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http://strikingattheroots.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/supporting-animal-rights-prisoners/

Supporting Animal Rights Prisoners

February 9, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: Aaron Zellhoefer, AbolitionistOnline, Andy Stepanian, Animal activism, Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act,Animal Liberation Front Supporters Group, Animal Liberation Victoria,Association Against Animal Factories, Bite Back, Bruce Friedrich, DallasRising, Elmar Völkl, Jo-Ann Brown, Lauren Gazzola, PETA, Peter Young, prisonersupport, SHAC, Shannon Keith, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, Support Vegans inthe Prison System, vegan, Vegan Prisoners Support Group, Verein gegenTierfabriken, VGT

When 10 activists from Austria’s Association Against Animal Factories(“Verein gegen Tierfabriken,” or VGT) were arrested in May 2008 andcharged with “suspected forming of a criminal organization in connectionwith direct animal right actions,” activists around the world were quickto show their support. Animal Liberation Victoria even carried out an openrescue in solidarity with the prisoners, saving 13 hens from a battery-eggoperation in June. All the attention shined a spotlight on the Austriangovernment, which released the activists in September. Clearly, in an age whenthe Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act can become law with hardly an objectionfrom lawmakers, anyone might find themselves behind bars for voicing an opinionnot in step with the status quo.

“It’s important for us to be vocal and active about supportingpeople who have been incarcerated for defending animals ― or even justspeaking out in their defense ― because it relays a clear message thatthe people abusing animals are the real criminals, not the people trying toprotect them,” says Dallas Rising, president of Support Vegans in thePrison System (Support VIPS). “Supporting political prisoners of any kindmakes a difference for the individual, but especially for animal rightsactivists. The average animal rights prisoner has very little in common withthe general prison population, so having a connection to people who share asimilar value system can be very important to people who are isolated, boredand frustrated by the lack of meaningful exchange in theirenvironment.”

Peter Young, who served two years in federal prison for liberating animalsfrom several fur farms in 1997, believes that supporting humans in prison sendsa strong message to activists that there is a safety net for them if they arecaught engaging in illegal actions on behalf of non-human animals. “Thispeace of mind makes the work of people fighting for animals under darkness mucheasier,” he says. “I have also found the stories of animal rightsprisoners to be powerful outreach. These stories of people breaking the law tosave animals raise the bar and bring those new to the issue a sense that ifother people are willing to break the law to save animals, the least they cando is be vegan.”

There are many ways to help imprisoned activists, and providing a littlesupport to someone facing years in jail can buoy that person’s morale andnurture solidarity in the movement. I am going to focus on five main methods:writing letters, sending books, visiting, helping vegan inmates get plant-basedfood and providing financial support (sending money, helping with legalexpenses, etc.).

The first step is knowing where inmates are, and the easiest place to findaddresses for animal activists serving time is the Internet:

* Bite Back magazine maintains a list of prisoners that the publisherupdates weekly.

* The Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) site lists activists currentlyserving sentences for their actions against Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS).

* The Vegan Prisoners Support Group lists inmates in the UK (includingSHAC).

* A SHAC7 support site in the US is also worth checking out.

Writing Letters

Cards and letters are paramount to relieving an inmate’s feeling ofisolation; however, all mail is opened and read by prison officials, sodon’t write anything that may cause problems for the prisoner.“Depending on the prisoner, do not discuss the case or anything relatedto the case,” advises attorney Shannon Keith, who has represented anumber of animal rights activists and campaigns, including SHAC and SeaShepherd. “Do not discuss your feelings about whether the person isinnocent or guilty.” She also says that most prisons do not acceptanything other than letters and photos. “So, no stickers ―especially no animal rights stickers. No pictures depicting protests.”

Dallas cautions supporters not to take it personally if the inmatedoesn’t respond. “It is not about you,” she says.“Don’t get upset if the person doesn’t write back to you,especially if they didn’t know you before going in. And even if they didknow you, they may not have the mental or emotional energy to write back. Orthey simply may not have the time.”

Unless you’re lucky enough to have unlimited time and resources,commit to writing just one or two inmates, and do it consistently.

Here are a few more letter-writing do’s and don’ts.

DO:

* Write on both sides of the paper.

* Write your address on the letter or card.

* Number the pages of your letter.

* Make sure the content of any photos you sent is appropriate; write theinmate’s name and prisoner ID number on the back of photos.

* Let imprisoned activists know about animal activism going on around theworld.

DON’T:

* Send currency.

* Send stamps, envelopes, blank paper or blank note cards.

* Tape your envelope closed.

* Include paperclips, staples or other metal objects inside your letter.

* Send food or care packages.

* Send photographs larger than 4”x6”. No Polaroid photos.

* Write “legal mail” on the envelope or anything in your letterthat implies you are an attorney.

“Letters to a prisoner can be like anchors or lifelines to the outsideworld,” says Andy Stepanian, who served two years and seven months inprison for “conspiracy to violate the Animal Enterprise ProtectionAct” as part of the SHAC campaign (he was released in December 2008).“Although my mail was vetted for content, I still received bundles ofletters, and every time I did I felt like I could hold my head a little higher.The letters reminded me of where I came from and what I was fightingfor.”

Sending Books

Most inmates appreciate receiving books, since reading is one way to passthe time behind bars. It’s a good idea to write to the prisoner first toconfirm he or she can receive books; you can also ask what kinds of books theywould like to read.

Books sent to most prisons must be new and with a soft cover (paperback);hardcover books will either be refused or prison officials will tear off thecovers before passing the book on to the inmate. Unfortunately, many prisonswill not permit you to mail a book to an inmate yourself; instead, books mustbe sent either directly from the publisher or through an online retailer suchas Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Prisoners are often able to list books they would like to receive onAmazon’s Wish List section (just search the inmate’s name), orthrough a support group Web site.

Visiting Inmates

Each US federal prison has set up certain days and times ― visitinghours — for family and friends to visit inmates. The inmate you plan tovisit should tell you what the hours are for that prison. But you can’tsimply show up and expect to see an inmate.

“Most prisons require that you be accepted and on an approved listfirst, so before you take your trip to the prison, call to make sure you do nothave to be approved first,” says Shannon. “If so, mail the prisonerand ask them to fill out a form for your visit. You will receive an approvallater, and then you can visit as you please during visiting hours. Whenvisiting, know that you are being watched and possibly recorded. Avoiddiscussing legally sensitive subjects. Dress appropriately.”

In the UK, visiting a convicted prisoner requires you to first have avisiting order (a “VO”); these are generally issued to inmates oncea month, and he or she will mail it to you. Depending on the prisoner, visitsare one to two hours, and prisoners may be allowed between two and fourvisitors a month. For more information on Visiting inmates in the UK, clickhere.

Vegan Food

If a city or county jail is denying a prisoner access to vegan meals, a fewphone calls to the warden can help, says Dallas. “There’s not a lotpeople can do to help make sure a vegan is getting good food in a federalprison, but in a jail, phone calls matter a lot.”

Peter agrees. “Mob-action phone calls work,” he says. “Youcan’t overstate how concerned most jailers are with outside scrutiny. Ihave never had a problem with food that 100 phone calls in six hours did notfix. One jail was so concerned about the perceived threat of angry activiststhey sent a sheriff to the supermarket each morning, with a shopping list Iwrote with my own hand.”

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals can help with prisons.PETA’s Bruce Friedrich says it is best if the judge orders the prison toprovide vegan food before the convicted vegan heads to jail. “If yourjudge orders it, you’re set.” Failing that, family and friends onthe outside can help by contacting PETA. “PETA is always ready to work toget vegan food for anyone who is having trouble,” says Bruce.

Although prisons may not be known for their vegan fare, some havesurprisingly good plant-based food options, including lentil shepherd’spie, vegan pizza, veggie burgers and mock meats. Here is PETA’s list ofthe top 10 veg-friendly US prisons.

Financial Support

Prisoners must pay for envelopes, postage stamps, phone cards and othernecessities. They may even have to buy their own vegan food from the prisoncommissary. They probably also have legal fees. All these expenses can beoffset with a fundraising effort managed by friends on the outside. Someorganizations, like SHAC, set these up and allow people to donate online.Moreover, they raise funds through benefit concerts, film screenings andproduct sales.

“Fundraising for costly legal fees is always appreciated,” saysDallas. “As a bonus, you automatically have something to writeabout.”

You can also support inmates by sending money directly to their commissaryaccount. The US Bureau of Prisons has a system to maintain an inmate’smonies while he or she is incarcerated. Family, friends or other sources maydeposit funds into these accounts. For details on options for depositing fundsinto a prisoner’s account, click here.

You might also consider money-transfer services like JPay that allow you toget funds to a prisoner the next business day.

Other Resources

Prisoner Support Groups

SVIPS – United States

Founded by Dallas Rising, Peter Young and Aaron Zellhoefer, Support Vegansin the Prison System (SVIPS) assists prisoners needing vegan food, toiletriesand general support.

VPSG – United Kingdom

Vegan Prisoners Support Group (VPSG) helps prisoners obtain vegan food,vegan toiletries and vegan footwear. British animal rights activist Jo-AnnBrown formed the group in 1994 to aid activist Keith Mann. Since then,VPSG’s work has grown, and it has been called upon to advise on disputesbetween prisoners and the prison service relating to vegan diets. Though basedin the UK, VPSG supports prisoners in other countries. While incarcerated inAustria last August, for example, VGT activist Elmar Völkl wrote: “TheVegan Prisoner Support Group work must have been very good, because from thefirst day I got vegan food (on the first day I didn’t get anything),although I didn’t ever mention the word ‘vegan’once!”

ALFSG – United Kingdom

The Animal Liberation Front Supporters Group (ALFSG) is a legal,above-ground organization that provides financial and practical support tothose who find themselves in prison as part of the movement.

Advice from Prisoners of Conscience

Peter Young gave a talk on prisoner support at last year’s Let Liveconference, and it’s definitely worth checking out.

SHAC activist Lauren Gazzola believes no form of support is better thanactivists staying active. Lauren, now serving a four-year, four-month sentenceat a federal prison in Connecticut, told Abolitionist Online: “[T]oeveryone who has written, sent books, donated, or done any other form of directsupport, please know that the best form of support we can receive is vicarious― please get out and fight for the animals. Step up your efforts, nomatter where you currently stand in your activism ― take one stepfurther, inspired by the SHAC7, and make our conviction a victory for theanimals.”

“It’s easy to get lost in prison,” says Andy. “Lostin solitude, despair or other negative sentiments. Letters and outside supporthelp pull you out of that space and strengthen you, make you whole.” Andyencourages people on the outside not to be deterred if they don’t knowwhat to write about. “What many fail to understand is that the prisoner is just eager to make contact, to hear good news about movement victories or reconnect with an old friend. If you are a stranger, don’t feel discouraged. I can speak from firsthand experience that on some of my worst days while imprisoned, it was the words of a stranger that helped me trudge through another day. Something as simple as describing a beautiful day outside may mean the world to a prisoner at that moment when they open your envelope.”

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/06/19/inmate_wins_case_vs_state_over_diet/

Fourteen years ago, Henry K. Boateng was sentenced to life in prison without parole after a Worcester jury convicted him of beating his 5-week-old son to death and viciously attacking the baby's mother.

Now, Boateng, who has changed his name to Daniel Yeboah-Sefah and identifies himself as a Buddhist, has won a significant legal victory: A federal judge found that the state prison system violated his civil rights by denying him a vegan diet.

US Chief District Judge Mark L. Wolf concluded that the system violated a 2000 federal statute that protects religious freedom in prison. In a judgment entered Tuesday, Wolf ordered the head of the system, beginning Friday, to provide the inmate at the Old Colony Correctional Center at Bridgewater with a vegan diet that hews to his religious beliefs.

Although the prison system had offered Yeboah-Sefah a standard vegetarian diet, he has spent nearly a decade unsuccessfully seeking a vegan diet that excludes all animal products, including eggs and milk products.

Yeboah-Sefah's lawyer, Beverly B. Chorbajian, said her client was pleased by the decision, which Wolf reached following a nonjury trial.

"The statute is designed to protect these people who are stuck in institutionalized settings," said Chorbajian, a Worcester lawyer. "We're all free to change our behavior or do things to accommodate our own religious practices. They are not."

Steve Kenneway, president of the 4,500-member state correction officers' union, condemned the lawsuit as an example of when inmates "manipulate the system."

"How does a person's religious diet become a priority with what goes on in the prison system?" he said. "I'm shocked that it got to a federal court. Religious rights are very important, but this is an inmate who murdered his child."

Because Yeboah-Sefah could not be sure that standard vegetarian meals in the prison did not contain trace animal products, he has relied heavily on beans and rice that he bought at the prison canteen, his lawyer said.

Diane Wiffin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Correction, said the prison system will not appeal the ruling, although lawyers for the state asked Wolf yesterday to postpone the starting date until Aug. 1.

"We thought we had met his dietary needs," Wiffin said. "The chief judge disagreed. We will comply."

Chorbajian said the prison plans to serve her client prepackaged vegan meals, including soy milk, supplied by a vendor. Jewish inmates with kosher diets receive similar prepackaged meals, she said.

Wolf's ruling was not the first time a court in Massachusetts has sided with inmates on dietary issues stemming from religious concerns.

In 2006, the Supreme Judicial Court unanimously ruled that the prison system had failed to justify denying special meats to a Muslim inmate on Islamic feast days.

Two months ago, US District Judge Richard G. Stearns ruled that by not providing daily halal meals to two Muslim inmates, the prison system violated the 2000 federal statute.

In the case of Yeboah-Sefah, Wolf did side with the prison in another claim. The judge ruled that the prison had not violated the inmate's rights by denying him a meditation cushion and pillow, called a zabuton and a zafu, for use in his cell.

Yeboah-Sefah had contended that he needed the items to pray and meditate at least 2 1/2 hours a day. Prison officials, however, testified that the cushion and pillow could be used to hide contraband.

They also said that they give Buddhist inmates access to such items in group meditation sessions in a classroom once a week. If Yeboah-Sefah wants to meditate more often, they said, he can use his prison-issued pillow and mattress.

As Henry Boateng, Yeboah-Sefah was convicted in Worcester Superior Court in the Oct. 25, 1992, beating death of his son, Jameel Moore, and the beating of the baby's mother, Alecia Moore, in the couple's Worcester apartment.

In her trial testimony, Moore said Boateng attacked her after she asked him to move out. She said he kicked her, punched her in the face, and bit her nose.

Then, she said, he took the infant from the bedroom, threw him onto the hardwood floor, and repeatedly stomped and kicked him.

Boateng's lawyer, John H. LaChance, contended that his client was not guilty by reason of insanity.

A psychiatrist called by the defense testified that Boateng probably suffered from "schizoaffective disorder" or possibly a "major depressive disorder with psychotic features" at the time,

After spending several years in prison, Yeboah-Sefah became a practitioner of the Quan-Yin Pure Land Method of Buddhist religious beliefs, according to a federal complaint he filed in 2002.

During the federal civil trial, Chorbajian presented three specialists on Buddhism, who "explained why it was wrong to consume food derived from animals and explained the concept of karma and suffering," she said.

Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at [email protected] .

Recent Victory in Canada!

Article in Vancouver Sun

Human rights complaint forces prisons to provide vegan meals

Jennifer Miller
Vancouver Sun

May 14, 2005

Lentils, beans and tofu -- all the staples of a vegan diet -- will soon be available to prisoners in B.C. jails, after two inmates took their food fight to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.

Keith Maydak, who served two years in B.C. Corrections facilities, and Robert Anderson, currently incarcerated in Kamloops, began the action after being denied their request for a vegan diet. Vegans don't eat any animal products, including meat, eggs, cheese and other dairy products.

While he was at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre in Maple Ridge for a week in 2002, Maydak refused to eat because staff would not meet his vegan needs, Maydak said Friday in an interview from a prison in Ohio where he is serving time for fraud and parole violation charges.

The prison offered a vegetarian option, but it included eggs and cheese, which Maydak said are "against his religion." He tried to refuse the trays of food at mealtimes, but was told he would be put in segregation if he didn't eat. So he accepted the trays and gave the food to other inmates. He was transferred to the North Fraser Pretrial Centre in Port Coquitlam, where the staff were willing to provide him with a vegan diet. Maydak said it was the only B.C. corrections facility to offer the option.

While serving time at North Fraser, Maydak met Anderson, who was later transferred to Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre.

After his arrival in Kamloops, Anderson wrote to Maydak saying he could not get a vegan diet in the Kamloops facility. The two corresponded and decided to take their complaint to the Human Rights Tribunal.

Maydak said Anderson has been in the Kamloops facility for a year, serving time for credit card-related crimes, and trades his non-vegan foods for fruits and vegetables with the other inmates so he has enough to eat.

They have received a letter from the B.C. attorney-general's office saying the process is underway to offer vegan meals to inmates within the month.

Maydak said he will withdraw his action when he confirms inmates have been made aware of the vegan option.

"[That] is a problem -- they offer things and don't tell the inmates."

A human rights tribunal hearing is scheduled for June 14-16 if the complaints are not dropped.

Maydak spent eight years fighting the U.S. federal prison system to win the right to a vegan diet.

This is not the first time B.C. Corrections has received attention for meal options offered to prisoners.

Accused eco-terrorist and current B.C. inmate Tre Arrow -- also known as Michael Scarpitti -- went down to 38.5 kilograms (about 85 pounds) last summer after being refused a raw food diet. He received media attention after being put in solitary confinement for hoarding zucchini, apples and bananas in his cell.

Prisoners aren't allowed to keep raw produce in their cells because they can be fermented to produce alcohol.

Arrow's lawyer said in September that his client is now receiving a raw food diet from corrections staff. Arrow is in prison awaiting a June extradition hearing on charges of firebombing logging trucks in Oregon in 2001.

On a federal level, Corrections Canada offers special diets to inmates who have religious or moral requirements, according to spokeswoman Cari Turi. Vegetarian and vegan options are available, as well as other religious diets like halal, a special Muslim diet.

CORRECTIONS CANADA DIET

A sample menu for those on vegan diets:

BREAKFAST
1/2 grapefruit
175 mL hot oatmeal / 1 bran muffin
20 mL peanut butter
5 mL margarine

LUNCH
125 mL broccoli, carrots, celery
125 mL tofu
250 mL steamed rice
50 mL sesame seeds
1 orange

SUPPER
125 mL tomato juice
125 mL potato
300 mL baked beans in tomato sauce
2 slices wholewheat bread
2 mL peanut butter
125 mL Brussels sprouts, cooked

SNACK
1 banana
6 soda crackers
1 slice wholewheat bread
jam

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