----- Original Message ----- From: Cliff Pearson To: Cliff Pearson Sent: Monday, September 11, 2000 5:44 PM Subject: [July30] BRIEFING: First-hand allegations of abuse in Philly July 30 in Philly - www.unity2000.com Pearson Communications MEDIA RELATIONS FOR NONPROFIT AND ACTIVIST ORGANIZATIONS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 11, 2000 Editorial Contact: Cliff Pearson, Pearson Communications, (214) 319-9819, [EMAIL PROTECTED] MEDIA BRIEFING First-hand accounts of jail abuses of GOP protesters in Philadelphia Ann Harkness, arrested protester from Dallas, Texas, [EMAIL PROTECTED]: "After the arrest of my husband, my son, and myself I experienced a process of dehumanization that wouldn't even be fit for a murderer, rapist or armed robber. We were crammed into filthy, freezing cold cells with barely enough room to sit for as long as four days. "Much time was spent begging jail guards to acknowledge serious medical conditions, such as a suspected concussion, and broken arm. I saw hands swollen and completely immobile from restrictive hand-cuffing. An outspoken cell mate was hog-tied for many hours. By the time I left this situation I was stressed beyond anything I could have ever imagined. "Upon the return of our van we found it excessively mutilated - what looked like honey and Pepto-Bismol poured on the carpet, a game of tic-tac-toe in permanent marker covered the back of a seat, dismantled dashboard operations and the battery dead." Joe Bonham, arrested activist sexually assaulted in jail, [EMAIL PROTECTED]: "I was the man who had his penis grabbed and twisted. I was dragged nude by a couple of different Philadelphia Correctional Officers, whose badge numbers and names I didn't manage to get, on a couple of different occasions. My penis was grabbed and twisted by Officer Hendricks, the black female officer. I'm Joe Bonham and you can verify that with R2K Legal Support." Elliot Madison, R2K legal observer from Queens, New York, [EMAIL PROTECTED]: "I was one of the legal observers on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I was also a member of the R2K Network Legal Support Team and had the job of debriefing those released and documenting police/corrections officer abuses. I have been involved in protests and the Movement for over a decade and I must say I have never witnessed or heard of such torture of nonviolent protesters. "People told me they were hung crucifix-style from bars in flexi-cuffs. Some claim to have been left hog-tied (with flexi-cuffs) for 18 or more hours. Others had broken limbs including one broken arm and one girl had three broken fingers. I photographed a number of bruises, cuts, etc. on released protesters. "Detainees reported they were denied food and water for up to 32 hours and many also insist they were denied essential medication. I also witnessed a number of abuses on the streets including people being beaten, handcuffed folks being pepper sprayed, one young woman being beaten with police bicycles by 16 cops, and the list goes on and on. And those are only for those that complied and gave names and fingerprints . . . I shudder to think about the other prisoners in jail." Jamie Graham, R2K legal observer, Philadelphia, Pa. [EMAIL PROTECTED]: According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, his face had "several abrasions on it" and he "broke down and sobbed as he told his story." Graham was arrested on Wednesday afternoon near 12th and Race Streets as he walked to join protesters outside Police Headquarters. He said he was photographing a woman's arrest. To quote him from the story . . . "An officer knocked the camera out [of my hands], stomped on my face, and wedged my skull against the sidewalk. The officer said, 'I've been watching you for three days.'" Bork, an activist with the After Midnight Group, New York, N.Y., [EMAIL PROTECTED]: "Despite the irony that I was arrested at the Mayor's office trying to get medical care for our prisoners, I am one person out of many that was denied adequate medical care. I witnessed others, including the a girl named Kali and my cell mate Aurora, being abused by a multitude of correctional officers. I was kicked and shoved in the Roundhouse jail by two unknown officers. I had my fingers twisted by an Officer White while she threatened me that she would break them. She said she had already broken others' fingers. "I was told sexually degrading things like 'your pu**y stinks, you should be ashamed of it and keep your legs crossed.' I and my cell mate received death and harm threats from Philadelphia Correctional Officer Hendricks. My cell mate was chased around and intimidated for saying 'you can't threaten us that way' by a correctional officer with badge number 112 and a male officer. "Threats made to us included: 'Where we're taking you there aren't going to be any cameras and news helicopters to keep you safe. You can just disappear for good and die and nobody can do anything to stop it.' She also said she was going to 'kick us so bad her boot was going to be up our a**es.' "My already injured arm was twisted enough to injure it much further, by Correctional Officer DeSalvadore and an unknown male." Cliff Pearson, owner of a public relations agency in Dallas, Texas, [EMAIL PROTECTED]: "At the Unity 2000 Rally on Sunday, I saw a Philadelphia police officer steal the cell phone of a man who had fallen off a truck full of Pro-Lifers while trying to stop them from entering the rally space. As a result of his fall he grotesquely and visibly broke his arm. The officer ignored the man's screams of pain, took the phone off his hip and left with it - ignoring his pain.The only way the guy got medical attention was when my friend Scott and I yelled for a medic. An R2K Medical Support Team member came and took him away. Yes, I saw this with my own eyes, and yes I'll say this in court, newspapers, whatever." Rita Glazebnik, an arrested protester from Union City, Pa. in the Philadelphia Inquirer story "Protesters allege abuse behind bars," by Leonard N. Fleming and Linda K. Harris, Sunday, August 6, 2000: "The people that did not comply were tortured. They were pulled by the hair, they were kicked. A girl that weighed 96 pounds - she was weighed in front of me - was thrown on the ground, and they stepped on her head." Joseph Rogers, a Quaker from Cherry Hill, Pa. and Executive Director of the National Mental Health Consumers' Self-Help Clearinghouse, who was arrested at 15th and JFK Boulevard, at an Aug. 5 press conference at Friends Center in Philadelphia, Pa.: "I was arrested while engaged in support activities involving trying to maintain peace between police and protesters. I had no intention of doing civil disobedience. I was locked up for two nights myself, and at one point I was hog-tied by plastic restraints from my right arm to my left ankle and told to hop back to my cell. When I told the guard that I had a bad knee on which I had had surgery, they then made me crawl back to my cell. They did this to me because I raised my voice in protest about another prisoner who was being tortured." # # # -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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