How Innocent People Land in Prison

From: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/06/12/151901/commentary-how-innocent-people.html
Commentary: How innocent people land in prison

David Quindt can't escape the 15 months he spent in Sacramento County jail for a murder he didn't commit.
He moved all the way to Hawaii for a fresh start, yet he doesn't want to completely forget. Each semester, he tells his story to law school students to "open their eyes" about how criminal justice in America can go terribly wrong.
Now, Quindt has his own little piece of the new National Registry of Exonerations, the most complete database of its kind ever, about 900 cases since 1989 – and counting.
These exonerations "point to a much larger number of tragedies that we do not know about" because there are many more people who are falsely convicted but aren't able to exonerate themselves, say those who compiled the registry at the University of Michigan and Northwestern University law schools.
The registry is a big deal to those who try to help wrongly convicted people, and rightly so. They say it documents that there are common problems that cause the vast majority of false convictions: mistaken identifications by eyewitnesses, unfounded accusations and misconduct by law enforcement.
"Here is proof," says Jeff Chinn, associate director of the California Innocence Project.
While this is an immensely complicated issue, he and other advocates argue convincingly that there are some relatively simple, inexpensive solutions that could prevent many wrongful convictions, such as videotaping interrogations, changing identification procedures and improving training for police and prosecutors. Many of the fixes have the support of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, which plans a summit on the issue in August.
Those who unveiled the registry May 21 and issued a report analyzing the cases call for police, prosecutors and defense lawyers to work together to reduce false convictions. That doesn't seem too much to ask. Yes, we have an adversarial system of justice, but all sides should be able to agree that these miscarriages of justice are doubly devastating – innocent people lose years of their lives and the guilty go unpunished.
Not everyone, though, is convinced that the registry is a call to action.
National prosecutor groups are questioning whether the "exonerations" involve truly innocent people and argue that mistakes are rare and almost always unintentional.
District Attorney Jan Scully, Sacramento County's top prosecutor for 18 years, says while such efforts are "laudable," they are also misleading because the rate of wrongful convictions is "infinitesimal," given how many criminal cases are filed each year. She worries that such reports can undermine public confidence in the justice system's integrity.
In particular, she disputes that two of the three Sacramento County cases cited in the report are really exonerations, as the average person would understand the definition.
• Case No. 1: Among "group exonerations" – not counted in the registry total – the report mentions the 2010 dismissal of drunken driving and other charges against 79 defendants because former Sacramento Police Officer Brandon Mullock is alleged to have mishandled the DUI stops and falsified reports.
Scully, however, doesn't consider those drivers to be "exonerated" because they were in all likelihood guilty. She just couldn't make the charges stick without a credible witness.
• Case No. 2: Gloria Marie Killian was found guilty of first-degree murder in a 1981 home invasion in Rosemont. In 2002, after 16 years in prison, she was granted a new trial by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that a prosecutor used perjured testimony and withheld evidence.
Scully declined to put Killian on trial again, mainly because she was already eligible for parole and because key witnesses had died. But that doesn't mean she was innocent, the district attorney says.
• Case No. 3: Quindt was convicted and faced a life sentence in the 1998 shooting death of 18-year-old Patrick Riley Haeling. A 15-year-old girl inside the Fair Oaks home identified Quindt as one of the gunmen, but another man later confessed.
Scully agrees this is an exoneration. But she points out that Quindt was freed only through the efforts of one of her deputies, Mark Curry. He prosecuted Quindt, then after the trial, pursued an anonymous tip that led to the arrest of three new suspects, who were all later convicted or pleaded guilty.
"The system worked," Scully told me.
Reforms stymied in California
Questions about whether the system works well enough have percolated for years in California. The California Innocence Project, created in 1999 at California Western School of Law in San Diego, has helped exonerate 10 people, most recently Brian Banks, a Long Beach high school football star whose rape conviction was dismissed last month and who is now trying out for the NFL. The Northern California Innocence Project at Santa Clara University's law school has 11 exonerees to its credit since starting in 2001.
In 2004, the Legislature created the state Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice to study wrongful convictions and find ways to prevent them. Before disbanding in 2008, it made a series of recommendations, but then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed bills to turn them into law. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown signed one reform suggested by the panel. Senate Bill 687 says a defendant can't be convicted based solely on the uncorroborated testimony of jailhouse informants, who are often unreliable.
Some states and cities have reformed their eyewitness identification procedures, including "double-blind" lineups in which the officer conducting them doesn't know which of the photos or people is the suspect. But Scully, like some prosecutors, isn't convinced that such an overhaul would lead to a major improvement.
She does agree with another of the exoneration report's recommendations – video recording interrogations to prevent false confessions. Recordings are standard in serious cases, she says.
For more than a decade, Scully's office has worked with attorneys and the Innocence Project to do DNA testing when they present evidence casting doubt on a conviction. Since 2001, there have been 39 requests, but so far no exonerations.
Like some other district attorneys, Scully also keeps a confidential list of law enforcement officers whose credibility is in question because of past transgressions. Senior staffers decide what to do when a case involves an officer on the list, which now includes 46 current and former officers from nine different agencies. Depending how crucial that officer's testimony is, Scully's office can decline to file charges, dismiss a case or disclose the issue to the defense and proceed.
With those safeguards in place, Scully says she doesn't need a formal "conviction integrity unit" like those in some places, including Santa Clara County. "My whole office is an integrity unit," she says.
Virginia Hench, a University of Hawaii law professor who brings Quindt in to speak, credits Scully's office for admitting it made a mistake in his case. "They usually fight tooth and nail," she says. Hench, who helped start the Hawaii Innocence Project, says her students learn a lot from Quindt. "It's pretty powerful to meet someone who went through that experience," she told me.
After release from prison, then what?
Like many of those exonerated, Quindt did not live happily ever after.
The wrongly convicted often get less financial aid and other help than those who are guilty and paroled. That doesn't make sense. The fair justice commission called for more services to reintegrate them into society, including housing, clothing, job counseling and a cash allowance.
Some of those who are exonerated receive compensation from the state if they were wrongly imprisoned. Quindt collected $17,200 – $100 for each of the 172 days he spent in jail after his conviction. He wanted $45,800, which also included his time behind bars awaiting trial.
Some advocates for the exonerated say the maximum compensation ought to increase and claim the state Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board is too stingy in deciding these awards. Of 71 cases since 2000, the board has denied 48 claims and approved only 11, with payments totaling $3.6 million. Another 12 cases are pending.
Quindt quickly spent his award and could have used additional assistance. "It's been a tough road," he told me.
After twice attempting suicide while in custody, he walked out of jail in May 2000 and then had a bout with depression and had trouble finding work. Six months after his release, he walked into a robbery in progress at a Carmichael liquor store and was hit in the head with a beer bottle. Quindt testified and two men were convicted.
After marrying his childhood sweetheart, Christy, things started looking up when he got work as a roofer and a mechanic. But he hurt his back and says he has been on disability ever since.
In 2003, Quindt moved his family to Hawaii, where he just turned 35 and now has three children. "I just had to get away from all the trouble and all that happened to me," he told me.
But trouble followed him.
He says he has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder from his jail time. In March, he was stabbed by a man he was trying to help in a drug outreach program and almost died.
"I have bad luck," Quindt says, in what seems to be a colossal understatement. "I'm not really bitter. … It's just really sad."
But wrongful convictions aren't a matter of mere bad luck. There are sensible steps that police and prosecutors across California ought to consider to avoid more David Quindts.
IN PURSUIT OF INNOCENCE
For more information about the National Registry of Exonerations, Innocence Projects in California and the administration of justice, go to:
• National Registry of Exonerations: www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration
• Northern California Innocence Project: http://law.scu.edu/ncip
• California Innocence Project: http://www.californiainnocenceproject.org/
• California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice: http://www.ccfaj.org/
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/06/12/151901/commentary-how-innocent-people.html#storylink=cpy

CA Prison Shrink Fakes Rape

Prison psychologist in alleged rape scheme fired     

SACRAMENTO, Calif. --         A California prison psychologist charged with faking her own rape has been fired from the prison system.
A spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told the Sacramento Bee on Wednesday that Laurie Ann Martinez's last day with the department was Dec. 22.
Her firing came less than a week after the state psychology board announced it was suspending the 36-year-old Martinez's license.
Martinez is accused of staging her robbery and rape in April at her home with the help of a friend and then dialing 911.
Sacramento authorities say she and her friend, 33-year-old Nicole Snyder, have acknowledged the scheme. Martinez was allegedly trying to get her husband to move to a more desirable neighborhood.     
Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/12/29/2664392_prison-psychologist-in-alleged.html#storylink=cpy

How to Survive prison as an Innocent SO

How To Survive in Prison as an Innocent Man Convicted of a Sex Crime Psychology Editor's Note: This article includes some strong views that may be surprising and challenging.  We have chosen to publish it because we believe prisoners have a right to seek interaction with those outside the prison walls.  We also believe there are many innocent men and women in prison who are wrongly convicted of sex offenses.  They too, have a right to stand up for their innocence.  One of the more poignant episodes in our lives was in June, 1985, when Lois Bentz, accused with her husband, Robert, of sexually abusing children in Jordan, Minnesota, was told by her attorney about a very attractive plea bargain.  With tears running down her face, Lois said to us, "I did not do it and I will not say I did something I didn't do."  The Bentzes rejected the plea bargain and went to trial.  The Bentzes were acquitted and the Jordan case is often regarded as the beginning of the "backlash" that has led to increased awareness of false accusations and the reversals of several highly publicized convictions in recent years. Still there are many many lesser known cases where Large numbers of innocent people remain behind bars.  We receive letters every week from men and women in prison who assert their innocence.  For years we have agonized about what we can do in response.  The most we have been able to do is to try to stay in contact and provide information to assist those working on appeals.  Based upon our experience with Ms. Bentz, we have also tried to say what Mr. Anderson repeats several times in this article — maintain your own personal integrity.  Mr. Anderson tells us how he has done this for himself.  It may not be a way that works for everyone, but this is what he tells us works for him.  We believe Mr. Anderson is very likely to walk out of prison when his time is served and be standing up straight and tall. Your only exposure to what prison is like has been through movies that sensationalize the violence, drug use, and sex in the big house.  The prison bus you're on rounds a lonely highway corner and you get your first glimpse of what is to be your home for the next 10-odd years — a steel, razor wire, and concrete house of pain.  You wonder how you'll ever make it out of this hate factory alive.  You imagine your first day being gang-raped by six huge, tattooed lifers, by the end of the week you're being sold up and down the tier for cigarettes, and within a month, you're found dead in your cell with a twelve-inch "shank" protruding from your chest.  Not only are you the new fish in the cell block, but you have been convicted of a sex crime, and you've heard how convicted sex criminals are abused in the joint. You're one of the thousands of innocent men wrongly convicted of sex crimes in the U.S. every year.  Won't it matter to your fellow prisoners that you are not a sex criminal and are completely innocent?  Not in the least.  It is possible, though, to make it through prison even though you were convicted of a skin beef.  You can not only live through the prison experience, you can claim some degree of victory at the end of your unjust prison term.  Life will be neither easy nor fun for the innocent man convicted of a sex crime and sent to prison.  But, surviving prison is not impossible. I have spent over seven years in maximum-, medium-, and minimum security prisons after being wrongly convicted of first degree rape — the result of my having been falsely accused of date rape by a mentally deranged woman with a history of falsely accusing men of sex crimes.  I am writing this from the Oregon State Correctional Institution.  Although life has not been easy for me in prison, I have managed to keep my self-respect, my dignity, and my integrity.  I have spent months in solitary confinement for defending myself when necessary. I have allowed no prisoner, no prison guard, and no member of the parole board to disrespect me due to my wrongful conviction.  I have consistently maintained my innocence, even when doing so has added years to my prison term. I earned a college degree behind bars, and have even escaped from prison once.  To help other innocent prisoners, I founded the Society Against False Accusations of Rape (SAFAR), and for five years have published the underground prison publication, The SAFAR Newsletter.  Currently, I'm working on my book, Falling on the Deaf Ear: False Accusations of Rape, Child Abuse Hoaxes, Innocent People in Prison and How to End the Sex Crime Witchhunt.  I know first-hand what it is to be an innocent man in prison, wrongly convicted of a sex crime, and I know how to survive the prison experience. Now that you have been falsely accused of rape or child abuse, been convicted in record time, lost all your assets along with your reputation, and been sentenced to 10 years in prison by a judge who couldn't care less that you are innocent, you would think your troubles are over.  Think again.  You not only have to make it out of the prison with your life and sanity, but with your self-respect, honor, and integrity intact.  Let's face it.  After being wrongly convicted of a sex crime, your sanity, self-respect, honor, and integrity is all you have left.  Prison will not break you if you are a man — or learn to become a man, even though the main goal of prison officials is to sap the soul from men, and spit out castrated, submissive males.  With all the odds against you, it is even possible to walk out of prison a better man with your head held high.  Again, it will be neither fun nor easy, but what battle ever is easy?  You can either walk out of prison with your manhood intact knowing you beat the corrupt prison industry or you can crawl out on your belly as a hated sex offender. Outside Contacts Don't fool yourself that the community will be outraged that you were convicted and sent to prison for a crime you didn't commit or that may have never even occurred.  You are now a convicted sex offender and your innocence means nothing.  You're the lowest of the low, in and out of prison.  There will be no mass protests at the prison gates demanding your release. Most people believe the propaganda of the sex crime witch hunters and probably feel you should die in prison.  Most of your friends will abandon you and even some members of your family will turn their backs on you.  Only your very best friends and your immediate family will stick by your side at first and most of them will fall by the wayside in the coming years as you rot in prison. One of the most important things for the innocent man in prison is to maintain contact with at least one person on the outside.  This person can help you try to prove your innocence and keep you current on what's happening outside the prison walls.  If you can maintain contact with at least one free worlder to help you, you'll be doing a lot better than some prisoners.  Many prisoners lose their friends and their own families and are isolated in prison with no contact with the outside world.  You are going to be walking into prison alone and will be alone while you do your time.  You need at least one ally in the outside to help free yourself from the nightmare of being thrown in a cage and given the scarlet letter of a convicted sex offender for a crime you did not commit. Prison violence For the most part, prisons and correctional institutions are not the hell holes of years past.  The "get tough on crime" craze has mutated into "get tough on prisoners."  Although prisons are not for continued and endless punishment, politicians don't want to educate or rehabilitate prisoners.  Prisoners are to be warehoused like the commodities they've become.  College courses and vocational training in prison are a thing of the past.  With all the new prisons being built in the U.S., doing time has become quite sterile — even safe — because all the new prisons are so controlled and high-tech that prisoners now spend most of their time in their cells. The idea that prisoners really run the joint is a myth.  Some of the older prisons are still dangerous, but these are slowly being phased out.  It used to be that only the worst, most dangerous, and most hardened criminal was sent to prison.  It was no wonder that penitentiaries were dangerous.  But these days, with so many first-time offenders doing mandatory prison terms and so many people being sent to prison, the nation's lock-ups have become diluted with nonviolent prisoners.  Today most prisons can even be considered safe. In all my years behind bars, I've never seen a murder, a stabbing, or a rape.  I believe some prisoners try to brag how tough prison is to make themselves look tough.  They romanticize their prison experience by telling their friends and family how brutal prison was and how they had to fight for their lives every day.  Prison, however, may be harder for the innocent man convicted of a sex crime because of the scorn.  In the old days, a convicted sex offender — innocent or guilty — was sure to get physically attacked.  Today, that is not the case.  A man wrongly convicted of a sex crime can make it out of prison unharmed if he stays on his toes and keeps alert. What about all the violence you read about what goes on in prison?  Of course, violence does happen in U.S. penitentiaries, but with over 1.6 million Americans locked up these days, the chance of being one of the few hundred inmates who are killed or seriously injured is slim. Standing Up for Yourself Because you were convicted of a sex crime, you will not be winning any popularity contests with your fellow prisoners.  At first, the other prisoners may mark you to be victimized and harassed.  If you don't stand tall and fight back, you'll be victimized your entire prison term.  You must stand up for yourself when you are tested by some idiot who thinks you're a rape-o, "Chester," "tree jumper," or "freak."  In 1989, I was compelled to beat a man who attacked me with a folding chair.  Besides a little blood, neither one of us was hurt badly.  I did accidentally break a guard's hand in the melee and I've also had to fight a couple of other morons who disrespected me, but I haven't had any trouble in years.  It is well worth it to spend a few months in solitary confinement for defending yourself when the option is being harassed continually in general population.  Another option is hiding for years in Protective Custody (PC), totally separated from the rest of the prison, and locked in a cell for 24-hours a day.  But only the weakest prisoners go PC, and I don't recommend it. For the most part, even for the wrongly convicted sex offender, if you don't owe debts from gambling or drugs, and if you stay away from the homosexuals, keep your head down, don't bother anyone, and don't act like a wimp and whine about your wrongful conviction, you won't have to worry about prison violence.  There is very little chance that you will be killed or even stabbed.  But, if something does happen and you need to defend your good name, be a man and do it.  In prison, your good name is all you have.  If trouble comes your way in prison, you have to deal with it on the spot.  Where are you going to run?  You're in a cage. Inmates and Convicts During my years in prison I have found that there are two types of prisoners — inmates and convicts.  Inmates will not fight if their lives depend on it and they will kiss any ass that comes their way.  Inmates are the type of prisoners who go on national TV to praise prison officials and prison programs for straightening out their miserable lives.  The inmate has no loyalty to anything or anyone except himself.  Inmates will do anything to please their captors and cheerfully inform and rat on other prisoners for breaking prison rules.  Inmates are not men. Be aware that you can't always tell an inmate worm by his cover.  The biggest, baddest killer on the tier can be the biggest, snitch rat in the joint.  On the other hand, convicts used to be very common in U.S. prisons, but are now a dying breed.  A true convict would never rat on anyone, would take no disrespect, would fight when necessary and would be loyal and live by a code of honor.  Unlike an inmate, a convict is a man. A convicted sex offender will never be considered a true convict by other prisoners, but you can live by your own code of honor in prison.  Never whine or complain about your wrongful conviction; sniveling will only make you appear weak and make you a target.  Other prisoners don't care about your innocence.  The prison hierarchy has you at the bottom of the prison barrel.  Your jacket is that of a sex offender but it's up to you if you wear this degrading jacket.  You will find that the only prisoners who hang around the sex offender are other wide-eyed, scared, spineless sex offenders.  Even though prison is going to be very lonely for the innocent man convicted of a sex crime, you don't want to befriend confessed sex offenders.  Also, stay away from the prison chapel.  For some strange reason, confessed sex offenders always find God in prison and carry their Bibles for all to see to show how repentant they are.  In short, even though no one convicted of a sex beef can be a true convict, you must strive to be one. Talking About Your Conviction You may think that if you don't tell any of your fellow prisoners you were convicted of a sexual offense that no one will be the wiser and you won't be harassed.  You may think that you can tell people you're a bank robber and even be a hero in prison.  Nice try, but lying about what you were convicted of will not work.  There are no secrets in prison, especially on why you are there.  You're in prison now, and any possibility of privacy or keeping secrets is long gone.  Be honest when talking about your wrongful conviction and get ready to defend yourself if it becomes necessary. All of the convicted sex offenders (innocent or guilty) whom I've heard tell other prisoners that they were burglars or robbers in an effort to hide their convictions were eventually exposed.  If you lie about your conviction, you will be exposed.  Then, any attempts to claim innocence will not be believed and your prison time may get very tough.  Don't advertise your wrongful conviction, or the facts of your supposed crime, but when asked why you're in prison, be honest. Although a convicted sex offender can never gain full respect in prison, I've managed to gain some measure of respect by being truthful about why I am in prison, and fighting when necessary.  Sure, some punk may call me a "rape-o" behind my back, but no prisoner ever disrespects me face to face.  With so many innocent men being sent to prison these days on false accusations of rape and child abuse, the general prison population is starting to understand how widespread the sex crime witchhunt has become, and how many innocent men are now in prison due to false allegations.  False reports of rape and other sex crimes are so common that an innocent man wrongfully convicted of a sex crime will not be alone. Prison Guards The men and women who hold the key to your freedom (the prison guards) should be considered your enemy.  There is a reason that surveys on job status and job satisfaction often rate being a prison guard as the lowest job a person can hold.  No one respects prison guards, and they know it.  What kind of man or woman would want to examine body openings for contraband, turn keys, and stand around and do nothing for a living?  Prison guards hate their jobs and blame prisoners for their unhappy and unfulfilled lives.  It takes no ambition, no talent, no drive, or any creativity to be a corrections officer.  Even police officers know this, and look down on the lowly prison guard.  Think about it.  Does any kid have dreams of being a corrections officer when he or she grows up? The Golden Rule to remember not only about prison guards, but about anyone that works inside the prison in which you are held captive, is to stay as far away from them as possible and avoid even talking to them unnecessarily.  Even if you happen to run across a prison guard who appears to be halfway human, don't befriend him.  Every inmate whom I've seen develop any type of friendship with any prison employee was, in the end, betrayed and shunned by other prisoners.  Don't collaborate with anyone other than fellow prisoners while in prison.  Every prison official or staff member is your enemy.  Never forget that.  They will gladly shoot you in the back if they feel the need.  Don't make eye contact with the people who work at the prison because if you avoid eye contact they will leave you alone.  The less contact you have with prison employees, the better off you will be. In all my years in prison, I've observed hundreds of prison guards and only a couple could be considered normal.  The typical male guard I have encountered is not someone you would consider a winner.  He is usually a skinny geek (or is extremely overweight), is undereducated, has no ambition and is sadistic.  His idea of success is a monthly state paycheck, a trailer home, a 12-pack of beer, and nightly TV.  The typical female prison guard is homosexual, physically unattractive, overweight, and more masculine than most male prison guards.  She's mad at the world for not being born a man and she takes her penis envy out on prisoners. I fully admit my dislike for prison guards because I am convinced that every prison guard in the U.S. has witnessed, encouraged, and/or participated in the torture or murder of prisoners.  Prison guards are cowards with a badge who are protected by the state and prison guard unions.  Your only allies in prison are other prisoners.  Never forget it. Keeping Fit One of the most important things to do while doing your prison time is to keep in the very best physical shape possible.  Every prison has a weight room, and I strongly suggest pumping iron.  Being in top shape not only feels good, but it's good for your head and will help you think more clearly.  By working out, running, exercising, and eating as well as possible, you will be physically able to defend yourself in case of any violent situations.  You will also be able to think straight to combat your unjust conviction.  All the guys whom I've seen go insane in prison did not care about their health.  They rotted in front of a TV for years until they were just a shell of a man.  At age thirty-five, I am now in the best shape of my life and feel great. Another reason to stay healthy in prison is that medical services are notoriously horrid.  One of my worst prison experiences was when our prison doctor told me that blood tests indicated that I had liver cancer.  He smiled gleefully as he told me I had only a year to live.  I tried to learn more, but he refused to answer my questions and ordered me out of his office.  For months I thought I was going to leave this mad house on a slab.  I learned later that my blood test indicated only that I had been exposed to hepatitis in the past.  The good prison doctor told me I was dying for his own sick amusement. Dental services are just as bad in prison.  I'm currently waiting to have a back molar filled.  I cracked my tooth on a rock in some chili in the chow hall.  I've been on the waiting list to see the dentist for over six months now, and will probably lose the tooth due to neglect.  There is nothing I can do about it. While in prison, stay in shape, work out, run, and try to eat well — even though that's nearly impossible with the garbage that passes for food in prison.  But, although you may get depressed, lonely, and frustrated in prison, never go to the prison psychologist.  Prison shrinks only want to drug prisoners into submission.  One of the newest fads in corrections is tranquilizers that are given out like candy to pacify and control inmates.  What better way to turn prisoners into submissive zombies than by medicating them for depression and anxiety.  Don't fall into the medication trap in prison.  You need to be clear-headed while doing time, not in a drugged-out haze. When you go to prison, settle down and find a positive routine.  After the shock of prison wears off, and the other prisoners figure out you will defend yourself, you'll be left alone to do your time.  Don't sit around vegetating in front of a TV, playing cards or reading westerns.  Don't waste your time complaining about your wrongful conviction and what a poor victim you are.  Don't turn into what I call a "prison zombie" who does his time like he's waiting to die.  Your main mission in prison will be trying to get your unjust conviction overturned.  Learn as much about the law and the corrupt legal system as you can.  Get to know the prisoner law clerks in the law library, and spend as much time in the library as possible.  Study every aspect of your case, and stay on top of your attorney.  Your lawyer is not the one in prison, you are.  The appeals process takes years.  Prisoners rarely win a new trial because the criminal justice system is not about truth and justice, but you can't win if you don't try.  Fighting the legal system will be frustrating and depressing, but try not to give up hope. Not only do we prisoners have to stick together, but we men must also join forces in our fight against feminism.  Become a soldier in the Men's Rights Fight.  Contact the antifeminist, pro-family men's groups in your area, as well as some of the national groups. Sex Offender Treatment One of the most profitable scams in the prison behavioral modification business is the sex-offender treatment industry.  Because you were convicted of a sex offense, you are now fuel for the sex-offender treatment profiteers.  You will be expected to confess to your crime, end all appeals for a fair trial, dismiss all delusions of innocence, and participate in sex-offender treatment along with admitted child molesters and serial rapists.  Confession is the main tenet of sex-offender treatment.  It does not matter to prison officials that you have always maintained your innocence and are in the process of appeal. Thousands of people work in the sex-offender treatment industry and to justify their high-paying state jobs you must confess to your offense.  You are the meal ticket not only of prison guards but also sex-offender treatment providers.  As a wrongly convicted prisoner, you should have nothing to do with sex-offender treatment.  Be a man, and stand up for what is right.  There will be repercussions for you for not confessing and becoming another admitted sex offender.  You will be denied any good-time off your prison term and early parole will be out of the question.  I have always refused to even speak to sex-offender treatment counselors.  Not only have I been denied any time off my sentence for good behavior, but the Oregon Parole Board has labeled me mentally unfit and dangerous to society because I refuse to confess, show remorse, and beg for forgiveness. Not only should you avoid sex-offender treatment, but I suggest you refuse to participate in any behavior modification programs in prison.  Don't admit anything to prison officials or prison counselors.  Those who work in the behavior modification industry behind prison walls will use anything you tell them against you.  Tell them nothing about your past.  Prison counselors are not your friends. Never talk to any prison psychologist. There is no faster way to be labeled mentally and emotionally unfit than to trust a prison psychologist.  As a convicted sex offender, innocent or not, you are the bread and butter of the sex-offender treatment industry, prison counselors/psychologists, and prison guards.  The only way they can justify their jobs is to keep you in their prison programs as long as possible.  Be aware of their true motives, don't trust them, tell them nothing, and never doubt yourself.  You owe them nothing. You are an innocent man in prison.  Act like one, and good luck my friend.

1st Chapter of My Book

      You can access my entire book, Falling on the Deaf Ear, at http://fathersmanifesto.net/falling.htm .


CHAPTER 1


MY PERSONAL NIGHTMARE


In the summer of 1985 I was 24 years old and naive to the workings of our legal system. I was unaware of the subtle conspiracy against men by the radical feminist movement. I am from a middle class upbringing in California and had a stable family life. In school I had been in a program for mentally gifted minors (MGM), and upon graduating from high school I joined the Air Force. After the service I guess I wouldn't be considered a "choir boy," and had been arrested for several minor alcohol related misdemeanor charges.
 I moved to Alaska and worked hard as a commercial fisherman. I played hard, sometimes too hard. I occasionally spent a couple days in a county jail somewhere for a minor alcohol related charge.
The summer of '85 I met a young woman in an alcohol treatment center I had checked myself into. We became friends and on our last night there we had sex. This innocent sexual encounter of so many years ago would change my life forever, take me places I never dreamed I would go, and show me injustices I could never imagine existed. This woman I had sex with would turn out to be sick and would falsely accuse me of rape. Four years later, I would find myself in front of a jury as they pronounced me guilty. I would go to a maximum security prison to serve ten years for my "crime." I would escape, be recaptured and given even more prison time. I would have numerous articles written about my wrongful conviction and I would start a national organization for innocent men in prison. I would even get the attention of the Governor of Oregon who may commute my prison term.
 In that summer of 1985, I had been staying with a relative of mine in Oregon. Things were not working out for us. We did not get along. I had been drinking too much and not acting very responsible.
 I decided to leave my relatives, visit my parents in California and then return to Alaska. Before I left for California I checked myself into an alcohol treatment center for a five-day detoxification period and then I planned to enter a long-term treatment center. I believed I may have a problem with drinking and decided to get help before seeing my parents.
 I checked myself into the detox program located in Salem, Oregon. It was one large building, actually portable trailers that had been attached together. It contained offices, a large living area, and a number of sleeping rooms that patients shared, one side for men and across a hall, the other side for women. As I recall, there were about 20 men and 10 women. I was assigned to a room with three other men.
 The five-day treatment consisted of lectures, films, and group discussion on alcoholism. I had decided that my drinking had become a problem and I decided to enter a 90-day treatment center in Grants Pass, Oregon, after my five-day detox treatment and before visiting my parents.
 There were a number of women in this "detox." I was 24 years old, unattached, and never had a problem attracting women. One woman began to flirt with me, and not being one to pass up the opportunity to get to know a good-looking woman better, I flirted back. On the third day of my treatment, this woman and I went to the back of this detox building to lie on the grass. One of the alcohol counselors "caught us" giving each other back rubs and we were "reprimanded." While in treatment it was forbidden to fraternize with the opposite sex. This was said to interfere with treatment. This woman was due to leave the next day, so I gave the "reprimand" little thought.


Throughout my stay, up to this point I had been talking to another woman who had arrived the same day as me. We ate some meals together, would sit together on one of the couches and talk. I was reprimanded again after we were "caught" laughing too loudly together. I was told I could be kicked out of the program for fraternizing and told not to sit with her again.
 We continued to see each other in the back laundry room secretly and soon began to make out and kiss. She told me she was addicted to "crank," was in hot water with her mother, and may not have a place to live any longer. I felt sorry for her, but I had my own problems.
 On our last night there with our "treatment" to be completed the next day, I went to her room. She had been sharing a room with a woman who left that day. When I opened her door and went inside she had been reading. She put her book down and we began to talk. Soon we were kissing and petting heavily. We both undressed and I crawled in bed with her.
 We started to have sex on the old hospital bed, but it began to creak noisily. The walls of this building weren't actually walls but more like partitions. We spread a blanket on the floor and continued to have sex, trying to be as quiet as possible since we didn't want to get caught and kicked out. Afterward, we got dressed, said our good byes and I left. I wanted to get back to my room before the hourly bed checks that were made. I got back to my room and went to sleep.
 In the morning this woman and I ate breakfast together and said our good byes. I would be leaving for Grants Pass and she was going back to her mother's, if her mother would let her in her house. I remember her giving me her mother's phone number. She said she wanted me to call. I packed up my belongings and left. I never called. To be honest I didn't think of this woman until many years later when she changed my life forever.
 After the 86 days I was kicked out of the treatment center in Grants Pass, Oregon, for drinking beer. After that I went to California to visit my parents. After a few months there I went back to Alaska. For the next few years I lived in many small fishing towns on the coast of Alaska and led a rough and tumble life. Just the way I liked it. I was never a 9 to 5 man. I didn't see eye to eye with a time clock. But I always worked hard while I was at sea. I continued to drink from time to time and every now and then would end up in jail for the night. In all my arrests I had never spent more than 20 days in a row in jail and that was only once.
 The summer of 1988 found me on the Kenia Peninsula, which is world famous for having the world's highest concentration of bears per square mile. I was living in a tent with my new girl friend, a slightly older woman who was as rough around the edges as I, but extremely good looking. She was also as big a drinker as I, if not bigger. We were in love, but drinking caused its problems between us.
 Because we were living with so many bears around, I had bought a shot gun for protection. I would leave it with my girl friend as I went to look for a new boat to work on. I sawed off the barrel and stock to shorten it so that it wouldn't get caught in the heavy bush just in case I needed it quickly. This was a major mistake.
 My girl friend and I broke up. We had grown apart and it was time to move on. One night while drinking in a local bar, I was arrested for having a weapon. I didn't have any shells on me, nor was the gun loaded. It didn't matter, though. I was arrested and taken to the county jail.
 The next day I went in front of the judge to be arraigned for "possession of an illegal weapon." Not only did I have this charge, the judge told me, but I was also wanted as a fugitive on a first degree rape warrant from Salem, Oregon. I was shocked. I would never force a woman to have sex with me. It must be a mistake. It wasn't.
 I plead guilty to the weapons charge and was sentenced to 14 months of which I would serve 8. I was then extradited to Oregon to face the rape charge and 20 years in prison.
 I had no idea who was claiming I raped her, or why. After four long months in the Kenia County jail, I finally found out. It was that woman that I had long since forgotten that I had sex with at the detox program I was in so many years earlier. I was contacted by a civil attorney working for the treatment center. This woman had claimed I raped her so she could file a million-dollar law suit for "damages" against the detox center. Money had been her motive! To be honest, I was relieved. At least now I knew who was accusing me of such a horrible crime. The civil attorney wanted a statement from me on how the sex between this woman and I was in fact consensual instead of the wild and bizarre "story" this woman was telling. The civil trial was to begin in a month to see if this woman was raped, and to see if she deserved money from the detox center. This attorney told me a detective would be coming to see me soon.
 A few days later, a private detective came to see me in the county jail. I, being innocent, had nothing to hide, and felt I should talk to this man. He was an older gentleman and seemed quite concerned. I spoke with him for over an hour and a half. He said he would make a full report. He seemed sympathetic to me and told me not to worry.
 A month later when I called the civil attorney he told me the woman had won her case and I was guilty of rape. He wanted nothing more to do with me and got what he wanted, my statement for him to use in court. He didn't want to hear of my innocence any more and hung up the phone. I was in shock. How could this be? I did nothing illegal!
 I phoned my father and related the news to him. He had earlier told me on the phone that since I was innocent I had nothing to worry about. He, too, was now beginning to see how the legal system really works. He hired an attorney for me as soon as he could. He called our relative in Oregon and asked her to find me an attorney. She, in turn asked one of her close friends, a male attorney, if he could handle the case. He said he would and needed $10,000 up front. I phoned him and he said he would start the case as soon as I was returned to Oregon.
 After serving eight months in jail in Alaska I was extradited to Oregon. I was shackled and taken aboard a commercial airline with two Oregon detectives as escorts. Throughout the flight I remained chained like an animal. It was a very humiliating experience. In Oregon I was taken to the Marion County jail. After my father somehow scraped together the money for my bail, $2,000 ransom to be paid to the state of Oregon, I was released and free until my trial. As soon as I was out of jail I went to see my new attorney.
 He was about 40 years old, over weight, and reminded me of a used car salesman. He was not what I had in mind as a go-getting, hot shot attorney, that my relative assured me he was. He talked fast and always seemed to be sweating. He told me the civil trial meant nothing, but it may to my jury and he wouldn't mention it in court. He also said in civil trials the burden of proof is much lower than in criminal trials. He then said that since this woman had won her money, her goal all along, that she didn't want to go through with the trial, but a rape crisis counselor had put pressure on her to proceed and worked her into a man hating frenzy in which she screamed, "Let's get that bastard!" This rape counselor and her buddies at the local rape crisis center also put pressure on the DA and judge to continue with the trial.
 My attorney then relayed the following to me: the "victim's" testimony in the civil trial testimony was very convincing and tears flowed easily. The rape crisis counselor had coached her on her testimony and rehearsed with her how to act like a real "victim" of rape. Also on how to squeeze as much sympathy out of a jury as possible and cry on cue.


This woman also had a history of filing false accusations of rape and even accused her own brother on one occasion when she was mad at him. This woman was forever being sexually assaulted, in her eyes. A jury would never believe such a woman.
 I was shown her psychological reports from years before I ever met her. She was one sick woman. I would have never gone near her or talked to her had I know she was so mentally ill. Among her psychological problems were border line personality disorders, amnesia, and organic brain damage (presumably from drug abuse). She fantasized about suicide, liked to view herself as a victim, hated men, was an alcoholic and a drug addict. No jury would believe such a deranged woman.
 I learned she had been kicked out of this detox center for not being willing to enter long term treatment, and she was accusing me of rape to get back at this center and to sue them. Also, how could her mother refuse to let her in her home after she had been "raped"? She was a desperate, homeless woman who did the only thing she could think of: cry rape, which had worked for her in the past. She was also known to "hang out" at her local court house and view trials for nothing else better to do and learned all about how accusations of rape and rape trials work.
 There was no evidence other than my saying the sex was consensual. This would be used against me. All the staff were to testify on my behalf. The "victim's" report of the "crime" was so bizarre that no jury could believe her. Besides, she had changed her story several times. My attorney also said this woman was going to sue me for "damages" and for child support. She was claiming her kid was mine! My attorney said he would ask for blood tests to disprove this insane accusation of my fatherhood.
 My attorney wouldn't let me see the transcript of the civil trial and other information, saying it would be too hard to look for. He said to trust him, not to worry about anything, and to go on with my life until the trial. He would take care of everything.
 I believed him and was not too worried. I decided to go to California. Along the way I met a Canadian woman and we stayed together until my trial. I visited my parents with my new friend and then went on a mini vacation with her, touring northern California. I returned to Oregon three weeks later with her, bought a suit, and was ready for my trial. I planned to go to Canada with my new friend after my trial, and then back to Alaska.
 Little did I know that my future plans were unnecessary. In two weeks I would be in Oregon State Maximum Security Penitentiary to begin serving a ten-year prison term and fighting for my life.

Documentary - "I Was A Fugitive From the Sex Crime Witch Hunters"

     Tomorrow is New Year's Day and I will begin filming a documentary film entitled, I Was a Fugitive From the Sex Crime Witch Hunters. It will not only document my day to day nightmare trying to comply with the insanity of Jessica's Law while on parole in California, but also the last 20+ years of fighting the Sex Crime Witch Hunt after being falsely accused in 1985, my wrongful conviction, my 1990 prison break, living as a fugitive for years, and so on. I bought a Flip video camera on sale at Best Buy the other day and have been taking lessons on filming a documentary. Filming starts tomorrow! Hopeful 2011 will be a better year for me. I spent the majority of 2010 locked up in prison for refusing to register as a SO. I've escaped from a State Prison and jumped parole a 1/2 dozen times. Living totally "Off the Grid" is nothing new to me. I'm too damn old to run anymore and I always get caught in the end anyway. Hopefully this documentary can help bring some change and sanity to the RSO's on parole issue here in California. Here's an open letter entitled, David.... an Innocent Man http://www.communityhill.com/Utah%20Community%20News/DAVID%20AN%20INNOCENT%20MAN.htm to see a little bit about how I feel.

PRESS RELEASE

                                        PRESS RELEASE - For Immediate Release


Date - December 2010
Subject - James D. Anderson's ( falsely accused of rape in 1985 ), 20+ year battle to prove his innocence now living a nightmare on parole under Jessica's Law in Santa Clara County,California
To - All Press and Media,


   James D. Anderson was falsely accused of rape in Salem, Oregon in 1985 by a deranged, serial false accuser who has sent several men to prison for being "raped". She falsely accused James in order to file a unjust million dollar lawsuit. After refusing all plea bargain attempts by the DA, he was wrongly convicted in 1989 in a Marion Co. courthouse after a sham of a trail where vital evidence was concealed from the jurors. He was given a 10 year prison term. After a 1990 prison break and hiding out in Alaska he was recaptured in 1992, James refused early parole because he would have to confess to a crime he did not commit. He was finally released in 1998. While in prison he founded the Society Against False Accusations of Rape (SAFAR) and published 34 editions of the SAFAR  Newsletter.
   After his release he has lived a nightmare being an innocent man (he has passed lie-detector's tests) forced to register as a convicted sex offender. In Salem, Oregon police passed out fliers to his neighbors saying he was a "Predatory Sex Offender" in retaliation after James went to The Statesman Journal newspaper to do a story about his wrongful conviction. Two front page stories where published back to back in that newspaper in February of 2001 about him and his fight for justice.
   Since moving back to California James has been sent back to prison several times for refusing to register as a sex offender and has lived as a wanted fugitive several times becoming an expert on living "underground". In 2006, James founded Californians Against Jessica's Law (CAJL). Released from prison yet again in Oct.of 2010, he is on parole in Santa Clara Co., California living a true nightmare. He has a GPS Tracking Shackle locked onto his ankle, is barred from living in over 70% of the county, is forced into homelessness even though he has family to live with, can not find even the most menial job due to his wrongful conviction, has a 10pm to 6am curfew, is restricted from entering parks,schools, ect..., and on and on.
   The following are links to his story, published articles about him, his organizations SAFAR and CAJL, his 1995 book written in State Prison, and his endless fight for justice.


   * The Jessica's Law Nightmare in California - His daily blog
      http://jessicaslawnightmare.blogspot.com/


   *  Californians Against Jessica's Law
       http://nojessicaslaw.org/


   *  His life on the run
      http://runjamesrun2007.homestead.com/


   *  His 1995 extensive book on his wrongful conviction
      http://fathersmanifesto.net/falling.htm


   *  How to survive in prison as an innocent man
      http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume9/j9_3_6.htm


   *  Book review
      http://www.backlash.com/content/gender/1996/4-apr96/book04.html


   *  Letter to parole board (1997)
       http://www.backlash.com/content/gender/1997/7-dec97/safar07.html


   * Falling on The Deaf Ear
      http://oldcordovanpress.homestead.com/index.html


   *  Excluded Evidence by Cathy Young
      http://reason.com/archives/2002/02/01/excluded-evidence


   *  Mad Dog Rapist in Prison
       http://www.backlash.com/content/gender/1996/4-apr96/safar04.html


   *  Victim of the Feminist State
       http://www.backlash.com/content/gender/1996/7-jul96/safar07.html

My Book - Falling on the Deaf Ear

     While doing my 10 year prison term for a crime I did not commit and my 14 month sentence for my 1990 prison escape at Oregon State Correctional Institution in the 90's I wrote an extensive book on the false accusation that sent me to prison and the entire sex crime hysteria. Falling on the Deaf Ear was published by a small publisher who specialized in Men's Rights issues. It has since gone out of business. I lost my copy years ago while being a fugitive from justice and "living off the grid". I put in over a year of my life researching and writing that book. My Creative Writing instructor at the time edited It for me. I had been enrolled in the prison's college program and was working on my BA degree in Journalism. I only got to my AA degree because the prison cancelled the college program along with most of the Vocational Training programs due to the 1990's Get Tough on Prisoners hysteria. Now most state prisoners sit around and rot with nothing to do and no rehabilitation and they wonder why prisons have become so violent. Back to my book. I found it on the Internet! What a blessing! IT is a MUST READ for anyone wanting to understand the current Sex Crime Witch Hunt. It also fully describes the 1985 false accusation that was leveled against me, my 1989 wrongful conviction, my 1990 prison break, the hell I went though in prison, and etc... You can download the entire text at http://www.fathersmanifesto.net/falling.htm . If you're reading this blog, you got to read this book. I am rarely happy due to my situation, but finding Falling on the Deaf Ear has overjoyed me.