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<font size=3><b>BOP increases the heat on Puerto Rican political prisoner
Carlos Alberto Torres<br>
</b> <br>
The
Federal Bureau of Prisons has upped the ante in its efforts to derail the
Parole Commission from adopting the hearing examiner’s recommendation
that Puerto Rican political prisoner Carlos Alberto Torres be released in
April of 2010.<br>
<br>
This
month, BOP officials notified Carlos Alberto that he has been assigned a
“Security Threat Group” [STG] status of “Domestic Terrorist Associate”
not insignificant timing, given his 29 years of conduct as a model
prisoner. But the timing is not at all odd, for the BOP’s purposes of
derailing his parole. <br>
<br>
For
the BOP’s efforts, timing has been everything. First, on the eve of his
January parole hearing, the BOP leveled false disciplinary charges. The
hearing was postponed; the charges were expunged. At the rescheduled May
parole hearing came the recommendation of release in April of 2010.
Within days, the BOP renewed the same false disciplinary charges. The
Parole Commission then issued an order postponing for 90 days its
decision whether to adopt the recommendation for release in April of
2010. Before the 90 day period expired, and while awaiting the
adjudication of the false disciplinary charges, the BOP surfaced the STG
status.<br>
<br>
In
addition to trying to impact the parole decision, the BOP’s efforts are
also calculated to destabilize Carlos Alberto. As a result of the false
disciplinary charges, the BOP held him completely incommunicado for 60
days, cutting off all telephone calls and visits. Though he was supposed
to be able to communicate by way of mail, officials significantly delayed
his outgoing and incoming Spanish language mail, due to a new translation
policy, applicable solely to him. Their vigorous application of the new
policy penetrated even his confidential legal mail, as officials
confiscated privileged legal materials in the Spanish language. Thus,
added to the uncertainty as to his future is the insecurity as to his
ability to communicate, even with his attorney.<br>
<br>
Protest letters to the warden and the director of the BOP are available
at:<br>
<a href="http://boricuahumanrights.org/2009/08/01/puerto-rican-political-prisoner-carlos-alberto-torres-parole-bid-foiled-by-bureau-of-prisons/.%A0%A0%A0%A0%A0" eudora="autourl">
http://boricuahumanrights.org/2009/08/01/puerto-rican-political-prisoner-carlos-alberto-torres-parole-bid-foiled-by-bureau-of-prisons/.
</a> <br>
<br>
<br>
Jan Susler<br>
October 23, 2009<br>
****************************************<br>
<div align="center"><b>Chronology of Federal Bureau of Prisons
Intervention in<br>
Puerto Rican Political Prisoner<br>
Carlos Alberto Torres’ Bid for Parole<br>
</b></div>
<br>
Carlos Alberto Torres has served 29 years in prison for his commitment to
the independence of his country, Puerto Rico, serving a 70 year sentence.
His release date is currently set for December of 2024. His conduct in
prison has been above reproach. In 1994, he appeared before the U.S.
Parole Commission, seeking release on parole. The commission denied
parole and set him for another hearing in 15 years. That hearing was
scheduled for January 22, 2009. The following events demonstrate the
Federal Bureau of Prisons’ attempts to intervene in and derail his
efforts to win parole:<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>November 2008<br>
</b>There is a disturbance in the prison population at FCI Pekin. Prison
officials mismanage the incident. Officials then lock down the entire
population for a month.<br>
<br>
<b>December 2, 2008<br>
</b>As a result of the disturbance, FCI Pekin officials transfer all the
prisoners from the housing unit where Carlos had been assigned to a two
man cell, and place him in Illinois 1 unit, cell A09, a ten man cell
where the other occupants had been living for many months.<br>
<br>
<b>December 2008<br>
</b>Carlos makes more than one request for a cell change to a two man
cell, but his requests are rebuffed.<br>
<br>
<b>January 14, 2009<br>
</b>Prison staff serve Carlos with an Incident Report: “On January 14,
2009 at 3:00 p.m., while conducting a shake down of A09 in Illinois 1
unit, I found three shanks concealed in a light fixture in the bathroom
area of the cell. This area is considered common area, and inmate Carlos
Torres #88976-024 is assigned to this cell.”<br>
<br>
<b>January 16, 2009<br>
</b>At his Unit Disciplinary Committee [UDC] hearing, Counselor Gebur
tells Carlos that another inmate had assumed responsibility for the
weapons. <br>
<br>
Maurice Wilkins, one of the occupants of the cell, told the UDC that the
weapons were his, and that neither Carlos nor the other cell occupants
had any responsibility for them.<br>
<br>
Lieutenant Haynes, who investigated the Incident Report, tells Carlos
that he had no information pointing to his guilt, and no information
indicating that Carlos had any knowledge of or involvement with the
weapons; and further, that he had information implicating Maurice Wilkins
as the guilty party.<br>
<b>January 22, 2009<br>
</b>The disciplinary hearing officer finds Carlos guilty, stating,
“Although inmate Torres indicated he had no knowledge of the weapons,
they were found in a common area of the cell. His contention the owner of
the weapons was to come forward and claim them, does not diminish his
responsibility for them, as no one inmate in the cell was given sole
responsibility for possession of the weapons. Therefore, since the
weapons were found in a common area of the cell, they are considered to
be in his possession.”<br>
<br>
Stating that, “Although not directly related to the infraction,
privileges were taken to deter the inmate from this behavior in the
future,” disciplinary hearing officer imposes punishment: 60 days
forfeited commissary; 60 days forfeited visiting; 60 days forfeited use
of telephone; 30 days disciplinary segregation, suspended if there is
clear conduct for 180 days; and 41 days forfeited statutory good
time.<br>
<br>
The finding of guilt is a departure from the norm. Routinely, when one
cell occupant accepts responsibility, the other cell occupants are found
not guilty.<br>
<br>
<b>January 31, 2009<br>
</b>Maurice Wilkins, one of the occupants of the cell, makes a sworn
statement accepting sole responsibility for the concealed weapons,
stating, inter alia:<br>
* “no one living in cell A09 other than me had any knowledge of the
shanks found. The shanks were mine, and mine alone. I am the one who made
the shanks and hid them in the light fixture undeknown [sic] to any other
person who lived in the cell.”<br>
* “the shanks were mine and mine alone, and no one other than me had
knowledge of them.”<br>
<br>
<b>February 2009<br>
</b>The National Boricua Human Rights Network, the Comité Pro Derechos
Humanos de Puerto Rico, and other groups and individuals commence an
ongoing letter writing campaign to support Carlos’ bid for parole and
denounce the Bureau of Prisons’ efforts, sending hundreds of letters to
the warden and the director of the BOP.<br>
<br>
<b>April 30, 2009<br>
</b>BOP regional director, in response to Carlos’ administrative appeal
of the guilty finding, admits a “procedural error,” and returns the
incident report to the prison “for reconsideration.”<br>
<br>
<b>May, 2009<br>
</b>FCI Pekin staff inform Carlos the Incident Report has been
expunged.<br>
<br>
<b>May 26, 2009<br>
</b>Parole hearing at FCI Pekin via videoconference with hearing examiner
for U.S. Parole Commission; hearing examiner recommends release on April
3, 2010.<br>
<br>
<b>June 10, 2009<br>
</b>FCI Pekin Warden Smith approved the unit team’s request to process
the re-written Incident Report.<br>
<br>
<b>June 2009<br>
</b>At the second UDC hearing, Carlos restates his innocence and provides
the committee with Maurice Wilkins’ sworn statement accepting sole
responsibility and absolving Carlos. <br>
<br>
<b>July 2009<br>
</b>At the second DHO hearing, Carlos restates his innocence and provides
the committee with Maurice Wilkins’ sworn statement accepting sole
responsibility and absolving Carlos. Additionally, Maurice Wilkins
testifies in person and tells the DHO that he was solely responsible and
that Carlos had nothing to do with, and did not know about, the weapons.
Regardless, the DHO finds Carlos guilty once again.<br>
<br>
During the hearing, Carlos asks the DHO what information he needs to
affirm Wilkins’ statement and prove his innocence. The DHO tells him “a
UDC investigation.”<br>
<br>
Carlos’ efforts to obtain such an investigation have been for naught,
with officials telling him there is no such thing.<br>
<br>
<b>July 27, 2009<br>
</b>U.S. Parole Commission issues Notice of Action, stating: “Defer
decision for up to 90 days to determine the outcome of the pending
disciplinary report for Possession of a Weapon. Upon disposition by the
DHO, a copy of the misconduct report and DHO findings should be submitted
to the Commission for review.”<br>
<br>
<b>September 2, 2009<br>
</b>The bilingual prison intelligence officer--- who has been
translating Carlos’ Spanish language mail for more than a year, and who
continues to translate other prisoners’ Spanish language mail informs
Carlos that he will be subject to a new procedure for screening his
Spanish language mail that henceforth his mail must be sent to a
translator outside the prison, which will delay for a month the delivery
of his incoming and outgoing mail. The officer also tells Carlos that the
order comes from higher up, and that “they” are watching Carlos’ every
move. The officer provides Carlos with nothing in writing.<br>
<br>
The initial response to Carlos’ grievance indicates only that “the change
in mail handling procedures is to ensure the safety and security of the
institution.”<br>
<br>
<b>October 9, 2009<br>
</b>The warden’s response to Carlos’ further grievance about his mail
informs Carlos, for the first time, that “you are on enhanced mail
monitoring status due to your STG assignment of Domestic Terrorist
Associate. This STG assignment requires translations to be completed by a
certified linguist. Currently, there are no staff members at FCI Pekin
that are a certified linguist for
Spanish.”<a name="_ftnref1"></a><sup>1<br>
</sup> <br>
No one provided Carlos with any documentation of such status, or with the
criteria for placement on or removal from such status.<br>
<br>
<b>October 10, 2009<br>
</b>Prison staff violate Carlos’ confidential attorney-client mail,
confiscating legal materials written in the Spanish language, telling him
they must copy and translate the privileged materials.<br>
<br>
<b>October 25, 2009<br>
</b>The Parole Commission’s 90 day deferral expires.<br>
<br>
October 23, 2009<br>
Jan Susler<br>
Attorney for Carlos Alberto Torres<br>
People’s Law Office<br>
1180 N. Milwaukee<br>
Chicago, IL 60642<br>
773/235-0070 x 118<br>
<a href="mailto:jsusler@aol.com">jsusler@aol.com</a> <br><br>
<br>
<sup><a name="_ftn1"></a>1</sup>It is believed that STG stands for
Security Threat Group, but the BOP has not provided Carlos with any
definition.<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
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