Subj: DC
Date: 4/23/00 5:49:27 PM Pacific Daylight Time

kent-email from activists group re' those jailed from last week-end DC
marches-not pretty. M.

=====
Subject:
[nh-activists] Jail abuse (plese read!)
Date:
Fri, 21 Apr 2000 23:35:31 EDT
From:
"Shmed Fnick"
Reply-To:
nh-activists@egroups.com
To:
nh-activists@egroups.com




Please read this. I was in jailed at the protests, and experienced this

abuse first hand. I was repeatedly thrown against a wall, and was given
a
pain compliance hold (torture) on the pressure paints behind my ears. I
was
then shakled and isolated. I was held for 14 hours until 4 in the
morning
in wet peper spray soaked clothing without being given food, water, dry
clothing, blankets, or any kind of matress or pad. This letter is from
the
lawyers who are representing us. All the information here is completely

reliable, and I witnessed some of it first hand. My friend Raquel was
strip
searched, and made to "cough and squat" in front of male guards. Please

read this, and call everyone you can. Spread the story. This is being
treated by az rumor by all government officiols and media. Everyone
needs
to know it's not! 156 people are still in jail, and we need to get them
out.
kaiyutah

PS
consider wrioting a letter to the editor of your local paper


As individuals working on the Midnight Special Law Collective, the
legal
team representing the protestors arrested during the A16 action in
Washington D.C., we are concerned about the mistreatment of
protestors
in
the jail system by U.S. Marshals, specifically treatment of a
homophobic
nature. There needs to be a level of responsibility among U.S.
citizens to
take action to hold those responsible for this treatment
accountable--namely

police, marshals, judges, and city officials. We need to especially
hold
the Chief of Police accountable for his denial of the unlawful acts
committed against the protestors by police. The process of holding
some of
these people responsible for their actions is made difficult by the
unlawful

removal of their badge identification during arrests and the
detaining
of
arrestees in the jail.



The levels of abuse committed against the protestors ranges from
police
brutality, homophobic comments, and rape threats, as well as sexual
harassment, physical abuse, and verbal threats. Judges have also
been
blatantly lying to defendants in court about the details of their
situation
and threatening them with false consequences for maintaining their
jail
solidarity.

The following are some specific examples of the brutality going on in
jail
against the protestors being held.

A cell of thirty men were taken to the basement of their facility,
put
into
a cage, and surrounded by U.S. Marshals who yelled threatening
comments to
them, such as:
"There are no video cameras down here, we can do what we want."
"We don't want to hear about any more of this solidarity bullshit."
They were threatened to be put into general population, saying that
"they
love to kill fuckin white boys in there, you pussy faggot protestors."
When any of the men looked up at the Marshall yelling at them, they
were
punched in the face and told not to make eye contact. Some of the
men
were
put into strangle holds until they turned blue.

This incident greatly affected the morale of the group, and all but
one of
the men in this cell broke solidarity and gave their names in order
to
be
released from jail.

We received three separate phone reports of this incident the morning
of
their release, and none of these men were willing to give their name
or
phone numbers over the phone to be contacted, out of fear of
retaliation.
Hence, this incident isn't making it into the mainstream media's
reporting
of the police conduct.


Another incident involves a transgendered woman going by the name of
Lisa
who was in a cell of thirty women. When the police learned of her
transgender identity, they separated her from the others and put her
into
solitary confinement. The police assured the other women that she
was
safe,

but we have no way of knowing how she is being treated or what is
happening
to her.


Some women protestors are being stripped searched by male officers,
being
asked to drop their pants and cough, being patted down by male
officers,
being tied down and their breasts being grabbed by male officers, and
shackled at their waist and ankles. The officers made lewd comments
to the
women about their sexual orientation. Medical attention has been
denied in
regards to hypothermia conditions by protestors in wet clothes, as
well as
regarding dehydration. Food and water was denied to protestors the
entire
first day of their stay in jail. One hypoglycemic woman was throwing
up
violently all day as a result. We have report from one woman still
in
jail
that they were arrested at 3pm on Monday, were put in a cold cell
with
their

wet clothes on without blankets or anything to sleep on until 7am the
next
morning, and were not given food and water until Noon the next day.
When we

spoke to her at 6pm that evening, none of the women in her cell had
slept
since 4am the morning of their arrest (Monday).

Legal access was denied to the arrestees, they were kept separate
from
each
other so that they couldn't organize their solidarity and take care
of
each
other, and were met with police claiming to be their legal council
who
told
them false reports of the consequences of their refusal to give their
names.

One judge who saw arrestees three to eight at a time who were being
processed for their arraignment blatantly and consistently lied to
each
group of defendants about their situation, claiming that "everyone
who
got
arrested has decided that their message was heard in the street and
that
there was no reason to stay in jail, and so all but about twenty
people have

given their names and left the jail. Since you are the only ones
left
here,

you might as well do what everyone else has done." This was being
said at a

time when over 200 people had already proven their solidarity by
refusing to

give their names in court. Our legal team sat in the courtroom and
watched
this judge lie to groups of defendants without being allowed to say
anything

in the courtroom to warn them or correct her comments. They finally
managed

to get a note to those defendants waiting arraignment processing
warning
them of this judge's tactics. This is a blatant disregard of
people's
due
process rights.



What we need people to do now is to put pressure on various officials
and
their constituents in order to provide solidarity and support for
those
still in jail.

Robert Rigsby, Corporation Council (202) 727-6298
(202) 727-9813

DC Courts (judges threatening and lying to defendants)
Chief Judge Amice Wagner (202) 879-1600
Executive Officer Ulysses Hammond (202) 879-1700

Superior Court
Chief Judge Eugene Hamilton 202-879-1600
Clerk of the Court 202-879-1401

RE: Police Brutality
DC Mayor's Office 202-727-2980
Chief of staff 202-727-2643

RE: Homophobic Comments and Rape Threats
DC Dept of corrections 202-673-7316
US Attorney for DC 202-514-2000
(demand prosecution for hate crimes)

Call the Washington Post and demand to know why these abuses haven't
been
reported. 202-334-7410

Continue to call US attorney's office as well as your local senators
and
congresspeople to demand these abuses are prosecuted, and most
importantly,
that the demonstrator's rights are granted. The demonstrators'
demands are
the following:
-For all arrestees to be held together in the same room.
-To have vegetarian food and water available
-To have legal access to lawyers from our legal team