Protest and Press Conference Against Mistreatment of Political Prisoner, the Rev. Edward Pinkney

Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice
5920 Second Avenue, Detroit MI 48202
313-680-5508 www.mecawi.org

October 28, 2015

For Immediate Release:

• Protest and Press Conference Against Mistreatment of Political Prisoner, the Rev. Edward Pinkney
• At the Michigan Department of Corrections, 206 E. Michigan Avenue, Lansing, Mi.
• Monday, November 2, 2015, at 12 Noon

Activists from across Michigan will be protesting outside the Michigan Department of Corrections offices to demand that Director Heidi Washington immediately restore phone privileges to political prisoner, the Reverend Edward Pinkney. The demonstrators will also be demanding that Director Washington reverse the punitive transfer of Rev. Pinkney to  Marquette Branch Prison (483 miles away from his wife and attorney) and return him to the Lower Peninsula while his appeal proceeds.

Rev. Pinkney was targeted for his political activism in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Leading an effort to recall Mayor Hightower brought a SWAT team to his door in 2014 with charges that five dates on the recall petitions had been altered. Rev. Pinkney was charged with five counts of felony forgery, brought to trial before an all-white jury and convicted with absolutely NO EVIDENCE of his altering anything on the petitions. The prosecutor and judge collaborated in this frame-up, telling the jury that “you don’t need evidence to convict Pinkney.” The fact that Rev. Pinkney chaired protest meetings and spoke at press conferences was introduced to “prove” that he must be guilty! Rev. Pinkney was sentenced to 2.5 to 10 years.

This outrageous frame up is being appealed to the Michigan Court of Appeals by his attorney as well as the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Lawyers Guild, who have filed amicus briefs in the case.

Rev. Pinkney has been targeted since his imprisonment on Dec. 14, 2014, most recently by his politically motivated transfer to Marquette Branch Prison from the Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater, Michigan. For several weeks he was housed in a moldy cell, causing him dizziness and difficulty breathing. On October 23 Marquette Prison officials revoked Rev. Pinkney’s telephone privileges, effectively silencing and isolating this political prisoner.

Friends and supporters of Rev. Pinkney fear for his health and his life in the racist atmosphere of Marquette Prison, cut off from any contact with the outside world. On October 27th Rev. Pinkney turned 67 years old.

Supporters of Rev. Pinkney have been flooding the MDOC Directors office with protest phone calls since his transfer and his denial of phone access.

See: http://www.bhbanco.org/2015/10/urgent-call-mdoc-director-to-urge-rev.html

MOBILIZE NOW! Call Marquette Branch Prison Warden to Demand an End to Mistreatment

UPDATE, 10/25

Rev. Pinkney's phone privileges have been revoked!

They are escalating their mistreatment of political prisoner Rev. Edward Pinkney. We must step up our response!

On Friday, we learned that Rev. Pinkney's phone privileges have been revoked for reasons unknown. We continue to suspect that the recent and escalating mistreatment is politically motivated. First he was transferred 500 miles from home despite being a model prisoner (see below), then he was housed in a moldy cell causing health problems, and now his phone privileges have been revoked without explanation. Without phone communication with his wife and supporters, we cannot monitor Rev. Pinkney's health and safety and cannot even ensure that he is receiving our letters.

Please call the warden at Marquette Branch Prison to protest this mistreatment. Be polite, but firm. Here's a script you can use or adapt:

"My name is _______ and I'm calling from __________. I'm calling about Rev. Edward Pinkney, ID #294671. When he first arrived at Marquette, he was housed in a moldy cell causing health problems. Now his phone privileges have been revoked and his wife cannot monitor his health and safety. I am also concerned about the Reverend's health and welfare. He is a model prisoner. His phone privileges need to be reinstated immediately. He needs to be brought back down state while his appeal continues. I'm also calling MDOC headquarters and my representatives with my concerns."

Phone number: 906-226-6531 ext. 4 (Warden Robert Napel)

Try to call during business hours (8-4:30), each day this week (10/26-10/30). Also please continue making phone calls to MDOC Director Washington's office (details below). If you're in Michigan, please call your state and federal legislators also!

Our experience so far with MDOC officials has been that they have changed their story and have not given us credible explanations for the transfer. Be polite, but firm, and keep the calls coming. Spread the word!

UPDATE, 10/18

Thank you to all who have called Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) Director Washington's office to urge Rev. Pinkney's safe return down state, including Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein.

Your calls are already beginning to help! Rev. Pinkney was recently moved from a location that was so moldy he was dizzy, sick to his stomach, and unable to eat, to quarters that are less moldy (but still in Marquette, 500 miles from his family and attorney).

It is crucial that MDOC know that we care about Rev. Pinkney. Please continue to make calls every day this week (details below). If we keep the pressure up, there is still hope that Rev. Pinkney will be returned down state! Marquette Branch Prison is known to be dangerous, particularly for Black prisoners.

Sending letters to Rev. Pinkney through the mail is also very important--both for his morale and to show MDOC how many people care about his well-being and are carefully watching his case (address below).

Read on for the stunning truth

We know why MDOC has been spinning us, unable to give a consistent or credible explanation for Rev. Pinkney's transfer: because despite MDOC's denials, someone other than MDOC was behind the move. The transfer was politically motivated.

Prisons are communities too, and someone sympathetic to Rev. Pinkney's plight overheard a conversation at Lakeland four days before the transfer. The phrases overheard included:

"He doesn't give us any trouble, but they must really, really hate him." 

"Us" in this case means Lakeland staff and while we don't know exactly who "they" refers to, it's safe to assume it's someone connected to Berrien County. The transfer paperwork was stamped "EXPEDITE." Does that sound like a routine transfer to you? We have decided to go public with this information because of MDOC continuing to give us the run around.

MDOC officials have tried to give a string of excuses for moving Rev. Pinkney to Marquette, excuses that keep changing and don't hold up. First they said he was transferred for his own safety because it is a Level I prison. But Rev. Pinkney had already waived his right to a Level I prison--twice, in writing--because he was safer at Lakeland prison (Level II) near his home, than he is at Marquette. Officials claimed that prisoners don't waive this right, but in truth Level I prisoners are required to sign a waiver any time they set foot in a Level II facility, even for a class, because otherwise MDOC would be liable if they met any harm.

Next MDOC claimed that Marquette was his "proper placement," yet there are at least 5 other Level I prisons in the Lower Peninsula. Then they claimed that he was only at Lakeland C.F. because of court proceedings and that he's "done with his writ," but this is not true either. His appeal hearings begin in Grand Rapids in November and an appeal on his bond decision has been filed with the state supreme court.

Don't let MDOC give us the run around. Keep calling MDOC as long as they fail to justify this move that we know is politically motivated. Continue expressing your concern for his health, safety, and well-being.

Call MDOC Director Heidi Washington to express your concern about Rev. Pinkney's safety and to urge his return down state. Be polite, but firm. Here's a script you can use or adapt:

"My name is _______ and I'm calling from __________. I'm calling about Rev. Edward Pinkney, ID #294671. He was transferred from the Lakeland facility to Marquette, 500 miles from his family. I am concerned about the Reverend's health and welfare. He is a model prisoner. He needs to be brought back down state where his wife and attorney will be able to visit him while his appeal continues."

Phone number: 517-241-7238 (Sandy Simon, Director Washington's assistant)

Try to call during business hours, every day this week (10/26-10/30). If you're not allowed to speak directly to Director Washington, leave a message with her assistant.

Please send letters to:
Marquette Branch Prison
Rev. Edward Pinkney N-E-93 #294671
1960 US Hwy 41 South
Marquette, MI 49855

Please donate at http://bhbanco.org (Donate button) or send checks to BANCO:
c/o Dorothy Pinkney
1940 Union St.
Benton Harbor, MI 49022

Happy 67th Birthday, Rev. Pinkney!

We miss you, and we'll keep fighting with you!

Justice the American Way: Letter from a Prisoner

To: Attorneys at Law

In August of 2011 I was charged with killing a lieutenant. My greatest fear was that the local judicial system (Genesee County) wouldn't grant me a fair trial. This fear was increased once I was actually threatened and later down the line when I was physically assaulted. I have the list of names of the deputies who physically assaulted me. Also the transcripts would show that I've made several attempts to avoid the repeated harassment that I endured in the past two years from Genesee County Sheriff Department. I've filed several motions (change of venue) and these of course were denied by the court's trial judge because of the county's bias towards my case.

I also have the original paper clippings from a local newspaper stating clearly that the head prosecutor of Genesee County (David Leyton) indicated that "there are people in my office who knew the victim personally." I've fired two court-appointed attorneys simply because I've mentioned repeatedly to them about the daily harassment and the physical assaults that I encountered and neither attorney did anything to help me seek justice, nor did they try to get me to a safer county.

I wasn't the only yount man in my case, in fact there were two of us. Both, me and my co-defendant (Ryan Diville) were beaten up on a daily basis for no apparent reason besides that we were charged with killing a local lieutenant sheriff. My co-defendant had taken a plea of 25 years to testify against me; but the main reason why my co-defendant plead out was to release himself away from the daily abuse. I strongly believe that the police obtained statements from my co-defendant by using threats of physical harassment. I come to this conclusion because the police had gotten me to make involuntary statements by using different threats and tactics to get me to give them what they wanted.They also threw my co-defendant in the bull pen for the last nine months before he took the plea.

They've tried to get me to take the same plea but to no avail. Although they beat me, and harassed me, I grew tired of being afraid and doing what they wanted of me. I became stronger than my co-defendant. I chose to fight back by seeking pure justice by going to trial. What they did to us was wrong. This is a form of violation of our due process rights, miscarriage of justice, and cruel and unusual punishment. Both me and my co-defendant were two teens and the system didn't just abuse their power, they violated our constitutional rights and made us both endure physical abuse every other day for two years! The judicial system used threats to divulge information crucial to a criminal prosecution. There are things that the police could do to two seventeen-year-old young men who are charged with killing a retired lieutenant sheriff.

We found ourselves in disfavor with Genesee County. We had no business being held in such a hostile environment awaiting trial for two years. It was improper, unethical and immoral to have us placed in an environment where we are already judged before trial...being coached to say things for court proceedings and enduring physical harm and harassment on a daily basis.

When I tried to seek help from the court I was denied my constitutional rights. I personally tried to file a law suit a year ago, but the deputies would always send me to the hole and trash all my things and throw away all my legal papers.

Everything mentioned in this letter is true and can be proven. I made sure that I left a paper trail to prove these accusations. I was found not guilty of 1) felony murder, 2) second degree murder, 3 armed robbery, and 4) carjacking. But because they overcharged me I was found guilty on 1) first degree home invasion, 2) rec/conc firearms, 3) larceny firearm, 4) safe breaking, and 5) felony firearm.

This is my first time in the system and I still received a lengthy sentence of 26 years, when my guideline on my PSI report was 45-96 months. Genesee County showed me and my co-defendant cruel and unusual punishment simply because we were charged with murdering a lieutenant who the whole city of Flint knew.

I am suffering now mentally and physically from what they did to me for two years. I would like to file a lawsuit for $10 million in punitive damages. If you're interested in my case please contact me as soon as possible. I can't let Genesee County get away with this injustice. If I don't seek justice for what they did to me, then I believe the injustice would continue! Injustice somewhere is a threat to justice everywhere. My case is in the process of an appeal. Also a book about my tragic experience is underway. Also I'm aware of the Statute of Limitations, the time frame deadline would end August of 2014. This took place from August 2011-Oct 2013. I also have witnesses; one is a sheriff who is employed at the jail. If you have any questions please contact me. I hope to hear from you soon.

-Aaron Robinson, #858448
Lakeland Correctional Facility

Send Rev. Pinkney Some Love On His Birthday!

Fellow Activists, Supporters, Organizations Working on Behalf of Rev. Pinkney:

First, we very much appreciate the calls flooding the MDOC. We encourage everyone to keep calling as we believe it is working and it's our best chance to bring Rev. Pinkney back downstate! Thank you!

Second, did you know that OCTOBER 27 IS REV. PINKNEY'S 67th BIRTHDAY? Will you SEND HIM SOME LOVE by participating in the $67 for 67 years fundraiser and by sending cards to him? (Address is below.)

Here are some CREATIVE IDEAS to help raise donations:

• Get friends, neighbors, co-workers to have a rummage sale and ask everyone to donate a percentage of their sales.
• Host a potluck dinner at church or someone's home. Ask everyone to bring a dish and a donation. If those attending don't know about Rev. Pinkney, here's your chance to spread the word.
• Get a birthday card and ask co-workers, friends, neighbors, church members, etc. to sign the card for Rev. Pinkney's 67th birthday and ask for any amount they can give toward this fundraiser.

We know not everyone can raise $67, and gifts in any amount are deeply appreciated. Coming together is how we make a difference.

What better way to celebrate the Reverend's 67th birthday than by getting people together, telling his story, and asking for some help?

HERE'S HOW TO SEND IN YOUR DONATIONS:

1) Send in the donation via PayPal on bhbanco.org (or click this direct Donate button)

          OR 

2) Mail a check or money order (made out to BANCO) to:
Dorothy Pinkney
1940 Union Street
Benton Harbor, MI 49022

SEND BIRTHDAY CARDS/LETTERS TO REV. PINKNEY AT:

Rev. Edward Pinkney N-E-93 #294671
Marquette Branch Prison
1960 US Hwy. 41 South
Marquette, MI  49855

Again, thank you for all you do!