Humanity for Prisoners

I'm in the office alone on New Year's Eve. I was unable to leave early because the wheel kept squeaking! Mr. V. wanted me to send letters by email to his two sisters in Honduras, wishing them a Happy New Year! He tries to send them letters, but mysteriously they never arrive. Mr. H. called, and needed a little TLC. He has been in prison 24 years, claiming wrongful conviction, but now has a glimmer of hope because a foreign documentary maker wants to tell his story. I read the email message to him, his spirits were lifted, and he told me that he loved me. Mr. D. wrote me a letter asking me to try to reach his grown children. He has been in prison for 15 years after his estranged wife accused him of child molestation. He could have settled for a one year jail term on a plea, but maintained his innocence. His holiday is ruined because judges ruled against him in one of the nations high courts a few days ago. Now he's desperately hoping to find offspring with a conscienc...

Christmas was no sooner past than we received an urgent call to assist a prisoner on death row in Texas. Seems a jury had reached a verdict and decided on the death penalty in just TWO HOURS! A retired forensic pathologist pleaded with us to do something for this man, because records show he was actually in a county jail at the time of the murder ! His execution date is just 35 days away. In spite of holidays, HFP has already received a record 50 requests to date for assistance in December! We need you at our side this final week of the year. If you will get your donation in before Auld Lang Syne fills the air, you will not only receive a 2008 tax deduction, but you will also help us to do our best for forgotten prisoners with healthcare, mental illness, parole, hospice and wrongful conviction issues! To make it even more convenient for you, here's your online donation form: http://www.aboutinnocent.org/donate.htm I conclude with two kind comments from our wonderful partners t...

It's no secret that we have a wide variety of supporters. There are atheists, agnostics, evangelicals, protestants, Catholics, Jews, liberals, conservatives...you name it. But there is a two-strand cord that binds us all together: We agree that all prisoners deserve humane treatment, and we believe that wrongful convictions are not acceptable. It's Christmas Eve, and the holiday weekend is here. I and my family will be in church tonight. But regardless of where you are, and what you will be doing, I hope that for all of you the weekend will be special; that you will have the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate friends and family. And during the laughter and gaity, I ask that you take a moment to remember a huge segment of our society under a black cloud this weekend. With more than 2-million people in prison in the United States, please remember not only the incarcerated, but the moms, dads, grandparents, children, relatives and loved ones...all real people, with real feeli...

On beginning the new week: “ There is only one way in which one can endure man's inhumanity to man and that is to try, in one's own life, to exemplify man's humanity to man. ” Alan Paton quotes ( South African Writer and Educator , 1903 - 1988 ) I chose that quote because of the following experience: Over the weekend, Mrs. T sent me a brief message by email: My father is 68 and in prison, suffers from heart problems and cannot get the medicine that the doctor told him he must have. He was sent to the emergency room last Wednesday with what we thought was a heart attack. They performed a heart cauterization WITHOUT ANESTHESIA. The doctor was told that the Bureau of Prisons did not want to pay for anesthesia and not to administer it. I ask you, is this humane? We do more for our pets than we do for our prisoners. Within minutes we pounced on that case, and will resume our pursuit of humanity today. But we cannot do it alone! Your year-end assistance will enab...

In the past two days, HFP was pleased to receive financial contributions in the name of another family member . We were asked to notify that family member that a gift had been given in his/her name by the donor. If you would like to do something similar, contact me by email asap...the letter can go to your family member or friend in time for Christmas. Thank you! Doug HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS 20 W. Muskegon Avenue Muskegon, MI 49440

From COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS by Charles Partridge and Greg O'Brien: If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation...YOU ARE AHEAD OF 500 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. Today, with your help, we'll try to touch at least one of them! Doug Tjapkes, President HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS 20 W. Muskegon Avenue Muskegon, MI 49440

I asked our friend Chanda Hidanovic, in Fargo, North Dakota, if there were any new developments in her husband's case. Mevludin, as you may recall, is a Bosnian who claimed wrongful conviction having to do with a skirmish at the county fairgrounds, claiming he was with his family at the amusement rides when this happened. He said that faulty eyewitness identification resulted in his arrest, refused to take a plea with a short jail sentence, and instead opted to count on our judicial system. He learned that the wheels of justice ground to a halt in his case . He was found guilty and was put behind bars. Now, because he is not a citizen, Immigration officials have deemed him a criminal not fit to live in this country. Regardless of the fact that he has a wife and four children here, he is being deported to his native land. The incident happened in 2006, and since that time HFP and many other friends have tried to assist the family and the legal team all the way to the state Su...