Dan Noyes did an interview over the phone with Josh and broadcast it tonight on the 6 o’clock news. You can get it off the net. He is planning to do a more indepth report tomorrow, 9-01-06. Liz
Josh will be released soon, on bail, from Dublin FDC. I am so happy and excited. We haven’t heard anything on the actual appeal yet, but this is great news. Soon he will be posting directly to his blog. Thank you all, thank you all, thank you all for your support, financially, emotionally, prayerfully. Please keep those prayers coming for this case to be dismissed as totally bogus, which it is.
Thanks again,
Liz (Josh’s mom)
Perhaps one of the most enlightening aspects of my incarceration in Dublin are the jailhouse stories I have been hearing from my fellow prisoners — many are tragic, some are inspiring, but almost all of them are fascinating.
One of the more newsworthy reports that have recently been brought to my attention is related to the Santa Clara County Jail in San Jose. According to a confidential source, whom we will refer to as Jose Enriquez, while he was held at the San Jose facility he was held in P.C. without just cause.
About now, you might be asking yourself, “What does P.C. mean?” Well, in this context P.C. stands for protective custody and it is customarily reserved for inmates who would be susceptible to retaliation: child molesters, snitches, and in the case of Mr. Enriquez, an alleged association with the Sureños. According to Enriquez, the Santa Clara County Jail is the only facility which isolates Sureños and places them in protective custody; obviously I am unable to confirm this while incarcerated.
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In a recent post on my blog, I told the story of Scott Heineman and Kurt Johnson whose business activities as the Dorean Group are currently embroiled in a legal battle with the Federal government. I’m pleased to report that they are no longer being held in isolation and are in good spirits as they get ready for their next court date which will take place at the San Francisco Federal Building on September 5th.
On a related note, I need to clarify a misunderstanding regarding an earlier statement that Judge Alsup had recused himself from this case; this is not true, although Heineman and Johnson were under the impression when the previous post were authored. For more details regarding hos this confusion came about, please visit their blog.
My pen is a knife
Stabbing at the bitter truth
My camera is a gun
Shooting reality at 30 frames-per-second.
And my voice is a cannon
Booming into the night, a rallying cry.
I am a prisoner of war.
Captured in the campaign to destroy the press.
A political prisoner accused of no crime,
Another casualty in a civil war for civil liberties.
I finally got to see Josh. He is doing well and maintaining a positive spirit, while hoping that the 9th Circuit will grant him bail. If they don’t he should have their decision on his case by September 4. He is becoming very concerned about the injustice he sees in the justice system, as many people he meets will face many long years in jail for non-violent drug offenses. He is making friends in prison and is working to find ways for people in prison to communicate more with people outside of prison.
Two great fundraisers have happened. Saturday August 19th was a wonderful fund raiser organized by Harlan Harrison, Krissy Keefer, Julian Davis, H. Brown and others, including Diamond Dave and his son who did a poetry and music duet. Carlos Villareal, the director of the Bay Area National Lawyers Guild spoke about Josh’s case. Many media people were in attendance, including Dan Noyes from KGO, Bruce Brugman from the Bay Guardian, Richard Knee from the freelance writers and journalists, Jeff Perlstein from Media Alliance, H. Brown and Michael Stoll the local Northern California Representative from the Society for Professional Journalists. Over $1200 was donated by all the generous and concerned people who attended. Thank you so much on Josh’s behalf. I also want to thank the people who put on the Tranceportal Dance benefit as they donated $350 from that event. Josh wants all events to be donation only so that no one is turned away for lack of funds. I have reservations to return on September 9, but I am hoping it will be a trip to visit Josh, not to visit him in jail. Keep those prayers and good thoughts coming as we await the decision from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Thanks, everyone.
From Liz
Well, I finally got approval to go see Josh. I’m eagerly looking forward to the trip. Only immediate family can visit him and then only for an hour, so I’m hoping to visit him both Saturday and Sunday before heading back to Southern California, where my life as a third grade teacher has resumed with full force since August 17, the first day of school.
I will be at the fundraiser tomorrow, along with my brother, Peter, who had hoped to also visit Josh, but was turned down, as “uncle” isn’t in the definition of immediate family. Thanks to all of you who have been donating to the fund. Along with the $1000 we got from the Society for Professional Journalists and the $1000 we got from Reporters Without Borders, we have raised about half the money we need for legal costs and also to keep Josh in commissary funds and phone call money. Thanks everybody for your support during this difficult time.
Update (8/20): On August 15th, Kurt and Scott spent the day in court. Upon their return, they were immediately placed in the SHU (special housing unit) and are being held in isolation. As a result, I have been unable to find out what transpired during their day in court.
It’s 12 o’clock and today’s lunch has yet to arrive. I know what you’re thinking. So what? Well, I’ll tell you, at this facility, lunch is usually served by 10:30-11 at the latest, and there seems to be something in the air.
I had an interview with Michelle Meyers from CNet this morning, and the jail administrator, who oversees these media interviews, seemed more than a bit distracted. Our strict 15-minute interview bloomed into a 20-minute affair; in the past these were overseen with Swiss precision, but that was certainly not the case this morning.
Following the interview, I went out to the rec yard and witnessed Kurt Johnson refusing to accept a bundle of mail that had been handed to him by Counselor Rivas. Rivas insisted and when Kurt threw the package to the floor, the counselor threatened him with littering.
No, today does not appear to be an ordinary day. I decided to check-in with Kurt and his co-defendant to see if I could assess what all the fuss was about.
Josh’s wiki now has the opening brief for his appeal as well as its accompanying amicus brief provided by the RCFP:
http://freejosh.pbwiki.com/Legal%20Documents
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