March at DeafInPrison.com

By BitcoDavid

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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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March 13th Digest Post

By BitcoDavid

NYMag.com

I promised I’d keep you updated on this story. Well, the Cannibal Cop has been found guilty. According to the NYT, Gilberto Valle has been found guilty and fired from the department. Sentencing will take place on June 19th, and he could face life. His lawyer called the verdict devastating, and said that she believed the prosecution had failed to prove its case. She said their will be an appeal. For Times coverage, go here.

***

A screengrab from President Barack Obama’s first White House news conference. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Alan E. Sash is a business litigation attorney. He recently wrote a letter to the editor, which the Times published. In it, he defends President Obama’s dreadful Pardons record. The president has issued fewer pardons than any since Eisenhower. Roosevelt pardoned 100 for every one of Obama’s. For an interesting read on the Obama pardon record, go here. To see Sash’s letter, go here.

***

Bonnie Kerness is the Coordinator for American Friends Service Committee’s Prison Watch Project. She recently wrote a supporter contribution article for Solitary Watch, entitled The Hidden History of Solitary Confinement in New Jersey’s Control Units. It is a fascinating read, both from the prison reform standpoint and as a study in American history. It can be found in its entirety, here.

***

Prison for Profit: CCA, GEO et al Put Revenues Ahead of Rehabilitation (Photo credit: watchingfrogsboil)

PrisonMovement’s Weblog grows more awesome every day. Here’s a great post they did on the economics of running a prison for profit enterprise. In it, they mention the fact that the Private Prison Industry has  spent close to half a billion dollars on lobbying efforts since the year 2000, and that in the year 2010 alone, the two largest Private Prison corporations made a total net profit of $3,000,000,000. Go to PrisonMovement’s Weblog to see the entire article. It’s well worth the read.

Private Prisons Lobby for Harsher Sentences — Seattle Free Press

Speaking of the Private Prison Industry, Prison Legal News, in their March issue, did a striking piece on the inequity of inmates of color held in private prison facilities. Apparently, an overwhelming number of prisoners being housed in private facilities are Black or Hispanic. Now, we already know that these two groups dominate all incarceration within the U.S., but this article points out that where a choice exists, prisoners of color are more likely to be sent to the more abusive and exploitative private facilities. The leader in this trend appears to be California, with a whopping 89% of inmates being Black or Latino. Here’s the link to their PDF on the subject. This link will get you to the article, but if you scroll up or down, you will find a plethora of fascinating reading. I highly recommend Prison Legal News as a source of news and information regarding the prison system in America.

ABC News

Lastly, I’ve been waiting to post this story for quite some time, but it seems I always had too much on my plate to get to it. From the L.A. Times – March 7th, an update on the case of the two former Fullerton, CA officers who beat Kelly Thomas, a homeless schizophrenic man to death. The two officers are charged with manslaughter and excessive force. According to the L.A. Times’ update, the court has been asked to drop charges against one of the officers – Officer Manuel Ramos – but refused. The judge says the case against both men, and a 3rd officer will go forward. Go here to follow this story.

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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• What, No Digest Post? (deafinprison.wordpress.com)
• A Preventable Death (bonjublog.com)
• The Hidden History of Solitary Confinement in New Jersey’s Control Units (moorbey.wordpress.com)

Petition for Justice Silenced Campaign

By BitcoDavid

 

https://org2.democracyinaction.org

Keith Wm DeBlasio  posted this on Prison Reform Movement’s FaceBook Page. DeafInPrison.com has long been in support of the Justice Silenced Campaign and Prison Reform Movement (PrisonMovement’s Weblog).

The Justice Silenced Campaign is asking EVERYONE to support two new major actions by using the links below to send letters regarding identified discrimination against the deaf and hard of hearing in our judicial system.

Ask West Virginia to Address Discrimination Against the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
The Justice Silenced Campaign has begun a national movement to stop the obvious discrimination against the deaf and hard of hearing within the judicial system and our nation’s prisons. As part of this campaign, Freedom of Information Act requests have revealed the definitive denial of interpreters for deaf parties by civil court, family court, and criminal court judges within West Virginia for which no disciplinary procedures have been initiated by the Judicial Investigation Commission. Some documented cases were identified in the 23rd Judicial Circuit, the 17th Family Court Circuit, and individual Magistrate Courts.

Ask the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia and the Access to Justice Commission to address discrimination against the deaf and hard of hearing in West Virginia courts.

https://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6220/c/1307/p/dia/action3/common/public/index.sjs?action_KEY=13056

Ask the Utah Dept. of Corrections to Address Discrimination Against Deaf and Hard of Hearing Prisons
The Justice Silenced Campaign has begun a national movement to stop the obvious discrimination against the deaf and hard of hearing within the judicial system and our nation’s prisons. As part of this campaign, surveys have been received from inmates across the country regarding access to interpreter services and other necessary accommodations, and many of those surveys have indicated a lack of access for the deaf and hard of hearing in in the Utah Department of Corrections.

Ask the State of Utah to investigate these claims and address the obstacles for deaf and hard of hearing prisoners.

https://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6220/c/1307/p/dia/action3/common/public/index.sjs?action_KEY=13052

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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Breaking – From Prisonmovement’s Weblog – PA Rejects Clemency in Terry Williams Case

http://media.philly.com/images/600*450/20120916_inq_pcapital16-a.JPG

We’ve been following this story. Here’s the latest in this tragic case.

http://prisonmovement.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/pa-pardons-board-rejects-clemency-for-williams/

Our gratitude to Prisonmovement’s Weblog for keeping us updated.

A divided Pennsylvania Board of Pardons voted against clemency for convicted Philadelphia killer Terrance “Terry” Williams in the 1984 killing of Mount Airy churchman Amos Norwood.

Williams was a victim of constant sexual abuse by family members and other adults in his life, since he was 6 years old. While it can certainly be argued as to whether or not that entitled him to take the lives of those who had abused him, a consensus would agree that he doesn’t deserve the death penalty.

With Williams’ state and federal appeals exhausted all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, the 46-year-old former Germantown High School quarterback’s last hope of escaping becoming the first person executed in Pennsylvania in 13 years lies in a hearing Thursday before Philadelphia Common Pleas M. Teresa Sarmina.

Germantown High School in Philadelphia, where Williams was a student. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Again, a tip of the hat to Prisonmovement’s Weblog for their great coverage of this story. Here’s that link, again:

http://prisonmovement.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/pa-pardons-board-rejects-clemency-for-williams/

 

 

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Kids Behind Bars – from Prisonmovement’s Weblog

Photo by banspy, via Flickr courtesy of
http://prisonmovement.wordpress.com/2012/09/05/kids-behind-bars/

This is a reblog from Prisonmovement’s Weblog. They did an excellent job in writing this piece. I should mention as well, that they’ve reformatted their site recently, and it looks awesome. As I’ve said before, I very much enjoy their work and consider it an honor to call myself a colleague.

Before the other boys jumped Tyrone, they asked if he wanted to fight.

That was a mere formality. Fights are a regular occurrence among juveniles being held in Baltimore’s adult jail — where the 16-year-old was held for six months on attempted-robbery charges — and he had no say in the matter. A corrections officer sat just feet away, but his indifference created a gulf of miles, Tyrone said.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Twist

Days-long power outages. Intense heat. Spontaneous beatings. Inadequate medical care. Corrections officers who are not at their posts.

During the hearings, Heard has become exasperated listening to the accounts.

“The purpose of this detention is not to make you suffer. It is not to physically abuse you. It is not to make you submit to assaults,” she told one young defendant before agreeing to move him to the juvenile facility.

Turning to another at a separate hearing, she said: “You do not deserve this.”

To read the rest of this fascinating and extremely well written article, please click:

http://prisonmovement.wordpress.com/2012/09/05/kids-behind-bars/

 

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Innocent deaf woman spends 60 hours in jail without interpreter – From Prisonmovent’s Weblog

 

Prisonmovement’s Weblog

This story is reblogged from Prisonmovement’s Weblog. It is more on the story of Lashonn White, a story we covered on August 8th.

 

“I mean imagine—all I did was come running, wave my hands and come running out, and the next thing I know I’m on the ground,” White explained to Halsne through a certified American Sign Language interpreter.

Here’s the link to Prisonmovement’s coverage.

 

http://prisonmovement.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/innocent-deaf-woman-spends-60-hours-in-jail-without-interpreter/

 

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/106/043/884/justice-for-deaf-woman-tasered-and-jailed-by-police/?z00m=20380296

She was attacked in her home, and called Tacoma, WA. police via video interpreting service. The service – as they always do – identified her to police as a Deaf individual. When police arrived at her home, she ran out of the house seeking their protection. They yelled “Stop,” which she, of course, couldn’t hear – so they tasered her.

 

Halsne discovered that when someone who doesn’t speak English is booked into the Pierce County Jail, staff calls interpreters on the phone so they can explain basic information to the new inmate like charges, medical needs and the time of their initial court date.

Deaf inmates don’t get that same courtesy because the jail does not have a video phone which allows for sign language communications.

Now, unfortunate though it may be, I do understand their actions. Police are faced with life and death situations every day. They often don’t have the luxury of being able to use judgement beyond survival instinct. What I don’t get however, is how they can then lock her up, without an interpreter, for 3 full days.

 

Prisonmovement’s Weblog is – as most of you already know – one of our favorite sites, and they did an excellent job with this post. Please click on the above link and learn more.

 

English: A Video Relay Service session, where a Deaf, Hard-Of-Hearing or Speech-Impaired individual can communicate with a hearing person via a Video Interpreter (a Sign Language interpreter), using a videophone or similar video telecommunication unit. The hearing person with whom the Video Interpreter is also communicating can not be seen in the photo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Too Many Prisoners – From Prisonmovement’s Weblog

Image courtesy of Prisonmovement’s Weblog

This is a reblog of an article that appeared in Prisonmovement’s Weblog, over the weekend. For those of you not familiar with them, here’s what they say about themselves:

Against the death penalty; the United States Criminal Justice System is flawed, broken, yet fixable; Prison Reform and Sentencing Reform should be major agenda’s for each state- we need to stop warehousing prisoners and ready those who are going to parole.
Inmate rehabilitation improves public safety and lowers prison costs.
“We have to care because we can’t afford not to”.

DeafInPrison.com loves Prisonmovement’s Weblog, and we hope you enjoy this post.

Here’s the link.

http://prisonmovement.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/too-many-prisoners/

 

 

July at DeafInPrison.com

Here’s the monthly update for July. It’s been a busy but rewarding month, and I hope you enjoy this roundup. Click on the link below, to open the PDF file.

July at DeafInPrison

Mentally ill inmates sue to get out of solitary

Reblogged from Prisonmovement's Weblog:

By REMA RAHMAN, Associated Press

Troy Anderson is a mentally ill inmate in isolation at the Colorado State Penitentiary, deemed for more than a decade too dangerous to be among other offenders.

His lawyers argue, however, that prolonged solitary confinement is contributing to a vicious cycle, making his psychiatric conditions worse and resulting in misbehavior that warrants further punishment.

Read more… 635 more words

Due to the correlation between Deaf inmates and mentally ill inmates, I felt this excellent article from PrisonMovement's Weblog was appropriate to share with our readers. --BitcoDavid