Press Release Ga. Prison Beatings

PRESS RELEASE
MARCH 22, 2011

FROM THE ORDINARY PEOPLES SOCIETY, 403 W. Powell St., Dothan AL 36303, 334-671-2882,
topssociety@yahoo.com

Is the GA Dept of Corrections waging an ongoing campaign of retaliation against
inmates in the wake of the December 2010 prison strike?  Correspondence between Atty
Mario Williams of Williams Oinonen LLC, the Atlanta attorney representing several
brutalized inmates, and the GA Department of Corrections, including the results of
Open Records Requests reveal disturbing patterns and unanswered questions.
Documents reveal savage beatings of prisoners by correctional officers followed by
refusal to reveal the extent of the injuries to the famlies of prisoners and in
several cases the apparent withholding of medical care for the severe injuries
inflicted for days and weeks afterward.  The injuries included fractures, severe
blunt trauma inflicted to the head with a hammer-like object, hearing and memory
loss.  In at least one case, correctional officers were arrested, in another, the
former warden of Smith Prison, the scene of some of the beatings, appears to have
been demoted and transferred.  The attorney’s correspondence and records retrieved
via the Open Records Act also reveal that dire and terroristic threats to the lives
of inmates continue to be made by correctional officers, some of whom are named in
grievances and other documents.
The fact that the GBI has had to take charge of investigating some of the assaults
further testifies to the inability or unwillingness of DOC to do so.

Rev. Kenneth Glasgow of TOPS, the Ordinary Peoples Society is working closely with
the legal team representing the prisoners and their families.  "We're also advocates
on the public policy front.  TOPS plans to convene a statewide series of hearings
later this year, convened by the formerly incarcerated around the state, along with
their families, allies and friends to get to the bottom of the growing scandal that
is the prison state in Georgia."
For more on the campaign of retaliation, Black Agenda Report has printed two stories
in the last few days:
“Arrested GA Correctional Officer Oversaw Vicious Beating of Prisoner ‘In His
Official Capacity’”    http://tinyurl.com/4ruvxxg
and
“Georgia Dept of Corrections Withholding Medical Care to Brutalized Inmates,
Retaliatory Campaign Continues”   http://tinyurl.com/458ah4s
Contact:
Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, The Ordinary Peoples Society, 403 W. Powell St., Dothan AL
36303, 334-671-2882, topssociety@yahoo.com
Atty Mario Williams, Williams Oinonen LLC, 44 Broad St NW, Atlanta GA 30303,
404-654-0288, mario@goodgeorgialawyer.com
Bruce A. Dixon, managing editor Black Agenda Report, www.blackagendareport.com,
404-797-2087,bruce.dixon@blackagendareport.com

Pastor Kenneth Glasgow

Founder, National President

The Ordinary People Society (TOPS)

403 West Powell St.

Dothan, AL 36303
Web: www.wearetops.org or www.theordinarypeoplesociety.com or
wearetops.blogspot.com, www.ordinarypeoplenews.com