Staughton and Alice Lynd have written a thorough and well-reasoned appeal of the ODRC's decision to block Hasan's phone and email access.Their appeal.
The exhibits.
We are encouraging people close with Hasan and familiar with the situation to write the Ohio Inspector General in support of the appeal. This is NOT a phone zap or a letter writing flood. The Inspector General is not an ODRC official. We are not seeking to annoy or assert mass pressure on him, but to support the arguments made by the Lynds. If you're going to write, please speak truthfully about your unique relationship with Hasan and how this SMP decision has impacted it.
Thank you.
oig_watchdog@oig.ohio.gov
Ohio Office of the Inspector General
30 East Broad Street, Suite 2940
Columbus, Ohio 43215
Below we reprint the email Ben Turk sent to the inspector general, as an example.
Hello,
My name is Ben
Turk, I've been a racial justice and prisoner's rights volunteer
organizer working with the Lucasville Uprising survivors since 2011.
This
summer I sent a document in support of the national prison strike to my
friend Siddique Abdullah Hasan. I consider what I sent to be publicly
available information. It's online at
https://fireinside.noblogs.org/2018prisonstrikes/ This document
discusses the striker's demands and tactics, and includes some recent
events in prisons across the US to describe the context in which the
strike was called. The document does not call for or help plan specific
actions at any specific facility, let alone OSP.
I
understood when sending the document that ODRC officials may disagree
with the appropriateness of sending it, they might interpret it as a
threat to the security of their institution. I strongly disagree with
that interpretation, and believe that prisoners have a right to
newsworthy information about the national prisoner's resistance
movement.
The prison strike was covered extensively
by national and international media. There were no instances of violence
or property destruction by prisoners in conjunction with the strike,
prisoners adhered to this explicit instruction from strike organizers.
This is news from the outside world that is particularly relevant to
prisoners and it is an ethical failure to deprive prisoners of access to
such information. US prisons are supposed to be sites of rehabilitation
that uphold justice and eventually reintegrate prisoners back into
society.
The prison strike brought
attention to how far short this system has fallen from any sense of
justice, or any effort to reintegrate prisoners into society. Further
isolating prisoners by refusing them access to news doubles down on this
shortcoming. I also believe interrupting this communication with Hasan
would violate both of our First Amendment rights to free speech.
I
knew the prison was capable of trumping those rights and interests with
a specious argument about security of the facility. OSP is a supermax
prison. Very few prisoners there work, everyone is single-celled, often
for 23 hours a day, and movement is highly restricted. The potential for
a strike, let alone a riot or security event there would not be
significantly impacted by receipt of a document explicitly calling for
non-violent actions. Regardless, prison authorities need only mention
the need for security to justify blocking communication.
I
expected that authorities might block the letter and send it back to
me. They did, but they also took much more strident and totally
inappropriate action. I and two other of Hasan's visitors were blocked
from visiting ANY prisoner in Ohio, and Hasan was brought before the
Serious Misconduct Panel and put on severe communication restrictions.
As
the Lynds' appeal describes, they could not do this in accordance with
actual policies or common sense, and instead rigged the SMP and violated
processes. I am writing to support the Lynds' statements. Not only was I
available to testify as Hasan's witness, I called both central office
and OSP prior to the hearing to inquire as to how that may be done. I
was told they would call me.
They made no such
effort. The SMP decision says that all Hasan's witnesses were
irrelevant, unavailable or a security threat. I was named in the conduct
report, was not only available, but was actually calling the prison to
request access to testify. This leaves the only justification that I
present a threat to the institution. Somehow me speaking to ODRC
officials in a closed hearing threatens the security of their
institution? Its absurd, but that's typical with the ODRC. Read the
appeal, you'll see that they emulated the Queen of Hearts in Alice in
Wonderland; writing their verdict BEFORE hearing the evidence.
Please
give Staughton and Alice's appeal the weight it deserves. My
relationships with Hasan and other Ohio prisoners have been among the
most enlightening and impactful relationships of my life, revealing the
depth of injustice and torture allowed to occur in these United States. I
will continue to advocate for them and to pursue righteousness and
amnesty in their cases, as well as justice for prisoners and liberation
for the communities that are targeted by the prison system. These
communities deserve actual public safety, not the viscous and capricious
state terror that targets them, churning some from captivity in
torturous prisons to economic desperation on the streets. As it
currently functions, the ODRC is criminogenic. It makes targeted Ohio
communities less safe.
This cruel SMP decision does nothing to deter me from fighting that beast, all it does is reduce my ability to connect, share meals and have direct human contact with my friends.
This cruel SMP decision does nothing to deter me from fighting that beast, all it does is reduce my ability to connect, share meals and have direct human contact with my friends.
Please step in and put a check on the ODRC's absurd abuses of power.
Thank you
Ben Turk
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