Dear Sir/Madam:
Black prisoners represented by this letter decry that if the Governor (former Governor George Ryan) of the State of Illinois could set a moratorium on the death penalty based on racial imbalance and the unfair acts and practices of prosecutors within the Cook County court system, then the successful defeat of this act ought to be a cinch given that it’s filed and prosecuted with the expertise and integrity of properly qualified legal assistance.
90% of the men sentenced under this act (Natural Life and Habitual Criminal Act) are black.
What is happening is that whites were being sentenced under the 33A statute which provides that you can have more than three (3) felonies and be sentenced to natural life without possibility of parole.
The state’s attorneys were the ones who decided those who are sentenced under what stature and of course, black men are the prime candidates for the natural life sentence without parole.
Maurice Possley and Ken Armstrong were staff writers for the Chicago Tribune Newspaper who wrote an article titled “The Flip Side of a Fair Trial,” (Monday, January 11, 1999, America Online.) In the article the writers touched on how Cook County prosecutors participated in what was referred to as the “Two-Ton Contest,” but behind closed doors was referred to as “Niggers by the Pound.”
The “Two-Ton Contest” was a measure of success with African-Americans as game tokens. This practice was continued for many years under several different heads of the Cook County State’s Attorney office and still continues until this day. No one in the State’s Attorney’s office ever denied that this type of discrimination against black offenders occurred and it was as if it is okay to deny a black man fair treatment in the Cook County Court system.
The discrimination policies continue against black men when they reach prison after conviction. The court appointed appellate counsel provided to handle their direct appeal has a caseload that is so full and overloaded that it is inhumanly impossible for them to provide the proper representation that is deserved. Deadlines are missed, issues waived and cases are constantly dismissed and thrown out of court due to improper and poor representation.
Due to the current policies by the Department of Corrections, a prisoner’s legal material is confiscated and placed in a box and stored in another building making it difficult to have access to this own legal papers.
The discriminatory policies still continue when the Center for Infectious Disease (CDC) issued a waiver for Illinois male prisoners so that they could conduct experiments on infectious viruses and the rate the viruses spread in a controlled environment, which makes black men the New Tuskegee Institute experiment here in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Everything that I have stated in this letter is not just mere allegations but facts that can be substantiated. The system is not the problem, it is some of the people who are running the system that are the problem and they should be held accountable for their actions just as any and every one else.
The laws that are being passed by the legislators at the behalf of politicians and other get tough on crime opponents, will have a genocidal effect on black and non-white men. No other nationality would allow their people to be subjected to the type of harsh sentences being imposed upon black men today, and especially young black men.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, and please feel free to respond. I look forward to your comments.
Sincerely,
JJ
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