99Problems.org Presents … Darrell Jones

Check this out folks … this is crazy moving:

This video is based on the writings of Massachusetts inmate Darrell Jones. Since his incarceration, Mr. Jones has maintained his innocence and spent the last 23 years fighting to stop the devastating cycle of violence and incarceration he is witnessing. This video is about hope and responsibility on an individual and government level . If the men and women behind bars think that no one expects more of them, if they believe that this great “change” Obama spoke of meant everyone else but them, the results are disastrous. Without hope, the prisons are currently breeding violence, racism and anger to be released back into our streets (97% of men come back out) fueling this endless cycle of violence and incarceration. If Obama is able to address terrorists and school children alike, then why not this prison system when it is holding so many of our people?

Here’s one excerpt from Darrell’s letter, to show its resonance and unique perspective:

Mr. President, I once read in a news article that listed the top music artists you had on your iPod. Among them, it listed Jay Z. Well, with 24 years in prison, I’ve never seen an iPod, and neither have many of the men around me, but I do know that daily I see many very young males walking around me with “Spiritual iPods” that are playing in their ears, the songs of Notorious B.I.G. singing the words “You’re nobody unless somebody kills you”. Yet two things are clear, sadly, Biggie did become bigger in death, and that many of these kids who have never seen their families together during a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner meet them for the first time in a casket with their eyes closed at a funeral. So, what troubles me is not so much that they’re willing to die, but that they don’t even want to leave here (prison) and get back to living.

For more information and to read the full letter or to contact Darrell directly, please go to www.obamaanswerthis.com.

Posted by:

The Editor

The Execution of An Innocent Man

“The only statement I want to make is that I am an innocent man – convicted of a crime I did not commit. I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did not do. From God’s dust I came and to dust I will return – so the earth shall become my throne.”

Cameron T. Willingham, moments before his execution, Feburary 17th, 2004.

Cameron T. Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004. A man running from a past checkered with stints in rehab for drugs and alcohol, he was found guilty of burning down the home which he shared with his wife and three children. The children were killed from smoke inhalation, inside the home, as Willingham was outside.

Accounts of what happened on that fateful day in 1992 tend to vary. Some say that Willingham had to be restrained as he attempted to run into the blaze to save his children; others say that he stood calmly on the lawn as the blaze picked up and his children burned alive. However, a new report from the New Yorker reveals that – without a shadow of a doubt – Willingham was not guilty.
… Continue Reading

Posted by:

Steve Romain

20 Years To Life… And Innocent

As we have highlighted in past posts, the prison system in America is huge, incredibly flawed and extremely industrialized. However, there is a note we haven’t touched on yet: what about people who have been imprisoned for crimes they have not committed?

Take, for instance, the case highlighted above: Herman Adkins was sentenced to 42 years in prison, and served 12 before he was proven innocent by retrial. Allow me to reiterate this: He spent 12 years behind bars, away from his family, friends and loved ones for NO REASON other than witness misidentification.

What can we do to stop this? The people at the Innocence Project, as well as other organizations in the Innocence Network, dedicate their lives and resources to ensuring a fair trial for all, by bringing new technologies such as DNA testing to older cases. The work that these organizations are doing is unparalleled and extremely necessary in modern America. We must do our best work to ensure that no voice – no matter how frail – is unnecessarily silenced.

Posted by:

Steve Romain