Letters of Urgency To Government Leaders

Letter Sent To All Legislative/Congressional Leaders

We are writing you as members of the National Alliance for Prisoners’ Rights (NAFPR), a newly formed, grassroots advocacy organization whose work is informed by decades of collective experience of prison conditions and efforts to apply universal covenants and treaties to the treatment of incarcerated peoples.

We seek your help in investigating and correcting serious abuses which are occurring right here in America, in our own prisons. You have demonstrated a concern for social justice for all citizens and we thank you for your efforts and ask for your help in attaining prisoners’ rights.

The problems of the correctional system in the United States have become very serious. It is a failing system. The United States now incarcerates 1 out of every 100 adults in the country. This is 700 times the rate of imprisonment that existed in South Africa during the height of apartheid. In 2004, the United States surpassed Russia in incarceration rates to become the world leader. With 5% of the world’s population and more than 25% of the world’s prisoners, there are now more than 2.3 million people inside and upwards of 7 million either on parole, probation or waiting trial. One in every 33 people in the United States is under state control and that number is still growing.

We cannot build our way out of this predicament. The economic burden on the society due to such levels of incarceration is estimated to be $180 billion per year and the potential of these members of society who are incarcerated is wasted. Over the course of one year, 13.5 million people spend time in jail or prison, and 95 percent of them eventually return to our communities. Many of those who are incarcerated come from, and return to, poor African-American and Latino neighborhoods; and the impact on the stability of those communities has an effect on the health and safety of entire cities and states.

Crime, police and prisons have become one of the fastest growing sectors in the economy and there is pressure to maintain a high level of occupancy. There are nearly 5,000 adult prisons and jails in the United States. Approximately 750,000 men and women work in U.S. Correctional facilities as either line officers or other staff.

Economically deprived areas of the country are confronted with growing pressure to accept the construction of a new facility in their area in order to provide jobs, thus creating a vicious cycle. We acknowledge the enormous role that racism, classicism, poverty, lack of education, and diagnosed medical and mental illness play in mass incarceration. Many individuals with diagnosed medical and mental conditions are inappropriately incarcerated. Individuals with diagnosed mental conditions are inappropriately incarcerated.

Approximately 1.25 million of America’s prisoners have diagnosed mental conditions that may have impaired their ability to understand their Miranda rights and their ability to participate fully in their defense. Most of those imprisoned in the United States are poor; and they are disproportionately African-American and Latino.

By themselves, our high rate of imprisonment and disproportionate distribution profoundly compromise our commitment to the democratic ideals of liberty and equality. But there is more. There are serious abuses taking place in our prisons, some even leading to fatality and suicide. The Commission of Safety and Abuse in America’s Crime, Police & Prisons, in its recently released findings, reports high rates of disease and illness among prisoners, the increasing use of counter-productive high-security segregation, and other serious problems.

In addition, in recent years there has been a growing trend toward privatization of correctional facilities, with the associated focus on profits, an increased rate of violence and many charges of lowered standards. The shift to corrections as an industry as a business, rather than a service of governmental institutions, results in the inevitable push to create more and more prisons and prisoners. When this occurs, treatment of prisoners tends to decline and abuse of prisoners to increase. In spite of assurances to the contrary, evidence of this continues to mount.

As the Commission noted, some of the people confined in our jails and prisons have committed serious and violent crimes. While we as a society might legitimately imprison them, we cannot allow anyone who is incarcerated to be victimized by other prisoners, abused by officers, or neglected by doctors. As a nation, we are asked to broaden our scope of analysis and compassion to include people who have done terrible things; and we are also called to live up to democratic principles and to assess whether our criminal justice system is operating according to these standards. Is it just? Does it uphold human rights?

We seek a criminal justice system that is driven by hope, fairness, and rehabilitation rather than fear, arbitrariness, and cynicism. We are asking for your help with the following points:

1) Immediate adherence to International Covenants and Treaties which correlate to prisoner issues and conditions including, but not limited to, the United Nation Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR); the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR); the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD); the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT); the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against omen (CEDAQ); The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and the Convention of the Rights of the Child;

2) Protection of prisoners from physical and psychological abuse by other prisoners as well as by prison staff. Guarantee of community standards of medical care. Uniform standards for prison conditions, which adhere to the Universal Declaration of Human Right, adopted in 1948;

3) Rehabilitation and educational programs since it has been established that education reduces crime;

4) Parole reform and other measures to reduce recidivism. The United States has the highest rate of recidivism. Among mental patients, the rate of recidivism is even higher than for other prisoners, likely due to lack of sufficient and available treatment and support programs in their communities;

5) Immediate, comprehensive and independent investigation of reported abuses by independent third party entities which include prisoner rights advocates and family members. Access to prisoners by families and friends;

6) Legislation mandating equal requirements in hiring, salaries, and conditions for federal prisons, whether governmental or private, and eventual elimination of prisons for profits. Mandated random drug screening for prison staff;

7) An end to arbitrary arrests and excessive sentencing which serve the sole purpose to populate prisons.; and an end to arbitrary and excessive sentencing of minors as adults;

8) Reform of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) so that the prisoners and their families are guaranteed lawful protection from physical and medical abuse and neglect. For years, many of us have worked to obtain results through our state correctional agencies by campaigns, public actions, petitions, letters and calls, and have seen that work ignored, dismissed or trivialized. We believe that you will hear our voices and that you care about true justice. We urge you to conduct investigations and to pass legislation to correct the problems within our justice system.

Please reply to our appeal.

Respectfully,

Bonnita Spikes, Director (Bspikes1@netzero.com)

Beverley Walter, Assc. Director (walterb306@cs.com)

National Alliance For Prisoners Rights (NAFPR) Organizations & Advocates/Activist below are in agreement and allied with NAFPR:

Meshá Mongé_Irizarry (415) 595-8251 iolmisha@cs.com (ISARC)

(general mailbox for I.S.A.R.C., ENI_SF, SF_ Cop watch and F.O.R.W.A.R.D.):

general manager: * Idriss Stelley Action & Resource Center (ISARC)

* Black&Brown Equitable Drug Policies Coalition (BEDPC) * Education Not

Incarceration - SF Chapter (ENI SF) * SF_Copwatch

Sherry Swiney, Director www.patrickcrusade.org

People Aligned To Replace Injustice

& Cruelty with Knowledge

New Vision Organization (http://www.newvisionorganization.4h.com)

Fight for Lifers West (http://www.fightforliferswest.mysite.com )

Bill Ryan – Statesville Speaks (Prison-related newspaper)

Citizens of Earned Release (http://www.illinoisprisontalk.com )

Stop Prison Abuse (http://www.StopPrisonAbuse.org )

Rights & Law Network (http://www.rightsandlaw.net )

The Beautiful Struggle (TheBeautifulStruggle@yahoogroups.com)

Maryland’s Outside Connection (http://www.outsideconnection.tripod.com )

The Jeff Dicks Medical Coalition (http://www.jeffdicksmedical.com )

Christy Armell (Activist/Abolitionist)

Shaheed Omar - Activist (shaheed_omar@yahoo.com )

Susan Mortimer - Activist & Sister (www.massdecarcerate.org )

Education Not Incarceration – San Francisco Chapter (ENI SF)

Black & Brown Equitable Drug Policies Coalition (BEDPC)

RIHD (InMateResource@aol.com )

Youth Advocate Programs, Inc (mbauer@yapinc.org - (www.yapinc.org )

Lea Green - Mother of Lifer (visionomic@yahoo.com )

Corrine Stanley – Advocate (corrinestanley@yahoo.com )

Vivian Panda - Mother of slain inmate (penda.vivian@gmail.com )

Alexis Endurance (alexis@wearealldoingtime.ws )

Gina Duran - Activist & Parent (mentalunderstanding@yahoo.com )

Mary Neal, Director of Assistance (min@wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com )
To the Incarcerated Mentally Ill and Sister of deceased prisoner

Jerry and Jill Morgan (Educators) (jmorgan005@san.rr.com )

Gloria Killian, Executive Director (Action Committee for Women in Prison)
(acwip@yahoo.com )

Linda Blakeney, husband in Prison ( petitiononline.com/hb24332/petition.html)

(http://HerbertJBlakeney.fusiveweb.co.uk )

Roger & Cheryl’s Healing Foundation (http://www.rogercherylhealingfoundation.com )

Claudia Ann Montelione (www.NaturallyPrudent.com )

Robert Lasheff, Dir. (dadstillherealways@yahoo.com )

Illinois Family Advocacy

Tonya Valentine – Advocate (teavea2@yahoo.com )

Patti Scarsellone, Founder (PScarsellone@aol.com )

The Lady-Justice Advocate/Human Rights Support Group

Tommy Escarcega (tommyescarcega@yahoo.com)

Proyecto Common Touch (don_tomas_esq@yahoo.com )

Rev.Madeline Coburn – (http://prisonministry.net/tcoidc )

Anita Guajardo (lauralulu@sbcglobal.net )

Jean M. Bickmire, Adm. Director (www.justicemercy.org )

Justice & Mercy, Inc. (jbickmire@justicemercy.org )

James B. Howell (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ACCURE )

(http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/GabrielMichaelHowell )

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml

"We are in wholehearted agreement with the NAFPR campaign to have the United
States achieve the internationally agreed standards and requirements which relate to the
treatment of incarcerated persons." -- Kenn and Astra d'Oudney, CEOs, The

Democracy Defined Campaign for Restoration and Universal Adoption of Constitutional

Common Law Trial by Jury. http://www.democracydefined.org /

Theresa Vaughn (http://www.care2.com/c2c/people/profile.html?pid=719268278)

Mother, of Timothy Souders

Sumayyah Waheed, Policy Director (http://booksnotbars.org )

Books Not Bars

Quetza Ortez (barriodefense@hotmail.com )

Barrios Defense Committee

Joseph & Alejandra Duran (http://1union1.com )

Activists,son wronglyfully convicted

James Howell (jhowell211@yahoo.com)

Hakim ‘Ali (Hakim002@aol.com )