Message from solitary confinement

Leonard Peltier

Reprinted from www.leonardpeltier.org, the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee.

Aho my relations,

As I sit here in my solitary confinement cell at USP Terre Haute, and reflect over the past month’s events, I can’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of love and gratitude for each and every one of you who have so diligently stood by me in this time of crisis. As you already know by now, on June 30, 2005, I was transferred from Leavenworth Facility to Terre Haute USP. The reason for my transfer, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons administrative staff, was that the Leavenworth Facility was downgraded from maximum security level to medium, and therefore I could not remain at Leavenworth due to my illegal sentencing and consequent maximum security rank.

I was transferred without notification to my attorney, Barry Bachrach, and my family. Upon my arrival to Terre Haute I was placed in solitary confinement and was told that I would remain in solitary confinement until my personal file arrived. My personal file arrived, but I remain in solitary confinement allegedly for security reasons. I am confined to a cell that is 8’X 8’; it has a window that is covered from the outside with an elaborate shield that allows me to see 2-3 inches of the sky out of the top and 2-3 inches of the ground. All prisoners are supposed to get at least one hour of sunlight or outdoors and so I am taken from my cell to what is called a Recreation Room (Rec Cage), and the only sun or outdoors that I see is from some windows high up in this large room with a few air holes in them. I am able to walk up and down and this fulfills the one hour of sunlight or outdoors recreation time.

Whatever the system’s logic is, it seems that I won’t stay in Terre Haute for much longer and will be transferred again. I do not know when and where, nor do I know if this cruel game will be over after another transfer. After all, removal and relocation have been used to break our people from the beginning of this country’s history. This keeps my Defense Committee from taking the necessary steps to re-establish an office, but they are doing everything they can to help me in this most precarious and uncertain situation. ...

A month in solitary is beginning to take a toll on me but your letters give me much hope and encouragement. Many of you have written, e-mailed and called USP Terre Haute and other organizations. This has brought some improvement to my solitary confinement. I am now getting my medications on a daily basis, I can write out, I am receiving my mail, and I am allowed one phone call a month. I am allowed contact visits for those persons authorized on my visiting list. The contact visit is restricted to a two-hour period, and is conducted through a glass pane and a phone. I am allowed to visit with my attorney without those restrictions.

At this time I am asking that you continue to call/ write/e-mail ... requesting that my security level be downgraded to medium due to my health, age and good behavior and that I be transferred to a medium security institution with all my hard earned prisoner privileges restored. In case I am transferred please add the new facility (keep checking our official Website: www.leonardpeltier.org) to your contact list and ask them to respect my human rights and prisoner privileges. Again, I thank you for your support and prayers and hope that I may one day soon be among you.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,

Leonard Peltier

URGENT UPDATE: Peltier writes, “On Aug. 15, I was transferred to USP Lewisburg in Pennsylvania.”

The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee urges: “Please contact USP Lewisburg to make sure Leonard regains all his hard earned prisoner rights, especially his religious rights, visitations, regular phone calls and ability to paint.” Contact: Warden, USP Lewisburg; phone: (570) 523-1251; fax: (570) 522-7745; e-mail: LEW/[email protected]