DAY TWO: Albert Woodfox of the Angola 3's evidentiary hearing that could overturn his conviction for a third time

May 31, 2012 OpEd News

This is a short report about Albert Woodfox's second day in court for an evidentiary hearing, on Wednesday, May 30. Written by the International Coalition to Free the Angola Three.
 

(Photo from April 17, 2012 of the delegation led by Amnesty International  delivering a 67,000 signature petition demanding Albert Woodfox's and Herman Wallace's immediate release from solitary confinement. Governor Jindal refused to meet with the delegation, and referred the issue to the Department of Public Safety and Corrections. In response, Amnesty has launched a new online petition directed to the Secretary of that department, James M. LeBlanc, calling for Albert and Herman's immediately release from solitary. Please sign the Amnesty International petition here .)



Report from Albert Woodfox's Evidentiary Hearing
--DAY TWO: Wednesday, May 30

Midday the State rested their case, and both sides requested that the judge rule that the other had not met their burden and end the proceedings then and there.  To avoid another delay in the proceedings for him to consider these motions, Judge Brady instead asked Albert's legal team to proceed with the presentation of their case for the record while everyone was already assembled and promised to decide the pending motions sometime later.

Albert's first expert witness was Dr. Marx, a statistician with a mountain of unimpeachable credentials who very artfully and clearly explained the heart of why the State's numbers don't show discrimination in the selection of the grand jury foreperson but Albert's do.  The different results stem from a fundamental disagreement about not just the methodology and methods, but the very population to be examined in the first place.

The baseline group the State is using to calculate whether there was discrimination in the selection of the grand jury by race is based on broad census numbers of eligible voters, minus illiterates, but without adjusting for any of the other many factors used to qualify and seat voters for jury duty.  In contrast, Albert's expert relied upon the actual numbers of people who were called and found willing and able to serve as jurors as his base data pool for analysis.  He made a credible and compelling argument that this more exact, case specific base number provided the only accurate, reliable result and demonstrated a strong, statistically significant pattern of racial discrimination in the selection of the forepersons in West Feliciana during the time of Albert's retrial that simply cannot be explained by chance.

Testimony continues tomorrow as the third and final day of Albert's third bid for freedom continues.

MORE INFO ABOUT EVIDENTIARY HEARING:

Unlike the first and second time that Albert's conviction was overturned based on judges who cited racial discrimination, prosecutorial misconduct, inadequate defense, and suppression of exculpatory evidence during his first trials for the 1972 murder of Brent Miller, this proceeding will seek to overturn based on apparent discrimination in the selection of a grand jury foreperson during his 1998 retrial.

The well known facts of the A3 case will not be debated; all that will be examined is whether or not people of color were discriminated against during the grand jury selection process. This means instead of murder mystery theatre, witnesses will mostly discuss compositions of the pool of grand jury forepersons in the Parish where Albert was indicted. Expert witnesses will discuss statistical analysis and methodology, the demographics of the community, and the sociological mechanics of how discrimination can play out in the criminal justice system. If successful, this claim could serve to overturn Albert's conviction for a third time.

Judge James A. Brady, the same judge who overturned Albert's conviction the second time in 2008, will preside. That ruling was ultimately reinstated on appeal by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals who cited AEDPA-gutted habeas protections that limit federal power that allowed them to defer judgment to Louisiana.

Although there are no time limits officially imposed by law, Brady is expected to rule before the end of 2012.

For more on the case, read A Crim Case 5 & 6.

(A3 Collage from http://www.itsabouttimebpp.com)

www.angola3news.com
Over 39 years ago in Louisiana, 3 young black men were silenced for trying to expose continued segregation, systematic corruption, and horrific abuse in the biggest prison in the US, an 18,000-acre former slave plantation called Angola. In 1972 and (more...)

The Outer Limits of Solitary Confinement: A Public Forum to Support the California Prisoner Hunger Strike

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Release Date: March 24, 2012
Contact: Marina Drummer
International Coalition to Free the Angola Three
Marina@communityfuturescollective.org
(707) 486-6806
www.angola3.org
www.angola3news.com

The Outer Limits of Solitary Confinement:
A Public Forum to Support the California Prisoner Hunger Strike

Friday, April 6, 2012, 6pm - 8pm

UC Hastings College of the Law

Louis B. Mayer Lounge

198 McAllister Street

San Francisco

(San Francisco) --This free San Francisco event organized by the International Coalition to Free the Angola 3 will mark 40 years of solitary confinement for Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox of the Angola 3, by exploring the expansion and overuse of solitary confinement, and mobilizing support for the Amnesty International Petition to remove them from solitary confinement and support for the California Hunger Strikers. Includes Keynote with Angola 3’s Robert H. King, 2 films and additional speakers.

The International Coalition to Free the Angola Three is presenting a free public forum and film screening entitled “The Outer Limits of Solitary Confinement,” at UC Hastings College of the Law, Louis B. Mayer Lounge, 198 McAllister Street, San Francisco, on Friday, April 6, 2012, from 6pm - 8pm, and co-hosted by the Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal and the Hastings chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.

The International Coalition to Free the Angola 3 stands in solidarity with the courageous prisoners that recently initiated hunger strikes throughout California prisons. The event will examine how the torture and wrongful convictions of the Angola 3 are part of a much larger problem throughout US prisons. With presentations from several speakers involved with supporting the hunger strikers, the audience will be presented with many ways in which they too can lend their support in the fight against solitary confinement and other forms of torture in California prisons.

The keynote speaker will be Robert H. King, of the Angola 3, who was released in 2001 when his conviction was overturned, after 29 years of continuous solitary confinement. King says today that “being in prison, in solitary was terrible. It was a nightmare. My soul still cries from all that I witnessed and endured. It does more than cry- it mourns, continuously.”

Since his release, Robert H. King has worked tirelessly to support the other two members of the Angola 3, Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, who have been in solitary confinement since April 17, 1972. This coming April 17, which marks the 40^th anniversary of their solitary confinement, King will be joined by Amnesty International and other supporters at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge to present Amnesty International’s petition to Governor Bobby Jindal demanding that Wallace and Woodfox be immediately released from solitary confinement. Read more about Amnesty International’s Angola 3 campaign, here.

At the UC Hastings event, King will talk about the Amnesty International petition demanding transfer from solitary and the broader struggle to release Wallace and Woodfox from prison altogether. Interviewed in a recent video by Amnesty International, King says about Wallace and Woodfox: “All evidence shows that they were targeted simply for being members of the Black Panther Party. There is really no evidence, forensic, physical, or otherwise, linking them to the crime. When I think about the ten years in which I’ve had time to be out here, that is ten more years that they are there.”

In their investigative report, Amnesty International similarly concluded that “no physical evidence links Woodfox and Wallace to the murder.” Even further: “potentially favorable DNA evidence was lost. The convictions were based on questionable inmate testimony…it seems prison officials bribed the main eyewitness into giving statements against the men. Even the widow of the prison guard has expressed skepticism, saying in 2008, ‘If they did not do this – and I believe that they didn’t – they have been living a nightmare for 36 years!’”

(Photo of the Angola 3. From left to right: Herman Wallace, Robert H. King, and Albert Woodfox.)

Additional speakers will include:

· Hans Bennett, Independent journalist and co-founder of Journalists for Mumia

· Terry Kupers, Institute Professor at The Wright Institute in Berkeley, California

· Manuel La Fontaine, Northern California Regional Organizer for All of Us or None

· Aaron Mirmalek, Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee Oakland

· Kiilu Nyasha, Independent journalist and former member of the Black Panther Party

· Tahtanerriah Sessoms-Howell, Youth Organizer for All of Us Or None

· Luis “Bato” Talamantez, California Prison Focus and one of the San Quentin 6

· Azadeh Zohrabi, Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal

· And more (Full speaker bios below).

In addition, two short films will be featured: The Gray Box: A Multimedia Investigation, by Susan Greene, The Dart Society, and Cruel and Unusual Punishment, by Claire Schoen, for the AFSC Stopmax Campaign.

Event notes: Hastings is on the corner of Hyde and McAllister, two blocks from the Civic Center BART station. The Hyde Street side entrance is wheelchair accessible. Refreshments will be served and signed books will be for sale. This event is free and open to the public. Donations for prisoner support will be gratefully accepted.

Watch the trailer here.

a FORTY YEAR HistorY OF REPRESSION:

On April 17, 1972, Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox of the Angola 3 were placed in solitary confinement at Angola Prison in Louisiana. Wallace and Woodfox were subsequently railroaded and convicted for the murder of a prison guard, and remain in solitary to this day. They were framed COINTELPRO-style, in retaliation for co-founding a Black Panther chapter at Angola that initiated multiracial work and hunger strikes.

Currently held inside California’s notorious Pelican Bay State Prison, Hugo “Yogi Bear” Pinell, of the San Quentin Six, has now been in continuous solitary for at least 42 years. A participant in the recent statewide prisoner hunger strike, Pinell was a close comrade of Black Panther and prison author, George Jackson. Having been continually denied parole despite a clean record for the last 27 years, Pinell is, in the words of the Angola 3’s own Robert H. King, “a clear example of a political prisoner." His next parole hearing is scheduled for this May.

The stories of the Angola 3 and Hugo Pinell are the most extreme examples of a widespread human rights crisis in US prisons, where prolonged solitary confinement has become routine. According to www.solitarywatch.com, there are “at least 75,000 and perhaps more than 100,000 prisoners in solitary confinement on any given day” in the US.

On March 20, several human rights organizations jointly filed a petition to the United Nations Group on Arbitrary Detention, the United Nations Human Rights Council, and United Nations General Assembly on behalf of prisoners throughout California’s Security Housing Units (SHU) and Administrative Segregation Units (ASU). The petition calls for UN action against California’s prison administration and deplores the conditions of thousands of California prisoners, “being detained in isolated segregated units for indefinite periods or determinate periods of many years solely because they have been identified as members of gangs or found to have associated with a gang.”

The petition states further that “as a result of the policies and practices that leave California with the largest population of prisoners in isolated segregation anywhere in the world, these prisoners suffer extreme mental and physical harm, including mental breakdowns, extreme depression, suicidal ideation, and breaks with reality, such that their treatment may be considered torture or degrading treatment illegal under well-established international norms and obligations of the United States and the State of California under, inter alia, the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (‘CAT’) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (‘ICCPR’).”

Fueled by the racist “War On Drugs,” and the broader criminalization of poverty, the US prison population has exploded from less than 300,000 prisoners in 1970 to over 2.4 million today. This 40-year policy of mass incarceration has turned the US into literally the world’s #1jailer—with the world’s highest incarceration rate and total number of prisoners.

Feb. 20 "Occupy San Quentin" protest. Photo by Alex Darocy, Indybay.org

Position Statement:

We declare that this human rights atrocity known as the “criminal justice system” has now reached its outer limits. This cannot continue! It is becoming increasingly clear to the public that prolonged solitary confinement is nothing other than state torture.

The recent collaboration of prison activists and Occupy Wall Street, Occupy 4 Prisoners, marks a renewed linking of economic justice activism to a critique of mass incarceration and the criminalization of poverty. As Robert H. King said in his message to Occupy 4 Prisoners, “the same people who make the laws that favor the bankers, make the laws that fill our prisons and detention centers. We have to continue to make the connection between Wall St. and the prison industrial complex.” The upcoming "Occupy the Justice Department” action in Washington DC on April 24 is calling for the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal and all political prisoners.

The strength of the 99% is in our numbers. Our only hope is to unite against the 1%. A newly-formed multiracial coalition of hunger strikers throughout California’s prisons (most recently at Corcoran State) has demanded an end to prolonged solitary confinement and many other inhumane policies. These freedom fighters are on the frontlines of the struggle and they badly need our support. Our event is being held to give voice to their struggle and to present the audience with opportunities to show their support.

FEATURED SPEAKERS BIOS:

ROBERT H. KING (Keynote Speaker)-- A member of the Angola 3, released in 2001 after 29 years of continuous solitary confinement. Since his release, he has worked tirelessly in support of Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox. In 2008, King released his award-winning autobiography, entitled From the Bottom of the Heap: The Autobiography of Robert Hillary King (PM Press). His website is www.kingsfreelines.com.

HANS BENNETT-- A prison abolitionist, independent multi-media journalist and co-founder of Journalists for Mumia Abu-Jamal (www.abu-jamal-news.com), Bennett has written for several publications including Alternet, Truthout, Z Magazine, Black Commentator, ColorLines, Poor Magazine, SF Bay View Newspaper, Slingshot and Indymedia.

TERRY KUPERS-- An Institute Professor at The Wright Institute in Berkeley, CA. Dr. Kupers’ forensic psychiatry experience includes testimony in several large class action litigations concerning jail and prison conditions, sexual abuse, and the quality of mental health services inside correctional facilities. He is a consultant to Human Rights Watch, and author of the 1999 book entitled Prison Madness: The Mental Health Crisis Behind Bars and What We Must Do About It.

MANUEL LA FONTAINE-- The Northern California Regional Organizer, All of Us or None. As a former street organizer (also known as a gang member), a formerly-incarcerated person, and a college graduate, Manuel brings street savvy, along with scholastic aptitude, and incorporates them into his work life to better assist those without voices.

AARON MIRMALEK-- The founder of the Oakland chapter of the Leonard Peltier DefenseOffense Committee, started in honor of his cousin Leonard Peltier. Born in Oakland, he is a longtime community organizer. In 2010, Aaron was the Executive Producer of "Free Leonard Peltier: Hip Hop's Contribution to the Freedom Campaign." In 2011, he was the Executive Producer and Co-Host of "Free Peltier Free Em All!" DVD with Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. For more information: www.FreeLeonardAlbum.com.

KIILU NYASHA-- A San Francisco-based journalist and former member of the Black Panther Party. Through the end of 2009, Kiilu hosted a weekly TV program, "Freedom Is A Constant Struggle,” on SF Live. She writes for many publications, including the SF Bay View Newspaper and Black Commentator. Also an accomplished radio programmer, she has worked for KPFA (Berkeley), SF Liberation Radio, Free Radio Berkeley, and KPOO in SF. Her website is www.kiilunyasha.blogspot.com.

TAHTANERRIAH SESSOMS-HOWELL-- Youth Organizer, All of Us Or None. Sessoms-Howell is a native of Berkeley, California. When she was arrested at the age of 15 she got her first glimpse into the cruel world of “rehabilitation.” While in jail and on probation, Sessoms-Howell found out very fast that there is no such thing as a fair justice system. She now works to inform the youth of their rights and keep connections between youth and their elders strong. As Youth Organizer for AOUON, her job is to help, by any means, ensure the safety and rights of future generations to come.

LUIS “BATO” TALAMANTEZ—One of the San Quentin 6, Talamantez also works with California Prison Focus, and is a long time Bay Area activist and organizer.

AZADEH ZOHRABI-- Co-Editor-in-Chief of the UC Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal, Zohrabi is a third year law student at UC Hastings. Her family's experience with incarceration is what motivated her to become an attorney and an advocate for people in prison. Most recently, she has worked to advocate on behalf of prisoners in the Security Housing Units as a member of the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition and the mediation team for the prisoners.

View/Download April 6 Event Flyer Below:

MORE SF BAY AREA EVENTS WITH ROBERT H. KING:

--Let Us Not Forget: Honor Fallen Comrades and Political Prisoners, Saturday, April 7, 1:00pm, West Oakland Library, 1801 Adeline Street. For more information: www.itsabouttimebpp.com, (916) 455-0908.

--Oakland International Film Festival, Sunday, April 8, 3:00pm, Oakland Museum, 1000 Oak Street, at 10th Street. King will be speaking in conjunction with a screening of the new British documentary about the Angola 3, entitled “In The Land of the Free…” For more information: www.oiff.org.

A3 Newsletter: Inching Towards Justice: Dedicated to the 99%

Angola 3 Newsletter, Oct. 30, 2011 Inching Towards Justice: Dedicated to the 99% International Coalition to Free the Angola 3 As we witness the torturously slow path to justice in the cases of Albert and Herman, we applaud and stand in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement. At long last, the people awaken! Wherever A3 supporters are we urge them to join and support their local efforts while encouraging the inclusion of a complete overhaul of the criminal injustice system as part of the list of demands. Occupy Everywhere!!! Please take the time to read Louisiana's Attorney General, Buddy Caldwell's recent statements on the Angola 3 case. We wonder after 40 years and in a state filled with crisis, why so much attention remains focused on keeping Albert and Herman behind bars? Obsession? This month Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has been busy digging into his second term in office after winning reelection by default when his only competitor withdrew from the race. In his first term he issued over 900 opinions and hundreds more cases undoubtedly await, but fighting to keep Herman and Albert in prison is still right up at the top of his priority list. Caldwell, who in a 2008 Pulitzer Prize winning NPR series on the case, characterized Albert as "the most dangerous person on the planet," says he continues to give personal attention to the case "because federal judges just keep turning this guy loose and giving us work to do." News From Federal Court . Motion to Disqualify Dismissed! On Monday, Judge Brady heard oral arguments and summarily dismissed the State's latest attempt to impede justice--a motion to disqualify the attorneys from Albert's criminal case and the civil case. We are waiting to see how Judge Jackson handles a similar motion filed with regards to Herman's case. A big thanks to the legal team for all their hard work and to the many supporters who again filled the courtroom on A3's behalf. Discovery Victory! Last month, Judge Brady ordered that emails requested by the defense over a year before must be turned over within 5 days. The State took the drastic move of appealing the matter to the 5th Circuit as a mandamus and through the Louisiana Department of Justice. On Monday Judge Brady ordered again that the State must turn over the emails in question or possibly be found in contempt of court and face sanctions. Only minutes before his order would have taken effect, the State turned over the documents. Albert's Hearing Rescheduled Originally set for this past September, Albert's hearing on discrimination in the selection of his grand jury foreperson it is now tentatively rescheduled for May 2012. We will update everyone once the schedule is confirmed, but remain hopeful that justice delayed will not be justice denied. Robert King's UK Tour This month, Robert King has been touring the United Kingdom, accompanied by filmmaker Vadim Jean, with screenings of his film about the Angola 3, entitled "In The Land of the Free..." Read Simon Jablonski's recent interview with King, and media coverage from the UK Tour: The Frontline (Podcast and Written Article), Liverpool John Moores University (1 and 2), and the London School of Economics. Bonding With Herman Wallace Inside a Louisiana Dungeon A3 supporter Ashley Wennerstrom has been visiting Herman for a while, recently writing a warm piece about her visits and continuing relationship with him. The essay begins: I first wrote to Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox after seeing In the Land of the Free last spring and learning of the horrendous injustices the Angola 3 have suffered. I felt compelled to offer my support and admiration for their commitment to social justice. Within just a few days, I received a response from Herman (Albert wrote me a beautiful letter the following week) and we began to exchange letters on a weekly basis. After several months of sparring about political philosophy, discussing literature, and discovering unexpected similarities, I was delighted when Herman asked me to join him for a special visit. Read the complete essay here. New A3 Crossword Puzzle A new crossword puzzle made by Albert Woodfox and longtime A3 supporter Jackie Sumell is now featured at angola3action.org! With questions like which US Supreme Court Justice said, "the US constitution does not protect prisoners from cruel and unusual punishment," and which city has more people per capita incarcerated than any other in the world, this puzzle is a creative way to spread the word about the A3 and the broader injustices that are central to the A3 story, like mass incarceration, racism, torture, and more. View/download/print the new crossword puzzle here. PHOTO: Cops use tear gas and other "less-lethal" weapons against Occupy Oakland. Photo by dave id, indybay.org (view more) Occupy Oakland Calls For General Strike on Nov. 2 The Occupy Wall Street movement continues to grow. This week, a key figure in the recent Egyptian revolution came an spoke to the NYC protesters. In Oakland, CA, following a brutal police attack on the Occupy encampment in downtown Oakland, it appears that the cops' heavy-handed tactics may have backfired by creating more public support for the protesters, who are now calling for a General Strike and Day of Mass Action in Oakland and beyond for Wednesday, November 2. Learn more about Occupy Oakland and the Nov.2 Strike here. The censored pelican representing the torturous constraints placed on prisoners in the Pelican Bay SHU was drawn by Pete Collins, imprisoned at Bath Prison, Ontario, Canada. (From: SFBV) California Prison Hunger Strike Ends, Conditions of "Immense Torture" Continue As reported by Truthout writer Victoria Law, the prisoner hunger strike at Pelican Bay State Prison was called off after nearly three weeks, on October 13. A few days later, Calipatria Prison followed suit and called of their strike as well, at least for now. There may be other California prisoners still striking, but this is unclear. The latest news from the striking prisoners and their outside supporters is available at the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity website. The SF Bay View Newspaper has featured several recent articles written by the striking prisoners themselves, including How the Hunger Strike Started For Me, Retaliation at Pelican Bay: Letters From the SHU, and I Sit In Starved Rebellion. Leonard Peltier Subjected to Worse Prison Conditions at USP Coleman in Florida In September, Leonard was transferred to USP Coleman in central Florida. His conditions initially appeared to be an improvement over the penitentiary in Lewisburg. but it seems his living conditions may indeed be much worse. For example, Leonard still isn't being allowed visitors. Family members have to reapply to be put on Leonard's visitors list. Even the attorneys (for the first time) have to be put on his visitors list. The attorneys have another level of approval to navigate, as well, but are finding it difficult to contact prison officials to make all the necessary arrangements. It took one attorney over one month to gain access to his client. Leonard is being isolated as never before. In addition, Leonard has been assigned to a top bunk. Due to a torn ligament which has never been repaired, Leonard's ability to climb safely is diminished. Mr. Peltier also should be placed in a unit with other older prisoners, but Coleman has Leonard listed as being 57 years of age when , in fact, he is 67 years old. All of Leonard's prison records over these many years clearly indicate his correct date of birth. Curious, right? Contact: Dr. Thomas Kane, Acting Director Federal Bureau of Prisons 320 1st Street, NW Washington, DC 20534 E-Mail: info@bop.gov Phone: (202) 307-3250 (Director) (202) 307-3198 (Switchboard) Fax: (202) 514-6620 More info at: www.whoisleonardpeltier.info Will Mumia Abu-Jamal Have a New Sentencing Trial? This month, the US Supreme Court affirmed lower court rulings stating that death row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal must be granted a new sentencing phase jury trial in order for the death sentence to be reinstated. The Philadelphia DA now has 180 days to decide whether to accept the sentence of life in prison without parole or to instead call for a new sentencing trial. In articles following the ruling, Dave Lindorff, Linn Washington Jr and German author Michael Schiffmann have explained that if the DA calls for a new sentencing trial, evidence can be presented that directly challenges the prosecution scenario used to convict Mumia. One example is a recent ballistics test performed by Lindorff and Washington (watch video) further challenging the prosecution claim that Mumia stood over a police officer and shot down at him execution-style. On December 9, the 30th anniversary of Mumia's arrest, a major event is being held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia featuring Michelle Alexander, Marc Lamont Hill, Cornel West, Ramona Africa, and others. Learn more at the newly designed website www.freemumia.com. Anti-Transgender Violence: How Hate-Crime Laws Have Failed In a recent Truthout article, activist author Victoria Law argues that: Hate-crime legislation has not stopped the endemic violence against transgender people. Just weeks after Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the country's first gender identity and sexual orientation inclusive hate-crimes bill, two young queer people of color were murdered, one in Maryland, the other in Puerto Rico. In the wake of both the Act and the killings, two LGBT anti-violence organizations, the Audre Lorde Project in New York and Communities United Against Violence in San Francisco, issued a statement pointing out that the bill provides no funding or resources to actually prevent violence. Instead, it reaffirms the idea that safety is realized by more police and more imprisonment, allocating five million dollars to expand the powers of local police and the FBI to investigate and prosecute hate violence, while ignoring the violence perpetrated by law enforcement. Despite hate-crime laws, the combination of transphobia and racism makes transgender people of color more likely to encounter police indifference when reporting violence, and three times more likely to experience hate violence from police than white transgender or non-transgender people of color. The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs found that 8 percent of hate violence against transgender people of color in 2010 was committed by police officers. --In an earlier interview by Angola 3 News, Victoria Law made similar arguments criticizing the criminalization approach for dealing with gender violence. Interviews By Angola 3 News "We Called Ourselves the Children of Malcolm" --An interview w/ Billy X Jennings of It's About Time BPP This October we celebrated Black Panther History Month marking the 45th year since the BPP was started in Oakland, CA. To mark the anniversary, we released a video-interview with Billy X Jennings, of It's About Time BPP, who organized events in the SF Bay Area throughout the month. The video features archival photos and more graphics from itsabouttimebpp.com, including the photo exhibit "Women of the Black Panther Party and Beyond." 15 Years of Giving Voice to Women and Transgender Prisoners --An interview with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners CCWP members Diana Block, Pamela Fadem, and Deirdre Wilson explain in the interview that "CCWP was started by prisoners, former prisoners and advocates on the outside in 1995 when a lawsuit, Shumate v. Wilson, was brought by a team of legal organizations to Documentary film by Freedom Archives & CCWP, viewable here. challenge the cruel, inhumane, and unconstitutional medical care that women prisoners were enduring. The prisoner plaintiffs in the lawsuit recognized that they couldn't expect that legal challenges alone would improve their conditions of confinement. They wanted to ignite a grassroots movement to challenge not only health care conditions but the entire prison system. CCWP was born from this vision and from the beginning it included members on both sides of the walls." Read the full interview here. Filming the Inspiring Life of Eddy Zheng, a Bay Area Community Leader Facing Deportation --An interview with Ben Wang Ben Wang is the Director/Producer of the upcoming documentary film Breathin': The Eddy Zheng Story. The film's website explains that "after serving over 20 years behind bars for a robbery he committed at age 16, Chinese American community leader Eddy Zheng now faces deportation to China, a huge loss to the Bay Area community. Ben Wang previously co-directed the documentary film entitled, AOKI, about Richard Aoki (1938-2009), a third-generation Japanese American who became one of the founding members of the Black Panther Party. Also, Wang co-edited with Eddy Zheng, the 2007 book Other: an API Prisoners Anthology. In our video-interview that accompanies the email interview, Wang discusses working on the book with Zheng, the book's central themes, including the urgent need to give voice to API prisoners and the legacy of the WW2-era imprisonment of Japanese Americans in US concentration camps. Watch/Read the full interview here. Troy Davis, Rest In Peace Nightmare at Midnight, Sept 21st, 2011 By Herman Wallace Comrades, teachers and truth seekers, I'm going to assume most of you, if not all of you, have taken the time to watch the screening of "In the Land of the Free," and that its conclusion has only left you with more questions of facts. This film has been screened all over London and left audiences in a state of shock. This shock is tantamount to the fact that there is something VERY wrong in America. It was the Black vote that placed a Black man in the highest office of this country and the powers of the Republican party are united in principle, even at the suffering of the American people, to assure his failure. On the 21st of September, 2011, my heart was troubled as millions of people worldwide waited in pain for the execution of Troy Davis. Troy Davis IS an innocent man, mountains of evidence could not connect him to the crime, and 7 witnesses recanted their testimony. In America the Justices argue that it is not illegal to execute an innocent man as long as he was given a fair trial - this protects the government from being sued for having already executed an innocent man. This is a poor justification at best. For any government to execute an innocent human being - the very act itself should call for revolution. Why should we be law abiding citizens when American laws are failing its citizens? Law abiding can be counter productive to change. Martin Luther King was not law-abiding. Law abiding does not necessarily mean 'good'. As a former member of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense I have been persecuted and kept in prison for as long as Rudolphe Hess. I've been kept in solitary confinement since 1972, only 9 years after Nelson Mandela was first arrested. I believed then, and to this day I still believe that I make a difference - and so do you! I am told time and time again that, as a people, we must be conscious of the choices that we make, but I believe that it is the choices that we fail to make that empowers those who trespass against us. I am Herman Wallace. Albert & Herman Herman Wallace #76759 CCR - D - #11 EHCC Po Box 174 St Gabriel LA 70776 Albert Woodfox #72148 David Wade Correctional Center N1 A3 670 Bell Hill Rd. Homer, LA 71040

Forward email Community Futures Collective/ Angola 3 | 221 Idora Ave. | Vallejo | CA | 94591

15 Years of Giving Voice to Women and Transgender Prisoners in California

An interview with Diana Block, Pam Fadem, and Deirdre Wilson of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners.

October 10, 2011 | Alternet

On Sept. 26, the statewide prisoner hunger strike resumed after a postponement of almost two months to give the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) time to implement policy changes. The CDCR has reported that as of Sept. 28, almost 12,000 prisoners were striking and public support is needed in order for the strike to be most effective. An update posted October 7 at the “Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity” website stated that “medical conditions are also worsening for strikers throughout the state. We’ve received reports that after 12 days of no food, prisoners are once again losing severe weight and fainting. One hunger striker at Pelican Bay was denied his medication and consequently suffered from a heart attack and is now is an outside hospital in Oregon.”

The current hunger strike demonstrates once again that injustice fuels resistance, and California has a rich history of prisoners, former prisoners, and their supporters taking a stand. Among these freedom fighters is the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP), self-publishers of a newsletter entitled The Fire Inside (archived here). CCWP will be celebrating its 15th year anniversary on October 14, with an event in San Francisco featuring longtime anti-prison activist and former political prisoner Angela Davis along with other speakers and performers.

Our previous coverage of the statewide hunger strike focused on the issue of solitary confinement, as well as statewide grassroots organizing against California’s prison system. In this interview with three members of CCWP, we examine the treatment of women and transgender prisoners in California and discuss how CCWP is fighting back.

Diana Block is a founding member of CCWP and has been working on The Fire Inside newsletter since it was started. She is a mother and the author of a memoir entitled Arm the Spirit – A Woman’s Journey Underground and Back (AK Press, 2009).

Pam Fadem is a long time member of CCWP and has worked on the Fire Inside for over 10 years. She is a mom, a health educator and a disability rights activist as well. Pam had her own experience with the criminal injustice system when she refused to cooperate with a federal grand jury targeting the Puerto Rican Independence Movement.

Deirdre Wilson is a former prisoner, a program coordinator for CCWP and a mother. She began to work with Free Battered Women/CCWP shortly after she got out of prison because “the whole FBW/CCWP community made me feel honored for surviving my experiences and accepted me just as I was—a rare feeling for people released from prison!”

Angola 3 News: When and how was CCWP first started?

California Coalition for Women Prisoners: First, we want to thank Angola 3 News for this opportunity to discuss the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) and The Fire Inside newsletter. This 15th Anniversary of The Fire Inside gives us a chance to reflect on where things were 15 years ago and all the many struggles that CCWP has been a part of since 1995.

Some of the founding members of CCWP are still involved with the organization, but many have gone on to other work and different parts of the country. Far too many prisoners and former prisoners have made their transition and are not around to remind us of our roots.

Luckily, The Fire Inside itself offers first-hand documentation of this history which is invaluable for building our movement forward through the next fifteen years and beyond.

CCWP was started by prisoners, former prisoners and advocates on the outside in 1995 when a lawsuit, Shumate v. Wilson, was brought by a team of legal organizations to challenge the cruel, inhumane, and unconstitutional medical care that women prisoners were enduring. The prisoner plaintiffs in the lawsuit recognized that they couldn’t expect that legal challenges alone would improve their conditions of confinement. They wanted to ignite a grassroots movement to challenge not only health care conditions but the entire prison system. CCWP was born from this vision and from the beginning it included members on both sides of the walls.

Soon after CCWP was started, prisoners decided that they wanted to put out a newsletter in collaboration with members outside. As founding member Charisse Shumate put it in the very first issue of the newsletter: “I, Charisse Shumate, wish I could be there with you because as you grow in numbers, for us behind the walls of CCWF, the big cover up is going on inside . . . Is it because they have forgot we are human? If walls could talk, we would not have to beg help.” (FI #1, June 1996).

From that first issue, published in June 1996, The Fire Inside has allowed the “walls to talk,” making visible the lives of tens of thousands of women and trans prisoners who have been literally disappeared from society.


(Video documentary by Freedom Archives and CCWP entitled, Charisse Shumate –
Fighting for Our Lives, can be viewed online here.)

A3N: What is published in The Fire Inside? How is it used as an organizing tool?

CCWP: For us, the newsletter has always been more than a printed set of words and some photos. When Dana, a former prisoner, suggested the name “The Fire Inside,” it clicked with all of us immediately because it signified that this newsletter could be a means of nurturing the fire of creativity and resistance on both sides of the walls.

As we say in the editorial for our special 15th Anniversary Commemorative issue: “Spirit and character shaped in resistance to systematic dehumanization give rise to profound expressions of humanity. The lessons are deeper than the news of particular issue or events…As long as we have a voice and can hear the voice of another, we can transform our conditions. It is not only those on the inside who suffer. It is not only those on the outside who provide the inspiration.” (FI #45, fall 2011)

The Fire Inside (FI) has always dealt with news, issues, events and the many dimensions of activism and resistance inside the women’s prisons. FI has been on the front lines of exploring and contesting the multifaceted ways in which gender oppression constructs the entire prison system. Many of the subjects it has opened up have subsequently been further investigated, documented and analyzed by advocates, academics, policymakers and authors across the United States.

Health care, motherhood and parenting, lesbianism and transgender experience, immigrant prisoners, racism, parole, spirituality, the school-to-prison pipeline, decarceration strategies and resistance are among the many topics that FI has explored over the years. Since Fall 2001, a portion of each newsletter has been translated into Spanish, since many prisoners do not speak or read English. FI has also engaged in dialogue about the torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the ravaging impact of Hurricane Katrina, the racist legacy leading to the prosecution of the Jena 6 (young black men in Jena, Louisiana), and the racist prosecution and incarceration of the New Jersey 4, four young black lesbians in New York State.

FI has provided an opportunity for people who might not think of themselves as “writers” to see their own words and thoughts in print, whether as a full article, an interview, or a collage of many short statements woven together. These conversations have provided direction for CCWP’s activist program that addresses the range of problems identified in the pages of FI. The newsletter’s purpose is not just to describe existing conditions but to support an action program which will transform them.

A3N: What are some of the key projects that CCWP is involved in today and what role do current and former prisoners themselves play in CCWP?

CCWP: Our programs are all developed through the guidance and collaboration of the prisoners and former prisoners with whom we work. Since the overwhelming majority of women in prison are women of color, we prioritize the input of people from these communities – inside and outside of prison. Our current projects fall into four main categories:

(1) We monitor and challenge the abusive conditions inside the women’s prisons, including grossly inadequate health care, sexual abuse, and economic exploitation. We are actively supporting the Supreme Court ruling that requires California to reduce its prison population by 44,000 over the next three years. With regular input from prisoners, we are closely monitoring the state’s realignment process, which is shifting prisoners from state to county institutions in order to reduce overcrowding.

Unless realignment means the actual release of prisoners AND providing those returning to the community with the livelihood, shelter, trauma recovery services and peer support they need to succeed, it is just a matter of channeling prisoners from one inhumane facility to another.

(2) We fight for the release of women and transgender prisoners from life sentences as directed by law. We advocate for changes in the dysfunctional parole system in order to insure that all of those eligible for parole are actually released. We put a focus on the campaigns for release and change of the laws regarding survivors of intimate partner battering and those convicted as juveniles.

Recently we have expanded our work with young lifers - women and trans prisoners who are sentenced to life terms, or life without parole, when they were juveniles, an increasing trend in California. The U.S. is the only country in the world that sentences juveniles to life without parole and California has 270 juveniles in this category, the largest number in the country. We are working closely with a group of young lifers at the Central California Women’s Facility to educate the public about this issue and pass legislation that will change this policy. Currently, SB9, which is pending legislative approval, is a small step in this direction.

(3) We support women and transgender prisoners in their process of re-entering the community so they are able to survive, grow and become fully involved in the struggle for civil and human rights. It is extremely difficult for women and trans people coming out of prison after many years to sustain their survival and also become involved with social change activities unless they receive support and become part of a community that is dedicated to safety and to making change.

CCWP is developing new methods of offering peer support for sustainable re-entry and community involvement through our PAR program (Peer Advocates for Reentry). Through this program, we pair up women and trans people coming out of prison with former prisoners who have been out for a while to share their experiences, help navigate the system and encourage people to become involved with challenging the prison system.

(4) We organize against prison expansion and advocate for prison population reduction. As part of the CURB alliance, we develop campaigns that shift budget priorities away from incarceration and towards education and other forms of community investment. Unless we can reverse the tide of prison expansion in California and achieve a shift in public consciousness toward health and justice instead of destruction and death, we will not be able to achieve our other long term goals.

The CDCR has a history of trying to coopt activists working for women prisoners into supporting so-called “gender responsive” programs which actually feed into the expansion of the PIC. We are committed to insuring that any positive changes for women and trans prisoners do not lead to more prison beds or buildings.

A3N: Why do you think the number of women prisoners has increased so sharply as of late? How, if at all, has the mainstream media presented the rising incarceration rate?

CCWP: The growth surge for women prisoners began in the 1980’s and has continued steadily ever since. The population of women in prison has grown by about 800% since 1980. A large part of the increase has to do with the drug war and the way sentencing for drug-related offenses accelerated during the eighties. Approximately one third of all women in prison are now there due to drug-related offenses. Many women are serving long sentences for participation in incidents they were coerced into by men they were involved with.

The rising incarceration rate for women has had a devastating impact on children, families and the fabric of community life, especially in communities-of-color. From a structural perspective, undermining community fabric is part of the state’s strategy to destroy the capacity of communities to effectively resist.

When women prisoners are discussed by the corporate media, the focus is usually on sensational cases which involve violence and sex. The majority of offenses which land women in prison are ignored along with such chronic, crucial problems as health care, aging, and family relations. Legal and economic factors which have led to the dramatic increases in the women’s incarceration rate are rarely discussed. Still, it is important to recognize that women-centered advocacy organizations have forced the media to pay more attention to women prisoners over the past ten years, overcoming some of their invisibility.

A3N: What is different about conditions for female prisoners in California and throughout the US, as opposed to their male counterparts?

CCWP: We want to be careful in how we discuss the differences in conditions between men and women’s prisons. There are real differences, but our goal isn’t to make the conditions in women’s prisons “as good” as the ones in men’s prisons. Rather, our goal is to decrease the incarceration of all women, transgender and men prisoners and to improve conditions of confinement as much as is possible given the repressive nature of the PIC.

Prisons are organized to reinforce gendered forms of behavior based on a strict male/female dichotomy. So in women’s prisons this means that passivity, femininity, and obedience are consistently stressed in order to control the prisoners. There is rampant sexual abuse of large numbers of women by male officers and the trading of sexual favors for privileges. Since 80% of the women in prison have experienced abuse either as children or adults, the continuation of abusive treatment in prison is especially damaging. Women who exhibit so-called “male” behavior and transgender prisoners who identify as male or are transitioning from female to male are targeted for abuse and punishment by correctional officers. This is also true for prisoners who have transitioned from male to female.

Approximately 70% of people in women’s prisons are mothers and the majority were the primary caretakers of their children before they went to prison. This means that custody and parenting issues are extremely important for most women prisoners in a different way than they are for men. Many women are pregnant when they come to prison. Adequate healthcare during and after their pregnancy is a key issue which men do not have to face. Women face other specific health care issues over the course of their confinement as do trans prisoners. Women are also less likely to be supported by their former spouse or partner once they come to prison, leading to greater isolation.

Recently, in response to the US Supreme Court ruling mandating a reduction in the prison population, a plan has been floated to dramatically reduce the women’s prison population and possibly close a women’s prison. Of course, in and of themselves these are very positive steps which CCWP has been advocating for over the years.

However, it is important for us to insure that such plans are implemented in a way that will allow them to work. Unless women receive support and services when they are released, there is little chance that they will succeed in the current brutal economic environment with the types of stigmas and restrictions that all prisoners face.

We also need to insure that the remaining women prisoners are not subjected to more overcrowding and further reduction in basic necessities, as has been occurring over the past couple of years. And we need to counter any media formula which exceptionalizes women prisoners while it demonizes male prisoners. We need to be clear, mass incarceration is a racist, unjust and dysfunctional system for men as well as women.

A3N: What are some of the challenges to building public support for women prisoners? How do you address these challenges?
CCWP: Women prisoners have historically been invisible to the public. Over the past decade, largely as a result of demands from women prisoner organizations, this has become less true. However, the prototypical image of the violent, gang-involved, black or brown male prisoner is still the one the public is inundated with. It is the one that drives public discourse about prisoners and prisons.

CCWP’s main strategy has always been to create opportunities for prisoners, former prisoners and their family members to give voice to their own experiences and their own humanity. This is key in countering both invisibility and the demonization of prisoners.

A3N: Andrea Smith, co-founder of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence argues that “the criminalization approach proffered in the mainstream anti-violence movement doesn’t work. And, also, this criminalization approach obfuscates the role of the state in perpetrating gender violence.” Similarly, in our previous interview, author/activist Victoria Law presented a variety of reasons why activists need to work outside of the criminal "justice" system. What do you think of Smith and Law's arguments? What is the best way to reduce and prevent violence against women both inside and outside prisons?

CCWP: We strongly agree with Smith and Law’s perspectives. Our work with incarcerated survivors of domestic violence has been rooted in exposing the role of the state in perpetrating gender violence. We have shown how domestic and state violence are part of a continuum of patriarchal, gendered violence through our campaigns to free incarcerated survivors starting with Theresa Cruz (see Fire Inside Issue #5 & #15). Not only are women consistently imprisoned for self-defense against violence, but once they are incarcerated they are required to accept guilt and show remorse for these acts in order to be released.

Violence reduction and prevention is a very complicated issue. Developing community based alternatives to the state is a necessary but protracted process. Such alternatives need to be rooted in consciousness raising and public education to expose how a violence-steeped patriarchal state promotes violence on all levels of the society.

It is absurd to look to this type of state to remedy problems with violence. Instead we need to work together to create healthy communities and new transformative structures that uproot the multi-dimensional causes of violence.

A3N: In what ways did CCWP and women prisoners participate in the recent statewide hunger strike in California prisoners? [Editor’s note: This interview was conducted before the strike restarted on September 26.]

CCWP: We have been an active part of the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition from the beginning. Our members have visited prisoners on strike at Pelican Bay, fasted in solidarity with the prisoners, attended rallies, the legislative hearing in Sacramento, and have mailed in information to prisoners.

People in the women’s prisons told us that they had not known about the strike until they received information from us. Once they knew about it, some women fasted for a period of time. We have an article about the strike in the commemorative issue of our newsletter.

To us, the hunger strike exemplifies the leadership that prisoners can take in organizing against the most torturous of conditions and the ways in which prisoners can overcome their divisions to act together.

It shines a spotlight on the way in which the state is increasingly using prolonged solitary confinement as a means of pressuring prisoners to inform against each other. It also exposes how the issue of “gang affiliation” is being used to silence vocal and active prisoners and keep prisoners from organizing in any way.

A3N: How can our readers best support CCWP and subscribe to The Fire Inside?

CCWP: If you are in the Bay Area, consider volunteering with CCWP. We are a volunteer-based organization with only a couple of paid staff members, so we are always in need of committed volunteers. In these challenging economic times, financial support is also critical. You can donate online or send a check to: California Coalition for Women Prisoners, 1540 Market St., Suite 490, San Francisco, CA 94102.

You can also join our Women’s News email list, which is a low volume list-serve which covers issues and articles concerning women and transgender prisoners. You can subscribe to The Fire Inside through our website or by sending us a check for $25 (to the address in the previous paragraph). And if you are in the area, please join us at our Fire Inside celebration on Friday, October 14th, 2011 (Silent Arts & Crafts Auction of donations by local artists begins at 6:30 pm; Program at 7 pm; $20 donation, no one turned away for lack of funds; At The Women’s Building, 3543 18th St. @ Valencia, San Francisco, near 16th St. BART station, Wheelchair accessible; Childcare available - please call 415-255-7036 x314 by Monday, Oct. 10.)

Thank you again for the opportunity to share information about our vision and our work.

Angola 3 News is a project of the International Coalition to Free the Angola 3. Our website is www.angola3news.com where we provide the latest news about the Angola 3.