2018 Parole Release Numbers Still Disappointing
Regular Parole
January: 20 grants and only 6 were first time grants (No Female grants, 4 Geriatric grants)
February: 13 grants and only 3 were first time grants (No Female grants, 1 Geriatric grant) 1 committed a new crime while incarcerated.
March: 39 grants and only 18 were first time grants (2 Female grants, 5 Geriatric grants) 2 committed a new crime while incarcerated.
April: 48 grants and only 23 were first time grants (No Female grants, 10 Geriatric grants) 8 committed a new crime while incarcerated.
May: 40 grants and only 20 were first time grants ( No Female grants, 6 Geriatric grants) 2 committed a new crime while incarcerated.
June: 43 grants and only 16 were first time grants (No Females, 6 Geriatric grants) 4 committed a new crime while incarcerated.
July: 28 grants and only 2 were first time grants (No Female grants, 9 Geriatric grants) 2 committed a new crime while incarcerated.
August: 27 grants and only 4 were first time grants (2 Females, 4 Geriatric grants) 1 committed a new crime while incarcerated.
September: 14 grants and only 5 were first time grants (1 Female grant, 2 Geriatric grants) 2 committed a new crime while incarcerated.
October: 47 grants and only 19 were first time grants (1 Female grant, 4 Geriatric grants) 4 committed a new crime while incarcerated.
November: 21 grants and only 6 were first time grants (2 Female grants, 3 Geriatric grants) 3 committed a new crime while incarcerated.
December: 20 grants and only 3 were first time grants (No Female grants, 2 Geriatric grants) 1 committed a new crime while incarcerated.
Cramped Quarters
Inmate John Nissley reports that the size of Cell N3-301 that he shares with his roommate at Buckingham Correctional Center (BKCC) is as follows:.
Actual Cell Size: 75 Square Feet (600 cubic feet)
Usable Cell Size: 26.5 Square Feet (208.36 cubic feet)
By Tyler Hammel - The (Charlottesville) Daily Progress
Saturday, November 24, 2018
A Charlottesville attorney has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Virginia inmate who says officials censored his writings, violating his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
According to the complaint filed by attorney Jeff Fogel in federal court in Richmond, Uhuru Baraka Rowe had two essays he wrote about poor prison conditions censored prior to their release.
Neither essay contained anything that could be considered a security risk, the suit alleges, but they do contain information critical of both the Sussex II State Prison and its staff.
The suit names five defendants.... All are being sued in their individual capacities.
As a politically conscious prisoner, Rowe was targeted for the political content of his essays, the suit claims.
Fogel said that in his time as an attorney, he's been a part of more than a dozen similar cases and in every case the suits have worked out in favor of the inmates. Censorship in federal and state prisons is widespread, Fogel said, and even his own writings teaching inmates how to file their own lawsuits have been blocked before.
Given the limited literacy seen among inmates, Fogel said he finds it frustrating that prisons would try to censor both incoming literature and letters sent by inmates.
"One of the best things that can happen to inmates during their incarceration is access to literacy and education," he said. "The fact that so many prisons try and block this access is ludicrous."
According to Fogel, prison staff is only allowed to censor or prevent the release of inmate writings that contain directions for criminal activity, escape plans, coded information or other obvious security risks.
In one of the essays, Rowe describes Sussex II as a "Potemkin village," a reference to fake portable villages built by Russian nobleman Grigory Potemkin in 1787 to fool and impress his former lover, Empress Catherine II.
Much like the Potemkin villages, Rowe said the prison is made to look put together and functional all while hiding the cruelties and injustices found within from inspectors representing the American Correctional Association.
"When the inspectors leave, however the facade is removed, the show comes to an end, and it's back to business as usual; back to treating us prisoners in a degrading and dehumanizing manner and subjecting us to conditions that are harsh, cruel and overly oppressive," he wrote in one of the two essays in question.
Unable to do much out of fear of retaliation from prison authorities, Rowe writes on his blog that writing letters to those on the outside is one of the few things he can do.
"Amidst the groans, the agony, the sighs and teary eyes, incarcerated Freedom Fighters bow our heads, pick up our pens, and write; hoping that you, The People, will see and hear the truth," he writes in the closing paragraph of the other essay in question.
Among other criticisms highlighted in Rowe's essays are: poor-quality water, substandard medical care, overcrowding, misconduct from prison staff and understaffing. The understaffing has caused the prison to go on lockdown due to insufficient security, forcing prisoners to stay in their cells for longer periods of time than usual, one essay states.
Rowe has been imprisoned for more than 20 years on a 93-year sentence. According to VDOC's website, Rowe will not be released until 2076. He is not eligible for parole.
In an earlier essay Rowe wrote that was critical of Virginia's parole system, he said he accepted a blind plea agreement in a case involving robbery and the murder of two innocent people. Barely 18 years old at the time, Rowe said the sentencing guidelines suggested a maximum prison term of 13 years. So far, his requests for clemency have not been approved.
Letter From Inmate Jonathan White
Happy Sabbath Harvey,
We are having a "Kairos Weekend" this week for the brothers who signed up to participate and there is a joyful reunion scheduled in the evening for everyone who has participated in a Karios weekend here since it began. It is a very joyful time when brothers come together from all different walks of faith in fellowship and worship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Brothers express unbridled exchanges of faith and self. It is more than just the homebaked cookies and coffee. It is a time that hearts are really touched by the messages and testimonies shared. To see some of the hardheartedest convicts in prison break down and cry out for repentance... and for their first time accept the love of Christ.
In 1982, I walked into the prison chapel at Southampton on a Saturday evening Sabbath Day Service sponsored by the Campostella Heights Seventh-Day Adventist Church out of Norfolk, and on March 10, 1984, I fully accepted Christ Jesus in my life and took my first baptism ever on March 1, 1986, as a "believer." That moment changed my heart and soul from then on.
As the years passed by at Southampton, I became the Inside Inmate Coordinator for the Seventh-Day Adventist worship services and Bible studies. Now mind you...I am not one to feed into denominations or traditional systems. If the teaching is not from the pure Word of God... then it is not food for my plate, and to this day I remain a nondenominational believer in Christ Jesus.
Yes, prior to coming to prison, I was dipping and dapping into seeking a church home. My family were Pentecostal, Baptist, Catholic, and my grandmother's sister was a Seventh-Day Adventist. She invited me to come to a youth meeting one Sabbath evening and two of my schoolmates who were also SDA went along with me. That evening was remarkable because after the evening worship service (sundown) we all jumped into a church van and went to the bowling alley for the remainder of the evening. Hot dogs, cheese burgers, pizza and just good joyful teenage fun on the bowling lanes.
I met my first Christian girl friend that evening too. Life was different and I ended up singing in the youth choir with my two schoolmates on a dare. Today's youth don't gather together like we did then and just have down home clean fun without the drugs, alcohol and violence. Hey, young people today can't even have a birthday party without some mayhem occurring.
Those were the good old days!
A Song For Valentines Day
by my Pittsburgh-based singer/songwriter son Brad Yoder
love is all I have for you,
it will have to do,
if you were looking for a miracle,
the fact that we’re still here,
well that’s miraculous as anything
that I have seen magicians pull,
but I forgot the tricks I knew,
love is all I have for you..
love is all I have for you,
love is all that’s left after the wind has blown the chaff away,
I laugh at what I tried to save,
and disappointment’s just a lens to magnify what might have been,
but none of that was ever true,
love is all I have for you,
I close my eyes, I’m a child by the water,
casting stones so circles spread,
then blink twice, and we’re old on a park bench,
watching birds eat scattered bread,
in between we lost track of time,
but she is kind enough to remind us..
the little space between goodbyes is really only pocket-sized,
I carry you around with me in case I need some sympathy,
this fear that we’re not good enough will disappear when morning comes,
‘cause none of that was ever true,
love is all I have for you..
miraculous as anything that I have seen magicians do,
but I forgot the tricks I knew,
love is all I have for you…
No comments:
Post a Comment