Shoplift writes: "Gadgets abound to prevent prison inmates from assaulting one another or fashioning weapons, from hiding contraband, from sabotaging the plumbing system, from committing suicide. Tragedy and struggle disappear beneath promotional exuberance when selling specially-configured air grilles that can’t be used to fasten a noose, or a wall-mounted, flameless cigarette lighter that can’t be used for torture. And, of course, force, control, detection, and tracking are all markets, with companies scrambling to get inside the electrified perimeter fence.

Autonomedia writes: "A five-day-long counter-conference and demonstration to stop the American Correctional Association's Summer Conference in Philadelphia, August 10th-15th, is announced at: http://www.stoptheaca.org/"

Anonymous Comrade writes: I received word from a few of the guys over at Union CI today. They
wanted us
to know about an Korean Inmate named Myongs Ji (DC# L32953). He's 36
years
old and his inability to speak English has frustrated and angered
some guards at
Union who seem to take things way too personal.

As is the Far Eastern philosophy, Myongs' crime brought dishonor to
his family
and he has been abandoned by them and has no one on the outside to
encourage or comfort him.

Guards have been known to get frustrated with Myongs' inability to
speak
English,
and have regularly used physical force on him, coloring the beatings
with
perverse declarations like, "He'll learn English fast enough...we'll
beat it
into him"
and "If we hurt him, I'll bet you'll see how fast he can learn."

The guard's keep him in lock up alot. But a few of the guy's asked one
of the guards, "Will you let him out if we will teach him English?"

Well these few men are working hard to teach Myongs to speak English
so the
few guard's that want to teach him the language their way won't get
their hands
on him.

The Union inmates would like to know if we could find someone who
reads and
writes Korean who would be willing to penpal with Myongs. Or if
someone
could get a publisher to send in a Korean/English dictionary, it
would help."

Myongs Ji

L32953

Union CI

P.O. Box 221

Raiford, Florida 32083

The Moratorium Campaign writes: "Attorney-General John Ashcroft may not ready to admit that the death penalty in America is flawed, but the American people certainly are. A 2001 NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll reports that support for a national moratorium on the death penalty is at 72 percent. The Moratorium Campaign, led by Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, has gathered over 380,000 signatures nationwide on its petition for moratorium, which is featured online at http://www.MoratoriumCampaign.org. Americans have indicated strongly that a halt to executions is a must.

A preliminary Justice Department report released in September 2000 found racial bias in the Federal death penalty. Yet, opposite conclusions were drawn from the same data by Ashcroft, who has been a staunch supporter of capital punishment throughout his political career. It is time that the government stopped pretending that everything is A-O.K. with the criminal justice system and took a deep look at capital punishment and the way in which it is applied in America. As a self-proclaimed beacon of human rights, the United States must act maturely and admit that its own system has its faults."

Anonymous Coward writes: I just saw this on the Nation's web site.

Death Row Roll Call

It is a listing of pending executions and info on how to take action on each prisoner's behalf.

Uncle Fluffy writes "A former Brazilian police chief has been
convicted of the murder of 102 inmates in the
country's worst prison massacre.


A jury held Colonel Ubiratan Guimaraes
responsible for the killings after he ordered
special units to storm Latin America's biggest
prison - the Carandiru jail in Sao Paulo - during
a riot on 2 October, 1992.


He was sentenced to
632 years, six years
each for the victims
and 20 years for five
attempted murders,
although under Brazilian
law he will serve a
maximum 30-year
sentence."