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02-12-07 (Mailed in
transit from Five Points C.F.)
Robert -
I have not been transferred.
I am at Five Points Correctional Facility only for a
deposition in regards to my Federal
law suit against guards at Clinton C.F., who savagely
beat me in 2001. Please read the enclosed letter. Please
make three copies of each page (individual pages)?
Please keep one copy, send one to Dick Jones with a note
to immediately put this on my family's web site. Send
one copy to me at Attica and send out the original
A.S.A.P. I will send you the stamps later because I do
not have any here. Should you have time to type up the
enclosed letter that would be great. Prior to copies
being made?
My two forearms and wrists
are swollen to twice their normal size due to being
handcuffed and chained for two days of travel. I hope to
be back in Attica by the 16th and not have to spend more
time in transit here and at Auburn C.F.
I hope you and Sarah are in
good health and spirits? Thank you both for always being
there and lending me your support.
Love,
Sam
=========================
P. O. Box 140
Attica, NY 14011-0149
12th February 2007
State of New York
Executive Chamber
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
Attn: The Honorable
Eliot Spitzer, Governor
Dear Sir:
You stated in your public
addresses about "One New York." Hopefully,
your "One New York" includes the State and Federal
rights of State prisoners.
On 01-25-07,
two investigators from I.G. - D.O.C.S. (Inspector
General - Department of Correction Services) came to
interview me at Attica C.F. At that interview, I
expressed concern for my personal safety and that of my
personal property. I further expressed concern that due
to my being interviewed by I.G. that staff would
retaliate, as they have repeatedly done in the past, by
keeplocking me on a false misbehavior report. I was
interviewed by Inspectors Begley and Amodio (Sp?). On
01-29-07, I
was keeplocked on a Tier III Misbehavior Report accusing
me of solicitation and correspondence violations because
my family had set up a website for my behalf,
www.TheInnocentPrisoner.org.
The charges against me are bogus and in retaliation for
my interview with the I.G.
on 01-25-07.
On 02-08-07, I
was packed up for a draft (transfer). Then, I was told
it was not a transfer but a court trip. I was not told
which court I was going to, so I did not bring any of my
legal papers. I learned after I left Attica C.F. that I
was going to Five Points C.F. for an E.B.I. deposition
in regards to my Federal Civil Rights lawsuit, 42USC8
1983 Smolen vs Menard U.S. Dist. Ct. N.D. N.Y. This
deposition was scheduled for 02-13-07 by court order
at Attica C.F. Apparently because I filed a
complaint against the A.A.G., M. Moran, and requested an
investigation by the U.S. District Court, Judge David
Hurd, into Ms. Moran's unethical behavior behavior for
filing Motions, and Answers to my Motions, containing
known misrepresentations of facts, she decided to move
the location of the deposition from Attica C.F. to Five
Points C.F. She had me moved knowing quite well that I
had stated to the Court just days earlier that I
had serious medical problems. A trip for Ms. Moran from
her office in Syracuse to Attica C.F. would have
amounted to little inconvenience for her. However,
moving me consisted of the following:
Governor, you also
publicly stated that you will run a cost-effective
government. How cost-effective is it to have me deposed
in another facility than the one I am currently housed
in, requiring days of travel in pain and discomfort?
Look at the misplacement of labor and the cost of same
that is involved in my being packed up and moved to
another facility.
I respectfully request
that you investigate all of the above and inform me of
your findings. I further request that you consider
issuing an executive order that all future civil
depositions of state prisoners be conducted in the
prison currently housing the prisoner. This will,
indeed, save the taxpayers from an unnecessary expense,
as well as prevent the travel of a sick prisoner.
On another matter,
Governor, I could have left prison on my C.R.
(conditional release) date of 05-13-06, but have refused
to do so in protest to my corrupt convictions - I am an
innocent man - as well as the failure of the D.O.C.S. to
address and treat all of my serious medical/dental
problems. I could leave at any time within 30 days
notice of my being willing to accept my C.R. date. My
protest is not a small sacrifice since my maximum
expiration date is 03-13-14!
For 12 long and hard years,
Governor, I, and almost all other prisoners, have waited
for the Democrats to retake the office of Governor. Our
hope is that your administration will bring justice,
compassion, and humane conditions to all of our state
prisons. I saw my fifth parole board on 01-16-07 and in
spite of having completed all required D.O.C.S. and
Parole Board requirements, as well as having been able
to have left prison on my 05-13-06 C.R. date, they still
denied me parole!?
Governor, parole and Parole
Board members can not be a political entity that is
controlled by Pataki's political appointments and exists
in a realm of failure! Parole must be totally
eliminated and replaced with fixed sentences. The
millions spent on the administrative costs of parole,
parole salaries, and the salaries of parole board
members should be spent on improving prison conditions
and programs, including expanding individual and group
therapy programs. How cost-effective is it to continue
with parole, which has shown that it is a failure and an
unnecessary expense to the state budget? Either a person
will leave prison and not commit another crime or they
will re-offend. Parole has no effect on either
outcome, and in fact, puts absurd restrictions on a
parolee that often are the leading causes of someone
coming back to prison for a new crime or minor parole
violation!
We are also praying
that you will have the "Good Time" bill,
held in committee for more than 25 years, finally
brought out for a vote, and that you will wholeheartedly
support its passage. We have been anxiously waiting to
hear what your plans will be for prisons and parole.
Hopefully, we will hear from you soon on both issues?
On still another
matter, why am I still in Attica after having been
classified medium status in August 2006? Attica is being
mismanaged by a rogue administration. Just look at the
murders, rapes, and robberies of inmates' personal
property, often with the encouragement, cooperation, and
assistance of prison guards. Guards are using prisoners
to attack other prisoners, especially the prisoners,
like myself, who protest and report illegal and unjust
actions by guards. It is Richard Roy, I.G. and
George Sleffer (Sp?) who is in charge of C.M.C.
Transfers and the Office of Movement and Control, that
have returned
me to Attica five times, in spite of my
having been assaulted by staff in the
past.
Since my arrival at
Attica on 07-04-04, I have been assaulted twice by other
prisoners and robbed once of my personal property - all
at the beckoning of guards. I have repeatedly been
denied access to the law library and photocopy services,
as well as F.O.I.L. Requests. The guards have stolen my
incoming and outgoing mail (as well as the mail of other
prisoners) including legal mail. When will all these
violations of State and Federal laws, as well as the
rules and regulations of the D.O.C.S., be brought to an
end? When, Governor? Please, tell us when?
I expect to find my
personal property stolen when I return to Attica. When
will this stop, Governor? I've written to D.O.C.S. Commissioner
Brian Fischer and sent him copies of prior letters sent
to Attica's Superintendent and or the prior
commissioners. But, if
Commissioner. Fischer is going to just send my
unanswered complaints filled with Attica's Supt. back to
Attica for investigation, as has been the policy of past
commissioners, then nothing will change and prisoners
will again lose hope that their complaints will be
addressed.
Thank you for your
time, cooperation, and consideration. I look forward to
your reply.
Respectfully submitted,
Samuel J. Smolen, Jr.
S. Smolen #85A4082
New York Times
Albany Times Union
WBAI - FM
WJFF - FM
file
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