PRISONERS UNITED IN SANTA CLARA COUNTY JAILS WIN 5 CORE DEMANDS & SACRIFICE 3 DAYS OF CUSTODY MEALS FOR THE HUNGRY

This is vile and this sheriff is the true criminal…I am honestly at a loss for words, all the information is below and on the original posts page, which I strongly encourage you to read and share….
This is vital and should be on international news… But if you watch “Fox News” or “CNN” chances are you won’t see this… They are for-profit media, controlled by greed, money and the government… Please check the below link for the full information…and please, share….

Silicon Valley De-Bug thanks Prisoners United on every floor in the Main Jail and housing units M-5 and M-8 in Elmwood D.O.C. for courageously sacrificing all their custody meals to be donated to the homeless and hungry at Emmanuel House Salvation Army.

We also appreciate all efforts made between jail administrators, community organizations and the jail population to come to an agreement to meet the 5 core demands to end meaningless classification reviews, indefinite solitary confinement, group punishment, cruel and unusual punishment during out of cell time, and rigid visitation policies.

FACTS THAT REFUTE SHERIFF SMITH’S COMMENT:

• Over 70% of the Santa Clara County jail population is pretrial – meaning they have not been convicted of a crime.
• Being in jail does not automatically mean someone is a gang member, according to the JFA Institute Jail Classification System Evaluation audit prepared by James Austin in 2016, there is only 21 verified prison gang members in Santa Clara County.
• Prisoners United of Silicon Valley is the collective voice of the entire Santa Clara County jail population including all classification/security levels, color tops, racial groups (Black, White, Asian, Latino, Pacific Islander etc.) and creeds and is not lead by one man alone.
• Salvation Army is a tremendous community resource for those in need, including programs for those who have been convicted of a crime.

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FURTHER DETAILS/CLARIFICATIONS:

Santa Clara County jail administrators came to an agreement to meet the 5 core demands to end meaningless classification reviews, indefinite solitary confinement, group punishment, cruel and unusual punishment during out of cell time, and rigid visitation policies. However, the administration stated it will take 3 weeks for the new classification system to kick in.

According to the agreement, the classification system will have face-to-face hearings, opportunity for prisoners to call witnesses to speak in their defense, the use of things such as education and rehabilitation certificates to have influence on their hearings, and the opportunity to contest anything.

The administration also agreed to suspend all in-custody inputs until the new system is in place. ⁱ

Prisoners in the jails should also be able to see what is in their file.

Captains Grumbos and Taylor finalized agreements with some of the prisoners inside.

The challenge of only having 35 classification officers is still a question. 

10/26/17 MEDIA UPDATE

Due to the understanding that there was an agreement made to avoid a hunger strike, Prisoner United in the 6C sureno unit, who were just recently rehoused to unsanitary cells in 6A in the Main Jail, ordered from commissary this past Sunday/Monday.

Due to Sheriff Smith’s comment, Prisoners United reverted their efforts to refusing all custody meals to see to it that their food is in fact donated to the homeless and hungry at Salvation Army who serve gang impacted, those recovering from drug and alcohol recovery and formally incarcerated.

Just last night when Prisoners United in 6A (formally 6C) received their commissary orders, prisoners protested and courageously left food items from their order, with some of their orders as large as $100, outside their cells to ensure that their commissary food is donated to the homeless and hungry at Emmanuel House Salvation Army, and prevent food waste.

Prisoners United in sureno units 6A Main Jail and M4B in Elmwood will continue to go on strike until they can sit down with jail administrators to guarantee inclusion that their Protective Custody status will be removed from their classification file in the new classification system set to be active in the next following weeks.

i “…another form of conduct that is reported by staff on inmates [are] called the Custody Input Reports or CIRs. These are used to record both positive and negative conduct behavior. Unfortunately, the CIRs are not part of the Custody Bureau’s database and cannot be analyzed for the entire jail population. However, as shown later in the report, these data were manually collected for the pilot test on the inmates who had been in custody for at least 60 days.” from Aug 2016 Santa Clara County Office of the Sheriff Custody Bureau Jail Classification System Evaluation

Custody Inputs are basically an additional punitive tool that that does not fall under a rule violation/infraction or charge. The prisoner is given no notification, so the prisoner never knows what Custody Inputs are being put in their file. The administration agreed to give notice of every Custody Input in 3 weeks and to currently suspend all custody inputs so that it will not hold someone back from down-classing. Custody Inputs can also be used in the courts and follows you in prison. There should be no custody input. If its not an infraction or charge, then it should not be used as a tool of punitive action.

PRESS: JOSE (408) 661-2604 jose@siliconvalleydebug.org FAMILIES: BENEE (408) 529-5971 benee@siliconvalleydebug.org 10/25/17 Though a hunger strike in Santa Clara County jails could have been avoided after jail administrators agreed to meet the core demands during the week of October 16, 2017 — Prisoners United on every floor of the Main Jail and M-5 and M-8 lockdown […]

via PRISONERS UNITED IN SANTA CLARA COUNTY JAILS WIN 5 CORE DEMANDS & SACRIFICE 3 DAYS OF CUSTODY MEALS FOR THE HUNGRY — Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity

In Honor of Malcolm X & An Ongoing Fight for Human Rights in America- video

Today in 1965 we lost a legendary man, body and soul, a true revolutionist whom fought for the bettering of humanity and against racist white hate crimes against the Black community without apology-as it should be; as we should all be. I’ve placed the video above for a reason; while countless speeches made by Malcolm X are sadly still true to today and how things are, in this video he poses the question I wonder every single day with growing frustration at my own lack of understanding as to the WHY others, in great numbers, aren’t asking what Malcolm so brilliantly asks, frames and explains in the video I’m about to post and urge you with all I am to watch.

What is happening in America must not be taken before an American court. Just as police should not be taken before their fellow police officers or other law enforcement and/or court/legal systems where they are known personally.

We see where doing both of those things gets us, and common sense should suggest that would happen anyway. So where do we go? As Malcolm X says we should instead take the issue of VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (not CIVIL but HUMAN RIGHTS) to a system larger; the UN, for example; nothing will ever change. And he has been proven right by time… So what are we waiting for? It is only 9 minutes and some spare seconds of your time: listen to what he says, honor him with at least that much, on the anniversary of his death, I ask you. Listen and think about what he says both for him then but also, look at how perfect that speech is to be given in America today, 2017. Video follows.

The best way

I’ve Supported NJ Weedman for Years; Post RE: Police Raid

I’ve supported NJ Weedman for more years than I can remember. He is an advocate for weed, and a very brave, respectable man in my eyes. I support him fully and wish him the best of luck. RESPECT!

Check him out above or read the article below (original post cited).

TRENTON — Days after heavily armed police raided his downtown restaurant and pot temple, arresting him and 10 others and carting off $19,000 in alleged marijuana, a defiant NJ Weedman says he won’t back down.

In fact, less than 30 hours after his arrest he posted to his Facebook page a video of him rolling up a joint, lighting it up and smoking.

“Fifteen years ago I said I was never going to take a plea,” he says on the video. “Since then I’ve beaten the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office twice. And now Mercer County has lined up for their ass whoopin’.”

Ed Forchion aka NJ Weedman

The notorious marijuana advocate, who operates the eatery and cannabis sanctuary across from City Hall, is facing a litany of charges alleging he was drug dealing and maintaining a narcotics nuisance and a fortified premises in the business, which opened last June.

Forchion, a former congressional and gubernatorial candidate, says authorities “exaggerated and misconstrued the goings on at the temple.”

Sure, there’s plenty of weed in there, he says. And lots of smoking, both inside and out on the building’s eclectically decorated backyard. That he doesn’t deny.

But he says he plans on defending himself in court and convincing a jury to acquit him by explaining that he doesn’t deal drugs — he just shares. And if people feel like leaving some money in a donation jar, they can.

“I believe I’m conviction proof,” he says, figuring that sensible jurors from Mercer County will see that “it’s just weed.”

Getting a jury to return a not-guilty verdict based on their belief that a law is unjust is a concept known as jury nullification — and judges in New Jersey don’t allow defendants to instruct juries to do this. It was tried unsuccessfully last year by a Mays Landing man at trial on charges that he grew marijuana plants in the Pinelands. He was sentenced in January to eight years in prison.

But Forchion has fought the law before and won. He defended himself in a 2012 trial on drug-dealing charges but was found not guilty after a retrial.

In 2003 he convinced a federal judge to release him from prison after he was jailed for advocating marijuana law reforms, which officials claimed violated his parole. Forchion had pleaded guilty in 2000 to drug dealing charges after he and his brother picked up a 40-pound package of marijuana that had been shipped by FedEx. Forchion was sentenced to 10 years but was released on parole after 16 months.

Sharing is caring

On Friday afternoon he decided to give his own side of the story, so he invited reporters to his establishment — which is actually a combination of the restaurant called the Joint, which serves turkey sandwiches and other fare for $4.20; an adjoining smoke shop that sells bongs and pipes; and the Liberty Bell Temple, which is says is a bona fide religious institution and exempt from the city’s business curfew.

Forchion said the paraphernalia charges were based on the items for sale in the smoke shop. He says the fortified premises charge against him is probably based on his surveillance-camera system. He pointed to a mess of detached wires on the wall of his office where he says police during the raid grabbed the system’s recording device. He says he installed the cameras to prove that police were lying or exaggerating about alleged disturbances outside his restaurant.

The temple, meanwhile, is the focus of a federal civil rights lawsuit Forchion filed last month after police busted his shop on the curfew violation. He claims the ordinance violates his religious liberties. The city, which is being defended by the law firm of state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union, disagrees.

Police say they Wednesday’s sting was sparked after complaints from “multiple sources” about drug dealing and “constant foot traffic in and out of the establishment at all hours.”

Benefit to the community?

Inside,

Black Poetry Writing Month: Write a Song for the Field Slaves

Now this is a good idea for a writing prompt or any form of art prompt really.

However, the thing is, this tragically still is happening right now just under a different name. Slavery and the exploiting labors that brought so much money in to the very White House and National Mall in Washington, D.C., wouldn’t be here if not for the souls whom were sold to the government to build at the cheapest of cheap price; which the Black man would not every get to see.

Most of what this country has is due to the men and women of this era yet we have one puny month to honor the history and culture of Blacks in America? When is “white history month” I hear people moan; every single month, every single day, you dumb ass! Seriously! Though we must never forget the horrors these men, women and children faced, we must also remember that even the month given to “Black history” is a sham. How many people can say they learned this tiny bit of information in school, even during “Black History Month”?

There is so much more to “Black History” than a couple of weeks cannot shove it all in, but they don’t even try! It’s Dr. King, slavery, civil rights.

Sadly, again, as I originally said…. the souls in this photo are being forced to do work for free; in America right now for something as stupid as a person caught with weed, or even more tragic is when the person goes to jail on mandatory; silence is heard. Here, where the Black population is highly and sickeningly overflowing (this and drugs all the way to Black on Black crime, can find root within the marked out lines of FOIA FBI papers where Hoover blatantly, even between the lines with no heart or shame, calls upon the American FBI to “divide and conquer the Black community”). The CIA admits its role in planting crack and guns into Black ghettos. What more evidence is needed?

Slavery? Racism? That doesn’t exist anymore, too many dismiss. I look at you and smile not; racism and slavery exists more than ever because it is hidden in plain sight.

Oh but wait; it isn’t over. The prison industry and the Private Prisons make this “free labor, slave labor” all obtainable again. BLACK MEN BUILT THE CAPITOL -check it out here on goodreads. This is the kinda history I want to know. What else are you trying to hide, America??

 

Reblogged on WordPress.com

Source: Black Poetry Writing Month: Write a Song for the Field Slaves

Attention: San Francisco & America; Use Heroin? Check Out These Resources, Please!

This notice is directed primarily towards the people of San Francisco, CA, written up by someone who lives there and has dealt with this recently -first hand. I beg you to take it seriously… Not just those of you in San Francisco, though… But users anywhere… Please. If you want to know more about Narcan, this site has good information. If you want to obtain Narcan in case something ends up going wrong, you can get it at almost any syringe access sites. Also, if you’re wanting to quit or just have questions, please send me or a professional involved in this type of an email or call.

I beg you; whomever you are. Please be safe and if you are addicted and searching for help, don’t be afraid to reach out, please. I am not special or wonderful in any way but even if it is to me, please- contact me and I’ll do anything I can to help your life back…

[[My email is: Noctem_AeternamX@yahoo.com ]]

Please share this post especially if you are in the San Francisco area! Thank you!

LOOKING FOR A HARM REDUCTION OR SYRINGE ACCESS LOCATION?

All you need to do is click this link, pick your state and find your city or a city nearest you.

Just a Few Reasons Why Marijuana Should Be Legal & Socially Accepted

I don’t understand why Marijuana is illegal. Before making your choice, or even if you have made your choice, I hope all should read and consider the information below. I am a very strong advocate for legalizing weed for many reasons. I’d like to start out by saying I am not against drinking and don’t think it should be illegal. I don’t enjoy drinking but have no problem with those who do. The point of me discussing alcohol V weed…well, it should be obvious. But I digress so, back on topic!

The first reason I support legalizing is– I don’t understand why alcohol (not to mention cigarettes and etc) are legal when they are proven killers, yet marijuana is illegal yet is not a killer? Some statistics…. Alcohol is legal yet is responsible for 2.5 million deaths annually world-wide. In America, alcohol can be related to at least 75,000 deaths each year.

Marijuana has no -not one- recorded death…yet in most states it is illegal. ???  

Secondly, though alcohol is not a scapegoat for the actions of abusers and cheaters, it definitely makes them feel they can act as they please, revealing their true inner self.  And I must add this:

We Are Putting the Wrong People in Prison…

Just a reminder that the people in prison for “crimes” are far too often the wrong people in prison. When child molesters, rapists, murderers, people who have been proven psychologically to have no conscience and no one to obtain empathy; those are the people who should be in prison. Not someone who is an addict or even drug dealers; they need help, not punishment. Something is wrong with a society that lets pedophiles go free before someone who is addicted to drugs…

And to make things even more interesting, the number of things punishable by prison are rising, everything from cyber offenses such as we have seen with Bradley Manning and Anonymous to abortion and women’s rights. It is no coincidence everything is becoming punishable by prison when the prison industry is making money off of each head in their prison….

Black Business Owner Framed by Undercover Cop- It’s VITAL we Remember Black Wall Street and Make Sure This Stops, NOW.

In New York an undercover cop informant walked into a Black owned business and planted cocaine inside (crack, to be more specific). He then proceeded to photograph it, and in the end the innocent business owner was arrested. What the brilliant police informant didn’t know, thankfully, was the entire falsification and crime this informant committed had been captured by the security camera.

 Andrews’s lawyer can be heard narrating the shocking surveillance video.

“He comes in, places the crack on the counter. Crack, which under federal sentencing guidelines, would get him 4 years in jail. Under New York State law would get him 2 to 7 years in jail,” attorney Kevin Luibrand says in the video.

I don’t care if he had a smoke shop; and it makes no difference how the people may use the LEGAL items in his store- if a store sells rope and someone uses it to commit suicide, is that store owner responsible for the death? NO.

It enrages me the video mentions he had a “smoke shop” where you can buy smoking “devices” and things of the like. That’s not relevant. Not to mention, crack cocaine and marijuana are two MASSIVELY different things.

Let’s go back in time for a moment now… Note the similarities?

[ First…For those who would rather watch than read, below is a brilliant and tragic documentary… It is one everyone needs to see, I believe. If you’d like a shorter version, there is one at the end of this article.]

In 1921 there was a community known as Black Wall Street located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Before I go on about that let me touch the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, on how horrifically hard life was for Blacks in America in the 1900s.

On the one hand, it’s great as slavery was now illegal by text (as it still is,,,by text); lynchings and horrific public killings went on as a normal and acceptable occurrence, and no one was exempt. Not women, not men…not even children. After slavery was made “illegal” one must realize it did not vanish overnight. It still hasn’t vanished today with our prison system but that’s another blog.

After slavery was put on the books as illegal, slavery did not vanish. The now former slaves either were not made aware of their new “freedom” or convinced to stay there- for they had no where else to go. The government didn’t give any aid or help in how to start a life of ones own, getting a job in a white world where you don’t know which white person is kind and which had the desire to lynch you would have paralyzed me with fear -as I am sure it did far too many. So many people continued to slave away because fear is strong and sometimes it is easier to do what you know than to break out into a new life. Especially if you’re afraid of those who used to be called your “master”.

Hell, if it wasn’t until the Supreme Court decision in 1967 that, in America a Black person and a white person could join hand in marriage legally, and yet still be harassed and attacked; imagine what it would have been like in the 1920s? If a white person even accused a Black man of looking at a white woman, he could/would likely be killed.

Black Wall Street goes back further than 1920, I encourage you all to either read about it or watch the video below; for though it is a tragic, tragic truth that we can see starting to happen again in America; it also has a wonderfully positive aspect to it. Their pride, hard work, sense of community and self empowerment is inspiring. We need that now.

But, for the purpose of this blog I will stay in the 1920s…

During a time of great struggle in America over something as pointless as color and race, there was a place called Black Wall Street. Located in Greenwood, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Black Wall Street was one of the most wealthiest and prominent Black communities in early 20th Century America. With a prosperous and healthy population of approximately 10,000 people in the Greenwood area of Tulsa, it was home not only to well off families, but also being the home to several multimillionaire businessmen, black businessmen.

Black Wall Street was called many derogatory names by whites. During what we now call the The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, bombs, death and mass destruction caused the collapse of this thriving area. The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 successfully demolished this thriving business community. It can easily be called one of the most devastating racial riots in history.

There are government records that make it clear they do not want the Black community to flourish. Look into the FBI files back during Hoover’s days. As I always say- we need to wake up, look at history and realize it could and is happening again but in a more subtle way.

The amazing Nelson Mandela said he didn’t fear those who were honest about their racism and hate; but rather those who kept it hidden for they are the most dangerous.

We need to remember that… Mandela is a soul whose judgment I know I feel is easy to trust. We must be smart and unify -everyone- against the real problem. If you don’t see the signs of something horrific coming (well, even more horrible than now) you truly should rethink your views…

Don’t let Black Wall Street happen again….. If you would like to get involved, activists have posted the following information on who to call and talk to about this matter- flood their phones. Let them know we will not tolerate this! We can’t.

A great point was made that, had he not had cameras, he would STILL be in JAIL…

Shorter Version of Black Wall Street –

Unarmed Teen Murdered Over Plant, Cop, Not Surprisingly, Let Off… Unless Someone Helps.

Death over a plant possession? Yes. Was it marijuana? I don’t know, it is claimed the teen went to flush it down the toilet as this trigger happy cop chased him. Maybe it was weed, maybe it wasn’t; either way, it was no threat to the cop. It was none of his business, and a bit off topic but still true, it is further evidence as to why weed should be legalized.

I don’t care what kind of plant it was, no one should have died. Sadly, however, a year ago an unarmed teen, Ramarley Graham, did. His life was taken very prematurely when Officer Richard Haste, without a warrant of any kind, followed Ramarley into his grandma’s apartment. It was here, in his home, Haste fatally shot the teen. Over a plant. The cop was facing manslaughter charges, rightfully so… But recently these charges were shamefully, yet unsurprisingly, dropped.

Let’s look at the mentality of the cops. Remorse? No. The head of the union of police officers said

10 min Video: Cold War Era Weaponry Legally Used by Local Cops- Insane Laws Most Break Daily, Unknowing.

“In 1994 the US Government passed a law authorizing the Pentagon to donate surplus Cold war era military equipment to local police departments. In the 20 years since, weaponry designed for use on a foreign battlefield has been handed over to use on American streets…against American citizens.” 

(watch the video for legal references.)

10 minute video. Know the facts.

Oh but you think as long as you aren’t breaking the law you’re safe? No. Not true, at all. There is much proof of that. Not to mention, most of us break the law without knowing it, daily… Ever sang happy birthday in public? Use a pen name online? If so, you’re a criminal by definition.  (Check out 6 insane “crimes” here)

All it really takes is a cop who is power hungry and needs to meet his quota, and it could easily be you next. People think it will never happen to them. Horrible (and selfish) logic.

The above was taken from this article, an article you should also check out if you’re interested in more insane laws that no one knows of, but that are broken, meaning we are all susceptible to unjust punishment and/or arrest.

Cops? You think you have a hard job, huh? Fuqq off!

The increase in police brutality in this country is a frightening reality. In the last decade alone the number of  people murdered by police has reached 5,000. The number of soldiers killed since the inception of the Iraq war, 4489.

What went wrong? In the 1970’s SWAT teams were estimated to be used just a few hundred times per year, now we are looking at over 40,000 military style “knock and announce” police raids a year.

The police presence in this country is being turned into a military with a clearly defined enemy, anyone who questions the establishment.

If we look at the most recent numbers of non-military US citizens killed by terrorism worldwide, that number is 17. You have a better chance of being killed by a bee sting, or a home repair accident than you do a terrorist. And you are 29 times more likely to be murdered by a cop than a terrorist!

A hard hitting mini film by film maker Charles Shaw, properly titled RELEASE US, highlights the riveting and horrid reality of America’s thin blue line.

From the film:

500 innocent Americans are murdered by police every year (USDOJ). 5,000 since 9/11, equal to the number of US soldiers lost in Iraq.

In 1994 the US Government passed a law authorizing the Pentagon to donate surplus Cold War era military equipment to local police departments.

In the 20 years since, weaponry designed for use on a foreign battlefield, has been handed over for use on American streets…against American citizens.

The “War on Drugs” and the “War on Terror” replaced the Cold War with billions in funding and dozens of laws geared towards this new “war” against its own citizens.

This militarization of the police force has created what is being called an “epidemic of police brutality” sweeping the nation.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/americans-killed-cops-outnumber-americans-killed-iraq-war/#jB6sGaFx4k8RqGuf.99