“House of Corrections” is House of Horrors for Mentally Ill

Having been on “R” block in the CCHOC for a couple months, I have had a front row seat to observe the failure of the jail to address or even make a serious effort to address the plight of the mentally ill within its walls. The HOC is rife with mental illness. Many of its prisoners are here because they are mentally ill. Those who are mildly mentally ill on the outside frequently become dangerously so on the inside. The jail seems to be designed to take people who are a little crazy and drive them completely out of their minds.

There is no apparent therapy provided for mentally ill people here, except for a couple of meetings a week for the chemically dependent. There is, as far as I can tell, no psychiatrist. A psychologist, Barnes Peterson, who lacks the training to prescribe, makes the decisions about medication and passes them on to a Physician’s Assistant, who prescribes. These two frequently change people’s medication, then have the medication ground and dissolved in apple sauce. . . even though some of them are time release medications. This is completely irresponsible, as grinding many medications destroys the time release mechanism.     (more…)

Cop Block Badge #420 Could Be Yours!

cbbadge_1Want to help Rich Paul with his legal defense fundraiser?  Thanks to Shiny Badges, you can now bid on Cop Block badge number 420!   These beautiful badges are selling like hotcakes and are individually numbered, so there will only be one badge #420.

Current top bidder is Derrick J with a $420 bid – can you do better?  Place your bid by leaving a comment at the bottom of ShinyBadges.com – don’t delay, the auction ends on August 15th!

Defense Rests at Bradley Manning Military Tribunal

bradleymanning_x0aEarlier today, the defense team headed by David Coombs to represent Bradley Manning rested after a presentation of nine witnesses from forty-six originally nominated. Some of the trial proceedings were held in secret during the government’s interrogatories. Bradley Manning will not be taking the stand in his defense. Al-Jazeera English has the story on the latest from the trial scheduled to conclude August 23, in addition to more detailed reports from the Bradley Manning Support Network.

Shout Out to Rich Paul from Philly’s “Smoke Down Prohibition”!

Thanks to Chris Cantwell and the rest of the Philly crew for this shout-out to Rich. Should you wish to donate to Rich’s appeal (2nd) fundraiser, you can do that here. You can (and should!) also write to Rich via Mail-to-Jail\!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTwkm1cjHmY

If you are in a big city and are tired of not making an impact with your liberty activism – please come up to NH and get active here. The Free State Project is working!

Rich’s Blog from Jail – 2013-07-02

2013_04_20_freerichDear Dean:

I am happy to bear witness to your pledge to “get involved” in the Liberty Movement.  I am even happier to inform you that you have already done so, in at least three ways:  your letter to Adam, your letter to me, and your donation to my defense fund!

Being a jailed civilly disobedient activist can be compared to being the star of a movie.  A movie should have a star, it would be boring without one, but no movie can be made with only one actor.  Not only must other actors be found to play supporting roles, but a director, cameraman, and a producer are also required to make almost any movie.  Voluntarists are frequently equipped with oversized egos, so it is often hard to find people to fill the vital supporting roles in our movement.

I was not trying to get put in jail this time, I was just doing my thing, which happened to be illegal.  My focus these days and going forward will be more on making things change through mass protest, agorism, and through playing important supporting roles in civil disobedience than on actively trying to get myself arrested.  I hope that you will continue to work for liberty in every way which makes sense to you…and that you will give yourself a break on the issue of civil dis.  Not all activism gets you arrested, and actively promoting causes on Facebook is activism, in a way that lackadaisically pressing “like” is not.

If you cannot think of any other activism to do, I would challenge you to spend four hours a week actively promoting my case, spreading word of it to new audiences, and hopefully getting word of it to spread virally.

Alternatively, you might want to work a few extra hours each week and donate the extra money to a deserving liberty organization, whether it is my defense fund, the Free State Project, the Civil Disobedience Evolution Fund, or some other organization.

In Liberty,
Rich Paul

(Editor’s note: You can write to Rich for free at MailtoJail.com!)

Rich Paul Appeal Fundraiser a Success!

The Fundraiser for Rich Paul’s appeal has been successful and the campaign to free Rich Paul is moving into a more long-term strategy. The appeal lawyer’s retainer has been raised with $3,000.00 contributed by Rich’s parents, $3,500.00 contributed by the Civil Disobedience Evolution Fund , and the remaining funds donated through the fundraising campaign. A heartfelt thank you goes out to all those that donated and supported Rich Paul!

The lawyer hired to represent Rich through the appeals process is Joshua Gordon and he has one of best records for successful appeals in New Hampshire. Rich and many of those involved behind the scenes are confident that Joshua will do a good job. The appeals process is a long one and should verdict be overturned the case may be retried.

The Civil Disobedience Evolution Fund believes in “supporting the good people who disobey bad laws” and has seen fit CD Evolutionto make a substantial contribution to the Appeal Fundraiser. CD Evolution has not been very active as of late but they are hoping to change that starting with this appeal. Please take a moment and visit their website for more information on the volunteer organization.

The fundraising is not finished by any means. Next up we need to raise the $1,200 it will cost to get the trial transcripts from the court and while the initial retainer is covered Joshua Gordon may require more hours of work than estimated and there are other expenses that may come up. Couple that with the possibility of a retrial and the money needed is still quite substantial. Essentially, the first step of this journey is complete and now we need to prepare for the next steps.

(more…)