Hep C, Hard Time, and the Right to Life.

Hard Time. March 20, 2010.

Sent this Email out early this am, to a whole bunch of media and activists and other people, including ADC and the governor's office. Don't think it got through to everyone - had to keep trimming the list to not be cut as spam...So, now its on the blogs just in case. This was my attempt at PR. I may have trouble with all the photos right now, but the rest is self-explanatory. - peg

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Well, this is pretty loaded and I'm making a unilateral decision to fire off these photos for the Governor. I think this is the only way she'll end up seeing them - if everyone else does. Hope I don't hit any friendlies, though. Duck now, if you're in prison, in case there's return fire (Prisoners are on the front lines, folks, not the garbage heaps. Front lines. This is America. Think young Black/Indigenous/Latino men and canaries. Very valuable, actually, in terms of what we will pay to dispose of them in the interest of the greater good).

Don't let all that alarm you. My dad was a solider. I grew up in Army green, and just talk like that. I'm really much the pacifist. I just think it's important to know how intensely personal and emotional - and absolutely political - this matter is for so many people. We will not just go away if ignored. This Hep C Mom, Julie, has been a vessel for Divine Intervention to happen in the lives of many people. I've seen it.

Don't underestimate her. She's got the raw, engaging humanity of a righteous Susan Sarandon, the faith and fearlessness of Alice Paul, and the fire and flair of Georgia O'Keefe.

And she's a woman who loves her family.


Anyway, I' m breaking this mass-mail up and sending it out (one by one if necessary, all night...forget that. It's on the blogs now) to fellow activists & abolitionists, media, and interested (or soon-to-be) others...and a few folks with the State of Arizona. I really wanted to introduce you all to each other in this email, though, but have been thwarted by antispam software.


I'm the wrong person to deal with media or this would have been done a long time ago, by the way. It was done much earlier today but bounced back. I'm not a technowhiz. Spacebook is beyond me. Blogspot's as sophisticated as I get.

So, about media: I should never be delegated this task. I have impulses to vandalize media outlets. I don't know why. It hasn't made for good media relations, though. So I'm stuck writing my own stories. This one isn't mine, though - it's about other people's kids and brothers and moms...so, it's fine to ignore me because my family is dying or free now - but please don't ignore them. I tried to tell them not to give this to me, but everyone's swamped. I have no good excuse, I guess, except for my anti-authoritarianism. I don't trust "media". I trust people, if they earn it. The only one out there I can say I really trust is Dennis Gilman - and he's not "mainstream" but he can be trusted to find the truth of an experience and let it tell itself. He's awesome.

Alright, so, I know it's just hours now before this event, and most of you are getting this after the fact. I believe it's all perfect timing, in the bigger picture, but I know that's a drag for others when it messes up their schedules. So, I'm sorry. I'm unconventional. It drives my friends and lovers crazy. Don't think we expect anyone but the Governor and a few curious folks from the ADC to be there in the AM, so no pressure - and the Governor hasn't exactly confirmed or anything. Just contact us if you want photos or info afterwards about our organizing activities (now in the works: "Make-a-Wish for Justice..." Who would you liberate with your last wish, and why? Enough of us are dying each day from poverty that we should be able to use our last wishes for mercy and Justice securing eachother's liberation.).

This Liver Walk thing is not an "event" announcement, by the way, so I'm really not late. It's not "our" event at all, anyway. It's the Liver Foundation's!

"please save my brother"

This is really just an FYI so folks know we're out there and make a point of backing up the Liver Foundation if they get any hassles for letting us walk (with what could be seen as pretty provocative signs about hep c - they didn't get this close a preview, so don't hold them responsible - but give them credit). Put a word in with the Governor about compassionate releases, too - Julie's kid needs one so she knows he's got access to the full range of treatment options before too much damage is done...attached is the note we dropped off for her office this week about the walk. They're the ones who encouraged us to get it to them, so, we'll see. (Hopefully no one thinks I'd ambush them...).

Sorry if you get one or two of these that didn't bounce back, and keep getting more duplicates. I'm winging it here.

Hope all of you are well and up for this.

Don't expect much Anarchy at this, by the way. I'd recommend that ADC follows Julie's lead, frankly - learn to dance more gracefully, or her people will take you out kicking and screaming. They're Unitarians and senior citizens (the banner was sewn by an octogenarian), moms and dads and sisters of prisoners, survivors of the war on the poor - most of them ex-prisoners who evidence some degree of PTSD. They do things like hide their legal documentation outside of their homes in case the state comes and ransacks their place to destroy their defense capabilities. It's apparently quite common...

Thanks for whatever help you can send, by the way. We can use a little amplification out here. It's a desert. No one notices living or dying bodies in the desert in Arizona except litterbugs and good samaritans/potential terrorists. You can be prosecuted for even knowing that your student's father might not be documented and not reporting your suspicion (the police will follow it up - all you need to do is report suspicions).

How are migrant communities supposed to stay safe if they can't report rapes and murders to the police without fear of entire families being imprisoned?

COPWATCH! That's how. It's cross-movement organizing at it's finest. And Anarchy seems to be the organizing principle.

Give me till after the walk to open up that blogspot - it'll just say it's not accessible until I do. I'm spent for the night.

Women's Health Week begins with Mother's day this year - begin planning now. And we'll be having a memorial for those who have died in the custody of the state on May 20; location TBA. I believe the 19th is World Hepatitis Day, too, right?

Thanks for your time. It's never too late to check in.

Don't be surprised to see this note go up as my next blog post on all sites, by the way - especially if I can't get these emails through to everyone. Both voices (here and below) are mine.

- peg

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FYI - At the Liver Life Walk SAT AM (March 20), Arizona prisoners' friends and families and former prisoners will be walking together and asking the state to respond to the Hep C epidemic in prisons and jails. 40% of women and 30% of men prisoners across the country are confirmed to be infected with hep c - the rates are likely much higher, and it disproportionately affects minorities and people in poverty. Undiagnosed and untreated in prison, HEP C becomes a threat to the community when people are released - which 95% of state prisoners eventually are.

Julie Acklin is your contact. Her son has HEP C, is in AZ prison, and has just been ruled out as a candidate for treatment.

He got Hep C in prison.

Julie's number is 623-594-4433. She is the principal organizer of prisoners' families and ex-prisoners with this new initiative. Children in will be in ADC Orange; Adults in Blood Red. Team is "A Mother's Cry" - Look for "Hard Time: Hepatitis C in Arizona State Prisons." New blog by that name up tomorrow.

Ryan and Brewer have already had a heads-up. No word back from Governor's office - not holding our breaths.

AZ Liver Foundation says advocate for hep c testing, treatment, research, prevention, and save lives.

That takes guts.

Those are Good people.

Support them with a note "for Hep C in Prison", if you can.

Catch up with us next week if you miss us tomorrow. Donate to the Liver Foundation. Hit the HARD TIME blog. Tell AZ HEP C prisoners and their families to send us their stories. We'll be organizing support and action groups soon.

- Peggy Plews
prisonabolitionist@gmail.com
480-580-6807

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The "Hard Time: Hep C in Arizona's State Prisons" blogspot is a free virtual info-type space for Arizona prisoners with Hepatitis C, their families, their friends, and their communities. We aspire to facilitate access to research and gather other resources about Hep C, as well as share stories, in order to collectively build foundations from which to strategize comprehensive, humane responses to the challenges of this epidemic among America's prisoners.


http://hardtimehepc.blogspot.com

(Coming March 20, 2010...)

SOS: FREE MARCIA POWELL

This post is a message to the Freewaybloggers, Anarchists, and prison activists of the World:

Friends:

Marcia Powell was a prisoner of the State of Arizona when she was left in an outdoor cage in temperatures exceeding 107 degrees for four hours last May and fell into a coma. The Director of the Department of Corrections took her off of life support eight hours later, believing - from her criminal record - that she was alone in the world.

She essentially was. She was a drug-addicted, mentally ill prostitute serving 27 months for offering a cop a blow job. Her next-of-kin didn't even want to claim her body.

They've been investigating Marcia's death for the past 4 months. A 3,000 page report is now back. 16 employees were disciplined; five fired. None of those held responsible were the director, a smart man who I believe knows full well what goes on in those prisons. If he doesn't, then he's more clueless than I thought. Maybe that's better than being complicit.

In any event, very little appears to have changed policy-wise, except for misters and shade in the cages now, and a box on a clipboard for guards to check that they see someone in the cage breathing every half an hour. No information on what the officer suicide and prisoner arson protest were all about after Marcia's death - the media has completely forgotten that. No talk about the overcrowding that has them using outdoor cages as holding cells, lobbies and "recreation" areas in the first place, and "boats" on the floor as beds.

It would seem as if the use of those cages to punish people (which the director says was not the case here) has been going on at all the prisons for years - formal complaints were made just two years ago, which neither then-Director Schriro nor then-Governor Napolitano (of Homeland Security fame) bothered to do anything about.

THEY could have prevented this death, if they had acted then. I have a few more choice words for them than I've even had for Director Ryan. They could have put an end to the cages and responded to abuse complaints with something other than "motions to dismiss" in court.

But they didn't. Prisoners just don't make up a very powerful voting bloc - one reason to restore their civil rights. And they are seldom encouraged to exercise their voices. If they were, this would have been headed off long ago.

The ADC should make good use of this opportunity now to radically transform their culture, policies, and facilities, because the next catalyst for such change will otherwise be another tragic death or horrendous criminal abuse. At present, however, they appear to be trying to shake this off and reassert themselves as champions of public safety; good old Law and Order.

They couldn't even protect a woman dying outside their window the desert sun, in a cage that only they had the keys to. Short of making sure the prison doors are locked when they leave, how could they possibly protect the rest of us?

Upon accepting a recent allotment of $50 million for employee salaries - which was conveniently and ceremoniously awarded before the abuse report came out - the director thanked the good governor on behalf of all his "brave" and "hard-working" officers. Not a penny was mentioned for prisoner rights, facility improvements, health services - nothing. Just more money for more guards to abuse more people that more judges are going to put away for the pettiest things that aren't worth paying $26,000 a year/prisoner just to get the satisfaction of vengeance or the illusion of social control out of.

Send a few more kids to college, instead. Build more affordable housing. Expand outreach to people who are homeless. Alleviate a little bit of suffering, instead of imposing more.

Not a word from the governor's office - except confidence in the director's fine work - about Marcia's final hours.

So, I know you're scattered out there, freewaybloggers; I don't get your list-serve anymore, but there's a few wars going on still, and this is one of them. I know you're still at work, and I need your help. I know it'll take some time to build momentum, but someone has to start it. Just one extra sign every time you go out. Taggers, I want to see your art. Anarchists - well - you all know what to do already. Do your thing.

My international comrades - it would be awesome if you could locate Free Marcia Powell next to major tourist destinations and take pictures. Then we could make postcards and send them everywhere.

Just don't anyone break the law, now. I wouldn't advocate something like that. There are plenty of legal places to put signs and graffiti. And don't stop until we do.

Please photograph and post everywhere possible, as usual. Send me pictures as well and I'll put them on my blog. Hammer the national media with them. It'll get people asking who she is, then Googling, discovering, reading, weeping, wondering, and maybe even writing to their newspapers and legislators and prosecutors and judges. Thye need to be insisting on AZ Department of Corrections transparency and public involvement, more contact between prisoners and the community, smarter sentencing practices, and laws improving - not eroding - prisoner rights and prison standards.

Like Marcia's Law. It has yet to be written. I think a committee of parolees, prisoners and their family members should be the ones who write it; the administrators and legislators who should have been on top of this a long time ago should revisit their own ethical codes and stated missions.

It needs to be a law which protects and empowers prisoners - including giving them the right to organize - not one which just gives a handful of the well-behaved more privileges and the public a prettier view. It has to have real teeth, and real funding.

And it should be the toughest prisoner rights law in the country, one which every prison activist wants their state to emulate.

Maybe we can get it into the criminal justice reform bills Congress is working on. Senator Jim Webb is the man to talk to about that.

We still have to take this monster apart, of course. Until we can do the job, however, we need to make sure that prisoners can survive their sentences - and then do everything possible to keep them from going back inside.

But first things first.

Crank it up a notch.

If my blogs disappear or I tell you to stop before the campaign achieves it's objectives (more will be added), assume someone is just twisting my arm. You're all "autonomous units", and are able to follow the news. You'll know when it's time to come in.

It took almost an hour after life support was turned off for Marcia to die, as her organs slowly shut down. In America, we're even kinder to the people that we execute than that.

Please Free Marcia Powell.

Don't let them bury her in the desert again.