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Statement by Renee Palakovic, mother of Brandon Palakovic, a young man who committed suicide while imprisoned at SCI Cresson in July 2012.

My son was more than just a prisoner confined to a cell in a state correctional institution.  I have spent nearly a year reminding myself of this fact, remembering the good times and trying to heal my broken heart.  While time does not heal the wound, it does help me to learn to live with and deal with the pain that is always lingering right at the surface, ready to bring me to my knees at any moment.  

On Friday May 31, the United States Justice Department announced that the PA Department of Corrections' use of solitary confinement of people with serious mental illness at its Cambria County facility, SCI Cresson, is in violation of both the U.S. Constitution's 8th Amendment and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The announcement came in a findings letter detailing the results of an 18-month investigation of SCI Cresson by attorneys with the Justice Department's Special Litigations Section of the Civil Rights Division, working in partnership with the U.S. Attorney's Office. The letter also notified PA governor Corbett that both agencies are expanding their investigation to include all 28 prisons under the control of the PA Department of Corrections.  ..read more

by A Concerned Prisoner 

The long awaited Trillion dollar "answer" to the question of the "effectiveness" of the Pennsylvania Department of Correction ADM 804 Grievance Policy and Procedures that has been looming for years in the minds of so many Federal and State Judicial Agencies, State Senators and Representatives, Prisoner Advocacy Rights Organizations, Inmate Family Members and Inmtates of "Why??" the internal grievance system inside the Pa. Dept. of Corrections Routinely rejects- on one ground or another- more than 98% of all Inmate complaints (responses are always "No Merit", "Frivolous", "Upheld", and "Denied") has finally been answered!

Pa. DOC has a manual entitled Helpful Hints for Pa. DOC Inmate Grievance Personnel that is issued to Correctional Staff who handle grievances from the Secretary's Office of Inmate Grievances & Appeals, instructing personnel how to counteract inmate grievances with scripted responses of what to say (or not to say); how to twist & avoid answering the matter(s) or accepting liability (e.g. "Don't write comments that you wouldn't want upper management or a jury to read..") and goes on to explain the DOC's intent. This edict may explain the next-to-zero success rate of inmate grievances- but I shall leave that conclusion to your judgement. ..read more

On May 25 to June 3, Decarcerate PA, Reconstruction, Inc and other allies will be marching from Philadelphia to Harrisburg to demand that 2013 be the year of a People's Budget, Not a Prison Budget.

 

Click flyer to download

The march will start with a huge rally in Love Park at 12pm on Saturday, May 25, and stop in towns and cities across the state, landing at the Capitol in Harrisburg at 12pm on June 3, as the General Assembly reconvenes to discuss the budget. Please join us on May 25 to kick-off the march and demand that legislators rejected Governor Corbett's prison budget and invest in high quality education and building strong communities, not more prisons. You can find more information at www.decarceratepa.info. If you would like to join the march, please register here by May 18.

Today members of the PA Senate will hear testimony on SB444, a deplorable bill sponsored by Senator Dominic Pileggi that would, among other things, strip prisoners of their access to nearly every provision of PA's Right to Know Law (also known as the Sunshine Law, giving everyday citizens the right to review most government records) and which would further cement prisoners' status as modern-day slaves with no true legal standing and even less practical ability to utilize the tools of democracy.

The Human Rights Coalition condemns this transparent and cynical attack on our Constitutional freedoms! Please take this moment to educate yourself on the issue (read HRC's testimony submitted at today's hearing here), call Senator Pileggi and give him and his staff total hell for sponsoring the bill, and then call your own state senators and let them know in no uncertain terms that it is their solemn duty to oppose this bill with all their hearts and souls and votes, and that you will not rest until they’ve torn it to shreds!           ..talking points and contact info

The proposed changes to prisoners' access to the Right-to-Know Law in Senator Pileggi's SB444 are a turn in the wrong direction and are absolutely contrary to the spirit and intention of the law as it was conceived. This ill-considered proposal further dehumanizes and stigmatizes prisoners by stripping them of yet another fundamental right - the right to know what the government is doing.

With one week to go of the 30-Day campaign to get former Black Panther political prisoner Russell Maroon Shoatz out of solitary confinement, we have heard a lot of talk about Maroon's planned release into general population. With no time frame given, no clear process set forth, and no rationale as to why the 22-year torture of this community leader who is about to turn 70 years old should continue even one more day, Maroon's supporters must make this last week count! We can do that by making the "count" of all the letters, faxes, and phone calls go up every single day till May 8, 2013. On that morning, if Maroon is not in general population his legal team will file litigation on his behalf in federal court. While we are optimistic about the strengths of his legal case, we are well aware that justice in the courts is a political act - so today's calls make the chances of successful litigation tomorrow even greater.     ..act now

In this edition: Campaign to Free Maroon from solitary Now!, PA DOC guard Nicoletti sentenced for prisoner abuse, Lynn Stewart seeks compassionate release, and more…

Russell Maroon Shoatz STILL IN SOLITARY confinement as Campaign grows; PA DOC Secretary Wetzel must be flooded with DEMANDS for his immediate release to general population!

Twenty-two consecutive years in solitary is more than long enough!

DEMAND that Maroon be placed in general population IMMEDIATELY!

Call PA DOC Secretary John Wetzel: 717-728-4109   (Fax: 717-728-4178)

or write him at:

1920 Technology Parkway, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050

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