100 signatures reached
To: Governor Gavin Newsom
Restitution Now! Support the Concept of Institutional Restitution Today.
Governor Gavin Newsom, we are calling on you to request the immediate release of the New Afrikan Prisoners Activists Class that were held in Solitary Confinement/Isolation for decades solely for Political beliefs and activities, as well as for possessing Black History Books and Literature.
This has been established as fact in multiple Federal Court decisions. It was mentioned in the historical Class Action Law Suit Ashker V. Governor Brown, which eventually led to the release of these New Afrikan Activists from Solitary Confinement/Isolation.
But this does not compensate them for their political and racial persecution, nor does it solve the cycle of undue isolation and barring from programs, then the refusal of parole based on those very requirements not being met! Within the California Department of Corrections, a Prisoner that is being held in the Security Housing Unit (SHU: Solitary Confinement) can not receive a Parole Date. In fact, they were told (and this is a fact well documented) the only way they were getting out of the SHU was either by snitching or dying. In addition to this, they were not allowed to participate in any Educational or Vocational programs required for one to become eligible for parole. Therefore this Class of New Afrikan Prisoner Activists were being wrongfully and illegally held in the Security Housing Unit, so it is not their fault for not meeting the requirements. Still, when they were released from Solitary Confinement/SHU in 2015, many of them were denied parole based on their long term within Solitary Confinement, as well as not completing the required programs. Whose fault is this? In 2016 the Secretary of the California Department of Corrections was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on 60 Minutes, where he openly admitted before Millions that it was a mistake to keep those Prisoners in Solitary Confinement for that long.
It is an ongoing injustice, both racial and political persecution to keep these New Afrikan Activists in prison for the wrong of the California Department of Corrections.
We are requesting their release as a form of Restitution for their illegal Confinement in Solitary and the torture that they were forced to endure as a direct result.
Why is this important?
Please be clear, we are only referring to those Class of New Afrikan Prisoners that were held in Pelican Bay and Corcoran State Prison.
These New Afrikan Prisoners have contributed to their Community and People for decades, have written books and developed proposals designed to transform the Black Criminal Mentality. All of this is also well documented, in fact, this is what the CDCR has tried to suppress from Society. If this Government is truly about Justice and paying Restitution, how can you turn a blind eye to this ongoing persecution? We call for restitution through release today!