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INNOCENCE MATTERS!
FREE TROY DAVIS!
June
26, 2007 Urgent Call to Action
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print and mail postcards for Troy
VIGIL FOR CLEMENCY IN SAVANNAH
Subject: Georgia Death Row Visitation
From: Martina Correia
To all,
The state of Georgia continues to fall below the Humanity
radar when it comes to death row. This state gets very
little attention in the world of abolition and that is why
is has become so easy fro prison officials to constantly
mistreat death row inmates and their supporters.
Since the end of the juvenile death penalty , The Warden at
Georgia Diagnostic & Classification Prison has housed the
juvenile offender in the Hole and 24 hour solitary
confinement. One of these young men was so devastated by the
constant torment and isolation he tried to starve himself
and had to be intravenously feed. Last month he tried to
hang himself and was in ICU. The Georgia Resource Center has
been of little use to the men here, they are more policy
makers and not enough Braun. The young man in question is so
devastated by the isolation he has asked to be put back on
death row.
I have asked many to get involved write the Department of
Corrections ad demand so type of humanity for these men.
There are more than 10 men on death row in Georgia with no
Death Sentence , the sentence has long been vacated but they
are afraid to ask about their sentencing without lawyers,
they may be re-sentenced to death.
The warden has taken away a lot of international visitors,
saying he reserves special visits for military personnel
serving our country. The Death Row inmates cannot use the
law library, they can't have many things other death rows
have and the lawyers in the state tell families well, "
Let's nt rock the boat because we have contact visits, which
prison officials threatened to take all the time.
Now they are taking the friends off the list. Death Row use
to have unlimited amount of people on visitation list. That
went down to 20 , now to 12 which includes family and
friends. many death row inmates with large families had to
take family members off their list. Now the new rule you can
only have 2 friends on your list. Well this is sick many
death row inmates in Georgia, their families don't visit or
they are deceased, Friends are all they have and now you are
saying they have to decide which two friends they can keep.
This is another way to isolate, cause conflict and
continually punish those waiting to die.
Well as a family member I am tired of this crap and I
challenge national, international organizations to get
involve exposed Georgia and other low radar states like it
to the Human Rights World.
Please send letters, by email or fax to the Commissioner
James E. Donald
Georgia Department of Corrections
Fax 404-651-6818
Office of the Ombudsman and Family Advocacy
Phone: 404-657-7588
Email:
ombudsman@dcor.state.ga.us
There should be no reason to take visitors away from people
waiting to die, no more than to cause them more pain. Death
Row inmates in Georgia have never had any problem with
visitation from family or friends, why don't they punish the
guards who still bring in Drugs to Death Row. They just take
and take, well they have taken their freedom, they hope to
take their lives one day too. But why can't we give some
humanity.
Martina
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Subject: Georgia Death Penalty Visitation
Attention
From Martina Correia Georgia Death Row
I sent a email burst out to all Human Rights Activist last month about the
new Visitation Policy for the Georgia Department of
Corrections.
The Death Row inmates were told that if they had more than two friends on
their visitation lists they had to remove them. The
Executive Assistant to the Warden John Harper treats death
row inmates as if they are beneath existence when it comes
to visitation. He has said time and again that visitation is
a privilege and not a right and that they don't have to
allow death row inmates to have visitors at all.
Well this is very disturbing in that what purpose does that serve to
subject the condemned to more inhumanity.
Family members and friends of those on death row have been
calling and speaking with those at the Georgia DOC about
this change and why death row inmates are being cast into
the mainstream visitation policies when they have separate
visitation areas and families and friends traveling from all
over to visit. Warden Terry under pressure says he will
follow the lead from the Department of corrections (DOC),
well the DOC says the Warden has the authority to keep
visitation as is because death row has always been allowed
special visitation and the changes are being made at the
site, not because of the DOC.
John Harper who is over visitation at the Georgia Diagnostic
and Classification Prison where Death Row is housed is
saying no one tells him how to run visitation and he wants
death row to follow all DOC Standard Operation Procedures.
The reason the DOC is limiting visitation to regular inmates
is because Georgia has so many men and women incarcerated
that the visitation rooms cannot accommodate the visitors,
This has nothing to do with Death Row..
Mr. Harper sent a memo out to Death Row inmates on Oct 3,
2006 stating:
There will be a maximum of 12 approved visitors. Only 2 of
these may be significant other visitors (girlfriends,
employers, fiancées, etc.) The other 10 must be blood
relatives or married. Inmates will now have to prove blood
relatives if he has any doubt about their blood relative the
inmate will face disciplinary action and permanent removal
of the family member. NO EXCEPTIONS WILL BE MADE.
So now families have to show birth records to prove
relationships, this is Ridiculous!
The problem is that most death row inmates have no family
visitors and another dozen or so have friends that visit
from other countries. This would take visitation away from
death row and it also limits large families because children
are counted within the 10 family members. So many families
cannot come visit as well. For example if you the death row
inmate has 5 siblings and they all had small children only
10 people total can visit. So the inmate has to chose which
family member cannot visit.
They have also stopped special visits from overseas because
they don't like Europeans especially women visiting men on
Death Row in Georgia, and presently the women are constantly
harassed by the guards, when they do visit. In doing so the
visitors complain to Warden and once they leave the country
the Death Row inmate is told they can no longer visit with
no explanation. We have had people travel from Europe and
when they arrive are told they have been taken off
visitation lists.
The visitation list can only be changed in November and May.
Please we need hundred of letters challenging the new
visitation policies, we need international organizations
writing to the Atlanta Journal to national News stations so
we can get this story out in the open.
This is only to cause disruption to Death Row in Georgia in
an effort to take away more from the inmates and their
families and friends.
Please FAX as many Letters and emails to:
Shareef Cousin
Fairness For Prisoners' Families
83 Poplar Street
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
www.fairness4families.org
Email: scousin@schr.org
404 681-5576(w)
404 688-9440 (fax)
404 345-2785(c)
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