A First for Florida Deaf Prisoner Felix Garcia

Posted on June 17, 2013 by ptbliss

By Pat Bliss

[This article has been edited to remove the specific names of the researcher and her institution, by request of the original copyright holder - Ed.]

Fist, let me tell you that the clemency action is in motion and the interview article I mentioned in my last update, is on hold due to other commitments at the newspaper.

Something new happened for Felix when he met  a researcher on deaf communication in prisons who came to interview him last Tuesday, June 11, 2013. The researcher contacted me that she would like to do an interview. I led her to the proper authorities, she made the arrangements and the interview took place at Tomoka Correctional Institution.

Image courtesy of Pat Bliss

Image courtesy of Pat Bliss

But it was much more than your usual interview. You see, she is deaf and her language is ASL. Have you ever met someone new and wanted to just sit down and talk to get acquainted? You exchanged personal stories, your likes and dislikes, dreams and ambitions. You could carry on a conversation because you spoke the same language, you understood each other. This happened for the first time EVER in Felix’s life – that is, sitting down and having a normal conversation which he could be a part of and understand all what was said.

How is this so? While living in the free world, Felix was going deaf due to a untreated ear infection from the age of 3. When he was of age to have friends to hang around with, his hearing was cloudy as the disease was eating away his ear drum, puss leaking and suffering from migraine headaches and throwing up. He was not a kid who people would gravitate to. But he could not enjoy any communication anyway since he couldn’t understand what was said in an entire sentence, didn’t comprehend what the meanings were of words since he did not hear the teachers teaching - especially in high school English and Composition. Felix didn’t know what was happening but he felt he was not normal, he was different. A horrible event happened where Felix was arrested for a crime he didn’t commit but it was in prison he found out he was Deaf, and fellow inmates taught him how to Sign, to talk and pronounce words. That was the beginning of being able to interact with people – with full understanding.

The researcher comes in to interview. They are taken to a small room inside the visiting park area. At first he is prepared for an interview with pad and pen but she tells him to put it away, this is different. She opens with telling him something about herself in Sign. He signed back something about himself.  This two way conversation continued for about 3 hours. Felix was ecstastic. He never had an interview like this before, where he got to exchange ideas and convey his own thoughts - his way, in Sign. Felix called me and said “Mom, she is just like me!” [Felix refers to Ms. Bliss as "Mom." - Ed.] He realized there are Deaf out on the streets whom he can communicate with, as any normal human being. It was truly a eye opening moment for Felix. He has new hope of surviving when he gets his freedom. She is excited to have met such an exceptional deaf prisoner. She told me Felix is so different from the others, that he gripped her heart with his honesty and openness. We ended our Video Relay call with her words “I can’t walk away”. I said “I know, that is the reaction from everyone who meets him.”

[Editor's Note: We are still desperate for signatures on Felix's Pardon Petition. I have included the link on 2 of the 3 above graphics, but here it is as well, unformatted so it can be pasted into your address bar if necessary.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/453/783/026/felix-garcia-should-be-granted-a-full-pardon/

Please consider signing this important petition. We still need about 600 signatures before we can send it off to the Florida authorities, and we want very much for that to coincide with his Clemency Hearing. Thank you in advance - BitcoDavid]

Pat Bliss is a retired paralegal in criminal law. She continues to do legal work for indigent prisoner cases showing innocence. She is a Certified Community Chaplain, Certified as a volunteer for CISM (Crises Intervention Stress Management) and involved in community events.

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Casualties of our Educational System: The Illiterate Deaf Inmate

Posted on June 17, 2013 by jeanfandrews

By Jean F. Andrews

Teaching a deaf child how to read and write is an area that has perplexed befuddled and flummoxed deaf educators for hundreds of years. Why is reading so difficult to teach? What is it about the alphabetic code of English traps deaf children, youth and adults into lives of illiteracy? Is hearing really necessary to learn to read?

Interestingly, deaf children of deaf parents learn to read more easily than most deaf children of hearing parents. This is because deaf children with deaf parents learn sign language early and upon this language base they can build English language skills in reading and writing. By logical extension, it would seem that deaf children would only need to be taught sign, then base English on that sign. But this does not always happen so smoothly. This is because most deaf children are learning both sign and English at the same time and this slows their development.

Another aspect of learning to read and write revolves around classroom instruction. In preschool and kindergarten classes there is a lot of  matching activities where children match letters to sounds, words to pictures, signs to words, rather than having children read storybooks and texts. Now there is nothing wrong with these matching games as children often enjoy them.  But the focus of quality reading instruction should focus around shared book reading–both provided by the teaching in translations of stories into sign, and by independent book reading by the child on their own. But how can a deaf child read a book if he or she does not have the vocabulary?  That is the Catch-22. Indeed, many deaf children do not have the vocabulary to independently read storybooks on their own. However, there are picture books with simple words and simple phrases that teachers and parents can use develop in children a love and enjoyment of holding a book, or an e-book, and reading a story.

There are numerous reading paradigms that reading researchers bring to the table, in the journals and at conferences. For instance, do deaf children use phonology or do deaf children bypass phonology and go directly to print? Do signing deaf children use a special kind of visual phonology, using the repetition and rhythmic features of ASL and fingerspelling? Neuroscientist Laura-Ann Petitto thinks so. Petitto and her work with other cognitive scientists, linguists and psycholinguists, bilingual researchers, literacy researchers and neuroscientists at the Visual Language Learning Lab ( VL2 lab) at Gallaudet are producing research findings that may send reading instruction into new exciting directions.

Today, while researchers in deaf education are seemingly oceans apart, in their views about reading acquisition and development, they are in the same boat. Deaf educators do have common ground. Their common ground is that they agree of the harsh penalties and social injustices we impose on the Deaf community when we do not teach young deaf children how to sign, read, write, think and reason. And one only has to visit a deaf inmate in a state prison or city jail to meet these casualties of our educational system, whom we failed to teach how to read.

Jean F. Andrews is a Reading Specialist and Professor of Deaf Studies/Deaf Education at Lamar University.

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Super Huge Digest Post – 6/14/2013

Posted on June 14, 2013 by bitcodavid

By BitcoDavid

OK. Spark up a Cohiba and get settled in.

Books and Movies

We recently did a review of the book, Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman. Well, Netflix is planning a streamed television series based on the book. As many of you may be aware, Netflix is working to position themselves not only as a source for TV and movie rentals, but as creator of original broadcast material. Their first foray into that realm is with a continuation of the amazingly funny series – originally broadcast on Fox – Arrested Development. Fans of that show (like me) are overjoyed that Netflix saw fit to make it their flagship show. Also in that list however, will be Orange is the New Black. Created by the same production team that did the HBO hit, Weeds, Netflix appears to be writing the screenplays for the series with an eye towards a Black Comedy. I think this book is marvelously suited for that approach.

Here’s an embed of the trailer, and a link to a great review of the upcoming series on We Minored in Film.

Cops and Training

Any cop who has pictures of MLK and Ghandi on his wall, is OK in my Book Photo: Improving Police

Any cop who has pictures of MLK and Ghandi on his wall, is OK in my Book
Photo: Improving Police

I like to write. Sometimes when I’m in a stroking mood, I even refer to myself as a writer.  Here’s the thing. Cops can’t write. Most of ‘em can’t even type. Cop writing is full of stilted militarized jargon, and riddled with the most horrific of passive voice. A cop could actually turn John shot mike into A bullet fired from the weapon held by John caused death to be had by Mike - and yes, he’d omit the comma.

Well, as I’ve mentioned before, the exception that proves the rule would be the site, Improving Police by retired Police Chief, David C. Couper. As well as a blog site, Couper has written several books. His focus is on Neighborhood and Community policing and training. He’s an excellent and enlightening read. Here’s a link to his latest post, Let’s Hear it Once More About How to Train Police.

I’ve been reading his blog for a long time. He presents cogent and reasoned arguments against para-military stress training and in favor of community policing policies, and he does so from the cop point of view. And best of all, he writes like a writer. It’s worth checking out.

Shanna Groves’ Awesome Interview

The Lipreading Mom, whom I helped with her Stop Hearing Loss Bullying Campaign video, posted an interview with me talking about DeafInPrison.com. She did a wonderful job, and now my head won’t fit through my front door. Here’s the SHLB video embed, again, and a link to the interview.

Project

I was on Deaf Chat – a feature on Deaf Insight – last week, when the discussion turned to the trend in eliminating ASL from public schools throughout America. I was unaware that this was going on, but apparently, numerous schools have already discontinued their ASL programs, and more are slated to do so. It was decided that a campaign and a video would be necessary to raise awareness among the general public, and to let the schools know that a working and current ASL program needs to be a vital part of any education system. And who do you think was asked to edit the video? Yours truly – that’s who. I’m pleased that they recognize my skill, and I’m proud to be a part of this vital project.

Police Brutality

AlterNet did an article listing 12 examples of police overreach, bullying and brutality – and that was just for this month. Rather than listing them off, I’ll just give you the link to this must read post. 12 Shocking Examples of Police Brutality – This Month by Alternet

ASL Group Dot Com

The ASL Meetup group in action. Photo - BitcoDavid BlogSites

The ASL Meetup group in action. Photo – BitcoDavid BlogSites

As many of you already know, AnotherBoomerBlog‘s Marsha Graham fell down a flight of stairs and broke her shoulder. Well, what you may not know is, that event triggered a bunch of other bad luck events, and now Marsha is unable to attend our ASL Meetup sessions. This is tragic for me because she was the driving force behind getting me involved with the group. She served as my mentor and teacher, and any fledgling success I’ve had learning Sign, I owe to her – and of course, the other members of the group, all of whom are exceedingly patient and supportive.

Well, the good news is that Marsha and I are hammering out the tech details necessary to get her to be able to participate from her home computer. At first, it will be something simple like Skype or some other form of video messaging, but theoretically, we could bring the whole thing online. Soon, we’d have ASL Meetup.com! Signers from all over the world could log on and participate. How cool is that!

3 More Great Links from AlterNet

Let me save some time and some bits by just giving you these three self explanatory formatted links.

Did a “Troubled Teen” Rehab Create Murders? (Alternet) This is an article about a chain of privately owned juvenile facilities that are being investigated for abuse.

I Was Almost a Victim of the School to Prison Pipeline (Alternet) The author asks why schools are so eager to adopt police roles, and assist in the militarization of U.S. institutions?

Utah Cops Assassinated 21-year-old Woman Sitting in Her Car, Parents Claim (Alternet) A Utah drug enforcement squad is under investigation on charges of corruption and murder.

Deaf Justice

Here’s another offsite project I’ve been working on. Marsha Graham and I are working on creating an actively funded and fully functional organization, similar to the Innocence Project, but specifically for Deaf, HoH and Deaf/Blind inmates. While it’s still in its infant stages, it promises to be a way that many wrongfully convicted Deaf inmates can receive justice. Of course, DeafInPrison.com readers will be kept up on all the developments, as we work to get this project launched.

BitcoDavid is a blogger and a blog site consultant. In former lives, he was an audio engineer, a videographer, a teacher – even a cab driver. He is an avid health and fitness enthusiast and a Pro/Am boxer. He has spent years working with diet and exercise to combat obesity and obesity related illness.

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Happy Birthday Miranda

Posted on June 13, 2013 by bitcodavid

By BitcoDavid

A huge digest post is in the can, for later on today. And I’ve been working on tons of projects offsite, that I think you will find interesting and worthy. But I wanted to get this up in time, and on its own.

RIGHT TO SILENCE @ JUX LANA

RIGHT TO SILENCE @ JUX LANA (Photo credit: n1/the larch)

Today way back in 1966, the SCOTUS ruled for the defendant in the landmark case, Arizona vs. Miranda. The controversial ruling didn’t give suspects any new rights, it merely stated that those Constitutional rights that already existed would be made available at the time of arrest, and that police were mandated to make those rights known, before any questioning could take place.

The Star Chamber

In the 47 years since its enactment, Miranda has saved many an innocent person from false confession and wrongful imprisonment. According to the Star Chamber crowd, it has also helped many a skel beat justice – and while that may be true, it’s a trade I gladly make.

In 2010, the Court amended the classic decision. In a 7-2 opinion, with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg writing for the majority, it was decided that while you still have the right to remain silent, now you need to inform the police that you are exercising that right, immediately. And there’s a catch. If, at any time during an interrogation, you break your silence – you are tacitly ceding further use of it. This is important.

“Did you shoot that helpless little old lady?”

“I have the right to remain silent, and I’m exercising that right.”

English: The United States Supreme Court, the ...

The United States Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States, in 2009.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Yeah, yeah. But did you shoot her?”

“I have the right to etc, etc.”

“Want a cup of coffee?”

“Hellz yeah!”

Say so long to your right to remain silent. The Court ruled that you need to invoke your right to remain silent, immediately upon receipt of the warning, and that your silence must be consistent throughout your entire time in custody.

You have the right to an attorney during questioning – but again, thanks to the 2010 ruling, you need to inform the police immediately

English: Border Patrol agent reads the Miranda...

Border Patrol agent reads the Miranda rights to a Mexican national arrested for transporting drugs (U.S. Customs and Border Protection – United States Department of Homeland Security) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

upon your arrest that you’re lawyering up, and there’s no limit on how long they can hold you, before your lawyer is contacted. Furthermore, and again this is important. If you’re arraigned and released, you only have 2 weeks to inform the court that you need a public defender assigned to your case.

Now, I honestly don’t know how many of you have ever spent any time in interrogation – but I can tell you this. There’s nothing you want more - than for it to end. Cops know that – and they use it against you. By the time they’re done, you’ve confessed to everything since the Crucifixion.

We need these rights. We – the innocent need them. Miranda wasn’t designed to protect the guilty, it was designed to protect you.

But, the fact remains that thanks to the 1966 ruling, you have rights in arrest and interrogation, that prior to that – although they did exist – were largely ignored. And next time you tell a cop, “I have the right to remain silent,” say thank you to Ernesto Miranda and his struggle with Arizona.

BitcoDavid is a blogger and a blog site consultant. In former lives, he was an audio engineer, a videographer, a teacher – even a cab driver. He is an avid health and fitness enthusiast and a Pro/Am boxer. He has spent years working with diet and exercise to combat obesity and obesity related illness.

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In A Prison Times Three

Posted on June 9, 2013 by jeanfandrews

By Jean F. Andrews

While some children learn to read effortlessly and on their own, I had to wait until the first grade. After my teacher taught me the 26 letters of the alphabet with the sounds they make, and taught me 20 to 30 sight words, she handed me a primer, my first book. Before my very eyes, the magic of story unfolded. I lurched forward through the talk to print connections, put it all together, until it made sense, I was on my way. Reading took me to worlds far and wide, real and imagined. And I have not put a book down since.

My ease in learning to read is not so with most deaf and hard of hearing children.

Book Club for Youth in Federal Prison - Global Giving

Book Club for Youth in Federal Prison – Global Giving

For them it is a lifelong struggle to access visual language–both signed and written. The struggle begins at home in a sound-base environment and continues to school, another sound-based setting and if they have scrapes with the law, it continues into still another sound- based setting, the prison.

My colleague, who organized a book club for hearing inmates in our town’s prison, says his book club is transforming minds. Inmates read books and get together with him to discuss ideas from the novels and share their own experiences about situations and characters they read about. Not a bad way to spend their time while they are doing time.

But if you are deaf, it’s a different story.

The 3 Weird Sisters from Macbeth. Afana.org

The 3 Weird Sisters from Macbeth. Afana.org

Most deaf inmates can’t read beyond the second grade level. It would be impossible for deaf inmates who are illiterate to get into the biography of Malcolm X or To Kill A Mockingbird or Macbeth or read Robert Frost’s poetry. My colleague’s prison book club has created a shared humanity, an oxymoron in such an incapacitating and punitive setting as the prison.

While deaf inmates reading levels are lower than the average reading level of most deaf high school leavers which is 3rd to 4th grade, still deaf non-offenders have information sources around them through the Internet, YouTube, VRS, their signing deaf and hearing friends, signing hearing friends, Deaf sports, and Deaf associations and ASL/English bilingual e-books.

Alex Dixon - Flickr

Alex Dixon – Flickr

Not so, for deaf inmates.

Deaf inmates live in cells without books or signing companions. Not only are they locked up physically; they are locked within the prison of illiteracy and within the prison without signers. It is prison times three.

What a terrible, excruciating lonely and cruel existence.

Jean F. Andrews is a Reading Specialist and Professor of Deaf Studies/Deaf Education at Lamar University.

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Cindy the Pooch – Public Enemy

Posted on June 9, 2013 by bitcodavid

By BitcoDavid

We have to stop this. The latest victim in the failed war on drugs is a veteran’s dog. AlterNet reports that on Monday, June 3rd, another military commando SWAT team, armed with – among the tear gas grenades and AK47s – a search warrant for the wrong address, shot and killed an Iraq War veteran‘s dog.

Straight Edge Iraq War veteran Adam Arroyo, came home from work, to find his door smashed off the hinges, and his beloved dog – dead. Shot multiple times, and bled out on his kitchen floor. To add insult to injury, the dog was chained at the time. A real threat to life and limb.

Buffalo, New York cops have nothing to say. The warrant was for the house next door. The neighbor – for whom the warrant was intended, was allegedly dealing crack.

Iraq War veteran Adam Arroyo N.Y. Daily News

Iraq War veteran Adam Arroyo N.Y. Daily News

Now, one could say, if we’re going to have armed commandos carrying out drug busts like scenes from Saving Private Ryan, the least we could do is teach them to read. This is far from the first case of a Blackwater style band of brothers kicking down the wrong door and shooting up the wrong house. This is also far from the first case of a search warrant being used as license to enter a domicile with guns and grenades – locked and loaded.

Here’s the thing. What one Human is capable of doing to another is indeed a tragedy – but you harm a dog, and you’ve made an enemy of me.

Rest in peace, Cindy. HuffPo.

Rest in peace, Cindy. HuffPo.

Cindy’s law – That was the Pit bull‘s name – according to BitcoDavid. Immediate and unconditional cease-fire in the failed and inane war on drugs. No further use of SWAT teams or other forms of militarized police for arrests or searches unless probable cause shows the existence of lethal force at the scene. Financial compensation for all citizens – or their families – for all wrongful deaths and damage to property incurred during searches or arrests. Immediate institution of Community Policing policies and training for all cops.

When is enough, enough? When do you finally say, this isn’t America?

Here’s the link to the AlterNet page.

BitcoDavid is a blogger and a blog site consultant. In former lives, he was an audio engineer, a videographer, a teacher – even a cab driver. He is an avid health and fitness enthusiast and a Pro/Am boxer. He has spent years working with diet and exercise to combat obesity and obesity related illness.

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