Incarceration is Violence: snapshots from ASPC-EYMAN/Meadows.

I recently took AZ DOC Director Chuck Ryan to task about sending the sex offenders to Red Rock to decrease the over-crowding on those units before the other medium security yards where race riots are breaking out, simply because I so seldom hear about violence coming out of places like ASPC-EYMAN/Meadows. I also accused him of making a big deal of "routine" staff assaults of late in order to justify continuing to build his totally unnecessary $50 million Supermax prison at Lewis complex. I stand corrected, now, sorry to say, in light of what has recently happened. Besides, no assault is "routine" to the person who is the victim of one. I know, having survived quite a bit of violence in my life myself.

I've been hearing from employees and former employees of the AZ DOC in the wake of the sexual assault of a teacher on the Meadows unit at ASPC-Eyman this week- they are livid. There's some contention over what "fully-staffed" means. Some officers seem to feel as if not only is Meadows under-staffed, this teacher never should have ended up alone in a room with these particular prisoners. Meadows is the unit designated for housing about 1100 medium security sex offenders, about 330 of whom appear to be in "temporary" beds. That means the yard is a bit full. 

The opening of Red Rock didn't help relieve pressure on staff and prisoners at Meadows much, unfortunately, though I don't know how directly that would have impacted this situation with the teacher's assault. It appears they moved prisoners from Cook to Red Rock first, as that was the most over-crowded yard. Meadows should be next, I would think.

In any case, my apoligies if I have seemed to minimize staff assaults. No one's safety in prison is more or less important than another's by virtue of whether they wear orange, brown, or civies. The assault rate on staff appears to have been decreasing at the same time it's actually increasing among prisoners, nevertheless the staff are still so upset about the way the DOC has failed to address their safety concerns that one of the officers' unions, the Arizona Corrections Association, has dragged Judicial Watch into it - they're demanding records for an investigation. 

What I hear most from the sex offender yards, actually, is not how vicious the other prisoners are or how violent the gangs are (they really don't seem to run the SO yards), but how cruel some of the officers are.  Here's an excerpt from a man who was homeless, mentally ill, and an easy target for police when arrested and prosecuted for the rape and murder of an 88-year old woman over a decade ago. Even the Arizona Justice Project tried to get the DNA evidence re-examined because they believe he was wrongfully-convicted, for some reason the judge wouldn't allow it. 

" i have been There hrassed and ThreaTed by STaff and inmaTes asaltied  by STaff and ThreaTing black and blue marks on my arm For 30 Days and  For whaT because I senT in a inmaTe LeTTer or a grievance on STaff or  a inmaTe. No Help with it. My Cell maTe Said noT to Say any Thing  abouT. Time I am mad and and write a inmaTe Letter or grievance about  it All it dose is geT STaff mad a you and Then Tell everyone To Harass you They mess up your mail or your indigent or HNRS inmate LeTTers They are LosT or ? you donT geT your RefiLL meds. your Food is mess with They spit in it or mess it up They put some Thing in you Food. mae Time I did NoT EAT because of it. you donT get yourr maiL They Throw it somewhere and maybe if some one funds it you met get it Back. your maiL, or your mail is being given To a inmaTe ? He dans whaT He want with it He reads your maiL and Throws it away. ? or when They Take you To The Shower. They go in your Cell and Take Things or brake Things of yours your T.V. your Radio.... 

I wanT no more of This I wanT Peace. To be in Peace. I am Sorry. I want to go home. or. I want to go home soon I Pray I go home, I am innocent of this crime. Look at it. "


So here sits this possibly innocent man in prison, and yet most Americans would look at his crime, and say "good riddance" in response to his grievances - and the officers perpetrating this garbage on him know it. That kind of relentless abuse meted out to certain prisoners by guards who think they deserve torture on top of imprisonment isn't uncommon, nor is it limited to the sex offenders. 

Never mind that an estimated 8-15% of  convicted sex offenders, in one DNA-based exoneration study, may well be innocent. We too often presume that the "truth" comes out in the prosecution process and no one is in prison unless they're definitely guilty. Not that the possibility we are punishing "the innocent" in prison too harshly should be the only reason not to torture prisoners in America - torture should be banned regardless of the status of one's guilt or inocence.

Some officers I hear about over and over again are exacting their own kind of justice from prisoners, only it seems their abuse can never be "substantiated" when formal complaints are made, so they remain in positions of power - some even get promoted. I believe the heirarchy in those places encourages brutality by consistently failing to substantiate it. They know they can get away with hurting those guys, too, as there will be no public outcry in their defense.

As another example, last April the Meadows' Tactical Support Unit was called on to do a shakedown (thorough search for contraband) of the unit, during which several of the prisoners allege that that the TSU officers pushed them around aggressively and used racial epithets. Several prisoners from that yard also reported that a deaf prisoner was beaten by guards because he couldn't hear the orders being barked at him and respond fast enough. According to one witness, when the officers took him to medical to treat him for the injuries they inflicted on him, the nurse naturally asked what happened. "He fell," the TSU officers laughed.  Of course, in their own  incident reports - amended after the prisoners complained - the guards assert that they used the "least amount of force necessary to gain compliance" from the deaf guy, and mention nothing about him going to medical. The DOC asserts every one of their officers conducted themselves professionally. That kind of unjust treatment of prisoners can cause serious resentment and thus endangers all staff, ultimately.

Meadows was also recently the subject of concern about how the prisoners' mental health needs are being attended to - they were essentially rounded up, chained like animals, and taken to a mass video-psych eval this fall, which sounds like its a coomon practice, actually.  I often hear complaints from there about poor health care access as well.

In any case, my thoughts and healing wishes do go out to this teacher who was so brutally assaulted, and to the rest of the staff and prisoners at the DOC who have been victims of violence behind bars. If we counted the crimes perpetrated against people in prison with the community's statistics, the crime rates of those communities would be much higher and we might have to address them differently - like redistribute victim assistance resources, among other things. In fact, if crime against people in prison was reported as such, the USA would have the highest male-on-male rate of rape in the world. Think about that as you contemplate how necessary prisons are to contain and rehabilitate young drug offenders, check bouncers, or people who smuggled themselves into the country to find a decent job and support their family, for example. 

Bottom line is that prisons are heteropatriarchal, misogynistic institutions run entirely on violence and the threat of it. Prisons are designed to inflict harm on people's minds and lives without leaving a mark on their bodies, hidden in the shadows and margins of our social fabirc so the rest of us can sleep at night, certain that only the purest system of Justice is what lets Freedom ring in America for the rest of us. In truth, the US justice system works only for the privileged few, trials are contests between opposing attorneys, not effective methods of discovering truth, and prisons are essentially horribly dangerous places to both live and work. Those of you who clamor for a new prison in your town may want to reconsider how much these jobs are really the kind you want your children and grandchildren to grow into.  

In light of the above, our judiciary should really reconsider how many more drug addicts, sex workers, and homeless mentally ill people they want to throw into the lion's den. Many will simply be further victimized and traumatized, few will be able to afford to pay to get their GED or pursue other educational options in state prison, only 4% will ever get any kind of substance abuse treatment in there to rehabilitate themselves, and over 40% of prisoners are coming out infected with Hep C, a good many with new addictions to boot.
(See Corrections at a Glance for stats on substance abuse treatment, HEP C, and the reasons people are in prison)

Prosecuting innocence: Louis C. Taylor is about to be freed!

Believe it or not, all sorts of innocent people end up in prison and on death row - especially in this state, it seems.  I heard from Arizona prisoner Eddie Sanders not long ago; he's doing life for the rape and murder of an elderly woman in Tucson at a time when there was a rash of such assaults, and can't seem to get anyone to listen to his defense, which he has tried to wage himself - check out his heartbreaking plea below. I think he was an easy  homeless suspect with a checkered past when he was arrested and prosecuted...his case was in Pima County, too, like Louis Taylor's was.

I am not at all impressed with Barbara LaWall, frankly. Look at this, for example.

I don't know how to begin to help this guy - the AZ Justice Project apparently hasn't decided to pick up his case; I think he applied for their help. If you have any ideas or wish to spend some time helping Eddie get a reasonably fair shake, please drop Peggy Plews a note at arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

----now for the POST at HAND: Louis Taylor is about to be freed under a new plea agreement---

 louis c. taylor

This guy was only sixteen when we locked him away for 28 life sentences 40 years ago - he's just now getting his day in court. This kind of thing happens far too often - thank God for the Arizona Justice Project, as well as the Arizona Daily Star for paying attention. We wouldn't need them so badly if our cops and prosecutors were more interested in justice and public safety than in convictions and private prisons in this state, and if they took responsibility for their mistakes a little more often...

--------------------from CBS NEWS 60 minutes-----------

 Historical photographs provided by Arizona Historical Society

 via CBS News 60 Minutes

Arizona's Pioneer Hotel fire re-examined

CBS NEWS 60 minutes
 March 31, 2013 7:45 PM

Watch the Segment »

Steve Kroft revisits the case of Louis Taylor, who may have been falsely accused and imprisoned for decades for setting a hotel fire in Tucson that killed 28.

Web Extras

• Arizona's Pioneer Hotel fire re-examined
• Attorney: Pioneer Hotel was a "fire trap"
• Arson or accidental fire: How can you tell?

The following script is from "The Pioneer Hotel Fire" which aired on March 31, 2013. Steve Kroft is the correspondent. James Jacoby and Michael Karzis, producers.

60 Minutes Web Extra

Arson or accidental fire: How can you tell? »

The week before Christmas, back in 1970, an historic fire swept through an Arizona landmark, the Pioneer Hotel in downtown Tucson. Twenty-eight people were killed that night, some of whom were forced to jump to their deaths to avoid being burned alive in their rooms. It was front page news all over the country, and the following morning, a 16-year-old boy named Louis Taylor was charged with setting the fire and later convicted of 28 counts of murder.

The evidence was weak, and even the trial judge later admitted he would not have voted to convict. We first looked into the case back in 2002, along with Court TV, and found evidence that the 16-year-old had been railroaded; a convenient suspect for police and prosecutors eager to resolve the city's worst disaster. Taylor is still serving his life sentence, but new developments in fire science and new testimony from a key witness, may now change that and shed new light on a tragedy that's haunted Tucson for nearly 42 years.

Today, the Pioneer is a non-descript office building near the center of town. But behind the precast concrete slabs, you can still see the bones of the old hotel, built when Tucson was still a frontier outpost, and on December 19th 1970, it was still the heart of the city.

[Unidentified Man #1: Somebody's yelling, "Fire," over near the Pioneer Hotel.

Unidentified Man #2: Engine 1, 2, 3, Pioneer Hotel. Fire reported.]

When the first alarm sounded the hotel was packed with Christmas revelers. No one had noticed smoke on the upper floors. And by the time firemen arrived, it was already too late.

The Pioneer was a death trap: no sprinkler system, fire exits padlocked shut for security reasons, and the tallest ladder the fire department had reached only between the fourth and fifth floors.

Trapped hotel guests could be seen at the windows and on ledges. Some people tied sheets together and climbed to safety; others tossed mattresses out the window and died trying to land on them. As rescue teams fought their way up the stairwells, they encountered 16-year-old Louis Taylor on the third floor landing. Police officer Bill Briamonte put the boy to work.

Bill Briamonte: I said, "Come with me. There's a fire in this building. Start banging on doors," and I sent him to the left, and I went to the right.

To many fireman, Louis Taylor was a hero that night. But the police weren't looking for a hero. While the fire was still smoldering, and before the fire department even had time to begin an investigation into the cause, the police department decided it had the answer: Louis Taylor. One officer who had been with the boy during the fire, went up to thank him a few hours later at police headquarters only to be told to stay away - that Taylor had set the fire. The officer, Klaus Bergman, said he was dumbfounded.

Klaus Bergman: I don't know how in God's name somebody could declare a fire to be an arson, and arrest and book somebody for setting the fire before the fire is out.


Louis Taylor had voluntarily gone to police headquarters as a witness, but after an all-night interrogation by eight different police officers without a lawyer or a guardian present, Taylor had gone from cooperative witness to prime suspect.

David Smith: My conclusion was that Louis Taylor was evasive, and that he was involved in the incident.

Juvenile Detective David Smith was the last police officer to interrogate Louis Taylor. He said the boy was seen near the place where the fire started, had five partial packs of matches on him, and was unable to give a legitimate reason for being in the hotel. We interviewed Detective Smith back in 2002.

David Smith: I asked him, "Louis, did you set this fire?" And he said, "No, I didn't want to kill those people." Immediately there was a look of-- one of those looks of "I wished I hadn't have said that," or "I didn't mean to say that."


Steve Kroft: That doesn't sound like an admission.

David Smith: It certainly isn't a confession.

Smith says Taylor told him something else that would provide the prosecution with a motive for Taylor setting the fire.

David Smith: He said, "You know when you go into a hotel, and you take change of your pockets and your wallet, and you lay it on the dresser?" And he said, "That's why they set the fire, so that they could steal from the rooms when people would panic and run."

Steve Kroft: Did you know that Sergeant Gastaway, one of the officers who had questioned Louis Taylor before you, reported that at about 4:15, he went in and told Louis, "You set that fire so you could rob some of the guest rooms, didn't you?"

David Smith: No.

Steve Kroft: You didn't know that?

David Smith: No.

Steve Kroft: So you don't know if that's the first time that Louis Taylor ever heard that theory?

David Smith: No, I--I--I don't.

Not one word of Louis Taylor's interrogation was recorded, and if police officers took notes, they were never produced. Yet based on his inconsistent statements and circumstantial evidence -- and the since discredited testimony of two jailhouse snitches -- Taylor was charged with 28 counts of murder and convicted by an all-white jury, sentenced to life in prison. And that is where we found him a decade ago when we first began looking into this case with Court TV. He was 47 years old.

[Unidentified voice: Did you set that fire that night Louis?

Louis Taylor: No I did not. The evidence was so, you know, so frivolous that I thought for a while that maybe, you know, they'd maybe find me not guilty. But unfortunately I fell into the cracks.]

In a brief phone conversation, Taylor said he'd gone to the hotel hoping to hustle food and free drinks.
His mistake, he said, was trusting the police.

Louis Taylor: I guess they just--they had me, and they said, "Well, you know, just we'll try to get a conviction." So they did.

At the time we reported that important information that might have helped Louis Taylor was never heard by a jury and never investigated by the police: like this letter from the assistant fire chief, which acknowledged a number of suspicious fires at the Pioneer Hotel in the months leading up to the tragedy, along with the description of a suspect that did not match Louis Taylor. Detective Smith said he didn't know anything about it.

Steve Kroft: But you didn't turn up in your investigation the fact that there had been previous fires at this hotel?

David Smith: No.

Steve Kroft: And the fact that they had a description of somebody who had been setting these fires?

David Smith: No. I can guarantee you that if I knew that, then that's something I would have followed up on.

The description was much closer to a serial arsonist named Donald Anthony, who left the state the day after the Pioneer fire and was never questioned.


Steve Kroft: Did it ever dawn on you that perhaps that Mr. Anthony might have something to do with the Pioneer fire?

David: Don wasn't a suspect in the Pioneer. The fact is, that there was never any information of any type that was received indicating that anybody else but Louis Taylor was there acting suspiciously.


When our first story about Louis Taylor aired back in 2002, it attracted the attention of the Arizona Justice Project, a nonprofit legal organization that helps people it believes have been wrongfully convicted. The group took on the case and after a decade of work it has discovered some striking new evidence that could get Louis Taylor out of prison.

Steve Kroft: Do you think Louis Taylor set the Pioneer Hotel fire?

Ed Novak: No, I don't.

Steve Kroft: You think he was railroaded?

Ed Novak: Yes.

Edward Novak, a prominent Arizona attorney, is now leading Louis Taylor's defense team which is made up of volunteer lawyers, students and law professors from the Arizona Justice Project. They've dug into old court records and revisited the testimony of key witnesses like Cy Holmes, the original fire investigator, who testified that the fire had been intentionally set.

Steve Kroft: How important was that testimony at the trial?

Ed Novak: Critical, absolutely critical.

[Bailiff in Holmes deposition: Do you swear or affirm to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Cy Holmes: I do.

Bailiff in Holmes deposition: Thank you.]

Just five months ago, Novak conducted a sworn court deposition of Holmes and got him to reveal some startling new information. For the first time, Holmes said that he did a quick-walk through of the hotel 10 days after the blaze, then told the city council that he'd already reached some preliminary conclusions about the type of person who set the place on fire.

[Cy Holmes (Deposition): I had indicated that I felt that the culprit was probably black and that he was probably 18. ]

Steve Kroft: What was your reaction when he gave this testimony?

Ed Novak: I was trying to maintain my composure so that Holmes wouldn't know that he'd said something that really startled me.

Steve Kroft: How did he determine that it was a young man of color?

Ed Novak: I asked him that.

[Cy Holmes: Blacks at that point, their background was the use of fire for beneficial purposes. In other words, they were used to clearing lands and doing cleanup work and things like that and fire was a tool. So it was just a tool for them. In other words, you're comfortable with it. And if they get mad at somebody, the first thing they do is use something they're comfortable with. Fire was one of them.]

That new deposition has destroyed the credibility of a key witness against Louis Taylor. And, in fact, the very idea that the Pioneer Hotel Fire was even an arson is now under serious challenge, because the science of fire investigation has changed dramatically over the past 40 years. The Arizona Justice Project put together a panel of the country's top five fire experts and had them evaluate the evidence and the testimony in the Pioneer case records, using today's science.

John Lentini was one of them. He has conducted more than 2,000 fire investigations and has been at the center of the most important developments in fire investigations over the past 30 years. He took this case on for free.


Steve Kroft: What was the state of fire science 40 years ago?

John Lentini: Terrible. Particularly when it-- as it related to fire investigation.

Steve Kroft: What was your reaction when you looked at all the material?

John Lentini: Just another false accusation of arson. It's a shame. It has been very common for people to start with the proposition that the fire's set and if they can't find an innocent cause for it then they say, well, somebody must have set it. That presumes that we're good enough fire investigators to find the cause of every fire and that's simply not true.

Steve Kroft: What caused the Pioneer fire?

John Lentini: Undetermined.

Steve Kroft: Undetermined.

John Lentini: Undetermined. Could have been a cigarette. It could have been an overhead light.

Steve Kroft: Did you find any evidence of arson?

John Lentini: No.

Ed Novak: You can't have a murder conviction based on arson if there was no arson. Take away the arson, there's no murder.

Based on the new evidence and testimony, Ed Novak and the Arizona Justice Project petitioned the county prosecutor and the court to vacate Louis Taylor's murder conviction, release him from prison, and conduct a new trial.

The current prosecutor, Barbara LaWall, then commissioned the Tucson Fire Department to do its own reinvestigation of the Pioneer fire using the latest science. It, too, concluded that the cause of the fire should now be ruled undetermined.

Steve Kroft: So the report that she requested--

Ed Novak: Didn't back her up.

Steve Kroft: Not only didn't back her up, it solidified the defense's case?

Ed Novak: Yes.

Yet in spite of the fire department's report and the embarrassing testimony of the original fire investigator, the county prosecutor is holding her ground. She offered to release Louis Taylor from prison, but only if he would plead no contest to arson and murder charges.

Steve Kroft: Not much of a deal?

Ed Novak: It's not a deal. It stinks.

Steve Kroft: All to protect a conviction?

Ed Novak: Yes, exactly. I'm not sure I can do it.

Steve Kroft; What do you mean you're not sure you can do it?

Ed Novak: I'm not sure I can stand in the courtroom and let a prosecutor tell a judge that there's sufficient evidence for a judge to accept a plea of no contest when I don't think a crime occurred.
We asked an interview with County Prosecutor Barbara LaWall, but her office declined our request. So we decided to approach her on the street.

Steve Kroft: Ms. LaWall? Steve Kroft from "60 Minutes."

Barbara LaWall: How do you do Steve?

Steve Kroft: How you doing? I just have a couple of questions to ask you about the Louis Taylor case. What about this report from the Fire Department that you requested...


Barbara LaWall: Well you know --

Steve Kroft: That came back and said that there's no evidence that this fire was intentionally set?
 
Barbara LaWall: I don't believe that that's exactly what the report said --

Steve Kroft: No conclusive evidence.

Barbara LaWall: But they said it was undetermined, but you know, we have a hearing, this is a pending prosecution. And it's not the practice of this office to speak about pending prosecutions

Steve Kroft: But you've got somebody who's in prison for arson and murder and now it's not clear whether it was even an arson.

Barbara LaWall: Well nobody can say for sure whether it was or whether it wasn't.

Steve Kroft: The law says that if you're going to convict somebody of arson you have to have conclusive proof that it was in fact arson.

Barbara LaWall: Steve! We did, 42 years ago! 42 years ago, 12 members of this community made that determination. That's not what this legal issue is about right now.

We also asked the prosecutor about the controversial racial views of fire investigator Cy Holmes.

Steve Kroft: What about Cy Holmes? I've seen that deposition.

Barbara LaWall: Cy Holmes can make a determination as to whether or not it's arson or not arson.

Steve Kroft: He said some pretty embarrassing things.

Barbara LaWall: Yes, he did.

Ms. LaWall says the fate of Louis Taylor should be decided by the court. And she says just because the latest fire science finds the cause of the Pioneer fire to be undetermined, doesn't rule out the possibility of arson.

Ed Novak: And the last time I checked we don't convict people on a possibility. We convict people on proof beyond a reasonable doubt -- which you would never get in a retrial of this case.

It's now almost certain that the retrial will never happen. Louis Taylor, who is now 58 and has spent more than two-thirds of his life in prison, decided this past week to accept the prosecutor's deal.


On Tuesday, he is expected to plead no-contest to the charges in exchange for his freedom. Taylor told his lawyers that after maintaining his principles for 42 years, he is tired, uncertain of the appeal process, and wants to begin living the rest of his life as a free man. He still maintains his innocence.

Appeals court: Debra Milke sent to death row by police & prosecutorial misconduct.

Believe it or not, all sorts of innocent people end up in prison and on death row - especially in this state, it seems.  I heard from Arizona prisoner Eddie Sanders not long ago; he's doing life for the rape and murder of an elderly woman in Tucson at a time when there was a rash of such assaults, and can't seem to get anyone to listen to his defense, which he has tried to wage himself - check out his heartbreaking plea below. 

I don't know how to begin to help this guy - the AZ Justice Project apparently hasn't decided to pick up his case - at least, not yet. If you have any ideas or wish to spend some time helping Eddie get a reasonably fair shake, please drop Peggy Plews a note at arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Now for the good news about Debra Milke...

Debra and son Christopher

HERE'S THE ACTUAL RULING

 from CNN.com:

Arizona woman's murder conviction, death sentence overturned

By Greg Botelho, CNN

updated 7:27 PM EDT, Thu March 14, 2013

(CNN) -- After 22 years on death row, Debra Milke is close to freedom.

A jury convicted the Arizona woman, now 49, of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, child abuse and kidnapping on October 12, 1990, less than a year after her 4-year-old son was found dead.

A judge sentenced her to death a few months later.

But those convictions and the related sentence were tossed out Thursday by a federal appeals court judge. In explaining his decision, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals chided the prosecution for remaining "unconstitutionally silent" on the "history of misconduct" of its key witness, a Phoenix police detective.

"The Constitution requires a fair trial," Kozinski wrote. "This never happened in Milke's case."

A day after seeing Santa Claus at a mall, young Christopher Milke asked his mother if he could go again. That was the plan, she said, when the boy got into the car with Milke's roommate, James Styers.

Styers picked up a friend, "but instead of heading to the mall, the two men drove the boy out of town to a secluded ravine, where Styers shot Christoper three times in the head," according to Kozinski's summary of the case. Styers was convicted of first-degree murder in the boy's killing and sentenced to death.

The detective, Armando Saldate, said the friend told him that Debra Milke was involved in a plot to kill her son. But neither the friend nor Styers testified to that assertion in court.

In fact, "no other witnesses or direct evidence (linked) Milke to the crime" other than Saldate's testimony.

"The trial was, essentially, a swearing contest between Milke and ... Saldate," said Kozinski.

The detective testified he "didn't buy" Milke's reaction after he informed her that her son was dead. After that, Saldate said he placed Milke under arrest. In a subsequent interrogation, she confessed that her role in the murder conspiracy was a "bad judgment call," the detective said.

But Milke offered a vastly different view of the interrogation and denied that she had confessed to any role in a murder plot.

There was no recording of the interrogation, no one else was in the room or watching from a two-way mirror, and Saldate said he threw away his notes shortly after completing his report.

"The judge and jury believed Saldate," said Kozinski of the verdict and sentence. "But they didn't know about Saldate's long history of lying under oath and other misconduct."

Specifically, the judge noted that the detective had been suspended five days for taking "liberties" with a female motorist and lying about it to his supervisors; that judges had tossed out four confessions or indictments because Saldate had lied under oath; and that judges suppressed or vacated four confessions because Saldate had violated a person's constitutional rights.

"The state knew of the evidence in the personnel file and had an obligation to produce the documents," Kozinski said. "... There can be no doubt that the state failed in its constitutional obligation."

The judge ordered "the state" to turn over Saldate's personnel records to Milke's lawyers, after which "a police official" must state under oath that everything has been disclosed and nothing has been "omitted, lost or destroyed."

Once this is done, a district court must order Milke's release unless prosecutors tell the court within 30 days that they plan to retry her soon.

"In the balance hangs the life of Milke," Kozinski said, explaining the importance of his decision to overturn her convictions.

Prosecuting Innocence: 8-15% of sex offenders wrongfully-convicted.

Those folks who know that I advocate for all prisoners, regardless of their convictions, occasionally ask me how I can stomach dealing with people who have perpetrated crimes against children. Apart from my belief that all prisoners should be treated according to basic standards protecting human rights, there's a body of research on wrongful convictions and sex offenses - here's a good, current study on the subject by the good people at the Urban Institute:

Post-Conviction DNA Testing and Wrongful Conviction

"This study analyzed the results of new DNA testing of old physical evidence from 634 sexual assault and homicide cases that took place in Virginia between 1973 and 1987 in the first study of the effects of DNA testing on wrongful conviction in a large and approximately random sample of serious crime convictions. The study found that in five percent of homicide and sexual assault cases DNA testing eliminated the convicted offender as the source of incriminating physical evidence. When sexual assault convictions were isolated, DNA testing eliminated between 8 and 15 percent of convicted offenders and supported exoneration. Past estimates generally put the rate of wrongful conviction at or less than three percent."

 Wrongfully-convicted Courtney Bisbee

 and daughter Taylor Lee...

That said, please hit this petition for the release of Courtney Bisbee. I have witnessed this woman's battle to maintain a relationship with her daughter from prison, and have no doubt that she's innocent. The petition was authored by one of her juvenile accusers, Nik Valles, now old enough to resist his mother's influences.

-------finally, this in today from the Arizona Justice Project at ASU-----

Drayton Witt: Case Dismissed With Prejudice 

The Arizona Justice Project has great news to share about a win in a shaken baby case. On Monday, October 29, the Arizona Superior Court dismissed the State's case against Drayton Witt with prejudice, meaning that the State may never again bring charges against him for the death of his son, Steven. Drayton was convicted back in 2002 of second-degree murder after being accused of shaking his nearly 5 month old baby to death.

Steven Witt was born a "blue baby" with the umbilical cord wrapped tightly around his neck, had aspirated meconium (fecal matter), and was in respiratory distress. Steven suffered medical problems almost every day of his short life and was in and out of doctors' offices and hospitals. After being prescribed medicine for flu-like symptoms (Cefzil), Steven began to suffer from seizures. After the first seizure, Steven was taken to the hospital and spent 6 days in care of doctors. On June 1, 2000, less than a month after his release from that hospital stay, Steven suffered a catastrophic seizure, which led to his death.

The State charged Drayton Witt with second degree murder. The State's witnesses relied on the SBS triad—subdural hematoma, retinal hemorrhages, and cerebral edema to conclude that the baby must have been shaken by his father, the only adult with him at the time of the ultimately fatal seizure. No cuts, no bruises, no grip marks, no fractures, no dislocations, nor spinal cord injuries—but the doctors at the Phoenix Children's Hospital in 2000 insisted that the "triad" of injuries meant an SBS homicide.

The Justice Project began working on this case in 2008 under the leadership of Carrie Sperling. Eight different experts in a variety of fields reviewed the case and provided sworn testimony in support of Mr. Witt.

Dr. A. Norman Guthkelch, famed British pediatric neurosurgeon who authored the seminal paper on SBS, acknowledged that aspects of SBS are now "open to serious doubt" and that a diagnosis of SBS as cause of death in Witt's case was "inappropriate."

Dr. Patrick Barnes, chief of pediatric neurology at Stanford, believed Steven Witt did not die of SBS but rather the medical records suggest a "classic picture of venous thrombosis" with no indicators of non-accidental trauma.

Dr. Horace Gardner (an ophthalmologist), Dr. John Lloyd (a biomechanics expert), Dr. Waney Squier (pediatric neuropathologist), and Drs. Karen Griest and John Plunkett (forensic pathologists), all found no evidence of the child being shaken to death, and—like Dr. Barnes—believed the child died of natural causes. The most likely cause was venous thrombosis, a condition the doctors at Phoenix Children's Hospital never even considered in 2000.

Perhaps most notably, the medical examiner at the time of Steven's autopsy in 2000, re-examined the case and swore an affidavit stating:

Based on my review of these materials from an expansive body of post-2000 SBS literature, as well as the significant developments in the medical and scientific community's understanding of SBS and several of the conditions that mimic its symptoms, I have determined that I cannot stand by my previous conclusion and trial testimony that Steven Witt's death was a homicide. Steven had a complicated medical history, including unexplained neurological problems. He had no outward signs of abuse. If I were to testify today, I would state that I believe Steven's death was likely the result of a natural disease process, not SBS. It is my hope that the court will see fit to revisit Drayton Witt's conviction.

In April 2012, the State elected not to oppose Witt's motion to vacate his original 2002 conviction after receiving his post-conviction petition seeking relief. However, the State continued to press its case against Witt, preparing for a new trial. Eventually, faced with a motion to exclude the scientific basis for the original conviction, the State moved to dismiss the charges against Mr. Witt. The Court heard the State's motion to dismiss this morning and took the additional step of ordering the dismissal with prejudice so that Mr. Witt will never have to face these unfounded charges again. After spending 12 years in prison for a crime that never occurred, Witt and his wife Maria can now get on with their lives.

A HUGE thank you to the phenomenal (pro bono) legal team—Carrie Sperling, Randy Papetti, Christina Rubalcava, Erin Ronstadt, Adam Adinolfi, and a handful of students from ASU's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law who spent hundreds of hours working on this case. Finally, a very special thank you to our eight experts who spent hours reviewing the evidence and writing reports, all without any monetary compensation.

Prosecuting innocence: Free Courtney Bisbee.

I've heard this mother fight for her relationship with her daughter in family court myself, and I've seen much of the evidence that could exonerate her. Not only is there reasonable doubt as to her guilt, I'm absolutely convinced of Courtney's innocence. She's a remarkable woman, driven by her love for her little girl to fight all the forces the state can amass against a person - and then some.

Andrew Thomas' tenure did damage to many ordinary people's lives here; we'll see where Bill Montgomery goes. The county attorney has a duty to victims first and foremost, and that includes victims of the state, but it takes courage for politicians - especially here - to take that kind of responsibility. Once they convict you, everyone seems more concerned with avoiding liability by admitting harm than upholding justice.

A good prosecutor is driven to find the truth, not simply seek convictions, though - and a good prosecutor's eyes on this case is what's needed. Six years is already too long to have your mom or child taken from you - that can never be recovered. Never. There's a whole family being punished with Courtney, in fact, victims themselves of a multitude of horrible crimes - including the violence of incarceration. They all deserve to be free.

So, those who still think this system really delivers justice - and that only the "guilty" get brutalized by it anyway - need to read this woman's story. Then go sign the petition.

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

Supporters Fight to Get Courtney Bisbee a New Trial

by Charles Davis ·
February 15, 2011

Topics:

• Prosecutorial Misconduct ·
• Wrongful Convictions

There was no physical evidence linking Courtney Bisbee to a crime, just the incomplete and inconsistent testimony of child witnesses who claimed they saw her engage in inappropriate touching with a 13 year old boy. And it was based on that testimony alone that she was convicted in 2006 of child molestation and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Bisbee, a 35-year-old mother and former school nurse, was prosecuted by the office of disgraced District Attorney Andrew Thomas, the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation who has been accused by the Arizona State Bar of having engaged in at least 33 ethical violations while in office, from abuse of power to prosecutorial misconduct. Thomas is also perhaps best known for prosecuting a 16-year-old boy as a child sex offender for allegedly showing a Playboy to two of his friends.

In January 2007, the case against Bisbee – already thin – began to unravel, as journalist Stephen Lemons reported in a comprehensive piece for The Phoenix New Times. Indeed, one of the prosecution's “star” witnesses, Nik Valles, signed an affidavit stating that he was forced to lie on the stand – forced to say his brother, Jon, was groped by Bisbee at a friend's house – by his mother, who he says put him up to it in order to cash-in from a lawsuit against the school where Bisbee worked.

In the affidavit, Nik states that his mother, Janette Sloan, “wanted my brother, Jonathan Valles, to make false accusations against Courtney Bisbee for financial gain.” And he says he witnessed her tell his brother “to lie and to stick to the story and, 'You'll be a rich kid.”

Nik said that, as a 15 year old, he had no choice but to heed his mother's wishes – to lie on the stand and help convict an innocent woman. He now lives with his father.

"I love her; she's my mom,” Nik told the New Times. "But I don't agree with any of the decisions that she makes, and I wouldn't trust her with my life.”

Such a stunning revelation should have immediately earned Bisbee a new trial – if not her freedom outright. But Thomas ignored it – why let something like exculpatory evidence get in the way of a conviction? – as has his successor, Bill Montgomery. And so Courtney Bisbee remains in prison.

But she has her supporters.

Dawn Kirkpatrick attended the same church as Bisbee in Scottsdale, Arizona. And while she didn't know her personally, she says they had friends in common.

“One of these friends put a letter about Courtney's case on each table of a woman's Bible study that I was attending,” Kirkpatrick tells Change.org. “I picked up the letter that day and was interested in finding out more information.” And that she did, spending hours going through the evidence on a website Bisbee's parents set up about her case, www.Justice4Courtney.com.

“I started to read the evidence and ended up staying up almost the whole night digging into it all,” says Kirkpatrick. “To me it was quite obvious that she was completely innocent of this alleged crime and I couldn't understand why she was still in prison. From there I had to learn how difficult it is to get someone out of prison once they are convicted.”

And from there she decided to do something about it, working to help raise awareness about Bisbee's case and starting a petition that aims to get her a new trial.

“I have become friends with Courtney and visit her in prison,” says Kirkpatrick. “As a person who was assaulted myself at the age of 16, I would never support someone accused of a crime like this unless I believed 100 percent in their innocence.”

AZ Freedom March for the Wrongfully Convicted

Saturday, October 2, 11am
AZ Capitol Lawn

Join our fight to "free the innocent" and to restore fair justice in Arizona!

These Arizona cases involve overzealous law enforcement and prosecution resulting in wrongful convictions when Constitutional Rights are violated. The dire economic consequences of draconian mandatory minimum sentencing that puts non-violent, first offenders in prison for decades can no longer be ignored. Taxpayers can no longer sustain the alarming growth of the mass incarceration of Arizona's people, putting all at risk.

It's time for immediate change from a system that has operated out of control with no accountability for decades and is destroying thousands of innocent lives and the future of Arizona. Help us restore fair justice for all in Arizona!

Falsely accused, wrongfully convicted and wrongfully imprisoned people in Arizona: It's time to "right the wrongs"!

Featured Speaker: Alison Hicks, author and producer, "Backspin" - her experience in a rush to judgment arrest by Sheriff Arpaio, shattered lives of mother and child, Tent City gulag and a warning to others. Successful women are vulnerable in Arizona. A movie in the works. http://www.backspinmymovie.com

Free Courtney Bisbee, "Anatomy of a Wrongful Conviction", falsely accused in February 2004, of an "alleged" crime that never happened, never investigated in a rush to get a "high-profile" child molest case during a Presidential election year. A "he said, she said" case with no investigation and a total disregard for Constitutional Rights and established protocol resulting in a manifest injustice. New Evidence-Proof of innocence, recantations, affidavits and depositions - demanding a New Trial --is swept under the rug by an out of control Maricopa County Attorney's office that the public has been aware of for years.

How many millions of taxpayers dollars have been wasted on this bogus case? http://www.justice4courtney.com

Free William Macumber, an innocent 75 year old man, Clemency Board voted 100% to release; Arizona Justice Project has been working on his case since year 2000. Governor Brewer recently denied his release. Taxpayer dollars wasted on a person who is no harm to society.

Authors' real life experiences with the Arizona criminal justice system, jails and prisons:

Jim Rix, author, "Jingle Jangle", story of Ray Krone, exoneree, who spent almost 20 years in the Arizona state prison as an innocent man until he was exonerated. Raises questions about the integrity and competence of Forensic labs.

Daniel Horne, author, "Accidental Felons" and his story of overzealous prosecution resulting in shattered lives, horrific experience incarcerated in Tent City and lived to tell about it. A DUI, car accident and then "labeled" "violent felon".

Contact Camille Tilley at justice4courtney@mac.com

http://www.justice4courtney.com/

SIGN ONLINE PETITION FOR COURTNEY:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/free-courtney-bisbee---actual-innocence

-------------From criminaljustice.change.org's blog-------------

DNA Tests Have Freed 260 Wrongfully Convicted People

by Matt Kelley August 17, 2010

In case after case, people who were wrongfully convicted are finally seeing their freedom.

In Virginia, Calvin Wayne Cunningham will soon be exonerated for a rape he never committed — 30 years after his conviction. In Texas two weeks ago, Michael Anthony Green was freed after serving 27 years for a rape he likewise never committed. In Minnesota, a man was freed earlier this month, after a judge decided a defect in his Toyota Camry could have caused an accident for which he had been sentenced to prison.

All in all, fully 258 people have been exonerated through DNA testing in the United States, while hundreds more — perhaps thousands — have been cleared through non-DNA evidence.

Now, more than ever before, the road to exoneration is starting in an unlikely place: a prosecutor's office, or even the governor's desk. In Virginia, though Cunningham had begun asking for forensic tests in 1982, shortly after his initial rape conviction, it took a state review of old cases launched by former Gov. Mark Warner that finally turned up Cunningham's file decades later for closer scrutiny.

And then there's the case of Michael Green. Convicted in Houston in 1983 of a rape he didn't commit, though Green requested DNA testing in 2005, his appeal languished for several years — until the Harris County Prosecutor's Office began reviewing innocence claims and requests for DNA testing. Eventually, such attention from the prosecutor's office proved Green's innocence. (Though proof of wrongful convictions may seem to put prosecutors' offices in harsh light, wise district attorneys know that the same evidence which frees an innocent person also often points to the crime's real perpetrator.)

Across the nation, efforts to overturn wrongful convictions are spreading. Milwaukee recently launched a Virginia-style evaluation of old convictions, using DNA testing. Several other counties and cities are considering this approach, as well. In Ohio, the governor recently called on judges and prosecutors to grant DNA tests in seven cases in which they were previously denied.

Is your local district attorney up for election (or reelection) this November? Ask them whether they support reviewing claims of innocence from prisoners or decades-old convictions. A progressive platform emphasizing overturning wrongful convictions can get a district attorney elected, help overturn countless injustices and point to the real perpetrators of crimes — all at minimal cost. It's a win-win all around.

Update: Free William Macumber

I just started a petition to Free William Macumber at Change.org. Help us out with it. Here's the New York Times article you'll find as part of the letter there to Governor Brewer, if you need a refresher. William will turn 75 on August 31. Lets try to give him and his family some encouragement. He may have been juggled around because of the escapes, but his last known address there was:

William Macumber 033867

ASPC-Douglas/Mohave
PO Box 5002
Douglas, AZ 85608

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

Governor Rebuffs Clemency Board in Murder Case

By ADAM LIPTAK

New York Times

June 14, 2010

WASHINGTON — Ronald Kempfert was a young boy in 1975 when his father was sent to prison for murder, and they had no contact for 28 years.

Then, in 2003, Mr. Kempfert heard from a lawyer who had been looking into the case. “Your father is innocent,” said the lawyer, Larry A. Hammond. “And we’re pretty sure your mother framed him.”

That would seem a lot to digest, but Mr. Kempfert, 42, said he felt no hesitation. “My reaction was that it didn’t surprise me,” he said. “She’s my mother, and I love her. But I think she’s capable of anything.”

Mr. Kempfert is now certain that his father, William Macumber, is innocent. Arizona’s clemency board, citing Mr. Kempfert’s “very moving testimony” and saying there had been “a miscarriage of justice,” unanimously recommended last year that Mr. Macumber be freed.

But Mr. Macumber remains in prison, and Gov. Jan Brewer has refused to explain why.

The case against Mr. Macumber began in 1974 as his marriage was disintegrating. His wife, Carol, who worked in the local sheriff’s office, went to her superiors with a surprising story. Her husband, she said, had recently confessed to the unsolved murders of a young couple shot to death a dozen years before, in 1962, in the open desert north of Scottsdale, Ariz.

Largely on the strength of his former wife’s testimony, Mr. Macumber was convicted and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

But the jury did not hear a significant piece of evidence.

In 1967, five years after the murders in the desert, a drifter named Ernesto Valenzuela was charged with a similar double homicide. He told his lawyer that he had also killed the couple in the desert.

“He was just making a point about bragging about the people he killed,” the lawyer, Thomas W. O’Toole, said. “He was a cold-blooded killer who relished committing the murders.”

Mr. O’Toole, who went on to serve 24 years as a state judge, said his client was dead serious about claiming responsibility for the 1962 murders. “There is no doubt in my mind that Ernesto Valenzuela committed those crimes,” Mr. O’Toole said.

For years, Mr. O’Toole kept his client’s secret, as he was required to do by the canons of legal ethics. But after Mr. Valenzuela was himself killed in prison in 1973, and with the permission of Mr. Valenzuela’s mother, Mr. O’Toole offered to testify at Mr. Macumber’s trial.

The judge refused to let the jury hear from Mr. O’Toole, saying his account was unreliable hearsay. The judge also excluded testimony from a second lawyer and a psychiatrist who had heard similar confessions from Mr. Valenzuela.

The jury did hear about two kinds of physical evidence — a partial palm print and bullet casings — that prosecutors said connected Mr. Macumber to the killings.

Mr. Kempfert said he believed that his mother had done more than lie.

“I can fully see how my mother could have set him up and framed him,” Mr. Kempfert said. “She had access to the evidence. She was doing fingerprint courses at the time.”

Last year, the five members of the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency unanimously recommended to Ms. Brewer that Mr. Macumber be released after 35 years in prison “to correct a miscarriage of justice.”

But Ms. Brewer rejected the board’s recommendation without explanation in November. It is possible that politics played a role in her decision; Ms. Brewer, a Republican who became governor last year, is running for a full term in November.

“She denied the application right after she announced that she was running for governor,” said Katherine Puzauskas, a lawyer with the Arizona Justice Project at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. The project, which was founded by Mr. Hammond and works to overturn wrongful convictions, has represented Mr. Macumber since 2000.

There is little political upside to granting clemency, but there is a substantial risk, as Mike Huckabee learned when a man whose sentence he commuted as governor of Arkansas in 2000 killed four police officers last year.

P. S. Ruckman Jr., a political science professor at Rock Valley College in Rockford, Ill., has been fuming about Ms. Brewer’s handling of the Macumber case. “I have been following state clemency for 30 years,” Mr. Ruckman said, “and this is easily, easily, the most disturbing. It’s borderline despicable.”

“Common-sense notions of justice should compel a governor to provide an explanation for imprisoning a man deemed innocent by an official board created to make such judgments,” he added. “You don’t imprison a man for no reason.”

A spokesman for the governor said Ms. Brewer had reviewed the case thoroughly, but he provided only boilerplate concerning her reasoning.

“Every executive clemency case is carefully scrutinized as the governor balances the very real and important concepts of public safety, justice and mercy,” the spokesman, Paul Senseman, said in an e-mail message.

Mr. Macumber is 74 and in failing health, with heart problems and arthritis, and the threat he poses to public safety is not obvious.

But Mr. Macumber’s former wife, now known as Carol Kempfert, said he was a dangerous sociopath who deserved to die in prison. She denied making up his confession and tampering with the evidence used to convict him.

It is her former husband, she said, who is a pathological liar. “I was in law enforcement for almost 20 years, and no one came close to being able to manipulate like Bill,” she said. “This man could sell water to a drowning person.”

Mr. Macumber, she said, would have said anything to save their marriage.

For instance, she said, he once falsely claimed to have a heart condition. “He intimates that if I hang around long enough, he’ll die and I’ll get the insurance money,” she said. “Well, I hung around, and he didn’t die.”

Then he threatened to kill himself. “If you’re going to do it, go outside” she recalled telling her husband. “I don’t want blood on the walls.”

In the course of a half-hour conversation, Ms. Kempfert accused Mr. Macumber of terrible and disturbing crimes beyond the killings in the desert. Asked if he deserved clemency, she said, “Absolutely not.”

“Actually,” she added, “I think he’s lucky. If he had been caught sooner, he would have gotten the death penalty.”

Ms. Kempfert and her son no longer speak. Ronald Kempfert, who took his stepfather’s last name when he was a child, is in the process of changing it back to Macumber.

June 23: Innocence Project call to action.

Thanks for this, to my friend in the movement for the wrongfully accused/convicted. You rock, Camille.

(Sorry for the technical difficulties folks - worth the effort to read, though)

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

Innocence Blog

June 23: A Day of Action for Criminal Justice Reform

Posted: June 17, 2010 10:45 pm

Mark your calendar and get ready to speak up for criminal justice reform next Wednesday, June 23.

The Innocence Project will be asking supporters to call Senate leaders on Wednesday, urging them to support the creation of a national criminal justice reform commission.

A bill pending in the U.S. Senate would form a National Criminal Justice Commission to review and evaluate the country’s sprawling criminal justice system and make recommendations for reform. The bill is sponsored by Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, with more than three dozen co-sponsors from both parties.

The 254 DNA exonerations to date have revealed troubling flaws in our criminal justice system, and the proposed blue-ribbon panel could consider the causes of wrongful convictions and recommend federal measures to address them. And the issues seen in wrongful conviction cases extend throughout the system. From forensic oversight to indigent defense, the commission’s work could lead to reforms that improve public safety and confront the causes of injustice.

Phone numbers and more will be posted here on the morning of June 23 – but sign up for Innocence Project email updates here to get the action alert in your inbox on Wednesday morning.

Let your friends know about next week’s day of action by posting on Facebook and Twitter today.

And read more about the proposed commission below:

Open Congress: S. 714 National Criminal Justice Act

Sen. Jim Webb: National Criminal Justice Commission Act

SCOTT WATCH: Urgent Hospitalization Needed.

Called Commissioner Epps, Dr. Perry, and the US Department of Justice, leaving messages for all. Specifically asked the DOJ to initiate a CRIPA Investigation of the MDOC immediately re: women's health care.


More people need to do that - call the DOJ and ask for a CRIPA investigation, telling them why. CRIPA is the "Civil Rights for Institutionalized Persons Act", the DOJ HAS to investigate if given good cause to believe that  a pattern of violating civil rights is occurring (cruel and unusual health care is a constitutional violation that they are responsible for), and the pressure of an investigation may help to save Jamie's life right now- as well as the other women suffering like her behind those walls.


So, call them, fax the DOJ copies of documents we can pull off line about Jamie's health care crises, etc. - then they have paper copy in hand, with paper trails leading right to them, which no one can deny. All of us are witnesses, from wherever we are in the world. It's astonishing to think that the DOJ could claim to be so blind to Mississippi in 2010.


Too bad Holder's up for the new Supreme Court position. That makes it all the less likely, ironically, that he'll exhibit courage and liberate or protect anyone right now. So, we need to put the pressure on.


In solidarity with the women in Mississippi's prisons, from your free friends and radicals in Phoenix. Rock on.


Let's get Jamie through this, and be sure not to leave any of the other women fighting with her behind. 

Peg

---------------------- http://freethescottsisters.blogspot.com-------------------------

4/13 URGENT JAMIE SCOTT MEDICAL UPDATE!
 

Jamie Scott is again in medical crisis and we are asking everyone reading these words to push the prison to hospitalize her!

Jamie woke up last night in a puddle of blood from the painful catheter in her groin area. The catheter had green liquid, showing signs of infection. The guard called the doctor and was told to clean her up, change her bandage, give her a Tylenol, and send her back to her unit without anyone examining her at all! When she arrived back at the building she began vomiting uncontrollably and is still unable to keep anything down as far as we know. The most recent update today is that she is in the prison clinic and not in the hospital.

We need the prison to know that we are on top of what's going on and that Jamie Scott needs to be hospitalized now.

More updates will be sent out as soon as they come available.

Christopher Epps, Commissioner of Prisons for the State of Mississippi
601-359-5600
CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
723 North President Street
Jackson, MS 39202

Emmitt Sparkman, Deputy Commissioner
(601) 359-5610
esparkman@mdoc.state.ms.us

Margaret Bingham, Superintendent of Central Mississippi Corrections Facility
(601) 932-2880
mbingham@mdoc.state.ms.us
FAX: (601) 664-0782
P.O. Box 88550
Pearl, Mississippi 39208
Dr. Gloria Perry, Medical Department (601) 359-5155
gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us
Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
HOTLINE: 202-353-1555
PHONE: 202-514-2000
202-307-6777 fax
PLEASE CONTACT POLITICIANS AND MEDIA

A complete list of politicians to send Scott Sisters info to is at:
http://www.commoncause.org/siteapps/advocacy/search.aspx?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=4860375

A complete list of the media that we have listed (feel free to send to any others that
you wish to!) is at http://freethescottsisters.blogspot.com/2010/01/119-emergency-update.html