive Design Collective, Center for Community Organizations (CoCo), le Centre des femmes d’ici et d’ailleurs, CKUT Board of Directors, Le Collectif du Salon du livre anarchiste de Montréal, Committee to Aid Refugees (CAR), Le comité exécutif de L’R, Coopérative Nos Rêves (Parc Extension), Community Solidarity Network (Toronto), Dignidad Migrante, le Bibliothèque Anarchiste DIRA, Le Frigo Vert Collective, le Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU), le Front commun des personnes assistées sociales du Québec, le Groupe de Recherche en Intérêt Public de l’Université du Québec à Montréal (GRIP-UQÀM), Head & Hands (NDG), Immigrant Workers Center, Institut de recherche et d’informations socio-économiques (IRIS), JOC-Montréal, Montréal-Nord Républik, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (Oakland, CA), Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (Toronto), OPIRG Toronto, People’s Potato Collective, Prisoner Correspondence Project, le Projet accompagnement solidarité Colombie (PASC), Purple Thistle Collective (Vancouver), QPIRG Concordia, QPIRG McGill, Radical Reference Montréal, Re-Con, le Regroupement intersectoriel des organismes communautaires de Montréal, Solidarité sans frontières, South Asian Women’s Community Centre, Stella, le Syndicat des travailleurs et travailleurs des postes, le Table des regroupemens provinciaux d’organismes communautaires et bénévoles, Toronto People’s Assembly on Climate Justice

De plus, de multiple individus de Montréal, Toronto, et de partout au Canada, aux États-Unis et outre-mer ont rédigé des lettres de soutien.

INFO: http://www.clac-montreal.net/jaggi

'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.

Invitation To "Law as a Weapon of War"

Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011
From: ssadequee@gmail.com

Dear Allies in Peace, Truth and Justice,

Thank you for your support in the struggle for justice! You are cordially invited to
the following event in Atlanta, GA.  We would greatly appreciate it if you attend,
and distribute widely and announce to your contacts the following social justice
event taking place in Atlanta on Preemptive Prosecution of Muslim and African
Americans and immigrant communities.

In Solidarity

.............


You are cordially invited to :

“Law as a Weapon of War”
A Peoples Assembly to Confront Preemptive Prosecution via the War on Terror, the War
on Drugs, and Anti-Immigrant Legislation in the 21st Century

***Preemptive Prosecution: The investigation, prosecution and imprisonment of
persons by US law enforcement agencies based on religion, country of origin,
political beliefs, and alleged aspirational intent - but not necessarily on material
actions***

Join organizers, legal advocates, families, academics, and human rights activists to
build alliances between communities affected by preemptive prosecution, racial
profiling, and criminalization.

GOALS:
- To build a common understanding of the post-9/11 political climate & context
regarding preemptive prosecution and racial profiling
- To connect the tactics & strategies of the War on Terror, the War on Drugs, and
anti- immigrant legislation
- To connect the Southern historical and racial context to these strategies
- To build alliances across communities targeted by law enforcement agencies,
including but limited to immigrant communities, Muslim communities, and Black
communities
- To lay the foundation for a legal advocacy infrastructure connected to social
movements


WHEN:
Saturday, May 14
12:30PM--  5PM


WHERE:
Auburn Avenue Research Library
101 Auburn Avenue Northeast
Atlanta, GA



Panel Speakers Include: 
Steve Downs, Esq., Attorney and Co-Founder Project SALAM,
Nahal Zamani, Center For Constitutional Rights (CCR)
Sonali Sadequee, Atlanta Transformative Justice Collaborative
Mel Underbakke, Friends of Human Rights, on the case of Sami Al Arian
Jess Sundin, Anti-war activist from Minnesota, on Stop the FBI Rpression
Samia Ahmed, Educator and sister of Haris Ahmed, on the case of Haris Ahmed, Atlanta
Laila Yaghi, Palestinian American and mother of Ziyad Yaghi, on the case of Raleigh 7

Participant Organizations Include:  National Coalition To Protect Civil Freedoms
(NCPCF); Center For Constitutional Rights (CCR); Project South; Families United For
Justice In America (FUJA); The Peace Thru Justice Foundation, Project SALAM, Atlanta
International Action Center, National Committee to Stop FBI Repression, Institute of
Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT), National Jericho Movement, American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU)-GA, Amnesty International-GA, Georgia Immigrants and Refugee
Rights Coalition, Movement to End Israeli Apartheid (MEIA-GA); Friends of Human
Rights-Tampa; Rights Working Group-Washington, DC; Muslim American Society Freedom
Foundation (MAS Freedom)
                                                                 *****
Refreshment
will be
served*****


                                                        
To RSVP and co-sponsor the
event and to learn more:
                                                                  
                                                                             
Contact:
CivilFreedoms@gmail.com

                                                                        
Atlanta
Contacts:
freeshifa@gmail.com
                                                              
Find the event on
Face book:  Law as a
Weapon of War

Herman Bell - 25 to Life - What Does That Mean To Me?

25-LIFE - WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO ME?
BY H. BELL, 3/26/11)

            Although I have served more than 37
years in prison, I am still unable to wrap my
mind around what that means; years of locking
in-and-out of cells, letters from home and the
occasional family photo; one letter telling that
the new baby has arrived, another telling that my
niece or nephew is doing well in school and that
the neighbor next door died in his sleep; the
photo shows Ma-dear and Dad looking good but are
noticeably older, 25-life (what does that mean to me?).

            If you were a family man, like I
was, with a young wife and two rambunctious boys,
the separation had to have been heart-wrenching.
It was for me. My boys, Johnes and Keith, had
thoroughly broken me into domesticity: feeding
them, changing and washing their diapers,
dressing them, consoling them, taking them for
their shots. Hoping the family dog wouldn't bite
me for reprimanding them. Their mother,
high-spirited and the love of my lie, was no less
challenging; a borderline red-bone, with a
delightful spray of freckles across her nose and
cheeks, almond-shaped eyes and pouty lips. During
our feuds, rather than talk, we wrote notes to
each other and the children handed them to us.

            What does doing 25-life mean to me?
As I mull over this question, I am reminded of
Elmina, the Portuguese slave fortress, located on
the West coast of Ghana from which enchained
afrikans were led through its infamous
"door-of-no-return" to the holds of waiting slave
ships that would take them to the New World. I
too feel as though I've walked through a "door-of-no-return."

IMPRISONMENT (A MODERN PLANTATION)

           If one knew nothing about the
geography of a town in upstate NY where one is
imprisoned, then one can readily imagine what the
afrikan slave must have felt on a southern
plantation � not knowing where to run or how to
get there. For me, getting from Attica or Clinton
Dannemora, to my hood, seemed no different than
for the afrikan on a slave plantation in Georgia
getting from there back to Afrika. Across the
country, I have been held in many jails, and my
family has had to travel thousands of miles to see
me at considerable expense.

            You know how families are received
at these places: standing in the elements to get
in; suffering the indignities of disparaging
remarks; seating arrangements; frustrating
package rules. Prison is where spiteful, petty,
contemptible, morally unkind acts find free
expression at the whim of those who have
authority over us. The keepers are vigilant and
they instinctively ferret out unguarded
self-esteem, courage, and strength. Prison is
designed to break you down, not build you up. It
casually destroys the weak and unwary (as though
they were an afterthought), and turns the
spiritually debased into beasts. What's not so
strange about this is that the spiritually
debased elicits no particular attention from the
keepers. 25-life (what does that mean to me?).

AS THE YEARS GO BY

Time, faces, and relationships change, and like
sand cascading down the funnel of an hourglass,
nothing can resist this change. One day, you look
in the mirror and see gray hair and a face that
tells you you've aged; your body tells you that
too. Some of your old friends have moved on and
new ones have come to take their place.

Your mother and father may have passed away, as
have mine, and I was unable to see them buried.
You may have contemplated numerous possible
scenarios, should you be imprisoned, but never
that; and neither did I. The years take their
toll, the people you believed in, the certainties
you once embraced might have led you to realize
that the more you know, the more you realize you
don't know. With luck, we come to understand that
humility and wisdom come with age and experience,
and that death is often merciful.

RELEASE TIME AND ITS UNCERTAINTY

In doing 25-life, you never now when your release
time will come; as it is with death, you can
never foretell the day it will knock on your
door. Yet, in both instances, you better be prepared.

MAKE TIME WORK FOR YOU (SELF-IMPROVEMENT

The old-timers in here will tell you: make time work
for you, not against you.

Education:
            I earned a dual Bachelor of Science
degree in psychology and sociology and a master's
in sociology. It was hard work and could not have
been accomplished without discipline, commitment,
and sacrifice. Through the self-help projects
I've developed on the outside while imprisoned,
e.g., Calendar, Community Gardens, I have built
remarkable relationships inside and outside these
walls. And I have managed to keep a good name
(which is all one can rightly claim as one's own
in here). Because of that, I have managed to make
it through the day, one day at a time. 25-life (what
does that mean to me?).

THE PAROLE BOARD

            Parole is discretionary, we are
told, not a right. When one's freedom is withheld
by another, be it a state institution or a
private individual, it's tantamount to slavery
and is a poignant reminder that slavery was never
abolished in the US; the 13th Amendment preserved it.

            State parole commissioners have
guidelines to aid them in their parole decision;
that decision, nevertheless, is still subjective.
A host of variables weigh in on this process,
including the kind of day a commissioner is
having, societal stereotypes, the crime that one
committed 30 years ago. As a parole candidate,
one has to be impressed by what I've accomplished
inside and on the outside; and my disciplinary is
exemplary. Yet my next Board appearance will mark
10 years beyond my minimum sentence. And I am not
alone in this experience. Because of consistent
denials, one is led to conclude that more is
involved in these parole denials than what meets
the eye. One is led to conclude that power,
politics, and economics are driving them. And
that this triumvirate serves special interests.
Yet those invested in this practice, and who
profit handsomely from it, still argue that the
mission of prisons is and always shall be about
corrections and rehabilitation. They argue that
prisons are not used as an employment agency or
as a tool of social repression. But if that were
true, then surely fewer people would be in prison today.

CONCLUSION

           This is just a tiny piece of the
picture. The point is that we remain in the grips
of an economic order and culture that's as
formidable and treacherous as the recent quake,
tsunami, and meltdown in Japan, and I wish it were not so.

            Think about it. What do you or I
produce in prison? Okay, there is the Corcraft
Industry, which generates a few million dollars a
year, yet it's a pittance compared to the bigger
picture relating to you and me. Billions are made
just by keeping us in a cell. Our very presence
is the raw product that sustains the prison
industry. It did the same during chattel slavery
for almost 400 years, and, like today, we've
benefited none from it. Today, our people spend
well over 500 billion in the US economy, and we
control practically none of it. The only
institution of any consequence we control today is
the Black church.

            Today, the sons and daughters of the
people employed to keep us here have begun to
keep watch over us and our children, who now are
finding themselves in here. We have to get out of
these places, stay out of them and keep others
out. And while still in here, it is our duty to
use this time constructively, and thus be an
asset to our communities when we get out. That
way, we turn this thing on its head, snatching
victory from the jaws of defeat, which in this
instance is what is meant by: falling in a
shithouse and coming out smelling like a rose.

We Are Troy Davis

This Could Be Any of Us

By JEN MARLOWE Counterpunch April 27, 2011

Last Monday, I attended the funeral service of Virginia Davis in Savannah, GA. Reverend Dr. Warnock delivered a passionate eulogy for Virginia, which ended with a powerful call to action: The best way to honor Virginia's life, he said, is to fight for her son Troy's life.

I am writing to ask you to help fight for Troy's life.

Troy Davis is on death row for the 1989 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah, GA. Troy has always maintained his innocence, and there was never any physical evidence linking him to the crime. 7 out of the 9 non-police witnesses have since recanted or changed their testimony. New witnesses have come forth identifying another suspect. Yet, on March 28, the US Supreme Court denied Troy's final appeal, clearing the way for Georgia to set the execution date. Troy's sister, Martina, said her mother "died of a broken heart. I don't think my mother could have taken another execution date."

That execution date could be set any day now. Troy's life will then be in the hands of Georgia's Board of Pardon & Paroles, who has the power to grant Troy clemency.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1. Sign the Amnesty USA petition, asking the GA Board of Pardons & Parole to grant Troy clemency, and forward it to others.

2. Collect signatures on a download-able version of the petition.

3. If you are a lawyer or a legal professional: add your name to the legal professional sign-on letter

4. If you are a member of the clergy: add your name to the clergy sign-on letter.

5. If you have contacts with legal professionals or members of the clergy, forward them the sign-on letters and urge them to sign.

6. If you have contacts in Georgia, urge them to sign the petition or, sign-on letters (if they are legal professionals or members of the clergy.) It is important that the Board know that this issue matter to folks around the country and around the world--but especially that it matters to folks in Georgia.

7. 1 million Tweets for Troy!
If you are Twitter user than please consider tweeting for Troy.
Some sample tweets include:
When in doubt, don't execute!! Sign the petition for #TroyDavis! www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
Too much doubt! Stop the execution! #TroyDavis needs us! www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
No room for doubt! Stop the execution of #TroyDavis . Retweet, sign petition www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
Case not "ironclad", yet Georgiacould execute #TroyDavis ! Not on our watch! Petition: www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
No murder weapon. No physical evidence. Stop the execution! #TroyDavis petition: www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
7 out of 9 eyewitnesses recanted. No physical evidence. Stop the execution of #TroyDavis www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition

Troy's case is deeply personal to me. Troy is a friend of mine. I have corresponded with Troy for the last four years, visited him twice in prison, and written about his case. I have gotten to know and become close to his incredible family, and witnessed first-hand their struggle to bring justice to Troy.

But even if Troy was not my friend, even if I did not know the Davis family--Troy's case should still be deeply personal to me, deeply personal to all of us. As Laura Moye (the Amnesty USA death penalty abolition coordinator) and I were gathering petition signatures in Savannah last week among union-member day laborers, a young man called out emotionally, "Troy could be your brother, your son! This could be any of us!"

Put another way (as the T-shirt in support of Troy states) "I am Troy Davis."

I hope you will take the time to learn more about Troy's case. Thank you in advance for doing all you can to prevent Troy's execution. As the young man in the union hall reminded me, Troy is all of us.

Jen Marlowe is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, author, playwright, human rights advocate, and founder of donkeysaddle projects. Her new book, The Hour of Sunlight: One Palestinian's Journey from Prisoner to Peacemaker, co-written with and about Palestinian peace activist Sami Al Jundi, has just been published by Nation Books. Her previous book was Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival. Her email address is: jenmarlowe@hotmail.com

Eddie Conway's Story

A Doomed Man?

By RON JACOBS Counterpunch April 27, 2011

"The first lesson a revolutionary must learn is that he is a doomed man."

--Huey Newton

For as long as I can remember, Baltimore has had the reputation as a corrupt and tough town. City Hall is known as a cashbox for the thieves that run it. The cops are no-nonsense and care little about the Bill of Rights, especially when dealing with the city's poor and non-white residents. Neighborhoods are closed societies that one is hesitant to walk through unless he is a resident. The demarcations between the wealthy and poorer neighborhoods are enforced, often quite forcefully, by the police. When I worked at an IHOP in the mid-1970s about twenty miles outside of Baltimore I would occasionally end up in a certain after hours club in one of the city's rougher sections. I was often the only white male in the room, although there were often several white women. The guys I was hanging with made sure that nobody screwed with me, but my safety (or anyone else's) was never guaranteed. There was a fellow I drank with there who I used to talk politics with. He claimed to be a former member of the Baltimore Black Panthers and talked a lot about Panther member Marshall Eddie Conway, who had been in prison since 1970 on a very questionable conviction.

It was with this memory in mind that I recently read Marshall Law: The Life and Times of a Baltimore Black Panther. This memoir describes Conway's early life in Baltimore, his introduction to the Black Panthers, his eventual arrest and conviction for murder, and his life in prison since then. The details of the case, like so many cases against Black Panthers, are sketchy and based on the testimony of an informant who was only brought in when the prosecutor saw how weak the case against Conway was. In fact, Conway's arrest was the result of a tip from an informant who was never identified and whose existence has never been verified. At the time of his arrest Conway was working at the US Post Office. The Baltimore chapter of the Panthers had already been the target of intense law enforcement surveillance and infiltration under the aegis of the COINTELPRO program. A show trial based on the indictments drawn up from this surveillance resulted in no convictions and the dismissal of the charges. During Conway's trial for murder, no physical evidence was ever presented that linked him to the crime scene. Police officers at the scene could not positively identify Conway and he was denied representation by a lawyer of his choice. The prosecution relied primarily on a supposed jailhouse confession that Conway claims did not occur. He maintains his innocence to this day.

There is another aspect to this story. It is Conway's commitment to revolutionary struggle, self improvement and the betterment of others whose lives and circumstances have brought them to prison. Unlike so many Americans, Conway has always opposed drugs, in large part because they destroy communities and lives. His politics have enabled him to stay free of drugs and the associated business. This story of a young black man railroaded into prison because of his race and politics does not end with that sentence. The reader is presented with Conway's life inside the Maryland prison system. Lockdowns, fires, riots and the daily grind of so much of one's physical activity being controlled by others. While reading Marshall Law I was constantly reminded of Bob Dylan's lines from the ballad "George Jackson": "Sometimes I think that this world/Is one big prison yard./Some of us are prisoners and some of us are guards." As Conway learned and explains through his tale, freedom is not only a physical concept but also an existential state.

In prose both concise and personal, Eddie Conway's memoir is essentially a story about hope. Here is a man who has been in prison for forty years for a crime many people are convinced he did not commit, yet he maintains a realistic optimism in his situation and that of the world. The hope he maintains is not one based on some pie-in-the-sky scheme. Instead, it is based on a practical understanding of the merits and rewards of political organizing. As Conway tells the reader, those merits are not only seen in the programs and other results brought to life by political organizing, they are also seen in the personal meaning they give to those doing the organizing. From the Black Panthers community breakfast programs he was involved in to the various programs he helped organize in the Maryland prison system, Conway proves the values of organizing again and again.

Marshall Eddie Conway remains in prison. His case is one of many that is supported by a number of prisoner support organizations including the Jericho Movement. Many of the prisoners involved are considered political prisoners since the circumstances of their arrests and convictions are the result of their political activities. Indeed, some are clearly the result of frameups by law enforcement. Most of these prisoners have spent considerably more time in prison than other men and women serving time for similar crimes but not known for their political convictions. It is clear from reading Marshall Law: The Life and Times of a Baltimore Black Panther that should he achieve his freedom, he will not compromise his beliefs to do so. This may be why he remains locked up.

Ron Jacobs is author of The Way the Wind Blew: a History of the Weather Underground and Short Order Frame Up. Jacobs' essay on Big Bill Broonzy is featured in CounterPunch's collection on music, art and sex, Serpents in the Garden. His new novel is The Co-Conspirator's Tale. He can be reached at: rjacobs3625@charter.net