![]() ![]() While the majority of Americans, including Native Americans, agree the FBI serves a vital service to this nation, it should be acknowledged the agency is operated by human beings who, from time to time, make mistakes. ![]() The deaths of the two agents at Oglala were tragic by all human standards, as were the deaths of innocent American Indians who died during the “Reign of Terror” on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the ‘70s. Through the years, the FBI has adamantly opposed the release of Peltier. In the letter, Reynolds argued for Peltier’s Clemency Petition “as being in the best interests of justice considering the totality of all matters involved.” Attorney James Reynolds, who had been the government’s prosecutor in Peltier’s trial, sent a letter to President Obama to urge clemency. Attorney General Ramsey Clark was more blunt in describing Peltier’s trial and conviction: “There was no evidence that he did it, except fabricated, circumstantial evidence, overwhelmingly misused, concealed and perverted.”Ĭlark said he could explain “beyond serious doubt” that Peltier committed no crime whatsoever, “but if he had been guilty of firing a gun that killed an FBI agent, it was in defense of not just his people but the integrity of humanity, from domination and exploitation.”ĭuring the final days of the Obama presidency, former U.S. Heaney suggested the FBI was equally responsible for the shoot-out.įormer U.S. ![]() Federal Judge Gerald Heaney, who presided over an appeal hearing on the case, has said the FBI utilized improper tactics to convict Peltier. Peltier was tried and convicted in a sham of a trial that included falsified testimony from witnesses and prosecutors withholding evidence that could have assisted Peltier’s defense. He was convicted of killing two FBI agents who showed up on Jat a private Oglala residence on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Peltier, a tribal citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, has been in prison for 46 years. Sadly, he will be commemorating his birthday in a federal prison, where he remains incarcerated for a crime many legal experts say he did not commit. Leonard Peltier turns 78 years old on Monday, September 12. (Photo by Darren Thompson for Native News Online) None Like It Hot: Federal Judge Visits Overheated Death Row (FindLaw's U.S.The “Walk to Justice: Free Leonard Peltier” will travel from Minneapolis through Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, ending in Washington, D.C.However, sleep deprivation, unlike dangerous temperatures, or other conditions outside the institution's control, is something that is almost exclusively within an institution's control, particularly if it is the institution's own policies and practices causing that sleep deprivation. Many have struggled to prove that not providing relief from the heat in summer months when temperatures rise to dangerous levels constitutes an Eighth Amendment violation, although it has happened. The standard for inmates to meet to prove cruel and unusual punishment is rather high. An extra hour a night might not seem like much, but coupled with a prohibition on the overnight maintenance work and loudspeaker pill-calls during lights out time, the sleep deprived inmates are sure to enjoy the time they were awarded. The case still has to finish winding its way through court, but the judge issued a preliminary injunction requiring the prison to change their practices, and provide a full 6 hours of lights out time on weekdays, and 7 hours on weekends. What’s worse, the prison would also regularly schedule overnight maintenance work that would be loud and disruptive to the inmate’s sleep. The above-mentioned federal case arose out of a California county jail that gave prisoners five hours of lights out time, and routinely used loudspeakers to wake up inmates as early as 2:30am to take medications before a 4am breakfast. While inmates certainly are not entitled to the same comforts that most people are accustomed to, they are entitled to habitable living conditions, including heating and cooling, nutritious food, and enough time to sleep.Īnd inmates might be able to sleep a little bit easier knowing that a federal court has just ruled in favor of inmates claiming cruel and unusual punishment due to not being given enough or adequate time to sleep. However, after learning about what these inmates had to deal with, what they won is a stark reminder that habitable conditions are still pretty far from comfortable. ![]()
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