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OpEdNews Op Eds    H4'ed 2/15/09

Real Justice Served with Prisoner Release Order - at long last

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Message B. Cayenne Bird
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I was present in court when the Plata investigation revealed "one preventable death per week" and "many records were destroyed or incomplete." Only God knows how many total deaths took place and only God knows how many were "suicides", "natural deaths" or "preventable. " I remember when a mentally ill inmate named Anthony Brown was pepper-sprayed to death at California Men's Colony under a spit mask, suffocated to death, and it was ruled a "natural death." The same thing happened to another inmate at CSP-Lancaster around the same time, pepper-sprayed to death by guards under a spit mask and ruled a "natural death."

When we tried to get a lawsuit to go forward about the many abuses at CSP-LAC, Lancaster, Los Angeles  Judge Rosalyn Chapman not only wouldn't serve subpoenas on all those who were sued, but she also managed to get the case thrown out. It is now on appeal and her unethical behavior at least documented. The judiciary aided the killers in many cases and still do, but not Judges Thelton Henderson, Stephen Reinhardt and Lawrence Karlton, three wise men who know the truth and who still face tremendous opposition for doing the right thing.

Everyone who reported the truth was attacked by members of the ugly voting machine that put the punishers into power over us. Every one of us who called the State on failing to follow its own laws were called liars, and yet the bodies continue to stack up at our feet, even today.

The suicides are not included in the death toll, even though they are one of the worst forms of medical neglect.  Nobody knows how many people die within a year or two after release from chronic neglect after catching life-threatening diseases in prisons. I have heard that deaths which occur at the hospitals instead of at the prisons are also often not reported in an effort to cover up the death toll. Nothing can be trusted coming out of the State right now.

Even after some of the principled prison guards confessed that they had witnessed ongoing criminal behavior toward the inmates, there are still rogues in uniform who care more about their gravy train than about taking proper care of the tens of thousands of prisoners who shouldn't be in prisons in the first place.

Our forefathers would spin in their graves if they could see this ruthlessness. Crimes worse than most of the inmates are incarcerated over are being committed by our public servants for the sake of a dollar.

There is so much that I could write after nearly a decade of attending Plata hearings, and helping to find lawyers for so many families whose loved ones died preventable deaths. I will just say that the reason this ruling took so long was due to the lack of a public outcry that was loud enough to matter.

What is the public outcry you may ask?

It's what sets all public policy.

It's the citizens themselves marching in the streets, showing up in mass to important hearings, protesting at the prisons and posting 1000 or more comments at the news sites under the articles. It's noise made by those affected or at risk of being affected.

Those people who care about prisoners mostly do not have the education to organize their own voting block large enough and funded enough which is why all reform moves in slow motion, when it moves at all. Advocates have been urging the families to make the public outcry so critical to changing laws and bettering conditions for 30 years, but too many don't vote, won't generate crowds, and often can't even read and write.  Imagine, Americans who won't organize to stand up for themselves, even when their loved ones are dying each and every day.

The State refused to obey 77 judicial orders with little resistance, which makes them all criminals, yet Attorney General Jerry Brown refuses to prosecute the rogues for these crimes against humanity. He and his 50 lawyers, all their trappings, buildings, secretaries, paralegals, phone costs, filing fees, lawsuits, travel, meals and more are costing us a fortune. AG Jerry Brown needs to be audited for the cost of the lack of accountability that gives people no choice but to sue the state.

AG Jerry Brown is in large part responsible for the current overcrowding crisis since he passed ridiculously harsh sentencing laws when he was governor before, which means that he should not be elected. That will take some voter registration work and public education on the part of the three million people related to a state prisoner to prevent, so it's good to get started right now or suffer the consequences of inaction.

The disease epidemics and deaths continue today and while the UNION moms and dads and grandparents certainly have made a public outcry, it is not nearly loud enough since it takes thousands of voices and 500 or more people showing up to important hearings to prove the extent of the problem. Otherwise the media and lawmakers think that no problem exists or that not enough voters care about what's taking place to actually warrant corrective action. It's like kicking our own fannies not to show up in mass at certain critical points when things are on the table for a decision.

Ignorance of how the system works and apathy continues to block reform as the people most hurt are too often the least educated and are easily intimidated and controlled by the prison guards who have seized control of our state. The families could outnumber all the other voting groups, but they just don't get it that they could organize and put an end to most of the prisons, or at the very least change the harsh laws and force better conditions via the initiative process. At the very least, 6500 dedicated writers, protesters, voter registrars and workers are required in order to be able to meet the 150 day deadlines.

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B. Cayenne Bird is a 45-year veteran op-ed journalist and publisher. A descendant of Mary Todd Lincoln, and General Andrew Porter, she is passionate about human rights and criminal justice issues. A mother and grandmother with advanced degrees in (more...)
 

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