MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE

The Case of Donald Jones

By Lord Serious

Miscarriage of Justice. Decision or outcome of legal proceeding that is prejudicial or inconsistent with substantial rights of the party. (Black’s Law Dictionary, Abridged Fifth Edition)

Donald Jones was a blue collar hard working father of four children in 1994. He never imagined that by age 20 a false accusation would have him fighting to get out of prison for the next 30 years. His 1995 conviction for Abduction and Aggravated Sexual Assault after a bench trial in Petersburg Circuit Court before the Honorable Judge Oliver Pollard forever changed his life. “The judge sentenced me to 95 years with 5 suspended”, says Mr. Jones.

On 11/13/95 an unknown person sent his trial attorney Paul Bland a file containing information that an additional forensic report existed which had never been disclosed to Mr. Jones or his attorney.

The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office had withheld exculpatory evidence that supported Mr. Jones’s claim that he was an innocent man. In light of this newly discovered evidence Judge Pollard stayed Mr. Jones’s sentence until he could review the file and take the matter into consideration. This court order to stay Mr. Jones’s sentence could only be overridden by a new court order. However, as a result of a clerical error Mr. Jones’s sentence and conviction were reactivated and he was transferred into the custody of Virginia Department of Corrections (VDOC) without a valid sentencing order on 1/18/96.

Ironically, when VDOC became aware that Mr. Jones was being unlawfully detained they contacted Petersburg City Jail to inform them that Mr. Jones would have to be released from their custody. Apparently, because his sentence was stayed on 11/15/95, Mr. Jones was a free man as far as VDOC was concerned. But officials at the city jail misled VDOC into believing that there was a retainer on Mr. Jones. It was unclear to VDOC whether Mr. Jones still had jail time to serve or if he would be resentenced at a later date. On 7/23/96 Mr. Jones was transferred back to Petersburg City Jail.

He had recently hired attorney Joseph Morrissey to represent him. According to Mr. Jones, his new attorney filed a Motion to Vacate his conviction. But when Mr. Jones went back before Judge Pollard the Motion to Vacate was never heard. Mr. Jones claims that it was at this time when Joseph Morrissey presented him with a plea bargain for 20 years. “They were trying to hide what had been done, because they knew I couldn’t be sent back to prison under the same vacated sentencing order.” Mr. Jones claims that Judge Pollard’s 11/15/95 order to stay his 90 year active sentence required a hearing to review the suppressed exculpatory evidence. “I know Joe Morrissey was in on it”, Mr. Jones fumes, “he sold me out.”

When Mr. Jones refused the plea deal Judge Pollard held an illegal hearing by resentencing him once again under that old conviction order which Mr. Jones claims the judge could no longer do. “The court had lost its jurisdiction once 21 days had lapsed on the order to stay my sentence and they transferred me into DOC custody.”

On “9-10-96 Petersburg Circuit Court upheld the sentence of 10-26-95. Mr. Jones has a total of 90yrs to serve” (DOC Memorandum dated 10/2/96). Mr. Jones was transferred back into VDOC custody on 9/11/96.

This is the story of how a loving father of four had his life torn apart, and how the man Donald Jones became inmate #1076927. For 30 years Mr. Jones has had to live with the mistakes of others and suffer the consequences as if they were his own. Mr. Jones has lost more than his employment and yearly salary as a dump truck driver. He has been deprived of his God given right to be a physically present father and raise his kids. Mr. Jones has missed out on birthdays, graduations, the birth of his grandbabies, and the ability to protect his children.

In 2014 his youngest son Jaymonta Jones was gunned down in Petersburg, Virginia. “I could see the effect his brother’s death was having on my oldest son Jamar. I knew I was losing him and there was nothing I could do about it.” Within eight years his oldest son Jamar Jones would be murdered too. Another victim of senseless gun violence in Petersburg. “I’ve had to bury both of my sons from the penitentiary”, Jones told me.

It is clear that prison has taken a lot from Donald Jones and he has had to carry a burden that no man should be forced to bear. But he doesn’t let his circumstances discourage him. Mr. Jones told me that he had done everything within his power to get his case back in court and overturned. But appeal after appeal was denied.

He said, “I didn’t know what else to do, or who I could turn to. So I kept faith and prayed.”

Whenever I’ve observed Mr. Jones, he is always giving a kind word or helping others. I asked how he was able to get his case back in court after so many years had passed? He replied, “One day my counselor observed me fixing guys a meal in the mental health pod during the holidays. Which is part of my ministry, it’s something I did for every major holiday. When this woman approached me and asked me, “What can I do to help you make parole?” I told her that in 1996 Greensville Correctional Center released me after it had been discovered by a staff member that my sentencing order and conviction had been stayed and vacated by my trial judge. I told her that DOC sent me back to the jail, because DOC could not keep me in their custody without a valid sentencing order. But no one will believe me.”

Mr. Jones then informed me that his counselor was now more determined than ever to help him regain his freedom. According to Mr. Jones this woman told him that she would check his files to see if she could locate anything of use to him. And if she did then she’d provide him with a copy.

Sure enough, after her lunch break his counselor returned with a file. She handed him the documents and that there was a sticky note attached to them that read “Whatever you do, never give inmate a copy of these files”. When Mr. Jones inspects the contents of the documents, he finds a handwritten copy of the very documents he’s been trying to get access to for 20 years.

Mr. Jones informed me that the prison records department refused to allow his counselor to remove the file or make photocopies of it. So she made a handwritten copy and uploaded its contents into his Coris file which is the database system VDOC uses to keep track of inmates within their custody.

The counselor allegedly tells him, “I told records that this can’t be legal and if it’s his files then he can have them.” Mr. Jones assures me that these were the woman’s words verbatim. He’s asked me not to identify her by name, however, he seems confident that if it would help his case she would be willing to answer any questions and even testify under oath in open court to these facts.

With this new evidence of government suppression Mr. Jones was now able to get his case back into court and fight for his freedom again. He wrote the courts requesting a copy of his case file. Hoping it would contain an actual copy of the document his counselor provided him. But Petersburg Circuit Court refused to furnish him with a copy of his case file. He alleges that his numerous attempts have been frustrated by a clerk named Harold Johnson.

When I asked Mr. Jones what reason would Harold Johnson have to interfere in his attempts to regain freedom? He claimed the two of them have a history of bad blood. According to Mr. Jones, he and Harold Johnson had a physical altercation when they both were younger. I questioned whether Mr. Johnson would actually violate the law and risk his career over something so juvenile? And Mr. Jones told me the following story:

“One day I go to my baby mama’s house to see her and my daughter. And this guy is there sitting on the couch next to my baby mama with my daughter on his knee. I walk over and pick my daughter up then I tell him “Alright, you can leave.” He gave me a look and before he could get the words out of his mouth I smacked him in the face. He then got up and left.”

Mr. Jones alleges that Harold Johnson has been holding a grudge against him ever since, and though Mr. Johnson is now a married man; Harold Johnson has continued to carry on an extramarital affair with his daughter’s mother throughout his incarceration. Mr. Jones claims whenever he sends family members to the courthouse to purchase a copy of his files, they are told by someone at the clerk’s office that a judge needs to review their request before his files can be released.

I remind Mr. Jones that his court records are public record and anyone should be able to get access to them if they’re willing to pay for the copies. He replies, “I know.” When I asked were his files or court proceedings were under a court seal he responds, “No.” Mr. Jones continued, “Harold Johnson is one of the top clerk’s at this office, and still to this day my files still haven’t been released to me.”

As we further discuss his case he reveals that the suppression of evidence and government interference goes even further. Recently he has uncovered new exculpatory evidence- biological evidence that has been suppressed. I asked him how he acquired this evidence without going through the clerk’s office? He reminded me of a mass email that was sent out by VDOC to all offenders. The August 22, 2024 email stated the Department of Forensic Science was reviewing all cases from the 1970s to 1980s that were worked by Mary Jane Burton due to possible corruption.

His case happened in the 90s. But he figured that if Mary Jane Burton was involved in a cover up then it was possible that the forensic scientist who worked on his case was involved in a cover up too. Mr. Jones was resourceful enough to get the address to the Department of Forensic Science from that email and he wrote the lab himself.

Within a few weeks Mr. Jones received a response from the lab, and within the contents of it he found a certificate analysis for a blood test. This report revealed that special instructions were given by Commonwealth’s Attorney Bill Bray instructing them to stop further testing and that a separate report was written. Furthermore, Commonwealth’s Attorney Bill Bray personally collected the evidence himself from the lab. The findings of the blood test revealed that the contributor was likely someone of Hispanic descent. However, the other report that was written which was not sent to him is still being withheld by the Commonwealth’s Attorney Office. Mr. Jones argues that this separate report likely contains the certificate of analysis and the findings of a DNA test. I remind Mr. Jones blood tests are less reliable than DNA evidence, and he suggests that this is why it is being suppressed. “They don’t want me to get my hands on it cause they know it will free me”, says Mr. Jones regarding the potential exculpatory evidence. Mr. Jones says Commonwealth’s Attorney Bill Bray has a duty to disclose all of the evidence to him, but he’s been violating the law for 30 years.

Since 2016 Mr. Jones has filled the following motions and petitions within Petersburg Circuit Court, Virginia Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of Virginia:

Motion to Vacate in 2016
Writ of Coram Nobis in 2022
Appeal to Virginia Court of Appeals in 2023
Supreme Court of Virginia rendered judgement September 12, 2024

The presumption of guilt after conviction and entering DOC custody may not be an impossible hurdle to overcome for prisoners. Nevertheless, for Mr. Jones the task has been an extremely daunting one. Donald Jones is deserving of additional judicial review and a fair and impartial hearing on the merits of his claims. Yes, he has had his day in court, and he has had multiple appeals, petitions, and motions denied. However, not every trial is fair; not every guilty verdict is lawful; sometimes, innocent people get convicted and a miscarriage of justice occurs. Therefore, this direct appeal is being made to the hearts and minds of the public. Because in a democracy the Court of Public Opinion has always been the supreme court of the land.

We, the incarcerated, the disenfranchised, get manhunted as social deviants, corralled as criminal offenders, branded as felons, and occasionally, released back into society as returning citizens. For most of this time we are kept separated from the public by time, distance, and the cement walls which barricade us. A rather crude merger of conditions which has the sterilizing effect of muting our voices. No one in the criminal justice system heard this man’s cries for help.

We the incarcerated, the disenfranchised, make no claims at being perfect. However, there are those cloaked in the awesome power of public office who set out on a crusade to convince the world that the criminal justice system is perfect. Yet, every year there seems to be more people getting their cases overturned. The public is appalled to learn that government corruption and suppression of evidence is responsible for causing these wrongful convictions. These miscarriages of justice are far too common today, as the prison industrial complex finds it more difficult to manage the problems caused by mass incarceration: the public defender offices with far too many caseloads; prosecutors offices whose annual budgets are determined by the number of felony cases they charge; and, the Black men like Donald Jones, who come from impoverished communities and who are disproportionately denied justice in courtrooms nationwide.

For all of the above reasons We, the incarcerated, fast and pray this Court will grant the relief sought.

P.E.A.C.E

Pardon Exonerate Amend Cases Everywhere

Your Vote Matters

By: Joshua Hairston

Amendment XV (15)

Passed by Congress February 26, 1869. Ratified February 3, 1870.

Section 1.
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude…

Recently, after conversing with the eldest of my brothers, I found myself disheartened; his lack of appreciation for his civil rights, the inexorable firmness he exhibited in being indifferent toward the summons of those in position to represent his interests, my own disconcerting effort to inspire in him a deeper sense of attachment to these privileges, all worked to frustrate me beyond the etiquette of tolerance that accompanies my belief in self-determination.

For several years now, I have pitched to him, using differing approaches, recognizing the vicissitude of the African American experience, the importance of him, a young inner-city black, casting his ballot.

“The historian Edmund S. Morgan argues…that well-off white Virginians…could champion a form of republican representative government defined by the absence of a formal ruling class or monarchy without threatening their own status as elites for one simple reason: They knew that the system of slavery meant that most of the poor in Virginia were enslaved, SO THEY HAD NO LEGAL RIGHTS AND COULD NEVER PARTICIPATE IN POLITICS.” – The 1619 Project

“1857 Dred Scott…Supreme Court decided Mar. 6…BLACKS WERE NOT AND COULD NOT BE CITIZENS.” (The Court also ruled that slaves were not citizens of any state nor of the U.S.) – The World Almanac And Book Of Facts

Foolheartedly, I support his choice to articulate and actualize perspectives and values that contextualize his experience. Vindicating himself pursuing that which concerns him most. Expressing, openly, his ideas of freedom.

However, I fear that to offer approval, even if only for the inalienable right of choice, to anyone who proclaims such as their stance dismisses the sacrifices made in advancing the African American, in a manner so transgressive, it warrants severe objection.

“Congress then passed the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments abolishing slavery, making blacks citizens, and giving them the right to vote.”

The progress encompassed in these Amendments, a consequence of suffering generations of subjugation, oppression, and deprivation – an infinitesimal return on the spilled blood and broken bodies of the human beings who built America – was not made in convening with adversaries who, conceding the validity of our grievances, decided, peaceably, to acquiesce to our demands.

“Reconstruction lasted eleven years, from 1866 to 1877.
…blacks made great strides in education, economics, and voting rights.”

These improvements to our existence did not occur without clear and assertive actions, having the overwhelming probability to result in either relief or death.

“…by 1898 nearly all black males in the South had been disenfranchised by poll taxes, literacy tests, property requirements, grandfather clauses, and the actions of terrorist groups like the Ku Klux Klan,”

“Before the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the civil and human rights of blacks throughout the South were routinely violated by sheriffs, police officers…
…Blacks were often denied the right to vote, and were beaten, raped, and murdered, receiving virtually no protection from…lawmakers or law enforcers.”

“Since the end of Reconstruction…states, through intimidation, violence, and murder, had systematically prevented blacks from exercising their constitutional rights.
The Voting Rights Act (1965) forced…states…to repeal poll taxes, grandfather clauses, and other constitutional laws to prevent blacks from voting.”

While, to some extent, many of us acknowledge the immensity of what was given to access citizenship, we behave, relative to this induction, unaware of the essential significance and the responsibility inherited in making such an advance.

Failing to accurately apprehend the plight of our predecessors, we have become strangers to the very spirit that drove their campaign for rights, civil and human.

Furthermore, a cohort of us, young African Americans, live as if disinherited, almost completely, from the reality of how our civil rights were acquired and the inestimable sacrifices of the courageous and resilient men, women and children who secured them.

The reasons my beloved brother presented, in defense of his position, for not voting were reasons created by the liberties earned by diplomatic warriors who turned over their lives for their succession (us) to know the privilege of being able to influence the society comprising us, absent the pressing need to risk it all. Perhaps, the absence of this pressing need is why we consider that our vote does not matter.

It is not my intent to communicate this matter harshly, though I have found, rarely, the truth to be gentle. To consider that your vote does not matter is to think degradingly of the incomprehensible offerings of those who made it possible for us to have a vote; or it is to be absent-minded of how your position and status was gained.

We can narrowly afford to take for granted the status of citizen and the civil rights we are gifted by being legislated as such.

“These events and the movement impacted not only African Americans, but Asian, Hispanic, Native American, and other ethnic groups in this country, as well as women.”

“These events and the people who participated in them have profoundly changed America for all who live here.”

VOTE FOR THEM!

My brother, he will vote, Tuesday 11/05/24, if for no other reason than for his little brother, disenfranchised by the 13th Amendment, who cannot.

Who will you vote for that cannot or could not, if you are not informed or motivated enough to do so for yourself?

Joshua J. Hairston

Pray For Me(Song from Boosie Badazz)”

There has been much to do, when holding one’s self accountable. I’ve sat and witnessed the many, become victims
to the very environment that’s meant to be productive and rehabilitative. With understanding, I’ve asked myself, if the
inhumane actions done to individuals incarcerated, resemble the same inhumane treatments of individuals who are
in society? I ask myself and God, does the tears and cries of the downtrodden, matter, even though we’ve made the
mistakes that landed us in these unfortunate set of circumstances?

I can’t speak to the mistreatment of the incarcerated, without speaking to the mistreatment of the staff who are in the
trenches with us. My rationale for this expression, is to see and recognize the lacking of Human decency, as it
pertains to ALL PEOPLE; even the Men and Women who work to earn a livable wage…they are also victims of the
Carceral System, as it creates the traumas that often goes unnoticed or unconsidered.
These People…these Men; Women; Sons; Daughters; Fathers; and Mothers, have been hard pressed to do the
right thing, as it aligns with the Human Spirit. In all honesty, I’ve had Staff, care enough about me than the
inhabitants who live around me; those who’re within the exact same position and experiencing the same conditions.
I’ve had Staff and Inhabitants of this environment, care enough about each other, from a humanity stand point, that it
establishes a fondness and respect for the people they are. But it’s too often, that such truths and behaviors are
misrepresented as “Fraternization”, because the respectful smiles and treatments of an individual incarcerated, goes
against the identity of what the Imprisonment of Human Beings has always been.

On August 16, 2024, Greensville Correctional Center, was so short of staff, that they couldn’t manage the regular
issues that are necessary for Housing the Men here. My Unit Manager showed so much strength and
fortitude, while enduring the overwhelming stress of being the Unit Manager, Lieutenant, Sergeant, Floor Officer,
and the floating officer, to ensure that the Officers who worked in the building, were able to have the necessary
breaks. I watched this Woman; this Mother; this Concerned and Professional Person, look Beat Down; Bruised;
Defeated and Unconsidered.
I watched as the choice swirled in the conscious mind of an overworked; overlooked and unappreciated employee.
The unfortunate circumstances, made a Mother have to choose between being a “professional oppressor”, due to
the many unaddressed issues, that makes one choose their profession, over being Mothers; Fathers; and Human
Beings. I watched as adjustments had to be made, as a result of a staff shortage, which couldn’t allow a Mother to
go home, at the respectable hour to pick up her child. I watched her shoulder the burden of the World and the
Heavens, only to become a victim of the lazy mentality, of those who are in authority over Her or work alongside her,
in this environment.
This is not an essay to point fingers or name names. But what has become true from the past, up to now, is that
there’s no accountability of those issues that are often great sound bites or article fillers. Frankly, there is no
Humanized treatment of the staff or the residents of this institution. The fraternal order of “Correctional Officers”, are
only working as the means to support their lives and their families, remaining unconcerned of who suffers the Mental
Strains; the Broken Families; as well as those Questions of one’s very own worth, within a much Bigger Human
Family.
There’s so many OUTSTANDING People, who are currently employed here, at Greensville Correctional Center, that
are leaving here, in order to work at Lawrenceville Correctional Center. One of the best People, who’s a Unit Manager of the Reentry Building and Army Veteran is also leaving. She has always been the proper example of a Good Person; a Great Manager of any and all affairs, that addresses the issues of people… if
their jumping ship, what does that say about the environment and the people who manage/control it, as an overall.
Those are just a few of the people who are losing their own humanity, due to the expectation of separating their humanity from their occupation. They have relied heavily, on those of us, who has made the choice to work towards
Building Bridges and Mending Fences. Yes, those Bridges takes effort and time, but when there’s no efforts put towards the action, which leads to solutions, we fail at the proper outcomes we’re trying to gain.

This next expression is very close to me, and that’s because it speaks to the excessive force, utilized, without having clear and present evidence, to justify such force or the order of that force, being utilized. Please know that I compose this, at a risk of being viewed differently; handled differently; as well as treated differently. But I WILL NOT sit around and allow the very nature of People, to be disrupted, corrupted, or looked at with a biasness, that can’t be shown out of uniform, as it is displayed while in the uniform. Meaning…if you have an ulterior motive, towards the
population of incarcerated Men and Women, then state it; embrace; and outwardly display it, for the Free World to see, as well as the incarcerated one, to know and accept. {NOTE: This is to speak to the Mentality of the environment and how such a Mentality, has not only risked the lives
of people, but the very Humanity that separates the People from animals}. As I am held to the standard of a Human Being first, and Man second; how is it fair and decent, to absolve the Staff Officials of such a standard? So this is
just a few of the Inhumane treatments that’s occurring, within these Imprisoning facilities.}

Alfonso “Ghaza” Skyles (aka. Quillz) (#1134129)

Greensville Correctional Center

Program to Teach Entry-Level College Course(s)

By: Douglas Johnson

[11SEP24_VADOC-Educ_IAP-Proposal_DVJ]

PROPOSAL FOR: VADOC’s IN-RESIDENT ADJUNCT PROFESSOR (IAP) Program to Teach Entry-Level College Course(s)

I. OVERVIEW
1. Intention
A. As the Mentorship Committee Chairman of the River North CC Veterans Support Group, I seek opportunities to serve through educational and philanthropic projects IAW VADOC OP 841.1.VII.3.D.

B. The best thing a prison’s education department can do for an inmate, is to show them their true unlimited potential. That is what the RNCC Education Department has done for me over the last three years. So, it is my intention to carry it forward by proposing this VADOC IAP initiative.

2. My IAP Qualifications
A. I humbly submit to you that I am the best prospective IAP candidate in VADOC to model this proposal based on my extensive educational [1,2,3], professional, and personal experience as a former US Army Major and ODNI/NCTC Intelligence Operations Supervisor [4,5].

B. I am in a very unique position as a mental health & education advocate, mentor, author, and future adjunct professor. With no release date, having served almost seven years, I have remained charge-free and sober [6]. Being an IAP would undoubtedly give me monumental purpose.

C. Throughout the remainder of this proposal (and its enclosures), I will present: the need for a VADOC IAP Program, its significant advantages, potential courses, recommended IAP req., inmate-student funding, and a brief concept/vision for expanding this prospective IAP Program throughout VADOC and other DOCs.

II. THE NEED FOR A VADOC IAP PROGRAM
1. A vast body of evidence-based research concludes recidivism/re-offense and incarcerated infraction rates are significantly lower in individuals/inmates that have completed more educational and mentoring programs while incarcerated.

2. There is a need for this type of IAP Program in VADOC.
A. To meet the extremely high interest-level throughout VADOC for programs like the VT-CFH @RNCC and UVA-Darden @BKCC Partnership Programs.

B. To enable VADOC Education Principals to augment teacher/professor for temporary and/or longterm shortages.

III. STAKEHOLDER ADVANTAGES
1. VADOC having qualified college course professor(s) on-site will have tremendous advantages for all stakeholders: VADOC, partnering universities, inmates, and the IAP.

2. If VADOC and facility principals had a full-time professor they will be able to offer an increased number of in-person entry-level college courses to inmates.

3. Student-Inmates will have a sense of accomplishment in taking a college course, realizing their untapped potential, and gain a greater sense of hope. It can enable them to see that dreams have no expiration dates. Completing a college course can give these students purpose and momentum to work towards a degree.

IV. The following are very fitting ENTRY-LEVEL COURSES for this program:
1. Humanities
2. Creative Writing
3. Critical Thinking
4. Peace & Conflict Resolution
5. Self-Awareness in Avoiding Recidivating

V. RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS TO BECOME AN IAP:
1. Masters Degree in field. Under exceptional circumstances, significant professional experience for academic credentials may be substituted at discretion of the hiring university.
2. Charge/infraction-free for at least 10 years.*
3. No drug-related charges while incarcerated.
4. Trusted-stellar reputation with VADOC leadership/staff.
5. Random drug-tests.*
*At Educ. Principal’s discretion.

VI. FUNDING Options
1. Pell Grant
2. Donor Funding
3. G.I. Bill (Military VETs)

VII. IAP PROGRAM POTENTIAL
1. Colorado [7], California, and Maine DOCs already have a similar program. Why not Virginia too?

2. Virginia Tech (and other VA colleges) already have relevant course curriculums that can be adjusted per VADOC MOU requirement stipulations.

3. I am currently pursuing multiple university Letters of Intent (LOI) to be hired as an Adjunct Professor, (VT, UVA, VCU, NSU, VSU, GMU, JMU, ODU, GU, ASU), respectively.
A. Official hiring contingent upon VADOC planning to implement this type of program.
B. LOIs RX’d: TBD.

4. As a prospective IAP, I am very willing to be deployed to any prison to teach courses and to train new IAPs, based on your VADOC needs.

VIII. In closing, I graciously thank you for considering this proposal. I know it is an ambitious plan, but I hope and pray that you can see its infinite potential.
I also plan to play an integral role in VADOC’s “Reading Enables All Learners (REAL) Literacy Program.”
Becoming a PhD candidate is a longterm goal of mine. However, this midterm IAP goal is currently more feasible, realistic, and widely impactful.
I will continue to Stand STRONG, make the best use of my ‘Time,’ & remain Purpose-Driven!

Humbly Submitted,

DOUGLAS V. JOHNSON (#1937011)
RNCC-VSG-MCC

There’s No Justice In The Law

by Lord Serious

Justice cannot be arrested by law. Justice cannot be confined to any statute. Whenever lawmakers attempt to codify justice, justice ceases to exist. The framers thought they captured it in the constitution, but that is no justice. That is only the imitation of justice. The narrow scope of the law is only a cheap replica of what lawmakers think justice should be. Do these man made laws truly serve the greater good? If so, then why do these public safety policies result in disparate treatment that makes disadvantage groups feel unsafe? When the law being implemented in the interest of justice serves only special interest; these laws aren’t just, they’re just the law.

Justice is an art, the law is a science. One is abstract and infinite while the other concrete and finite. It is justice that established the four seasons and equally divided time between day and night. It is the law that caused global warming and decides daylight savings time. The law’s limitation is that it can only impose penalties. But justice is boundless in its ability to grant rewards. The nature of law is to discriminate. But justice will befriend an enemy, because it’s nature is to be indiscriminate. The law can be used to condemn and incriminate the innocent. Justice has fulfilled its purpose when it redeems and liberates the guilty.

The criminal justice system is a system of laws governing institutions to punish those who have violated the law. This system is so structured that it has an inherent bias towards the social conditions of the impoverished. Those who are being marginalized and excluded from mainstream society are disproportionately underemployed. They disproportionately suffer from mental health issues. Furthermore, their environmental conditions disproportionately exposes them to traumatic experiences within their homes and in their community.

As a direct result of these conditions, a major disparity exists between which socioeconomic class receives heavy scrutiny under the law and which receives a slap on the wrist. There are disparities in how the law penalizes the white collar and corporate crimes predominantly committed by the upper class. Versus how the law punishes the property crime, substance abuse, and violent crimes that are caused by poverty. Justice will always correct imbalance wherever it may exist. But the laws inhibit justice, because they are what cause the imbalances within this society to increase: the wage gap, the shrinking middle class, the opioid crisis. All of these social conditions are symptoms of the larger class conflict. These are the effects caused by laws that reflect the predatory behavior of the capitalist elite.

It is the law that permits the capitalist elite to cause an economic crisis that disproportionately harms middle class and lower class Americans. Increasing layoffs and unemployment nationwide. It is the law that provides government bailouts to the wealthy, but provides no relief to the member of the middle class facing foreclosure. It is the law that allows the institutional investor to buy these single family homes for pennies on the dollar and gentrify impoverished neighborhoods. Then put these properties back on the rental market and raise rent on the underprivileged. It is the law that permits the increase of evictions and then passes new laws to ban homeless encampments.

For this system to be just, it must stop punishing its citizens for being victimized by the very social conditions the laws create. Until lawmakers see those of us on the bottom of the social hierarchy, the laws will continue to protect the capital interest of their donors and special interest groups. Until legislators open their eyes to the social disorder being caused by the predatory behavior of the upper class, the law will continue to be wielded as a weapon to criminalize every member of the American underclass who accepts defeat. The law imposes retribution and it demands deterrence, but justice repairs harm and it restores balance. Laws penalizing those responsible for structuring this society in a way that causes the conditions influencing criminal behavior do not exist and they never will. These conditions are only allowed to exist, because there is no justice in the law.

P.E.A.C.E
Proper Education Always Corrects Error

Lord Serious Hakim Allah

(aka James Boughton # 1404741)

Lawrenceville Correctional Center

The Nation’s Correctional Staffing Crisis: The Toll on Incarcerated People

Recently, the editor of Brilliance Behind Bars was called before the U.S. Senate to give testimony on the understaffing crisis effecting prisons nationwide. She represented our interests with great compassion and much needed perspective. It is now our turn to support her efforts with our own experiences and insights. Let’s allow the public a real glimpse into our struggle as incarcerated people living in a prison understaffed…

For decades, prison has been held as an institution designed to mete out punishment to “evil-doers.” As time has progressed, so too did the caricature of the inhuman prisoner within the social conscience of the public. This depiction has led to a dangerous lack of concern for prisoner security, treatment, and adequate staffing to conduct daily, essential operations.

In the wake of the Coronavirus Pandemic, no areas of industry was left unscathed by understaffing issues. But there is a stark difference between the need for fast food service workers to tighten up lapses between combo meals served to various customers and the need for correctional staff to maintain the order and operation of a coercive institution and its hundreds of long-term residents.

Correctional facilities are more akin to state hospital and nursing homes fundamentally, being that its residents are forced to stay in such facilities. Residents of these type of facilities are solely dependent on the facility to provide critical medical care and treatment programs designed to aid in social and psychological health and development.

Given that prisons are institutions filled with residents living in close quarter communities, lack of proper staff often leaves responsibilities of security and treatment to fall to the hands of other prisoners. I, myself, have even had to serve as an interim first responder during medical emergencies involving other incarcerated. Ironically, the institution has enacted policies to deter the incarcerated from lending aid to others, but have yet to solve the very real crisis of understaffing in prisons in this state and nationwide. Also worthy of recognition is the incarcerated community’s drive to create treatment programs amongst themselves in spite of the lack thereof provided by the facility.

It is well documented that some private corporations have exploited the widely accepted practice of understaffing prisons in order to increase their profit margins. Although, we cannot exclude the fact that this was made possible by governments diverting interest in funding prisons as institutions of rehabilitation, and opting to view prisons as human warehouses for the disadvantaged. This is a framing that is more favorable to the rhetoric on the economic benefit than actual social benefit. Also, it’s no secret that working in a prison isn’t the most desirable work environment.

2020 did not cause prisons to be dangerously understaffed. 2020 only unveiled a deep-rooted practice that has been the void of compassion for human life for over 25 years in the making. The current state of prisons in America are echoes of the prison ‘reforms’ of ’95. Thirty years later, we clearly see the product of debased political agendas and public susceptibility to crime-based propaganda. That is, mass incarceration, a nationwide prison understaffing crisis, and instability socially and economically.

Note: I do not wish to end this writing without stating how very proud I am of each and every one of the incarcerated who have utilized their time and effort seeking not only the rehabilitation of themselves, but also that of their fellow incarcerated. Each member of the incarcerated population was forced into this situation and have so much stacked up against them, but these individuals have maintained the strength in spirit and the depth of human will that is undeniably world-changing. I pray that each one of you find your freedom physically one day, because you have already achieved a level of freedom mentally that few will ever experience.

Your spirit is tried and your spirit is, without a shadow of a doubt, TRUE. You are the torchbearers–your light leads the way through some of the thickest darkness known to the civilized world…

Love and Peace,
Q

Prompt: As mentioned above, we want to know about your experiences. Feel free to free-write, or to use the thought starter questions below:
1. How has short staffing affected your livelihood as an incarcerated individual?
2. What do you think is the cause of understaffing of prisons nationwide?
3. Are there any highlights of positivity that you have witnessed during your incarceration in regards to staffing?