On February 8th, the American Bar Association conducted its Midyear Meeting, which focused on “Wrongful Convictions: Engaging in Critical System Reform.”
We are a warring nation. We declare war on anything – War on Terrorism, War on Drugs, War on Poverty, War on Contagious Disease, etc. Now it seems like we’ve declared War on Education. 15,000 California educators were given notice last week that they might not have jobs this next school year so that we can afford to fight the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan. If this president has his way, we will have a war with Iran before he leaves office.
I would like to take this opportunity to dispel the notion of “Club Fed.”
Stephanie Landa in Club Fed?
Contrary to people’s perception, there are no golf courses (anymore) and no swimming pools…and it’s not a place where you can just relax and do your time. Federal inmates are required to work – in most cases, 7.5 hours a day, 5 days a week. The pay ranges from $5.25/month to a maximum of 40 cents/hour.
In 1997, Sonya Singleton was convicted of cocaine trafficking and money laundering. A cooperating co-defendant testified against her at trial. In exchange for his testimony, the government promised that they would not prosecute him for “other offenses” and would bring his cooperation to the attention of the sentencing judge. It’s called a 5K1.1, Substantial Assistance.
Ms. Singleton was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison. Her co-defendant’s sentence was reduced from 15 years to 5 years, to run concurrent with another state charge he was facing.
In a pre-dawn raid, agents of the DEA assaulted and laid siege upon the property of Genesis 1:29 Corporation, seizing 5000+ marijuana plants, or approximately 5000 pounds of marijuana ready for harvest with an approximate street value $27 million.
I want to say I am back from being someone I could not relate to. I have found my rose-colored glasses and permanently put them on. I will find the positive to balance all the negativity in prison. In this way, I will not allow the government to win. So this will be the good news report! Some bad news will creep in, of course -- I am in prison.
In 1945, World War II ended, where my daddy was a fighter pilot. He had flown fifty missions, received a Distinguished Flying Cross Medal and got sent home unharmed.... except, of course, for the mental anguish. We will never feel or know the pain he suffered.
My mom and my dad were married in June, and I was born the following June 1946. I grew up on the East Coast till I was 20.
Former Bakersfield dispensary owner Joe Fortt was recently deported to Canada, following a difficult stay at an ICE detention center in Arizona. In the letter below, penned for the press, he details some of the hardships he suffered during his incarceration.
Dear Readers,
My name is Joe Fortt. Until just two weeks ago, I was a political prisoner at the Florence Detention Center in Arizona. I took a plea bargain to get deported to Canada, rather than fight my case in California. I was being prosecuted by the federal government for running a non-profit corporation for medical marijuana patients who designated me as their caregiver under California law. We all believed we had rights under the U.S. Constitution. Well, we were wrong. Now we can see that we have no rights, and that the will of the voters means nothing to the administration.
I first became aware of this incident when it was shown on FOX News here at Leavenworth Prison Camp in Kansas. I was upset about the fact that this random act of nonsense could attract more publicity than the passing away of compassionate cannabis advocates such as Brownie Mary Rathburn and Tod Mikuriya. The ridiculous antics of a student’s disdain for authority had gained more notoriety than the imprisonment of freedom fighters like Stephanie Landa, Bryan Epis, Keith Alden and myself. I must be satisfied that this has been just another display of the federal government’s abolishment of the 1st Amendment in the form of controlling what news will be “aired” and when.
POWs 
