Store
Introduction: In 2021, Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa was on his way home on medical parole – after 31 years of solitary confinement and 42 years in prison – when prison corruption reared its ugly head again. Our beloved New Afrikan Revolutionary Humanist was forced back into custody at the California Health Care Facility due to the lies and denial of due process by his parole officer, outlined in the story below, and where he now is on a hunger strike protesting medical abuse.
An interview with Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa by Editor Nube Brown
Nube: Brother Sitawa, how are you and what’s been going on?
Sitawa: I’m OK, dealing with the ins and outs of this medical stuff and the corruption that is such an integral part of the system. It’s as if they are in another world, judging the people in affairs of this world – some parallel universe-type stuff.
On Nov. 16, 2021, I went to a hearing for the false allegations made by this woman Jane Esparza. The senior hearing officer not only looked at my physical condition and then actually found that I was able bodied enough to attack Miss Esparza but also to pull her hair, grab her left arm and punch her in the back of her head and cheek area – from behind her!
The senior hearing officer saw that I not only need help getting into my wheelchair, but also someone to push me in my wheelchair to the yard. Doctors and other specialists could have told the senior hearing officer that it is physically impossible for me to accomplish any of the stuff that I am accused of.
Nube: You’re accused of assault on a non-guard. Will you tell us why this is a lie?
Sitawa: My stroke left me with a condition medically known as Erosive Osteoarthritis secondary to the Palmar Fibromatosis. So, making a fist, grabbing and normal hand functions are utterly impossible.
Since being housed at this institution, I’ve been forced to learn how to do things like turn over to one side with a nurse’s help while being changed or moving my wheelchair around a little bit while in the room or cell. I still need 98% of things done for me (shave, brush my teeth, cook my food, shower, transfer and navigate the room or yard in my chair), but it’s all because of my frustration with the Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) and nursing staff who are not on point to help me all day.
At great cost, I gave the senior hearing officer a written statement to be included in the final report as my official statement. But he totally disregarded it, thereby denying me due process of law.
Nube: What is/was the aim and purpose for requesting to postpone your Jan. 7, 2022, hearing for six months?
Sitawa: I’ve already drafted a 602 on Parole Officer M. Kiss and sent it to Northern Regional Parole Administrator Julie Kaplan, and began the process of 602ing the hearing process and finding of guilt based on he-said-she-said bullcrap, by Parole Officer M. Kiss.
Any man or group of men who creates an anti-hostility program is a threat to the status quo.
Listen, my People, according to the DOM (Department Operations Manual), in order for there to be a violation of parole, there must be a set of conditions or special conditions of parole as specified on a CDCr Form 1515. If there was an assault or battery on a non-officer there would have been: 1) a police or sheriff report and 2) a “charge code” based on that police report in the CDCr Form 1521-a. But there is not! This supports the violation.
Nube: How does this support the violation?
Sitawa: Because Parole Officer II M. Kiss, acting in collusion with Parole Officer II T. Davis from the Sacramento-Natomas Parole Unit, wrote a fake violation report, did a partial review, not an investigation, five days after the fact; signed the report for his supervisor, then determined that my verbal altercation was a violation of the conditions of my placement.
According to the DOM, PO M. Kiss could have used the “activity report” to document the unsubstantiated allegations of Miss Jane Esparza and the conclusions of his cursory review of the matter and left me in place, as there was minimal risk to persons involved.
In fact, the application of “less progressive sanctions” to resolve this matter should have been taken. But because of who I was as a high-profile parolee, my prison history and involvement in the Hunger Strikes of 2011- 2013 (which Parole Officer M. Kiss found in the CDC Form 112, “Chronological Inmate History”) and my constant challenge to his authority and misuse of power, I was violated.
In my humble opinion, it was this last thing that he most took issue with. His unlawful influence over administrative staff at Asbury Park Nursing and Rehab Center and their capitulation without question is wrong. There’s absolutely no other reason why Parole Officer M. Kiss would falsify the report, do an emergency action request and exacerbate the situation as if there was a threat to public safety.
Violence between races in prison has always been a way for staff to control inmates, play politics and keep repressive policies in place. So, any man or group of men who creates an anti-hostility program is a threat to the status quo.
Nube: How do you consider yourself in relation to the historic California Hunger Strikes and the Agreement to End Hostilities?
Sitawa: I’m the spearhead of both the Hunger Strikes and the Agreement to End Hostilities, and a key class member in the Ashker litigation. Sounds like probable cause to me – I’m a revolutionary humanist and prisoner rights activist.
In conclusion, the keystone of the strategy required to win the war against injustice is unity; a consolidated effort by groups of honest and truly humanist folk like y’all. The primary weapon is simply love.
In struggle,
Brother Sitawa Jamaa
Send our brother some love and light: Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa (Ronnie Dewberry), C35671, CHCF D2A-102, P.O. Box 213040, Stockton CA 95213.
