>Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2000 23:44:32 -0700 (PDT) >From: MichaelP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Paul Wright, Editor of PLN Needs Help! > >Paul Wright, Editor of Prison Legal News Needs Help > >Paul Wright, editor of Prison Legal News and Jailhouse Lawyer Vice >President of the National Lawyers Guild, is urgently asking for your help. > >Paul, who is incarcerated in Washington state, has been placed in >segregation for the disciplinary infraction of having too many envelopes >in his cell. Prison officials are hoping to use this absurd rule >violation allegation to place Paul in the isolation unit for several >months and then transfer him to a higher-security facility (Paul is >currently in a minimum-security prison). > >The situation is as follows: during a recent cell search, guards found 70 >envelopes in Paul's two-person cell. Prisoners are allowed to possess 40 >envelopes each. Paul was taken before the disciplinary court, where he >testified that 34 of the envelopes were his. His cellmate testified that >the remaining 36 belonged to him. Nevertheless, Paul was found guilty of >possessing too many envelopes and sentenced to 10 days' cell confinement. > >Then, on Wednesday, Paul was transferred to segregation and informed that >he is facing new disciplinary charges for "lying" when he testified at the >hearing that he had fewer than 40 envelopes. If he is found guilty of >lying, he will no longer be eligible for minimum-security status. If that >happens, he expects to be held in an isolation cell for at least two >months before being transferred to a more restrictive prison. > >Since Wednesday, Paul has been held mostly incommunicado. He was able to >make a couple of telephone calls on Friday, but he still has not been >allowed to contact his lawyer. > >The current charges are the latest in a long series of measures the >Washington DOC has undertaken against Paul, all of which have been >directed towards making it more difficult for him to publish Prison Legal >News. PLN, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, has a long >history of exposing brutality, mismanagement and other crimes perpetrated >by DOC officials across the country. > >Paul is asking all of us to make two phone calls to try to get him out of >this situation. This is the first time in many years that Paul has asked >for individual help for himself. He asks that people call Alice Payne, >the Superintendent of the McNeil Island Correctional Center, at >(253) 588-5281, and Joseph Lehman, Secretary of the Washington DOC, at >(360) 753-2500. > >Tell them that you want them to 1) release Paul from segregation and drop >the charges against him; 2) stop punishing Paul for exercising his legal >rights (publishing PLN, filing lawsuits, and defending himself at a >disciplinary hearing); and 3) allow him to call his attorney. > >For more information, contact Scott Fleming, National Lawyers Guild Prison >Law Project, at (510) 595-8264, [EMAIL PROTECTED]