[Ppnews] Prison statement from Daniel McGowan

[Political Prisoner News]

July 9, 2007

Friends,

Well, I have been here one week now and although 
I don’t have any stamps yet, and writing with a 4 
inch pen that bends is miserable, I thought I 
would write if only to say I’m OK. The two months 
I did back in 2005 did not, unfortunately, leave 
a lasting enough impression on me and my entrance 
back to prison has been jarring in many ways. A 
good place to start and a question you may have 
is “why did I have to report so early?" I’ll start from my sentencing.

On June 4th, Judge Aiken sentenced me to a term 
in federal prison of 84 months, just 8 months 
less than what the prosecution wanted, citing my 
activism from 2001 to my arrest. When the Judge 
asked the Department of Probation person how long 
it would take for the BOP (Bureau of Prisons) to 
classify and designate me, she mistakenly said 
“30 days.” I never objected to this despite the 
fact I knew the BOP takes 4-6 weeks to designated 
prisoners. Fast forward a few weeks. My legal 
team files a motion asking for me to stay out on 
bond pending designation. I thought it would be 
successful since my time on pre-trial release had 
been incident-free and both the Department of 
Probation and Pre-Trial services did not object. 
However, the prosecution objected citing three reasons:

1. They said my interview with Amy Goodman on 
<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmRlbW9jcmFjeW5vdy5vcmcvYXJ0aWNsZS5wbD9zaWQ9MDcvMDYvMTEvMTQyMjU4>Democracy 
Now! in early June showed I had no remorse from my crimes.
2. My support website, 
<http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnN1cHBvcnRkYW5pZWwub3Jn>supportdaniel.org 
was “operational.”
3. That had a link to sell a children’s book 
which encouraged children to employ arson and sabotage as a tactic.

As luck would have it, I lost and was directed to 
report to prison on July 2. Regarding the 
prosecution’s brief, my interview with Amy 
Goodman on Democracy Now! was quite long and I 
expressed regret at many points. I expressed 
regret in using arson as a tactic as well as not 
having people in my life at that time who could 
have steered me off the path I was on. My 
assertion that I did not do anything morally 
wrong seems to be the quote that got a reaction. 
The website, supportdaniel.org , run by my wife 
Jenny since January 2006 is online and last I 
checked, will continue to be online for the 
indefinite future. Since it’s a website set up by 
people close to me who love and support me, I see 
no reason why it would be taken down.

As I write this, I realize that I am indeed 
opening up a can of worms. I have a 7 year prison 
sentence and a lot of time to write. Being 
publicly silenced to comment on my case has not 
been easy and I assure you I have a lot to say. 
We have a lot of time to cover all these topics. 
For now, I’m ok. I’m at the Metropolitan 
Detention Center (MDC) in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. 
It is a boring, lifeless jail housing over 2000 
men either awaiting trial, or like me, awaiting 
designation. The prisoners (not inmates) are 
mostly alright and I have had lots of interesting 
conversations so far. Even the guards are chill 
and I’m swapping the meat off my plate for more 
veggies. I’ve been working out, shooting hoops 
and doing a lot of laps in the rec area. I should 
be here for a few more weeks before being transferred somewhere by the BOP.

There is no way I can adequately thank you all 
but please accept my heart felt thank you for the 
bottom of my heart for all the incredible 
support. After a boring weekend I was greeted with 20 letters today!

Keep fighting and don’t let them get you down.

With love from behind enemy lines,
Daniel

PS – Please don’t forget about my fellow 
non-cooperating defendants Joyanna, Nathan and 
Jonathan. The first two, like me, are awaiting 
designation and Jonathan is to be sentenced on 
August 1st. More to say about my other codefendants later




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