Support Documentary Film Calling for End to Life Without Parole Sentences for Youth

by Efren Paredes, Jr.

Today the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments to consider whether or not to end the sentencing of youths to life without parole (LWOP) -- death by incarceration -- nationwide.

If the high court rules in favor of abolishing this deplorable sentence it will make 2,500 juveniles across the nation eligible for parole consideration. Michigan incarcerates 358 of these juveniles, 15% of the total number of juveniles serving this sentence globally.

Ending LWOP sentences alone will not result in releasing a single prisoner. Parole Boards will just begin having the authority to give release consideration to these prisoners. Parole Boards currently have no authority to release prisoners serving LWOP sentences. Only state Governors can grant them a pardon or commutation of sentence that will result in their release.

To help end the shameful imposition of LWOP sentences on youths, a documentary film in its post-production stage titled "Natural Life" is seeking financial support necessary to be complete and distributed nationwide by the summer of 2012.

A complete description of the film is available at the end of this message, as well as information about how you can make a donation to help make the film completion a reality.

Please take a few minutes to visit the link and, if able, make a financial donation to this project. You can also contribute to this project in a big way by circulating the link to the fundraising project widely via email, Facebook, Twitter, and Google. You can also mention the link in editorials, in comment posts to articles on the Internet, and by posting flyers on college campuses, at churches, libraries, community centers, etc.

Your participation in this project can help change the course of history and end the mistreatment of juveniles by the criminal justice system. It will also send a message to the rest of the world that you stand in defense of human rights and the inherent dignity in our nation's youths.

I have been imprisoned since age 15 and the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling could impact my life in a huge way. Just four days ago I completed 23 years of imprisonment. I have spent 8,474 days -- over half my entire life -- locked away from society in adult jail and prisons.

If we do not end LWOP sentences for juveniles in the U.S. many of us will die in prison having never experienced living one single day in society as a free adult. We will never have been given the opportunity to be rehabilitated and be a productive citizen because of a crime we were convicted of committing when we were juveniles.

Let us remember the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who reminded us "Our lives begin to end the moment we stop caring about the things that matter." The lives of children matter. And so do their futures and the future of this nation.

The fundraiser link is: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1031057648/natural-life

Natural Life - A Film & Video project in Chicago, IL by Tirtza Even

Contacting Efren Electronically

Recently the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) installed kiosks in the housing units at the Chippewa Correctional Facility (URF) -- where Efren is currently housed -- that allow prisoners to send and receive electronic messages ("JPay messages"). To send Efren JPay messages you need to visit www.JPay.com and create an account. Once you create an account you must purchase electronic stamps to send Efren messages. The electronic stamps cost 20 cents each. You do not have to pay to receive messages from Efren via JPay. He pays to send his own messages. After you have created a JPay account and purchased electronic stamps the next step is to locate Efren on the JPay.com web site to write him. You do this by entering his prison number in the "Inmate Locator" box on the site. Efren's prison number is "203116". To initiate correspondence with Efren using JPay.com you must first send him a JPay message. The MDOC does not allow Michigan prisoners to send messages to members of the public until the prisoner first receives a message from the person who is trying to communicate with the prisoner. Once Efren receives a message from you he can begin responding to your messages. Note that all incoming and outgoing JPay messages are screened by the MDOC.

Support Campaign to Lower Michigan Prisoner Phone Call Rates

by Efrén Paredes, Jr.

In June 2011, the new contract for Michigan prisoner phone service began. The phone call rates nearly doubled, prisoners are now making fewer phone calls to members of the public, and they are being further isolated from society.

Consequently prisoners will have less contact with family and friends, who are a vital part of their survival and, in many cases, maintaining their sanity and sense of self-worth during their incarceration. The life line that the majority of prisoners cling to is slowly drifting away as they painfully witness the erosion of ties with family and friends.

The phone rate increases were unnecessary and avoidable. The Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC), however, awarded the prisoner phone contract to PCS, a phone company that charges higher rates than other companies for the identical security features they are providing to MDOC to monitor and control prisoner phone use.

To support the campaign to lower Michigan prisoner phone rates, you are encouraged to visit the link at the end of this post and sign the petition.

When you sign the petition, an e-mail opposing the rate increases will be sent on your behalf to Governor Rick Snyder, MDOC Director Dan Heyns, the Chairs of the Corrections Appropriations Committee, and your State Senator and Representative. The petition automatically identifies your state legislators based on your zip code.

If we do not lend our voices to this important campaign, the MDOC could earn $8 million and PCS could earn $3 million from the thousands of prisoners and members of the public being affected over the next four years.

Please share the petition link with others in e-mails, blog posts, and by posting it on Facebook and Twitter. The wider the circulation, the greater the impact. Support for this campaign is growing exponentially and dozens of those who have signed the petition have already received responses from their legislators.

Petition link:  http://tinyURL.com/NoMoreSEF

Judge tosses Jordan Brown case to juvenile court

Boy accused of murdering his dad's girlfriend will not go to trial as an adult

Jordan Brown was in 5th grade and 11-years
old at the time of his arrest.

NEW CASTLE, Pa.-- The murder case against a Lawrence County boy charged with killing his father's pregnant fianceé now goes to the juvenile justice system. A Lawrence County judge issued a ruling on Tuesday that Jordan Brown is considered a juvenile meaning the case now goes to juvenile court. He was facing a trial as an adult because Pennsylvania law requires any child accused of murder to stand trial as a adult.

Brown was 11 years old state police alleged he shot and killed his father's pregnant bride-to-be, 26-year old Kenzie Houke, and her unborn baby in 2009 at a Wampum farmhouse. Brown was arrested and charged with two murder counts. If he would have gone on trial as an adult and later convicted, he could have become the youngest person ever sentenced to life without parole.

Brown's attorneys have argued that the boy's age should become important to the case as he could benefit from rehabilitation in the juvenile justice system. A defense psychologist testified in January that an adolescent's brain does not control impulses in a "mature way." The boy remains in an Erie County juvenile detention center where they say he he has shown he is a candidate for rehabilitation.

The matter has been bounced around with appeals and rulings requiring the presiding judge to reconsider the matter. Now Judge Dominick Motto has ruled the defendant a juvenile.

Brown has remained in custody at a juvenile detention center in Erie since 2009. If he is convicted of the crimes in juvenile court, he cannot be held in custody beyond his 21st birthday.

Article originally appeared on Juvenile Life Without Parole (http://www.jlwop.com/).

Berrien County Prosecutor Lacks Accountability

by Efrén Paredes, Jr.

In the Fall of 2009 Berrien County Prosecutor Art Cotter dismissed 40 convictions because Benton  Harbor police manufactured evidence, conducted illegal searches, and wrongfully arrested people. 

At the time of the case dismissals, Cotter claimed to be reviewing many other cases involving possible police misconduct as well. Cotter defended the police by saying they “didn’t engage in misconduct in every case they did.”

In an August 28, 2009, Michigan Messenger article, Cotter was quoted as saying, “The problem is that everybody who had a case now wants review.”

Cotter has it all wrong however. The real problem is that he would have the audacity to make the latter statement knowing there are likely many other wrongful convictions that occurred under his watch. His inept office reviewed the 40 cases he dismissed before the suspects were arrested and subsequently convicted. Not only did errors abound with the arrests themselves, but the review process by Cotter’s office was riddled with errors as well. Cotter has offered no explanation as to how his office got the review process and prosecutions wrong 40 times.

Rather than be embarrassed by all the errors he is personally responsible for in the cases he dismissed, Cotter has attempted to eschew responsibility altogether.

The reality is that there are only two logical explanations of how so many cases were wrongly prosecuted by Cotter’s office: either he is totally incompetent, or he knowingly allowed it to occur, was complicit, and should be investigated for corruption.

Since Cotter admitted to dismissing the 40 wrongful convictions, he has not publicly shared the findings of the dozens of other cases involving possible police misconduct that he was allegedly reviewing. The print, television and radio media in the area have also not held Cotter accountable for his errors and have not reported about Cotter’s review of the cases he claimed to be conducting. As far as anyone knows, Cotter could be covering up his mistakes as part of his damage control.

The citizens of Berrien County deserve answers. They also deserve to be represented by a prosecutor’s office that cares as much about not committing errors that wrongly rob people of their freedom as it does about protecting the public from crime.

One thing is certain. A large number of Berrien Country voters have lost confidence and respect for Cotter and his office, and rightfully so. He has made many obvious mistakes with impunity, and his hubris prevents him from admitting it.

Voters will be able to express their discontent and restore integrity in the Berrien County Prosecutor’s Office next election. The obvious answer for starters will be ensuring Cotter vacates his office.

Citizens shouldn’t keep paying the price for Cotter’s mistakes or malfeasance with their hard earned money or the loss of their liberty. I know firsthand what a heavy price citizens can pay for the mistakes of the Berrien County Prosecutor’s Office. I’ve spent 22 years in prison so far to prove it!