Marcia Powell: No Human Involved? Appeal to Rick Romley.

For many years, official police reports identified murdered prostitutes with the phrase
"No human involved."

From the Sex Worker Outreach Project (SWOP) Tucson memorial last December,
marking the 2009 International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers.

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Dear Friends of Marcia Powell:

I went to the Maricopa County Attorney's office yesterday and requested an appointment with Rick Romley to discuss the prosecution of those responsible for Marcia's death. I was deflected by a detective who knew next to nothing about the case, and sent me off to tell the state to do a better investigation for them, suggesting that they can still file charges later. I wasn't satisfied with that, but wasn't about to fight the guy to Romley's door - he was pretty big and wore a gun.

So, after visiting AZ Attorney General Goddard's office to be sure they can't do anything (they denied any jurisdiction, deferring to the MCA), I came home and wrote this letter. I hand-delivered it to Romley's office this morning.

Admittedly, I probably should have tried this before chalking up the MCA's sidewalks last week and posting my art, but I guess I needed to get it out of my system in order to articulate myself. I think this is the right thing to do, though I can't help but feel like I'm betraying some of my abolitionist principles by arguing for criminal prosecution. If anyone has any ideas about what transformative justice might look like in this community for the guards who killed Marcia Powell, let me know. I just don't want to empower or embolden them - or any other officer - to hurt prisoners again.

Anyway, this may end what I had left of secrets or a private life, but the truth about why I could have ended up in that cage myself seemed important to tell. I'm not entirely proud of all the decisions I've made in my life, but Arundhati Roy's closing quote is on my letterhead precisely because I believe we should never have to be ashamed to tell our stories. If we cower in silence and fear, then how else will others be free to tell theirs? We must assert that - whatever else we may be called - we are humans involved if we are to challenge the stigma that allows women like Marcia to be so readily discounted and ignored.

- Peg

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September 8, 2010

Richard M. Romley
Maricopa County Attorney
301 West Jefferson St.
Phoenix, AZ 85003

Dear Mr. Romley,

My name is Peggy Plews; I’m a friend of Marcia Powell’s. We didn’t actually meet before she died, but I immediately identified with her life story. As an alcoholic, drug-addicted, manic depressive, troublemaking survivor of childhood abuse and sexual assault, I was thrown out and dropped out of high school, sold myself for a high on more than one occasion, and ended up institutionalized before I was 20.

I was fortunate enough to end up in AA at that time, or I would have soon been criminalized like Marcia, if I even survived much longer. My recovery over the years has been a challenge; since the 2001 death of my little brother and the suicide of a man I loved, my mood disorder has been severe enough that I’ve had several episodes of relapse and extended periods of disability. Some of the medications I’ve been on have made me gravely ill. As an alternative, I went a year without meds, and even tried electroconvulsive shock therapy. Neither strategy was very effective; the latter caused lasting damage to my memory and cognitive abilities.

By the time of Marcia’s death, however, I’d been regaining my functioning for a couple of years, and was enrolled at ASU, 3 credits away from earning my degree in Justice Studies. Most of my academic inquiry around that time was in the history of slavery, women’s resistance to oppression, social movements in America, and the evolution of the contemporary prison industrial complex. By the time my Winter 2009 semester concluded, I was an avowed - albeit an imperfect - prison abolitionist, and just beginning to cast my gaze around my own community again. Hence my intensely personal reaction when I learned of Marcia‘s death.

Not quite sure how to cope with the grief and powerlessness I felt, I began to blog as one vehicle for both public education and advocacy. Needing to find others who shared my interests and concerns about our jails and prisons, I also organized with some of the community members I met at memorial services in the weeks that followed Marcia’s death to explore ways we could make a positive difference in how prisoners are treated and regarded, and in how the criminal justice system here works. We came to call ourselves the “Friends of Marcia Powell”, which is a much broader, looser network now that includes everyone from young Phoenix anarchists to international prison watchers to leaders in the movement for the wrongfully convicted to Republicans with kids in Arizona prisons. Of all of us, though, I am the one who could have most easily been Marcia Powell.

I still can be, in fact. I am regarded by some, I’m sure (particularly those at the AZ Department of Corrections) as a public nuisance; certainly as a dogged critic of state policies and people in power. I suspect I have not endeared myself to anyone but left wing radicals and outlaws, and - given my personal history - I’d be pretty vulnerable to malicious prosecution by any of my adversaries’ good buddies, as I understand Mr. Montgomery is.

I could also just as easily relapse or lose my mind and get arrested and prosecuted for a real crime. Once in prison, given my politics, I’d be in trouble all the time - and sure to be punished outside of policy guidelines from time to time. So, I have a vested interest in the outcome of your investigation and - hopefully - prosecutions: I don’t want those people to have power over my life after what they’ve done to Marcia.

Given that the constitutional rights we infer on crime victims in this state don’t apply to people who - like Marcia - are victimized while “in custody for an offense”, it’s no wonder that prisoners of the state and county alike are so often brutalized and neglected. Prisoners and ex-felons have fewer rights and protections than animals, while perpetrators of violent crimes against them are given far more benefit of the doubt by your office than the rest of us would be. Failing to prosecute anyone for the death of Marcia Powell will certainly facilitate justifications for prisoner abuse in the future by brutal, cruel, and careless people in uniform who think they will be immune to criminal sanctions. It also further erodes the public’s trust that “justice” in America is for all, not just for the privileged few.

As I suspect you know, people like Thomas, Arpaio, and Pearce have also done grave damage to the integrity and credibility of Arizona’s criminal justice system, and consequently, to the ability of many people to have any faith in law makers or enforcers anymore. Not prosecuting those responsible for the death of Marcia Powell just reaffirms that the lives of the most disenfranchised and vulnerable among us here are truly disposable in the eyes of the law - which earns only my disgust and contempt. That is where some of the rage directed at police by youth during the Anti-Arpaio march comes from - it’s a deep fracture that can’t be healed by punishing them - it needs to be addressed at the source.

In the meantime, those individuals already identified in an internal investigation as being criminally negligent in Marcia’s death are minimizing the harm they did and fighting to get their jobs back, some returning to the same prison yard with the same duties and powers they had when they killed her. That speaks volumes about the justice system to those prisoners who witnessed their incompetence or cruelty that day, and will now be subjected to it themselves again.

In light of that development, how is a prisoner who is raped ever supposed to have confidence that her complaint will be taken seriously, and that her assailant will be prosecuted instead of returned to a position of power over her? Why would any of those women have any confidence at all that the Maricopa County Attorney’s office makes a good faith effort to protect victims and seek justice, if the only people they see you punish are the poor and powerless or political enemies? As you should know, as many as 80% of women in prison have themselves been victims of crime already - and many will be again.

For these reasons I came by your office today in an attempt to schedule an appointment to meet with you, to personally implore you to take another look at Marcia’s case. Your office is prosecuting all sorts of people on less evidence, or with more contradictory testimony, than that which has been collected thus far in this case. You are threatening several Friends of Marcia Powell’s with prosecution as violent criminals - with prison time, if they don’t plead out - for their antagonism of police at the January Anti-Arpaio rally. What does it say to those young people - and their entire community - if you then won’t charge ADC officers for their role in Marcia’s death? She was far more helpless a victim than armed police on horseback or in riot gear. She suffered horribly due to those officers’ neglect; her body even had second degree burns on it from the sun. None of the Arpaio 5 hurt anyone like that, nor would they. You have the wrong dangerous criminals in your sights.

Please bring charges against those officers who are most implicated and let them put on their defense - what have you lost if some prove their innocence? You will have at least shown that human lives like Marcia’s matter as much as fallen K-9 dogs. You will help set a higher standard of expectations for the conduct of corrections and law enforcement officers in regards to their treatment of prisoners. And before you leave your post, you will teach this community to expect more from the county attorney’s office than we’ve been able to expect for years. Given who will be taking your place, that’s a vital, powerful tool for the people to have, lest we all become victims of that office again.

I can be contacted at the number and email above if you are willing to meet; I have a couple of other issues I‘d like to discuss, too. I’d very much like your help crafting a bill and lobbying the legislature to strengthen the rights of Arizona prisoners to be protected from neglect and abuse; you have credibility that my friends and I lack due to your reputation in law enforcement. We plan to make “Marcia’s Law” a visible issue this fall, such that it gets raised on the campaign trail and is in the forefront of everyone’s minds by the time the legislature reconvenes. If it is not initiated now, while the incident is still fresh in the community’s collective heart and mind, it will never be realized.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,


Margaret Jean Plews

--
"Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness, and our ability to tell our own stories..."

- Arundhati Roy

Justice for cops and the privileged few...

Upon reading Stephen Lemons' article about Marcia tonight, I became highly agitated and needed to chalk. So, I chalked up the sidewalks outside the Maricopa County Attorney's office.

Figured it might be the only way I'd ever get heard by Romley on the matter. Left my card at the scene in case he needs me to clarify any of what I had to say. It was dark, so the photos are kind of grainy - sorry.

Was stopped by a couple of detectives at one point, who told me I was breaking the law. Was about ready to pick a fight over that (I've been told repeatedly by cops - after they hassle me - that it's not criminal damage if it's chalk on a public sidewalk), but they didn't have time to argue with me about it and took off so I went back to work until I got it out of my system...

I find it really disheartening - and enraging - that when a cop gets bumped by a couple of kids at a rally, they call it a violent assault and threaten to put a young woman in prison for the next decade over it. But when a woman is locked in a cage in 108 heat, tormented and taunted and ignored until she collapses in her own feces, the county attorney's office can't even find a misdemeanor complaint to file against any one of the 16 people the ADC held responsible for her death. That's pathetic and deeply disturbing. So, when it comes to "justice" here, even with Andy Thomas out the rest of us are screwed.

Conditions of confinement: Sheriff Joe's jail is our responsibility, too.

The following is a revised and somewhat more radical version of my post from AZ prison watch earlier in the night. It seemed appropriate for this blog, too. No one is listening to us at the Governor's office or ADC, so try the DOJ now. Please call or write today.

Amnesty International poster: Write a letter, save a life.

For those who missed Stephen Lemons' review of Shaun Attwood's new book, "Hard Time: A Brit in America's Toughest Jail", it's worth the read. I'd post it here but I've already packed in too much for the night. It is, of course, about the Maricopa County Hell they call a jail. Hit Shaun's blog, "Jon's Jail Journal" too, if you haven't already. He posts letters from prisoners there, and is a good friend to many who would otherwise have no audible voice.

As for the conditions of confinement in our jails and prisons: I don't understand why the Department of Justice hasn't held Arpaio criminally responsible for his abuse of so many people over the years - from medical negligence to conspiracies to deprive us of our civil rights. Their failure to do so thus far is akin to the feds' consent for every harm he's done under his tenure, and complicity with every additional prisoner he neglects or kills. I'm really starting to worry that they plan to make some kind of closed door deal with him, then pack their bags and walk away.

The Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act covers prisoners precisely because the People so often end up needing protection from the sadistic cruelty of those wielding power in our name, and few in America are more disenfranchised and vulnerable than those disposed of in jails and prisons - citizens and "aliens" alike. They include our elderly, our poor, our sick, troubled youth, our mentally ill, our developmentally disabled - all those people we once institutionalized elsewhere (and have thrown out into the streets) are thrown into the stew.

Of course, the more vocal idiots in our community argue after every article about prisoner abuse or suicide that because they are in a jail or prison they deserve whatever they get, whatever that may be. Just because those readers like to stone prostitutes, though, doesn't mean they are themselves without sin. Nor do they represent all of us. Those people are twisted bullies hiding behind fake identities looking for someone to kick who's already down. They've probably commented on this blog of Stephen's, in fact.

That's a tangent I can't stop from exploring in this context. The media shouldn't give such people the platform on which to celebrate brutalization, suicide, and murder, including among prisoners, in the first place. That's not supporting freedom of speech - it's just intimidating the voices of reason and humanity into silence. Giving hateful people our shared public space empowers them to use shame to perpetrate cruelty, and it perpetuates the stigma felt by prisoners' families who read "good riddance" from the community after their loved ones die. They screen such things out of printed "letters to the editor"; why not moderate their public forums? Only abusive and rich people seem to get amplified when they speak - the rest of us get censored, even if we head the nightly news.

Frankly, most of "free" Arizona should be locked up, looking at the multitude of laws that require jail or prison for those who break them - and at how unbelievably easy it is to put someone away, especially in this state. We are just privileged or very lucky if we've escaped such a fate so far. Those who think they will never be prosecuted because they really aren't "criminals" need to check out the Arizona Justice Project. There are all sorts of innocent people behind bars.

Once in a while the law reaches out and touches us where we never thought it would - and since it's not a common occurrence in our white, middle class communities, we are sure that there is just a deviant in our midst, or it is a fluke of the justice system that will work itself out. Dad's in an accident while on painkillers following surgery and goes to prison because he had an old DUI. Presumably he will get treatment in prison, but he's already been sober for 5 years - instead he just loses time from his kids' lives and his ability to support his family. The neighbor is arrested for embezzling to save the house from foreclosure and her kids from homelessness - losing everything and everyone in the process. We pay over $20,000 a year to incarcerate her for five years - and God knows how much to put the kids in foster care - while her banker gets a bonus from the taxpayer bailout.  

I hope everyone out there finds those images as disturbing as I do. It happens all the time.

As for the wrongfully-accused: Americans don't really presume innocence, which is why Joe's jail was allowed to get so bad. We recoil from the accused as soon as they hit the news because the possibility that agents of the almighty law might be corrupt or wrong threatens our sense of social order. We sacrifice Innocence like she's the designated virgin just to maintain the illusion that the guilty among us are eventually caught, and that those who are caught are always guilty. 

People who are innocent tend to believe that the truth will prevail, and if it doesn't they end up being punished worse than the real criminals who make a deal. Real-life case in point: Courtney Bisbee, the school nurse accused of touching a 14-year old liar and branded as a child molester, was a feather in the cap of the detective who arrested her and the prosecutor who got the conviction. To assure that the rest of us got our taste of blood, the judge slammed her with 11 years for fighting it out in court instead of taking a plea bargain that would have had her back home with her child by now.

Stephen Lemons even investigated Courtney's case and advocated on her behalf (here and here, too), but no one wants to hear the new evidence that would exonerate her because it implicates incompetence - or worse. For law enforcement's ego and our sense of order, she's been in prison for at least 6 years now. Maybe Romley is the man who will have the courage to help set her free - we'll see. He was the Maricopa County Attorney when she was originally prosecuted, so if he steps up to the plate and looks at it in a new light, I'll be impressed. Andrew Thomas was too much of a political coward.

In these ways the brutality of our courts, Joe's jail, and Ryan's prisons hits home. It's not a freakish thing for families to be ripped apart by "justice" in poor and minority communities - it's all too common. The legal system works exactly as it's designed to there, oppressing resistance to white supremacy and defiance of the rules of capitalism at every turn. Justice is the sheep's clothing that America dons to promote the interests of the few, and the myth that we are a model of democracy is what blinds us - and Her - to the deceit. 

But Justice is not supposed to prey on the rest of us "ordinary Americans"- it is supposed to protect us. It only seems to be when we fall from grace ourselves (or get falsely accused and imprisoned) that we begin to see the system for what it is. We get inside and see people doomed to spend the rest of their lives in prison for charges as petty as fraud, while murderers walk away with money in their pocket after 15 or 20 years. Looking around, we also realize that the majority of the people behind bars are not a public safety threat - most are public nuisances, eyesores, "sinners" and surplus laborers who legislators thought would be better hidden away. Those still claiming their innocence are all too often out-maneuvered by the state in legal proceedings, and seldom have the luxury of an attorney to help them once appeals are exhausted. 


Look closely and you'll see that America's prisons and jails have, by and large, replaced our mental hospitals, poorhouses, and plantations. And they are major money-making machines for those in power, as long as they skimp on human rights and basic needs like food and health care. That's why the prisoners who would expose them are discredited, discounted, and silenced in every way possible.

Never mind that the desperate and vulnerable are being relegated and abandoned in these hellholes to sociopaths who will rape and torture them for the fun of it, or even kill them just to score a new gang tattoo. To the private and public prison industries alike, each new body is just an addition to their growing empire - they have no interest in anyone's innocence or special circumstances, and no reason to help prevent or reduce the effects of crime in our communities. 

Despite lamenting about the high recidivism rate (usually as an excuse to be better funded and more brutal), jails and prisons are just as well-paid for recycling the people they chewed up once already. Buying the industry's line of BS, a terrorized public decides that parole officers and prosecutors are always professional and responsible and work in a functional system, so it must be the criminal's own fault for getting put back in - he should have learned his lesson the first time. Our perceptions are too often shaped by the expectation that what we pay nearly 10% of our state budget for includes some effort at "rehabilitation" (hence the AZ Department of Corrections' designation as such, not the "Department of Confinement"). The criminal justice system isn't rehabilitating anyone - they're spending our money lobbying the governor and legislature to pass more laws and assure more prison sentences for less serious crimes than ever.

The prison industrial complex as a whole (of which Sheriff Joe is actually just a small part) cultivates the rest of us to feel exploited and victimized, though, so that we seem defenseless and helpless without them. Then they glorify themselves as our protectors (though they usually arrive after the crime, not in time to prevent it), and we willingly pay them some other kid's lunch money to keep it up. It's a racket. Actually reducing crime and making us all more safe would just cut into their power and profit margins.  

Anyone who believes such a system really upholds justice or promotes the public good is delusional or has been duped. Law enforcement is an integral part of the fascist decimation of our rights, not the power protecting them. We - the People - are the only power that will protect liberty and justice for the future, but only if we have our eyes wide open and are ready to risk jail, prison, defamation, and even execution in the process. If we are not, then we have surrendered that which is most important in life for nothing more than illusion. We are on a leash, instead of in a cage. At least some prisoners, with their integrity intact, mange to remain free.

The DOJ is grossly negligent for failing to act aggressively under CRIPA against the MCSO, and therefore shares the blame for emboldening our greedy, bigoted, fear-mongering lawmakers and enforcers to continue to imprison, injure, and kill those of us whose nationality or skin color or gender or politics or religion they hate. But we are also responsible for letting this go on so long without holding either the feds or Arpaio accountable ourselves. So, here are the names and contact info for the people at the DOJ who should be investigating the real public enemies - and taking action - under CRIPA, regardless of what else they're doing. Please call or write on behalf of those fighting  a losing battle to defend their lives. Don't wait for your loved one to end up in trouble: he or she may be the next prisoner of the MCSO or Arizona Department of Corrections to die.

So could you or I.

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DOJ - Special Litigation Section

Mailing Address

Special Litigation Section

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, PHB
Washington, D.C. 20530
For FEDEX: 601 D Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004

Telephone Number
(202) 514-0195
toll-free at (877) 218-5228

Fax Numbers
(202) 514-0212
(202) 514-6273

---

Acting Chief
Judy Preston
(202) 514-6258
Principal Deputy Chief
Tammie Gregg
(202) 616-2009
Deputy Chiefs
Julie Abbate (Acting)
(202) 353-4637
Mary Bohan (Acting)
(202) 616-2325
Luis Saucedo (Acting)
(202) 353-0299

Fascists, White Supremacists dominate AZ Republican Primaries.

The Fascists all but swept the Republican Primaries here last night, and in most of their strongholds the Democrats won't have much chance come November. We're still holding out hope that the corrupt Andrew Thomas loses to the incompetent Tom Horne, but overall, it's a bleak Wednesday morning in Phoenix.


Having no tv is a good excuse to get out and about on a night like last night, so I brought my "Bury Hep C..." signs with me to the AZ GOP Party HQ to witness the tragedy unfold. It was far worse than I expected. It looks like many of my friends took one step closer to spending the next few years in an Arizona state prison, all for the love of Food Not Bombs, music under the bridge, and sidewalk chalk. Freedom of expression and human rights will soon be tossed out of the back seat by Thomas' Law and Arpaio's disorder.


I was pleading more than protesting with my signs to fight Hep C , standing quietly across the street. When I saw what was happening on their big screen - and in the audience of small people - I thought it would be foolish to be caught disrupting the occasion without my own witnesses. The media was out in full force, of course, but seemed to be thoroughly co-opted. With the exception of a few words of encouragement from parting celebrants, I was virtually ignored.

from Monday morning's demonstration,
the message I brought to the Republicans Tuesday night.

The scene at the Republican's party - ringed by MCSO deputies - was truly disturbing. I had to close my eyes and imagine that it was just a bloodbath between klansmen and skinheads, as whomever was left standing would likely still go on to try to destroy the rest of us.


Huppenthal - chair of the Senate Education Committee that brutalized teachers and children last year - may be the next State Superintendent. They're moving in for the kill with the kids.


Unless there's a Libertarian coup in November, the Maricopa County Attorney's office is actually losing Romley to Arpaio's buddy, Bill Montgomery. I never thought I'd be sorry to see that guy go so quickly, but I think darker days are ahead.


Whoever went up against Russ Pearce didn't stand a chance in hell, of course - I haven't even trolled the internet to find out if there was some miraculous upset in his race. He wasn't to be seen in Phoenix, as far as I could tell - I suspected he was celebrating in Mesa with Tea Partiers, Neo-Nazis, and the other white supremacists out there.


Most troubling, perhaps, is that last nights winners didn't come out of far right field without a lot of help from the "center". These people were the official nominees of their party. The crowd unabashedly cheered Arpaio and Thomas (whose race remains too close to call) as they slapped each other's backs and smiled for the cameras without another protester in sight.


The list goes on and will be verified and complete to be pondered over by pundits soon enough. Suffice it to say, it looks like it's about to get a whole lot worse in this state before it gets better, so watch each other's backs out there, my friends. SB 1070 is what brought these people their victories last night. This may have been the Summer of Human Rights, but this fall will undoubtedly see some ethnic and political cleansing in a Season of Hate as this Republican slate solidifies their base by doing what they do best: demonizing unions and immigrants, incarcerating the poor for profit, and dismembering the traitors in their own ranks.


We can certainly hope that the legions of registered Republicans who voted for the lesser of their many evils will join the Democrats and the independent voters in an upset in November - it would suggest that we finally have a more progressive electorate, if nothing else.


For my part, though, even with a Democratic sweep I don't expect the oppressed to be liberated by any part of this political machine. Instead, I pray for revolution. Perhaps this blatant horror will be precisely what we need in order to unshackle our own feet, free our own neighbors, and take back both the land and the resources for the people and other living beings whose ancestors long pre-dated the Anglo invasion.


Until the next time we meet dancing in the streets, comrades - be strong, and remember the power of song. There remains a hell of a battle ahead, which will come to us if we don't go out and meet it full on.


With my utmost respect to the Resistance -


In solidarity, forever.


Peg

Stop criminalizing victims: Protect Sex Workers.

This is from Great Britain, but happens here all the time. This is why so many women and youth - so many victims - remain silent: they're afraid of being criminalized. Hopefully we won't have to worry about this scenario with Romley... A new sheriff will help, too.

For sex workers wanting to politically organize or learn more about your rights, contact the Sex Worker Outreach Project-Tucson (there are national and international chapters, too).

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Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2010 23:25:14 +0200
From: ecp@allwomencount.net
Subject: Action Alert, Stop prosecution of sex worker who reported serious attack

Safety first: Stop prosecution of sex worker

who reported serious attack

On Wednesday 23 June, Hanna Morris is to be charged with managing a brothel or controlling prostitution for gain after she reported a serious attack. She faces up to seven years in prison.

Write or call Portia Ragnauth, Chief Prosecutor Surrey CPS. Ask why women’s safety is being endangered in this way.

Ms Morris is available to be interviewed. Contact: English Collective of Prostitutes Tel: 020 7482 2496 Email: ecp@allwomencount.net

Last September, without hesitating, Ms Morris dialed 999 to report a serious attack into a flat used by her escort agency. Two identifiable men, one with a sawn-off shotgun up his sleeve, barged in, threw petrol about threatening to torch the premises and to hold the woman there against her will.

Ms Morris did all she could to help the police on the understanding that the information she gave would be used in the pursuit of the assailants. The attack was initially taken so seriously that helicopters and sniffer dogs were brought in, and the next door shopping precinct cordoned off. But within hours Ms Morris and her partner had been arrested; another colleague was subsequently arrested.

Nine months later, not only are Ms Morris and her colleagues being prosecuted, but the case against the violent assailants has been dropped. Ms Morris comments:

“It used to be rare that I would hear about robberies in the area, we worked as part of a close community and were always looking out for one another. Now there isn’t a month that goes by when I’m not hearing that a place has been robbed or a girl attacked, it’s becoming more and more common, and everyone is too scared to report it. There have been six robberies in the last two months, none of which were reported, and that’s just those that I have heard about. It’s really quite frightening.”

We have told the CPS that by prosecuting sex workers who report attacks instead of their attackers, police and Crown Prosecution Service are making women more vulnerable. The Bradford and Ipswich murders took place after police crackdowns drove sex workers further underground and into more danger. Women didn’t report attacks for fear of arrest and violent men knew they could act with impunity. Surrey has shockingly low conviction rates for reported rape – nearly half the already disgraceful national average rate of 6.5%.

They are also acting against public opinion, which has time and time again prioritised safety. The acquittal of Ms Claire Finch on 29 April is a clear example of that. Ms Finch was prosecuted because she worked together with other women, even though they were all consenting adults and no force or coercion was used. But the jury agreed that it was safer to work collectively and found her not guilty.

Why is Ms Morris being prosecuted? Is it proceeds of crime? The Sexual Offences Act 2003 made brothel keeping a “lifestyle offence”, prosecutable under Proceeds of Crime legislation. Raids and prosecutions have become profitable: the police keep 50% of any assets confiscated both during raids and 25% from subsequent prosecutions, with the Crown Prosecution Service keeping another 25% and the Inland Revenue the rest. Ms Morris’s and her partner’s home and assets have all been frozen. A substantial amount of cash put on one side to pay for income tax was taken in one of the police raids. No receipt was given. The CPS is supposed to bear in mind the following considerations when prosecuting. · To prevent people leading or forcing others into prostitution. But all women were working consensually independently. There was no force, coercion, violence or trafficking. · The age of the prostitute and the position of those living off the earnings will clearly be relevant. All women who worked with Ms Morris were over 20 years of age. She was widely known to be good to work with, placing women’s health and safety foremost. That she reported the attack on one of the women is testimony of that. · To penalise those who organise prostitutes and make a living from their earnings. Like millions of others, Ms Morris ran a small private business, not a big exploitative company. Both she and her partner are now destroyed. The family, which includes small children, is facing having to rely on state benefits. · Generally, the more serious the incident the more likely that a prosecution will be required. The serious incident was AGAINST Ms Morris, not BY her. So why is she being prosecuted? The laws which criminalise sex workers must be abolished. Safety comes first.

www.prostitutescollective.net