10/1/09

 Please help stop the human rights violations of my daughters Jamie and Gladys Scott.

Jamie Scott of the Scott Sisters continues to have all of the privileges revoked that she earned over almost 15 yrs. of unjust incarceration simply for going into the gym to use the bathroom without authorization.  She remains isolated from all activities within the prison.  Despite her efforts to seek relief, she has been unable to regain those privileges due to harassment from Deputy Warden Winkel.  Jamie has been a model inmate in every aspect of prison life with no write-ups for all of these years.  In fact, Vocational Education Director, Pat Owen, wrote of Jamie's work as a tutor in the literacy program: "Inmate Scott has proven herself to be dependable, hard working, and conscientious.  She has demonstrated much patience and compassion in working with lower-level students. Her work at the school has been exemplary."
 
9/09 -- JAMIE SCOTT SPEAKS about the circumstances surrounding the removal of her privileges and transfer to a more punitive building. Jamie Scott #19197 - CMCF2/ A-Bldg. - B Zone, Bed 196 - P. O. Box 88550 - Pearl, MS 39288-8550
 
I have been on the grounds of CMCF for 15 years.  Everyone thinks when you come to prison, you come to be rehabilitated.  Well, that's a lie. Policy 20-05 states we are not to be discriminated against.  Let's be real.  Policy is a joke around here.  Some correctional staff  are abusive with their authority. 

Things happen here and the inmates are not always at fault, but we receive the punishment for it.  For example, I was locked down on June 23 for being in an unauthorized area.  Now, this area was the gym, a place that was supposed to be locked.  I was locked down for 23 days and received an Rule Violation Report (RVR) after 22 days.  Policy 18-01-01 says that you have 24 hours to write a Rule Violation Report after an incident happens.  On my detention notice, it clearly states that Warden Winkel observed me in the gym.  She locked me down and served me the RVR after 22 days stating, "Upon completion of the investigation, it was determined that I was in an unauthorized area."  This is not true because it was determined on June 23, 2009 at 5:20 p.m.  Deputy Winkel used her position and authority to pay me back for an incident that happened when she was under investigation.  She made me do 23 days in lock down, took away my custody level and took away any job I had.  Many inmates have gone to lock down for worse offenses, came back out, and went back to the school and to work.

Commissioner Christopher Epps has no clue what really goes on in this facility.  When he visits the prison, they cover a lot of things up, so he won't find out. The gym is supposed to be for us, the inmates, but we have not had gym call in months.  It's not because the Director, Richard Caston, won't let us, but because some of the staff use the gym to exercise, for their personal use. Years ago, Deputy Warden Winkel and Offender Michelle Carter were under investigation.  Ms. Winkel was taken off of the 1A side of the prison due to the investigation.   

I was wrong for being in the gym, and I admit that.  I deserve to be treated fairly like any other offender.  Policy is supposed to apply to all inmates equally.   I have had no history of disciplinary problems fro 15 years.  I have even been banned from Choir practice and the Tour Speaking Group.  The Deputy Warden and Lt. Burton have ordered the supervisor to terminate me from the church.  Policy 20-05-01 states that inmates have a right not to be discriminated against and that staff will not subject offenders from personal abuse or harassment [4-4281]. I served my 23 days in lock down, but to take my custody level down and then tell staff members I can't work anymore is just cruel and unusual punishment, just like the sentence that my sister and I received. 

Please contact the following officials and ask that Jamie Scott's human rights be reinstated, and she and her sister be released from prison.  The excessive punishment is part of a campaign of harassment by officials in the State of Mississippi, which has gone on far too long.  The United States of America is in no position to demand human rights for citizens of other countries, while they stand idly by and allow the human rights of their own citizens to be violated in the United States.  The United States and the State of Mississippi should be ashamed.  Please share any responses that you receive with me.
 
Thank you for your support.
 
Sincerely and Respectfully,
 
 
Evelyn Rasco, Mother of Jamie and Gladys Scott
 
 
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
 
Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20530-0001

202-353-1555

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Palais Wilson
52 rue des Pâquis
CH-1201 Geneva, Switzerland
Telephone: +41 22 917 90 00
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
 
Benjamin Todd Jealous
NAACP National Headquarters
4805 Mt. Hope Drive
Baltimore MD 21215
Toll Free: (877) NAACP-98

Reverend Al Sharpton
National Action Network
Crisis Department
106 W. 145th Street
Harlem, New York 10039
(212) 690-3070
(877) NAN-HOJ1
 
Reverend Jesse L. Jackson
RainbowPush Coalition
NationalHeadquarters
930 East 50th Street
Chicago, IL 60615-2702
ph: 773-373-3366

Margaret Bingham, Superintendent of Central Mississippi Corrections Facility
(601) 932-2880
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
FAX: (601) 664-0782
P.O. Box 88550
Pearl, Mississippi 39208

Christopher Epps, Commissioner of Prisons for the State of Mississippi
601-359-5600
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
723 North President Street
Jackson, MS  39202

Emmitt Sparkman, Deputy Commissioner
(601) 359-5610
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Governor Haley Barbour
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150

These politicians also need to receive information on the Scott Sisters because they are among their constituents:

Congressman Bennie Thompsom
Washington, D.C.  Office
2432 Rayburn HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-5876
(202) 225-5898 (Fax)
Jackson, Mississippi Office
3607 Medgar Evers Blvd
Jackson, MS 39213
(601) 946-9003
(601)-982-5337 (Fax)

Congressman Alcee L. Hastings
Washington Office
2353 Rayburn Office Building
Washington D.C. 20515
Tel: (202) 225-1313
Fax: (202) 225-1171

Congressman Jeff Miller
Washington D.C.
2439 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington DC  20515
Phone: (202) 225-4136
Fax: (202) 225-3414
Toll Free Phone Number to District Office
Pensacola, Florida 
Phone: 866-367-1614

FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS!
http://www.freethescottsisters.blogspot.com
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