[Peace-discuss] Fw: U.S. Political Prisons

[unionyes]

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From: <moderator at PORTSIDE.ORG>
To: <PORTSIDE at LISTS.PORTSIDE.ORG>
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 7:51 PM
Subject: U.S. Political Prisons


> U.S. Political Prisons
> 
> by Robert Meeropol
> 
> Rosenberg Fund for Children
> 
> http://www.rfc.org/blog/article/478
> 
> I first heard of Daniel McGowan (www.supportdaniel.org)
> several years ago. He's one of more than a dozen "green
> scare defendants" now serving time in Federal prison. During
> the 1990's several groups of young, militant environmental
> and animal rights activists engaged in property destruction
> actions such as burning SUV's or destroying a horse
> slaughterhouse. After the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act,
> and more recently, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act,
> federal prosecutors have been arresting those supposedly
> involved, treating them as domestic terrorists even though
> no people or animals were killed or even injured in any of
> their actions, and imposing long prison sentences upon them.
> 
> Daniel, at the time of his arrest, was a progressive
> activist in New York City, who had "walked away from these
> kind of actions a long time ago,"
> [www.supportdaniel.org/faq]. While in prison he maintained
> contact with a large community of supporters and continued
> to write about progressive issues. He first contacted the
> Rosenberg Fund for Children (RFC, www.rfc.org) not on his
> own behalf (he and his wife have no children), but to
> suggest other political prisoners with children the RFC
> might support. Daniel is one of those people who look beyond
> themselves no matter what their circumstance to figure out
> ways to help others.
> 
> Apparently his jailors didn't approve. They transferred
> Daniel to their new Communications Management Unit (CMU) in
> Marion, Illinois. This occurred despite the fact the Daniel
> had no in-prison infractions to justify such action.
> Daniel's new "crime" seems to be his contact with his
> political support group and his continued exercise of his
> first amendment rights.
> 
> The Center for Constitutional Rights describes these
> political prisons on their website. "In 2006 and 2007, the
> [Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP)] secretly created two
> experimental prison units designed to isolate certain
> prisoners from the rest of the prison population and the
> outside world. These units are called Communications
> Management Units or CMUs, and despite the fact that their
> creation marked a dramatic change in BOP policy, they were
> opened without the required opportunity for public notice
> and comment." [
> http://ccrjustice.org/ourcases/current-cases/aref-et-al-v-
> holder- et-al]
> 
> The BOP has long housed some political prisoners in lockdown
> facilities of this nature, but had limited such draconian
> conditions of confinement to those it claimed were the most
> violent and dangerous criminals. These new CMU units are not
> designed to house maximum security prisoners. Instead they
> are social and political control experiments that Wardens
> can use to isolate "average" prisoners who are outspoken or
> have the wrong religion. Inmates at the CMU are only allowed
> limited communication with the outside world, and to see
> loved ones through plexi-glass barriers and talk via phone
> hook-ups.
> 
> Daniel's community of support has not taken his transfer to
> the CMU passively. The "Friends of Daniel McGowan" group
> (see www.supportdaniel.org and the "Support Daniel McGowan"
> Facebook Group) organized an art auction that drew public
> attention to his situation, and that of others (over 60% of
> them Muslim) held at the CMU. At Daniel's request, 50% of
> the funds raised by the group, over $1,000, was donated to
> the RFC's Granting Fund. Daniel wrote in explanation:
> "Although we do not have children ourselves, we have 6
> nieces and the pain I feel being separated from them is
> great. I truly can't imagine what it would be like if I had
> children - especially in this unit without contact visits."
> 
> This struck a deep chord in me. If these rules had been
> applied to my parents after their arrest I would have no
> conscious memory of their touch or their voices. The only
> clear memories I have is from those few precious hours we
> spent together during a dozen or so prison visits I had with
> them.
> 
> And the family connection runs deeper. I was surprised while
> viewing a slide show of the art exhibit Daniel's wife helped
> to organize, to see my younger daughter, Rachel (who is a
> staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights),
> speaking at the opening! Earlier this week Rachel and
> another CCR attorney filed suit in Federal District Court in
> Washington, DC on behalf of Daniel McGowan, another
> political prisoner connected with the RFC, and others,
> claiming the CMUs violated the prisoners' first amendment
> and due process rights because they are confined in this
> extra punitive detention "without legitimate reason or
> meaningful process, [and . ] in retaliation for their
> protected religious beliefs, unpopular political views, or
> lawful advocacy challenging rights violations in prison."
> <
> http://ccrjustice.org/ourcases/current-cases/aref-et-al-v-holder-et-al>
> 
> I'm proud to link my family and my community to those of
> Daniel McGowan.
> 
> [Robert Meeropol is the younger son of Ethel and Julius
> Rosenberg. In 1953, when he was six years old, the United
> States Government executed his parents for "conspiring to
> steal the secret of the atomic bomb." Since 1990 he has
> served as the Executive Director of the Rosenberg Fund for
> Children (www.rfc.org), a non-profit, public foundation that
> provides for the educational and emotional needs of both
> targeted activist youth and children in this country whose
> parents have been harassed, injured, jailed, lost jobs or
> died in the course of their progressive activities.]
> 
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