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Police officers following a suspect into an apartment complex in Lexington, Ky., don’t know which apartment their man has entered. But wafting through one of the closed apartment doors is the familiar odor of marijuana. The smell provides reason to believe criminal activity is afoot, probable cause for a warrant to search the apartment.
Over the last week, more than 30,000 members of the NAACP family have spoken up and stood by Troy Davis. Now it's up to us to spread the word so that our collective voice can be even louder.
JUAN GONZALEZ: We turn now to California, where thousands of inmates in at least 11 prisons across the state’s troubled prison system have been on hunger strike for almost two weeks. Many are protesting in solidarity with inmates held in Pelican Bay State Prison, California’s first super-maximum security prison.
The hunger strike began on July 1st in the Pelican Bay’s Security Housing Unit, when inmates began refusing meals to protest what they say is cruel and unusual conditions. Prisoners in the units are kept in total isolation for 22-and-a-half hours a day, a punishment some mental health experts say can lead to insanity and is tantamount to torture.
Democracy Now! obtained a recording of an audio statement that one of the Pelican Bay inmates, Ted Ashker sic, made to his legal team in the secure prison’s Secure Housing Unit, which is referred to as the SHU. You will need to listen closely as he explains his reasons for joining the hunger strike.
TODD ASHKER: The basis for this protest has come about after over 25 years—some of us, 30, some up to 40 years—of being subjected to these conditions the last 21 years in Pelican Bay SHU, where every single day you have staff and administrators who feel it’s their job to punish the worst of the worst, as they’ve put out propaganda for the last 21 years that we are the worst of the worst. And most of us have never been found guilty of ever committing an illegal gang-related act. But we’re in SHU because of a label. And all of our 602 appeals, numerous court challenges, have gotten nowhere. Therefore, our backs are up against the wall.
May 9, 2011
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011
The case is Berghuis v. Thompkins, 08-1470. CLICK HERE for the Supreme Court Ruling
Want to invoke your right to remain silent? You'll have to speak up.
In a narrowly split decision, the Supreme Court's conservative majority expanded its limits on the famous Miranda rights for criminal suspects on Tuesday – over the dissent of new Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who said the ruling turned Americans' rights of protection from police abuse "upside down."
Partisan Defense Committee Statement 24 January 2010
Mumia Is Innocent—Free Him Now!
Supreme Court of Death Rules Against Mumia Abu-Jamal
Abolish the Racist Death Penalty!
Top US Court Sends Mumia Abu-Jamal Closer to Execution
People in the Humboldt area and wherever you are! Please mobilize rallies, media, strikes, shut downs, walk outs, etc to save Mumia Abu Jamal. If you've never spread the word before, spread it NOW!! Pass this email on to all of your lists. AT LEAST SIGN THE PETITIONS!! Listen to Mumia's radio commentaries from Death Row, and fight for his life!! There are many links at the bottom of this message.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Condemned inmate Troy Anthony Davis filed the legal equivalent of a Hail Mary when he petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a hearing on his innocence claims.
The Supreme Court has ruled undocumented workers using false papers cannot be charged with aggravated identity theft unless they knew their fake IDs belonged to a real person. The Bush administration frequently charged undocumented immigrants with felony identity theft, which carries a two-year sentence. Prosecutors had used the threat of a felony to persuade undocumented workers to plead guilty to lesser charges of document fraud.
Yesterday there was a huge development in Mumia's case.
August 19, 2009 by TruthDig.com by Amy Goodman