02/01/12
The Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee calls on supporters worldwide to protest against the injustice suffered by Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier. Gather on February 4, 2012, at every federal court house and U.S. embassy or consulate worldwide to demand the freedom of a man wrongfully convicted and illegal imprisoned for 36 years!
If you can organize, or help organize and event in your area, please contact LPDOC. Please if you can make a donation to help with the costs of the LPDOC. Scheduled events will be announced and details provided at:
www.whoisleonardpeltier.info
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee, PO Box 7488, Fargo, ND 58106
Phone: (00 1) 701/235-2206
E-mail: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
International Day in Solidarity with Leonard Peltier Facebook events page. Please share and invite your friends:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=hp#!/ events/173509072747628/
25/10/11
If you fight against the state, if you fight for a better world, fight for freedom, there is a chance that you will get thrown to the cage – that is the place where I stay. For over 15 years now. In the infernal regions, kept in isolation for security reasons, for more than 10 years. I was arrested in 1996, and only released into the general prison population in 2007.
In October 1996 I was arrested after a bank robbery to raise money for left-wing projects – legal and illegal ones. I was convicted to 11 and a ½ years and P.D. (Preventive Detention, based on a Nazi-law from 1933 which permits the state to keep me in custody for a life-time, as long as they believe that I am a “threat to public safety”). Because I fought back strong they kept me in isolation for more than 10 years; I have spent the last 4 years in the general prison population, but I refuse to cooperate with the state nor accept forced labour. So a 2009 parole court found no reason to release me. In 2013 my sentence will be completed and I will get transferred to another maximum security prison for the P.D. In fact the P.D. should have began in 2008, but I have had a few more trials in the last decade for “insulting judges / politicians and prison staff”; for that I got another 5 and a ½ years (not a joke!).
No person was killed by me, no one was injured (for the hostages in the bank there was trauma, we should not close one's eyes to that, but that was more than 15 years ago now); I don't know how long the state will keep me in it's cages but there is no way for me to “co-operate” with them. Nor with the prison staff, nor with the courts, nor with psychologists or anyone else from the state.
I am sure there is little chance that the courts will set me free in the next 5 or more years; but if people outside show the Governor that there is a strong movement and support, he may throw me out of the cage.
So I would really appreciate it if you could write letters and e-mails to:
Ministerpräsident (Title of the governor in Germany)
Mr. Kretschmann
Staatsministerium
Richard Wagner Str.15
D-70184 Stuttgart
Germany
Fax: 0049-711-2153-340
Phone: 0049-711-21530
E-mail: poststelle@stm.bwl.de
and request him to give me liberty!
In the struggle!
Thomas Meyer-Falk
c/o JVA-Zelle 3113
Schoenbornstr. 32
D-76646 Bruchsal
Germany
www.freedom-for-thomas.de
23/09/11
A petition in favour of granting clemency to Leonard Peltier is now on the We the People portion of the White House website. We have 30 days (until October 22) to get 5,000 signatures in order for our petition to be reviewed by the White House. This petition may only allow US signatories.
Sign the petition here:
http://tinyurl.com/3qq4muc
Due to heavy site traffic, you may have trouble accessing the petition. Keep trying until you succeed. Try during off-peak hours.
Email our petition to your friends, family and others who care about this issue.
Facebook: Post our petition to your Facebook wall to let folks know about it. Here's a sample message you can cut and paste into your Facebook status: Petition for Leonard Peltier on the White House site, We the People. Will you sign it?
Twitter: Tweet about your petition. Here's a sample tweet you can use: Leonard Peltier petition on the White House site, We the People. Will you sign it?
Let's do it!
Launched into cyberspace by the
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
PO Box 7488, Fargo, ND 58106
www.whoisleonardpeltier.info
20/09/11
ABC-Belarus are currently campaigning to get comrades released from prisons in Belarus by exploiting the state's financial and political predicament - in order to gain financial support from the EU, the Belarusian government must free all their political prisoners. To this end, ABC-Belarus have created a petition calling for the release of their comrades un the aegis of the government's programme of pardoning political prisoner. To sign the petition, go to: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/in-defense-of-belarus-imprisoned-anarchists.html
15/07/11
Whilst the IPCC is busy investigating payments by newspapers to police officers for confidential information, nobody appears to be investigating payments to prison officers for confidential information about prisoners? Recently long-term prison resister John Bowden has fallen foul of this traffic of information in exchange for some crisp notes in a brown envelope when the Murdoch newspaper the Scottish Sun splashed a sensationalist story based on confidential insider information sold to it by an HMP Edinburgh screw. He is not taking it lying down and is fighting back.
Open letter to Governor of HMP Edinburgh
Dear Sue Brookes,
Prison officers who provide information to the media about prisoners in their custody either for financial gain or to inflame public opinion about particular prisoners are committing a criminal offence under the Confidentiality Clause in Terms of Employment. This being so, I am formally requesting that a full and proper criminal investigation be conducted into such a breach of this Clause as a result of a prison employee at Edinburgh prison providing information to a journalist [Gordon Tate] employed at the Sun newspaper Scotland that resulted in the publication of an article in that newspaper on the 14th June 2011.
There would appear to be an excessive flow of information from Edinburgh prison to various tabloid newspapers, resulting in regular articles in the News of the World especially, and the nature and content of such articles suggest that the source of the information provided originates from prison staff within the prison itself.
The criminal law is usually vigorously applied within the prison. Prisoners found in possession of such articles as mobile phones,weapons and drugs are routinely prosecuted. Why then are some prison staff apparently aloud to flout the law by selling articles pertaining to prisoners in contravention of this Clause? Were there to be such wide leakage of confidential information from any other government body or organisation the application of the law would be swift and thorough. Is the prison system different in this regard?
Prison governors have a clear and legally defined responsibility to ensure prison staff adhere to the rules of confidentiality in the exercise of their duties. Prison staff who sell stories to the press relating to prisoners in their charge are breaking the law and should be held fully accountable for such behaviour.
When is the governor of Edinburgh prison going to properly investigate clear evidence that members of her staff are regularly profiting information to the press for financial gain?
John Bowden
June 23rd 2011
21/09/11
Prisoners in the Pelican Bay SHU will recommence their indefinite hunger strike on Monday 26 September following the total lack of any form of progress in the negotiations with the CDCR. The prisoners have released a statement outlining the reasons for their actions here.
02/08/11
Following negotiations between the Pelican Bay hunger strikers, their representatives and Californian Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials that led to a number of immediate concessions and an agreement to continue negotiations on the prisoners' 5 substantive demands, Pelican Bay prisoners decided to resume eating and, as news filtered out, their decision was followed by prisoners in the other 3 prisons that remained part of the protest.
Now the pressure is on the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to 'come up with the goods' and produce substantive concessions. In recent days the hunger strikers have been in contact with the support network that has built up outside the prison walls, one that is part of a growing campaign against the use of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons, outlining their decision to end the hunger strike section of their ongoing protests against the Special Housing Units.
What the hunger strikers have done is to give the CDCR a temporary respite, a grace period of 2-3 weeks from July 20th, to give the CDCR's top administrators the opportunity to come up with some substantive changes in response to their five core demands. If they don't follow through they plan to go back on hunger strike. "It's very important that our supporters know where we stand, and that CDCR knows that we're not going to go for any B.S. We remain as serious about our stand now as we were at the start, and meant what we said re indefinite hunger strike peaceful protest until our demands are met. I repeat - we're simply giving CDCR a brief grace period in response to their request for the opportunity to get [it] right in a timely fashion! We'll see where things stand soon enough!!"
12/07/11
On 1 July prisoners in the Pelican Bay Secure Housing Unit (SHU) announced an indefinite hunger strike against the conditions that they have to suffer. SHUs operate under some the most restrictive of regimes that operate in US prisons. They are designed to force suspected gang members to inform on others but most SHU prisoners are not gang affiliated and any ‘extracted’ information inevitably feeds an endless cycle of the brutalisation of ‘innocents’.
Prisoners are banged-up in 6 x 10 foot cement cells, u to 23 ½ hours a day, for years at a time. They are given only 30 minutes a day to exercise in the “dog run”; and the lights in each soundproofed SHU cell remain on 24 hours a day. SHU inmates never see the sun or get to communicate with anyone other than their guards, and then only through the slots in the steel doors that their food is shoved through twice a day. Visits and reading and writing materials are severely restricted and even denied to many.
The hunger strikers' 5 core demands are: Eliminate group punishments; Abolish the debriefing policy and change the gang status criteria; Comply with the recommendations of the US Commission on Safety and Abuse in Prisons (2006) and end long-term solitary confinement; Provide adequate food; Provide constructive programs and privileges for indefinite SHU inmates. [download in full]
The campaign has received widespread support and solidarity actions have sprung up across the californian prison system, with more than 6,000 prisoners refusing food on the 4th July weekend. Brighton ABC have endorsed the campaign and would encourage everyone to sign the online petition and endorse the campaign.
http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity. wordpress.com/
05/07/11
On June 27, Leonard Peltier was removed from the general population at USP-Lewisburg and thrown in the hole. Little else is known at this time. Due to his age and health status, please join us in demanding his immediate return to general population.
Thomas Kane, Acting Director
Federal Bureau of Prisons
E-Mail: info@bop.gov
Web Site: www.bop.gov
Phone: (202) 307-3198
Fax: (202) 514-6620
Address: 320 1st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20534
-----
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
PO Box 7488, Fargo, ND 58106
http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info
contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
05/05/11
As you know, in March, Leonard was allowed a biopsy to rule out prostate cancer. After a very long wait, for a test that should have yielded results within only a day or two, Leonard has finally been officially notified that he does not have cancer. This is reason for celebration, but we caution you about being overly optimistic about Leonard's health. His symptoms persist and new tests have been conducted. A diagnosis is long overdue for symptoms that presented so very long ago. Urologic disorders which can mimic prostate cancer also can be very serious indeed -- even leading to kidney failure. With Leonard's severe diabetes as a complicating factor, we should all continue to be very concerned about his wellbeing and overall quality of medical care. Please continue writing and calling the Bureau of Prisons to demand Leonard's transfer. For details and contact information, please see: http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info /alert.htm.
*************************************
A Message from Leonard
As you know, I was denied parole in 2009. The decision was not surprising, but disappointing. In the coming months, my attorneys will go into court to challenge the Parole Commission's decision and the constitutional violations involved with the 2009 hearing.
New legal strategies also are being considered. I see no reason to satisfy the government by discontinuing to file legal briefs.
In the coming months, my Defense Committee in Fargo will issue alerts and provide information about how you can best help. I ask that you pay particular attention to what is asked of you. I know, together with my Defense Committee, you will continue to work hard on my behalf as you have always done. I ask you to concentrate on the Bureau of Prisons in Washington, DC. My transfer to a facility closer to home where I can receive quality health care is a must. Concentrate also on the U.S. Congress. For years, we have pushed for a full congressional investigation into the illegal tactics used by the FBI to bring about my conviction. As always, please continue to pressure the White House for my release. In the U.S., I urge supporters to remember your First Amendment rights. Speak up and speak out. Do what you can to prevent the government from being the sole custodian of the official version of the truth.
As you may be aware, this is going to be a long, hard struggle. And a costly one. In addition to the legal work, we still have much to do to educate the public and even Members of Congress. Through the years, it has been a struggle in itself to keep the Defense Committee office open. I know many people are struggling in these difficult times. But, my friends, donations are still needed. Please know that your donation, no matter how small, counts. Every penny allows the fight for my freedom to continue and is very appreciated.
Through the dedication of my staff and supporters, I know we'll succeed. I look forward to spending my "free time" (smile) with all of you.
Doksha,
Leonard Peltier
LP-DOC - PO Box 7488 - Fargo, ND 58106
Phone: 701/235-2206; Fax:701/235-5045
contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
Action Still Needed for Leonard Peltier
24/03/11
Greetings, Supporters.
Today, and until further notice, please call, fax and e-mail headquarters for the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) in Washington, DC.
1. Do this to request that Leonard be transferred to FCI-Oxford in Wisconsin or FMC-Rochester in Minnesota. Either of these facilities can adequately accommodate Mr. Peltier's medical needs.
2. Yesterday, another prisoner was moved into Leonard's cell. This raises issues surrounding Leonard's safety, in particular as he was a victim of a violent assault in 2009. Demand that the BOP comply with its responsibility to safeguard Leonard while he's in government custody and that the other prisoner be moved to another cell without delay.
Federal Bureau of Prisons
E-Mail: info@bop.gov
Phone: (202) 307-3198
Fax: (202) 514-6620
Address: 320 1st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20534
Thank you for speedy action.
Launched into cyberspace by the
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
PO Box 7488, Fargo, ND 58106, USA.
www.whoisleonardpeltier.info
contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
Medical Alert: Leonard Peltier Must Be Transferred
09/02/11
At this time, Mr. Peltier's most pressing need is proper medical care. His only hope of being seen by qualified physicians and receiving care that complies with standard medical protocols is to be immediately transferred to another facility. For background information on this current crisis, read our November 2010 press release at http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/pressrelease 20101115.htm.
You can help. Please print this letter (PDF format download here). Sign the letter; write your name and mailing address; and mail or fax your letter today.
Mail to: Federal Bureau of Prisons
Address: 320 1st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20534
Fax: (202) 514-6620
Sample Text:
Often a handwritten heartfelt letter is quite effective. Remember to always employ a respectful tone and keep your comments brief and to the point. If you wish, you may adapt the following text.
Harley G. Lappin, Director
U.S. Bureau of Prisons
320 First Street, NW
Washington, DC 20534
Dear Mr. Lappin:
It has come to my attention that Leonard Peltier #89637-132, an inmate at the U.S. Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, is in dire need of medical attention.
I believe that Mr. Peltier's medical needs are urgent. He needs to be seen by proper medical staff. Therefore, I respectfully request that Leonard Peltier be transferred to FCI-Oxford in Wisconsin or FMC-Rochester in Minnesota. Either of these facilities can adequately accommodate Mr. Peltier's medical needs.
Thank you in advance for transferring Leonard Peltier and immediately addressing his medical needs!
Sincerely,
Signature
Thank you for all you do on Mr. Peltier's behalf.
Launched into cyberspace by the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee, PO Box 7488, Fargo, ND 58106.
www.whoisleonardpeltier.info
Demand Leonard's Immediate Transfer To The Mayo Clinic!
13/01/11
The Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee urgently calls upon all supporters to consistently and constantly contact USP Lewisburg to demand Leonard Peltier be immediately transferred to the Mayo Clinic for a full medical evaluation and appropriate treatment. As many of you know, Leonard has exhibited symptoms of prostate cancer for over a year. After months of pressure by attorneys, Leonard underwent blood tests in June of 2010. Those results were not made available until early November 2010. A biopsy was indicated which was ordered by a physician and approved by the prison. However, the biopsy has not been performed. The delay in testing, diagnosis, and treatment is unacceptable and constitutes medical neglect.
Please, in contacting USP Lewisburg, refrain from speaking out of anger. Your outrage, disgust and frustration can and should be expressed in a respectful yet forceful manner.
To be clear, we still need to keep the pressure on the White House, so keep making those calls and writing those letters to President Obama.
Contacts:
The White House
President Barack Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500
Comment Line: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
Fax:Â 202-456-2461
Web Form: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Bureau of Prisons (Be certain to always reference "Leonard Peltier #89637-132" when contacting the BOP)
Warden Bledsoe
USP Lewisburg
U.S. Penitentiary
2400 Robert F. Miller Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
Phone: 570-523-1251
Fax: 570-522-7745
E-mail address: LEW/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV
BOP may start blocking e-mail addresses and phone numbers, so you may want to use several different e-mail addresses and phone numbers to make your point.
FREE LEONARD PELTIER!
Thank you for all you do on Leonard's behalf.
Launched into cyberspace by the
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
PO Box 7488, Fargo, ND 58106
(701) 235-2206 (Phone)
Web: www.whoisleonardpeltier.info
E-mail: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
26/01/11
Jerome White-Bey is the founder and president of the Missouri Prisoner Labor Union, an organisation of Missouri prisoners and their outside supporters who are organizing around labor and other prison conditions. Since the founding of the MPLU, Jerome has been subject to administrative harassment and retaliation. He was in the "hole" (administrative segregation) for two years following the formation of the MPLU and has constantly been moved in and out of segregation since.
Jerome had been told over a 3-4 year period by doctors at three different prisons that he had kidney problems which was a result of having diabetes. This kidney infection had been left untreated for a long period of time and after letters of complaint and phone calls made to the prison from a previous letter appeal Jerome was then sent for tests and told that it was not in fact his kidneys that had been making him unwell but that he has serious liver problems from having Hepatitis C, which he was unaware he had till that point. He was then told that he needs a course of Interferon treatment that will last for 12 months and he'll have to be transferred to another prison to have the treatment.
Then, after further time and more letters of complaint, he was told his transfer to start the treatment had to be delayed because he had a hypothyroid. He was given medication to take and told that this medication should bring his thyroid to a normal state after two months. Shortly after he was moved to the segregation unit under an investigation but no-one has ever told him why. Jerome feels that this was nothing more than retaliation against him for the previous letter appeals. After many months passed and filing numerous complaints he was eventually told that he had been cleared of all the allegations made against him. But all the time that he was in the Segregation Unit his health relating to his thyroid condition, which should have been brought back to normal a long time ago now, and his Hepatitis C has not been monitored at all. He was not even seen by a doctor during this time.
Jerome now faces a new problem. After being cleared of all the allegations against him he should be released back into the general population but because his custody level has just recently been dropped from a C-4 to a C-3 that means that he can not be housed in that prison so he will have to remain in segregation until he is transferred, which could take a while. All this time his health is not being monitored and gives the prison administration more excuses for delays. But the answer is simple! A place in a C-3 level prison does not need to be found yet because he should be transferred to start the Interferon treatment for his Hepatitis C and the longer they take approving this the worse his condition becomes.
Jerome thanks everyone for the complaints that have been made previously to get him this far but asks that we write letters or call the prison again to get him transferred and started on the treatment he needs.
Please write letters of complaint to:
Lisa Jones, Constituent Services Officer
Missouri Department of Corrections
2729 Plaza Drive
P.O. Box 236
Jefferson City, MO 65102
USA
(573) 751-2389
Ms. Angela Chandler, Health Services Administrator
Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center
2727 Highway K
Bonne Terre, MO 63628
USA
(573) 358-5516
Nissan Pribble, Director of Nursing
Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center
2727 Highway K
Bonne Terre, MO 63628
USA
(573) 358-5516
Write letters of support to:
Jerome White-Bey
#37479
ERDCC
2727 Highway K
Bonne Terre, MO 63628
USA
UPDATE: Jerome that he's been moved to WMCC - and he's been put in the hole because his file wasn't sent with him!?! We don't know if this is a temporary move on his way to start the Interferon treatment or just more time delaying tactics???
New address: Jerome White-Bey, #37479, Western Missouri Correctional Center (WMCC), 609 East Pence Road, Cameron, MO 64429, USA. [22/02/11]
