Mississippi has new medical examiner - WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS:

I certainly hope that this works out! It's been nearly 3 years since there has been an official "licensed" Forensic Medical Examiner in the state and more than 10 years since there was someone in that position that was actually paid by the State. Allegedly, Dr. Hayne was not board certified in forensic pathology and the state has had a backlog of cases for years. Finally since the debacle of Stephen Hayne, I hope that this will be a step in the right direction for MS. For more information on what happened with Dr. Hayne and his friend, Dr. Michael West, read Radley Balko's article "CSI Mississippi" in a prior post. The question remains, however, how many innocent people are sitting in prison based on faulty testimony of these 2 individuals and what is the state going to do to look into this?

Mississippi has new medical examiner - WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS:

Eligible for a Pardon Application???

No, not if you are still incarcerated, according to the staff at the Governor's mansion. I'm told for anyone to receive an application, they must be eligible and to be eligible they must not be incarcerated. They also need to be free for 7 years and no longer on parole. Well, that pretty well means that no one is eligible to be pardoned based on this Governor's, Haley Barbour, policy. How does that policy apply to the men he has pardoned who were working at the Governor's mansion when pardoned? It doesn't because the Governor can do what he wants to.

How does it affect the women who are incarcerated? Terribly because they don't get to work at the Governor's mansion.

To summarize, the Governor has broken his own policy by pardoning men (see the information here) who work at the Governor's mansion AND women are discriminated against because they aren't afforded the same opportunity to work at the Governor's mansion. Yes, he pardoned the Scott sister's but that in and of itself has many people wondering about his reasons for doing so. Hmmm, any thoughts on that?

Graduation at CMCF

I attended a graduation Friday at CMCF and must admit I was pleasantly surprised. The staff was very friendly. The atmosphere was completely different than on visitation days. I'm grateful that MDOC gives this opportunity to the individuals who have chosen to further their education under these circumstances. We all know that continuing education can be hard anywhere but to do so in a prison where the noise would be overwhelming when trying to study is truly an accomplishment. I am very proud of all the graduates.

Free the Scott Sisters

Please continue to contact the Governor and the Parole Board to support the Scott Sisters request for a pardon. Jamie and Gladys Scott were convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to double life sentences each for armed robbery of less than $11.

Jamie is in renal failure and requires dialysis 3 times a week. The dialysis machine stays broken and she misses dialysis a great deal. Please don't let this woman, who by accounts of those who were involved with this armed robbery, had nothing to do with it, die in this prison. Don't allow her sister to stay incarcerated either. There are too many innocent people in prison and we need to help those we can.

You can help. Send an e-mail or write Haley Barbour at the following addresses:

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

Dorothy Kuykendall
Personal Assistant to Gov. Barbour
(601) 359-3150
DKuykendall@governor.state.ms.us
P. O Box 3150
Jackson, MS 39205

You can get more information about this case by joining the Scott sisters blog here.

Thank you for your help with this injustice; there are many more and I will be blogging about those as well in the near future!

Mississippi: Re-Open Trial Cases involving testimonies of Drs. Steven Hayne and Michael West Petition

Mississippi: Re-Open Trial Cases involving testimonies of Drs. Steven Hayne and Michael West Petition

Cruel and Unusual HealthCare

http://prisonmovement.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/cruel-and-unusual-health-care/

Women behind the Wall

Women behind the Wall

Ailing Pearl Inmate Out of Hospital

Ailing Pearl Inmate Out of Hospital

Posted using ShareThis

Inmate Advocacy Rally | JFP Events - Event Listings for Jackson, Mississippi

Inmate Advocacy Rally JFP Events - Event Listings for Jackson, Mississippi

Mississippi: Re-Open Trial Cases involving testimonies of Drs. Steven Hayne and Michael West Petition

Mississippi: Re-Open Trial Cases involving testimonies of Drs. Steven Hayne and Michael West Petition

Jackson Free Press: Jackson, Mississippi - Noise - Justice - State - Protestors Demand Epps Stop Inmate Abuse

The information in this article is some of the same things I hear about at CMCF in Mississippi. Nothing surprises me with the DOC. Commissioner Epps is notorious for passing things off to others to handle and I find it quite interesting that he states he hopes Dr. Gillam (and the protestors) will bring "specific" complaints to him in a productive manner. It has been my experience that even when matters are presented in a "productive" manner, Commissioner Epps will "pass the buck", no one will be held accountable and inevitable our incarcerated loved one still pays the price. The "alleged" abuse that the protestors are speaking of is happening, the mistreatment of our loves ones does occur but it is up to us, the friends and family that they have on the outside to stay on top of that and make sure we make noise enough that the public knows people are being mistreated in the name of "justice". Good for Dr. Gillam and the others and I wish I had known that this was happening as I would like to have been involved.

Jackson Free Press: Jackson, Mississippi - Noise - Justice - State - Protestors Demand Epps Stop Inmate Abuse

The previous visit by this group was covered by WLBT in November of 2007. The link is:

Group Claims Inmates Treated Unfairly - WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS:

Blogtalk Radio tonight

Tonight will feature another story of a woman incarcerated. I have learned of so many problems in this country in many states and heard personal stories; please join tonight and listen for yourself to hear of the horrible things that happen and can happen.

Thanks to Mary Ellen Digiacomo and Gloria Goodwin Killian who have both served time for crimes the didn't commit. These women have incredible stories to tell and give tirelessly of their time to bring about awareness of what our elected officials will do if we continue to allow it. Please, take a stand. Just listen for an hour!

http://blogtalkradio.com/4justicenow

Women behind the Wall

Women behind the Wall

Join us tonight @ 5:00 p.m. CT to hear more stories of innocent people incarcerated all over this country. Listen live online, join the chat and or call in to ask questions. Thanks for your support!

Okay, so I've been away a while!

I know I've got to do better about keeping things up to date here. We've actually gotten a Facebook page started for Thalia and I will be posting this link there as well. The ultimate goal, obviously, is to bring awareness to wrongful convictions in this country while freeing those who are serving time for crimes they aren't guilty of. Again, this is my blog; I don't do very well in updating it because frankly there's so much going on but I do try. I'm hoping I've found some tools that will help me keep things updated here and on the Facebook page as well. We'll see.

I will continue to report the total craziness inside MDOC and CMCF on this site. Stay tuned for more on that!

The Coroners Revolt by Radley Balko at Reason Magazine

Please click the link to "The Coroners Revolt" to see the latest disgrace being brought to the state of Mississippi uncovered by Radley Balko. State Coroners are trying to bring Steven Hayne back. Please get involved by contacting your Senator and Representatives!

A Forensics Charlatan Gets Caught in the Act: Video from a defense attorney's sting exposes Mississippi bite-mark "expert" Michael West. - Reason Magazine

A Forensics Charlatan Gets Caught in the Act: Video from a defense attorney's sting exposes Mississippi bite-mark "expert" Michael West. - Reason Magazine

Thank you Radley Balko for continuing to stay on this story!

Is Reasonable Doubt still what we expect in this Country and this State?

"Thomas said the woman was saying that she would have to be 100 % certain about Bennett's actions before she could vote for the death penalty. Thomas said that was a higher standard than the law required to impose the death penalty."


Okay, folks, I take issue with this statement! I realize it's a couple of years old BUT this case is being reviewed and we need to let our concerns about this be heard!!!


Full article is here:
"http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/news.jsp?key=2434&t=">NCADP - The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty">">

If I'm not mistaken, when a person is NOT 100% sure then that is called reasonable doubt and therefore based on our law a person can NOT be found guilty much less sentenced to a punishment of death! Just my opinion but here again is another example of what seems to be Injustice in Mississippi!

Again, who's accountable and when are we, the citizens of this state going to step up and do something? It starts with one person and I've been blogging about this issue, more specifically with regard to the problems in the prisons but I've come across so much that happens during the trial and before trial. I've made some contacts outside of Mississippi with people who are trying to bring this issue to light but why are there not more people who LIVE in our state not taking action. This is our state and we pay the salaries for these individuals who are not acting in the best interest of the citizens of this state; are we going to sit back and say this is okay?

Blogtalk Radio "Women in Prison"

Once again, WHO is accountable?

I've sent e-mails, made phone calls requesting information and I am so tired of hearing or receiving an e-mail that says "I'm forwarding your concerns to...."!!!! Can somebody, anybody, please tell me who at MDOC, CMCF or any other state prison facility is accountable to the state of Mississippi and more importantly, to the citizens that pay their salaries so they can have jobs? Who they are accountable to? Staff at CMCF is so rude, staff at MDOC is extremely rude and nobody wants to buck up and address concerns! Yet, they still have jobs and we still allow them to treat the citizens that pay their salaries and our loved ones like dirt on their feet. You see, I've come to the conclusion that DOC and staff don't just view inmates as "nothings", they view the family and friends of inmates as "nothings" too. Even head honcho, Mr. Epps himself passes the buck 99.9% of the time. Besides delegating, what exactly is his job? Who at DOC is willing to do their job? Aren't we entitled as taxpayers to see those job descriptions?

The Ice Machine is fixed!

Well, after months of calling and e-mailing, finally the ice machine is fixed in the visitation area at CMCF. The alleged part that was on back-order since December arrived and I think it only took about a month to get it repaired. Yet another subject of irritation for me. Another issue that our tax dollars are paying that isn't getting done properly. You see, the maintenance for this equipment is contracted and my concern is under what contract is it acceptable for a part to be on back-order and a piece of equipment to be in a non-working capacity for 5 months. It is my opinion that this is completely unacceptable.