Protesters abused in Philly jails

Philadelphia police arrest a protester

“We are political prisoners: We are being held on outrageous charges, in many cases with no foundation whatsoever in our actual actions; Our bail figures are far out of proportion even for the crimes we are falsely accused of; We are here because of our political commitment and because we dared to defy the corporate powers that be as they were attempting to give a veneer of popular support to the rule of the few.” —A message from prisoners in the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, Philadelphia

Compiled by Robert Brown from independent media reports

Total Arrests: 480
Still in Jail (as of late Aug. 8): 309
Felony cases: 36
Now on Hunger Strike: almost 150

Independent press reports and interviews with activists and released prisoners reveal a coordinated and brutal attack on the growing protest movement against a national agenda dominated by the drive for corporate profits.

The mainstream media has painted a picture of the August 1st protests in Philadelphia against the Republican national convention as dominated by vandalism and violence against police officers. However, almost all of the protesters being held were arrested because they participated in completely non-violent civil disobedience, or because police suspected that they might take part in it. Still others were arrested who were not even taking part in demonstrations, including legal observers, peacekeepers, and bystanders. Only a few of the hundreds of jailed protesters have been accused of violence or vandalism.

The police, the courts and the mainstream press have joined in an assault on elementary human rights and political freedoms, say a broad spectrum of activists, from anarchists to Quakers.

John Sellers, a leader of the Berkley, Calif.-based Ruckus Society, was arrested on Aug. 2 as he walked down a city street, alone, talking on his cell phone. He was charged with numerous misdemeanors, including conspiracy, obstruction of justice and disorderly conduct, all stemming from conduct police claimed to have observed the previous day. His bail was initially set at a million dollars, and has since been reduced to $100,000.

“It’s an unconscionable, ridiculous bail and completely off the map from the norm,” said Sellers’ lawyer, Larry Krasner. “This is a desperate effort to systematically punish these people without a trial, to lock them up, and keep them off the streets.”

Kate Sorensen (of ACT-UP Philadelphia, the lead organizer of the health care demonstration on 7/29, and active with the Philadelphia Direct Action Group) is in quarantine until August 10, when she has a hearing, and is not allowed visitors. She’s being charged with 10 felonies including arson, conspiracy, riot, and causing a catastrophe in connection with criminal mischief. Her bail was also set at a million dollars.

“I consider this a civil rights catastrophe of the first order,” R2K Legal Committee counsel Ron McGuire stated. “This is an attack on our Fourteenth Amendment, an attack on due process and reasonable bail. This is a systematic political effort to undermine and destroy the momentum of a growing movement for social and environmental justice.”

“I think these bails are meant to stifle dissent,” said Paul Hesnekker, also of the R2K Legal Team. “It’s part of an attempt to criminalize political activism in this country.”

The police commissioner of Philadelphia, John Timoney, is also calling for a US Justice Dept. investigation to charge nonviolent activists under the RICO (racketeering) laws.

Jimmy Graham, a legal observer for the National Lawyers Guild, was arrested when he tried to film a group of police officers who had ambushed a young woman wearing a Rainbow-colored bandanna. She was suffering an asthma attack and vomiting. When Graham told her she would be O.K., the police began lamming his head into the wall. He would later be charged with four misdemeanors: failure to disperse, disorderly conduct, obstruction of a highway and obstruction of justice.

“I foolishly thought I wouldn’t be arrested because I was a legal observer,” Graham said. “I thought the yellow hat would give me at least a little bit of protection.”

Graham was taken to the hospital for treatment of his head wounds. He was told by police that he would be charged with aggravated assault of an officer.

Protesters questioned the motive and the rationale for a Tuesday police raid on a puppet-making warehouse at 41st and Haverford. Nothing beyond chicken wire and PVC pipe were found—materials that were intended for use in constructing the giant puppets that are signature props for recent protests.

“This is censorship in the first degree,” said Jodi Netzer, one of the only “puppetistas” not arrested. “There were absolutely no visual messages or allegorical representations in the protests that could be experienced directly by the public. How can we get our political message out to the public if our signs and puppets are taken away? The raid was a grievous violation of our free speech rights. I’m sure there will be a major lawsuit as a result, just as there was in Washington, DC” after First Amendment rights were violated in a similar protest against the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.”

Commenting on the puppet warehouse raid, Kéllia Ramares of the Radio Internet Story Exchange said, “It is interesting to note that during the IMF/World Bank protests in Washington DC, the police also raided a convergence center and confiscated puppets, but later returned them to their creators. By destroying the puppets this time, Philadelphia police avoided looking silly for “arresting” puppets in the first place. More importantly, they destroyed the evidence that, contrary to their claims, the materials in the warehouse were being used for legal purposes. And, in a preemptive strike against the exercise of First Amendment rights, the police deprived the protesters of the visual means of communication so important in this TV age. Without their signs, banners and puppets, they just looked like rabble in the street. That’s exactly what the cops wanted and the corporate media portrayed.”

Jodi Netzer, referring to the police claim that the cardboard, paint and chicken wire were “weapons,” said, “You might as well call my nose a weapon, ‘cause we smell something dirty here!”

The Direct Action Network medical team in Philadelphia has been meeting with people as they are released from jail, and there have been reports from people still in jail. For several days people were held in the Roundhouse, the city jail, but they have been moved to the county jail where conditions, while still not great, are not nearly as severe or cruel as they had been.

Here are some of the difficulties folks have faced:

At least thirty-two people experienced excessive force. Of those, there are seven accounts of severe hog ties with plastic handcuffs. “Severe hog ties” means that in less than thirty minutes prisoners’ hands were blue and swollen, and persons were on the verge of loss of consciousness. In two of those cases, people were bleeding from the wrist.

Two officer’s names and badge numbers come up repeatedly. One is responsible for dragging a man in the nude, grabbing a protester’s penis, stepping on necks, jumping on a man’s back with the help of two other officers, and slamming a face into a cell door. The other officer’s activities include saying “I’ll fuck you up the ass and make you my bitch,” slamming a man against wall repeatedly, punching a prisoner in the stomach, holding a prisoner’s face in the trash with his knee in the prisoner’s neck, and throwing a prisoner against a wall.

*Four cases of denial of access to medication: 1 person with HIV denied for two days, received on third day. One person with migraine and vomiting, denied all medicine including over the counter pain relievers. One hypoglycemic person denied access to adequate food.

*Four counts of sexual abuse: dragging a man naked, wrenching a man’s penis, twisting a person’s nipples, and one man subjected to random search of genitals.

*Two threats of rape from Commanding Officers.

Recently released detainees have been vocal concerning mistreatment and intimidation through physical and emotional abuse.

Joseph Rogers, a Quaker peace volunteer and President of the Mental Health Association of Southeast Pennsylvania, was detained on August 1. Rogers witnessed correctional officers tightening the handcuffs of protesters until their hands became blue. When Rogers asked the guards to loosen the cuffs, the guards retorted “This will teach them a lesson, this will teach them to come to Philly.” After further protest, Rogers was removed from his cell and cuffed from his left hand to his right ankle. “I told them I was diabetic but they threw me to the ground so they could cuff me. I was told to hop but my damaged knee prevented me. They dragged me to my cell.”

Malcolm Emerich, another recently released arrestee, stated, “The arrest process was chaotic and no police could honestly state where and when I was arrested. As a result, I had five different officers, at five different times, falsely assert they had seen me, and I am now facing six separate misdemeanor counts. Because of the chaotic arrest procedure and the inability of the police to ascertain where and why people were arrested, by the time I left the jail, some protesters had gone up to 72 hours without being arraigned. I met two protesters who had broken fingers from their arrests.”

Paul Davis, from ACT UP Philadelphia, reports his eyewitness accounts of brutality inside the Philadelphia jail. “I saw a man handcuffed to his cell door in a crucifixion position. I heard women screaming and being dragged along the floor. I saw a woman screaming in pain as a police officer said, ‘You want more?! You want more?!’”

The R2K legal team forwarded this message from prisoners on August 6:

“We are 24 male prisoners currently held at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility for our participation or attempted participation in the August 1st non-violent direct actions against the Republican convention in Philadelphia. The carefully choreographed conventions of both major parties have nothing to do with democracy. They are corporate-sponsored pageants designed to legitimize a system of corporate class rule that crushes the human spirit and that is destroying the planet. The criminal justice system of cops, courts and prisons that targets poor and working class people in general, and people of color in particular, is a cornerstone of a system that serves the rich and maintains their rule. Our actions in the streets of Philadelphia were intended to shine a light on the incarceration of 2 million people in the US, on the systematic use of police brutality to terrorize whole communities, on the racism and cruelty of the death penalty, on the many political prisoners, including Mumia Abu-Jamal, who are caged for their commitment to social justice.

“We were denied the opportunity to meet with our lawyers prior to arraignment and were arraigned in a court room closed to the general public with the exception of select members of the capitalist media. We were arraigned with a court-appointed public defender serving as counsel despite our explicitly and repeatedly stated desire to be represented by our own counsel who were denied access to the proceedings. We were charged with a variety of misdemeanors and in a few cases with felonies. Our individual bails have been set at between $10,000 and $1,000,000. Many, if not all, of the charges against us are either greatly exaggerated or completely falsified.

“We love you all. We are in here for you and know that you are out there for us.”

THREE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO HELP
1) Call the mayor and district attorney in Philadelphia: Mayor John Street phone: 215-686-2181 fax: 215-686-2180 District Attorney Lynn Abraham phone: 215-686-8701 Tell them you oppose the outrageous bail and conditions these activists are facing. Demand that the protesters be released, together, receive medical treatment and due process of law. Let them know that people around the country are following this situation. Ask everyone you can to do the same.
2) Send a donation to the bail fund: Make your tax-deductible check out to “ISMCH” (they’re the Fiscal Sponsor, The Institute of Social Medicine and Community Health), and mail it to: Philadelphia Direct Action Group (P-DAG) P.O. Box 40683 Philadelphia, PA 19107-0683
3) Come to the demonstration in solidarity with the political prisoners in Philadelphia, and in solidarity with the demonstrations against the Democratic Party in Los Angeles. Monday, August 14, 4:30-6:30 at the Asheville Democratic Party Headquarters, 20 Spruce St., downtown. Info: Bill at 252-2954.