The headline (Justice Suspended’), in the middle right-hand column of a Northeast Pennsylvania newspaper, caught my eye, and for the briefest of moments, I pondered its possible meanings.
Had justice indeed been suspended in Pennsylvania?
I thought of the hundreds of men, over 600 at last count – the most in the world! – Who were sent to prison for life in PA prisons. In 2013, the US Supreme Court, in its Miller v. Alabama decision, outlawed this practice, but this is Pennsylvania.
For these men, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled that Miller wasn’t retroactive; therefore, it didn’t apply to them. For them – these 600 – was justice suspended?
As I said, this was the briefest of moments.
The headline referred to a judge on the PA Supreme Court (called ‘justice’ in this state), who was suspended from his office for his role in a still unfolding sex email scandal. He was among other high-ranking officials, from the attorney-general’s office to the parole board, accused of swapping hundreds of sexually explicit and racist emails.
According to published accounts, Justice Seamus McCaffery (a former Philadelphia cop), threatened another justice whom he wished to help him, saying, ominously, “I’m not going down alone.”
These words sounded like a discussion between Mafiosi; not the highest judges in the state.
Is Justice Suspended?
Perhaps it has been –for years.
![Prison Radio is sharing an abbreviated version of a press release covering recent racist incidents at SCI Rockview in PA and the organizing to demand accountability. We are reaching out to people incarcerated at Rockview as well as recently transferred folks, inviting them to call, in hopes of hearing commentaries from them.
Benner Township, PA.-
On November 24th, 2023, imprisoned people at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the CO’s office, displayed visibly for many prisoners to see. When the prisoners asked the staff why the nooses were hung, they were told it was a joke.
By December 4th, prisoners filed a grievance to document what they saw, noting that the hanging of the nooses was “unethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmates" and “unsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.” In the grievance, they demanded that Sgt. Mosser and CO Richard be fired and investigated for a hate crime, and for CO Kirchner to get therapy. Captain Andrews, the head of security, denied the grievance.
The sergeant and COs are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions...
As of March 10th, prisoners have reached out to Pennsylvania officials at the Dept. of Corrections in a letter campaign, sending 100 copies of the grievance. Copies of the letter also were mailed to Governor Shapiro, Senator Fetterman, Senator Street, and various advocacy groups. The demands for relief in the original grievance have now become the platform of demands for this campaign. About 20 of the 100 letters were withheld by the prison.
Activists on the outside are joining forces with prisoners to elevate their demands, flooding the phone lines of DOC offices, assisting with outreach to media, and circulating the stories of prisoners who have found unity in opposition to the facility's virulent institutional racism.
In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, Nicki Paul, the superintendent's assistant and "grievance coordinator" informed the public that they self-investigated their staff and found they did nothing wrong.
Read the full article at i
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