CA Hunger Strike Continues to Spread

From Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity

The continued hunger strike that resumed on Monday, September 26th, is spreading rapidly throughout CA's prison system.

Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity has confirmed that at least 6,000 California prisoners in jails, General Population, Administrative Segregation (Ad-Seg/ASU) and Security Housing Units (SHUs) are hunger striking for the human rights of California's SHU-status prisoners.

We have confirmed prisoners are striking at Pelican Bay, Calipatria, CCI Tehachapi, Centinela, Corcoran, Chuckawalla Valley State Prison, and West Valley Detention Center.

Like in July, the CDCR is withholding any accurate numbers or information. What we do know is that the CDCR has upped retaliation.

The spreading strike and overwhelming international support for its demonstrate the seriousness of torture throughout the prison industrial complex:

It is no coincidence that the first round of the hunger strike started following the US Supreme Court's finding that CA's prison system is in violation of the 8th Amendment.

It's not surprising that the CDCR is criminalizing the strike and insisting that the hunger strikers are violent gang members that deserve to be tortured instead of addressing the real problems.

It's also not surprising that on the outside cities across CA are stepping up suppression policing tactics, such as gang injunctions, youth curfews and loitering ordinances, inevitably sweeping more people from working class communities of color into prison.

On top of all of that, the state's realignment plan gives us a huge opportunity to get people out of prison but also adds the threat of unprecedented jail construction to this landscape.

Given this "perfect storm," we can and must connect our struggles and to continue to vigorously defend our communities and unleash our will to resist and organize.

Spokane police kill suicidal man in armed standoff

SPOKANE, Wash. —

A man who made suicidal statements was shot to death by police after a standoff, the Spokane Police Department said.

The man, identified by his family as James Edward Rogers, 45, had made suicidal threats Monday at his place of work, police said. He took off when police arrived and rolled his van at an intersection in the city's lower South Hill neighborhood. A SWAT team and negotiators responded.

Police spokeswoman Jennifer DeRuwe told The Spokesman-Review ( http://bit.ly/qFwvC4) that officers had to shoot because they were concerned about public safety.

"He was posing a threat to the community because he was armed," DeRuwe told the newspaper. She couldn't say whether officers had been fired upon.

Neighbors told the newspaper the man had threatened officers from inside the van, claiming he was armed and warning that he had "plenty of ammo." They said police tried negotiating with him, at times using a megaphone, and urged him to surrender.

Shortly before 8:30 p.m., several rapid gunshots were heard. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

A team from the Spokane County Sheriff's Office, the Washington State Patrol and Spokane police will investigate the incident.

Police kill possible suspect in Salt Lake robbery

SALT LAKE CITY—

Salt Lake City police say a man was killed by officers at a downtown motel shortly after a botched robbery at a nearby vacuum cleaner repair shop.

It happened at 2:25 p.m. at the Colonial Motel, 1530 South Main. Police say several shots were fired inside a room at the motel and a male suspect, identified as 43-year-old Carl Hinshaw, was killed.

Salt Lake City Police spokesman Cary Wichmann says the shooting happened as police were looking for a suspect in connection with an attempted robbery at A-1 Vacuum Sales and Service on 1597 South Main Street. Wichmann says the officers confronted the man at the motel.

Business owner Dale Hedden says the suspect looked to be in his 30's, had short blond hair, and was wearing a mask and a hooded sweatshirt.

Hedden says he scared the suspect off after the suspect told him the gun he was using "wasn't real." Hedden says the suspect told him he needed to feed his kids.

"I took off running back here to get my .38 [caliber handgun] off the bench and called the dog, the Rottweiler. And the Rottweiler comes tearing around here, and he sees the big dog and my gun and out the door he went," said Hedden.

Wichmann says no officers were injured and nobody else was involved.

Friends and family react after police kill teen

St. Petersburg, Florida - Friends and family say they're stunned after a popular 18-year-old who was having a few beers with a buddy was shot and killed by a St. Petersburg police officer.

But St. Petersburg police say Jared Speakman was armed with a gun and struggled to hand it over.

Candice Cuoco has grown up with Speakman. They attended elementary, middle and high school together. She says she's know him since she was five. Candice says, "Jared would never do something like that - ever."

Candice's mother Susan says Jared was like a son to her. "It doesn't make sense whatsoever. Drinking I can understand... kids go through that phase, but having a gun, that just totally blows my mind."

Speakman's uncle, Mark Johnston, says the teen dropped out of Boca Ciega High school last year and was working on his GED. Friends say Speakman dreamed of one day becoming a rapper and they called him "J-Speak."

But Speakman's dreams of becoming an artist changed after St. Petersburg Patrol Officer, Michael Weiskopf, spotted a suspicious car in a city park which closes after dark. It was around 1:40 in the morning on Monday. Officer Weiskopf called for back up.

When two other officers arrived, they say they found Speakman and another man sitting on a bench along the waterfront of Boca Ciega Bay. The officers questioned the men, but say Speakman questioned their authority to detain them. That's when one Officer attempted to pat Speakman down.

St. Petersburg Police spokesman Bill Proffitt says, "The officer felt the revolver in the man's pocket - at that point a struggle ensued."

Proffitt says one of the back up officers, Ruben DeJesus, spotted a .22 caliber gun sticking out of Speakman's pants. They struggled over the gun until Officer DeJesus shot Speakman several times, killing him.

At Speakman's home Monday afternoon, there was a constant crowd of friends and family. Many remembered the happy times but some say they can't stop wondering why he was armed.

Johnston says, "We don't even know where he got a gun. He's only 18. His uncle is a sheriff's officer, or was a sheriff's officer. He knows better than to carry a gun around, to fight with police or anything."

Susan Cuoco adds, "I hope everybody gets to the bottom of this. I really do, because there's no need to have an 18-year-old lose their life over something stupid like this."

None of the officers involved were hurt. Officer Ruben DeJesus has been on the force for 25 years. He's on paid administrative leave right now which the police department is standard in these types of cases.

The St. Petersburg Police Department and the Pinellas/Pasco State Attorney's Office are both conducting a criminal investigation into the shooting.

When the criminal investigations are complete, Pinellas/Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe will release his findings. Also, the St. Petersburg Police Department's Internal Affairs Division is conducting an administrative investigation to determine if there were any violations of Department policy.

Police shoot and kill suspect after car chase in Goshen

9/26/2011

Indiana State Police are investigating a police involved shooting that left one man dead.

This is after a high speed pursuit started in Goshen on Sunday night shortly after 10.

Authorities say an Elkhart County Police officer tried to stop a Ford pickup truck in the area of State Road 15 near County Road 40 for a traffic violation. As the officer walked up to the truck, the driver took off.

The deputy then went after the truck for several minutes, and was backed up by Goshen Police, once the chase entered the city limits. The pursuit lasted for about 10 minutes when the suspect crashed into two police cars and a building on East Lincoln. The building, which houses Faubion Plumbing, has extensive damage to a garage door and a wall.

A Goshen Police officer shot 47-year-old Melvin Bledsoe III of Goshen at the end of the pursuit. Now more information has been released, yet, on the events following the crash. Police are not releasing the name of the officer involved at this time.

"It's something you're never prepared for...it's just unusual that we'd have somebody shot and killed out here," said Greg Faubion, owner of Faubion Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning, the location where Bledsoe was shot and killed.

At this point police are not saying why the officer felt the need to fire his weapon.

Demonstrators in New Brunswick continue to protest fatal shooting of man by police

By Tom Haydon/The Star-Ledger

NEW BRUNSWICK — Protesters rallied outside New Brunswick City Hall this morning for the second day over the police shooting of a city man shortly after midnight Thursday.

"Justice for Barry, justice for all," the crowd of about 100 people shouted, referring to Barry Deloatch, the 47-year-old man shot by police about 12:12 a.m. Thursday in an alley on Throop Avenue at the corner of Handy Street.

Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan, in a statement Thursday, confirmed Deloatch was shot in "an incident" with police. However, Kaplan's office gave little other information and would not release details of Deloatch's wounds, or whether he was armed, or which officers were involved in the incident or the status of those officers.

New Brunswick residents demand answers to the shooting of Barry Deloatch New Brunswick residents demand answers to the shooting of Barry Deloatch Protesters rally around City Hall in New Brunswick angry about the death of Barry Deloatch who was shot and killed by a New Brunswick police officer on Wednesday. (Video by Patti Sapone / The Star-Ledger) Watch video
Deloatch's relatives say a witness told them that Barry Deloatch was shot as he was running away, leading family members to believe he was shot in the back. They also say he was not violent and was unarmed.

Barry's brother, Bennie Deloatch today dismissed reports of a police dispatch tape indicating Barry Deloatch threaten police with a stick and threatened or attacked officers.

"That's a bunch of malarkey. They're just fabricating a crime scene," Bennie Deloatch said at the rally today.

Family members say Barry Deloatch was sitting on front steps with another person about midnight Wednesday night when police approached. Deloatch ran around a corner and down an alley, and a witness heard two shots. Deloatch was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Deloatch's sister-in-law, Barbara Deloatch, said the hospital told relatives that Barry Deloatch was shot twice in the left side.

The prosecutor's office has said it is continuing the investigation.

Hunger Stike in California's Pelican Bay Security Housing Unit to Resume

From http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/.

On Monday, September 26th, prisoners at both Pelican Bay & Calipatria will resume the hunger strike to stop the torturous conditions of Security Housing Units (SHUs).

Prisoners first went on hunger strike on July 1st for nearly four weeks, until the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR) agreed to begin implementing some of the prisoners’ five core demands. The strike became one of the largest prison strikes in California history–stretching across a third of the California’s prisons (at least 13 State prisons), including more than 6,600 prisoners at its height. However, the CDCR’s response has been inadequate to say the least, giving prisoners & their families false hope of timely substantial change and an end to torture. For a detailed summary of the CDCR’s response to the strike, and why Pelican Bay prisoners are resuming it, read “Tortured SHU Prisoners Speak Out: The Struggle Continues.”

CDCR officials seem to be preemptively cracking down on prisoners in anticipation of the strike and have publicly said they were preparing to take harsh actions against strikers. Illustrating the CDCR’s hard-line stance, Undersecretary of Operations Scott Kernan said in a recent interview, “If there are other instances of hunger strikes, I don’t think the Department will approach it the same way this time around.”

Lawyers who have recently visited Pelican Bay have taken testimony from SHU prisoners who have been retaliated against by prison officials for their participation in this summer’s strike. “Prisoners are receiving serious disciplinary write-ups, usually reserved for serious rules violations, for things like talking in the library or not walking fast enough,” says Carol Strickman, a lawyer with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, “It’s clear that prison officials are trying to intimidate these men and to make them ineligible for any privileges or changes that may be forced by the strike.”

It’s these sorts of responses from the CDCR & forms of retaliation that show us prisoners are not recognized & treated as human beings, are constantly abused & tortured by the CDCR, and that the CDCR has no intention of stopping this. The prisoners clearly have no other recourse but to risk their lives, again.

Relatives of New Brunswick shooting victim allege he was running away when he was shot

By Tom Haydon/The Star-Ledger

NEW BRUNSWICK, [NJ] — Relatives of a New Brunswick man shot and killed by city police about midnight Wednesday night say he was running away from officers when he was fatally wounded.

Barry "Gene" Deloatch, 47, was shot twice in the side moments after he was approached by police on Throop Avenue near Handy Street, relatives said.

New Brunswick police declined to comment, referring all questions to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office. The prosecutor's office could not immediately be reached for comment this morning.

"I can't believe it. My brother should be here with us," said Barry Deloatch's older brother, Nate Deloatch, 52, of New Brunswick as he stood near the scene of the shooting on Throop Avenue.

Barry Deloatch was the third of four brothers. All of them were born in North Carolina and moved here with their parents as children.

Members of the Deloatch family received a telephone call about the shooting shortly after midnight.

Barry Deloatch's sister-in-law, Barbara Deloatch said her family received a call from another brother about 12:32 a.m. who said Barry had been shot.

She then spent harried minutes seeking information, first calling New Brunswick police, who confirmed there was a shooting but would not give her the name of the victim.

Barbara Deloatch then called Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, asked about Barry, and was told somebody would call her back. At that point Barbara and her husband, Tommie Deloatch, Barry's younger brother, went to the hospital and learned Barry Deloatch had died.

"The hospital told us he had been shot twice in the side," Barbara Deloatch said.

She and her husband then went to the scene.

During the night, Barbara Deloatch said, a witness to the shooting reached out to the Deloatch family, saying that Barry was fleeing when he was shot.

The witness, who Barbara Deloatch did not identify, said police had approached Barry Deloatch on Throop Avenue, and he ran around the corner with officers chasing him.

Then the witness heard two shots, she said.

"This is just a senseless shooting," Barbara Deloatch. "He was a really good guy, not a trouble maker," she said. She said her brother-in-law might have had a drug problem, but didn't deserve to be shot.

Barry Deloatch had two grown sons, both named Barry, relatives said. He was planning to marry his long-time girlfriend in January.

Nate Deloatch said his brother had graduated from New Brunswick High School and later worked there as security officer and on the maintenance staff. Barry Deloatch had also worked at a box factory in New Brunswick until it closed, family and friends said.