More evidence that innocence does not matter enough in criminal justice.

The Conspiracy Charge Traps Women
By Tri-State Defender Newsroom

The cost of incarceration — Part III
By Patrice Gaines
NNPA News Service

“The Cost of Incarceration” is an eight-part occasional series written by Patrice Gaines, former Washington Post reporter; author and co-founder of The Brown Angel Center, a program in Charlotte, N.C. That helps formerly incarcerated women become financially independent.

Charlie Mae Mays is 77. She has been diagnosed with lung cancer but it is in remission.

Of course, that makes her happy. But she measures her life in terms of whether or not she will one day see her daughter walk out of prison free.

[Her oldest daughter Michelle, was arrested on] the policy of charging people with “conspiracy.” ... She is one of thousands of women some call a victim of a law that created the “girlfriend problem.”

“Women romantically involved with drug-involved men often get caught in the conspiracy net cast by the war on drugs, many times receiving harsher sentences than the drug kingpins,” says Nkechi Taifa, senior policy analyst for the Open Society Institute (OSI), a private grant-making foundation that aims to shape public policy regarding issues such as human rights and social reform.

This kind of prosecution of women does not allow a judge or jury to take into consideration the reasons why a woman may remain silent or stay with a drug dealer.  The court ignores factors such as domestic violence, economic dependence, or disability that makes one reliant on someone to provide financial support.

Michelle West was a single mom with a nine-year-old daughter. She once dated and lived with Olee Wonzo Robinson, a man police said was a drug dealer. West and her family say he was physically and verbally abusive to her. Finally, she left and moved in with her mother.

“She was trying to go on with her life,” her mother remembers.

 A couple of years later police came knocking. Michelle says they threatened her with drug charges if she didn’t cooperate in their investigation of her ex-boyfriend. She was petrified because her ex had warned her he would kill her daughter and mother if she ever talked to police, she says.

West was convicted of charges that include conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and aiding and abetting in drug-related homicide. Witnesses testified that West did whatever Robinson ordered her to do. She denies having anything to do with a murder or drug dealing. One of the informants who testified against her was the triggerman in the murder and received immunity for his testimony. West maintained her innocence. Still, she received the same sentence as her ex-boyfriend.

The policy of using “conspiracy” charges allows drug laws to punish not only the kingpin but his girlfriend, who may have had nothing to do with his drug business or could have done something as small as drive a boyfriend to drop off drugs. The number of women in prison has increased at nearly double the rate of men since 1985, according to the U.S. Department of Justice statistics. African-American women are incarcerated at a rate eight times that of white women and represent 30 percent of all females incarcerated under state or federal jurisdiction.

A large percent of these women charged with conspiracy in drug cases have histories of physical and sexual abuse and/or untreated mental illness. Court documents show that while West was incarcerated and awaiting trial she reported Robinson sent her threatening letters and made threatening calls. The administrator of the jail testified that he had seen West in tears, expressing great concern over the safety of her daughter.

Today, West, 48, says by email, “The FBI gave me an ultimatum to cooperate with the government – a risk that would have been a death sentence to my daughter – or go to trial and face life.”

In the late 1990s the story of Kemba Smith, a Hampton University college student, grabbed media headlines. Smith had been in an abusive relationship with a drug dealer. When the boyfriend was murdered, the government held her accountable for the $4 million drug ring; although there was no evidence she ever sold, handled or used drugs. In 1994 she was sentenced to 24.5 years in prison.

Smith gave birth to a son while incarcerated and served 6.5 years. In December 2000 President Clinton granted Smith clemency. She has since earned a college degree and is married and living in the Midwest.

“It still troubles me that I know women that were there (in prison) while I was there and they are still there,” said Smith, who is also a motivational speaker who does advocacy work focused around drug policy reform. “My situation is no different than theirs except I had the public outcry.”

There are signs that a change in conspiracy laws could happen during the Obama administration. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) has introduced the “Fair Sentencing Act of 2009.”

 “In addition to focusing on major traffickers as opposed to bit players in the drug trade, the Durbin bill also addresses mitigating factors such as whether the defendant acted on impulse, fear, friendship, or affection,” said Nkechi Taifa of OSI. “This helps to eliminate concerns such as ‘the girlfriend problem’…”

“The thing about conspiracy is it is so un-American in many ways,” said Jennifer Seltzer Stitt, director of Federal Legislative Affairs at Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM). “People are being hauled in with no evidence or very little.”

If the legislation passes, it’s long overdue, said Dean Dannye Holley, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Texas Southern University. He remembered that 30 years ago, when he got out of law school, one of his first cases was representing a woman who lived with a drug dealer.

“This (conspiracy charge) is a common practice, especially in minority neighborhoods… where so often drug cartels are gang-related and dominated by males who have females associated with them,” said Holley.

But even a new law may have no affect on Michelle West’s sentence. Still, Miquelle West, the daughter Michelle left behind, believes any shift in attitudes could help her mother.

The recollection of their abrupt separation still makes Miquelle, now 27, emotional.

 “It was May 3, 1993. My mother dropped me off at school and said, ‘I’ll see you later.’ I never saw her on the streets again,” said West, a fashion stylist who lives in New York.

“I remember my mom telling me that when I was born that they used to give babies shots in their foot and she said she felt my pain when they did it,” said Miquelle. “I understand, because now I feel that way. I feel her pain.”

Charlie Mae Mays was so distraught she didn’t even have the strength to walk on the day of Michelle’s sentencing, so her daughter “Pete” insisted she stay home. Now, Mays says, “I want to live to see her walk out free.”

***************************************

How did black women get an incarceration rate that is eight time higher than white women?  The conspiracy charge in the war on drugs is used to arrest girlfriends of drug dealers, regardless of their innocence, and give them same sentence as their romantic partners.  The women are apparently "guilty by association." This helps keep prisons full and provide prison workers - at tremendous cost to taxpayers ($50,000 per woman per year plus foster care costs for children left behind), the women, their children, and their communities.  Children who are separated from their mothers at an early age often develop separation anxiety disorder and feelings of rejection.  This can lead to mental illness.  Therefore, taxpayers keep on paying in future decades for the greed of prison profiteerism.  The prison cost is currently over $50 billion per year, and 2/3 of inmates were not convicted for violent crimes.   In fact, 1.25 million prisoners are actually mental patients who should be in treatment, not prison. 

STOP THE PROLIFERATION OF THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX THAT ROBS SOCIETY OF MONEY NEEDED FOR EDUCATION, JOB AND RECREATIONAL PROGRAMS FOR THE YOUTH, AND OTHER SOCIAL CONCERNS.  END SLAVERY IN THE U.S.A.  REMOVE INNOCENT WOMEN FROM PRISON. GIVE MOMS BACK TO THEIR CHILDREN AND ELDERLY PARENTS WHO NEED THEM.

Thanks for reading.  Please feel free to comment on and share this
post. Mostly, I write and republish news and videos that reveal human
and civil rights abuses and improvements that have been made or that
are still needed in the justice system from a laywoman's point of view.
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Access more of my articles at my Google profile link below.   
   
Mary Neal
Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
http://www.Care2.com/c2c/group/AIMI 

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Below is an email from a woman who needs your help.  Please endorse and share her petition.  These are the facts of the matter as Cynthia relayed them to me:

Cynthia Davis reported a woman for child neglect last year.  The woman retaliated by falsely accusing Cynthia Davis of a crime.  The white police officer who went to Cynthia Davis' home to question or arrest her on the woman's allegations attacked and beat Cynthia, who is an African America.  He caused her to fall, and Cynthia incurred a head injury.  Since that abuse, Cynthia suffers from seizures and PTSD.  She was unable to work, lost her home, and had many other problems - all since her police brutality occurred.  She was so stressed as the day of trial approached that Cynthia had a stroke recently, and now she has impaired speech.  Cynthia is an educated woman and was making an excellent income prior to her brutality which caused her head injury and led to her financial, mental, and physical crisis.

CYNTHIA DAVIS IS IN COURT TODAY.

The police officer who beat Cynthia and caused her disabilities was in the news for beating another citizen.  Cynthia said the Newark D.A. offered her a deal:  If she agreed not to pursue damages for police brutality, and she would not have to stand charges on the negligent mom's false allegations.  This was clearly blackmail, and Cynthia would not accept the deal. 

Unfortunately, court is not going well for Cynthia.  She said that the day a hearing was held, the judge walked in court and asked something to this effect: "Is there someone in here who needs a mental health break," and the D.A. and police officers all laughed with the judge.  Next, the court refuses to allow Cynthia's evidence that her prosecution is the result of blackmail.  They disallow her admitting police phone records from 9/8/08 and police videotape from 9/1/08, 9/2/08, and 9/8/08.  She asks your support on her petition for justice and for your prayers.  Petition for Cynthia Davis to have a fair trial:  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/please-promote-and-support-advocacy-for-cynthia-johnson

Mary Neal
Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
http://www.Care2.com/c2c/group/AIMI

My Care2 friends and family,
.
I know that I've sent this message to you quite a few times but it's getting down to crunch time and the local government still has not released the police phone records and/or videotape that would prove without a doubt that I have actually been abused and harrassed by one of our finest blues.
.
This cover-up has caused so much harm to my life and I am still to this day trying to recover and rebuild and they are still trying to blackmail me into doing things their way in order not to prosecute me and not release their records.  Yesterday was a nightmare trying to prepare for tomorrow's court date.  Local government officials are shameless and disgusting with their "CODE OF SILENCE" rules and they back each other whether they know each other or not.
.
I thank you all for signing and forwarding this petition but I still need your help.  If there are any that have not signed, please do so and then forward to friends, family, colleagues, and any organizations that might post this petition to their websites.  If any of you have already signed, please forward to friends, family, colleagues, and any organizations that might post it to their websites.  I have a little over 24 hours to get some major interest into this situation or I just might get seriously harmed in court tomorrow.  I don't even feel safe walking into that courthouse full of Newark police officers.  I asked for an escort the last time I was there and was refused.
.
Please help!  The countdown has begun to either my freedom or my incarceration for a crime that I did not commit.  I stood up for myself and this is what I am being prosecuted for.  Nothing more!  All I have left is the TRUTH!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/please-promote-and-support-advocacy-for-cynthia-johnson
CA

PLEASE NOTE AT CARE2 NEWS NETWORK http://www.care2.com/news/member/513396753/1300380

NOTICE:  Prisoner activists and mental health advocates are discussing a class action lawsuit by people incarcerated for mental illness or their relatives and next friends on their behalf.  Mental illness is the only disability treated legally, not medically.  If a diabetic man blacks out at the wheel and injures or kills commuters, he goes to the hospital. If a psychiatric patient kills or injures, he goes to prison.  If a woman has a heart attack in the china store, falls and breaks plates, she goes to the hospital.  If a bipolar sufferer has a crisis and breaks plates, she goes to prison. The suit will be for PSYCHIATRIC PARITY UNDER THE LAW.  People who opt in will need to pay a nominal fee to help raise the legal retainer. 

We will demand that mentally ill people who are imprisoned for violent offenses go to hospitals for their entire sentences and that nonviolent offenders are released under Kendra's law (mandatory treatment and subsistence assistance in their communities). 

Making this change - decriminalizing mental illness - will save billions every year off America's prison budget by putting mental illness back into the health care system where it was before Reganomics.  Taxpayers have not saved a dime by imprisoning our neighbors with mental illness, but many people have suffered inhumane prison sentences for having a common, treatable health condition.  Treating mental illness is cheaper, more humane, and it promotes community safety.  No longer will the mentally ill be left untreated until they PROVE (by smoking guns and dripping knives) to be a danger to self and others. 

Half of U.S. inmates are mentally ill.  In fact, there are 1.25 million incarcerated mental patients, so this will be a large class.  Give me your thoughts.  We're in the planning stage and talking with other prisoner activists.  Invite friends who have mentally ill relatives who are or were imprisoned to eMail me at MaryLovesJustice@gmail.com  or call 770 559 4690.

 

Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
http://www.Care2.com/c2c/group/AIMI   


JAIL IS THE LAST THING THAT MENTAL PATIENTS NEED, AND TOO OFTEN, IT IS THE VERY LAST THING THEY EXPERIENCE. Please join our effort to decriminalize mental illness. No one deserves to be punished for having a disability.

Advocacy against wrongful convictions, criminalizing mental illness, the death penalty, and other justice issues is under fire.  Free speech suffers when one works for justice for convicted persons.  I am glad Northwestern is fighting releasing information on the students who have no charges pending against them.  Why investigate the students?


Students who question murder convictions under investigation
By Nicole Lapin, CNN
November 6, 2009 -- Updated 1440 GMT (2240 HKT)

Prosecutors subpoenaed students' records, saying team's motive was good grades; Northwestern won't submit records; hearing scheduled for Tuesday

Editor's note: Nicole Lapin is an anchor and reporter based at the
CNN Headquarters in Atlanta. She graduated from Northwestern
University's Medill School of Journalism.

(CNN) -- It was two-and-a-half days before Illinois Gov. George Ryan
was to leave office in 2003. I sat in a crowded auditorium in
Northwestern University's Law School in Chicago, where Ryan was
expected to make a major announcement on capital punishment.

"Half, if you will, of the nearly 300 capital cases in Illinois have
been reversed for a new trial or for some re-sentencing." he said,
his voice tired but clear.

Wrongful convictions had been all over the papers around that time --
the Anthony Porter case, the Ford Heights Four, Rolando Cruz.

"How in God's name does that happen? In America, how does it happen?"
Ryan continued. "How many more cases of wrongful conviction have to
occur before we can all agree that this system in Illinois is broken?"

On that day, the governor commuted the sentences of all death row
inmates in the state and credited an unlikely source for helping him
make his decision: Professor David Protess' undergraduate
Investigative Journalism class at Northwestern University's Medill
School.

In the previous decade, Medill students had uncovered some of the
most high-profile wrongful convictions in the city. The class had
worked to secure the release of 11 innocent prisoners, five of whom
were scheduled to be executed.

As a wide-eyed journalism student at Northwestern, I remember feeling
proud of my classmates, proud of my school and proud of the
profession I was entering.

Today, six years later, Protess' class is far from the center of the
same praise. Presented with evidence in a new case, the state
attorney's office is questioning the motivations of the messenger --
the class itself.

The students have raised questions about the murder conviction of
Anthony McKinney. In response, the state attorney's office issued a
subpoena for the students' grades, grading criteria, expense reports,
syllabi and e-mail messages -- mine included.
Find out more about the Medill Innocence Project.

The year after Gov. Ryan's speech, I signed up for Protess' class. I
was assigned to the team working on McKinney's case, who was
convicted in 1978, when he was 18, for shooting a security guard in
Harvey, Illinois.

On the night of September 15, 1978, a white security guard named
Donald Lundahl was killed at close range by a shotgun blast while
sitting in his car.

Later that evening, a police officer noticed McKinney, an African-
American, running down the street. He was arrested.

McKinney had no violent criminal history and was not in possession of
a weapon. He was briefly released after telling police he was
watching the Muhammed Ali-Leon Spinx heavyweight championship fight
when the murder took place and was running from "gang-bangers" when
the officer saw him.

Authorities questioned another teenager, who told police that he saw
the murder, claiming he saw McKinney, from 50 yards away, say, "Your
money or your life," and shoot Lundahl.

McKinney was picked up again, and after a second lengthy
interrogation, he signed a confession, typed by police. During his
trial, he recanted the confession, and said it was coerced.

But based on officers' testimony and that of the teenager, McKinney
was convicted of murder.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but because he had no record,
McKinney was sentenced to life in prison. Had his sentence been
death, McKinney would have been executed long before the commutation
of death row cases in 2003. He would have been dead well before
Protess even took up his case.

Since Protess started the course in 1992, his classes have
investigated about 50 cases.

Although the ones that are chosen have major red flags, like lack of
physical evidence, not all convictions are found to be unjustified.

Of the 50, 11 led to exonerations. Two indicated solid evidence of
guilt. The rest are under review by the judiciary or were
inconclusive, Protess said.

Protess made clear to all of his classes that the coursework was
about pavement-hitting journalism, the process behind discovering the
truth -- guilt or innocence. I went into the class to learn that
process.

During the two quarters I took the course, I lived the McKinney case.
My team and I spent nights and weekends doing things I never told my
family or friends because they wouldn't believe me. Some times it was
a matter of staking out a source's house or going to smoky, seedy
bars to fish for information on the decades-old case.

Those times, a professional private investigator and another team
member would be in the car listening for the words "winter wedding"
-- the "safe word" we were supposed say into the cell phones in our
pockets if something dangerous ever went down. (It never did.)

Unlike other Medill classes, this course was hands-on, gritty and
raw. I gained more practical skills in those months than in all of my
other college courses combined. The experience prepared me to do the
work I have done professionally and will continue to do throughout my
career.

In our investigation, we reenacted the crime scene and determined it
was impossible to discern any words spoken or shouted from 50 yards
away.

Later, we tracked down the then-teenage witness who said he saw
McKinney that night. The man recanted his testimony on videotape, and
told us police beat him.

We also found a fire department document that indicated the
paramedics were called to the police station during McKinney's
interrogation, raising the question of whether he was roughed up
during his interrogation as he said he was.

We interviewed the "gang-bangers" who chased him that night. They
acknowledged they chased him after the Ali fight because they were
angry he had damaged their car earlier.

Finally, we identified alternate suspects, one of whom stated on
videotape that he was there when the murder was committed -- and that
McKinney wasn't.

After I graduated, the investigation continued. Once Protess felt
there was enough evidence, after nine teams of student reporters had
worked on the case, the information was shared with the Center on
Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern's Law School and McKinney's
legal team.

The audio and videotaped interviews, affidavits and other on-the-
record interview transcripts we worked on also were presented to the
district attorney's office. Last year, the new evidence was submitted
to the Cook County Circuit Court in an effort to exonerate McKinney.

I am still haunted by the case. I am still haunted by my visit to see
McKinney in prison -- the gentle face of a man who still has hope
after so many years.

A spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, Sally Daly, told me that
we, as students, were "conducting these interviews for a grade in
this class."

She went on to say the "request for the grades goes to explore any
possible bias, interest or motive."

The claim is that we, as students, were motivated to get witnesses to
play into a preconceived thesis of innocence in order to get good
grades. I think I speak for my fellow alums when I say this class was
never about grades.

It has always been about searching for truth and justice for people
whose cases didn't get due diligence from a bogged-down system. This
was about journalism in its purest and most passionate form.

For years, the class has been a check on the work of police and other
law enforcement officials. Protess has seen and dealt with his fair
share of heat for more than a decade, but never anything like this
attempt to investigate the investigator.

Northwestern is not complying with the request for documents. A court
hearing on November 10 will decide if the subpoena will stand. While
we were students at the time, we "took reporting to the Nth degree,"
as the dean of the school told The Chicago Tribune. We functioned as
journalists and should be protected by reporter's privilege laws.

About 50 similar programs across the country are watching to see what
precedent could be set if the state is entitled to these materials.
Will programs like Northwestern's continue if the volunteers are
worried about attorneys' fees to handle requests for documents?

Recently, Judge H. Lee Sarokin, the federal judge who famously freed
Ruben "Hurricane" Carter on a murder conviction that proved to be
unfounded, wrote in support of all former members of "Team McKinney."
"If a reporter hopes to win a Pulitzer or an investigator for the
defense hopes to obtain further business," he wrote, "how can those
motives possibly be relevant to the evidence obtained?"

The focus should be on the evidence, not grades. Student information
is irrelevant to Anthony McKinney's case. Being forced to hand over
private information will not only compromise the integrity of the
program, but create a chilling effect on free speech and
investigative reporting.

I recently went back and watched Gov. Ryan's speech on YouTube. I got
the same chill I did watching it in person that day. I can only hope
that a new generation of students has the opportunity to feel that, too.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/06/lapin.wrongful.conviction/index.html?eref=rss_us

__._,_.___

Supreme Court appears split on tackling rogue prosecutors
The Supreme Court Wednesday heard arguments in a lawsuit brought by
two Iowa men who spent 25 in prison after prosecutors allegedly
fabricated evidence against them. Justices seemed divided on the
issue of how much immunity prosecutors should enjoy.

By Warren Richey | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the November 4, 2009 edition
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1105/p02s01-usju.html

WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court on Wednesday took up the difficult
issue of what to do about unscrupulous prosecutors willing to induce
false testimony and hide exculpatory evidence to convict innocent
defendants.

At issue in Pottawattamie County v. McGhee is whether two men sent to
prison for life are entitled to sue the local prosecutors in Iowa who
helped arrange false testimony that led to their wrongful convictions.

Both men served 25 years in prison before being released after
investigators discovered the false testimony and uncovered
exculpatory evidence never disclosed to defense lawyers.

The high court has long recognized that prosecutors presenting a case
at trial enjoy absolute immunity from citizen lawsuits seeking
compensation for alleged violations of their constitutional rights.

But the court has also recognized that a prosecutor may not enjoy the
protections of absolute immunity when serving not as a trial advocate
but as an investigator searching for clues and corroboration that a
crime has been committed.

During oral argument on Wednesday, the justices split into three
camps. In one camp were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Paul
Stevens, and Sonia Sotomayor, who appeared primarily concerned with
ensuring that victims of such prosecutorial misconduct have a
potential remedy through a civil lawsuit.

In another camp were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel
Alito who appeared primarily concerned with the potentially "chilling
impact" on all prosecutors if the court allowed some defendants to
file such citizen lawsuits.

In the center were Justices Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, and
Antonin Scalia who appeared to share the concerns of both other camps.

Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal, arguing in support of absolute
immunity for the two prosecutors, said the government's position was
based on important societal concerns that prosecutors feel free to
act as vigorous advocates.

"Absolute immunity doesn't exist to protect a few bad apples," Mr.
Katyal said. If prosecutors know they may be sued by disgruntled
defendants "they will flinch in the performance of their duties."

Paul Clement, a former solicitor general arguing on behalf of the two
wrongly-convicted defendants, said the federal appeals court in New
York has allowed such citizen lawsuits against prosecutors since
2000. "There has not been a flood of these cases," he said. "There
has been a trickle."

Mr. Clement said he had identified 17 cases brought since the 2000
appeals court action.

Chief Justice Roberts said his concerns went beyond just potential
litigation. "We are concerned about the chilling effect on the
prosecutors," he said.

Stephen Sanders, a Chicago lawyer representing the two former
prosecutors, urged the court to maintain an expansive application of
absolute immunity for all prosecutors.

He warned that if the high court ruled for the two wrongly-convicted
defendants, "it would work a radical change in the law of immunity."

A decision in the case is expected by June 2010.

Federal Investigation Requested In Mitrice Richardson's Disappearance From Lost Hills, Ca. Jail

Nancy Lockhart launched a Change.org petition for a federal investigation into the disappearance of a gifted young woman who suffers from depression. Mitrice Richardson was arrested in Lost Hills, CA Jail on September 16 at 10 p.m., then reportedly released after midnight with no money, I.D., food, water, or cell phone. Join petitioners in asking for federal help resolving this mystery. WHAT HAPPENED TO MITRICE RICHARDSON? 

Link for the petition:  http://www.change.org/actions/view/federal_investigation_requested_in_mitrice_richardsons_disappearance_from_lost_hills_ca_jail

Mitrice Richardson is a college graduate from California State University of Fullerton, in Psychology, with a 4.00 GPA. Mitrice Richardson has begun the process of acceptance into the Psychology Professional

Mitrice Richardson is a college graduate from California State University of Fullerton, in Psychology, with a 4.00 GPA. Ms. Richardson has begun the process of acceptance into the Psychology Professional College, Alliant, to pursue her Ph.D. as a Clinical Psychologist.  She is an African American who is openly gay.

Mitrice Richardson is in a crisis and is in danger.  Support is needed to find her. Use the widget below to join petitioners asking for a federal investigation into the whereabouts of Mitrice Richardson to bring her home and to ensure that this does not happen to more people. 

The "take action" button below should also take you to the petition.

or, Create a Petition

People who are experiencing a mental health crisis should not be released from jail after midnight in unfamiliar territory to fend for themselves without money or a means to call for assistance, if that is really what happened.  No woman should.

Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
http://www.Care2.com/c2c/group/AIMI

JAIL IS THE LAST THING THAT MENTAL PATIENTS NEED, AND TOO OFTEN, IT IS THE VERY LAST THING THEY EXPERIENCE. Please join our effort to decriminalize mental illness. No one deserves to be punished for having a health crisis.

Thanks for your interest. God bless you!

Below are Care2 News Network articles most recently submitted by Mary Neal. The ten (10) articles below are accessible by clicking the "comments" tabs below the articles to reach them at Care2.  Once at Care2 News Network, you can click the title or the "visit site" button to go to the full-length article and any videos, where you can see it full length.  Please use your back arrow to return to my sharebook and read more articles from the list.  Some of the articles below are among the most difficult to post of any that I have ever published.  Thank you for reading them.  Your opinions are invited. 

1

Amnesty International Southern Regional Conference in Georgia - Oct 30 - Nov 1
Society & Culture  (tags: AmnestyInternational, AmnestyInternationalSouthernRegionalConf, MaryNeal, DecaturGeorgia, HumanRights, Dignity:AllRightsForAllPeople )

Mary
- 14 minutes ago - care2.com

Care2 News Link: http://www.care2.com/news/member/513396753/1289391
We hope many of you can make it to Atlanta for what promises to be an engaging and inspiring weekend in the fight for human rights! The 2009 conference theme is "Dignity: All Rights for All People." You'll leave with ideas for activism to take home.

1 comment

WHICH Type of H1N1 Vaccine Will YOU Be Forced to Accept?
Health & Wellness  (tags: EnforcedH1N1Vaccines, MassachusettsMarshalLawBill, MaryNeal, H1N1inoculation, AssistanceToTheIncarceratedMentallyIll, MaryNeal )

Mary
- 12 days ago - freespeakblog.blogspot.com

Germany - The armed forces, according to a newspaper report, has ordered a different vaccine against the swine influenza for Germany's 250,000 soldiers. The vaccine is different than the serum which will be used to inoculate the civil population as planne

14 comments problem?

64

VIDEO - Illinois School Police Attack and Beat Special Needs Student
Society & Culture  (tags: IllinoisPoliceBrutality, assistancetotheincarceratedmentallyill, WrongfulDeathOfLarryNeal, MaryNeal, AIMI, SchoolBeating, PoliceOveruseOfForce, DecriminalizeMentalIllness, PoliceAttackSpecialNeedsStudent, Tasers, SchoolPolice, MaryNeal )

Mary
- 16 days ago - freespeakblog.blogspot.com

One might ask who is brain damaged in the video. Is it the student, who was quietly walking down the school corridor at class change, or is it the enraged officer who deemed the child's shirt tail being out so offensive that the student deserved to possi

22 comments problem?

37

Mary Neal Presents "Steps Toward Justice" Hub3
US Politics & Gov't  (tags: ValleySwimClub, CyrusVanceJr, USDOJ, NativeAmericans, TribalLands, AssistanceToTheIncarceratedMentallyIll, ColombiaMassPoliceDept, PoliceSaveSuicidalMan, StepsTowardJusticeHub3, MaryNeal, GoodNews, MLK, AIMI )

Mary
- 30 days ago - hubpages.com

FIVE stories carrying good news for justice! Bigotry against ethnic children punished; Native Americans helped; Cyrus Vance for NY D.A.; Colombia, MA Police save suicidal man; movement to decriminalize mental illness growing. GOOD NEWS with lots of videos

12 comments problem?

48

TASERED: Legless Middle-Aged Man in Wheelchair
Society & Culture  (tags: Handicapped, AfricanAmerican, DogJustice, MaryNeal, DoubleAmputee, Taser, PoliceBrutality, OveruseOfForce, AssistancetotheIncarceratedMentallyIll )

Mary
- 36 days ago - freespeakblog.blogspot.com

Please don't taser legless middle-aged men in wheelchairs, even if they are African Americans. Please. Blessings!

30 comments problem?

48

Help Todd Willingham Rest in Peace - Clear the Name of Wrongly Executed Texan
US Politics & Gov't  (tags: CameronToddWillingham, TexasDeathRow, GovRickPerry, CapitalPunishment, WrongfulExecution, LethalInjection, AbolishDeathPenalty, AssistancetotheIncarceratedMentallyIll, MaryNeal, LarryNeal, DogJustice, TexasMoratoriumNetwork, TMN )

Mary
- 44 days ago - freespeakblog.blogspot.com

STOP THE SLANDER against Cameron Todd Willingham. He was executed in 2004 for arson murders of his own children. Authorities now admit there was likely no arson. Texas Moratorium Network launched a petition to clear Todd's name and remove infanticide from

19 comments problem?

60

POLL - Should Inmates Whose Innocence Is Proved By DNA Tests Be Executed Anyway? The Thomas Arthur Story
US Politics & Gov't  (tags: ThomasArthur, AlabamaDeathRow, InnocenceMatters, AssistancetotheIncarceratedMentallyIll, MaryNeal, TroyWicker, JudgePulliam, BirminghamNews, Post-ConvictionDNA, SupremeCourt, JusticeDenied, MaryNeal, LarryNeal, WrongfulDeathOfLarryNeal, DogJustice, Civil )

Mary
- 56 days ago - votingcentral.com

Thomas Arthur, Alabama death row inmate, wanted to avoid his July 31, 2008 WRONGFUL execution so badly that he allegedly got Gilbert to lie and say Gilbert killed Troy Wicker. DNA tests proved both inmates innocent, but Alabama still plans to kill Arthur!

34 comments problem?

89

Abused Mentally Ill Man's Lawsuit Against CCA Private Prison Dismissed
Health & Wellness  (tags: CCA, MentallyIllPrisoners, DecriminalizeMentalIllness, PrisonProfiteers, FrankHorton, NashvillePrisonSystem, AssistanceToTheIncarceratedMentallyIll, AIMI, MaryNeal, wrongfuldeathoflarryneal, SolitaryConfinement, PrisonerTorture )

Mary
- 60 days ago - tennessean.com

What happens when a mentally ill inmate is imprisoned naked for nine months living in filth in dark solitary confinement and is so abused and traumatized that he can only speak gibberish when released? Judge dismisses family's lawsuit, of course!

47 comments problem?

100

Troy Davis Gets Hearing, Says U.S. Supreme Court
US Politics & Gov't  (tags: TroyDavis, U.S.SupremeCourt, HearingforTroyDavis, CapitalPunishment, Abolitionists, JusticeForTroyDavis, GeorgiaSuperiorCourt, AssistanceToTheIncarceratedMentallyIll, AIMI, MaryNeal, LarryNeal, DogJustice, WrongfulDeathOfLarryNeal )

Mary
- 72 days ago - ajc.com

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a new hearing for death row inmate Troy Davis, whose supporters say is innocent and should be spared from execution for killing an off-duty police officer almost 20 years ago.

59 comments problem?

40

Police Slam 80-Yr-Old Black Woman to the Ground Where She Lay Bleeding
US Politics & Gov't  (tags: 80-yr-oldTakenDownbyPolice, MaryNeal, assistancetotheincarceratedmentallyill, AIMI, PoliceOveruseOfForce, AfricanAmerican )

Mary
- 82 days ago - globalgrind.com

This film depicts a "take down" by police officers in a Wal-Mart parking lot. The citizen is reported to be an 80-year-old woman with completely white hair and on a walking cane.

18 comments problem?

California inmate, Jeremy Smith, has been schizophrenic since childhood.  He was arrested for hitting another mental patient in a mental health facility.  He caused no lasting damage.  That act of aggression from Jeremy, a sick young man, has already costed California taxpayers over $70,000 per year, because Jeremy is isolated in the "hole," which is solitary confinement.  His mom reports that Jeremy was sentenced for EIGHT YEARS.

Allegedly, Jeremy said some things to a prison guard that were not nice.  Now he faces additional sentencing for making "terrorist threats."  This is how a simple battery on the part of a mentally ill person can easily turn into life in prison - SOMETHING YOU, THE TAXPAYERS, FINANCE - the criminalization of mental illness.  Please pray for Jeremy and his mom, Care2 member, Gina.  Pray for all mentally ill people in dark, 9' 6' cells today, where they are usually naked and always alone.  Pray for our officials who allow this to continue.

Please sign Jeremy's petition for justice at this link - treatment, not punishment for mental illness.  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/JusticeForJeremy

Below is a copy of his current pending charges.

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Criminal Case Information - Case Details
criminal case information/calendar menu / search results / case details

Defendant Information:Name:SMITH, JEREMY  Birth Year:1977

Case Information:Court Case #:MF008647A  Filing Date:03/05/09 Related Case #:None
 Arrest Date:N/A

Bail Amount:$100000.00
Bail Status:N/A
Bail Type:N/A

Charges/Dispositions
CountTypeCodeSectionCharge DescriptionCharge DispositionDisposition Date
001 F PC 422 THREATEN WITH INTENT TO TERRORIZE    
002 F PC 76(A)(1) THREATEN/ETC CERTAIN STATE OFFICIALS/JUDGES/ETC    

Sentence Information
  ** n/a - no convicted charges **

Scheduled Hearings
Notes: 1. For Metropolitan Division cases: If the Div/Dept is 1-17, A-K or T then the Div/Dept is your courtroom number. If the Div/Dept is other than those listed in the previous sentence see the information desk near the escalator for your courtroom number.
 2. If a defendant has more than one hearing scheduled for the same date and time, he or she should appear on the felony case first.
 3. Calendars for each court may periodically change as court schedules are modified by court personnel. Persons viewing the court calendar assume full responsibility for appearing at the proper date and time and at the proper court irrespective of the information contained herein.

Hearing Date/TimeHearing LocationDiv/DeptHearing Type
09/10/2009, 08:30AM Metro Division - 1415 Truxtun CC HEARING ON REPORT: PC 1368-1370 
10/15/2009, 08:30AM Metro Division - 1415 Truxtun CC HEARING ON REPORT - PC 1368 
11/25/2009, 09:00AM Metro Division - 1415 Truxtun RH READINESS 
12/07/2009, 09:00AM Metro Division - 1415 Truxtun 01 JURY TRIAL 

Aliases
Defendant nameSMITH, JEREMY 
Aliases SMITH, JEROMY  

 © 2008 Superior Court

JAIL IS THE LAST THING THAT MENTAL
PATIENTS NEED, AND TOO OFTEN, IT IS THE VERY LAST THING THEY
EXPERIENCE. Please join our effort to decriminalize mental
illness. No one deserves to be punished for having a disability.

The beauty of co-existence!

See the announcement below for Amnesty
International's Regional Conference on
Oct. 30 to Nov. 1 in Georgia.

First, please enjoy one of my favorite videos.  All races, nationalities, and ages dancing together, loving and sharing music and fun together - armed only with string instruments and making a joyful noise! 

This is my perception of what AI works toward.

The video is rightly called
VICTORY!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V0mqrpY31s 

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Southern Regional Conference 2009 in Decatur, Georgia!
Oct. 30 to Nov. 1

Visit the website for AI's conference at this link:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/regional-conferences/south/page.do?id=1650029  

Come together with fellow Amnesty activists from across the South for an exciting weekend to celebrate and strengthen the human rights movement. The 2009 conference theme is "Dignity: All Rights for All People." You’ll leave with ideas for activism to take back to your community, contacts for other activists, and more knowledge about Amnesty’s fight for human rights and dignity.

We hope many of you can make it to Atlanta for what promises to be an engaging and inspiring weekend in the fight for human rights!

We are proud to be hosting our Amnesty International Secretary General, Irene Khan at our regional conference this year.  She will be speaking about her new book The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights and the critical importance of AI’s new Demand Dignity campaign.

Agenda: This is a working agenda and subject to slight changes and modifications. Priority campaign workshop titles are place holders pending the final determination of actual workshop titles. Click Here to view the Conference Agenda

Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan will be attending and speaking!

Events to include:

• Workshops, including Right to Health, Media Work, Coalition Building, Campus Activism, and more
• Film Screenings
• Human Rights Tour of Atlanta
• Student Caucus
• Atlanta Pride March
• Welcome Cultural Program
• Extended Networking Break in the Ideas Fair
• Local Group Caucus Lunch
• Student and Youth Caucus Lunch
• Faculty Advisors' Roundtable Lunch
• Amnesty International 101
• State by State Planning

Become a member online and you will receive an Amnesty International tote bag at the conference!

Irene Khan

Irene Khan joined Amnesty International as Secretary General in August 2001.

As the first woman, first Asian and first Muslim to head the world's largest human rights organization, she has led Amnesty International through challenging developments in the wake of 11 September 2001, confronting the backlash against human rights, broadening the work of the organization in areas of economic, social and cultural rights, and initiating a process of internal reform and renewal to enable the organization to respond flexibly and rapidly to world events. She has also sought to bring a strong focus to the issue of women's human rights and violence against women.

Prior to joining Amnesty International, Ms. Khan worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for twenty one years, serving in many different parts of the world, including as Deputy Director in the Department of International Protection, Chief of Mission in India, Senior Legal Advisor for Asia and Senior Executive Officer to the High Commissioner.

In 1977, she helped to found Concern Universal, a UK-based development NGO.

In 2002 Ms. Khan was awarded the Pilkington "Women of the Year" award. In 2003 she received the John Owens Distinguished Alumni award from the University of Manchester. She has been awarded honorary doctorates by Ferris University (Japan) and Staffordshire University (UK). She has been voted one of the 100 Most Influential Asians in the UK. She is the winner of the 2006 Sydney Peace Prize.

She is a graduate of Harvard Law School, USA and the University of Manchester, UK. She is a Bangladesh national.

Despite economic growth in almost every corner of the world, billions of people still live in poverty. Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan claims that economic analyses do not provide a full picture and economic solutions alone cannot end the problems of poverty. In a bracing argument enriched with her personal experiences and case studies from around the world, Khan sees poverty as the world's worst human rights crisis because it traps people in a vicious cycle of deprivation, insecurity, exclusion and voicelessness. She argues that the foremost challenge is the empowerment, not the enrichment, of poor people, and makes a passionate and urgent plea for action to uphold human rights in the fight to end against poverty.

Esha Momeni is an Iranian-American women's rights defender, artist, and graduate student at California State University Northridge. Esha traveled to Iran in October 2008 to work on her thesis, filming footage for a project on the women's rights movement and interviewing volunteers for One Million Signatures, a campaign that petitions to rewrite the Iranian constitution to recognize men and women as equal. While there, she was arrested and charged with propagandizing against the state. Esha was held in the notorious Evin Prison for 28 days, 25 of which she spent in solitary confinement. She was released on an excessive $200,000 bail in November and placed on a travel restriction for several more months. Esha was honored with the Kappa Tau Alpha Outstanding Service Award in May 2009 while still in Iran.

Terrica Redfield, staff attorney at the Southern Center for Human Rights, focuses on representing clients on death row in Georgia and Alabama. Prior to joining SCHR, Ms. Redfield completed at two-year fellowship at Fair Trial Initiative (FTI) in Durham, North Carolina. Ms. Redfield graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2002. Ms. Redfield was awarded the Mortimer M. Caplin Public Service Fellowship. She is a member of the Georgia, North Carolina and Alabama bars.

Charity L. Woods is the State Coordinator for Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the largest health reform effort nationally and is involved in local progressive issues and politics. Before working with HCAN Charity was the South Carolina State Field Coordinator for Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD), working with the presidential campaigns during the 2007-2008 primary season. She also has legislative, lobbying, campaign and nonprofit experience that have allowed her to hone her public relations, organizing and communications skills.

Sameer Dossani is the Director of Amnesty International's Demand Dignity Campaign. Prior to joining Amnesty in 2009, Sameer served as Director of 50 Years Is Enough: U.S. Network for Global Economic Justice which campaigns for the radical reform of international financial institutions including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Sameer holds degrees in Philosophy, Religious Studies and Women's Studies from McGill University, Canada and La Trobe University, Australia.

Brian Evans is the Campaigner for Amnesty International USA's Death Penalty Abolition Campaign. Prior to moving to Washington, DC, in 2006, he was a founding member of the Texas Moratorium Network and a member of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, organizations working to stop executions in the state of Texas. He has a Masters degree in Middle East Studies from the University of Texas at Austin and also served for 8 years as the Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia Country Specialist for Amnesty International USA.

Ebenezer Akwanga is a human rights activist from Cameroon. At age 15, he founded the Voice of America Fan Club to help educate Cameroonian students about democracy and human rights. Later, he was elected president of the first Student Union of the University of Buea where he stood against tuition increases and led non-violent demonstrations. For his activism, he was expelled and banned for life from enrolling at any university in Cameroon. Ebenezer became a founding member of the Southern Cameroons Youth League of which he is currently Chairman. His involvement led to his arrest, torture and conviction on trumped-up charges and he was sentenced to 20-years of hard labor. He served seven years with two years in solitary confinement. Amnesty campaigned fervently on his behalf for many years and in 2006, Ebenezer was granted refugee status in the United States. Ebenezer has earned a BSc in Criminal Justice Administration from the University of Phoenix and is a candidate for a Master of Arts Degree at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

Derrick Boazman is the host of "Too Much Truth" a talk show on WAOK in Atlanta. In this capacity, speaking on both his show and at rallies and events, Mr. Boazman has been a prominent advocate on the call for justice on behalf of Troy Davis. He is also a former member of the Atlanta City Council representing District 12 where he worked on such issues as criminal justice reform and public schools.

Dr. Alfred W. Brann, Jr., Professor of Pediatrics at Emory School of Medicine, is a specialist in neonatal/perinatal medicine and child neurology. As Director of The Collaborating Center, Dr. Brann addresses infant mortality by developing community-based health care delivery systems with transparent surveillance that permit continuous quality improvement in women's health and health outcomes for pregnant mothers and their newborns. In addition to its domestic activities in the Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama, the Center has provided consultation and/or conducted projects in some 30 countries in all six regions of the World Health Organization. Dr. Brann is the recipient of the Jack A. Raines Humanitarian Award from the Medical Association of Georgia.

Martina Correia is a State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator for Amnesty International USA in Georgia, a United States Army veteran, survivor of stage IV mestatic breast cancer, and prominent advocate who has spoken about human rights to audiences large and small across the world including the European Union, and is the sister of Troy Davis. In addition to her advocacy work, Martina is a volunteer with the Public School system in the City of Savannah.

The deadline to submit a resolution is complete. All members who join before or at the conference will be eligible to vote on the resolutions!

» Click here to read the resolutions (on the members section)

Voting on Resolutions at the 2009 Regional Conferences will be by Voting Cards rather than by count of hands. To obtain a Voting Card at the Regional Conference, you must be a dues paying member of AIUSA (having paid dues to AIUSA or submitted a valid dues waiver in the last year) or designate a group representative (one per group) and submit a Group Voting Authorization Form. You may become a member anytime prior to voting, including on-site at the conference, to be eligible to vote. If mailing your dues prior to the conference, be sure to allow plenty of time for delivery and processing.

Please plan to arrive on site early Friday evening to participate in our Friday evening Welcoming Reception and Town Hall.

» Register for the Southern Regional Conference
» Download the Registration Form (PDF)
» Register As A Group (PDF)  (Group Discount !! For every four paid registrants, the fifth will be free! If you are registering a group, please attach a list of each person's name and contact information along with the registration form.)

Thank you to all who have volunteered for the Southern Regional Conference. The registration process for volunteers is now complete.

he Holiday Inn Decatur is offering Amnesty International conference attendees a special room rate of $89 for a single or double, plus local taxes and fees. Space is limited, so please book your room as soon as possible!

Conference attendees must make their own reservations directly with the hotel by calling (404) 371-0204. To obtain the special group rate, be sure to mention "Amnesty International USA" or by going to http://tinyurl.com/srobook