Sunday, December 16, 2007

URGENT REQUEST




On Monday, December 17, 2007 at 12:00 pm and on, we are asking that calls be made to the SCI-Smithfield Prison in Huntingdon, PA - Telephone # 814-643-6520 to demand the status of my son, John Anthony Diaz - DS-4803 , who is being physically abused, deprived, provoked and written up for numerous unwarranted misconducts. These prisoners who are being held in solitary confinement have stated they are being deprived of food and have lost so much weight that they are now frail men. They have been forced to endure so much affliction that some have reverted to suicides and several others have attempted suicides which the officials have been trying to cover up. There have been grievances and law suits filed by these prisoners which have been neglected, destroyed or dismissed by Lisa Hollibough, Asst. to the Superintendent and others within the PA Dept.of Correction, Tel # 717-975-4918 .
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections 2520 Lisburn Road Camp Hill, PA 17001 Jeffrey A. Beard, PhD, Secretary mailto:jbeard@state.pa.us

The officials have also been shipping prisoners out who may have either been part of the abuses and/or witnessing everything. The sister, Angie Zheng, of one of the suicide victims and I are in the process of planning a demonstration at SCI-Smithfield in Huntingdon, PA in order to attract media attention and bring awareness of what is happening in the PA prisons and with the PA DOC, who we believe is part of a statewide problem involving abuses and deaths in PA Prisons. We hope that we can depend on your participation in this upcoming demonstration to expose a corrupt DOC in PA. Anyone wishing to assist in this planning may contact either:
Angie Zheng at zheng3238@comcast.net OR
Leonna A. Brandao nvopres@verizon.net - Tel (508) 941-5367
New Vision Organization, Inc.
Brockton, MA 02301http://mysite.verizon.net/bizuiard/newvisionorg2

Thank you
Leonna

Monday, September 24, 2007

The Case Of Cleve Foster


Another man has confessed to the crime, yet Cleve, known as Sarge to his friends waits his turn to die.
Read on...

Suicide and Abuse In Pennsylvania Prison


Leonna is a talented author, advocate for the incarcerated, and founder of The New Vision Organization. Her son John is in a Pennsylvania prison, serving a life term. John and other inmates have recently witnessed abuse and suicides. When they tried to file documents on these issues, they were punished. I interviewed Leonna about this matter and here is Leonna and Johns story. Read On..

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Inmates Do "Thriller"

From a prison in the Phillippines, inmates practice Michael Jackson's "Thriller"

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Ruiz Was Granted A Reprieve An Hour Before Execution
Mitigating Evidence Was Never Heard By The Jury

Monday, July 9, 2007

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

What are Others Saying About "Dead Man Laughing"




The Dead man Laughing Myspace, is getting commented on. Here is what one myspacer had to say about it:
http://www.myspace.com/peterschmideg


Is Google Forever? Current mood: amused Category: MySpace
Dead Man Laughing, a MySpace profile page set up for a death row inmate, is running a joke contest. The inmate, Patrick Bryan Knight, intends to tell the winning joke on his death gurney when he is executed by lethal injection, June 24th. Nothing better illustrates the existential heart of the web. I believe it was in The Myth of Sisyphus that Albert Camus wrote about a writer who committed suicide as a publicity stunt. As I recall, the book the writer killed himself to publicize proved a dud. Honestly, I can't remember whether Camus approved of the suicide or not. I very much approve of the Dead Man Laughing contest. I believe it represents a healthy harnessing of the web. The ultimate purpose of any communications medium is to expand human consciousness. How does a perverse online joke contest expand human consciousness? Simply by pointing out a human truth. For condemned prisoners life reduces itself to a joke. Really, there are only two ways to cope: deep spiritual faith or dark humor. Which brings us back to Camus and the existentialists, whose writings captured how modern society has lost faith in traditional belief systems. Patrick Bryan Knight is bringing that loss of faith into brutal relief.
Existentialism begat absurdist theater. Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet, Harold Pinter, etc. Dead Man Laughing's online joke contest is a 21st century variation. I can't help but think of Beckett. Waiting for Godot, Endgame (obviously Endgame), plays wherein hopeless situations were reduced to comedy. Also, Genet. Like Genet, Patrick Bryan Knight is an unrepentant criminal. He has had the balls to plunge headlong into the cauldron of pop culture and transform himself into the central character of a psychodrama. I suppose it takes a psycho who cold-bloodedly murdered two innocent people to have such balls.
When I first became interested in the arts, I wrote plays along the lines of Beckett, Ionesco, Genet, and Pinter. As I matured, gaining superior insight into human nature, I quickly lost interest in theater and all traditional media. I realized that emotionally/intellectually human beings were not only shaped by electronic media, but also bound together by it. Marshall McLuhan's notion of a global village greatly influenced me, ultimately leading me to the web and the launching of my website: Illumination Gallery. Now I find myself drawn to Dead Man Laughing's joke contest because it turns an execution into an online event, with MySpace serving as the obvious venue. Obvious because inmates have a presence on MySpace. While they cannot directly post material, inmates can contact people outside prison via snail mail and thus set up profiles. Doreen Hawk, a Massachusetts death-penalty opponent, set up Patrick Bryan Knight's profile. What makes Mr. Knight's MySpace profile truly unique is that unlike other MySpace inmate profiles it was not set up to proclaim the inmate's innocence or to announce that he or she is a changed person. No, it was set up purely for the sake of effect. His profile is completely transparent, entirely honest. In an article written about him, posted in the Blog section of the profile, Mr. Knight, who openly admits to committing the murders for which he is being executed, shows no remorse. He philosophically accepts his pending death, stating: "They think they're killing me. They think they're punishing me. They've already punished me. I've already had 16 years of punishment. They're releasing me. They're letting me go. That's helping me out. That's the way I look at it." Mr. Knight's joke contest offers him a fleeting taste of immortality, with the hope of establishing a permanent niche in the annals of pop culture. This is immortality not in any spiritual sense, but in the Google sense. Is Google forever? What a question? What a thought? Yet Google has democratized pop culture to an extent unfathomable in the days when access to media outlets was extremely rarefied. Today virtually anyone can post online. Google not only vectors audiences to a seemingly endless array of information/stimuli, but it also serves as an organizational entity. Sometime after Mr. Knight is executed, I am sure the Dead Man Laughing profile page will be removed from MySpace. Still, Mr. Knight will have taken a step toward online immortality. Unquestionably, he is googleable. I find this both deeply sad and absurdly funny. So if instead of merely cracking a joke at his execution, Mr. Knight wanted to infuse a bit of genuine irony, he could ask, "Is Google forever?"

Interview With A Corrections Officer


Deez is also an Associated Content Producer

FBI Adds To Their Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List


Michael Griffith Executed by Texas


Mentally Ill In Prison, Interview



Read about a father's story whose son is mentally ill in prison.

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Son In Prison


One mother's story about her son in prison, and how he was harrasssed by guards read on...

Dead Man Laughing Contest


Patrick B. Knight, death row inmate has an execution date of June 26, 2007. He is holding a "Best Joke" contest..
read on

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Justice For Juveniles, Interview With Susan


Interview With Wanda Valdes, Whose Husband Was murdered by Florida State Prison Guards


"Early in the morning of July 17, 1999, nine guards at Florida State Prison in Starke, Florida, entered the cell of Frank Valdes. Trying to justify their behavior, they were screaming, "Where's the knife?" Armed with stun-guns, pepper, mace, and shields, they took turns beating him and stomping on his body with their boots, crushing every bone in his body and destroying every organ. Nobody should die like Frank did. Witnesses heard him moan like a wounded animal. They could tell, with his last breaths, that his lungs had collapsed. One prisoner, looking out from the bottom of his door, saw an unidentified object. He realized after staring at it that it was Frank's bloody head. After he was dead, they tried to clean him and up and put him on a food cart. At about 10.00 a.m., the guards passed the visiting park on the way to the medical area. Prisoners and visitors saw a corpse with his eyes rolled back. The Medical Dept. said that he didn't need medical care." Source, Carol Strick

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Federal Judge orders autopsy for executed inmate, despite his religious beliefs.

Federal judge OKs autopsy on executed inmate despite religious objections Gabriel Haboubi at 1:33 PM ET
[JURIST] A US district judge gave the State of Tennessee permission Wednesday to perform an autopsy on executed Seventh Day Adventist Philip Workman [Wikipedia backgrounder], despite Workman's pre-execution objections to the procedure on the grounds that it would conflict with his religious beliefs. Chief District Judge Todd Campbell [FJC profile] of the US Middle District of Tennessee [official website] found that although Workman's religious beliefs warranted consideration, the state had a compelling interest in verifying the success of the lethal injection [JURIST news archive] protocol. Workman was the first inmate to be executed [JURIST report] earlier this month under Tennessee's revised lethal injection procedures [PDF text; JURIST report]. The new Tennessee protocol includes more detailed guidelines for administering lethal injections, but still uses a controversial three-drug "cocktail" of a pain killer, a paralytic to stop the lungs, and drug to stop the heart. Some say the cocktail may be ineffective in preventing inmates from suffering a painful death [JURIST report]. Dr. Jay Chapman, who created the cocktail in the 1970s, now believes that there are better drugs that could be used [CNN report]. Despite this, he still believes that if implemented properly, there is no problem with using his creation in lethal injections. AP has more.

Federal Judge orders autopsy for executed inmate, despite his religious beliefs.

Federal judge OKs autopsy on executed inmate despite religious objections Gabriel Haboubi at 1:33 PM ET
[JURIST] A US district judge gave the State of Tennessee permission Wednesday to perform an autopsy on executed Seventh Day Adventist Philip Workman [Wikipedia backgrounder], despite Workman's pre-execution objections to the procedure on the grounds that it would conflict with his religious beliefs. Chief District Judge Todd Campbell [FJC profile] of the US Middle District of Tennessee [official website] found that although Workman's religious beliefs warranted consideration, the state had a compelling interest in verifying the success of the lethal injection [JURIST news archive] protocol. Workman was the first inmate to be executed [JURIST report] earlier this month under Tennessee's revised lethal injection procedures [PDF text; JURIST report]. The new Tennessee protocol includes more detailed guidelines for administering lethal injections, but still uses a controversial three-drug "cocktail" of a pain killer, a paralytic to stop the lungs, and drug to stop the heart. Some say the cocktail may be ineffective in preventing inmates from suffering a painful death [JURIST report]. Dr. Jay Chapman, who created the cocktail in the 1970s, now believes that there are better drugs that could be used [CNN report]. Despite this, he still believes that if implemented properly, there is no problem with using his creation in lethal injections. AP has more.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

New Jersey To Abolish The Death Penalty?


N.J. bill would abolish death penaltyTRENTON, N.J., May. 11 (UPI) -- A bill that would make New Jersey the first state in decades to abolish the death penalty has moved a step closer to approval. The state Senate Judiciary Committee approved the measure 8-2 Thursday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The bill substitutes a life sentence without parole for the death penalty. New Jersey has not executed anyone since 1963, although the state adopted a new capital punishment law in 1982. A special commission recommended abolition in January. The bill is not guaranteed passage in the Legislature. Two senators who voted to release it from committee warned they might change their minds in a floor vote. Sen. Raymond Lesniak, the Democrat who leads the committee, said he opposes the death penalty even for terrorists. "Terrorists want to be martyrs," Lesniak said. "Let's not give them another reason to commit a heinous act." Sharon Hazard-Johnson, whose parents' killer is on New Jersey's death row, testified against the bill. She sat next to a picture of her parents. "If the death penalty is broken, fix it. Don't get rid of it," she said. "This has taken more out of my life. I don't want to be here." http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/05/11/nj_bill_would_abolish_death_penalty/9729/

Monday, May 7, 2007

Texas adds 3 to Execution List

TEXAS:Three (3) new execution dates have been set in Texas, and all should beconsidered serious:Kenneth Foster, for August 30; Clifford Kimmel, for September 20,and Heliberto Chi, for October 3.see the updated list below for the 14 impending/scheduled execution datesfor Texas this year (thus far).....

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Prison Sex

BRIDGETON — A former corrections officer at a state prison in Maurice River Township was indicted Wednesday on a single count of official misconduct for allegedly having sex with four inmates.
Karen Conlow, 35, was terminated from her job at the Southern State Correctional Facility on Dec. 5, 2006. According to the complaint, Conlow engaged in the unlawful activity — which included buying and sending a money order for an inmate — during a seven-month period in 2006. Read On...http://abolishmentmovement.mywowbb.com/forum22/2966.html

Friday, May 4, 2007

The Execution of Kenneth Foster Jr.UPDATE


Kenneth is on Texas death row, waiting to die by lethal injection, read on..http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/233797/the_execution_of_kenneth_foster_jr.html

Mustafah Chisley's Interview with the Abolishment Movement

Interview with the Deputy Chairman to the Maryland Branch of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party-Prison Chapter


Anthony (Mustafah), could you tell us about your crime and how long you have been incarcerated?First off I prefer that people call me Mustafah. I have four counts of carjacking that were consolidated under a plea agreement and sentenced to thirty years. But this is a consecutive imprisonment that began about two decades ago that included other charges. There are many discrepancies in my case that if addressed will result in my freedom but due to a few factors I'll remain silent on I have been unable to obtain any hearings through out the appeals process after being denied post - conduction relief up to the US Supreme Court by writ of Certiori.
Read On...
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/173912/interview_with_the_deputy_chairman.html


"Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides?" Brett Hartmann, Innocent on Death Row

Brett is an innocent man on death row in Ohio. Please visit his website for more comprehensive information on his case and the injustices he continues to endure. Brett was a single man of 23 at the time of his arrest. He shared an apartment, and living expenses with his mother, while working as a chef for a well recognized restaurant. Brett has always been a compassionate person, never confrontational, facing life with great inner strength and a tremendous sense of humor. He is a man with a ready smile, well liked by all who know him. In fact, after Brett's arrest, but prior to his indictment, deputy Police Chief Michael Matulavich admitted during a press conference that they did not have enough evidence to charge Brett. read on

http://www.enddeathpenaltyforbretthartmann.com/

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Ray Hill and The Prison Show Documentary



Ray Hill and
The Prison Show
Documentary
May 13 8pm

This is a 55-minute documentary on Ray Hill and
KPFT¢s The Prison Show filmed and edited in its
present form by Brian Huberman of Rice University.
Introducing the film will be a 12-minute piece on The
Woodlands 10 which recently aired on the gay cable
channel LOGO. Talk-back to follow.
Admission is free but donations accepted.
theprisonshow.org

The Artery
5401 Jackson @ Prospect
entrance on Prospect
arteryhouston.org
my review on this show..

Interview with Roderick P. Robinson, Ex-Convict, Turned Prison Right's Activist




When Roderick P. Robinson was incarcerated in Ohio prisons, he claims to have been both physically and psychologically abused at the hands of prison guards, and staff. He claims to have proof of the corruption of America's prison system in this shocking interview.

Carey Dean Moore gets a Stay


OMAHA, Neb. -- The Nebraska Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the execution of death-row inmate Carey Dean Moore.
Moore had been scheduled to be executed on Tuesday for the 1979 murders of two Omaha cab drivers.
read on:

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Tennessee Death Row Inmate Files Appeal


Attorneys for death row inmate Philip Workman asked a federal appeals court to stay his execution set for next Wednesday, May 9, 2007.
Workman was convicted for the 1981 shooting death of Memphis Police Lieutenant Ronald Oliver.
His defense team is also reviewing revised execution rules released by the state to decide whether they should be challenged in court.
Workman has two appeals pending before the 6th United States Circuit Court of Appeals.
His lawyers requested the stay of execution claiming he was convicted on perjured testimony and that the state withheld evidence that would have established Workman's innocence.
He has twice been within hours of execution when courts stepped in to spare his life.
http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=e4883d65-9653-48ae-88da-a49071e59048

Saty of Execution Sought For Alabama Inmate


Alabama has now joined in on the group of states that are challenging the method used for execution, lethal injection.
Stay of execution sought for Alabama death row inmateBy DESIREE HUNTER, Associated Press WriterMONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Attorneys for Alabama death row inmate Darrell Grayson filed a motion Monday asking to stay his execution based on their concerns that the state's method of lethal injection causes"excruciatingpain.Lawyers for another death row inmate, Aaron Jones, also filed a motion Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court asking to stay his execution, scheduled for Thursday, at least until Grayson's challenge to lethal injection is heard.
read on...

Inmate dies After Being Left Alone, Covered In Feces

MIAMI -- A diabetic jail inmate who lost control over his lower body died after being left alone covered in his own feces for a week, and officials failed to get him medical treatment despite knowing of his condition, his attorney said Thursday. Read on:
http://abolishmentmovement.mywowbb.com/view_topic.php?id=2963&forum_id=22

Tuesday, May 1, 2007



Dr. Jay Chapman, Creator of Lethal Injection


By Elizabeth CohenCNN

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- When Gary Gilmore was choosing between the firing squad and the electric chair in 1977, Dr. Jay Chapman remembers discussing the inhumanity of each option with his colleagues at the Oklahoma state medical examiner's office.
"We said this is really ridiculous. We kill animals more humanely than we kill people," said Chapman.
But Chapman, then the chief medical examiner in Oklahoma, supported the death penalty. So when state legislators asked him to come up with a more humane alternative, he went to work.

Read On:http://edition.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/04/30/lethal.injection/

Attention:

Who: Everyone is invited!

What: ABOLITION MOVEMENT May Meeting

When: Tuesday, May 1, 2007, 7-9 PM

Where: SHAPE Community Center , 3815 Live Oak at Alabama Street , Houston ’s Third Ward

Why: To fight the death penalty and support those on death row:

§ Mumia’s hearing on May 17 in the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals—solidarity action in Houston

§ Table/outreach at the Pan African Festival, May 25-26

§ Juneteenth Parade

§ The US Social Forum in Atlanta , June 27-July 1—participate in a workshop on Mumia, the death penalty and political prisoners

§ Good news from the Supreme Court for LaRoyce Smith, Brent Ray Brewer and Jalil Abdul-Kabir because of sentencing problems and for Jose Medellin because of denial of consular rights under Vienna Convention!!

§ Executions vigils in Houston for May and June to be at SHAPE at 3903 Almeda Road

§ Study group on the book Los of Empire: Legal Lynching, Vigilantism, and African American Intellectualism in the 21st Century by Larvester Gaither.

§ Update on Oct. 27th 8th Annual March to Stop Executions

Monday, April 30, 2007

Patrick Knight, Texas Death Row

Patrick Knight has an execution date of June 26th 2007. He will be executed by lethal injection. He has asked me to let everyone know he will die laughing, and I have created a Myspace about this, "Dead Man Laughing". Pleases add yourself to his page.
http://www.myspace.com/prisonuprise

Timothy Atkins, Free after 23 Years Wrongfully Incarcerated


On Feb. 9, Timothy Atkins became the fifth wrongfully convicted prisoner released thanks to the work of the California Innocence Project of California Western School of Law.
"This never gets old," said Professor Justin Brooks as he watched Atkins hug his mother for the first time in 23 years. Atkins' conviction was overturned by Los Angeles Judge Michael Tynan after the project attorneys presented new evidence, including a witness who recanted her trial testimony, proving Atkins' innocence.
"This is the pinnacle of our existence," said Brooks, who founded the California Innocence Project at California Western in 2000. "This is the whole goal: freeing the innocent." Read On...

Interview with Darrell Jones concerning Massachusetts Prisons

Massachusetts Inmate Darrell Jones Speaks out about Prison Abuse and Racism

Hunger Strike On Texas Death Row

Texas Inmate Taichin Preyor Goes on Lone Hunger Strike in Protest of Living Conditions
"I have at this time committed myself to a lone hunger strike as a means to shed light on the dark deeds being implemented daily by the TDCJ administration and supporting staff.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1759032/texas_inmate_taichin_preyor_goes_on.html

Solitary Confinement

Save Jeff Wood

-----------------
From: Capital-"X"
Date: Aug 21, 2008 6:12 AM


World wide! PLEASE Pick up your phones and call Texas Governor Rick Perry and demand a stay of execution for Jeff Wood! Call and keep calling.
30 seconds is all it takes to help save this innocent man from falling victim to the Texas killing machine!!!

Texas Death Row Inmate Reggie Blanton, Force Tape from Polunsky Death Row


..


HELP SAVE REGINALD BLANTON VIDEO









Art

Art
By James D. Diaz

By James D. Diaz

By James D. Diaz

By James D. Diaz

James D. Diaz

Eagle

Eagle
Michael Workman

Tony Medina, Texas Death Row

By Brett Hartman, Ohio Death Row

I'm a Certified Fool

I'm a Certified Fool
James D. Diaz

The Shocking Of America

The Shocking Of America
By James D. Diaz

Executed By Texas

Executed By Texas
Dominique Green

Little Wing

Little Wing
James D. Diaz