Free Jalil

This is an except from a piece entitled "A Political Prisoner's Journey through the U.S. Prison System" You can see the rest in the blog section):... I stayed at Eastern this time for 3 years, teaching prisoners computer literacy, and in 1997, with the support of Herman Ferguson and my dear comrade Sister Safiya Bukhari, founded and initiated the Jericho ’98 March on the White House. This campaign brought over 6,000 activists and supporters of U.S. political prisoners to Washington, D.C., of which forged into existence the Jericho Amnesty Movement. The time spent in Eastern was without incident, and on May 6, 1999 at 4 a.m., I was awakened and transferred back to Auburn. No reason was given, but within 6 months at Auburn I was placed in the SHU subject to confidential informants statements that I was organizing a strike. Originally, I was being held in administrative segregation pending charges, and when the confidential informant’s statements proved unreliable, my personal property was searched. Hence, they found some literature pertaining to explosives that had been sent to me in the mail while I was in Eastern and was permitted to receive. In fact, the cell has been searched two other times and the literature was not seized. But this time I was charged with having contraband literature and kept in SHU for 90 days. While in the SHU, prisoners throughout NYS were protesting the implementation of the death penalty without providing “good time” for lifers. These were called the “Y2K strikes”, allegedly being organized from Sing-Sing prison with the assistance of outside activists. As a pre-emptive measure, I was taken out of the population by Auburn prison administrators to prevent the possibility of a strike at the premier prison where prisoners’ labor produces license plates. After 90 days in the SHU, I was released back into the general population, and continued to be confronted with harassment by prison guards. Ironically, the Deputy Superintendent of Security who gave me the ultimatum at Elimira was promoted, and is now the Superintendent at this prison, so you can imagine…__ I have now been in Auburn for 6 years, and for 3 of those years I was the chairman of the Lifers’ Committee. In that position, I facilitated the teaching of a Sociology class, and submitted several proposals to the prison administration including raising funds for the victims of 911, the establishing of a parenting class for young fathers, and a pre-release program to prepare prisoners for parole. Presently I am facilitating a poetry class and a legal research and discussion class. Having twice been denied release on parole, although scheduled to appear before the parole board in July ’06, I am challenging the parole denial in the Court via an Article 78 petition. Also, I continue to litigate the prisoners’ right to vote lawsuit that is on appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, with oral arguments calendared for June 22, 2005. Plus, I have two other legal matters pending in the Court, while at the same time, I continue to seek the means to build progressive support for U.S. political prisoners through the Jericho Amnesty Movement.__ This is an abbreviated history of my 3 decade experience in the U.S. prison system. To be more detailed would result in a voluminous biographical journey that I am not now prepared to write. However, I sincerely hope what is here elucidated offers insights as to what this political prisoner has suffered and endured. I am certain many other have more horrendous experience indicting inhumane prison conditions, abuse, and brutality underscoring what happened in Abu Ghraib by American prison personnel in Iraq. __Yours in continued struggle,__A. Jalil Bottom_a/k/a Jalil A. Muntaqim