[Ppnews] UN Special Rapporteur inquires into Russell Shoats' 21 years in solitary

Thu Jul 19 18:14:22 EDT 2012

    *MEDIA RELEASE: United Nations Special Rapporteur inquiring into
    prolonged solitary confinement of Russell "Maroon" Shoats
    /News comes as state legislators set hearing on solitary confinement
    in PA prisons/*

    *
    *Contact:Theresa Shoatz **freemaroon at gmail.com
    <http://mc/compose?to=tiye1120@gmail.com> 267-456-7882
    <tel:267-456-7882>*
    *

    *July 19, 2012: Philadelphia, PA* - Leading human rights
    organizations and the family of Russell Maroon Shoats received word
    last month that the United Nations' leading expert on torture, Juan
    Mendez, will submit an inquiry into Shoats' ongoing solitary
    confinement at  the State Correctional Institution (SCI) Greene in
    western Pennsylvania. Mendez, who is the UN Special Rapporteur on
    Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
    Punishment, sent a letter to a U.S. State Department representative
    in Geneva, Switzerland at the end of last month regarding the case
    of Shoats, a 68-year-old Pennsylvania state prisoner who has been
    held in solitary confinement for 21 consecutive years.

    The Special Rapporteur's inquiry was prompted by a complaint
    submitted by Shoats' children
    <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001p1dBPHeMH6VwuNPoyhsmI1dqQw8JhOx4JuRg30aKplBGrYZCbW9RPwKaRoF-r9QUYAqpKsrtaKqp1uuZbIlAkMT0ZE2gjXqfl9ZFyRB8En2sXP8-DWq9-0YU4ToLLAu5nawIcSFMvsXsGRiJ96h_1B6Texi5xGA4J0GOYM7ynerlURuJ6rVveTlHs761_fZzxO-kYvmxInFLWpqY2kbDlqGJQTy6ac3gtVmOakfpq-zZP_GXi1ZKFFkeq7GwWNDFska4BwGzKdxPAQ-cMBRYwN4aUOOWulSou-SmMya5pTvJC4bbbUJ52aO9JGf_AtK9vyQdJwttBZ0=>
    on behalf of the International Campaign to Free Russell Maroon
    Shoats (the Campaign) along with the Center for Constitutional
    Rights,* National Lawyers Guild*, and the Human Rights Coalition-Fed
    Up! Chapter. The complaint requested that the Special Rapporteur
    "immediately initiate a prompt and comprehensive investigation into
    the facts surrounding Shoats' two decade stay in the solitary units
    administered by the the PA Department of Corrections (PA-DOC).

    Other co-signers to the complaint were represented the War Resisters
    League, the International Peace Research Association, National
    Jericho Movement, Malcolm X Commemoration Committee, Big Red Media,
    and Scientific Soul Sessions.* *

    News of the Special Rapporteur's interest in this case came less
    than two weeks after a U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on
    solitary confinement
    <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001p1dBPHeMH6WPqs8kS7fRyCm6FOA7woWPHMt24fDxuzPSlwpnMeakClAwwAJFK3xg_YENd0mKrrqo8A2k44JuLxLaYqa2ze2cgQ8glJBLkRRqWZD6T_4fArZ4hVfZMXKtxZOqPnwwkZkjkDKhAHz12PnFvwZ_ap749pTtjon61H_7vDd7dF6KTvkzwGDRi_Q4BlwZyALY2MA=>
    in U.S. prisons prompted a wave of editorials denouncing the
    pervasive use of solitary confinement as torture. The /Pittsburgh
    Post-Gazette/ declared that it is "time to view solitary confinement
    as torture
    <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001p1dBPHeMH6U1IY-SwYIs0EvAdiQysA7xP9E1A_FJiFNBHQtkt3IPtU0LaXTCqnLqvkI-WI0i8_KuqrGG2bNu_xxCj2h7nB3Ndw7Z7pK7M8We8g4anj9YJY3RYjksQ9Dv0QyYl5S9yBVIGCQCEe4W8IgdqPIBR2GfAL_6_CCaErWGEIFYpfGZH74-yb8doHFkL7nqzBXXE3AFEXJOI_k9eoPB0dnMi4JoXfqu9yEezJNny1ObVhZ0_6kjVTBMyRMS>,
    comparing the practice of locking a person in a tiny cell for 23
    hours per day for years on end to "a debased practice of
    totalitarian regimes," acknowledging that "criminals themselves are
    being held by criminal means."

    PA State Representative Ron Waters has recently announced that PA
    state legislators will hold a similar hearing on solitary
    confinement on September 18. This is particularly noteworthy since
    the modern practice of solitary confinement originated in PA in the
    early 19^th century.

    The Campaign holds the position that Shoats is being tortured, and
    further that this torture is being applied as persecution for his
    history as a political dissident and human rights defender inside
    and outside prison. "This conscience-shocking maltreatment
    constitutes an urgent human rights crisis," said Bret Grote of
    HRC-Fed Up!. "It  is emblematic of the lawlessness that exists
    inside Pennsylvania and United States prisons." * *

    The international campaign
    <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001p1dBPHeMH6VTBzYp0RmFBHCktxmxctsNCbZ2eaRyElPE4RvPP201d6fa0cxus651jUefic8NsxJ-bb1MePwtpCqjEh6cAlC9YM46daMRUuUhTFvkygmzqqZgjhcji8DGZcFwvVgiONo=>
    to free Shoats from solitary confinement was formally launched in
    May. In late June campaign representatives met with PA DOC Secretary
    John Wetzel to discuss Shoats' case. The Secretary, who has
    repeatedly touted himself as a reformer in the press, stated that he
    would review the matter.

    In 2011, the Special Rapporteur submitted a report on solitary
    confinement
    <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001p1dBPHeMH6WjwV6RSSPW1bcdx8WayuwgQhfIc0vxCbjq1GuUyXwqBjlvNjqvtigaW_kxuqVocLJE8dfeh5kLm0u4RNFJScrazTKUpsBqnB1M3AdZ-TNhQd_yxAi7Yn6XGMF1DVoZ8t30HRU0jeTBoKCX42EbLdfgVP9mPAiCjXP_8nV0Dxq32ft7g29b2RpE>
    to the UN General Assembly that found that "any imposition of
    solitary confinement beyond 15 days constitutes torture or cruel,
    inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment," and called on the
    international community to adopt such a standard and impose "an
    absolute prohibition on solitary confinement exceeding 15
    consecutive days." In contrast to these recommendations, the state
    of Pennsylvania holds approximately 2,500 persons in solitary on any
    given day, countless hundreds for years at a time. A typical minimum
    sentence to solitary in the PA DOC consists of twice the UN
    Rapporteur's threshold of fifteen days.

    "We will continue to push for this urgent human rights crisis into
    the public spotlight," said Theresa Shoatz. "As family members of a
    survivor of this torture, we know that its time for this hateful
    practice to end."

    Supporters are being asked to contact SCI Greene's warden, Louis
    Folino, and PA DOC Secretary Wetzel and request that Russell Shoats
    be placed in general population. They are also asking that people
    sign an online petition in support of the campaign: petition link
    here
    <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001p1dBPHeMH6VTcfC5fJngezt1cmiYAHnHbVDAmKOG9wfGt7_jWTuYG0ZIf0e5Uvey-cSqiK9igmnuHRDtgRlTsfIde6hwzuNU1q_8QZe5YDmAw2aZLELA_rrFCm3dzZIB8gv7_Yt98p-RILi27S-aXsvc-bAEn2QmR27hmiu9qhPTm3E6OrahhmvNK7GVIBHqL6qyK7eiqrd79WPWRvWeGzwZaqhLFoXExsfng62C-o5VErL9WJRqB7MrJQiyBkVzMqRJ71o9J_tPIWyr91WlNcBvua5V2eCe>.

    PA DOC Secretary John Wetzel
    1920 Technology Parkway
    Mechanicsburg, PA  17050

    *

    **PHONE: 717-728-4109 <tel:717-728-4109>**

    *

    Superintendent Louis Folin
    SCI Greene
    169 Progress Drive
    Waynesburg, PA 15370

    *

    **PHONE: 724-852-2902 <tel:724-852-2902>**

    *

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