Thursday, February 26, 2009

Mrs Pinkney Speaks Out Against Michigan Corrections

An open letter from Mrs. Dorothy Pinkney, wife of Rev. Edward Pinkney, BANCO activist and former political prisoner (Benton Harbor, MI).

"HIT MAN FROM OJIBWAY"

"On June 26, 2008, Judge Dennis Wiley ruled on whether the GOD of one man can be invoked to harm another man. Judge Dennis Wiley, a racist, sentenced my husband to 3 to 10 years in prison for quoting the Bible. He was sent to the Michigan Department of Corrections and the governor sent him over six hundred miles from his home.

When he arrived at the Ojibway Correctional Facility a hit had been placed on my husband. On Nov. 1, 2008, Correctional Officer R. Axley told my husband the control center had ordered a shakedown of his control area. On Friday Oct. 31, 2008, my husband found a homemade knife (which Correctional Officer Axley had planted) in his control area. My husband threw the knife away and on Nov. 1, 2008 Correctional Officer Axley proceeded to destroy my husband’s control area looking for the knife.

Correctional Officer Axley did the following: he threw his clean clothes all over the floor with his dirty clothes, he threw the entire contents of his locker including food on the floor, he read his legal mail, legal briefs and all legal notes. My husband was forced to put his hands up in the air. He was searched and told to pack because he was going to the hold to be locked down. Then Correctional Officer Axley started to read his legal notes, legal briefs and the legal mail he had in his personal folder right in front of him.

Correctional Officer Axley was looking for the knife he had planted. He broke my husband’s am/fm radio cassette player and threatened his life. Correctional Officer Axley stated, “We are going to get you!” The Correctional Officer’s actions were malicious, sadistic and designed to intimidate and harass my husband. This was humiliating, degrading mistreatment and oppression, including discrimination by the Department of Correction. What happened in prison is nothing like what the people on the outside think or believe.

We do not know who ordered this attack. We do not know whether U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, Governor Granholm, Warden Michael Curley, Judge Wiley, or Judge Butzbaugh were responsible. My husband had requested the warden, Michael Curley, to call the state police and the Warden refused. As I said, we do not know who put the hit on my husband but I want everybody to call the governor. We need your help! Dorothy Pinkney"

Governor Granholm 517-373-3400
Patricia Caruso 517-335-1426

Go to the BANCO blog to learn more about MWRO comrade, Rev. Pinkney's imprisonment for quoting the Bible and fight for justice in Benton Harbor.

Video from YouTube by DaymonJHartley

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

When will this "I'm black and opressed" mentality die? I'm sick of it! Martin Luther King called for equal rights. I'm definately cool with that since I think all races are created equal.

Unfortunately, many African Americans have since gone from "We want equality" to "I want entitlement" and "I want to have an advanage over others because of my race". Right now, it is far easier being black than white. Many white males get passed over jobs because employers want "diversity". They will pass over white people with very good credentials just to promote "diversity". How about an equal opportunity for a job? Education, skills, experience, and test scores. That is what I call equal opportunity.

Rev. Pickney was convicted for:

1 - Influencing voters with money
2 - Influencing voters while voting
3 - Possession of Danielle William's absentee ballot
4 - Possession of Rosie Miles's absentee ballot
5 - Possession of LaToya William's absentee ballot

No mention of speaking the Bible like Mrs. Pickney stated...

All other stuff about racism in the court process is just alot of the same "I'm opressed" (even though I did it) mentality.

As for the corrections officer, if it is true that he did plant a knife in Rev Pickneys cell, that is unforgiveable. It has no bearing on Rev. Pickneys conviction though. If it is proven that the officer was corrupt in his dealings with Rev. Picknkey, one cannot infer, without great ignorance, that the whole criminal process was corrupt in their dealings with Rev. Pickney.

Also, it does not mean that the government is racist because they sent Rev. Pickney to Ojibway. There are both white and black prisoners at Ojibway, and the majority of them are from way down in lower Michigan.

Anonymous said...

I am a white male who believes just about the opposite of the commenter above. I was unsure about Rev. Pinkney - so I drove 3 hours to meet with him, doing that I confirmed and discovered what a truly awesome person he is.

Rev. Pinkney was convicted of those 5 things, unjustly I believe, but he was imprisoned for speaking the bible in an article. That is just the fact.

Maybe it is not racist to have Pinkney at the Ojibway location - but what is really problematic is that he was moved 6-8 times within a year.

So much more - but don't want to debate all the misinformed points.