August 28, 2015
Texas State Community Council – Abilene Division Dear TSCC Members, Our daughter, an Abilene resident, is a 26 year old heroin addict. About 6 months ago, she was arrested and convicted on a 3 year-old charge involving retail theft committed with her fiancé to support their addiction. She was placed on probation. When she relapsed a few months later, she contacted her Probation Officer and obtained permission to enter a drug treatment program. Before she could check in, she was called back to Abilene and arrested for violating her probation by using drugs. Her probation officer told me that he had made a mistake and had been reprimanded for allowing her to go to treatment. Our daughter is pregnant, due the first week of October. When arrested and placed in Taylor County Detention Center, she was not given any medication or placed under any medical supervision to allow her to detox safely. She was due to see her OB/GYN that week but was not allowed to see a doctor for 3 weeks thereafter, even though she has a high-risk pregnancy and will be having a C-section. As an indigent prisoner, our daughter was assigned an attorney. She only spoke once with that attorney, David Thedford, via videoconference. She specifically requested and gave written authorization that her attorney should speak with me about her case and her concerns. Despite his promises, the attorney refused to speak with me and ignored repeated requests for specific follow-up actions. While in jail, our daughter heard about TSCC and God’s Own from fellow inmates. Because of her lack of medical treatment and complete lack of response from her attorney, she asked if I would reach out to TSCC to see if your group could offer any advice. I made contact with Gene Tomlinson, who has been an avenging angel for our daughter’s cause. From the moment we spoke, I knew Gene would do whatever he could to make my girl’s situation better. He literally worked night and day, making many phone calls and even visits to people who might be able to help. He researched the legal issues, suggested other legal counsel, tried every day to contact the court-appointed attorney on our daughter’s behalf, and was in constant communication with me. He contacted local attorney Jenny Henley for her advice and ultimately assisted us in engaging her services this past week. Not only did Gene address the legal situation, but he also researched options regarding our daughter’s pregnancy. He reached out to local church leaders to try to find private placement for our granddaughter in the event our daughter is sentenced to jail or prison. He made suggestions about other places that might be able to help. He discovered BAMBI, a wonderful program that allows moms in prison to be in a special facility where they can keep their babies with them, receive education in life and parenting skills, and get help with addiction while serving their sentences. While this program may not apply to our daughter, Gene’s research on this program has already helped others in similar circumstances. Gene also took the time to speak with our daughter directly, to meet with her now-ex-fiancé, and to give us all reassurance and hope in a very dark time. He prayed for us and spoke with others who have in turn offered up prayers for our daughter. He contacted local ministers and facilitated pastoral visits for her. He offered to be in court with her. He even picked up her belongings from her apartment and has offered to store them until her case is resolved and she is on her feet again. Throughout the past few weeks, my daughter and I have been distraught and ill with worry. I live 2,000 miles away and cannot afford to take time off from work to travel to Texas, nor can I afford to quit working in order to look after our soon-to-be-born granddaughter. Gene’s efforts to help our daughter to stay out of prison, find a way to keep her baby and get help for her addiction have provided much-needed hope and practical direction. And without Gene’s daily moral support, I don’t know how we could have kept going. No matter what the final resolution of our daughter’s legal issues and the possible need for temporary care of our grandchild, we will be forever grateful for the love and support we have received from Gene and the TSCC. Thanks, and God bless your organization and all its supporters. Best regards, Lori D. Not just over the border either, but to Nebraska of all places. A week ago I knew absolutely nothing about Nebraska law, not that I know very much more than that now, but I certainly have been immersed in it the last several days. While I am never surprised these days at what we might be doing or whom we are doing it for, I wouldn't have bet on the Cornhusker State to have anything to do with this past week's work. Enter Suzanne and Stephen Frausto - Stephen, a fellow Texan (Pflugerville) who got caught up in the tiny South West Nebraska town of Imperial - the county seat of Chase County Nebraska (with a rush hour terrifying population of 2,071 in the 2010 census, but expected to grow to 2,091 by 2015) and his sister and biggest supporter Suzanne who contacted us for help. Unfortunately there were several problem with Mr. Frausto's trial predominantly ineffective assistance of council , but also interestingly an all white jury. Although Imperial Nebraska according to a couple of demographic sites we checked is approximately 19% Hispanic, there were none on Stephen's jury. We know that his own attorney used two peremptory strikes on a third of them as they had six to pick from in the original pool which seemed strange to Stephen who had asked to keep them, and even stranger to me.... There currently is no law which says that it is required to have a jury reflective of the community which it is representing, but the winds of change are blowing.
Texas is on the way to the rescue though, our friend attorney Clay Thomas is on this case and we will keep you posted. Be in prayer for the Frausto family and should you like to contact the family with support, simply use the contact form on this website, or you can certainly send it to me personally at [email protected] and I will make sure they get the message. UPDATE! New GOFUNDME site set up by the family. Click the button to go to the crowfunding site. The Colorado Supreme Court yesterday (June 16th, 2015) ruled in a unanimous decision that employers can fire workers who use marijuana outside of the workplace. The opinion in Coats v. Dish Network is here.
"The supreme court holds that under the plain language of section 24-34-402.5, 13 C.R.S. (2014), Colorado’s “lawful activities statute,” the term “lawful” refers only to those activities that are lawful under both state and federal law. Therefore, employees who engage in an activity such as medical marijuana use that is permitted by state law 16 but unlawful under federal law are not protected by the statute. We therefore affirm the court of appeals’ opinion." Coats v. Dish Network - Brandon Coats, a quadriplegic and medical marijuana user who was fired from his job as a telephone operator at Dish Network for using marijuana in his off-job hours. The issue: Can you be fired for off-the-job marijuana use that doesn't impact your job performance? The Colorado Court of Appeals said yes, ruling because marijuana use is still illegal under federal law, it isn't a lawful activity under state law protecting employees from being fired for engaging in lawful activities in their off-hours. Now the Supreme Court has affirmed. There were no dissents (one Justice didn't participate.) Defining point - Marijuana use remains a federal misdemeanor under 21 U.S.C. 844 (a). http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/us/companies-can-fire-workers-for-marijuana-use-colorado-court-rules.html?_r=1 TSCC-AD/God's Own Opinion Obviously the "bright line" guidance here is that marijuana use remains a federal misdemeanor under 21 U.S.C. 844 (a). In the end game, the federal government in most ways has the last say. I doubt that SCOTUS will grant cert. The fact that it is a federal crime was the compelling and central point of the Colorado Supreme Court's decision and unanimous opinion. This central fact is going to continue to be persuasive in any litigation. In addition, this Colorado decision is going to be a clear guideline going forth for any other related litigation primarily due to the fact that Colorado is one of the most marijuana friendly states. IOHU- Clearly what is needed is a federal law legalizing the use of marijuana -- not just providing protection from prosecution in states where it is legal. Ideally, marijuana should be removed entirely from the schedule of controlled substances. Until this is accomplished pro-marijuana litigation will continue to be stopped at this barricade of modern prohibition because of the financial impact to individual state judicial system's derivative income. Also because unlike alcohol which can be easily taxed and monitored because of the difficulty to manufacture it in large quantities, marijuana can be grown anywhere easily and is very difficult logistically to control for tax purposes. We continue to support full legalization of marijuana for both medicinal and recreational use. While we understand that the government would ideally like to control and tax it, (which they took a stab at back in the 1980's with the completely nonsensical notion to tax an illegal substance by issuing and selling tax stamps for marijuana - which now are collector's items - the only real thing that it did was to create a crime for tax evasion which could be tacked on to your possession charge) and should it take that to accomplish its decriminalization we don't completely oppose the concept. However due to the complexities involved involved in that concept, we don't believe it will ever occur. Therefore, some more time is needed for those of the acceptance generation to age to that of authority prior to the federal law being changed. Gene & George EVERYONE NEEDS TO SIGN THIS PETITION If prosecutors follow the law then the blanket immunity which they enjoy would not be necessary. Unfortunately, the reality is that because of immunity, many prosecutors routinely violate ethical norms and legal standards by prosecuting people who they know, or should know, to be innocent. They routinely disregard exculpatory evidence, and often fail to divulge this information to defense attorneys. Prosecutors need to be held accountable for their misdeeds, whether malicious or negligent, when they result in the destruction or severe disruption of innocent individuals lives. Please enact a federal statute that strips away immunity from prosecutors, regardless of their jurisdictional venue, who pursue actions against individuals where the evidence clearly demonstrates that the allegations against the individual who they are charging are clearly false, and retroactively provide for compensation to victims of this type of egregious prosecutorial misconduct . Barbed wire. Steel bars and heavy metal doors. Guard towers with armed officers. Criminals. This is prison. Society says, "Lock them up and throw away the key." Politicians say, "We need to build more prisons." Statistics say, "80% of inmates return to prison after release--we are wasting our time to try to rehabilitate them." But Jesus says, "I was in prison, and you came to me." The prison system is the only "business" that succeeds by its failure. Prison populations grow larger and larger. Often, people come out of prison worse than when they went in. Many commit more crimes, return to prison, and get stuck in the cycle of recidivism, the "revolving door" of crime, prison, and release. The answer to this is not more prisons. It is not locking people up and "throwing away the key." It is not even the death penalty, as studies have shown that even this does not effectively deter crime. The answer is the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the demonstration of power. Prisoners need regeneration not rehabilitation--and Jesus has commissioned His followers to reach beyond the barbed wire fences and steel bars to touch the lives of men and women bound by the shackles of sin. We are to help them to understand their identity as Sons of God, as fellow heirs. We must elevate them above the cycle of sin and forgiveness which is propitiated by that old misnomer, and belief that we are “only a sinner saved by grace.” We are to help them move past that into a spiritual maturity which increasingly brings the closer to God, through His indwelling Spirit. The mandate for prison ministry is clear in God's Word, both by scripture and example. The greatest scriptural mandate for prison ministry is given in Matthew 25:31-40. Jesus said: "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, `Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: `for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; `I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, `Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, `Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'" Also, Jesus Christ Himself is our example for prison ministry. One of the main targets of Christ's ministry was prisoners: To open blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. (Isaiah 42:7) Jesus declared: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound". . . (Isaiah 61:1) Even while dying on Calvary's cross, Jesus took time to reach out in love and concern to a prisoner. As a result, that convicted criminal experienced God's love, grace, and forgiveness. During the time between His death and resurrection, we are told that Jesus " . . . went and preached to the spirits in prison" (1 Peter 3:19). Unfortunately, despite the clear Biblical injunction and Christ's example to minister to prisoners, many believers prefer to pass by on the other side of the street, as did the religious leaders in the parable of the Good Samaritan (see Luke 10:29-37). The spiritual goals of jail and prison ministry may include one, some, or all of the following: · To share the unconditional love of God. · To present the Gospel of Jesus Christ in such a way that inmates will embrace it and receive Christ as Savior. · To disciple new believers in the Word and teach them how to study the Bible. · To demonstrate the power of prayer and teach them to pray. · To lead inmates to experience the life-changing power of God that will free them from guilt, shame, negative emotions, and addictions by helping them to understand and embrace their identity as Sons and Heirs of God. · To minister to inmates' families. The social goals of jail and prison ministry are: · To help the inmate function more positively within the prison environment. · To provide a link between the community and persons confined in correctional institutions · To prepare residents for re-entry into society (physically, mentally, morally and spiritually). · To assist inmates families in practical ways. · To provide post-prison assistance in practical ways. There are many ways to be involved: · Provide prayer support for prison ministries. · Visit an inmate. · Write to a prisoner. · Assist families of inmates. · Help inmates transition back to society after their release. · Conduct worship services, Bible studies, or group meetings inside prisons. · Write, publish, and distribute Biblically based training material specifically designed for prison inmates. · Provide Bibles and Christian literature for inmates. · Provide financial support to a prison ministry. Begin now to pray for God to reveal the specific way that you are to be involved! I would like to share with you an imaginary letter from the pen of the Apostle Paul I put together several years ago. It is what I imagine the Apostle Paul might have said were he writing a letter to American Christians in 2005 A.D. And here is the letter as I envision what he might have said……. Gene
I, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to you who are in America, Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. For many years I have longed to be able to come to see you. I have heard so much of you and of what you are doing. I have heard of the fascinating and astounding advances that you have made in the scientific realm. I have heard of your dashing subways and flashing airplanes. Through your scientific genius you have been able to dwarf distance and place time in chains. You have been able to carve highways through the stratosphere. So in your world you have made it possible to eat breakfast in New York City and dinner in Paris, France. I have also heard of your skyscraping buildings with their prodigious towers steeping heavenward. I have heard of your great medical advances, which have resulted in the curing of many dread plagues and diseases, and thereby prolonged your lives and made for greater security and physical well-being. All of that is marvelous. You can do so many things in your day that I could not do in the Greco-Roman world of my day. In your age you can travel distances in one day that took me three months to travel. That is wonderful. You have made tremendous strides in the area of scientific and technological development. But America, as I look at you from afar, I wonder whether your moral and spiritual progress has been commensurate with your scientific progress. It seems to me that your moral progress lags behind your scientific progress. Your poet Thoreau used to talk about "improved means to an unimproved end." How often this is true. You have allowed the material means by which you live to outdistance the spiritual ends for which you live. You have allowed your mentality to outrun your morality. You have allowed your civilization to outdistance your culture. Through your scientific genius you have made of the world a neighborhood, but through your moral and spiritual genius you have failed to make of it a brotherhood. So America, I would urge you to keep your moral advances abreast with your scientific advances. I am impelled to write you concerning the responsibilities laid upon you to live as Christians in the midst of an unChristian world. That is what I had to do. That is what every Christian has to do. But I understand that there are many Christians in America who give their ultimate allegiance to man-made systems and customs. They are afraid to be different. Their great concern is to be accepted socially. They live by some such principle as this: "everybody is doing it, so it must be alright." For so many of you Morality is merely group consensus. In your modern sociological lingo, the mores are accepted as the right ways. You have unconsciously come to believe that right is discovered by taking a sort of Gallup poll of the majority opinion. How many are giving their ultimate allegiance to this way. But American Christians, I must say to you as I said to the Roman Christians years ago, "Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." Or, as I said to the Phillipian Christians, "Ye are a colony of heaven." This means that although you live in the colony of time, your ultimate allegiance is to the empire of eternity. You have a dual citizenry. You live both in time and eternity; both in heaven and earth. Therefore, your ultimate allegiance is not to the government, not to the state, not to nation, not to any man-made institution. The Christian owes his ultimate allegiance to God, and if any earthly institution conflicts with God's will it is your Christian duty to take a stand against it. You must never allow the transitory evanescent demands of man-made institutions to take precedence over the eternal demands of the Almighty God. I understand that you have an economic system in America known as Capitalism. Through this economic system you have been able to do wonders. You have become the richest nation in the world, and you have built up the greatest system of production that history has ever known. All of this is marvelous. But Americans, there is the danger that you will misuse your Capitalism. I still contend that money can be the root of all evil. It can cause one to live a life of gross materialism. I am afraid that many among you are more concerned about making a living than making a life. You are prone to judge the success of your profession by the index of your salary and the size of the wheel base on your automobile, rather than the quality of your service to God. The misuse of Capitalism can also lead to tragic exploitation. This has so often happened in your nation. They tell me that one tenth of one percent of the population controls more than forty percent of the wealth. You have allowed government programs and handouts take the place of Christian benevolence. It is easy to point a finger at your government and say that it was them who took the responsibility away from the church, but this happened because there were glaring needs which you as Christians left untended. That lack of love of your fellow man allowed secular humanist to make a strong argument. If you are to be a truly Christian nation you must solve this problem. You cannot solve the problem by turning to communism, for communism is based on an ethical relativism and a metaphysical materialism that no Christian can accept. You can use your powerful economic resources to wipe poverty from the face of the earth. God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty. God intends for all of his children to have the basic necessities of life, and he has left in this universe "enough and to spare" for that purpose. I would that I could be with you in person, so that I could say to you face to face what I am forced to say to you in writing. Oh, how I long to share your fellowship. Let me rush on to say something about the church. Americans, I must remind you, as I have said to so many others, that the church is the Body of Christ. So when the church is true to its nature it knows neither division nor disunity. But I am disturbed about what you are doing to the Body of Christ. They tell me that in America you have within Protestantism more than three hundred denominations. The tragedy is not so much that you have such a multiplicity of denominations, but that many of them are warring against each other with a claim to absolute truth. This narrow sectarianism is destroying the unity of the Body of Christ. You must come to see that God is neither a Baptist nor a Methodist; He is neither a Presbyterian nor a Episcopalian. God is bigger than all of our denominations. If you are to be true witnesses for Christ, you must come to see that America. We are one body and are to work in unison. Oh if you were to just spend as many ecclesial calories loving and dispensing God's grace as you did getting it "right"... But I must not stop with a criticism of Protestantism. I am disturbed about Roman Catholicism. This church stands before the world with its pomp and power, insisting that it possesses the only truth. It incorporates a level of hubris that becomes a dangerous spiritual arrogance. It stands with its noble Pope who somehow rises to the miraculous heights of infallibility when he speaks ex cathedra. But I am disturbed about a person or an institution that claims infallibility in this world. I am disturbed about any church that refuses to cooperate with other churches under the pretense that it is the only true church. I must emphasize the fact that God is not a Roman Catholic, and that the boundless sweep of his revelation cannot be limited to the Vatican. Roman Catholicism must do a great deal to mend its ways. A great man was in your country just 50 or so years ago. His name was Martin Luther King Jr. He said that “In the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies, rather the silence of our friends.” You must rise up and speak out America if you are to survive as a moral nation. With this attitude you migh be considered a dangerous radical. Sometimes it might mean going to jail. If such is the case you must honorably grace the jail with your presence. It might even mean physical death. But if physical death is the price that some must pay to free your nations’s children from a permanent life of psychological death, then nothing could be more Christian. Don't worry about persecution America; you are going to have that if you stand up for a great principle. I can say this with some authority, because my life was a continual round of persecutions. After my conversion I was rejected by the disciples at Jerusalem. Later I was tried for heresy at Jerusalem. I was jailed at Philippi, beaten at Thessalonica, mobbed at Ephesus, and depressed at Athens. And yet I am still going. I came away from each of these experiences more persuaded than ever before that "neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come . . . shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." I still believe that standing up for the truth of God is the greatest thing in the world. This is the end of life. The end of life is not to be happy. The end of life is not to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. The end of life is to do the will of God, come what may. I must bring my writing to a close now. Timothy is waiting to deliver this letter, and I must take leave for another church. But just before leaving, I must say to you, as I said to the church at Corinth, that I still believe that love is the most durable power in the world. Over the centuries men have sought to discover the highest good. This has been the chief quest of ethical philosophy. This was one of the big questions of Greek philosophy. The Epicurean and the Stoics sought to answer it; Plato and Aristotle sought to answer it. What is the summon bonum of life? I think I have an answer America. I think I have discovered the highest good. It is love. This principle stands at the center of the cosmos. As John says, "God is love." He who loves is a participant in the being of God. He who hates does not know God. So American Christians, you may master the intricacies of the English language. You may possess all of the eloquence of articulate speech. But even if you "speak with the tongues of man and angels, and have not love, you are become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." In Him, Paul With Love to all who’s eyes this might meet. Capt. Gene D. Tomlinson Greetings All, We recently separated our organization from a group of acronymically described “sister” organizations the primary ones being NFOJA – National Forum On Judicial Accountability and TLP – The Law Project. Without beleaguering you on the specific details, the primary reason behind this separation was a distinct difference of opinion on the current and future direction and strategies of how to best advocate and assist those whom we serve. Texas State Community Council – Abilene Division felt that our direct and “hands on” approach to our members and the citizens of our community was the proper approach. George and I both have a deep commitment to, and affection for the people of our community, especially those who either have been entangled in the justice system or have a loved one who has. By serving you our members, friends and people of our community directly by case assistance and general advocacy we felt we were serving in the way which God would have us serve. The other organization(s) felt that we could be most effective by essentially garnering local support for their “national” movements. In a stark example of the distinct difference of opinion and approach to advocacy, NFOJA (Headed up by Zena Crenshaw-Logal an Indiana attorney currently under disciplinary actions by the Indiana State Bar) filed a complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Committee. We want to emphasize that we (Texas State Community Council – Abilene Division) have no part in this complaint. Here is an excerpt from their statement - "At a time when some Americans, including many women and members of the LGBT community, are looking to U.S. courts for help in defining and protecting their legal rights, there is a diverse group of people who apparently believe the U.S. legal system is regularly used to violate their rights. The United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) may investigate the matter as part of a proposed international class action mailed for its consideration this week from the U.S. to Geneva, Switzerland. The three (3) named complainants are Rodney A. Logal, his wife attorney Zena Crenshaw-Logal*, and Dr. Andrew D. Jackson. They are co-founders of National Judicial Conduct and Disability Law Project, Inc. (NJCDLP), a non-profit legal reform organization challenging what has been dubbed “The Third Degree”, reportedly “a persistent, consistent pattern of persecution and torture imposed through U.S. legal system abuse.” The named complainants are Zena Crenshaw-Logal, Rodney Logal (her husband), and Dr. Andrew Jackson. A short description of their complaint(s) are, “ The HRC pleading indicates that the Logals are being set-up for unfounded criminal prosecution and Dr. Jackson is poised to lose his family home based on a dubious municipal code enforcement.” Their complaints are outlined in this PDF – http://media.wix.com/ugd/fa6d06_c75b8012f58a41d1acd32a37a166e956.pdf While not belittling their individual complaints, we certainly would have picked different, much more needy and appropriate causes to take to an international organization. We agree with the premise that the U.S. justice system has many problems which could certainly be characterized as persecution and torture we need to be actively addressing as advocates we certainly wouldn’t agree that the “poster children” for this movement be 3 well educated people two of which are attorneys including a Notre Dame educated one. Were they looking outwardly at those whom we serve, they would find the very nefarious acts they allege are indeed perpetrated against many of those caught up in the justice system. Here are some of the examples which I would have used – Charging Prisoners Perpetuates Mass Incarceration At least a few localities in nearly every state in the country authorize "pay-to-stay" fees on prisoners for everything from medical costs, to food, to clothes. These fees are difficult for the often indigent prisoners and their families to pay, and can make successful reentry into society near impossible for some. http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/31223-charging-prisoners-perpetuates-mass-incarceration http://themarshallproject.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a92567c13cca06b470824aead&id=3c600cdc1d&e=13e4996c77 The Obvious Targeting of Black, Hispanic and Poor The US Department of Justice (DOJ) reports 2.2 million people are in our nation's jails and prisons and another 4.5 million people are on probation or parole in the US, totaling 6.8 million people, one of every 35 adults. We are far and away the world leader in putting our own people in jail. Most of the people inside are poor and Black. http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/40-reasons-our-jails-and-prisons-are-full-black-and-poor-people For Advocates, Push to End Solitary Confinement in Prison Only Begins With Youth Isolation Example - During the seven years he spent in and out of California's juvenile legal system, DeAngelo Cortijo spent increasing amounts of time in isolation. When he was 13, he recalled, he spent four or five months confined to his room for 23 hours a day. He was supposed to be allowed out of his room for half an hour at the start of each day and for half an hour at the end of the day, but most days, he remained locked in for the full 24 hours. http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/31166-for-advocates-push-to-end-solitary-confinement-in-prison-only-begins-with-youth-isolation Family Detention Since last summer, thousands of mothers and children have been locked up in immigrant detention facilities simply for seeking safety for their children in the United States. Most of the detained families are asylum seekers fleeing violence and poverty in their home countries, only to be met with indefinite detention in the United States. Who benefits? Private prison companies are operating the facilities and reaping millions of dollars in profits, while mothers and children are left with lifelong trauma. http://www.webelongtogether.org/ Pa. Jail Healthcare Contractor With Double the Average Mortality Rate Corizon oversaw an inmate mortality rate here that was double national norms for jails last year. Four inmates have died this year. http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2015/06/04/Allegheny-County-controller-plans-new-audit-of-contract-with-jail-health-care-provider-Corizon-Health/stories/201506040258 Related story in NY http://themarshallproject.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a92567c13cca06b470824aead&id=7a380e5f99&e=13e4996c77 Police Shootings Oversight Nonexistent At least 385 people in America were shot and killed by police during the first five months of this year, according to a fascinating new study by The Washington Post. Then again, the number could be higher. The Guardian, a British newspaper that’s conducting its own study of police-involved deaths in the U.S., put the tally of fatal cop shootings at 408 from January through May — or 464 if you include other methods of death, such as collisions with squad cars, which The Post didn’t examine. The statistical discrepancy — or the numerical fluidity, if you will — is at the core of both investigations: Nationwide, no one is keeping track of police killings. So it remains a bit of a guessing game. http://www.dallasnews.com/news/columnists/james-ragland/20150602-a-new-era-of-police-accountability-is-all-for-the-public-good.ece Federal Prosecutors Operate With No Repercussion Sanctions against prosecutors who violate Brady are practically unheard-of and professional discipline is non-existent. As a consequence, there is, as I’ve said elsewhere, ‘an epidemic of Brady violations abroad in the land. http://licensedtolie.com/ I could go on and on. The point is that there are many abuses afoot in the criminal justice system, indeed persecutions and tortures which should rightly be considered by a human rights complaint such as this one, but alas our former compatriots chose themselves. In a nutshell “choosing ourselves” over others is probably at the root of every issue I’ve listed in this letter. Deuteronomy commands, “Justice, justice shall you pursue.” Commentators ask why the word “justice” is repeated. My own interpretation is to teach that justice has a different meaning when you are acting for others and for yourself. Always remember Hillel’s second admonition: “If I am for myself alone, what am I?” For these reasons we have taken the direction which we have taken for our members and community and have partnered with a new local organization, “God’s Own”. A Christian based organization gearing up to help both those incarcerated and their family and loved ones. While TSCC-AD will focus on the legal side of things as we always have done, God’s own will focus on the care and concern side of things. In this way we hope to provide the assistance and advocacy to a broader base, and to be a “one stop shop” for those entangled with the justice system. Soon we will be having some fundraising activities and meetings to coordinate and to get the word out while garnering support from the community and the existing members of TSCC-AD. We would like your input and support as we boldly move forward to serve. We will be updating our website to reflect the changes in the coming days and weeks and sending out informational emails. Please call either George or myself with questions, comments and any form of support which you might be able to provide. The numbers and web address are in the footer of this stationery and we encourage you to forward it to friends and those who you might believe would benefit from our new coalition of service. Thank you all for your memberships and support! Kindest Regards, Capt Gene Tomlinson Senior Consultant & Advisor TSCC-AD & God's Own A note from the president - I encouraged Gene to include this video because of the seemingly insurmountable odds he addresses in this short speech/sermon. Although his estimates were off on the total number of roofs due to ambiguous and arbitrary numbers provided by various sources along with strict qualifiers imposed during the vetting process, his concerns of being overwhelmed were not realized and just 4-6 months after this video was made well over 120 families who had no insurance for their roofs got new ones on their homes at no cost to themselves. These roofs cost the Abilene Damascus Road Hailstorm Relief Effort on the average of from $4-6,000.00 per roof. That is over $1/2 a million dollars in less than 180 days. That is @ $2,800.00 per day raised ladies and gentlemen, and if we say that there is on the average of 4 people living in each house, that's nearly 500 individuals who now sleep in dry homes all due to an organization which had nothing to do with construction, roofing or even general public benevolence. This organization nevertheless saw the glaring need within our community and picked up the mantle placed before them by God. Not only placed before them mind you, but placed before many others in the community, Gene and his organization were the ones who fearlessly picked up this large, challenging and expensive, but urgently necessary task much better suited to other organizations. Abilene Damascus Road is an organization which provides transitional housing for the formerly incarcerated, primarily coming from T D C J. That's right, an organization not only for ex-offenders, but headed up by one. Gene was one of the 3 founding members of Abilene Damascus Road (ADR) and served as its Executive Director and member of the board of directors. ADR began as a dream and vision held by Gene and his other two co-founders. In just under two years ADR grew from an idea to now what has become a formidable non-profit in this community with a net worth well over $1/2 million. They are about to complete a state of the art transitional facility which will set the standard not just for Abilene, but for the industry. Gene also designed the facility and created the concept for the program which is unique to the industry. I am very proud of Gene's work in his previous position(s) within our industry, I am even prouder to be working side by side with him every day. We now have this visionary man who is not only a proven "rainmaker" but a non-compromising and far beyond driven leader changing the landscape of TSCC-AD while unselfishly joining his newly created organization "God's Own" with us. While we are starting in a position not unlike the one Gene is facing in this video, we know that our missions can and will be accomplished. Why? For the same reason they were accomplished for Gene's former organization - Because it is God's work and God's will and it is properly recognized as that. By elevating ourselves via our service to and in our community, we will gain respect and recognition and by those vehicles we will make big changes. Exciting things are happening at TSCC-AD as we move boldly forward to serve. We need your help. We need board members, we need corporation officers, we need volunteers and active members, donors and general supporters. (Sign up via the contact form on this website or calling or emailing either me or Gene, you can find our business cards at the bottom of the "Who We Are" page. There is strength in numbers and by numbers we will conquer. We are family and we take care of our own. We will band together and stand together as those who society calls "felons", "ex-offenders", 'inmates" and "convicts' their families and loved ones. While all along we know who we are.... "God's Own." God Bless, George Stokes President TSCC-AD President "God's Own" |
AuthorTSCC-AD Archives
September 2015
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Pro Bono
A blog primarily focused on the combined missions of TSCC-AD & God's Own, but with other commentary of possible interests.