It will take many miracles to
help most of the wrongly held Wisconsin prisoners but for three prisoners,
your letters may do it. Templates are here to cut and paste to letter or email
if you decide to help.
FFUP has been working with three men who are at the end of their emotional and physical tethers and are at a point where a push in the right direction may free them. I am sending emails people who know my work with links to a newly updated web in hope that we can finally free these men. Please help spread the word- education of the public on the heartbreaking fiasco committed in our name is essential.
For DOC profiles on these men see: https://appsdoc.wi.gov/lop/home.do; type in DOC number to pull up data and conviction
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| Juan Navarro |
1) Juan Navarro 136027,WSPF
Juan killed a man who was attacking him with a knife, had two witnesses testifying this but he was still convicted. He was here on a green card from Mexico and was ordered deported; but 40 years later he is still entombed, is 72 and ill. He was denied a pardon and compassionate release. His parole was again denied in October and now the case goes to Chairmand Tate who does review all commission decisions and does sometime overrule denials.Your email or letter could make the difference here. Link here to more info and template letter you can cut and paste.
https://secondchancewi.blogspot.com/2021/08/juan-navarro-mexican-national-and.html
2)Raynell Morgan 279380 NLCI
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| Kamau ( Raynell Morgan) |
2)Raynell Morgan (from here :Kamau) was in solitary for 14 years and has all the difficult symptoms those conditions can cause. Since being released from solitary he has worked hard to gain stability, using language learning as a basic tool to control his personal heebeejeebees (“snap crackle pops” in his head, sensations of bugs crawling etcetc) and has navigated well the various obstacles put in his path by the DOC -until this point. After no conduct report since 2010, and at a critical time when he is about to have a crucial parole hearing, he was issued a major conduct report for a minor infraction and put back into solitary.
Although this complicated situation is slowly working itself out ( he has witnesses that the alleged “threats “ did not happen-) this CR WILL be used to deny him the release he sorely needs. He is afraid he will not endure much longer and although with advocacy from allies and family he does finally get some satisfaction, he is exhausted and losing his will to live. ( note: since the above was written, Kamau has been released for solitary but the continued denial of his basci needs continues and his upcoming parole hearing is vitally important. Your letters can make the difference for he has long been elligible and ready to go home. Like the others, only politics keeps him entombed.
Here is our help-Letter template to cut and paste here:
https://secondchancewi.blogspot.com/2021/10/kamau-at-end-of-his-endurance-needs.html
For DOC profiles on these men see: https://appsdoc.wi.gov/lop/home.do; type in DOC number to pull up data and conviction
3) Sad notice on Dominic Marak ( below)- Dominic Died Thursday, October 28th. I learned this when tried to set up a zoom visit with him. He was in such pain, I am glad for him. He wanted to "pay it forward", as he said , and submit a lawsuit that woudl open up compassionate release for others- The suit is ready and was waiting for his signature with notary public, but that did not happen - he was too sick by the time we got it ready.
So now we ask you to still write letters expressing your outrage that there is no compassionate release for people like Dominic- to Tate but also to Evers. I will be confer with others and will have more ideas of how to carry on Dominic's legacy.
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| Dominic Marak |
3) The corker is Dominic Marak and I have trouble writing about him without crying- he has incurable cancer and is dying, has a few months to live. Yet the DOC is denying him release to his family or hospice care situation where his family and friends can be with him at will. Courageously, he is filing suit against their sadistically false interpretation of the document that allows compassionate release for Old law Prisoners ( OL prisoners convicted of crimes convicted before 2000 / As it is interpreted, NO Old Law prisoner is eligible) . He is filing to open up the compassionate release option EVEN THOUGH he will not live to see its’ fruition.In his last letter he said ”LETS GIVE EM HELL!
ALSO because NO WI PRISONER can
receive a pardon ( you have to be out for 5 years), that avenue is closed to
him.
With Dominic's case it becomes clear that what we fear, The DOC intends to hold on to old law prisoners until they die if possible, eeking every dime it can from them. Where is our humanity-
we ask for emails to Tate-
template here- it needs to be email so it is not just put in his
file to sit till June, his parole date (which he will not make ) Link to his
post:
https://secondchancewi.blogspot.com/2021/10/dominic-marak-dying-of-cancer-is-denied.html
FINALLY :background to the parole fiasco for
those interested:
Wisconsin is often in the
news as an outlier as far as it's treatment of Blacks and the vulnerable, you
only have to look at today's statistics:
in Friday's email: WI -worst
per capita incarceration rate of Blacks in the nation/plus WI schools call the
cops on Native American kids the most. Here is email blurb and link to larger
article:
‘A slap in the face’: Wisconsin imprisons 1 in 36 Black adults, highest U.S. rate
Of note: This
week we highlight our story revealing that Wisconsin has the highest Black
incarceration rate in the United States. According to a new analysis from The
Sentencing Project, Wisconsin imprisons one out of every 36 Black adults in the
state. The analysis also examined the disparity in imprisonment rates between
Black and white people, Clare Amari reports for Wisconsin Watch. Nationwide,
Black adults are imprisoned at nearly five times the rate of white Americans,
the report found. In Wisconsin, the ratio is far higher: Nearly 12 times the
rate. The report cites pervasive racial bias across the criminal justice
system.
Read story here: https://wisconsinwatch.org/2021/10/wisconsin-imprisons-1-in-36-black-adults-no-state-has-a-higher-rate/?mc_cid=985ea64428&mc_eid=a519be6f5b
On the radio last week : WI
:highest infant and new mother mortality rate in the nation
until a few years ago, WI: the
paid the lowest wages to public defenders ( in response, wage was raised a few
dollars)
Always : WI among the lowest
scoring for math and reading among Blacks
But we have a systemic problem that effects every prisoner and their
families and the lives of all Wisconsin citizens- we are holding prisoners that
are no longer dangerous or never were a threat, for as long as is legally
possible while the DOC literally dumps those it legally must release on the
streets with little or no support. The first group are called "Old law
prisoners", (OL) and the second "Truth in sentencing"
prisoners-(TIS) .
This may seem complicated but
FFUP deals with it everyday. TIS prisoners are younger and many are mentally ill and'/or
need basic treatment and cannot get it because of overcrowding, understaffing
and the DOCs total lack of will to fulfill its mission. These TIS prisoners
usually end up in solitary for the duration of their time and then are release
because the law mandates it- released with little or no support after getting
little or no treatment. Last winter, FFUP effectively worked with many
desperate newly released prisoners and was able to help them stabilize with
personal stimulus funds but what now?
We need to help educate the
public on the fiasco our tax money is funding and writing these letters and
forwarding the email you get and the link to this website is one way to easily
do that.
Here is a chart that points out
another reason to care- we are now funding prisons, not schools. When I was a
youngin' an in state college education coast 200 dollars in tuition a semester
in WI. my husband went for free in NY. WI had 7000 prisoners then, it now has
22000- and noone can afford the tuition. Student debt is crippling a
generation.
SOLUTIONS WE WORK ON
A)REDUCE PRISON POPULATION by
RELEASING THOSE READY
1) Almost half of new admissions in WI
prisoners are revocations for rule violations
https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/admissions-by-revocations.docx
2)Prisoners over thirty committed few crimes _ All the nearly 2000 old law prisoners are over 30- give them real chance at parole
https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/population-by-age-2020-v-2019.docx
3) Make pardons and
compassionate release and sentence modification petitions work again. People who
have turned their lives around need and deserve a second chance and we as citizens
need to stop supporting a system that goes after money and political gain only.
The DOC as it is now keeps the public safe nor rehabilitates prisoners.
GUT PUNCHED: no pardon for prisoners after months of promises:
https://secondchancewi.blogspot.com/2019/06/gut-punched-promise-betrayed.html
B)Build treatment center for the
mentally ill modeled on the one court mandated for the women’s prison in Fond
du Lac
Link to DOC report first put out when the center was opened/model for Men’s Prisons? mental health treatment center in Fond du Lac WI.. home of Women’s prison TCI ( Taychedah Correctional Institution)
1)Power Point Close look at the mental
health treatment center built for TCI, the women’s prison, as part of the
lawsuit: Flynn Vs Doyle,06-C-0537. (11 pages) https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/3what-doesnt-kill-you-makes-you-stronger.pdf
FFUP Edited view
https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/tci-mh-clinic-overview.pdf
C) FIX staff
shortages by making the WI prison system a satisfying place to work. As it is
now, because the mantra is “PUNISHMENT” almost entirely, there is little job satisfaction
and especially in the solitary units, we find that the conditions easily lead
to sadistic practices. Many people leave as soon as it is economically feasible
for them. The DOC will tell you the pandemic is to blame for all staff
shortages. program closure and all the rest- but these are all long standing
problems that the pandemic only made worse.
For date on this See 2019 ([pre-pandemic)
report by Ben Turk, long time Activist.
http://www.prisonforum.org/2019/09/satffing-crowding-and-death-in.html
D)We have
found that there are dedicated staff in the DOC , doing good work but the
effect is muted by an overall policy that offers no staff accountability, The
inmate complaint system and PREA systems are completely broken and even when a prisoner
sins a lawsuit and gets a settlement, the DOC pays nothing- it is you and I
that foot the bill. The rotten fruit on the staff have free reign to rule and
those staff honest and helpful have to be
very discreet. This is especially true in the solitary units.
