On June 26, 2017, in a unanimous decision to bamboozle the public in the Batts II case, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices have released another duplicitous ruling against the fair and humane sentencing of children who have been convicted of murder. On the one hand, the court gave the benign appearance of providing procedural safeguards against the imposition of Life Without Parole (LWOP) sentences on child offenders, while on the other hand, it spitefully and vindictively authorized trial courts to impose not only illegal sentences of 35 years-to-life on child offenders, but also to impose sentences greater than 35 years-to-life on them!
Yes, you heard it right! The PA Supreme Court’s Batts II case decision explicitly allows trial court judges to fashion the minimum term of incarceration using the guidance of the juvenile murder statute (law) section 1102.1(a) of the criminal code. It also allows the trial court judge to impose a minimum sentence greater than the 35 years-to-life provided in section 1102.1(a)! Perhaps 45 years-to-life!
Basically, the PA Supreme Court justices’ duplicitous decision states that our Pennsylvania courts will provide procedural safeguards against imposing LWOP sentences on child offenders, but our trial courts will also impose the harshest prison terms of 35 years or 45 years as they possibly can against child offenders to undermine the spirit of the Miller vs. Alabama decision!
The PA Supreme Court’s Batts II decision is like giving a child a lollipop, then turning around and giving the child a hard kick in the buttocks!
The PA Supreme Court’s decision in the Batts II case is not a win for the 500-plus child lifers in Pennsylvania awaiting re-sentence, or future child offenders.
In fact, the public and all human rights activists should be totally outraged at the PA Supreme Court justices insulting their intelligence in the Batts II decision and by their attempt to urinate on our heads and convince us that it is raining.
From the Belly of the Beast, at Prison Radio, I am Shakaboona.
![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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