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<p
style="text-align: center; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-family: Times; font-weight: normal;"
align="center"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b>MEDIA
RELEASE: United Nations Special Rapporteur inquiring into prolonged
solitary confinement of Russell "Maroon" Shoats<br>
<i>News comes as state legislators set
hearing on solitary confinement in PA prisons</i></b></span></p>
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rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" bgcolor="#ffffff"><span><b>
<div><span><b>Contact:Theresa Shoatz<span>
</span></b></span><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow" shape="rect"
href="http://mc/compose?to=tiye1120@gmail.com" target="_blank">freemaroon@gmail.com</a><span><span>
</span><span> </span><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="tel:267-456-7882" value="+12674567882"
target="_blank">267-456-7882</a></span></b></div>
</b>
<p
style="text-align: left; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-family: Times New Roman,Times; font-weight: normal;"><b>July
19, 2012: Philadelphia, PA</b> - 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.</p>
<p
style="text-align: left; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-family: Times New Roman,Times; font-weight: normal;"> </p>
<p
style="text-align: left; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-family: Times New Roman,Times; font-weight: normal;">The
Special Rapporteur's inquiry was prompted by <a moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow" shape="rect"
href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001p1dBPHeMH6VwuNPoyhsmI1dqQw8JhOx4JuRg30aKplBGrYZCbW9RPwKaRoF-r9QUYAqpKsrtaKqp1uuZbIlAkMT0ZE2gjXqfl9ZFyRB8En2sXP8-DWq9-0YU4ToLLAu5nawIcSFMvsXsGRiJ96h_1B6Texi5xGA4J0GOYM7ynerlURuJ6rVveTlHs761_fZzxO-kYvmxInFLWpqY2kbDlqGJQTy6ac3gtVmOakfpq-zZP_GXi1ZKFFkeq7GwWNDFska4BwGzKdxPAQ-cMBRYwN4aUOOWulSou-SmMya5pTvJC4bbbUJ52aO9JGf_AtK9vyQdJwttBZ0="
target="_blank">a complaint submitted by Shoats' children</a> on
behalf of the International Campaign to Free Russell Maroon Shoats (the
Campaign) along with the Center for Constitutional Rights,<b><span
style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> National Lawyers Guild</span></b>,
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). </p>
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.<b>
</b>
<p
style="text-align: left; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-family: Times New Roman,Times; font-weight: normal;">News
of the Special Rapporteur's interest in this case came less than two
weeks after a U.S. Senate Judiciary<a moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow" shape="rect"
href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001p1dBPHeMH6WPqs8kS7fRyCm6FOA7woWPHMt24fDxuzPSlwpnMeakClAwwAJFK3xg_YENd0mKrrqo8A2k44JuLxLaYqa2ze2cgQ8glJBLkRRqWZD6T_4fArZ4hVfZMXKtxZOqPnwwkZkjkDKhAHz12PnFvwZ_ap749pTtjon61H_7vDd7dF6KTvkzwGDRi_Q4BlwZyALY2MA="
target="_blank"> subcommittee hearing on solitary confinement</a> in
U.S. prisons prompted a wave of editorials denouncing the pervasive use
of solitary confinement as torture. The <i>Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</i>
declared that it is "<a moz-do-not-send="true" rel="nofollow"
shape="rect"
href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001p1dBPHeMH6U1IY-SwYIs0EvAdiQysA7xP9E1A_FJiFNBHQtkt3IPtU0LaXTCqnLqvkI-WI0i8_KuqrGG2bNu_xxCj2h7nB3Ndw7Z7pK7M8We8g4anj9YJY3RYjksQ9Dv0QyYl5S9yBVIGCQCEe4W8IgdqPIBR2GfAL_6_CCaErWGEIFYpfGZH74-yb8doHFkL7nqzBXXE3AFEXJOI_k9eoPB0dnMi4JoXfqu9yEezJNny1ObVhZ0_6kjVTBMyRMS"
target="_blank">time to view solitary confinement as torture</a>,
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."</p>
<p
style="text-align: left; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-family: Times New Roman,Times; font-weight: normal;">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<sup>th</sup>
century.</p>
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." <b>
</b>
<p
style="text-align: left; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-family: Times New Roman,Times; font-weight: normal;"><a
moz-do-not-send="true" rel="nofollow" shape="rect"
href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001p1dBPHeMH6VTBzYp0RmFBHCktxmxctsNCbZ2eaRyElPE4RvPP201d6fa0cxus651jUefic8NsxJ-bb1MePwtpCqjEh6cAlC9YM46daMRUuUhTFvkygmzqqZgjhcji8DGZcFwvVgiONo="
target="_blank">The international campaign</a><span> 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.</span></p>
<p
style="text-align: left; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-family: Times New Roman,Times; font-weight: normal;"><span>In
2011, the Special Rapporteur submitted </span><a moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow" shape="rect"
href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001p1dBPHeMH6WjwV6RSSPW1bcdx8WayuwgQhfIc0vxCbjq1GuUyXwqBjlvNjqvtigaW_kxuqVocLJE8dfeh5kLm0u4RNFJScrazTKUpsBqnB1M3AdZ-TNhQd_yxAi7Yn6XGMF1DVoZ8t30HRU0jeTBoKCX42EbLdfgVP9mPAiCjXP_8nV0Dxq32ft7g29b2RpE"
target="_blank">a report on solitary confinement</a><span> 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.</span></p>
<p
style="text-align: left; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-family: Times New Roman,Times; font-weight: normal;"><span>"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."</span></p>
<div><span>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: <a moz-do-not-send="true" rel="nofollow" shape="rect"
href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001p1dBPHeMH6VTcfC5fJngezt1cmiYAHnHbVDAmKOG9wfGt7_jWTuYG0ZIf0e5Uvey-cSqiK9igmnuHRDtgRlTsfIde6hwzuNU1q_8QZe5YDmAw2aZLELA_rrFCm3dzZIB8gv7_Yt98p-RILi27S-aXsvc-bAEn2QmR27hmiu9qhPTm3E6OrahhmvNK7GVIBHqL6qyK7eiqrd79WPWRvWeGzwZaqhLFoXExsfng62C-o5VErL9WJRqB7MrJQiyBkVzMqRJ71o9J_tPIWyr91WlNcBvua5V2eCe"
target="_blank">petition link here</a>.</span></div>
<p
style="text-align: left; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-family: Times New Roman,Times; font-weight: normal;"><span>PA
DOC Secretary John Wetzel<br>
1920 Technology Parkway</span><span><br>
Mechanicsburg, PA 17050</span></p>
<div><b>
<p
style="text-align: left; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-family: Times New Roman,Times; font-weight: normal;"><span><b><b>PHONE:
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="tel:717-728-4109" value="+17177284109" target="_blank">717-728-4109</a></b></b></span></p>
</b></div>
<p
style="text-align: left; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-family: Times New Roman,Times; font-weight: normal;"><span>Superintendent
Louis Folin<br>
SCI Greene<br>
169 Progress Drive</span><span><br>
Waynesburg, PA 15370</span></p>
<div><b>
<p
style="text-align: left; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-family: Times New Roman,Times; font-weight: normal;"><span><b><b>PHONE:
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="tel:724-852-2902" value="+17248522902" target="_blank">724-852-2902</a></b></b></span></p>
</b></div>
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