Photo Album for Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill (AIMI)

Pictured is a naked, chained and shackled mentally ill prisoner, a photograph from the album of Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill (AIMI), a/k/a The Dorothea Dix Group.  AIMI uses 400 pictures in the album at the link below in advocacy against incarcerating the mentally ill, excessive sentencing, wrongful convictions, and the death penalty.  The man pictured above is chained to a prison wall, naked and neglected. His hair is matted and unkept, and his skin is diseased from lack of baths. Unfortunately, such cruel methods of dealing with psychiatric patients are still employed in 21st century America's prisons and jails.

Two recent abuse cases gained widespread attention.  Mr. Gay is currently suing his Illinois prison pyschiatrist for abuse he endured in 2004.  Gay alleges that the doctor had him repeatedly restrained naked on a cold metal bed frame for up to 32 hours in isolation while deprived of food. Frank Horton, a former inmate at Nashville's CCA correctional facility, was kept naked in dark solitary confinement for nine months, living in feces without baths, exercise, or doctor's visits.  A guard rescued Horton by blowing the whistle on his employer to save the inmate's life.  The mentally ill are often arrested for minor offenses like vagrancy and disturbing the peace.  Once imprisoned, they are frequently abused by other inmates and guards.  Some die like Sean LeVert, a famous singer who was secured in a dangerous restraint chair, and like my brother, Larry Neal.  His jail death is covered-up, and the exact circumstances of his demise were not revealed despite open disclosure laws. (Browse online for his name and story, or see other articles in this blog.)
.
Approximately half of the nation's 2.3 million inmates are mental patients, including 60% of those in solitary confinement.  Pictures in AIMI's album are used to say:
.
JAIL IS THE LAST THING THAT MENTAL PATIENTS NEED, AND TOO OFTEN, IT IS THE VERY LAST THING THEY EXPERIENCE. Please join our effort to decriminalize mental illness. No one deserves to be punished for having a disability. Repeal capital punishment; stop excessive sentencing and wrongful convictions. Respect human and civil rights. Equal justice!
.
When visitors open the album at Care2, they are give the option to view the 400 photos using a slideshow.  However, some of the pictures are censored and will not present on the slideshow.  The slideshow starts to race rather than present each photo on the five-second delay that is set, and certain pictures repeat rather than show the next photo due. Therefore, the pictures are best viewed six at a time by using the page view and the arrows at the bottom of each page to access the next six photos.  Enjoy, and please share the link. You can use the convenient ADD THIS button at the upper left-hand side of this page to send the album to friends, groups, Facebook, etc.  Return to this blog and give your opinion, if you wish, in the comments section. 
.
Elected officials are urged to remember that whereas acute mental patients usually are not voters, their family members are.  Each of the 1.25 million mentally ill incarcerees in America probably has at least four people who care about them and recognize that their loved ones should not be punished for having a common, treatable health condition.  This also happens to veterans suffering PTSD.  With the lack of available treatment for mental illness in American communities, especially for the uninsured, it is common for the mentally ill to try to self-medicate with alcohol and street drugs, and that causes numerous arrests.  Support H.R. 619 for Medicaid insurance to again become available for inpatient psychiatric treatment.  It costs taxpayers significantly less to help provide treatment for their mentally ill neighbors than it does to imprison them.  In addition to being just and humane, treatment reduces crimes.
.
Once patients have been stabilized by inpatient care, they should only be released from hospitals (or prisons) under assisted outpatient treatment programs that combine mandatory treatment and subsistence assistance.  Kendra's Law program participants in New York experienced around 90% decrease in hospitalization, incarceration, and homelessness compared to their circumstances prior to program participation.
.
*Link to AIMI album: http://www.care2.com/c2c/photos/view/217/513396753/AIMI_Photo_Album/
.
Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them. ~ Frederick Douglas.
.
More links to advocacy for the incarcerated mentally ill and other human rights/justice issues are at Mary Neal's Google profile link: www.google.com/profiles/MaryLovesJustice
.
Thanks for your interest, and please support H.R. 619.
.

Prison Torture Within the U.S.A., by Mary Neal

HORROR STORY NO. 1:  Torture of Mentally Ill Inmate in Illinois

An Illinois prison psychiatrist's answer to mental illness in an inmate:  Repeatedly strap him naked to a bare metal bedframe for up to 32 hours, in isolation and without food.  Anthony Gay, age 35, is the plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against Dr. Rakesh Chandra.  Gay alleges cruel and unusual treatment while incarcerated in Tamms Correctional Center in southern Illinois in 2004.

Whereas Gay's treatment was most certainly cruel, it was nothing unusual.  Mentally ill inmates are frequently subjected to torture behind bars, and some die. 
.
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done it to ONE of the least of these my brethren, you have done it also unto me. ~ Matthew 25:40
.
YOUR RESPONSE?

HORROR STORY NO. 2:  Week-long Execution Torture in Ohio

Romell Broom's execution in Ohio was postponed after executioners poked him for over two hours but failed to find a suitable vein for the lethal injection IV.  Broom's lawyer,Tim Sweeney, protested, calling the execution cruel and unusual punishment.  Gov. Ted Strickland ordered a one-week break before resuming execution.

The team began working on Broom in a holding cell 17 steps from the execution chamber at about 2 p.m.  They stopped at about 4:30 p.m.  Broom attempted to help the team access his veins, and after one failed attempt, he covered his face . . .  sobbing.  (AP report, Sept. 15, 2009)

*UPDATE 10/06/09:  Ohio May Have a Solution to KILLING Broom and other inmates more efficiently.

(AP) – Columbus, Ohio - Ohio is considering injecting lethal drugs into inmates' bone marrow or muscles as an alternative to — or a backup for — the traditional intravenous execution procedure, a prisons department spokeswoman said Tuesday.
.
Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power, preserve those that are appointed to die. ~ Psalm 79:11
.
YOUR RESPONSE?



I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. . .  Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.  Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. To remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all.
~ Elie Wiesel, Nobel Prize for Peace, 1986


SOLUTIONS:  Decriminalize Mental Illness and Repeal Capital Punishment
.
Roughly 1.25 million inmates are mentally ill, comprising more than half of our nation's prisoners. This happened in large part because monies that once went to their hospitalization and treatment within their communities now goes to imprison them, at no savings to taxpayers. Rep. Eddie Johnson of Texas proposed H.R. 619 to remedy the need for more inpatient space in mental hospitals by reinstating Medicaid insurance for inpatient psychiatric care.  It was largely the removal of this insurance that led to hospital closings and the criminalizing of mental illness.
.
About 2/3 of inmates were incarcerated on non-violent offenses.  Many psychiatric patients now warehoused in prisons would fare very well in their communities as outpatients with subsistence provisions.  Kendra's Law participants in New York had around 90% reduction in their rates of hospitalization, arrests, homelessness, and imprisonment compared to their experiences three years prior to becoming program participants under court-ordered treatment.  H.R. 619 for hospitalizing acute mental patients who did violent crimes (usually resulting from a lack of psychiatric treatment), and Kendra's Law for nonviolent patients would improve community safety, promote healing, and end prison abuses to our most vulnerable citizens.
.
Regarding the death penalty, what part of "thy shalt not kill" do we not understand?  End capital punishment.
.
*It does not deter crime   *It targets the poor   *It is racist   *It kills the innocent   *It is barbaric  
* It is expensive, costing around $90,000 more per death row inmate per year than inmates serving life without parole in maximum security prisons.
.
YOUR RESPONSE?  Would you write a quick email to your elected officials in favor of H.R. 619 for inpatient care and assisted outpatient treatment for mentally ill offenders?  Would you also like to see the death penalty repealed in your state and/or give inmates every opportunity to prove their innocence with post-conviction DNA testing or new trials for inmates with substantial new evidence of innocence?  Here are handy links for your convenience:
.
111th Congress:  www.house.gov/writerep/
.
Your Governor: www.usa.gov/Contact/Governors.shtml
.
Please use your back arrow to return to this blog if you read the articles and view the film at the links below, as I hope you will.  Please return daily for more news and views on our justice system.  Use the convenient "ADD THIS" feature on this blog to share with others, please.  Your feedback is invited.  Please comment on this or any topics in this blog, or ask questions if you so desire.  Thanks for your interest!
.
Anthony Gay story:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-trappedintamms-la,0,242835.story
.
A video Trapped: Mental Illness in America’s Prisons
http://www.jennackerman.com/trapped/
.
Romell Broom story:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/15/national/main5313855.shtml
.
Update: Ohio Considers Lethal Injections into Inmates' Bone Marrow and Muscle
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ju0_UPvEVxUhVLghH9flkDra4lEAD9B5Q3804
.
Information on capital punishment from the Death Penalty Information Center
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/taxonomy/term/55?page=8
.
Mary Neal
http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com/
.
Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill (AIMI)
http://www.Care2.com/c2c/group/AIMI
.
Your donations to AIMI are appreciated.  For more advocacy articles, browse through this blog - http://www.freespeakblog.blogspot.com/  and access the links in Mary Neal's Google profile:  http://www.google.com/profiles/MaryLovesJustice
.
.

My Philosophy of Liberty vs. Cointelpro

Cointelpro is said to be a system of cyberstalking and censorship that attacks activists to discourage and/or impede their electronic communications. I have been followed around the Internet for years now and had my data deleted, changed, and received cyberterrorist threats, but I did not know what to call the illegal interference against my First Amendment rights until last night when a friend suggested that I am being attacked by Cointelpro.

Of course, cyberstalkers do not announce themselves, so I cannot say definitively that Cointelpro is the cause of my problems. I will call it that henceforth, because it seems likely. Whatever causes my electronic communication problems has broad capabilities and is able to access and manipulate my Internet usage regardless of what network I use or what anti-virus software and spyware I employ on my home computers.  Law enforcement refuses to address the illegal interference and cyberterrorism. A code used to appear beside my name when I signed my articles at NowPublic.com. I tried to send the code to some IT people, but it disappeared on the emails. I tried substituting two characters of the code, but it still would not transmit. Disappearing codes seem a little James Bondish to me. I did not publish the censorship and cyberterrorism until saving plenty of proof on video, thinking that it was so farfetched that people would not believe me. Contrarily, when I finally wrote about it, many people came forward and shared similar experiences in their comments to my articles at http://NowPublic.com/duo  *NOTE:  If you access links in this blog, use the back arrow to return. 

The Bill of Rights means nothing unless it is enforced law. But America is a country that has unequal application of legal protections and punishments. I write about human and civil rights and "love thy neighbor." It is indeed sad if that is a problem. It would be best to stop teaching children to say the Pledge of Allegiance and giving them Civics classes right now if authorities plan for Americans to abdicate our First Amendment rights to free speech and free press or lay aside any other civil liberties. Anything children repeat day after day becomes part of their belief system whether or not the rights were ever meant to apply to all socio-economic classes and races equally. Like I did, most students of American history and Civics will develop an intractable belief in the worth of the individual. Like Mary Neal, they will develop a philosophy of liberty.

VIDEO:  PHILOSOPHY OF LIBERTY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z1buym2xUM

Whatever is behind my censorship attacked again today. I sent e-cards via Care2 today to announce Texas Moratorium Network's petition to clear the name of wrongly executed Todd Willingham. Care2 sends the originator of e-cards a copy in their email box if they request it and another notice when cards were opened by addressees.

The "SENT" cards I received a copy of in my email at MaryLovesJustice@gmail.com had been STRIPPED OF ALL DATA (Cointelpro hacked them, apparently). Twice in the past two weeks, my input was stripped from inside Care2 ecards, and the cards reached my addressees devoid of the information regarding (1) Thomas Arthur, wrongly convicted Alabama death row inmate, and (2) Todd Willingham, wrongly executed Texan. Care2 reported that the network's entire ecard area had been attacked after I sent the Thomas Arthur ecard. Alabama reportedly still plans to execute Arthur despite his DNA test results proving negative as the murderer of Troy Wicker. The DNA results are held under court seal, and Arthur's attorneys are not allowed to publish the results. I suppose my ecards revealed information that was inteded to be held until after Arthur's execution, as in Todd Willingham's case.  Authorities also had proof that Willingham did not commit arson murders before his exection, but killed him anyway.  When I complained in the comments section of my Care2 Willingham article about interference regarding my ecards, some of the addressees then got the ecards with the Willingham information, while others had not.  I have found that whereas cyberstalkers know how to interrupt a person's First Amendment rights online by redirecting mail, removing certain data and links from people's mail and articles and blogs, putting fake views that can be seen only from a specific URL, etc., they completely lack common sense. That is how I catch them in the act, and you will see it in my films.


Mistakes have been made regarding executions, but to DELIBERATELY withhold a condemned prisoner's test results, forbid the condemned man's attorneys from telling the public the Arthur is innocent, cyberstalk someone like me who tries to notify people, and plans to proceed and execute an innocent man strike me as being criminal conduct. Perhaps there is nothing criminal about it according to the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It provides that slavery is illegal except for those who have had their freedom set aside by due process of law. Being found guilty of crimes in America removes the constitutional right to exist free from slavery.  It is not illegal to kill one's slaves, so apparently Alabama is ready to exercise its right to kill Arthur - innocent or not, as Supreme Court Justice Scalia opined in the Troy Davis case. See the topic discussed further at another post in this blog:  HOW MUCH DOES INNOCENCE MATTER IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE?

The media is not reporting about Arthur's DNA tests coming back negative as the murderer, just like the media is probably FORBIDDEN from reporting about my brother, Larry Neal, who was secretly arrested Guantanamo-style and killed in Memphis Shelby County Jail in 2003, but my family is DENIED any investigation or explanation - denied all records of his arrest and murder, detailed in http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com/ - Equal rights and justice in America are over, if they ever existed. Larry's death was followed by an elaborate conspiracy of cover-up, facilitated by The Johnnie Cochran Firm while under contact as his family's attorneys! Google THE COCHRAN FIRM FRAUD.

Agencies that should uphold justice seem to rally around The Cochran Firm and help contain exposure about Larry's wrongful death and The Cochran Firm Fraud. I believe that to be a duplicitous law firm that uses Johnnie Cochran's name to defraud blacks and browns after police violence. Instead of authorities helping a grieving family that was royally waterboarded, my family members are followed, cyberstalked, censored, and interrogated by the FBI (agents visited my niece after she facilitated serving our lawsuit on The Cochran Firm's Memphis office and asked the middle-aged grandmother and former civil servant, a mother of military men, what she knew about nude dancing).

Today I watched part of a disturbing film on the history of Cointelpro and African Americans.  The filmmaker presented evidence that persons with the capacity to unify people around the cause of racial equality were targeted.  I write about injustices toward prisoners and inequities in economic opportunities that target African Americans for greater incarceration rates.  My advocacy is not a black movement, but rather, it is a mission by God to unite people of all races around the concept that there is a better way to address crime than locking up millions of people, two-thirds of them for non-violent offenses, with more than half of them being mentally ill citizens who deserve our protection.  Most members of our online advocacy organization are Caucasians, and everyone is welcome and needed.  Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill (AIMI) is a human/civil rights organization that works in the tradition of Dorothea Dix to decriminalize mental illness and encourage lawmakers to view mental illness as a health condition to be treated, not a crime to be punished.

America's high incarceration rate affects millions of families, whether it is because they have  imprisoned relatives or mentally ill loved ones who are in danger of future arrest due to their dysfunctions.  Too many Americans are unemployed because their jobs were outsourced to prison labor programs where the laborers are slaves with no wage laws or benefits.  Regarding capital punishment, what part of "Thy shalt not kill" did we not understand?  AIMI is an anti-capital punishment group, especially advocating for mentally ill inmates on death row and the wrongly convicted.  Since my brother's secret arrest and wrongful death in 2003 in Memphis Shelby County Jail and my family's subsequent denial of remedy under the law, I have become attuned to the wailing of other mothers like my own mom whose sick son was cruelly and secretly imrpisoned and killed for having a handicap.  These mothers are black, white, and brown.  If I am targeted because I care about people suffering and advocate that we demonstrate more love for our neighbors without regard to race, socio-economic distinctions or health status, then I am like my Lord, and He will protect me. 

If The Cochran Firm is now in the business of unethically defrauding its clients to protect police departments after disenfranchised persons are killed or abused, I question how they got so many African Americans to go along with the farce quietly. Six months after The Cochran Firm's Atlanta office had itself declared NONEXISTENT as a Cochran Firm office in Georgia, the firm contracted with 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston's family, just as though the firm had not declared itself not to exist in Georgia. Ms. Johnston's family has not been awarded a thin dime because police stormed her home and shot her like a dog.

I seriously doubt if Shawn Holley, an attorney who worked with Johnnie Cochran for 17 years, is the only one who knows about The Cochran Firm Fraud, but she is the only one besides my family that I know of who came forward and tried to warn people. Find Shawn Holley's NPR interview online wherein she exposed The Cochran Firm's agenda of deliberately delivering shabby legal services to minority clients.

What kind of authorities go along with families being tricked like ours and Ms. Johnston's survivors? What kind of African Americans sit quietly while this kind of farce is being carried out against other people of color?

Ms. Holley did not know the entire story. She likely did not know The Cochran Firm Fraud is apparently a plan authorized by the government. Otherwise, I do not believe my reports to the BBB, FBI, FTC, FCC, USDOJ, and major news affiliates would not have been ignored regarding The Cochran Firm's Atlanta office disclaiming its advertised identity in Georgia Superior Court and that the judge had agreed that the law firm did not exist while it was open every day, and using a P.C. after its alias name without being registered in the State of Georgia. No regular business, especially one that is of, by, or for minorities, would get that kind of protection from negative press. After making reports and filing a federal lawsuit against the firm, I started being followed, censored, cyberstalked, and terrorized, but denied police services.  U.S. Code 18, 242 and 245 do not mean any more than the Bill of Rights does, because these laws are not uniformly protected.

Others seem to join in the fraud - even judges - and allow me to be cyberstalked and terrorized - a Georgia grandmother! I was even notified by a friend in government that my email arrived as WHITELISTED! That means that because I ask authorities to DO THEIR JOB AND ANSWER WHAT HAPPENED TO MY MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED BROTHER, LARRY NEAL, I AM ON WATCH LISTS! Now did you know things had gotten so bad? Americans, the next sound you hear might be train whistles coming for your relatives with Autism, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's and bipolar disorder, and you had better not say one thing about it or you will be whtelisted, too. Already 1.25 million mentally ill people are in prison. How long will they spare your children, moms and dads, uncles and friends?

In any case, that is the news my cyberstalking is meant to contain - THE COCHRAN FIRM FRAUD. Everything else I report is from the Internet and is obviously already known. However, I take the news and tell what it means regarding justice, so this disturbs wrongdoers. You can read more about The Cochran Firm Fraud in this blog at "Cochran Firm Fraud Goes On and On" as well as at my NowPublic articles accessible by this link: http://NowPublic.com/duo

Sometimes cyberstalkers actually do things just to show off! Yesterday when editing my Martin Luther King blog you can access by scrolling down from here, cyberstalkers got busy changing the colors of my text. The name of the blog is "Martin Luther King's Final Speech Fraudulently Edited." I highlighted the parts of his speech that had been changed in red and green, but the cyberstalkers were turning them back to black font - why? Just showing me they have control. Juveniles! But since they did so many antics like that over the past two years, I have lots of footage to show the world that yes - Cointelpro exists. I am followed around the Internet and data is deleted, emails curtailed, etc. in Care2, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, and even my gmail email account, although less than the others. I am in good company as a human rights advocate. MLK was censored while he lived, and he is cyberstalked now - 41 years after death. See my article for the proof.

When an activist publishes data these people want to contain, cyberterrorism is the response, i.e.: http://www.care2.com/c2c/photos/view/217/513396753/Photo_that_came_right_after_the__quot_water_quot__email/Death%20warning%20flash.gif.html

People got so ruthless recently with cyberstalking and in-person stalking (with police assistance denied), that I launched this petition: JUSTICE FOR MARY NEAL - PETITION TO COMBAT TERRORISM AND CENSORSHIP http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/justice-mary-neal-petition-combat-terrorism-censorship

To show you just how sad America is, the petition was in the top 10 on Congress.org in July, and not one representative called me about the crimes I wrote about. No police officer ever asked for the license numbers of those who follow me. Perhaps they already knew. There was usually an officer or other official vehicle with those who stalked me. See my videos online - Cochran Firm Fraud 1 and 2 at Youtube and Y! Video.

Am I afraid of them? Sure, I am. But I have on the whole armor of God. I pray and carry on. God cares about how the least of these, His brethren, are treated. Matthew 25 makes it clear of whom the Lord speaks by referring to people who naked and sick in prison. That is the circumstance that ONLY applies to the incarcerated mentally ill, the main people I advocate for in obedience to Hebrew 13:3. Why civil and human rights organizations ignore the crimes against me which are meant to stop me using my First Amendment privileges, I do not know. One day the cyberstalkers flashed on my screen a large message that said, "Protected by no one." What a bald-faced lie that is! If I were protected by no one, I would not be sitting here typing. "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them." ~Psalm 34:7

Cointelpro can and does occasionally CHANGE what a person sent in emails or on blogs after their release into cyberspace. I HAVE VIDEO PROOF WHICH WILL BE PUBLISHED OF MY ILLEGAL CYBERSTALKING, as I have been filming the cyberstalking for two years. I also filed proof of cyberterror and in-person stalking in USDC in the Neals v. The Cochran Firm case, but the court ignored it. I think people ought to get out of the New World Order, wherein they stick together and mistreat the common man and devise an end to civil rights, and they should get in order with God's Word instead. Either they will learn now to do that now, or they will learn too late the hot way.

Regarding data being illegally deleted from my Care2 ecards, the data was visible on the ecards in my Care2 "sent" file, but not on most of the ecards that addressees actually received or the receipt copies that came to my gmail box.  The deleted text can be seen at this article:  http://freespeakblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/execution-of-cameron-todd-willingham.html .

Deleted data concerned Texas Moratorium Network's petition to exonerate a wrongly executed man, Cameron Todd Willingham.  Only the heading was left on the cards that were received by most addressees:

Help TMN Clear Todd Willingham's Name; Note My New Contact Info! 

Despite interference, Willingham's petition article made Care2 News Network's front page, and many people were grateful of the opportunity to know about his wrongful execution and support the petition for his post mortem exoneration.

Sept. 14, 2009  - CARE2 NEWS NETWORK: http://www.care2.com/news/member/513396753/1247802
.

The Wrongful Execution of Cameron Todd Willingham

Sign a petition to Governor Rick Perry and the State of Texas to acknowledge that the fire in the Cameron Todd Willingham case was not arson, therefore no crime was committed. Ask for Texas to admit that on February 17, 2004, the state executed an innocent man. Grab the link to the petition for justice and share it with others. Stop the slander against a man who was prosecuted, imprisoned, and executed for the arson murders of his children, but authorities now say there was likely no arson, so no murders. Require Texas to remove the "likely," and admit its mistake, please, so this man's memory will no longer be tarnished as one who committed infanticide.

Share a link for the petition with your friends and groups. Open the link to see pictures from the Willingham family album - Todd with his family before the tragic fire that robbed Todd first of his children, then his own life twelve years later by execution in 2004: http://camerontoddwillingham.com/?page_id=6

The petition is sponsored by Texas Moratorium Network (TMN), a grassroots, non-profit organization with the primary goal of mobilizing statewide support for a moratorium on executions in Texas. Contact information for TMN is 3616 Far West Blvd, Suite 117, Box 251 Austin, Texas 78731 Phone: Voice Mail: 512.961.6389. Visit the group at this link: http://www.blogger.com/profile/00080688585101692480

The State of Texas ranks number one in U.S. executions. Todd Willingham was not the first Texan whose execution may have been unwarranted. See a video about another likely case:
.
*SAD NEWS FROM TEXAS* VIDEO - DEATH ROW
The case regards a middle-aged Latino man named Leonel Herrera. He was executed for killing an officer and wounding another in a gunfight in Los Frenos, Texas in 1981. Years later, Herrera's nephew stated that he saw his father, Raul Herrera involved in the shootout, not his Uncle Leonel. See the video below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maARKptAHKo




It may be hard to imagine, but some people ENJOY executions. I discovered this on the night that Edward Bell was executed in Virginia when I browsed online to see what comments were being posted about it. Edward Bell was a man who suffered from mild retardation. He maintained his innocence until his last breath. The link below is to an article I wrote in part to share news of the callous attitudes many people exhibited online the night Bell was executed. A decreasing number of Americans believe that some crimes are so heinous that executions are warranted, but it is sociopathic to actually enjoy capital punishment. If the purpose of executions is primarily entertainment like gladiator sports in ancient Rome, cable TV is much cheaper entertainment. It would save approximately $90,000 per year per condemned inmate for taxpayers who are bored Southerners (most executions are done in the South).

Please visit this article and watch the prison torture videos. Capital punishment supporters may agree after seeing the films that life in prison without parole is enough punishment for even the worst crimes. Despite what the public is made to believe, prison is no health spa:

Killing Inmates is Costly - Cheaper to Watch TV, with TORTURE VIDEOS
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/killing-inmates-costly-cheaper-watch-tv-w-torture-videos

Congratulations to Texas for allowing the fact that a mistake was likely made regarding Todd's execution to go forward in the media. Authorities in some states are so intent on hiding the truth about mistakes and human rights abuses that the news would never have reached the public. There is a complete media blackout regarding the secret arrest and wrongful death of my mentally and physically handicapped brother, Larry Neal, who was arrested in Memphis Shelby County Jail in July 2003. His remains were returned in a body bag almost three weeks later. While Larry was hidden in jail with police denying his incarceration, he suffered and died without his prescription heart drugs, if not from much worse causes.

Mine is the only American family in the 21st century to have a member secretly arrested, killed, and his family subsequently denied any excuse, arrest records, or accountability by any sources whatsoever. Lynching was fairly common in the 1940's for African American men, particularly in the South. But Larry's death and cover-up proves black people have definitely not overcome as a race, and America has not overcome as a nation that upholds equal justice. http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com/

Please complete your commendable steps toward open disclosure, Texas, and admit now that Todd was not a murderer; admit that he did not set fire to his home to kill his innocent little ones. God will bless you for your honesty and decency in this matter.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Exodus 20:16
.

I Didn't Do It, Your Honor!

"BUT I'M INNOCENT, I TELL YOU! I DIDN'T DO IT!" How many movies have you seen with that line? Well, it does happen. The main causes for wrongful convictions were identified in a Buffalo News article* with the percentage of wrongful convictions that each cause effected:

(a) misidentification by eyewitnesses (75%),

(b) unvalidated forensic evidence (50%),

(c) lying government snitches (16%), and

(d) false confessions by juveniles and mentally challenged suspects (25%)

If a jury cannot trust witness testimony, lab tests, or confessions by the accused, what are jurors to believe? Hundreds of wrongful convictions have been overturned by DNA evidence or new trials for convicted persons with substantial new evidence. With all that can go wrong in a case, innocent people will undoubtedly continue to be sentenced to prison. One way to reduce those occurrences would be to allocate more money and attorneys for indigent defense. Troy Davis' appeals attorney reportedly had 70 other active cases while she was defending him on a capital murder charge. One might argue whether such a circumstance as that equals "due process of law."

Although it would cost more to improve indigent defense, states should consider how expensive it is to imprison innocent people. Each inmate costs taxpayers up to $50,000 per year, and significantly more if the inmate has a chronic illness or becomes ill in while incarcerated. Therefore, a 30-year-old wrongly convicted man serving a life sentence costs the state $2 million or more if he lives his normal life expectancy. It seems financially prudent, therefore, to give accused persons every opportunity to prove their innocence and possibly save the state the expense of punishing and rehabilitating people who need neither. The same applies to inmates who petition the court for DNA tests or new trials with substantial new evidence. Every inmate who proves his innocence and is exonerated spares the state the unnecessary financial burden of his continued internment.

Another way the innocent are indicted is through plea bargains. Some people believe that plea bargaining should be used more sparingly or eliminated altogether. Many accused persons are encouraged to give up their constitutional right to a trial by a jury of their peers and cop a plea to avoid the possibility of long prison sentences or execution. Oftentimes, this is a good deal for guilty persons. But innocent people who lack the money for attorneys' fees also accept these arrangements when presented, although a jury might have ruled in their favor upon hearing the evidence.

Since eyewitness testimony, lab tests, and even confessions cannot always be trusted, innocent people will continue to fall through the cracks occasionally and be imprisoned for crimes while the guilty go free. No measures will prevent every single wrongful conviction. But we can stop all wrongful executions very easily. Instead of costing money to do this, it would save around $90,000 per condemned inmate per year: Just end capital punishment, and no one will be wrongly executed. That is the only sure way. Say DEATH TO THE DEATH PENALTY!
________________
* For the Buffalo News report, see:
How just is the justice system in New York? by Ronald Fraser, Ph.D., September 11, 2009
Dr. Fraser writes on public policy issues for the DKT Liberty Project.
http://www.buffalonews.com/149/story/791803.html

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP

1) Become an advocate! It is as simple as sending one email to your representatives requesting that more funds be allocated for indigent defense.

eMail your congresspersons at this link: www.house.gov/writerep/

If you live in a state that still practices capital punishment, tell your state legislature and governor to repeal the death penalty and use the millions of dollars each year that ending capital punishment would save to better fund public defenders offices, improve inmate rehabilitation, and invest in youth jobs and recreational programs that help deter crime.

eMail your local elected officials at this link: www.emailyourgovernor.com/


2) Become a sponsor! Help support organizations that work to improve justice, like the Innocence Project, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Amnesty International, ACLU, Treatment Advocacy Center, and local organizations in your state. At the end of this blog, we present some links from The Death Penalty Information Center. DPIC is a non-profit organization serving the media and the public with analysis and information on issues concerning capital punishment. The Center, which is widely quoted and consulted by all those concerned with the death penalty, depends on contributions and grants for its funding. Make your tax deductible donations at this link: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/donate-dpic


4) Sign a petition and pass it on!

Justice for Jeremy and Other Mentally Ill Prisoners
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/JusticeForJeremy


5) Get involved! Become a member of national and local organizations that promote justice, support prisoners, and/or advocate to end the death penalty. You can find local groups by browsing for "prison advocacy" with your city's or state's name.

There are also numerous online advocacy groups where members advocate for change, share valuable information and personal accounts, and there are no meetings to attend. Try mine:

ASSISTANCE TO THE INCARCERATED MENTALLY ILL (AIMI) a/k/a The Dorothea Dix Group, at http://www.Care2.com/c2c/group/AIMI


4) Stay informed about justice issues. Please make checking this blog a part of your daily routine. I was drafted to turn America's mind toward justice by the secret arrest and wrongful death of my handicapped brother, Larry Neal, in 2003. I did not realize before then that our justice system is one in which innocent people are incarcerated and some suffer abuse and death. Believing in Lady Justice, I tried taking Larry's wrongful death to court, but was defrauded by our own attorneys. Still believing in the blindfolded lady, we took our fraudulent attorneys to court and discovered Lady Justice had a cornea transplant and could see just fine! She could see that we were black and not wealthy, and she was therefore very unfair. Since then, I've written over 600 articles and blogs regarding justice issues and sent a thousand emails to individuals and groups of thousands. I like to believe that they have helped to inspire some of the improvements that are being made.

Uncovering secrets, writing boldly about faults in the justice system, and exposing wrongs by privileged persons can be perilous. I have been censored and stalked online and in person while denied normal protection under the law to the point that I now live like Ann Frank, but in God I trust. I simply point out what God's will is regarding fairness and compassion - in other words, human rights. You may have read some of my work:

Oscar Grant: 1st Unarmed Black Man Killed by Police in 2009 - Next?
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/oscar-grant-1st-unarmed-black-man-police-killed-2009-next

Michael Jackson's Death - The Conspiracy Theory
http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/michael-jacksons-death-conspiracy-theory-updated

Enforced Treatment vs. Prison for Acute Mental Patients and Updates
http://www.nowpublic.com/health/enforced-treatment-vs-prison-acute-mental-patients-and-updates-mary-neal

Follow me on Twitter where I am "KoffieTime"- http://twitter.com/koffietime

Get most of my links from this Google profile - http://www.google.com/profiles/MaryLovesJustice

Improvements in our justice system are happening, but bad news gets more press. I always enjoyed returning to my articles at NowPublic.com and reporting when someone I helped advocate for got a stay of execution like Jeff Wood and Thomas Arthur did. I liked being able to report that Oregon built a new mental hospital after Theresa's schizophrenic brother killed her due to untreated mental illness. But I cannot update my NowPublic articles any longer. My membership was suspended after I wrote a series of articles against enforced H1N1 flu vaccines and the concept of militarized health care, despite the series' popularity.

To keep you updated regarding advancements in the justice system as I learn about them, I started a weekend blog at HubPages just to publish improvements and commend the individuals, organizations, and agencies responsible. Visit me on HubPages at the link below, and please send me any good news you come across: http://hubpages.com/profile/Mary+Neal

Your feedback is invited on this blog and any of my articles. You can also contact me directly at MaryLovesJustice@gmail.com or by writing P.O. Box 7222, Atlanta, GA 30357

Thanks for stopping by this blog, and I hope you return tomorrow. Please share the link with your friends and groups. Help to highlight matters that should concern all of us. That is important because elected officials care about what voters care about, and voters cannot care about conditions they don't know about. Send my link and help someone else to know. And do you know what?

God will bless you for your assistance to the least of these, His brethren. (Matt. 25:40)

An excellent resource for information on capital punishment is the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). Below are links to a number of interesting topics DPIC covers. The main link to that organization is http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/home

The Death Penalty in Black and White: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Who Decides
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/death-penalty-black-and-white-who-lives-who-dies-who-decides

U.S. Supreme Court Denies Rehearing in Kennedy v. Louisiana Opinion

Federal Judge Sharply Criticizes Texas System in Ordering Stay of Execution

U.S. to Seek Death Penalty under New Military Commissions

Crimes Punishable by the Death Penalty News and Developments - Previous Years

Crimes Punishable by the Death Penalty News and Developments: 2007

Those Executed Who Did Not Directly Kill the Victim

Supreme Court Asked to Review Unusual Death Sentence

View More

God Cares About Justice

For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth; To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death. ~ Psalm 102:19-20
.
.

HOW IMPORTANT IS INNOCENCE IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE?

Our "Inalienable Rights "Are Really Quite Alienable

My area of concern is equal justice for America's slave population. This became my interest after the secret arrest and wrongful death of Larry Neal, my mentally and physically handicapped brother who died under secret Guantanamo-style arrest in the Memphis Shelby County, Tennessee Jail on August 1, 2003. My commitment was reinforced by our ongoing denial of due process of law regarding Larry's demise.

Michael Jackson produced a music video with an important song called "They Don't Care About Us." People who are caught in the criminal justice system or have incarcerated loved ones usually discover that Michael's video aptly describes many police officers, jail and prison guards, lawyers, judges, elected officials and other decision makers. However, I interject the word "enough." Not enough people in the justice system care enough about human and civil rights. Numerous judges, lawmakers, and others are helping to effect positive changes.

The overwhelming majority of inmates sentenced in America's justice system are guilty of the crimes for which they were incarcerated or even worse offenses, and they plea bargained to reduce charges. However, the inmate population also includes innocent people who lost their freedom and some who will lose their lives for crimes they never did. Even one avoidable wrongful conviction that results in prolonged incarceration or execution is too many. Nevertheless, several Supreme Court and lower court rulings in 2009 raise a question that has tremendous relevance, especially for those unfortunate innocents who are behind bars.

DOES INNOCENCE MATTER?

The United States Supreme Court already decided this issue in July 2009. Many people who are incarcerated were sentenced before definitive DNA testing was available. However, the High Court ruled 5 to 4 in the case Alaska District Attorneys Office v. William Osbourne that inmates have NO right to post-conviction DNA testing to prove their innocence. Furthermore, some of the states that do allow post-conviction testing deny testing to those sentenced to prison, but only allow post-conviction DNA tests for those facing execution. I wrote about this in the article at the link below:

Supreme Court DNA Deliberations - http://www.nowpublic.com/world/supreme-courts-dna-deliberations-mary-neal

Unfortunately, many judges and district attorneys do not view innocence as being relevant in handing down or upholding prison sentences or even executions. Read the views expressed by Supreme Court justices in the High Court's August 17 ruling granting Troy Davis a hearing before a Georgia federal judge:

************************

“'The substantial risk of putting an innocent man to death clearly provides an adequate justification for holding an evidentiary hearing,' Justice John Paul Stevens wrote.

But Antonin Scalia, joined in the minority by Clarence Thomas, was unconvinced and unmoved.

'This Court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is ‘actually’ innocent. Quite to the contrary, we have repeatedly left that question unresolved, while expressing considerable doubt that any claim based on alleged ‘actual innocence’ is constitutionally cognizable.'”

Scalia’s fellow justices noted that his position allows no legal avenue for even an obviously innocent person to have his or her case heard.

***********************

It is good that some Supreme Court justices have qualms about imprisoning and executing people who are "obviously innocent" without a hearing. But one might question why an "obviously innocent person" would even need to have his/her case heard. If one is "obviously innocent," release seems to be in order. Suppose the judge assigned to hear the case does not like the accent, skin tone, or demeanor of the "obviously innocent" convicted person and rules against him?

Like Justices Scalia and Clarence Thomas, there are judges and prosecutors across the country who feel it is perfectly acceptable to imprison and even execute innocent people as long as the accused parties had their day in court. These judges and prosecutors entirely miss the point that the judicial process is intended to discover the truth of a matter and bring justice. Justice is never served by ignoring evidence of a convicted person's innocence because it arrived late or because reversing a wrongful conviction would be inconvenient to a prosecutor's career, costly to prison profiteers, or burdensome to the court process.

HAPPY HEROES DAY TO JUSTICE SCALIA FOR YOUR HONESTY

Apparently, our so-called "inalienable rights" to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are really quite alienable. All it takes to cancel them is false arrest and poor legal defense that leads to wrongful conviction. After trial, regardless of one's innocence or even the ability to irrefutably PROVE innocence, the High Court's statement above indicates that convicted persons have no automatic right to present proof and escape prison or execution. "Actual innocence" has never been determined to be constitutionally cognizable. The populace is not generally told that innocence and guilt do not matter in criminal justice. Instead, we are carefully taught to believe that we have certain "inalienable rights" as citizens, assuring that we will happily pay taxes every April 15 and give our sons and daughters in wars.

MONEY VS. HUMANITY

Civil court is more fair about late arriving evidence than criminal courts. Civil court judgments that were rendered as a result of fraud or perjury are automatically void. Such judgments are not merely voidable, but already void. Furthermore, there is no time limit on setting aside such wrongful judgments. Obviously, lawmakers consider protecting litigants from wrongful monetary loss in civil court above the possible loss of innocent lives in criminal court. I wonder why? Could the reason be that money matters more than people in America? If the fairness applied to monetary matters in civil court trumps justice for accused persons in criminal court, how far does that concept go? How much more important is money than criminal justice to our lawmakers and judiciary?

QUESTION: IF INNOCENCE REALLY DOESN'T MATTER, WHY HAVE COURT?

Could the reason for having trials be merely to satisfy the "due process of law" requirement in the 13th Amendment to the Constitution? The trial process is a prerequisite to supplying more slaves for the prison industrial complex - America's plantation system that arose immediately after the Civil War deprived the elite of their legal slaves. The emancipation of the Negro was the first time in American history when the elite had no slaves. Before Africans, poor whites were imported from Europe's ghettos and debtors' prisons to use their youth and vigor enriching America's elite, and Native Americans were also enslaved. The earliest Asians in America worked very menial jobs for slave wages. Many Latino workers do that now, especially those who are kept subservient by their illegal alien status. The slave class includes all who live on paychecks or fixed incomes. The ruling class can live quite comfortably off dividend checks or interest income, although many among them work. See information on the 13th Amendment at this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_C...

This is not to say that all wealthy Americans agree with or participate in perpetuating slavery through the prison system. However, there is a great need for people of means and influence who object to slavery to become modern day abolitionists. Prisons should be facilities used for punishment, rehabilitation, and restraining those who endanger lives and property. The mentally ill and wrongly convicted should be speedily removed from prisons and jails, and children should not be tried and incarcerated as adults.

Slavery in the U.S. has always been conducted with the utmost care for legal process, of course. European indentured servants' papers were properly executed and filed in township records. Slaves owners likewise had documents proving property rights over their slaves. Since the Emancipation Proclamation freed Africans, a huge prison system was created to perpetuate slavery. About 2.3 million people are imprisoned in America, bringing us to the point where 1 in every 30 persons is either behind bars or living under the immediate threat of prison as parolees or probationers. Prison profits soar not only from taxes paid by those in the slave pool, but also prison work projects using inmate laborers. As though 2.3 million inmates are not enough, Rep. Alcee Hastings proposed a congressional bill in January for six FEMA centers to be built in America which would be capable of warehousing millions more - H.R. 645.

After the Civil War, criminal court became the legal process used to keep the prison plantation well stocked with its human commodity while keeping millions in the slave pool compliant about their friends and relatives being marched away in chains. Most wrongly accused persons and their supporters are at first confident that all they need is to prove innocence to gain prison release. Wrong. As the High Court justices pointed out this week, innocence is not the issue. The issue is whether the "due process" provision in Amendment 13 of the Constitution was satisfied before removing the accused's freedom or taking his life.

Since slavery was "abolished" in America, a new generation of slave masters has emerged who are more business savvy and have more resources to perfect and protect their system than predecessors. Whereas their forerunners lost the legal right to have slaves basically on a moral principle, modern slave masters use accusations of criminal misconduct to justify enslavement. As the Supreme Court justices pointed out, the truth of such accusations is irrelevant. For lower income people, a criminal accusation is frequently sufficient to have an innocent person sign a plea deal to avoid getting a long prison sentence for a crime he/she did not do. This happens often because public defenders are usually given woefully inadequate budgets, and it is risky to leave one's freedom up to an over-extended attorney like Troy Davis' appeals lawyer, who had 70 other active cases. The authority of the justice system is used to deliver millions of people into actual bondage or stand-by status through parole and probation.

Slaves are commodities used for their masters' profit. Chronically sick slaves in the prison system such as the mentally ill and hospice patients generally fetch several times more money from taxpayers than well inmates in the general prison population. It is likely no coincidence that about half of all inmates are mental patients, many of whom were dismissed from mental hospitals in the 70's under Reganomics. Likewise, each death row inmate generally cost taxpayers $90,000 more per year than prisoners in a maximum security prison. The additional costs to taxpayers for death row inmates may explain why states cling to capital punishment despite growing public sentiment to end executions. Unfortunately, many decision makers are prison profiteers.

The expanding prison population not only hurts millions of families whose loved ones are imprisoned; but many jobs that Americans think were transferred to other countries with low labor costs were actually outsourced to prisons where labor costs are nil and there are no unions or employee benefits. "Made in the U.S.A." does not necessarily mean that buying a particular product helps to support an American worker in the usual sense. There is much debate regarding prison labor projects. The Center for Research on Globalization carried an article by Vickie Palaez on March 10, 2008, which stated:

According to the Left Business Observer, the federal prison industry produces 100% of all military helmets, ammunition belts, bullet-proof vests, ID tags, shirts, pants, tents, bags, and canteens. Along with war supplies, prison workers supply 98% of the entire market for equipment assembly services; 93% of paints and paintbrushes; 92% of stove assembly; 46% of body armor; 36% of home appliances; 30% of headphones/microphones/speakers; and 21% of office furniture. Airplane parts, medical supplies, and much more: prisoners are even raising seeing-eye dogs for blind people. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8289

Criminals are people who disrespect the human rights, property rights, and civil rights of others. Many inmates deserve punishment, and police and prosecutors do the rest of us on the plantation a great services by incarcerating them. But how many inmates would remain behind bars if all innocent people were freed? Debatably, they include:

most of the 1.25 million mentally ill inmates, many of whom were illegally incarcerated because they truly failed to understand their Miranda Rights and were unable to contribute to their defense at trial and/or are not guilty for reason of insanity;

inmates who were imprisoned before reaching the age when they were credited with having the maturity to sign a legally binding contract, drive a car, or make purchasing decisions about cigarettes, alcohol, and firearms.

persons incarcerated on "failure to pay" offenses, such as probation violation, child support laws, and tax evasion (debtors prison is illegal in America); and

wrongfully convicted prisoners who are denied the right to prove their innocence through post-conviction DNA testing or new trials before a jury of their peers - not merely hearings before another judge like Troy Davis was granted by the Supreme Court. Davis' millions of supporters hope that this time the Georgia court will rule that Davis deserves a new trial.

Slave-catching by law enforcement is made easier by technological advances that monitor the slave pool and collect evidence of their infractions. For those who cannot be proved to be guilty of actually participating in crimes, the law of parties arose and people are made guilty by association. The plantation flourished by implementing three-strikes laws, mandatory and excessive sentencing, wrongful convictions, and declaring a War on Drugs (actually, a war against thousands of helpless addicts and recreational drug users in the slave pool, whereas drug use and most other crimes among the elite are almost never punished).

As it was in the Old South, those in the slave pool vastly outnumber the elite. Therefore, intimidation, physical and mental cruelty, and an award system are applied to keep the masses in line, including public humiliation. Misbehaving European indentured servants in New England were pulled into the town square and beaten or put in a cruel restraint device on public display as a warning to others. Plantation slaves were made to gather and watch their fellows being beaten bloody or murdered before their eyes. The abundance of television shows that deal with criminal justice serve a similar purpose. Like former public beatings and lynchings, reality TV cops shows, bail bondsmen shows, courtroom dramas, etc., keep the slave pool intimidated and have been the source of public humiliation for some who were arrested on film. "Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?"

Executions also instill fear among the general populace, as evidence of the power the "justice" system has over them. This may also be why police brutality and wrongful deaths by law officers are protected by the elite in local and federal government. When such deaths occur, it usually takes the threat of a slave rebellion to bring the law officers to justice (such as the demonstrations after Oscar Grant's funeral). There were no demonstrations after the wrongful death of my handicapped brother, Larry Neal, who was secretly arrested and kept for weeks without his heart drugs in Memphis Shelby County Jail in 2003, so his family's right to due process of law is ignored.

Like 2/3 of all inmates, most incarcerated psychiatric patients were arrested for non-violent crimes, sometimes for simple vagrancy or disturbing the peace. Their sentences are frequently lengthened after incarceration due to their lack of understanding or self-control to follow jail rules. See http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com/. Larry is murdered inmate number 26 on the home page of the prisoner genocide website: http://www.geocities.com/prisonmurder/ (Each dead prisoner's story can be accessed by selecting his/her photograph.)


INNOCENT AND POTENTIALLY INNOCENT INMATES

Troy Davis was captured from the slave pool twenty years ago. The Supreme Court ruled in August that Davis must show clear evidence of his innocence to escape lethal injection, not merely reasonable doubt of his guilt, no matter how substantial the doubt is. Furthermore, the Court ruled it necessary for that "clear evidence" to have been unavailable at the time of Davis' trial. This means that if Davis' attorneys present actual proof of his innocence with evidence that his first attorney - an overworked public defender - had available but overlooked, that could be grounds to disregard the evidence. Time will tell whether the Supreme Court gave Davis a ladder or a fence. Troy's was a circumstantial case based on witness testimony. However, to win his liberty Troy must show "clear evidence of innocence" in a case with no forensic evidence for DNA testing.

Many of Troy Davis' supporters feel racism is one reason he was denied a new trial numerous times since his conviction despite the breakdown of evidence against him. Race does play a large part in American justice. However, eligibility for wrongful conviction is not determined by race alone, but also by socio-economic status. People of color are imprisoned at a higher rate than whites and Asians in large part because of greater economic disenfranchisement as well as racial profiling. Nevertheless, whites from the slave pool are as subject to the justice system's cruelty like non-whites. Consider Thomas Arthur, an Alabama's death row inmate, and Tennessee's likely wrongful execution of Phillip Workman, both white Americans who were sentenced to death despite weak cases against them.

Arthur, who has been on Alabama's death row for decades for the 1981 murder of Troy Wicker, was repeatedly denied DNA testing which he claimed would prove his innocence. Arthur's quest for post-conviction DNA testing engendered much public support. Judge Pulliam finally ruled this year that Arthur could test the evidence in his file. Just as he had claimed for years, Arthur's DNA did not match the crime scene specimens that were tested. But Arthur remains on Alabama's death row. When Arthur's test results were released by the forensic lab in July, the court immediately put them under seal, preventing Arthur's attorneys from publicizing his innocence. The Birmingham News reported on August 11 that the D.A. is going to ask for Arthur's death warrant, apparently without many people knowing that Arthur's DNA was negative for crime scene specimens tested. See Arthur's DNA test results at this link: http://www.thomasarthurfightforlife.com/

When Arthur faced imminent execution in July 2008, he allegedly sought to escape lethal injection by inducing another inmate, Bobby Ray Gilbert, to falsely confess to Wicker's murder. Of course, Gilbert's DNA did not match evidence from the murder scene, either. Apparently, neither inmate killed Wicker. The State of Alabama may ignore the fact that Arthur's DNA tested negative and execute him anyway. Authorities are upset with Arthur for perpetuating "a fraud on the court," as Judge Pulliam said, to live an extra year. Off with his head!

Phillip Workman was executed by the State of Tennessee despite the fact that witness testimony in his case fell apart over time, just as it has in Troy Davis' case. Serious doubt was cast on evidentiary testimony by the actions of Shelby County Coroner's Office as Workman's execution date drew near. Dr. O. C. Smith, chief medical examiner, allegedly faked his own kidnapping and taped explosives and notes to his person accusing himself of lying about bullet trajectory in Workman's trial. It was principally the medical examiner's testimony that led to Wokman's conviction.

Workman maintained his innocence throughout his 26 years on Tennessee's death row, claiming it was a policeman who killed the officer he was condemned for shooting during his botched attempt to rob a Wendy's restaurant. Even the victim's daughter protested Workman's execution because she doubted his guilt. If Dr. Smith's kidnapping was a desperate attempt to tarnish his own testimony and save Workman, it did not work. Dr. Smith was indicted but not convicted for staging his own kidnapping, complete with barbed wire around to his head, and Workman was executed in 2007 after five stays of execution. See more about Workman's execution here: http://tnimc.blogspot.com/2007/05/tcask-issues-statement-on-workman.html

Larry Neal's wrongful death demonstrates that persons from the slave pool who are incarcerated sometimes suffer abuse and/or die with little or no accountability from authorities for violations against their "inalienable" rights. Larry's autopsy was performed by the Shelby County Medical Examiner's office while Dr. Smith was chief medical examiner. Since Smith practically confessed to lying in Workman's trial to cover for police who Workman swore killed the officer he was executed for shooting, my family has reservations about Larry's autopsy report, which was received as a fuzzy facsimile copy. We requested the autopsy report after learning that The Johnnie Cochran Firm had done nothing as the family's contracted attorneys in nearly 11 months of Tennessee's 12-month statute of limitations to conduct discovery and prepare lawsuits regarding Larry's secret arrest and wrongful death in Shelby County Jail.

The Cochran Firm used U.S. Mail to write letters to Larry's survivors, the firm's clients, falsely claiming that discovery was being conducted. In fact, the firm contracted as Larry's wrongful death attorneys to prevent his survivors' lawsuit from ever being filed against Shelby County Jail. The managing partner of the Memphis office of The Cochran Firm worked in a supervisory role over the jail as a longstanding Shelby County Commissioner. The Cochran Firm's "representation" of the Neals was an intentional fraud. Larry's family discovered the fraud with just over a month remaining on Tennessee's statute of limitations and sued The Cochran Firm. However, two courts rescued the law firm by pretending no Cochran Firm office existed in Georgia and allowing perjury by defendants, ignoring and changing the nature of the plaintiffs' lawsuit, etc. Both courts dismissed our lawsuit when it was time to set a jury trial date. So much for Larry's "inalienable right" to life and his family's right to due process of law.

Within 10 days of USDC's dismissal on February 9, The Cochran Firm's Atlanta office published a commercial video on February 17: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlcolpUzckU. One might assume that The Cochran Firm Atlanta office's advertisers insisted that the firm publicly acknowledge its identity (that the firm repeatedly denounced in court) in order to prevent class action suits against advertisers that had presented it as The Cochran Firm to the public for years. The Cochran Firm uploaded the ad for the Atlanta office on February 17, although the video proves perjury in the Neals vs. Cochran Firm case.

Thomas Arthur's case and Workman's execution should illustrate plainly that suffering in the justice system is not limited to African Americans like Troy Davis and Larry Neal. Poor and middle-class whites fare no better in the justice system than people of color do. Racism is devisive, and there is a need for middle-income and poor people of different races and national origins to unite for justice. It is from these economic groups that America's prisoners come, innocent or guilty.

Cameron Todd Willingham, another white man, was executed in 2004 in Texas for arson murders. Authorities now admit the arson may not have happened at all. See: http://www.testimoanials.com/blog/blog1.php/2009/09/08/arson-death-and-execution-in-texas. Cameron's photograph is at this link: http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/1234875

ABOLISH SLAVERY AND REDUCE THE PRISON BUDGET BY HALF OR MORE

The Supreme Court told us twice this year that innocent people have no protection against imprisonment and execution beyond sentencing. The fact that the High Court ruled 5 to 4 in July against inmates having a Constitutional right to post-conviction DNA testing and the Court's minority opinion in Troy Davis' case made it patently clear for everyone who thought that innocence matters in criminal justice that it most certainly does not. "Actual innocence" has never been determined to be constitutionally cognizable. The only relevant issue is whether slaves had a trial. This is a time when men and women of conscience should unite and advocate for justice. Human rights organizations like the NAACP, Amnesty International, ACLU, and Innocence Project deserve support. The mission before us is the same as the one our great grandparents faced that was never fully accomplished: Slavery must be abolished and equal justice shared by all.

Michael Jackson: They Don't Care About Us
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCqQ2JcQWGs

The message Michael Jackson left us in his video is true of many in the justice system who do not seem to care. However, Attorney General Holder recently stated that actual justice is key, not merely procedure. Officials like Sen. Webb and Rep. Johnson in Texas and others are applying themselves to making the justice system more sane and equal. Sen. Webb proposes a complete review of the justice system. Rep. Johnson introduced H.R. 619 to restore Medicaid payments for mentally ill persons who require hospitalization. It was mostly the withdrawal of those funds that made prisons become America's de facto mental hospitals and plunged 1.25 million sick people into prisons where they comprise 60% of those in solitary confinement. Despite the human suffering, taxpayers saved nothing. eMail your representatives and urge support for H.R. 619 - www.house.gov/writerep/

SUGGESTIONS FOR POSITIVE CHANGE

Assure Guilt
Inasmuch as possible, ensure that everyone being punished is guilty of the crime for which he is incarcerated without excessive sentencing, and see that inmates who leave prison are equipped with job skills and the support needed to avoid recidivism.

Decriminalize Mental Illness
Remove our most vulnerable citizens, the mentally ill, from cruel incarceration for having a common, treatable health condition. They should be either hospitalized or released into assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) programs, depending on their offenses. Kendra's Law participants in New York experienced around 90% decrease in homelessness, hospitalizations, jail arrests and prison incarcerations compared to their experiences three years prior to joining the program. This means their communities were safer because patients were under mandatory treatment provisions, there was less crime, and the mentally challenged had subsistence assistance many of them need to avoid homelessness - all accomplished at a tremendous savings compared to imprisoning non-violent mentally ill offenders. Transfering America's mentally ill from hospitals and community care to prison rolls helped no one but heartless, mercenary prison owners and investors.

Juvenile Offenders
Put juvenile offenders into juvenile detention centers and ensure that they are given the tools and guidance to live decent, successful lives after release, which should be no later than age 21 regardless of their crime, except the criminally insane, who should be hospitalized.

End Prison Profiteering
All prisons should be owned and operated by the state or federal government and not be for-profit enterprises. Relocating the mentally ill from prison would make that goal immediately attainable. Furthermore, minimum wage laws should be applied to prison laborers to reduce the incidents of free citizens losing their jobs to prison work programs.

Prison laborer's minimum wages should be divided into four parts:

(1) The first part should be paid to the correctional facility to reduce the taxpayers' burden for incarcerating the working inmate.

(2) Minors whose parent(s) are prison laborers should receive support payments from their parents' work, which will also help taxpayers by reducing public assistance rolls. In the absence of minor children, funds should revert to the correctional facility.

(3) The crime victims should be paid restitution for lost property, pain and suffering. In the absence of crime victims or once restitution is paid, this portion should revert back to the correctional facility.

(4) The final one-fourth of a prison laborers' wages should be placed in an interest-bearing account for the inmate's release, to be administered weekly for a period of time after parole like unemployment insurance or in lump sum amounts if the parolee applies for college, buys a home, starts an approved business, or has an emergency affecting him or his dependents. The parolee's weekly "unemployment insurance" would help provide for basic needs while readjusting to society and seeking employment. After the end of the inmate's parole period, any remaining monies on the inmate's account should be paid to the ex-prison worker in a lump sum or to his next of kin if he dies. Having a nest egg to look forward to upon successfully completing parole would inspire compliance with parole provisions.

Ending for-profit prisons and applying minimum wage laws for prison labor would finally abolish slavery in the United States, reduce recidivism, eliminate prisons' unfair competition for jobs, and significantly unburden taxpayers of prison costs. Some correctional facilities could become nearly self-sustaining.

Petition to End Private Prisons, sponsored by the Single Voice Project
http://www.petitiononline.com/gufree2/petition.html

Capital punishment should be repealed. That will save approximately $90,000 per year per death row inmate and help raise America out of barbarism.

******************************************************************

Further Reading

Death row population figures are available by the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund "Death Row USA" at this link: http://www.naacpldf.org/content.aspx?article=297

Innocent in Prison Project International (IIPPI) carries stories of the wrongly convicted from around the world. Visit at http://www.iippi.org/

Human Rights for Prisoners March
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/human-rights-prisoners-march-was-postponed-weather

Is America's Prison System Legalized Slavery?
http://www.nowpublic.com/health/americas-prison-system-legalized-slavery

The Innocence Project helps wrongly convicted inmates obtain DNA tests to regain their freedom. Its website carries photographs and stories of exonerated persons and other information.

The Innocence Project
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
100 Fifth Ave. 3rd FloorNew York, NY 10011
Website: http://www.innocenceproject.org/

******************************************************************

Mary Neal
Website: http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com/

Org: Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/AIMI

Author's Google profile
http://www.google.com/profiles/MaryLovesJustice

Should Thomas Arthur Be Executed for Telling a Fibb?

Should Thomas Arthur Be Executed for Telling a Fibb?