IS THIS DEMOCRACY?

by Samantha Rajasingham
The background shows an anonymous police officer in yellow high-viz jacket over washed out black background, black gloves, blue face mask, and black UK police hat, but blacked out face; the foreground shows an orange femme silhouette, holding a placard in her right hand; the placard reads 'IS THIS Democracy?'
Image description: A visual watercolour response to the Sarah Everard case, Reclaim These Streets, Sisters Uncut and the violence of the police across the country against all women protesting for their safety and loss.
The background shows an anonymous police officer in yellow high-viz jacket over washed out black background, black gloves, blue face mask, and black UK police hat, but blacked out face; the foreground shows an orange femme silhouette, holding a placard in her right hand; the placard reads ‘IS THIS Democracy?’

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LEGACY OF EMPIRE: DARKEST DAYS OF INDIAN DEMOCRACY

kashmir nidhi suresh india

by Sarah Edgcumbe, Saba Azeem and Nidhi Suresh

CW: rape, torture

Since 5th August 2019, the Indian government has shut down Kashmir in the most repressive and terrifying fashion possible. 48,000 Indian troops have been moved into the state, making it, with 70,000 Indian troops already posted there,  the most densely militarized zone on Earth. These troops are now operating under a “shoot-to-kill” policy and hundreds of Kashmiri human rights activists, academics and business leaders have been arrested. Meanwhile, the Indian government has simultaneously imposed a media and communications blackout, cutting off the internet and thus preventing Kashmiris from being able to communicate their suffering in real time to the rest of the world. Pakistan too revoked state subject rule from Gilgit-Baltistan (part of Pakistan occupied Kashmir) in 1974, in a move similar to India’s current strategy. However, in doing so, there was no media black-out nor curfews imposed.  India, on the other , has jailed all Kashmiri leadership, transferring them to jails in New Delhi, as well as, according to a magistrate speaking on condition of anonymity, arresting and detaining over 4,000 Kashmiri citizens since 5th August.

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CORE CIVIC’S CORPORATE CULTURE OF HIDING STAFF FELONIES UPON IMMIGRANTS

By David Breakspear

Part Three of Three


In concluding this three-part series (Part One, Part Twoof documented sex crimes by Core Civic upon immigrant inmates, supported by a sworn Affidavit (by @FEDSBANE) and a further witness, The Norwich Radical now chooses to shine a light on high level Core Civic Management and their response to these crimes: to examine if their replies are consistent with their stated ethics policies, and if felonies remain unresolved.

We determine that the best way to examine the angle of Management replies is to simply quote from Donaldson’s Affidavit, since Core Civic does not contest it.

In reference to Assistant Warden Shawn Gillis from McRae Correctional Institution, who had influence over the voyeurism zoom cameras, and subsequent retaliation upon Donaldson for so reporting, Donaldson writes:

“Assistant Warden and PREA Coordinator Shawn Gillis was also removed from McRae, but then promoted to Warden of Adams County Correctional Center in Mississippi. This resembles THE CATHOLIC SHUFFLE, where deviant priests were reshuffled to other locations to make debased problems go away. But the latest news is that under Warden Gillis, the BOP contract at Adams CCC has been forfeit. The problem with Gillis persists.”

Could it be there is an effort at Core Civic to actually hide and reshuffle those caught committing sex felonies against immigrants?

In Donaldson’s Affidavit, he further states:

“At no time were official INVESTIGATION PROTOCOLS followed regarding my sexual harassment grievance, but the precise opposite was the practice. See:

http://www.corecivic.com/the-prison-rape-elimination-act-of-2003-prea

Additionally, the following Corporate Management at Core Civic with specific responsibilities in areas discussed in this Affidavit have refused to communicate with me in any way whatsoever, in order to correct the cited abuses and ethics violations:

  • Eric Pierson – PREA Boss at Core Civic in charge of stated investigation protocols:

http://www.corecivic.com/the-prison-rape-elimination-act-of-2003-prea

  • Scott Craddock Corporate Ethics and Compliance Officer

https://www.corecivic.com/hubfs/_files/Code%20Of%20Conduct%20(CoreCivic).pd

  • Damon Hininger CEO of Core Civic (and all those listed in the link below)

http://www.corecivic.com/about/executive-leadership

  • Cameron Hopewell Managing Director, Investor Relations

http://ir.corecivic.com/contact-ir

  • Amanda Gilchrist, Public Affairs Director

http://www.corecivic.com/newsroom

The organised silence and suppression to cover up these Core Civic crimes are highly coordinated, and provoke 18 USC 371 Conspiracy statutes (Exhibit One).

It never mattered what evidence or witnesses I could provide. My report of sexual harassment against Core Civic leadership was arranged to be rendered stillborn upon arrival. It was doomed & cursed by design; it never had a chance.

Core Civic knew I had exposed their sex crimes, and have committed still more crimes in their efforts to cover it up.

Since Core Civic thwarted my right to report crimes at every turn, their actions may qualify oversight from 18 U.S. Code § 241 Conspiracy against rights &  18 U.S. Code § 242 Deprivation of rights under color of law & 18 U.S. Code § 1510 Obstruction of criminal investigations & 18 U.S. Code § 1505 Obstruction of proceedings before departments, agencies, and committees, as the grievance proceeding herein are overseen by the Bureau of Prisons.

As retaliation against my person for reporting crime is at issue, further statutes may have a jealous interest in this case, such as: 18 U.S. Code § 1512 Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant & 18 U.S. Code § 1513 Retaliating against a witness, victim, or an informant.

Despite cited public policies representing that matters herein raised are to be ethically resolved with transparency, Core Civic orphans quoted ethics nonetheless, with misleading abandon:

http://www.corecivic.com/about/corporate-ethics

https://www.corecivic.com/hubfs/_files/Code%20Of%20Conduct%20(CoreCivic).pdf

https://www.corecivic.com/hubfs/_files/CoreCivic%20Human%20Rights%20policy%20statement.pdf

http://ir.corecivic.com/

http://www.corecivic.com/hubfs/_files/2018-ESGReport.pdf

http://www.corecivic.com/about/social-responsibility

None of these Core Civic publicly listed PROTOCOLS FOR PREA VIOLATIONS were followed in the present case:

https://www.corecivic.com/hubfs/_files/PREA/CCA-14-02.pdf?t=1539962057757

In fact, after my grievance of sexual harassment was placed in 2017 and the subsequent companywide cover-up; Damon Hininger, the CEO of Core Civic, did on February 11th 2019 also receive an email from me detailing the evidence. Damon then sold $439,683.19 in Core Civic stock, based on non-public information which had matured since 2017:

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1070985/000120919119014990/xslF345X03/doc4.xml

Damon Hininger has since blocked my ability to question him on unresolved Core Civic sexual harassment issues on Twitter, and rejects my emails, with the hypocrisy of his own cited ethics pronouncements, claiming that under his leadership Core Civic are… “governing ourselves at high standards of ethics and transparency…real-time public transparency keeps us accountable — to ourselves, our partners and our stakeholders — and improves our ability to better the public good.” See:

http://www.corecivic.com/news/corecivics-first-ever-esg-report-shows-more-progress-toward-unprecedented-reentry-goals

https://www.corecivic.com/hubfs/_files/Code%20Of%20Conduct%20(CoreCivic).pdf

Any claim of Core Civic’s high ethics and transparency is consciously misleading, and knowingly false.”

Either Corey Donaldson has committed a felony by perjuring himself in his Affidavit, or Core Civic proper and Management are guilty of felonies. The only question that remains now is if American law enforcement care enough about felonies on immigrants to decide where the felonies lay.

Brian Martin of the University of Wollongong in Australia, is an expert in the field of whistleblowing and has written extensively on the subject.

In my interview with Brian, he declared that, “Whistle-blowers regularly report that official channels (regulators, appeal procedures, courts, etc.) are unhelpful. They give the appearance of providing protection and justice (and thus reassure the public that all’s well) but not the substance.

Featured image credit: Anthony Garand


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IT HAPPENED

1

by Mollie Leveque

CW: miscarriage, bleeding, rape

Hard as I try, it’s difficult to rewatch David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor without smelling blood.

It’s not his fault. But in a bid to restore a sense of normalcy to the fact that I was miscarrying and just realized I’d been pregnant because of the miscarriage itself, I threw on The Doctor for familiar noise. It happened to be Ten’s era.

Close contenders for comfort media were The Thick of It, The Twilight Zone, and Sunset Boulevard. I like seeing Julius Nicholson squirm. Wickwire providing unwitting astronauts with “eternifying fluid” intrigues me. And Norma Desmond is always a good distraction.Continue Reading

AND JUSTICE FOR ALL?

By Gunnar Eigener

CW: sexual assault, rape

Crime is a constant in society. The effects seep into many different aspects, from devaluing houses on a street to scaring off tourists from a whole country. While we are accustomed to people getting away with burglaries, assaults and even murders, we are taught to believe that those who commit the gravest crimes will be punished.Continue Reading

REFLECTIONS ON #METOO FROM A TIRED SURVIVOR

by Anonymous

Content warning: mentions sexual violence, abuse, sexual harassment, rape, domestic abuse and violence 

Last week saw the hashtag #MeToo achieve viral success, following the accusations multiple women made again Hollywood director Harvey Weinstein. The hashtag started when actress Alyssa Milano, tweeted “If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘Me too’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem”.

The next week, social media was bombarded with personal account of sexual harassment, abuse, rape, assault and domestic violence. Famous celebrities talked about their experiences and within 24 hours, Facebook reported that 4.7 million people engaged with the #MeToo hashtag with over 12 million posts and comments. Most of the media’s reaction has been positive – finally we are acknowledging that sexual violence is a pervasive problem rather than a few isolated incidents, they say.Continue Reading

THOUGHTS FROM THE FENCES – YARL’S WOOD & THE IMPORTANCE OF IMMIGRANT RIGHTS

by Lotty Clare

Content warning: mentions violence against women, abuse, rape, self-harm, suicide, racism, harassment, homophobia.

Last Saturday, a group of UEA students and Norwich residents travelled to a protest at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Bedfordshire. This protest was the fifth Movement for Justice by Any Means Necessary (MFJ) has organised to shut down detention centres. As I approached the building, hidden inside an industrial estate, surrounded by fields, in the middle of nowhere, it was just as intimidating and depressing as 6 months ago when I went to Yarl’s Wood for the first time. It looks like a prison, except that it is ‘worse than prison, because you have no rights’, as former detainee Aisha Shua put it. Some women are in Yarl’s Wood because their visa expired, others because their asylum claim was unsuccessful. They have committed no crime. And yet they can be detained there indefinitely.

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THE NIGHT TIME STROLL HOME FOR A WOMAN

by Nicholl Hardwick

Content warning: this article mentions sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape.

Here is a little snippet of the continuous thoughts and actions that are applicable to many women when walking alone as the night begins to descend.

  1. Multiple checks over her shoulder.
  2. Trying to cover up and make your self look as undesirable as possible (pulling down top, head down, arms covering torso).
  3. Weapon ready in hand (Keys slipped between enclosed fist, rape alarm, pepper spray etc.).
  4. Analysing what the quickest escape route is (Your mind works like a ninja e.g. what is the quickest way to exit the park? THROUGH THE TREES!)
  5. Being ultra responsive to sound (the snap of a twig = RUN YOU FOOL)
  6. The old ‘I’m talking on my phone so you can’t attack me’ trick, when in reality your phone died two hours ago.
  7. The ability to power walk like a trouper — thighs of steel — the quicker you get home the sooner you can stop shitting yourself that you’re not going to make it.
  8. The avoidance of headphones — If you’ve got Bey on full blast then you ain’t gonna hear the footsteps!
  9. The ability for women to have extensive knowledge of all ‘well lit’ routes in their area — THERE MUST BE LIGHT OTHERWISE IT’S MY FAULT — our minds work like twisted Satnavs.
  10. The continuous regret that you didn’t just save money and get a taxi.

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THE GROWING THREAT OF VIOLENCE

by Gunnar Eigener

Content warning: mentions racism, xenophobia, rape, hate crime, racial abuse, Donald Trump.

Statistics reported by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) showed a 46% spike in hate crimes in the week that followed Brexit. A Polish man, Arkadiusz Jozwik, was killed by a gang of teenagers in Harlow in August. Hours after a march in his memory, two more Polish men were attacked. In September, a pregnant woman, of Middle-Eastern appearance, was racially abused and kicked in the stomach causing her to lose her baby. Across the UK, areas that voted for the Leave campaign have seen increase in reported hate crime. Brexit has left racists and xenophobes feeling morally justified in their actions and beliefs.

Yet Brexit is just a small part of the problem, one that is growing fast, forming a pattern across many countries and something that is already deeply entrenched in our global society.Continue Reading