Hypocritically surprised
Recently I received the following in a letter from an Australian friend, Stephanie Wilkinson:
"A few days go I met the delightful Mrs Lettie Scott. Lettie is the widow of an Aboriginal man, the late Mr Douglas Scott, who died in custody at Darwin prison, Northern Territory, on July 5, 1985.
"Witnesses saw four prison guards go into a cell with Mr Scott, carrying batons. They heard sounds of a beating and Mr Scott's cries for help. After this authorities claim that Mr Scott hanged himself. However, in some photos his body was hanging from a patterned sheet, but other photos showed a plain sheet with different knots in the noose.
"Even though some of the photos have disappeared, sworn statements of witnesses discussing the disparities remain as evidence of foul play. Lettie has been fighting for justice for the past 11 years, but has been ignored by the authorities, so she has now taken the matter to the United Nations.
"This death in custody is typical of the injustice suffered by many Aboriginal persons. It is also probable that some of the white "suicides" in prison have been murders by prison guards or other prisoners. We must ask why prison staff and police are not made more accountable for the ill-treatment, neglect and even killing of prisoners.
"Of course, not all deaths in custody are murders or suicides. Many of the deaths are due to other causes, including illness. A recent report by the NSW Department of Corrective Services claims that more than half of the 23 Aboriginal deaths in custody in NSW, since 1989, were from natural causes. Obviously more attention needs to be given to sick prisoners and medical help sought more promptly.
"It is obvious that prison staff and police who have racial and sadistic attitudes must be weeded out. Those guilty of violence towards prisoners must be brought to justice and punished.
"Many 'white' Australians are very concerned about deaths in custody and the suffering of victims. We are being let down by a few sadistic individuals who get the whole country a bad name. Therefore it is up to us to lobby the politicians to make sure that we have only the best possible prison officers and police who will treat prisoners properly. In the USA they use 'legal lynchings' (executions) to satisfy their racial hatred against African-Americans and the poor — here in Australia we do not have the death penalty but we do have illegal lynchings."
I would like to salute Mrs Lettie Scott for not giving up, and for not letting them put a price on the life of her late husband. I love her for that. The powers that be have tried to quietly "settle" in the hope that families will then be silent. She knows, first hand, how inhumane and diabolical state and federal governments can be and are.
For example, the USA's newest super maximum security federal prison in Colorado, proudly being touted as the world's finest (boasting its own airport, from which prisoners are shuttled about to other prisons via its government-funded "Con Airlines"), is now in the process of covering up a brutal murder carried out by guards at the new facility.
The same transparent scenario trotted out in the killing of Douglas Scott was used. It is alleged that the prisoner hanged himself; however, his body showed that he had been viciously and brutally beaten; the coroner's examination of the walls of the cell with ultraviolet light revealed that his blood had been washed away in an attempt to hide the fact that he had been beaten to death; and several witnesses saw the guards go into his cell, at which time the beating was heard; a prisoner who was ordered by the guards to wash the bloody walls is also a witness. Yet the government is still trying to hide the truth. It is clear that the killing of prisoners is endemic throughout the world.
The sad truth of the matter is that most people who are not in prison couldn't care less about those of us who are. That is especially true in the US. Australians, it seems, tend to be a bit more interested in prisoners' well-being.
It may be time for the formation of a global organisation devoted to the upsurge of deaths in custody; and, while this is just a suggestion, I cannot imagine a person better suited to head it than Mrs Scott. It would have to be based in Australia, since there does not seem to be enough people in the US who give a damn — or who are willing to offer much more than lip service.
In any case, this brave woman needs your help to continue the struggle. Anyone wishing to assist Mrs Scott in her campaign for justice may contact her through the Indigenous Rights Network, Sydney phone/fax (02) 9427 9489 or through her solicitor: Mr Rodney Lewis and Co, 1st floor, 1049 Victoria Road, West Ryde NSW 2114. Will you help please?
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He welcomes letters commenting on his columns. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G2-51, Georgia State Prison, HCO1, C-1-30, Reidsville, GA 30453, USA.]