by Lynne Stewart
I need to ask once again for your assistance in forcing the Bureau of Prisons to grant my compassionate release. They have been stonewalling since August and my life expectancy, as per my cancer doctor, is down to 12 months.
They know that I am fully qualified and that over 40,000 people have signed on to force them to do the right thing, which is to let me go home to my family and to receive advanced care in New York City. Yet they refuse to act.
While this is entirely within the range of their politics and their cruelty to hold political prisoners until we have days to live before releasing us – witness Herman Wallace of Angola and Marilyn Buck – we are fighting not to permit this and call for a BIG push.”
Send our sister some love and light: Lynne Stewart, 53504-054, FMC Carswell, Unit 2N, P.O. Box 27137, Fort Worth TX 76127.
Take action between now and the New Year
Telephone and send emails or other messages to Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Charles E. Samuels Jr. and Attorney General Eric Holder:
- Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Charles E. Samuels Jr.: (202) 307-3250 or 3062, info@bop.gov
- Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Department of Justice: (202) 353-1555, AskDOJ@usdoj.gov
Contact U.S. embassies and consulates in nations throughout the world.
Send an International Action Center petition: iacenter.org/NewLynneStewartPetition/.
Send a petition from Change.org: change.org/petitions/new-petition-to-free-lynne-stewart-support-compassionate-release
Let us create a tidal wave of effort internationally. Together, we can prevent the bureaucratic murder of Lynne Stewart.
Jailers as judges
In a new 237-page report entitled “A Living Death,” the American Civil Liberties Union documents unconstitutional practices permeating federal and state prisons in the U.S. Focused on life imprisonment without parole for minor offenses, the ACLU details conditions of 3,278 individual prisoners whose denial of release is deemed “a flagrant violation of the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment” occurring on an increasing scale.
The ACLU labels the deliberate stonewalling as “willful,” a touchstone of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Justice’s flagrant violation of the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. These conclusions corroborate the findings of Human Rights Watch in 2012: “The Answer is ‘No’: Too Little Compassionate Release in U.S. Prisons.”
The report is definitive in exposing arbitrary and illegal conduct that infuses every facet of the treatment accorded Lynne Stewart. “(T)he Bureau [of Prisons] has usurped the role of the courts. In fact, it is fair to say the jailers are acting as judges. Congress intended the sentencing judge, not the BOP to determine whether a prisoner should receive a sentence reduction.”
Lynne Stewart’s medical findings show less than 12 months to live as stipulated by her oncologist at FMC Carswell. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has failed to file the legally required motion declaring solely that the matter is “with the Department of Justice.”
Free Lynne Stewart now! Resolution from the Sixth Congress of the African People’s Socialist Party
On Dec. 10, 2013, the following resolution was put forth and passed unanimously:
“Be it resolved that the Sixth Congress of the African People’s Socialist Party recommits the Party to the liberation of Lynne Stewart, who we recognize as a political prisoner of the U.S. government.
“Toward this end the Secretaries General of the African People’s Socialist Party USA and the African Socialist International will immediately initiate a campaign within the USA and throughout the world to develop a phone and social media campaign to U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and Bureau of Prisons Director Charles Samuels demanding the immediate release of Comrade Stewart to be effected during the upcoming Christmas holidays and no later than Jan. 1, 2014.”
Our party is committed to the liberation and unification of Africa and African people the world over and to end imperialism’s oppression and injustices. Because of our commitment, we embrace the stance of Lynne Stewart, who as a defense lawyer has made it her life’s work to challenge the injustices of the legal system.
As an attorney, Lynne’s clients have ranged from Africans and other poor people caught in the criminal justice system, to political defendants such as members of the Black Panther Party, the Black Liberation Army, the United Freedom Front, Larry Davis, an African in the U.S. who was acquitted of the attempted murder of two New York police in a well-publicized case of police brutality, and Muslims being unjustly targeted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
In her most famous case, she defended Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, a Muslim that was accused of plotting to blow up U.S. landmarks, as well as planning to assassinate then Sen. Alphonse D’Amato and former U.N. Secretary General Boutros-Boutros Ghali. In 1996, Rahman was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.
Attorney Lynne Stewart was charged with the violation of the unconstitutional restrictions, known as SAMS, in which attorneys were required to agree to not disseminate information pertaining to their clients.
While prosecutors could disseminate propaganda to the press about their cases, the defense attorneys were denied the right to use the press to advocate on the client’s behalf. This was designed to create a highly inflammatory and prejudicial environment toward them. Lynne was charged and prosecuted for the violation of SAMS. In 2009, after a highly publicized series of legal battles, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Under the 1984 Sentencing Act, after a prisoner’s request, the Bureau of Prisons can file a motion for the compassionate release of prisoners for “extraordinary and compelling” circumstances.
Lynne Stewart is suffering from Stage 4 breast cancer that has spread all throughout her body. We are sure that her current situation more than meets the requirement for compassionate release.
We therefore call for the immediate release of Lynne Stewart to the loving care of her family, whereby she can receive alternative, integrative healthcare which her family feels will be her best hope.
Denying her compassionate release is state sanctioned murder!
The campaign to free Lynne Stewart calls on our forces, supporters and oppressed peoples of the world to call and write the following U.S. government’s representatives in reference to the compassionate release of Lynne Stewart, 53504-054:
- President Barack Obama: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, DC 20500, (202) 456-1111
- Attorney General Eric Holder: U.S. Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20530-0001, (202) 353-1555
- Director Charles E. Samuels: U.S. Bureau of Prisons, 320 First St., NW, Washington, DC 20534, (202) 307-3250/3062
Your calls and letters must demand the immediate, just and compassionate release for Lynne Stewart now. Make calls!
Visit the African People’s Socialist Party at http://asiuhuru.org/ontheground/apsp-usa/. Email info@uhurunews.com.