Woolmer Hill School Visit
Shaun Attwood
Another Innocent Man Freed From Death Row
Doug Prade released after 15 years in prison: http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/ea27df9dfb78453d9cf76ad3f86487da/US--Murder-Exoneration#share …
This injustice makes me sick. Doug was sent to death row with no evidence against him. The state paid an expert witness to lie that his teeth matched a bite. It's straight from Alice in Wonderland! Summit County Prosecuting Attorney Sherri Bevan Walsh is appealing the verdict in the hope of putting Doug back on Death Row. How can this state-sanctioned murderess sleep at night. She should be on death row. I just had to Tweet her:
This injustice makes me sick. Doug was sent to death row with no evidence against him. The state paid an expert witness to lie that his teeth matched a bite. It's straight from Alice in Wonderland! Summit County Prosecuting Attorney Sherri Bevan Walsh is appealing the verdict in the hope of putting Doug back on Death Row. How can this state-sanctioned murderess sleep at night. She should be on death row. I just had to Tweet her:
@ProsecutorWalsh i'm curious as to why you want Doug Prade on death row? DNA destroyed your flimsy evidence, is it convictions at all cost?
Shaun Attwood
Prisoners Ordered to Destroy Library Books (by Jack)
When
I was working in the prison library, the Arizona Department of Corrections
librarian decided that if a book hadn’t been checked out in a year we were to
pull them off the shelf, tear them in half, and throw them away. We weren’t to
replace them with anything, just destroy them. There were six inmate aides
present when we were told to do this. Another aide and I said that this was
wrong and we wouldn’t participate. We were told that if we didn’t we would be
written up for failure to comply with orders and fired from our jobs. We both
walked out.
Jack
is serving life without parole, and has terminal cancer. Throughout my
incarceration, Jack was a positive influence. He encouraged me to keep
writing, to enter short-story competitions, and we proofread for each other. Jack is seeking pen pals, so anyone interested please email me at attwood.shaun@hotmail.co.uk for his details.
Shaun
Attwood
Guards Watch Tony Lester Bleed to Death
Video just emailed from Patti in Arizona about her mentally-ill nephew who the guards watched bleed to death: http://www.azcentral.com/12news/articles/20121217tony-lester-investigation.html
Shaun Attwood
Shaun Attwood
Frankie's First 18 Years in Prison and the Death of His Mother and Sister
Audio of Frankie telling me about being sentenced to 18 years in prison for $20 of cocaine (Arizona justice) and the death of his mother and the murder of his sister while he was inside.
Shaun Attwood
Frankie Talks Chess Trash to Shaun Attwood
On the phone, I ended up talking chess trash with Frankie, the Mexican Mafia hit man I met in prison. It was just like old times, with him demanding to see my "shaved ass."
Shaun Attwood
Party Time Jacket
Here’s the final Party Time jacket. The publisher has incorporated as many of your suggestions as possible. The blurb on the back was written by my talented friend Gabriella Apicella. The smiley face logo from the original acid-house scene ...was suggested by my sister Karen Parsons. Other suggestions were incorporated from Stacey Wood, Mike Richardson, Jill Jan, Claire Bishop, Heather L. McQuaid, Esther Kim, and Ema Stuart. A big thank you, guys! My publisher said, “It's evocative of the era, and lots of ravers should be clamouring to read it!”
Shaun Attwood
Passport to Hell
I just ordered Passport to Hell by my friend Terry Daniels, who spent years in a women's maximum security prison in Spain: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Passport-Hell-Terry-Daniels/dp/184953344X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358605202&sr=1-1
Shaun Attwood
Shaun Attwood
Bishop's Stortford College
Today, I was back for the fourth year in a row at Bishop's Stortford College, where I did my first ever talk. The contact teacher reminisced about my first talk, how fresh from prison I paced for the whole hour like a wild animal in loud clunky shoes, with raw nervous energy crackling off me.
Shaun Attwood
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| With George and Henry |
TV Interview
Did a ten minute author TV interview at the Loaded magazine studio with presenter Simone Thorogood (pictured). The interview goes on Sky 200 in 2 weeks time. The studio was a hive of artistic energy with everyone dressed like rock stars and club kids. I had my makeup done sat amid a row of Loaded models.
Shaun Attwood
Kingsbury High School Visit
I did two talks to Year 10. KHS is the school where the children's TV series, Grange Hill, was filmed, and George Michael was a student there.
Shaun Attwood
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| With Nimai |
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| With Minhaj |
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| With Annette |
Medical Issues (Part 14 by Lifer Renee)
Renee – Only a teenager, she received a 60-year sentence. Almost 20 years later, Renee is writing from Perryville prison in Goodyear, Arizona, providing a rare and unique insight into a women's prison.
Since you last heard from me, I’ve been to a medical-offsite visit
to St. Luke’s Hospital. I am ok.
I’m just in pain and the medication I’m currently receiving, well put it this
way, I’m asleep half to an hour after 5 pm pill call. I am on 2 doses, one in the
morning and one at night. ADOC refused surgery for my 2 herniated disks because
they did not want to be “liable”. So they sent me out for a “pain management”
consultation for epidermal shots with steroids and cortisone shots.
Let me
tell you about my hospital trip… Monday morning, it was finally cool in the cell,
and I was sound asleep when an officer keyed the door and knocked loudly. “Get
up you have offsite medical in 20 minutes.” My head was foggy from the medicine.
I looked at him like he had three heads.
“Renee, what
are you going for?” my roommate asked.
“I don’t
know. I guess the pain management shots. I need to get ready,” I replied.
Scrambling and stumbling over myself, I hurried to get ready. I made a room-temperature cup of coffee, and smoked to try to clear my head. I rolled a couple
of extra smokes, and made a second cup, knowing I’d regret it in a couple of
hours, but I drunk it anyway.
I walked
outside, past the officer as he did not give me a time limit, as he is looking
at his watch. I sat at the picnic table and breathed, attempting to calm my
anxiety. The officer walked in the control room and got on the phone. I finished
my smoke. I walked to the control box, and asked the officer “Do I go to the
V-gate or the sallyport?”
He looked
at me. “They’re not ready yet. Just hang out.”
I walked
away thinking I only had 20 minutes. About 15 minutes later, the officer came out
of the control box. “They're ready for you, go to the sallyport.
I walk
out the gate to the sallyport. I greeted a female officer who really didn’t seem
happy to be there. I stripped, got belly-chained and shackled and loaded into a
van.
We stopped
at San Pedro Unit to pick up another inmate. I waited in the van for the next person
to run through the degrading routine of stripping down, cough squatting and
spread them. The van door opened and I saw D who I knew from a recent training
class a few months back.
Smiles
crossed our faces as we recognized one another.
“How are
you?” I asked.
“Great.
Have you heard what is going on at Pedro?”
“No. What?”
I asked.
“10 yard
is condemned. We have had no air. The roof collapsed. We haven’t had a maintenance
officer since I’ve been there. I heard there were 350 outstanding work orders.”
“Where
did the yard go?”
“Well
they moved 10 yard to San Carlos and moved Televerde, Women in Recovery and
diabetics to 8 yard.”
“Are
they going to fix it?” I asked.
“They
said it would take six months to a year.” She fell silent as we were pulling into
San Carlos Unit to pick up two additional women.
D recognized
the women as they’d recently moved from San Pedro to San Carlos. D and the
other ladies began chattering. I became engrossed with the surroundings outside
the van.
Before I
knew it the officers picked up their firearms and we were across the street at
Santa Rosa waiting to pick up another individual for our road trip. The female
officer was out of the van, looming impatiently. We waited for 45 minutes
before another officer told our drivers the individual we were waiting for was
being released that day. We began our trip. D went to sleep. The other two were
chattering in Spanish. I silently enjoyed the surrounding streets that I’ve
never driven on, stores I’ve never shopped in, new cars driving by.
Late for
our appointment, we arrived at St. Luke’s. We unloaded and entered the building
through the back entrance. We were escorted to a waiting lobby. I was so
grateful to sit down as the shackles were hell on the ankles.
A nurse
silently handed us clipboards and pens and about 10 pages worth of paperwork to
fill out.
We filled
out the paperwork, turned it in and waited. D was called first. She was in
there about a half hour, and one of the ladies from San Carlos went in for about
a half hour. Finally, they called me.
I was escorted
to a room with just a stretcher. I was waiting for the doctor when a nurse came
in, looked at the female officer, and said, “We have to clean the lobby. We
have real appointment coming in. Can the other inmates wait in here?”
My jaw
hit the floor as the officer said yes.
Not
wanting to protest and have my appointment rescheduled I sat silently.
Then
here came the doctor.
He opened
my chart, confirmed my name, and stated, “I’m not giving you pain shots.”
“Wait,
why?” I replied.
“See
right here on your MRI. It states you have fluid leaking and pressing against
your spinal cord. If I gave you the shots, it would increase that pressure and
actually cause more pain. I’m sending this back and recommending surgery.”
I was
blown back. I had two officers and three inmates with me in my doctors visit. I
couldn’t even form a question. The doctor saw the last person, and we were off
back to Perryville. All I could think about was “fluid on my spinal cord” the
entire ride back.
Two
weeks went by since my last visit to St. Luke’s. This last week has been
stressful. Monday we heard we – 24 yard – was moving to Santa Maria Unit and that we
would be losing our jobs. We were ok with that until Televerde got involved. Now
because of my job I will be moving to Santa Cruz.
Who
knows who I will have for a roommate, and what yard I’ll live on. Nothing, just
uprooted from a yard of 192 to a yard of 800 because ADOC want to make this yard
intake, closed and maximum-security custody.
Those
going to Maria were excited because they thought the yard would be open, but no
wait for it, Santa Maria has 2 yards. One yard is filled with DUI (drunk
driver) minimum-security inmates, and the other yard will be the medium-security inmates
from 24 yard.
The
funny thing about it is you have violent offenders doing life sentences about
to be housed on the same unit as minimum-security DUI inmates. Make
any sense to you? It is funny to me because I believe ADOC forgot that Santa Maria
is the very unit C.J. Acker escaped from by walking out the front sallyport to
the parking lot, and she was doing two life sentences.
What I
know is my anxiety level is high, but I have all of my belongings packed. I am
just waiting for a decision, a bag and a bus.
Shaun Attwood
Greetings from the Abyss by Jack (Part 9)
Jack is serving life without parole, and has terminal cancer. Throughout my incarceration, Jack was a positive influence. He encouraged me to keep writing, to enter short-story competitions, and we proofread each other’s chapters. Jack is seeking pen pals, so anyone interested please email me at attwood.shaun@hotmail.co.uk for his details.
Hello
my friend, how are you today? Well I hope. I’m doing ok. How is Yasmin. I hope
she is doing well.
Work
has been tedious lately. We are once again working on the Veteran’s Day float
and are scrambling to get everything finished by next Tuesday. Very long days
shaping, moulding, and painting. I have Styrofoam all over me most days. This
stuff gets everywhere, and by everywhere, I mean everywhere. I’ve got it in
places I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to have it.
Well
it’s now been two years since I was first diagnosed with cancer. I feel pretty
good, nothing to complain about. I’m still waiting on my August CT results and
the blood work, but since I haven’t heard anything I am hopeful.
It amazes me that Sheriff Joe Arpaio keeps getting reelected. He has cost
Maricopa County millions of dollars in settlement costs for civil violations,
not to mention the legal fees to defend these suits. He publically flaunts
violations of federal law and misuses his office to silence anyone who tries to
challenge him on these issues. It’s kind of sad that the only person running
against him in the upcoming election is being smeared by Joe relentlessly. It’s
obvious that Joe’s opponent doesn’t have the money to buy TV time. Oh yea,
you’ll love this one. There was a mistake made by the election print shop on
all the Spanish language ballots that were sent out. It seems the date listed
for the person to vote is actually two days after the Election Day. It only
appears on the Spanish language ballots and the elections officials say they
will take steps to inform every one of the mistake by doing public service
announcements and mailing out replacement ballots with the correct dates. Those
announcement were supposed to start immediately but so far I haven’t seen one
yet. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that this “mistake” happened on the
ballots for the one group that is most highly against Joe and his policies. Yea
and I’m really the Pope.
Shaun Attwood
The Case
Shaun Attwood
My Niece Yasmin
Just got back from Paris with man flu from hell but my spirits were raised to see that my sister Karen has now raised over £20,000 to help sick children. Karen, her husband, Andrew and their daughter Yasmin were featured on ITV news here: http://www.itv.com/news/london/update/2013-01-02/two-year-old-raises-thousands-for-charity/
Shaun Attwood
Shaun Attwood