Monica Jones' Conviction Overturned in AZ Superior Court!

Hooray!The state will no doubt want to refile charges, so stay tuned. I suspect this isn't over...

Sent: Monday, January 26, 2015 10:20 AM
Subject: ACLU News: Monica Jones Conviction Overturned

Good afternoon,

Crystal here from the ACLU, writing to inform you that Monica Jones’ conviction for manifesting intent to solicit prostitution was overturned today by the Superior Court of Arizona.

Jones was arrested and charged in May 2013 under a Phoenix law that the ACLU and others have argued is unconstitutional. In April 2014 she was convicted and then in August of that year she appealed her conviction. The ACLU filed an amicus brief in support of her appeal and has been supporting her since her arrest. Here is a background blog on her case: https://www.aclu.org/blog/lgbt-rights/when-walking-down-street-crime.

Monica Jones comment:
 
“Today is a great day! My wrongful conviction under the Phoenix manifestation law was vacated this morning. I am so grateful to my legal team and all of my supporters across the country and world. My conviction being vacated is important but it is a small win in our larger fight for justice. There are so many trans women and cisgender women who might be charged under this law in Phoenix and similar laws across the country. There is so much more work that needs to be done so that no one will have to face what I have no matter who they are or what past convictions they have.”

Comments from legal team:

• Jean-Jacques “J” Cabou, a partner at the law firm of PerkinsCoie who represented Monica in her appeal and argued her case, said: “Monica was convicted in an unconstitutional trial, under an unconstitutional law, of a crime she didn’t commit.  We are incredibly pleased that the appellate court agreed that Monica was unconstitutionally denied the presumption of innocence and that the court vacated her conviction.”                     
   
• Chase Strangio, a staff attorney with the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project, who has been working with Monica for the past year and a half, said: “Like so many trans women of color, Monica Jones was profiled and targeted by police for walking down the street. Today’s reversal of her conviction is an important validation of Monica’s brave fight to be seen and treated like a human being.”
   
• Dan Pochoda, senior counsel at the ACLU of Arizona, who has also been working on Monica’s case, noted: “Monica Jones was targeted by law enforcement after her public opposition to the coercive treatment of sex workers by Project ROSE. The demise of this Project is based on the inaccurate claim that most adult sex workers are "trafficked" is further vindication of Monica.”

The order can be found here: https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/monica_jones_conviction_reversed.pdf. Happy to connect you to Monica Jones and her legal team for further discussion. You can reach me at 212-519-7894.

Best,
Crystal Cooper
Media Strategist
American Civil Liberties Union
125 Broad St., New York, NY 10004
■ 212.519.7894 ■ ccooper@aclu.org

De-criminalize Queerness and HIV: A Roadmap for Change!

"QUEER PRISON WALLS"

art by Margie Diddams / Photography by Margaret Jean Plews

Phoenix, AZ February 2013

Over the course of the past 12 months or so, I've had intensive correspondence with a number of gay men and transgender women imprisoned in the AZ Department of Corrections. Of all the stuff I've read on the LGBT community and criminalization, the best stuff seems to come from the prison abolitionists, like Dean Spade. This PDF is worth reading if you're studying or planning to act on issues related to the criminalization of LGBT people and people living with HIV.

A Roadmap for Change: Federal Policy Recommendations for Addressing the Criminalization of LGBT People and People with HIV by Catherine Hanssens, Aisha C. Moodie-Mills, Andrea J. Ritchie, Dean Spade, and Urvashi Vaid

the following graphic from American Progress introduces the document well...

---------------

Infographic: Why Are So Many LGBT People and People Living with HIV Behind Bars?

American Progress

By Aisha C. Moodie-Mills 

May 7, 2014

The pervasive profiling, arrest, and incarceration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, people and people living with HIV, or PLWH—especially those who are people of color—are not simply a response to higher rates of illicit behavior within those communities. The range of unequal laws and policies that dehumanize, victimize, and criminalize people because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV status perpetuates these high rates of contact with the criminal system. In fact, one study found that a startling 73 percent of LGBT people and PLWH have had run-ins with police in the past five years. 

Police, for example, often profile transgender women and use possession of condoms as evidence of prostitution-related offenses and grounds for arrest. Additionally, PLWH in 36 states can be charged with felonies for having consensual sex, biting, and spitting—even when there is no transmission of the virus. And LGBT youth are more likely to be arrested for status offenses—charges that relate to family rejection and hostile school climates, such as running away, sleeping outside, violating curfew laws, and truancy infractions—than criminal activity.

What’s more, LGBT people and PLWH often experience police misconduct such as false arrests and verbal, physical, and sexual abuse while in police custody. They also face harsh sentences, experience a lack of appropriate healthcare, and are sometimes placed in solitary confinement as a safeguard—although this isolation is often more punitive and stigmatizing than protective.

These cycles of criminalization and discriminatory treatment of LGBT people and PLWH often trigger a lifetime of economic and social instability. We can and must dismantle these cycles through federal policy measures that address abusive policing practices, improve conditions
for LGBT prisoners and immigrants in detention, decriminalize HIV, and prevent LGBT
youth from coming into contact with the system in the first place.

Learn more: A Roadmap for Change: Federal Policy Recommendations for Addressing the Criminalization of LGBT People and People with HIV by Catherine Hanssens, Aisha C. Moodie-Mills, Andrea J. Ritchie, Dean Spade, and Urvashi Vaid

Aisha C. Moodie-Mills is a Senior Fellow and Director of the FIRE Initiative at the Center for American Progress.

Call to action: March 14 - Stand with Monica Jones.

Monica Jones should not have to go to court to fight wrongful charges resulting from a discriminatory and arbitrary arrest stemming from a department in which she studies.

 Sign the petition 

to have the charges against Monica dropped.

In case she does go to court, though, we plan to stand with her. 

Her trial begins March 14, 2014 at 8:30 in courtroom 607. 

 Meet outside the Phoenix Municipal Courthouse at 7:45am if you can.

300 W Washington St, Phoenix, AZ 85003

 

If you want a T-shirt, need a ride, or have a question, feel free to contact Peggy at arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com or 480-580-6807

 

this is MOnica Jones

JOIN MONICA JONES ON MARCH 14: TAKE ACTION FOR THE RIGHTS OF TRANS PEOPLE AND SEX WORKERS

March 4th, 2014

The Best Practices Policy Project, the Desiree Alliance and Global Action for Trans* Equality are calling for US-wide and international action on March 14, 2014 to support Monica Jones’ campaign for the rights of transgender people and sex workers.

Monica Jones, a human rights defender in Arizona and an advocate for the rights of transgender people and sex workers, was profiled and wrongfully arrested for “manifestation of prostitution” by a police sting operation and anti-prostitution diversion program known as “Project ROSE”. Ms Jones had been a speaker at a rally protesting Project ROSE—which is run by Phoenix police and Arizona State University’s School of Social Work—the day before. At the time of her arrest, she was not engaging in sex work, but was in fact walking down her street to the local bar.

On March 14 at 8.30 am (US Mountain Standard Time) Monica’s case will go to trial at Phoenix Municipal Court. She will plead not guilty and an action is planned outside the court to show the City of Phoenix Prosecutor that we won’t tolerate the systematic profiling and criminalization of transgender people of color and sex workers. Simultaneously on March 14, two sex worker rights advocates will be at the United Nations in Geneva to bring international attention to Monica’s trial and the ongoing human rights violations occurring in Phoenix and across the United States.

We call on people and organizations across the United States, in the region and internationally to show your support for Monica Jones and the issues she cares about. We encourage individuals, organizations, and communities to acknowledge the day in whatever way they feel safe in doing to raise awareness, to learn and share about the issues (it could be by viewing online coverage from the United Nations, it could be through social media action, by sharing a meal, organizing a public action, writing a letter to the press, through art and so on).

Please email us at bestpracticespolicyproject @ gmail.com and director@desireealliance.org to tell us about the action you plan and if you would like us to highlight your action on our websites. If you wish to add your organization’s name to this call, email us and we would be happy to do so.

More information about the case, Monica’s trial and the UN action can be found at:

https://www.facebook.com/events/477216822384806/

http://www.bestpracticespolicy.org/2014/01/10/phoenix-calling-the-united-nations-new-iccpr-report/

http://www.swopphoenix.org/monica/

The hashtags #standwithMonica and #notyourrescueproject are being used for social media.

Update on ongoing harassment of Monica: Since refusing to plead guilty to the charges she is innocent of, Ms. Jones has been targeted four additional times by police officers while walking around her neighborhood carrying out everyday activities such as bringing groceries home or heading to her local bar. Each time, the police use insulting and transphobic language and threaten her with arrest, despite the fact that she is doing nothing more than simply walking outdoors. Across the U.S. and in Phoenix, transgender people of color are routinely targeted for harassment and hate-motivated violence, by both police and the public, and are frequently profiled as sex workers by police. Transgender people are also targeted for cruel treatment in prisons, including by guards.

Ms. Jones states, “I believe I was profiled as a sex worker because I am a transgender woman of color, and an activist. I am a student at ASU, and fear that these wrongful charges will affect my educational path. I am also afraid that if am sentenced, I will be placed in a men’s jail as a transgender woman, which would be very unsafe for me. Prison is an unsafe place for everyone, and especially trans people.”

Monica Jones should not have to go to court to fight wrongful charges resulting from a discriminatory and arbitrary arrest stemming from a department in which she studies. Sign the petition to have the charges against Monica dropped.