Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2011
From: pfcenter@gmail.com
Dear family, friends and supporters of the Lucasville uprising prisoners,
Mark your calendars to come to OSP in Youngstown on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s
birthday, Saturday, Jan.15, for a rally and press conference. Gather at 12:45,
rally and press conference at 1:00. Park in the parking lot of the small church
next to the entrance gate to OSP (see address underlined below). We will have
reports from visits with the hunger strikers, messages from the prisoners,
solidarity statements, and more. If enough of us gather with enough signs and
banners, we can be seen from the prisoners' windows. So come on down! Bring your
friends, your neighbors, your co-workers, your fellow students, and your whole
family. To arrange for car pooling, email lucasvillefreedom@gmail.com
By now some of you may have seen commentary about the upcoming hunger strike at Ohio
State Penitentiary - much of it reprints of my last email to you! - as well as many
important contributions by attorney Staughton Lynd and professor Denis O'Hearn, both
of whom are tireless advocates on behalf of this group of prisoners. The internet
age is a beautiful thing so I want first of all for you to know about the facebook
page set up by dedicated activists working with Professor O'Hearn. Hopefully I have
provided the link correctly below:
facebook page http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_167034766673281
Become a friend of the facebook site and urge all your facebook friends to do the
same. As we get updates during the hunger strike, they will be posted on the
facebook page and tweeted by twitter. So get involved and spread the word.
You recall the Bomani Shakur is to be the first to start the hunger strike tomorrow,
and I'm sure our thoughts and best wishes are with him. I have attached his
beautiful statement explaining why he is going on the hunger strike: in essence, the
conditions under which they have been held amount to torture and enough is enough!
For those of you who wish to send him cards, letters and other messages of support,
be sure to include his "convicted as" name: Keith LaMar, and his prisoner number:
317-117. The address for all four prisoners is: Ohio State Penitentiary, 878
Coitsville-Hubbard Rd., Youngstown, OH 44505-4635. You can also send the prisoners
email through the JPay-Ohio system once you set up an account. It will cost you
25-30 cents per page of email, depending how many virtual "stamps" you purchase at
once.
Siddique Abdullah Hasan will join the hunger strike second, probably after three
days. His "convicted as" name is Carlos Sanders and his prisoner number is
R130-559. Next will be Jason Robb whose prisoner number is 308-919. And finally,
Namir Abdul Mateen will join, to the extent that his health will allow. His
"convicted as" name is James Were and his prisoner number is 173-245. We wish them
all victory and good health.
Messages of solidarity and support are of course welcome. In addition, we should be
deluging certain officials with our support for the prisoners' demands, which are,
very simply, that they be treated like other Death Row prisoners and be afforded the
same tiny privileges to the other prisoners held in OSP who are also sentenced to
die, such as physical contact with loved ones. Fair and just annual reviews that
took into account these prisoners' 12 years of good behavior would have resulted in
recommendations of removal from the highly restrictive "level 5" solitary
confinement they have been subjected to for no reason other than vindictive need for
punishment - for crimes they did not commit, folks, don't forget that! This is
inhumane, this is unconstitutional, this is illegal, this is deplorable, this is an
international disgrace - and it must stop. Please contact the following people to
speak your mind:
OSP Warden David Bobby, 330-743-0700 or fax 330-743-0841 or email
JoAnn.King@odrc.state.oh.us
ODRC Director Ernie Moore,614-752-1159 (couldn't find fax) or email
DRC.publicinfo@odrc.state.oh.us
People from Cleveland, please contact state Senator Shirley Smith, who is on the
Correctional Institution Inspection Committee, 614-466-4857 or email
SD21@maild.sen.state.oh.us
The facebook page will direct you to an electronic petition. Other initiative are
in the works. If you have ideas, suggestions and information, please post them.
There are people working on this cause literally around the world. But we need to
build the strength of support for the very modest demands of the hunger strikers and
ensure a swift victory. So get the word out to all interested organizations and
individuals. Now is the time for not only a nationwide prisoner support movement,
but an international prisoner support movement. Let's make it happen!
Sharon Danann
for the Lucasville Uprising Freedom Network
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