Patriot
Act Update
The ACLU Takes on CIA Kidnapping and Secret Detention Practices
How the ACLU Didn't Steal Christmas
FBI Retaliated Against Whistleblower for Reporting National Security
Breaches
In the Wake of 1,000th Execution, a New Focus on Capital Punishment
Project
FreedomWire Exclusive
In the States:
Reopened Orleans Parish Prison Puts Inmates At Risk
Lawsuit Seeks Free Expression for Catholic Man Forced to Convert
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Reopened Orleans
Parish Prison Puts Inmates At Risk
In response to reports that hundreds of prisoners have returned to
Orleans Parish Prison, the ACLU of Louisiana urged the City Council to
conduct a full and thorough review of the conditions within the
facility. In letters to each council member, the ACLU expressed concern
that Sheriff Marlin N. Gusman re-opened the prison despite the lack of
adequate evacuation plans or medical staff and equipment.
"The City Council has an obligation to do what it can to protect the
lives and safety of these prisoners and jail personnel, and to prevent
certain institutional failures from being repeated," Joe Cook,
Executive Director of the ACLU of Louisiana said.
A City Council public hearing is especially important in light of the
scores of testimonials the ACLU has obtained from prisoners that
contradict public statements made by Sheriff Gusman that the evacuation
went as planned. According to the testimonials, OPP fell into chaos in
the five days after Hurricane Katrina struck. As the water rose in the
prison buildings, deputies deserted en masse, leaving behind prisoners
in locked cells. Prisoners broke windows and either leapt out or set
fire to pieces of clothing and held them outside the windows to signal
to rescuers. The prisoners spent days without power, food or water,
some standing in sewage-tainted water up to their chests or necks.
A copy of one of the ACLU’s letters to council members is available here.
For prisoner testimonials and more about civil liberties and hurricane
relief, go here.
FreedomWire Exclusive
The Daily Show's Lewis Black rants about the current state of dissent
and the absurdity of "free speech" zones. To watch, visit:
www.aclu.org/freedomwire
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would be interested in getting news about the ACLU and what we're doing
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December
15, 2005
Patriot
Act Update
After months of contentious debate, White House interference and
squashed attempts at bipartisan negotiations, on Wednesday the House of
Representatives, as expected, passed a deeply flawed bill to
reauthorize the expiring provisions of the Patriot Act. A motion to
recommit the bill failed on a very close vote, giving hope that the
Senate can fix the Patriot Act.
But this fight is far from over! The Patriot Act can and must be fixed.
The Senate is expected to take up the reauthorization bill today or
tomorrow, where there is a strong bipartisan push to restore
protections for innocent Americans to make sure that precious
anti-terrorism resources are focused on suspected foreign terrorists
and not on people who have no connection to a suspected foreign
terrorist.
Several Senators have threatened to filibuster the reauthorization bill
if important civil liberties protections are not included.
Call your Senators right now and
tell them the Patriot Act must be fixed! Your
Senators should vote against cloture, oppose ending debate and stand
firm against any Patriot Act reauthorization bill that does not include
real reforms.
Members of the House who voted against the reauthorization bill took a
stand for the privacy of the medical, financial, Internet and library
records of ordinary Americans who have done nothing wrong. We should
all commend their commitment to principle and their courage in standing
up to the strong-arm tactics of the Bush Administration.
Two hundred and fifty percent more Members of Congress stood up for
checks and balances on federal power than when the Patriot Act was
passed in October of 2001.
It is because of your efforts that we have been able to move the debate
to focus on the need to reform the Patriot Act this far. I urge you to
follow through and call your Senators right now and tell them that the
Patriot Act must be fixed.
Sincerely,
Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director
American Civil Liberties Union
The ACLU Takes on CIA Kidnapping and Secret
Detention Practices
Last week, as the ACLU filed an historic lawsuit on behalf of an
innocent European kidnapped by the CIA and held in a secret detention
center, the president and the secretary of state continued to deny
these unlawful practices.
"We abide by the law of the United States. We do not torture," said
President Bush in a White House press conference on Tuesday. But the
same morning, across town, the world heard a different story from
Khaled El-Masri, a German citizen who was kidnapped during a vacation
and transported, or "rendered," to Afghanistan where he was drugged,
beaten and held in secret for five months.
The practice of "extraordinary rendition" violates the Constitution and
United States law. Its very purpose is to enable interrogations in
places where, in the United States' view, no laws apply. Last week, the
practice was also denied by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who
told reporters "the United States does not transport, and has not
transported, detainees from one country to another for the purpose of
interrogation using torture."
The tide is turning in Washington on the issue of U.S.-sponsored
torture and abuse. Last night, the House overwhelmingly supported the
McCain amendment to bolster prohibitions against cruel and degrading
treatment. The vote was also a loss for Vice President Dick Cheney who
has lobbied vigorously to exempt the CIA from the restrictions proposed
by McCain. This is great win for everyone who cares about due process,
liberty and the rule of law -- thank you for helping make it possible
with your actions over the last month.
To find out more about our lawsuit challenging the CIA’s practice of
extraordinary rendition go to:
http://www.aclu.org/rendition
To date, more than 77,000 pages of government documents have been
released in response to the ACLU's Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
The ACLU has been posting these documents online at: www.aclu.org/torturefoia
FBI Retaliated Against Whistleblower for Reporting
National Security Breaches
A draft report from the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector
General concluded that the FBI retaliated against a former undercover
agent for reporting flaws in a terrorism investigation and doctored
records to cover up mistakes. The ACLU criticized the FBI’s actions
against the agent, Mike German, and called on Congress to enact real
whistleblower protections.
In September 2002, German informed his supervisors that a terrorism
investigation by the FBI in Orlando was being so seriously mishandled
that the FBI was losing the opportunity to launch a proactive
undercover operation that German believed could uncover a terrorism
financing plot. German said that the FBI failed to respond to his
allegations, and instead, he was disparaged by FBI supervisors,
excluded from the Orlando investigation and removed as a trainer from
elite FBI undercover schools. German resigned from the FBI in June
2004.
“What happened to me is not an isolated incident. FBI agents should be
encouraged to report mismanagement and should be protected from
retaliation,” German said. “The Inspector General report is further
evidence that the FBI's own internal oversight systems are broken and
corrupt.”
For more information, go to www.aclu.org/whistleblowers.
How The ACLU Didn't Steal Christmas
This holiday season you may have noticed an even more virulent and
well-organized attempt by extremist groups to demonize the ACLU and
crush religious diversity all in the guise of defending Christmas.
Fran Quigley, executive director of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union,
debunks some myths about the ACLU and Christmas and helps educate us
all about the importance of religious liberty and diversity in a timely
op-ed. You can read it at:
http://www.aclu.org/religion/gen/22324res20051207.html
In the Wake of 1,000th Execution, a New Focus on
Capital Punishment Project
As the United States conducted the 1,000th execution, the ACLU
announced the expansion and strengthening of its work to end capital
punishment. The ACLU’s Capital Punishment Project is expanding its
resources and programs to now include litigation in addition to public
education as part of the ACLU’s longstanding effort to end the death
penalty in the U.S.
The new director of the program, John Holdridge, is one of the nation’s
premier death penalty litigators and has fought the death penalty in
courtrooms around the country for more than a decade.
Holdridge will build on the successful public education and advocacy
programs that have been the hallmark of the ACLU’s Capital Punishment
Project by expanding the scope of the project to include litigation,
focusing on cases that highlight the unfairness and inequality of the
death penalty system.
Lawsuit Seeks Free Expression for Catholic Man
Forced to Convert
After exhausting all avenues in the Michigan courts, the ACLU of
Michigan today filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a Catholic man who
was criminally punished for not completing a Pentecostal drug
rehabilitation program.
"The Michigan courts would not acknowledge this man’s First Amendment
rights, but we're confident that the federal court will,” Kary Moss,
ACLU of Michigan Executive Director, said. “He was punished for
insisting on the right to practice Catholicism and refusing conversion
to the Pentecostal faith.”
Twenty-three-year-old Joseph Hanas of Genesee County pled guilty to a
charge of marijuana possession in February 2001. He was placed in a
“drug court” for non-violent offenders, allowing for a deferred
sentence and dismissal of the charges if he successfully completed the
Inner City Christian Outreach Residential Program.
Unbeknownst to Hanas when he entered the program, one of the goals of
Christian Outreach was to convert him from Catholicism to the
Pentecostal faith. He was forced to read the bible for seven hours a
day and was told that Catholicism was a form of witchcraft and they
confiscated both his rosary and Holy Communion prayer book.
After seven weeks of receiving no drug treatment and being prohibited
from attending Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings, Hanas requested
placement in a secular drug treatment program. His request was denied.
The judge acknowledged that Christian Outreach was a religious program
rather than a treatment program because there were no drug or alcohol
counselors on staff. Nonetheless, the judge determined that Hanas did
not satisfactorily complete the program, removed him from the drug
court, convicted him and sentenced him to jail for three months and
then to boot camp. It was only after his release from boot camp that he
finally received drug treatment at a secular residential rehabilitation
program.
“I needed help,” said Hanas. “Instead I was forced to practice someone
else’s religion and I’m still being punished for that.”
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