On June 27, the 66-year-old Leonard Peltier was thrown in "The Hole" at USP-Lewisburg where he purportedly will stay for the next sixty days or longer.  According to what is currently known, Leonard's cell was searched that day.  A guard allegedly was shocked by a wire(s) in the cell, placed there a long while ago by one of Leonard's former cellmates.  The guard claimed "assault" (apparently he didn't know better than to touch an electrical wire).  Leonard wasn't present during the search, having already been removed to "The Hole". 

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Click on the below images to read the official Incident Report.  Please note that the prison failed to detect the money sent to Leonard by a supporter and now blames Leonard for being in possession of the 20£ note.  Also please note the placement of the wires in the cell as described by the guard.  Leonard does not sleep on the top bunk and while the guard indicates that Leonard currently does not have a cellmate, it is also true that Leonard has had a cellmate in that particular cell from time to time.

    

Download (PDF)

 

Attention Supporters:  For information on what you can and cannot send to Leonard Peltier, click here.

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The BOP's disciplinary procedures do not allow for legal representation for an accused prisoner.  A prisoner is tried, convicted, and sentenced without due process.  Prison authorities claim that thorough, professional investigations are conducted in such instances, but the cards are stacked against a prisoner when a guard is involved because the statement of a guard is always given more weight. 

Further, the culture inside is one of collective or group punishment.  Every prisoner, that is, is deemed responsible for the actions of another prisoner. 

Leonard is no stranger to "The Hole."  In the 1980s, at USP-Marion, Leonard and others protested their ill treatment by prison authorities, including infringement of Native prisoners' religious rights.  This led to the infamous lock down of the prison that persists to this day.  Sadly, Marion has become a model within the federal prison system despite these conditions being widely considered inhumane:  life in a six by eight foot cell for 23 to 24 hours a day and no human contact allowed.  Leonard served 18 months in "The Hole" at Marion and was often severely beaten.  The isolation alone was torture.  Leonard wrote his name on the cell floor during those dark days so that when the cell door was opened and a shaft of light filled the cell, he could read what he had written and remember who he was.

Leonard was imprisoned at USP-Leavenworth when a riot occurred there on July 5, 1992.  A race-related incident, Leonard and other Indigenous prisoners were trapped in the auditorium where the riot occurred.  At Leonard's direction, the Indigenous prisoners gathered together away from the melee and didn't participate in the resulting violence.  He was thrown in "The Hole," then too--falsely accused of having participated in and perhaps instigating the riot.

Friends and supporters, in the spirit of the promise of justice for all, we must liberate Leonard Peltier.  Call the BOP to protest the prison’s actions against Peltier.  Please send e-mails, write letters and call BOP every single day.  Solitary confinement is torture.  Tell the BOP that the world is watching and we’re horrified by its inhumane treatment of prisoners, in general, and Leonard Peltier, in particular.

Make reference to Leonard Peltier #89637-132 and contact:

If calling from outside the United States, dial first the International Area Code + 1 (US country code).

Communicate the same message to the director for the BOP's Northeast Region, Joe Norwood.  Again, reference Leonard Peltier #89637-132, a prisoner at USP-Lewisburg.

Northeast Regional Office

Federal Bureau of Prisons

2nd & Chesnut Streets, 7th Floor

Philadelphia, PA 19106

Phone: 215-521-7301

E-mail:  NERO/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV

The White House

Demand that Leonard Peltier be freed.  The injustice to which this man has been subjected for over 35 years must end!  Flood the White House with letters, e-mails, faxes, and telephone calls:

President Barack H. Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC  20500

Phone Numbers - If calling from outside the United States, dial first the International Area Code + 1 (US country code)

Comment Line:  (202) 456-1111

Switchboard:  (202) 456-1414 (Ask to be connected with the Comment Line)

Fax:  (202) 456-2461

E-Mail:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

To send a telegram:

President Barack Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC  20500

EE.UU.

Members of Congress

In the coming weeks, contact your Members of Congress.  Urge them to investigate the BOP's current actions, as well as the entire Peltier case and the events that took place on the Pine Ridge reservation in the 1970s.  A congressional investigation is long overdue.   Demand that Congress take action on Leonard's behalf. 

Don't take "no" for an answer. Don't let your Members of Congress fall back on the position that Leonard isn't his/her constituent.  Members of Congress take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution and the rights of ALL.  That includes Leonard Peltier.

We encourage you to contact your legislators at both their local offices and their offices in Washington, DC. Contact information for local offices can be located on members' web sites, accessible through the below House and Senate portals.

• U.S. House of Representatives

• U.S. Senate

Thank you for all you do on Mr. Peltier's behalf.

http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/alert.htm

July 18, 2011