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Time Bomb Waiting to Explode Speaking of freedom, I too am about to finally regain my liberty, after twenty-five years behind bars. My stay behind these bars has been so horrifying that I truly believe that it is by the good grace of our Heavenly Creator that I'm able to still breathe and to walk towards my future life. Despite having several court orders, and orders from ex-Congressman Louis Stokes and my ex-Ohio Senator Jeffery Johnson, barring my being ever housed in the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (ODRC) has moved, and continues to deliberately house me, here. Prior to my recent return to SOCF on July 13, 2006 I was safely housed in the protective custody unit of the Toledo Correctional Institution (TOCI). Without receiving any of the proper legislative due process that governs pc inmates, or the due process that governs classification and transfers, I was packed up, put in a van/bus, and sent to a protective custody block of SOCF. Due to the ODRC perpetually violating the court orders that would bar my transfer here, I have now been brutally stabbed upon numerous occasions (one time it occurred because staff here allowed inmates to send me an unauthorized mass to work). And I also max out my entire sentence on November 18, 2006. Prior to my being transferred here, my case manager, Chad Lee, at TOCI called my family and they were going to come from Cleveland, Ohio to the Toledo Correctional Institution (To.C.I) to pick me up on 11/18/06. But because of the great distance to SOCF (in Lucasville, Ohio) they cannot drive down. Mrs. Shirley Pope has a thick file of my correspondence about the wicked behavior of the SOCF staff towards me and others. Myself, Kunta Kenyatta and others have put in many years trying to shed light on the ODRC corruption -- these people kill inmates directly and indirectly. They brutalize us savagely, tamper with our food and mail, etc., etc... and the main reason why I am writing to you now is because I think that, with my being so close to regaining my liberty (which will put me into a more favorable position to expose the ODRC's corruption) it is in the best interest of the Department of Rehabilitation to have me here, so that they can arrange my death and cover it up. That's why it's very important that you publish this entire letter and let "Free Society" know that even after the riot of 1993 the Ohio Department of Corrections is still behaving wantonly and sadistically towards the inmates you taxpayers are paying them to house. According to the State Law of Ohio's Title SI Chapter 5120, the ODRC has a legislated duty to ensure that all inmates are given health care, which includes mental care. How can I be given mental care in an institution that is responsible for my Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? Bringing me back here has increased the problem ten times over! Secondly, as I stated herein, I will max out on November 18, 2006. I asked the staff if I could receive pre-release programming (which helps prepare inmates for re-entry into society, finding jobs, state identification cards, etc.). They told me "no"! So, I'm letting you all free civilians know that after having done TWENTY- FIVE years in prison, the O.D.R.C. intends to send me home without my Pre-Release Programming! And society wonders why the recidivist rate is so high in Ohio. It's that way because society hands the ODRC its funding and then looks the other way! The legislation was formed "by the people" (you all) and for the people (including all prisoners). Our law clearly requires the State of Ohio's Department of Rehabilitation to REHABILITATE its inmates. Denying me Pre-Release Programming after all of the time I have done (mostly on the maximum security level) is not rehabilitation, it's de-habilitation, and a calculated move by the O.D.R.C., to ensure either death or a return customer to its house. What else could it be? You taxpayers must understand what was really behind the massive transfer of the plc inmates from WCI, MCI and To.C.I. to the notoriously violent prison, SOCF: 1) SOCF is the state's maximum security prison, located almost in Kentucky, putting it far out of reach for the families of most of the inmates it houses, thus providing the savage staff members with plenty of leverage to do almost anything to inmates and then cover it up ... 2) SOCF lost a lot of its population, between inmate fighting in the courts over their security levels, which had been deliberately held higher by malicious conduct report writing and staff dereliction, to do timely security reviews (used to reduce inmates' statuses). The mass exodus from SOCF left four entire blocks on the "L-Side" empty (the blocks that had been rebuilt with taxpayer money after the 1993 riots). This created a ripple effect in the amount of money that Ohio could get from the federal government (as well as its own legislative branch within the state). In fact, most recently, the ex-director, Reginald Wilkinson had approached the Ohio Senate seeking more funding and was denied ... 3) So the O.D.R.C. manipulated the security level of Ross Correctional Institution from a part-medium and close security prison to one housing just medium security levels. Then came down an order that the ODRC would now be removing its two blocks of "PC Inmates" from WCI, to make room for the RCI's close security inmates. The empty block of To.C.I. (called "C-Block") would also finally open up to house close security level inmates (it had been closed since 2000). Then, the ODRC closed the Protective Custody (PC)Unit at MCI and began housing medium security level inmates at the "M-Block." So, you ask, what became of all of the PC inmates? 4) The ODRC then rounded all of the protective custody inmates up (including the medium and minimum-security inmates, and sent us all here to the maximum-security prison called SOCF, in Lucasville, Ohio! A lot of inmates have court ordered separations from here, but the ODRC has chosen to pick and choose whose court order to honor ... For instance, inmates in the SOCF riot who hurt other inmates (and were partially responsible for the guards' injuries and death) were maintained in the PC unit at the Toledo Correctional Institution (ToC.I). But other inmates that have court orders (and that had nothing to do with the '93 riot here), and those that may have been brutally hurt in this same prison, were deliberately transferred here! Why is the ODRC putting inmates' lives are at risk? Furthermore, if the ODRC can house minimum, medium, close security, and maximum security pc inmates at this maximum security prison, then a very serious question looms: Wouldn't it have made more sense to have the "close security" inmates from Ross Correctional placed in SOCF, instead of sending 3/4 of the protective custody inmates here? The ODRC has opened up the door for all PC inmates to be verbally and physically harassed by staff (I myself have witnessed this). The ODRC has made PC expendable, while it uses PC inmates to fill up its empty blocks at SOCF. The ODRC has now entirely repopulated the SOCF, which in turn requires the state and federal governments -- at the very least -- to restore the financial levels back to what it had been prior to all of the empty beds. Should PC inmates' lives be put at risk so that cells can be filled and funding acquired, and so that staff can keep their jobs? Should the ODRC be permitted to determine which inmates' court orders will be acknowledged? A court-ordered separation from SOCF is exactly this, regardless of which inmate possesses it, am I correct? Lastly, let me ask where the media is. Why did they not notice the mass exodus of PC inmates into a horrendous prison like the one such as the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility? Surely, this should have generated some interest? But it appears that we're all just prisoners and -- as long as we're locked up behind bars -- "Free Society" doesn't mind dishing out huge sums of funding without actually getting its money's worth. I urge you to print this in its entirety, share it with the news media and television stations and to email it to DATELINE and 60 Minutes. Contact the ACLU offices. I invite everyone to come and interview us all. Do we have to wait for someone to be harmed, or even killed? In closing, I want to thank you for your time in reading this. And if you happen to see my friend, Kunta Kenyatta, please let him know that I am pleased with his successful re-entry into society and am still fighting for inmates' rights (I'm old now, but am a young warrior in my heart)! God's Grace be upon you all -- Sincerely, Clarence
Bogan III, # A169688 You may contact Clarence Bogan directly by writing to him at the address listed above. The following link offers tips for writing to prisoners: http://prisonersolidarity.org/TipsForWritingPrisoners.htm |
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