This morning I received email which begins:
Dear Friend,
Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman has been in solitary confinement for eight weeks after speaking out on criminal justice reform.
According to a Siegelman attorney, on October 15, Don Siegelman, while being interviewed on a radio talk show about criminal justice reform, was ordered by a prison official to hang up the phone. He was immediately moved to a higher security facility and placed in solitary confinement.
Siegelman has been confined in a Special Housing Unit cell for the last eight weeks and has only been out of his cell for less than 5 hours. He has been not been allowed to use the telephone or have any visitors during that time, including family.
Siegelman, a proponent of criminal justice reform, had written and published a paper in support of the SAFE Justice Act which is pending before Congress. Siegelman’s paper had recently been delivered to each Member of Congress.
Not even allowed to talk to his family over the holidays!
Joseph Siegelman, the former Governor’s son and one of his attorneys, added “the telephone number for the Thom Hartman Talk Show had been approved by the prison, and we can find no rules against talking to the media in BOP regulations. In fact, one regulation states that inmates ‘have the right to correspond with the media.’ We do not know at this point if he will be subjected to any further disciplinary actions for talking on the radio show.”
Siegelman, convicted in 2007, has consistently maintained his innocence. He currently has an appeal before the United States Supreme Court regarding his sentence which included additional prison time for ‘Acquitted Conduct’ imposed by the recently disgraced federal judge Mark Fuller.
Governor Siegelman will again be separated from his family this Holiday Season. Currently, he is not permitted see or speak to them.
Press account of the situation from The Montgomery Advertiser:
Joseph Siegelman said Gov. Siegelman has been in solitary confinement since Oct. 15. The family had planned to visit the former governor that weekend, but was unable to. Joseph Siegelman said the governor can only engage in written correspondence with his attorneys.
“It has been very limited,” he said. “I don’t know what they provide him in the form of paper or envelopes. He had cut off the cover of a card he received and written on the back of it.”
The family has not been given a reason for the confinement, Joseph Siegelman said, though they said Siegelman was moved to solitary while being interviewed on a radio show about criminal justice reform.
I believe this is the Thom Hartmann interview referred to in the email:
I find his discussion of Americans not having a right to be protected from being framed by the government (as argued by the Obama Administration) in order to obtain a conviction.
Learn more about Don Siegelman and the documentary Killing Atticus Finch - The Don Siegelman Story being made about his situation:
"Don Siegelman isn’t just fighting for his freedom; he’s fighting for the integrity of our democracy”
– Al Gore, Former Vice President
Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman believed in a judicial system that completely failed him.
“America’s Political Prisoner #1.”
- American Trial Lawyers Magazine
As many of you know, Don was a popular Democrat who’d won every statewide office in Alabama before he was railroaded into jail by the most notorious name in American politics – Karl Rove. This film has the potential to make a major impact on politics by exposing the corrupt, immoral tactics used by Republican operatives that are responsible for putting this innocent man in jail.
Contribute to the making of the documentary: GoFundMe — From today’s email:
We are still working on our last interviews of the year, and still need your help! Your generosity is so gratifying and important! Before you are committed to those with last minute holiday expenses, please consider contributing $40.00, or even $14.00 to help us complete those interviews over the next few weeks. Of course, any amount would help!
Learn More: free-don.org
Ex-Attorneys General Back Siegelman — Wall Street Journal Law Blog:
More than 100 former attorneys general are backing one of their own — Don Siegelman, Alabama former governor and attorney general, who was convicted in 2006 on corruption charges.
I was fortunate to meet Governor Siegelman at Netroots Nation in 2008 — Here’s info about his participation there: whereistheoutrage.net/…
H.R.2944 - Sensenbrenner-Scott SAFE Justice Reinvestment Act of 2015
From Legal Schnauzer:
Who could have imagined that George Will would prove to be more progressive than Barack Obama on fundamental matters of justice?