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From The Editor
By Paul Wright
Welcome to another issue of PLN. As I write this I don't know how successful our plea for donations in the last PLN was. Hopefully everyone who hadn't donated yet was overcome with a spirit of generosity.
In an attempt to avoid having to ask for money each issue we are hoping to acquire institutional subscribers to PLN. From now on PLN will be available to institutions such as companies, agencies, libraries, law libraries, etc. for the low rate of $60.00 a year.
To do this we need help from our prison readers and those who are employed by agencies that have some input into what publications are subscribed to. If you like PLN and think others would benefit from reading it, take this issue of PLN to the librarian or person responsible for ordering subscriptions at that facility and encourage them to subscribe to PLN at our institutional rate.
This will accomplish two things. First, it will make PLN available to a wider body of readers than it is now, and secondly, if we can sell just 24 institutional subscriptions we can publish PLN at our current rate for a year with no additional income. Which means no more pleas for money for a whole year! But we need your support to be able to pull it of.
While I'm on the subject of donations, I would like to thank Larry Jantz (property officer), Robin Moses (correction program manager, retired) and Ronald Van Boening (associate superintendent) for their indirect donation of $80.00 to PLN. I recently won part of a lawsuit where the above gentlemen deprived me of some legal materials and books on Marxism. As part of the settlement the taxpayers of Washington State gave me $200.00 of which $80.00 have gone to PLN. That covered about half our costs for this issue.
In follow ups to other stories that we have covered in PLN, readers may recall my article in the February, 1991 issue of PLN concerning the brutalizing of CBCC prisoner Aaron Fast by a gang of eight white prison guards.
After I wrote that article Dan Pacholke, the captain at the prison, ordered me infracted for having written about the incident. I was found "guilty" of having "lied to staff" and sentenced to 20 days in the hole and 30 days loss of good time. Neal Brown, superintendent, dismissed the infraction on appeal stating that he would drop the infraction if I dropped the article. I didn't drop the article.
That issue of PLN was banned as being "inflammatory" at this prison and the warden on Feb. 1,1991 threatened to put me in the hole for "disruptive" behavior.
"Seattle Times" columnist Rick Anderson did a story on the above censorship which appeared in the March 15, 1991 edition of the "Seattle Times." The warden's assistant, Paula Norris said she didn't know what had happened to Aaron but that whatever I said was false.
Mr. Anderson did another column on this on April 1,1991, after having received numerous affidavits on Aaron's assault and on the censorship of PLN. He also reported on the racist discrimination against black prisoners at CBCC and the beating of CBCC prisoners Eddie Newman by Sgt. Delong and other white prison guards. The "Seattle Times" wasn't censored.
Since those articles appeared several citizens rights groups have distributed the affidavits of witnesses to the above and other prisoners beatings at CBCC to legislators and other elected officials. "The Progressive" in it's May 1991 issue has a short editorial on the subject as well.
I also received a letter from the Department of Justice informing me that they had received my complaint on Aaron's behalf and had asked the FBI to investigate the matter as a possible civil rights violation. PLN will keep readers posted on what happens with this investigation.
Last year in the May and June 1990 issues of PLN we reported the riot that occurred in CBCC's close custody unit after prisoner Terry Grant was beaten by prison guards. Several guards were themselves beaten when prisoners went to Terry's rescue and then F unit was seized and held for some four hours.
Three prisoners, Terry Grant, Bobby Lee and Robert Lindell were later charged with custodial assault. Terry and Robert are still-awaiting disposition of their charges but Bobby Lee had his charges of having allegedly assaulted prison guards dismissed after the judge ruled the state had waited too long to press charges.
Enjoy this issue of PLN; and be sure to share it with friends and family.
Welcome to another issue of PLN. As I write this I don't know how successful our plea for donations in the last PLN was. Hopefully everyone who hadn't donated yet was overcome with a spirit of generosity.
In an attempt to avoid having to ask for money each issue we are hoping to acquire institutional subscribers to PLN. From now on PLN will be available to institutions such as companies, agencies, libraries, law libraries, etc. for the low rate of $60.00 a year.
To do this we need help from our prison readers and those who are employed by agencies that have some input into what publications are subscribed to. If you like PLN and think others would benefit from reading it, take this issue of PLN to the librarian or person responsible for ordering subscriptions at that facility and encourage them to subscribe to PLN at our institutional rate.
This will accomplish two things. First, it will make PLN available to a wider body of readers than it is now, and secondly, if we can sell just 24 institutional subscriptions we can publish PLN at our current rate for a year with no additional income. Which means no more pleas for money for a whole year! But we need your support to be able to pull it of.
While I'm on the subject of donations, I would like to thank Larry Jantz (property officer), Robin Moses (correction program manager, retired) and Ronald Van Boening (associate superintendent) for their indirect donation of $80.00 to PLN. I recently won part of a lawsuit where the above gentlemen deprived me of some legal materials and books on Marxism. As part of the settlement the taxpayers of Washington State gave me $200.00 of which $80.00 have gone to PLN. That covered about half our costs for this issue.
In follow ups to other stories that we have covered in PLN, readers may recall my article in the February, 1991 issue of PLN concerning the brutalizing of CBCC prisoner Aaron Fast by a gang of eight white prison guards.
After I wrote that article Dan Pacholke, the captain at the prison, ordered me infracted for having written about the incident. I was found "guilty" of having "lied to staff" and sentenced to 20 days in the hole and 30 days loss of good time. Neal Brown, superintendent, dismissed the infraction on appeal stating that he would drop the infraction if I dropped the article. I didn't drop the article.
That issue of PLN was banned as being "inflammatory" at this prison and the warden on Feb. 1,1991 threatened to put me in the hole for "disruptive" behavior.
"Seattle Times" columnist Rick Anderson did a story on the above censorship which appeared in the March 15, 1991 edition of the "Seattle Times." The warden's assistant, Paula Norris said she didn't know what had happened to Aaron but that whatever I said was false.
Mr. Anderson did another column on this on April 1,1991, after having received numerous affidavits on Aaron's assault and on the censorship of PLN. He also reported on the racist discrimination against black prisoners at CBCC and the beating of CBCC prisoners Eddie Newman by Sgt. Delong and other white prison guards. The "Seattle Times" wasn't censored.
Since those articles appeared several citizens rights groups have distributed the affidavits of witnesses to the above and other prisoners beatings at CBCC to legislators and other elected officials. "The Progressive" in it's May 1991 issue has a short editorial on the subject as well.
I also received a letter from the Department of Justice informing me that they had received my complaint on Aaron's behalf and had asked the FBI to investigate the matter as a possible civil rights violation. PLN will keep readers posted on what happens with this investigation.
Last year in the May and June 1990 issues of PLN we reported the riot that occurred in CBCC's close custody unit after prisoner Terry Grant was beaten by prison guards. Several guards were themselves beaten when prisoners went to Terry's rescue and then F unit was seized and held for some four hours.
Three prisoners, Terry Grant, Bobby Lee and Robert Lindell were later charged with custodial assault. Terry and Robert are still-awaiting disposition of their charges but Bobby Lee had his charges of having allegedly assaulted prison guards dismissed after the judge ruled the state had waited too long to press charges.
Enjoy this issue of PLN; and be sure to share it with friends and family.
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