T-Bone's Trial Postponed

My friend T-Bone - who protected vulnerable inmates from rapists - refused to sign a plea bargain admitting guilt to crimes that would have sent him to prison for years, and tried to exercise his right to a trail. When he showed up in court, the prosecutor refused to allow him a trial by postponing the trail date. This is a common strategy used when a prosecutor has a weak case, so that the prosecutor can buy time to build a case or increase the pressure on T-Bone to sign a plea bargain. T-Bone and his wife both believe T-Bone is innocent of the crimes he was charged with. T-Bone is trying to force the prosecutor to go to trial soon, so he can be freed. The new trial date now is July 11th.

Click here for T-Bone's previous letter:  http://jonsjailjournal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/from-t-bone-letter-16.html

Shaun Attwood

Carmel College Visit, St. Helens

The students asked questions for half an hour after the talk had ended today.

With Lydia and Tom

Shaun Attwood

Medical Issues (Part 15 by Lifer Renee)

Renee – Only a teenager, she received a 60-year sentence. Seventeen years later, Renee is writing from Perryville prison in Goodyear, Arizona, providing a rare and unique insight into a women's prison.

It is Monday morning, my last day off from a four-day weekend. I really needed the rest as I caught the flu virus. Whatever it is has stuck with me for three weeks. I put in a request to see the doctor, but of course I was scheduled for nurses line. The nurse said, "Because you aren't running a fever now, we can't give you antibiotics." All I could do was laugh. My throat is so sore, my voice is hoarse and barely audible. I spent $4 to be told to drink plenty of fluids.

When they passed out our daily passes, I got an appointment for providers line. So I get to see the doctor tomorrow about my back. All I want is an extra mattress, so I can rest, and not feel as though I'm pulling my spine off metal. We will see how it goes. you would think with my problems I would qualify. 

Click here for Medical Issues (Part 14)

Shaun Attwood 

Activist Bites at Yoko Ono's Meltdown Festival

This afternoon, I had the great pleasure of meeting and speaking at the Meltdown Festival with three other activists, Giles Duley, Laura Bates and Peter Tatchell.

I almost cried listening to Giles recount his career as a photographer, travelling the world's war-torn regions to take pictures of the downtrodden, including a female burn victim disowned by her family and forced to live with the man who threw acid on her face, and people abandoned in a shanty town, dying for lack of antibiotics. In 2011, Giles stepped on an IED in Afghanistan and lost both of his legs and his left arm. His presentation finished with this self-portrait:


I was compelled to give Giles a hug after hearing his talk. Here's a video of Giles doing his talk:



After a man grabbed Laura's leg on a bus, a group shouted abuse at her from a car and two men commented on her breasts as she walked by, Laura started a Twitter account asking women to share stories of sexist treatment. Expecting a few responses from her colleagues and friends, the deluge that followed resulted in 40,000 accounts from all over the world and resulted in the Everyday Sexism Project. Here's Laura speaking:



The last speaker up was the eloquent Peter Tatchell, who my dad was excited to see on the list as he's followed Peter for years. Peter has been campaigning for gay rights for decades. Until today, I hadn't realized that gays were heavily criminalized in the UK until 2003, when a 500 year-old law introduced during the reign of Henry VIII was repealed. Peter has campaigned worldwide and been attacked numerous times, including by Robert Mugabe's bodyguards and Russian Nazis, resulting in permanent damage to his optic nerve. Here's Peter and other activists in Russia, getting punched in the head so forcefully you can hear a cracking sound:



I suggested he take up karate.

Here's Peter in action:



My talk:



Video I showed today on how Jon's Jail Journal started:



Doing my talk today:

Shaun Attwood

Blogging for Human Rights

Been on the road since Wednesday. Just got home to loads of messages from Canada where Locked-Up Abroad aired on TV. Thanks for all of the support! I'm about to prepare images and videos for the talk I'm doing for Yoko Ono tomorrow in London at 1.30pm on Blogging for Human Rights. Tickets and info:
http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/activism-weekend-77002

I've got 15 minutes tomorrow at the Meltdown Festival to talk about Jon's Jail Journal, so I'm going to include this clip from Locked-Up Abroad that I just put on my YouTube channel:



Link to the full episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jJcFLnV7g8

Shaun Attwood

Talk for Yoko Ono

I'm doing a 15-minute talk for Yoko Ono this Sunday at the Meltdown Festival in London. During the Activism Weekend, I'm speaking in the 1.30pm slot about prison blogging for human rights. If you want to attend, further info is here:  http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/activism-weekend-77002

Shaun Attwood

Academy of Hard Knocks Visit

With great pleasure today, I spoke at the Academy of Hard Knocks run by Sam Rowe. I finally got to see Sam in action using fitness, martial arts, motivation and mentoring to steer young people away from drugs and crime. Such a positive atmosphere, and wonderful to see the young people turning their lives around.

Shaun Attwood

Download English Shaun Ebook for FREE

Ebook readers and Kindle owners. My sister's ebook, English Shaun, is FREE to download for the next 24 hours. This companion book to Hard Time is the story of my case and it's effect on my family. Please support my sister by downloading her ebook for free here:
UK link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/English-Shaun-ebook/dp/B004V9FG2I/ref=la_B0042NT0CU_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1370978224&sr=1-5

USA link: http://www.amazon.com/English-Shaun-ebook/dp/B004V9FG2I/ref=la_B0042NT0CU_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1370978242&sr=1-6

Shaun Attwood

Death Penalty Videos - One For Ten

I was almost moved to tears last night in London, watching videos made by One For Ten, fabulous people who travelled across America in a camper van, filming innocent people who had been sent to death row. The exonerees were set up by corrupt prosecutors and detectives who suppressed evidence and paid experts to lie on the stand. Most spent at least a decade on death row, fighting to prove their innocence, while under the constant threat of execution. Sadly, each exoneree met more innocent people on death row, who were unable to get released and are still scheduled for execution. Here are the videos:









 











Facts on the death penalty

Blog I wrote about exoneree Ray Krone 

Shaun Attwood


One For Ten

Tonight, I'm going to support my friends in London, One for Ten, who are exposing the injustice of the death penalty by making videos of innocent people who were sent to death row by corrupt prosecutors and detectives who hid evidence to "solve" crimes to enhance their careers. Here's their video of Ray Krone, who my lawyer, Alan Simpson helped get off death row:



If you want to attend the event and see the rest of the films, here's the info: http://www.frontlineclub.com/one-for-ten/


Shaun Attwood

Fullbrook School Visit (Surrey)

Spoke to almost 600 students today 

With Beth and Daisy

With Will and Emily
Shaun Attwood

Going on the Toilet

Excerpt from Hard Time by Shaun Attwood, the book Locked-Up Abroad Raving Arizona is based on.

The empty cell had three sets of double bunks and a toilet in the corner with no privacy divide. I sat on a bottom bunk. My cellmates were chatting like regulars at a social club.

“I gotta take a crap,” one said.
“Me too, dawg. But you called it first,” another said.

There was no privacy, yet they went about their business as casually as young children pick their noses. The toilet flushed louder than on an airplane, and I wondered why they pushed the button as soon as they sat down and kept flushing.

For days, all I’d eaten was fruit. Desperate to freshen my mouth, I unpeeled an orange and ate some slices. The juice soothed my mouth. But a few minutes later, I felt stomach cramps that spread to my bowels. I’d reached such a low in my life it was now necessary to go on the toilet in front of four strangers. That three of them had gone before me offered little comfort.

Searching for something appropriate to say, I played around with sentences like, “Hey, guys, I need to take a dump.” But I couldn’t get the words out. Instead, I adopted a diversion strategy: I gave them my breakfast. As they argued over the food, I rushed to the toilet, pushed my pants and boxers down, and tried my best to act like someone who’d been going on the toilet in front of strangers all of his life. The seatless steel toilet chilled my behind. Straining in vain, I regretted ever attempting the toilet. Convinced I needed to go, but was just too nervous, I took some deep breaths. Eventually something happened. But not much.

My deposit was barely underwater when someone yelled, “Goddam, put some water on that to kill the smell, dawg!”

It dawned as to why they’d flushed so much. Aware of my face blushing, I pressed the button. The toilet flushed, splashing water upon my backside like some out of control bidet. I wanted to get off the toilet, but I had to wipe. I picked up the institutional toilet paper. Course and thin. I wondered what the subtlest method of wiping was. I didn’t want to stand up and indecently expose myself. How had they done it? Seated with one buttock raised. I copied their method. All done, I ran water over my hands, dried them on my pants, and returned to the bunk.

Click for more info about Hard Time

Greetings from the Abyss by Jack (Part 11)

 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. 


 Dear Shaun,
 
  Hello, my friend, how are you today? Well, I hope. I’m doing OK. My problems with my chemo port have been rectified, at least for now. I had an appointment with my oncologist. My chemo nurse is a wonderful human being, and a credit to her profession. She very patiently listened to me whine about the port being clogged due to shoddy medical care provided by DOC. She then broke out the necessary supplies to flush it, and had no problem whatsoever. She said there wasn’t anything wrong with the port, and it sounded like DOC nurses had not properly seated the port needle. It actually took longer for me to whine that it did for her to flush my port.
 
  A COIV showed up at my door and said I was right, my port should be flushed every 30 days and from now on it will be done. Yea, a win for the little people. Of course, the real proof to the win will be down the road a bit, but for now I will bask in the glory of a win.
 
  Please do me a favour and express my thanks and appreciation to your blog readers. One of them, evidently, sent me a securepak of food anonymously. I have been trying to find out who sent it but it’s against DOC’s and Keefe’s policy to reveal the names of individuals who order securepaks. I would like to thank them personally, but since I’m unable to find out who it is, I must do it this way. It was very kind of this person to do this, and I was both surprised and appreciative of receiving it. It is heartfelt when I say thank you.
 
  Xena, according to rumor, completed the self surgery that was started a few years ago. Slingblade, I see almost every day, since he was given the job of medical porter. I think he is happy that he has an inside job. I don’t see many of the others due to my schedule.
 
  I want to take a moment to apologise for sounding so whiny in my last letter. I was depressed and feeling sorry for myself. I don’t want you to think that I have given up or that I will quit fighting for my life. I will try and present a more positive attitude, so don’t worry.
 
  I hope Yasmin is doing well and that her treatment is progressing without difficulty. It is a very noble and wonderful thing that Karen and Andrew are doing with their blog. I hope they have continued success and that the hospital is able to do good things with it.
 
  Take care, Shaun. Until next time,
 
  Always,
 
  Jack

Click here for Jack’s previous letter
Shaun Attwood

Live Interview with NYPD Officer


Last night I did a live interview with Michael Safoschnik an officer of the New York Police Department. The 1 hour interview is available here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/msafoschnik/2013/06/02/the-good-life-episode-31

Shaun Attwood