Support needed for Romaine 'Chip' Fitzgerald

From:    "Political Prisoner News" <ppnews@freedomarchives.org>
Date:    Thu, October 1, 2009

Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald needs our support.
Please write and fax demanding his medical
transfer and critically needed treatment!

From: Bruce Richard <BruceR@1199.org>

Dear Friend and Family,

Attached is a letter demanding emergency medical
treatment for an ex-Panther that I believe most
of you are familiar with.  I am requesting that
you sign off on this and fax it to 212-261-2455
or if you could authorize me to sign off for you.
The plan is to send a large number of these
letters in to the prison demanding that treatment
is provided. Your prompt attention to this matter
would be much appreciated.  The fax letter is below.
*************************************
Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald, born and raised in
Compton, California, joined the Southern
California Chapter of the Black Panther Party in
early 1969 as a teenager who had just been
released from the California Youth Authority. In
September of that year, as a dedicated member of
the Party, Chip was arrested in connection with a
police shoot-out and tried for assault on police
and related charges, including the murder of a
security guard. He was sentenced to death.

Ultimately, his sentence was commuted to life
with parole. He has been in prison for nearly 40 years now.

Chip’s dedication to the cause of the liberation
of black and all oppressed people has not wavered
through all the years of his brutal incarceration. http://freechip.org/
*************************************************************

Via Facsimile 760-337-7950

Warden Domingo Uribe, Jr.
Centinela State Prison
Imperial, California

            Re:      Immediate Medical Treatment
and Transfer Romaine Fitzgerald­B27527


Dear Warden Uribe:

            This is a demand that you
immediately provide Romaine Fitzgerald the
emergency medical treatment he needs and transfer
him to a proper medical facility for care.  Your
denial of this urgent treatment and care is a
blatant denial of his Constitutional rights, for
which the California prison system has already
been reprimanded by the Order of the federal district court.

            Mr. Fitzgerald, who has been
incarcerated for 40 years and is now 60 years
old, has made a request for a medical transfer
numerous times because he is suffering extreme
spinal pain and is partially paralyzed, arising
from a stroke he experienced in 1998.  Indeed,
over three years ago, prison doctors recommended
corrective surgery, and, recently your own
doctors supported that recommendation.  Every day
his condition worsens on account of the barbaric
conditions under which you presently house him in
your administrative segregation unit.  The report
of Dr. Marie Branch, based upon her examination
of Mr. Fitzgerald in July of this year, confirms
that the metal bed, extreme isolation and denial
of proper exercise and denial of a neck support
or even a pillow in that unit exacerbate his
deteriorating condition.  Indeed, I believe if
you continue to refuse to provide Mr. Fitzgerald
proper treatment, he will soon suffer permanent paralysis.

            The Committee to Free Chip
Fitzgerald is prepared to pay for any and all
costs related to the services of a private doctor
to treat Mr. Fitzgerald.  The Honorable Thelton
E. Henderson, District Court Judge, and his
appointed Receiver, J. Clark Kelso, are copied on
this letter to alert them of these serious
concerns and encourage them to closely monitor your response.

                                                Very truly yours,

                                                Name
________________________

                                                Address
_______________________

                                                Telephone/Email
_________________

cc:       J. Clark Kelso, Receiver, California Prison Health Care Services
            Matthew Cate, Secretary, California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
            The Honorable Thelton E. Henderson,
Judge, United States District Court
            Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, State of California
            Prison Law Office, San Quentin, California




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