[Ppnews] Brutal Reprisals Against Peaceful GA Inmate Strikers Confirmed

Political Prisoner News ppnews at freedomarchives.org
Mon Jan 3 12:34:45 EST 2011 

Published on Black Agenda Report 
(<http://blackagendareport.com>http://blackagendareport.com)


Brutal Reprisals Against Peaceful GA Inmate Strikers Confirmed. Was 
One Victim Hidden For Weeks By Prison Authorities?

Created 01/01/2011 - 10:08

By BAR Managing Editor Bruce A. Dixon

Brutal Reprisals Against Peaceful GA Inmate Strikers Confirmed, Was 
One Victim Hidden For Weeks By Prison Authorities?

By BAR Managing Editor Bruce A. Dixon

Black, brown and white inmates in 6 Georgia prisons nonviolently 
locked themselves in their cells for several days beginning December 
9, demanding wages for work, educational opportunities, adequate food 
and medical care, just parole decisions and access to their families. 
The peaceful inmate strikers, as we reported the following day, were 
already victims of brutal retaliation on the part of correctional 
officials, ranging from cutoffs of heat and hot water to unprovoked 
assaults by correctional employees upon prisoners.

It now appears that at least one inmate, Terrance Dean of Bibb County 
GA was brutally assaulted by staff at Macon State Prison on or about 
December 16 was so severely injured prison officials secretly 
evacuated him to a hospital in Atlanta without bothering to inform 
his family. It's not known at this time which Department of 
Corrections officials authorized the secret evacuation, who decided 
not to notify Dean's family of either his injuries or his 
whereabouts, or whether the prisoner was transported the roughly 130 
miles to Atlanta via ground or air ambulance. The first word the 
prisoner's family received of either the beating or Dean's 
whereabouts was when they were contacted December 30 or 31 by the 
friends and associates of other prisoners on the outside. Neither the 
Department of Corrections nor Atlanta Medical Center, where the 
prisoner was held for about two weeks, has released any information 
about the extent of the prisoner's injuries, his current medical 
condition, or how he was injured.

The morning of Friday, December 31, Dean's sister, along with ACLU 
attorney Chara Jackson and GA state NAACP chief Ed DuBose 
representing the 
<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Concerned-Coalition-to-Respect-Prisoners-Rights/134681756588784>Concerned 
Coalition to Respect Prisoner's Rights [4] showed up at the Atlanta 
Medical Center demanding to see the injured prisoner or at least have 
his whereabouts confirmed. After several hours of delay, correctional 
officials said his mother and sister, along with the attorney would 
be allowed to visit him at Jackson State Prison Sunday, January 2, 
but they offered no explanation of the reasons for his secretive 
transfer. Hospital officials also refused to offer any information on 
Dean's injuries, even to his family, on grounds of doctor-patient 
confidentiality.

"We assume that state officials have a written policy requiring them 
to inform family members in the event of the serious injury of their 
loved ones in prison," said the 
<http://blackagendareport.com/?q=content/brutal-reprisals-against-peaceful-ga-inmate-strikers-confirmed-was-one-victim-hidden-weeks-p>Georgia 
Green Party [5]'s Hugh Esco. "If Georgia corrections personnel did 
brutally beat Terrance Dean, transfer him secretly more than a 
hundred miles from the scene of the crime scene and neglect to inform 
his family about his injuries or whereabouts they could be parties to 
a criminal conspiracy. The Green Party has written a letter to the 
outgoing and incoming governors asking them to look carefully at the 
events surrounding the case of Mr. Dean. We also note that the 
Department of Corrections promised access to the 37 prisoners whom it 
transferred as a result of the inmate strike that began on December 
9. We hope this is a promise they keep, so that the public can get a 
complete and accurate picture of what goes on behind those walls."

Dean's sister, attorney Chara Jackson, and the NAACP's Ed DuBose 
briefed the press at Atlanta Medical Center, including 
representatives from at least one local TV station repeatedly 
beginning at noon on Friday, and assured Black Agenda Report that 
they will attempt to see Terrance Dean at Jackson State Prison on 
Sunday, January 2. But as of nearly 24 hours later, on the morning of 
January 1, 2011 no corporate news outlet is publicly asking or 
answering any of the key questions around the assault on Terrance 
Dean, or what look for all the world like official attempts to 
conceal it from his family and the public.

"This is no surprise," offered BAR executive editor Glen Ford. "For 
corporate journalists, a story without input from government or 
corporate officials is no story at all. For these so-called 
reporters, the story has a big hole in it as long as state officials 
decline to comment, even though official misconduct on the part of 
government IS the story. If the state declines to comment until 
Sunday or Monday, they will sit on the story till then. Establishment 
journalists are nothing if not disciplined and well-trained."

Bruce A. Dixon is managing editor at Black Agenda Report, based in 
Marietta GA, and a member of the state committee of the Georgia Green 
Party. Both Black Agenda Report and the Georgia Green Party are 
members of the 
<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Concerned-Coalition-to-Respect-Prisoners-Rights/134681756588784>Concerned 
Coalition to Respect Prisoner's Rights [4].
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fblackagendareport.com%2F%3Fq%3Dcontent%2Fbrutal-reprisals-against-peaceful-ga-inmate-strikers-confirmed-was-one-victim-hidden-weeks-p&linkname=Brutal%20Reprisals%20Against%20Peaceful%20GA%20Inmate%20Strikers%20Confirmed.%20Was%20One%20Victim%20Hidden%20For%20Weeks%20By%20Prison%20Authorities%3F>
Share this
  [6]
    * 
<http://blackagendareport.com/?q=category/us-politics/ga-prison-strike>GA 
prison strike
    * 
<http://blackagendareport.com/?q=category/us-politics/mass-black-incarceration>mass 
black incarceration
    * 
<http://blackagendareport.com/?q=category/us-politics/mass-incarceration>mass 
incarceration

----------
Source URL: 
<http://blackagendareport.com/?q=content/brutal-reprisals-against-peaceful-ga-inmate-strikers-confirmed-was-one-victim-hidden-weeks-p>http://blackagendareport.com/?q=content/brutal-reprisals-against-peaceful-ga-inmate-strikers-confirmed-was-one-victim-hidden-weeks-p

Links:
[1] http://blackagendareport.com/?q=category/us-politics/ga-prison-strike
[2] 
http://blackagendareport.com/?q=category/us-politics/mass-black-incarceration
[3] http://blackagendareport.com/?q=category/us-politics/mass-incarceration
[4] 
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Concerned-Coalition-to-Respect-Prisoners-Rights/134681756588784
[5] http://blackagendareport.com/
[6] 
http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fblackagendareport.com%2F%3Fq%3Dcontent%2Fbrutal-reprisals-against-peaceful-ga-inmate-strikers-confirmed-was-one-victim-hidden-weeks-p&linkname=Brutal%20Reprisals%20Against%20Peaceful%20GA%20Inmate%20Strikers%20Confirmed.%20Was%20One%20Victim%20Hidden%20For%20Weeks%20By%20Prison%20Authorities%3F




Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/ppnews_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20110103/496f1edc/attachment.htm>

More information about the PPnews mailing list