Brian Joyce Documentary

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 14:05:16 -0500

http://util.wickedlocal.com/multimedia/brianjoyce/

About 5 minutes long. Well worth watching.

Padilla and the loss of Habeus Corpus

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 14:02:35 -0500

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6682846

This story, by Nina Totenberg of NPR, is important and a very good overview

of just how far our government believes it can go and how tenuous our grip

on habeus corpus may be..

voice except his interrogator's. His 9-by-7 foot cell had nothing in it: no

window even to the corridor, no clock or watch to orient him in time.

Padilla's meals were delivered through a slot in the door. He was either in

bright light for days on end or in total darkness. He had no mattress or

pillow on his steel pallet; loud noises interrupted his attempts to sleep.

Sometimes it was very cold, sometimes hot. He had nothing to read or to look

at. Even a mirror was taken away. When he was transported, he was

blindfolded and his ears were covered with headphones to screen out all

sound. In short, Padilla experienced total sensory deprivation.

During length interrogations, his lawyers allege, Padilla was forced to sit

or stand for long periods in stress positions. They say he was hooded and

threatened with death. The isolation was so extreme that, according to court

papers, even military personnel at the prison expressed great concern about

Padilla's mental status.

The government maintains that whatever happened to Padilla during his

detention is irrelevant, since no information obtained during that time is

being used in the criminal case against him.

[... snip ...]

After spending more than 25 hours with Padilla, both psychiatric experts

have concluded that his isolation and interrogation have resulted in so much

mental damage that he is incompetent to stand trial.

The experts believe that Padilla suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder

as a result of his isolation and interrogation. According to reports filed

by Dr. Angela Hegarty, director of forensic psychiatry at Creedmoor

Psychiatric Center in New York, and Dr. Patricia Zapf, director of forensic

psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Padilla is so

fearful that he will not discuss his interrogation, will not look at

videotapes of it and will not even review a transcript. In their view, he is

not able to understand the significance of legal proceedings against him.

[... snip ...]

The government adamantly denies mistreating Padilla, though it does not

dispute the particulars cited in Padilla's legal papers. Rather, the

government says its treatment of Padilla was humane and notes that it

provided medical treatment when necessary. The government agreed to the

additional psychiatric evaluation that has now been ordered by the judge.

Indeed, there are even some within the government who think it might be best

if Padilla were declared incompetent and sent to a psychiatric prison

facility. As one high-ranking official put it, "the objective of the

government always has been to incapacitate this person."

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 14:00:29 -0500

On Tuesday, January 23 from 7pm - 8:30pm at First Parish UU Church in

Arlington Center, Mass Equality will be holding an organizational and

informational meeting for our area to explain how people can work fight the

same-sex marriage ban ammendment. Essentially, it's the kick-off for

MassEquality's last big push to defeat the ammendment this year.

From MassEquality, Julie Verratti will be there along with either Campaign

Director Marc Solomon or Political Director Matt McTighe.

People can sign up to attend at the following link:

http://massequality.org/action/volunteer.php?details=10453