A Voice for Jerry

I made a promise to my friend Jerry that I would act as his voice for as long as it took and to speak up on his behalf where he has been denied such a basic and constitutional right for 25 years. Incarcerated within the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, ODOC, Jerry, now 52 years of age, has suffered and continues to suffer at the hands of those department of corrections staff who choose to abuse their power and position, perpetrate long held grudges against him and deny him his legal, moral and human rights. The following highlights a small fraction of the unjust situations Jerry has been forced to endure over the years and continues to endure to this day.

Jerry was sent to Texas as an Oklahoma Interstate Compact Prisoner, where he remained for 15 years and was denied legal redress, kept in a no-mans land with regards to his human, legal and constitutional rights. He was even given a Texas sentence, earned credits on this sentence and received parole hearings on it. Jerry had never set foot in a Texas court house, was an Oklahoma prisoner and yet he was processed as a Texas prisoner and given a false and fabricated sentence to serve.

Jerry was deemed a ring leader in a prison riot and punished severely for it several times over, in spite of the fact that press and witness statements prove that this was not the case.

Job vacancies go unfilled in spite of Jerrys and other inmates fervent desire and documented requests to work.

Threats are made openly to inmates, telling them they will never progress, move forward or obtain relief in any way that they are to all intents and purposes, at the mercy and whim of ODOC staff and their personal grudges, regardless of policy and protocol.

Consideration for transfer to a medium security facility is denied and attempts to address the situation, ignored. Jerry is even goaded by his unit manager by being sent the completed transfer papers of a prisoner with far higher security points to show him that he will never be moved forward.

Staff are allowed and encouraged to use personal vendettas against Jerry. They are given free reign to inflict emotional, mental and physical suffering onto Jerry. Policy and procedure are violated, the ex-post facto clause ignored and the U.S. Constitution rendered meaningless by the ODOC.

We seek to question and bring to the forefront the seemingly accepted mode of operation perpetrated by the ODOC. Why is their behaviour accepted, condoned and even glorified? Is it easier to sweep pertinent issues which affect peoples lives and the lives of their families and friends under the carpet, preferring to ignore the injustice and the corrupt practices of the ODOC? Is the power they exert condoned out of fear of change, fear of confronting an established organization?

On Jerrys behalf, I would ask you to please sign this petition to add your voice, so that his situation may be brought to the forefront and given due consideration and deference.

Thank you