LETTERS / FRFI 216 Aug/Sep 2010

FRFI 216 August/September 2010

John Bowden v Michael Mansfield – secrets and lies

I received the enclosed letter from Lawrence Kershen today, which makes very interesting reading.

Dear Mr Bowden

As agreed I passed on your draft to Mr Mansfield and he has suggested the following changes:

‘In my recently published Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer, I made certain references to John Bowden, a life sentence prisoner whom I defended at his original trial in 1982 and which [sic] I described in my book as a central figure in a siege at Parkhurst Prison in 1983.

‘In the narrative describing the siege at Parkhurst I wrote that John Bowden was convicted of a series of murders that involved “carving up homosexuals and winos while they were still alive and freezing the cuts”.

‘This is in fact untrue and is the result of a mistaken recollection on my part. There were other serious charges on the indictment, but there was never any claim or suggestion during John Bowden’s trial in 1982 that he or his co-defendants were responsible for more than one murder or that John Bowden had ever targeted a specific group of people for the violence that I described in my book.

‘This error was entirely unintentional, and has been corrected for all future editions of the book. I wish to apologise for this mistake particularly as the overall thrust of the narrative is intended to provide support for John Bowden’s stance on prison conditions.’

We also need to be clear about the status of whatever version is agreed. So far all our discussions are confidential. Mr Mansfield is willing for an agreed document to be made available to the relevant authorities eg the Parole Board.

He would not want it to be published eg in a newsletter or on the web. I would be grateful for your comments on this.

In case I haven’t made it explicit, my intention is that if you and he are able to reach agreement about this matter, it will be in full and final settlement of the issues between you, and no other action will be entered into. I hope this is your understanding as well…

Of course there is no possible way that I’m going to agree to Kershen’s or Mansfield’s condition that I keep quiet about Mansfield’s acknowledgement that what he wrote in his book about me was untrue.

Can you believe the cheek of the man? So it’s OK for him to write and publish blatant lies that are then distributed around the world, but I must keep it quiet and private when finally he admits that what he wrote about me was?a load of shite.

I’ve now written to Kershen letting him know that I will indeed be telling people that Mansfield has admitted telling lies!

John Bowden

HMP Perth

Why ‘they’ owe ‘us’

Steve Palmer’s article in the last FRFI (‘Holding the world to ransom: who owns the money?’) is good. However, I think there is more to be got out of this. The question was ‘To whom do “we” owe the money?’ The real question should have been ‘Why do we owe them?’

The answer should be we don’t owe them anything. Their existence is justified by theft alone (apologies to Luther). What we see is the result of a mechanism which intensifies daily the extent and intensity of its theft from the working masses. By law, and so force, these arrangements now aim to strip the weakest and poorest of what they have in order to patch up a dysfunctional system that cannot meet its own demands. Necessarily it threatens the middle classes too, for they have no real social base, only a political one.

So we could move from your article to ‘Part two: Why they owe us’, to explain again the basic mechanism of exploitation and the barrier that capital presents to itself.

Paul Bullock

London

My kind of newspaper

Ahh! The newspaper FRFI was a pleasure to read! I learned things I had no idea about before. This is definitely my kind of newspaper!!! It’s really good, you can tell a lot of work has gone into it.

Anam
Manchester

Save the life of Mumia Abu-Jamal

We are launching a UK campaign to save the life of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been on death row in Philadelphia for almost 30 years. We want to make alliances with other organisations and gain as much publicity as possible to build the campaign. We have up-to-date information from Robert R Bryan, Mumia’s lead council, who spoke at a well-attended meeting in Brixton that we organised and at which a member of the RCG also spoke.We showed the film about Mumia, In prison my whole life, in Brixton in July, introduced by the film’s narrator, Will Francome.

We are following this with a demo on 28 July 4-8pm outside the US Embassy. We hope you can attend and publicise this event.

Mumia’s legal team are currently engaged in pivotal litigation in the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia. At stake is whether Mumia will be executed or granted a new jury trial. Two years ago the federal court found that the trial judge misled the jury, rendering the proceedings constitutionally unfair. But in January 2010 the US Supreme Court vacated that victorious ruling and ordered that the case be again reviewed by the Court of Appeals. Their initial brief will be submitted on 28 July (hence the date of the demo). At issue is the death penalty.

There is therefore a great deal of urgency. We look forward to your support.

Keeley Mudd

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Defence Campaign UK

Frankland brutality

I read Eric Allison’s article in FRFI 215 about brutality in Frankland prison. I’ve had my own troubles down the block there… The screws are like bulls and are pumped full of steroids. It was the only prison I saw where hypodermic needles were used for anything other than narcotics, and some cons had the screws bringing them steroids and needles.

I was assaulted down the block when I went to collect my dinner and returned the rice pudding because it was solid, and they construed that as me throwing it back at them (it did fall off the table, but not intentionally). All the way back to my cell I had them pushing and shoving me down the stairs and when we got to the rest of the cells I started shouting that they could ‘assault me all you want! There are six of you and one of me, but all it will take is one go from me and one of you is going to lose an eye! How do you fancy that?’ I wanted the rest of the cons to hear what was going on in case I needed witnesses.

On another occasion I was sitting next to a black prisoner and the screws were standing outside his door making ‘monkey’ noises. It might not seem like a lot but that was in the days when we had a bit of control of the system. As soon as the IRA lads got repatriated the screws took control of the system again, so it must be horrendous now.

I heard too that a Muslim prisoner in Frankland received FRFI but with that article torn out. Reminiscent of the days when Irish POWs received copies of AP/RN with all mention of prison and the liberation struggle torn out, leaving just the Gaelic football section!

Mo Riaz

Via Facebook

Remanded and acquitted?

I am aware that your paper is often read by former prisoners. I am hoping to hear from any ex-prisoner who has been on remand but who was acquitted at trial, to learn about your experiences of what it is like to be in prison on remand when a conviction does not follow.

I would be grateful if you could contact me in confidence if you would be prepared to share your experiences.

Scott Lomax

[email protected]

Prison censorship

I write following my previous letter in April 2010. That letter gave an accurate description of events in HMP Frankland. As you published an article in your June issue about this, I was wondering if you actually received my letter as nothing from it was used and I received no response to it.

I have been having serious problems with my mail here at Woodhill and so would be interested to know if you got it or not.

I am willing to provide further details for publication if you could arrange for someone to interview me.

You might like to know that the IPCC is looking into HMP Frankland and Durham police’s stance that it is not within its jurisdiction whenever a prison officer is reported to have committed a crime.

Kevan Thakrar A4907AE

HMP Woodhill

FRFI did not receive Kevan’s previous letter and can only assume it was held up by prison censorship.

Support Irish political prisoners

The continuing deterioration of conditions for Irish Republican political prisoners in Maghaberry Prison in the north of Ireland has led to protests inside and outside the prison. Over 500 people attended a meeting at Conway Mill in Belfast on 29 May; on 4 July, hundreds demonstrated outside the prison itself. Support groups are being set up in all of the main nationalist areas, as well as in Glasgow and London. One of these, the Republican Prisoners Support Group in Derry, is made up of members of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, the Republican Network for Unity and a number of individuals.

Spokesperson for the group, ex-blanketman, Thomas ‘Dixie’ Elliott, described the current suffering of prisoners: ‘In Maghaberry prison in 2010 Republican prisoners are living in the most inhumane conditions imaginable. The prisoners are locked up 23 hours per day and have no access to canteen or education facilities. For the hour that they are allowed out of their cells they are stripsearched, their movements are controlled by three prison officers to each prisoner, they have to shower and are allowed one five-minute phone call home to family members. This is totally unacceptable. As a direct consequence the prisoners have…for a number of months been partaking in what can only be described as a ‘dirty protest’ in which their bodily waste has been dumped on the floors of their cells and on the landings. The prison authorities have responded by sealing the bottom of the cell doors with rubber strips to prevent this waste leaking onto the landings and to keep the waste in the cells with the prisoners. This waste is now accumulating and in a number of cells is one to two inches deep on the floor. It is in these horrific conditions that the prisoners are forced to eat every meal.’

Thomas Elliott went on to detail the aims of the new group: ‘to distribute information and build awareness of the situation in Maghaberry. We are also intent on pushing for a solution. We believe that the implementation of the prisoners’ two basic demands will go a long way to resolving the situation and bringing about a satisfactory solution. The prisoners have called for the end to controlled movement and for the end to strip searches and we fully support them in these calls. We do see a solution but we also see a deep need for the people to come out and help us to highlight the current conditions.’

Speaking on Radio Free Ireland, recently-released Republican prisoner Gary Donnelly likened Maghaberry to ‘an open sewer’. It can be heard online www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dds2tm5p8c

To be kept up to date with the growing protests and events in support of the prisoners visit http://friendsofcolinduffy.com

Victory to the political prisoners!

Paul Mallon

Glasgow

Picket the Ministry of Justice in solidarity with Republican political prisoners, Saturday 7 August,

2pm: 102 Petty France, Westminster, London (nearest tube St James’s Park)