[Pnews] Update: Russell Maroon Shoatz

[Prisoner News]

Russell Maroon Shoatz <freemaroonshoatz at gmail.com>

*MAROON UPDATE: *

*Rising like a Phoenix from the Ashes*

April 7, 2014

Greetings Maroon Supporters,

Thank you again for your steadfast support to the international movement 
to free Russell Maroon Shoatz.  His transfer from 22 years of solitary 
confinement into general population was the result of a coordinated 
strategy by Scientific Soul Sessions (SSS) and the Campaign to Free 
Russell Maroon Shoatz on artistic/cultural, political, and legal fronts 
that were championed by the power of the people.  It is a historic 
people's victory.  This is especially significant since the U.S. 
government is determined to break the spirit of political prisoners 
through confinement, silencing, and torture.

Here is an update on Maroon's transition into general population at SCI 
Graterford, Pennsylvania's largest maximum-security prison:

It has been five weeks since his transfer.  Every week he gains his 
humanity back, as he learns how to live without shackles on his hands 
and feet, breathe fresh air for the first time in months, and carefully 
re-teach himself how to redistribute his weight in order to walk up and 
down stairs again. He is acclimating to his new surroundings and 
becoming familiar with how prison authorities regulate his life in 
general population.

Upon his transfer, Maroon was introduced to a new set of rules and 
regulations, some of which were specific to him.  Without a doubt, the 
prison authorities are keeping a very sharp eye on him, his movement, 
and his communications.

SCI Graterford confines up to 3,500 prisoners.  They are holding Maroon 
in the newest wing where prisoners are completely broken.  They have 
lost all self-respect and dignity.  They have been broken by the prison 
system and living out of fear and desperation.  Upon entering his new 
cell, fellow prisoners surrounded and begged Maroon for food.  This is 
unimaginable to Maroon since any sign of weakness makes you vulnerable 
to manipulation by both prison authorities and prisoners.

Along with the breaking of prisoners' spirit, this is also a result of 
the privatization of prisons as they cut corners to make profit.  The 
prisoners are not getting fed enough during mealtimes so they are 
desperate for food.  Most don't have the outside support and cannot 
afford to buy food and drink from the commissary.   As a result, the 
spirit of the prisoners is so low and defeated that Maroon spends most 
of his time alone in his cell reading, writing, and studying.

Maroon is gaining clarity on the trauma caused by long-term solitary 
confinement.  He understands more concretely how prolonged solitary 
confinement has been specifically designed and used to target and 
destroy prisoners who display political leadership or abilities to 
organize prisoners (i.e. political and politicized prisoners).  He is 
barely beginning to recognize all the psychological and bodily harm it 
has done to him over the past decades.  Despite the fact that Maroon is 
one of the stronger prisoners, it is clear that 22 years of solitary 
confinement has done severe damage to him.  One can only fathom how much 
of a toll solitary confinement takes on prisoners that are not as 
strong-willed as Maroon.

Overall, Maroon is in a better situation than he has been in over 22 
years. However, we have serious concerns for his safety.   Anyone of 
those broken prisoners could be manipulated to cause him bodily harm.  
Likewise, prison authorities could find arbitrary reasons to throw 
Maroon back into solitary confinement.  Our work to protect him is just 
beginning.

We will keep you -- his ardent supporters -- regularly updated on 
Maroon's progress and with his campaign as we transition into a new 
phase demanding a full release from prison.

Russell Maroon Shoatz is an innocent man who has suffered tremendously 
under the duress of state torture.  He needs the kind of rehabilitation 
that prison may have once promised, but clearly can't and won't give 
him.  His cruel punishment - 22 years of continuous solitary confinement 
and torture - has well exceeded his original sentence.

It is time to free Russell Maroon Shoatz!

FREE MAROON!

Scientific Soul Sessions | www.scientificsoulsessions.com 
<http://www.scientificsoulsessions.com/>
NYC Campaign to Free Russell Maroon Shoatz
International Campaign to Free Russell Maroon Shoatz


-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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