28 Mar 2012 1:46 pm
Unnamed Congressman Has Environmental Activist Tim DeChristopher Moved into Solitary ConfinementEnvironmental activist Tim DeChristopher, who was given a two-year sentence in prison for making fake bids in a Utah public land auction that was later found to be corrupt, has reportedly been moved to solitary confinement after a member of Congress contacted the Bureau of Prisons. Peaceful Uprising, a climate change activism group which DeChristopher co-founded, states in a press release posted on March 27: On the evening of Friday March 9th, Tim DeChristopher was summarily removed from the minimum security camp where he has been held since September 2011, and moved into the FCI Herlong’s Special Housing Unit (SHU). Tim was informed by Lieutenant Weirich that he was being moved to the SHU because an unidentified congressman had called from Washington DC, complaining of an email that Tim had sent to a friend. Tim was inquiring about the reported business practices of one of his legal fund contributors, threatening to return the money if their values no longer aligned with his own. According to Prison officials, Tim will continue to be held in isolated confinement pending an investigation. There is no definite timeline for inmates being held in the SHU — often times they await months for the conclusion of an investigation. In the SHU, Tim’s movement and communications are severely restricted. In the past two weeks, he has been allowed out of his 8 X 10 cell (which he shares with one other inmate) four times, each time for less than an hour. The SHU could have been designed by Franz Kafka. Tim is allowed one book in his cell, and four in his property locker. His writing means are restricted to a thin ink cartridge which makes correspondence extremely difficult. He can still receive mail from the outside, but has no other form of communication other than 15 minutes of phone calls per month.First off, this congress person who ordered DeChristopher into solitary confinement is a coward and should be unmasked. DeChristopher is powerless in prison. He is already being punished. If the description is correct, it seems like a congressman is trying to intimidate DeChristopher for wanting to return money. To amplify the punishment because of an email is cruel. That the punishment is to place DeChristopher into solitary confinement is even more inhumane. In fact, it is what a fascist country would do to a political prisoner. There do not appear to be any other instances known where a congressman called up the Bureau of Prisons and was able to get a prisoner moved. That seems terribly arbitrary and unjust. So, why is the Bureau of Prisons granting the unnamed congressman this power? Did DeChristopher violate some regulation he is supposed to abide by when he wrote the email?Update:A staff member with Peaceful Uprising has provided further confirmation that DeChristopher is in solitary confinement. The staff person reports “phone lines have been flooded all day long at FCI Herlong, the BOP office in DC and to various members of Congress, and adds, “Hopefully, the pressure will not subside and not only Tim’s issue, but the issue of keeping prisoners in inhumane conditions while awaiting ‘indefinite’ hearings will also be brought to light.” Peaceful Uprising’s outrage and disbelief comes from fact that a “congress person was able to read Tim’s emails.” The group asks, “How and why do political representatives have a say in BOP affairs? And what are the underlying connections between such representatives and those overseeing prisons?” The identity of the member of Congress who is doing this to DeChristopher is still unknown. Peaceful Uprising hopes “investigative journalism and public pressure” will lead to the member’s identity becoming known.DeChristopher was prosecuted by the Obama administration and sentenced to two years in federal prison for disrupting a last-minute Bush oil lease auction in Utah that was found to be improper and was withdrawn. Last month, the Department of Justice fined two companies $550,000 for conspiring on the bidding for a similar oil and gas auction. There were no criminal prosecutions of this federal felony. One of the companies involved, Oxbow Corporation, is owned by top pro-Mitt Romney Super PAC contributor William Koch, brother to David and Charles Koch of Koch Industries.LinkExcellent. Send the guy who was trying to bring the corruption to light to prison, but not the people who actually were corrupt. Edited by MistyBlue, 28 March 2012 - 01:56 PM.