|
After
reading the title one might wonder how a man can be innocent
twice, yet still be found guilty. He must have done “something”
one might think. And being a U.S citizen makes it harder
to believe that a nation that has such high standards
and values about freedom, justice and equality, might
actually have an innocent man thrown in prison for crimes
he did not commit. I mean after all America is trying
so hard to give my country total freedom and justice so
it is not probable that it is failing in applying these
to its own citizens.
America
preaches about Democracy and all that comes with it on
daily basis throughout the world and makes wars against
terrorism in the name of peace, right? Well I hope for
your sake that the ultimate dream of an ultimate perfect
Nation won’t be shattered by the facts of the following
story. What comes next will show you how the United States
of America is turning into the United States of Incarceration.
You will see how it is a land of wrongful convictions,
unequal human rights, torture, abuse of authority, breaking
the law, hatred, radicalism, punishments, executions,
terror and torture. How judges and officials play semigod
roles, how the poor can’t buy justice and can’t
protect their constitutional rights, and how Democracy
is turning into Dictatorship…
The
United States is the world leader in incarceration with
2.3 million plus in prisons and jails. This represents
an incarceration rate of 762 per 100,000 US residents,
the highest rate in the world.
Five
to ten percent of U.S prison population is factually innocent
of the crimes of which they were convicted. (Based on
the 1996 National Institute of Justice Report) That means
as many as 200.000 people are imprisoned for crimes they
did not commit. One of whom is my friend, Justin Joseph
Rueb.
This
is the story of a man who was sent to hell, but not back
yet…
Justin
Rueb is a man wrongfully convicted not only once but twice
of two alleged crimes in two different states by the U.S
judicial system. This innocent man has been targeted and
victimized over and again by liar cops, racist eyewitnesses,
incompetent defense attorneys, overzealous prosecutors,
abusive judges, and corrupt judiciary, who all contributed
in sending him to prison.
While
awaiting trials, Justin was beat, literally tortured both
physically and mentally, denied medical care, and starved
nearly to death to plead guilty to crimes he did not commit.
Let
me give you an idea about some ways of torture Justin
endured. In one jail after repeatedly being attacked and
beat in his cell by a group of 4 or 5 jail officers, Justin
would then be taken to what’s called a “four
point restraint room”. In that room he would be
placed on the ground facing the ceiling, legs and arms
spread open and tied with a chain to a metal ring like
an “X” sign. He would be left there for days
with no food and water and with no access to toilet. Justin
would urinate and defecate on him and left there to soak
in his own urine. Later the jail officers would come in
to laugh and spit on him.
In
another state jail and also while awaiting trial, Justin
was placed in a tiny cell for days where he did not know
day from night and fed with nearly no food which led him
later to start experimenting with wet balls of toilet
paper to ease his hunger.
This
man has been in solitary confinement for the last eleven
and a half years of his life with no end in sight. He
has been totally abandoned by his family and the last
social visit anyone gave him was almost nine years ago.
Until I found him a year and a half ago if he had died
it would have made no difference to the rest of the world
for no one knew he existed. He would have had just a number
on his tomb and buried in the prison cemetery lying there
in the cold dirt without having anyone send him not even
the warmth of a little prayer…Justin spent his days
locked up in that cell 24/7 wondering about the main reason
of his living, about the meaning of life in the essence.
He is left there to live like a zombie, to lose his humanity
and soul in the land of the dead waiting for an event
to happen. And that event that us on the outside take
for granted, would be when a moth visits his cell and
flies around his head and lands on his shoulder…
He’s
watching his mind fall apart and I’m barely keeping
him hopeful and balanced.
As
to the reasons of his confinement, the first alleged crime
was a robbery in the state of California. Justin was represented
by an incompetent attorney who said she “didn’t
have time” to investigate thoroughly the evidence
in the case. His resulting conviction carried a sentence
of 22 years in prison.
Justin’s
attempts to overturn his wrongful conviction were stifled
by a manipulative, abusive judge who denied him his lawful
right to an evidentiary hearing to PROVE his innocence.
Each of California courts that Justin appealed upheld
the judge’s decision, violating his legal right
to a hearing. The courts could not be bothered to review
facts. Bear in mind that Justin is half Black, poor, alone,
and essentially had no voice.
The
second alleged crime happened in the state of Colorado,
where Justin was framed by two corrupt police detectives
and a racist store owner who thought that because he was
Black, that he possessed stolen computer equipment. When
they checked that the computers were not stolen after
all, they lied and said he tried to choke them and attacked
them! The prosecutor offered Justin a deal, which he refused
out of principle. His public attorney never made an opening
or closing statements. Justin took 24 years for the conviction.
And
it is because of those two detectives’ lies that
Justin is currently spending his time since 1996 in solitary
confinement.
In
2004 a judge issued that both sentences be run concurrent
in California prison, yet because of more games and officials
breaking the law, Justin is still physically detained
in Colorado prison.
So tell me how much can a man take being continuously
deprived of his rights and continuously being played games
by the people and officials whose job in the first place
is to protect him and his rights and apply the law?
Have
I showed racism? Have I showed terror and torture? Have
I showed abuse of authority and hatred? Have I showed
all that I mentioned in the beginning of the article?
Have
I done a good job proving it? Is America still the land
of the free and the justice? Are we still talking about
this motto “innocent until proven guilty”?
Because the way I see it is that men are found immediately
guilty because of the color of their skin. I also see
that men who cannot “afford” justice cannot
get justice. Is prison still about rehabilitation or about
punishment? Can we still trust a country that is not protecting
the innocent and its own citizens? Let’s reconsider
the men with the badges whose main job is to serve and
protect because those particular men failed to do so towards
my friend and thousands of others. Can we still trust
a country that uses torture on its own citizens inside
its own prisons everyday?
We
listen to American music, smoke American cigarettes, are
fascinated by American movies, wear American clothes,
drive American cars,…We try to live by American
“idealistic” standards yet America breaks
its own laws and contradicts its own values every single
day.
I
will conclude this by saying that the main purpose of
this article was to highlight facts about inhumane conditions
that happen in a certain country. And that country happened
to be the United States of America. I found my friend
and I decided to be his voice. And so I’m doing…
Justin
Rueb is a man twice wrongfully convicted and in desperate
need for help…
To
know more about Justin’s case and see the proof
of his innocence with your eyes, please check his website
www.helpaprisoner.com
If
you wish to help Justin,
You may write to Anastasia
|
