Guards Murder Marty Atencio in Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Jail

       
Video of a schizophrenic prisoner being murdered by guards in Sheriff Joe Arpaio's jail. His crime was allegedly yelling at a woman in a car park. What a sad waste of life.

Party Time Launch Pics (2)

Shaun Attwood

Party Time Launch

A big thank you to over 100 people who showed up last night in my hometown Widnes to watch Banged-Up Abroad 'Raving Arizona' and for the hometown Party Time launch. I really appreciated all of the questions after the episode, and the fantastic atmosphere. My mum and dad really enjoyed it too. The southern event is May 26th in Guildford. Click here for further info.  

Will anyone show up?

Setting Up with Mum

Moby on the big screen

Andy a student from Macclesfield College 

 

With Hammy and Wild Man

Mum and Callie

With Wild Man and Olie

With Jenny

Wild Man and Tina

With two nuclear engineers 

With Hammy

Shaun Attwood

Overwhelming Response to Locked-Up Abroad

This is an excerpt from letter I wrote to my prisoner friend Jack on 27 April 2013:

The Locked-Up Abroad episode premiered three days ago in the US to almost 10 million viewers at 2am UK time. I awoke to 500 emails/messages from American’s outraged at Arpaio, the jail conditions and human rights violations. People showed strong support for my family and activism. Since then, the emails/messages have risen to over 1000, and Jon’s Jail Journal’s hits have surged by 20,000. All of my social media pages have been flooded. On Thursday, I couldn’t blink without an email coming in. Many people expressed their own pain and suffering, detailing horrific things that happened at the hands of the US justice system.

I realise now that everything I’ve been doing around Jon’s Jail Journal for the past 10 years was leading up to this moment. It’s as if the trauma on US society caused by injustice, corruption and state-sanctioned violence opened up to me. I’m responding to every message, trying to give back some of my own positive energy. Adrenalin kept me going through the nights. At some points, I was typing so fast and focussed, I went hours before I noticed my shoulders had frozen. I had to stop to stretch for a few minutes to shake the numbness off. Thanks to social media, I was able to alert thousands of people to a petition to recall Arpaio. Even some Arpaio supporters emailed that the episode had changed their minds about him. I’ve only received four death threats from Arpaio loyalists, which isn’t bad out of over 1000 messages, almost universal support. 

I had no idea which parts of the episode the director, Harry Hewland, had selected. I’m thankful to him for including the activism. His decision to flash Jon’s Jail Journal on the screen contributed to the deluge of correspondence. When Hard Time was published in America at the same time Osama bin Laden was killed, I lost my news coverage, the book didn’t sell, and I felt the realisation of the dream of exposing Arpaio slipping away. None of that matters now.

The activism doesn’t stop here. Arpaio is still in power, and there’s work to be done. The episode has planted a seed in the US conscience that evil things are going on in his jail system. The episode posted a statistic on the screen: 62 inmates died in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s jails from 2003-2007. Arpaio is motivated by power and money. Look where he gets his political contributions: the prison industries. His jail is a conveyor belt feeding the prison system human beings reduced to commodities – the prison gets $50,000 per year of taxpayers’ money per prisoner. Most of them are non-violent drug offenders. Many are mentally ill. Vulnerable people who get no education or rehabilitation because the prison wants them to come right back to keep the money rolling in. As shown in the emails, this corrupt system is traumatising American society to its core. With 1 in 100 adults in prison, every family in America has or knows someone in prison, unless of course they’re politically connected or wealthy enough to bribe the system.

Exposing Arpaio continues. Over the next six months, the episode is being televised to over 50 million viewers in 36 countries, ranging from India to all of Europe. I’ve finally realised the dream I set 10 years ago when I first picked up that golf pencil in the maximum-security Madison Street jail, hoping to show the world what really goes on in there.

Click here for the last question I answered about Locked-Up Abroad 

Shaun Attwood

Banged-Up Abroad Northern Premiere May 10

If you live in the northwest of England, this Friday May 10 is the UK premiere viewing of my Banged-Up Abroad episode "Raving Arizona". It is a free event and all ages are welcome.

Ford's Sports & Social Club, 77 Cronton Lane, Widnes, Cheshire, WA8 5AJ Tel: 0151-424-7078

The 1 hour episode will be shown at 8pm. 

Signed copies of Party Time and Hard Time will be on sale. Capacity at this venue is 300, so people are welcome to bring as many guests as they like.

Here's the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/623341324348159/?fref=ts

The southern premiere is May 26th in Guildford

Shaun Attwood

Close Enough to Steal

I purchased the $69.00 pay-per-view Showtime event featuring trhe Mayweather main event. However, it was the match up of J'Leon Love v. Gaberiel Rosado fight in which I was interested. Rosado is a Phialdelphia fighter. I have seen him fight live several times. I was interested to see how he snapped back after the bloody mess of a defeat he took at the hands of Golovkin. The outcome of the Mayweather fight was as predictible as the sunrise. The opener on the undercard proved to something more contreversial. Rather than provide my narrative, I will share the well written analysis of Rosado's Promoter: local legendary boxing promoter Russell Peltz.


"When I was growing up, Harold Johnson, the Hall-of-Fame light-heavyweight champ from Philadelphia, was my boyhood idol.  So much so that when I would get my hair cut, I had it cut so short my head looked like a dirty tennis ball.  Friends at Lower Merion High School would call out:  “There goes Peltz with his Harold Johnson haircut.” 

     The 1963 night the Las Vegas judges robbed Johnson of his world title on a 15-round split decision against Willie Pastrano was one of my worst.  I remember storming out of my friend’s house, heading home and being in a funk for weeks.  When I ran into the one kid in school who thought Pastrano deserved the verdict, my only response was:  “Are you Italian?”  He was.

     Jack McKinney, as good a boxing writer who ever walked this planet, wrote in the Philadelphia Daily News a less-then-flattering story about the fight.  It seemed as if McKinney also thought Pastrano won.  At the time, McKinney had a nightly talk show on WCAU radio and I called in, arguing with him.  I never forgot what he told me:  “Russell, I never said Pastrano won the fight.  What I said was that because it was not one of Harold’s better nights, the fight was close enough to steal.”

     Close enough to steal!  I never forgot that line because that’s how I felt Saturday night, back in Las Vegas, when middleweight Gabriel Rosado was judged a 10-round split-decision loser to unbeaten J’Leon Love.  Scores were 95-94 Rosado, 95-94 Love and 97-92 for Love, a scorecard from judge Herb Santos, who should be suspended for six months and required to pass the same ophthalmological exam Nevada requires of its boxers.

     Among the things I talked about in the dressing room prior to the fight was that Rosado should jump on Love from the first bell.  Love had been fed a steady diet of no-hope opposition and I thought the more battle-tested Rosado should put so much pressure on Love early that Love would start asking himself: “Why am I in here?”  The last thing I said before going to my seat was that if the fight goes the limit, we won’t get the decision.  This was Las Vegas, backyard of the “in crowd” and we were going against a fighter controlled by the “in crowd” and we were not going to get any favors.  Rosado told me not to worry because, he said, it wasn’t going 10 rounds.

     Then the fight started and my worst fears were realized.  Far from jumping on Love, Rosado was pawing at him with a range-finder left jab, spending precious minutes without any real offense.  When things got only slightly better in the next two rounds, I went over to Rosado’s corner and yelled at his trainer, Billy Briscoe, imploring him to get Rosado to be more aggressive and rough Love up on the inside.  Billy said that’s what he was doing but Rosado was not responding.  In the meantime, Love was probably thinking that this fight isn’t so tough after all. 

     Ironic, isn’t it, that nearly one year ago, when Mike Jones was fighting the same way in the same ring against Randall Bailey, Rosado had texted me during the fourth round,  wondering why Jones had not stepped up the pace.

     I thought Rosado won at least one of the first five rounds.  Actually, I thought he won two of them, but again, this was Las Vegas.  In many of those early rounds, nothing much happened and those were the rounds given to Love.  Things changed late in round six when Rosado dropped Love in the waning seconds, but took his foot off the pedal in the seventh and let Love back into the fight.

     Rosado took over after that, hurting Love on several occasions, but failing to close the show.  Two judges, Glen Trowbridge and Dave Moretti, had it even after nine rounds.  Trowbridge gave the 10^th to Rosado; Moretti gave it to Love, another strange call.  That was the deciding factor since judge Herb Santos was in another solar system.

     I had it 95-94 Rosado.  People say there were a lot of close rounds.  So what?  Professional judges are paid to decipher who wins close rounds.  If every round was one-sided, any fan in the audience could be a judge.  If the Phillies beat the Mets 2-1, they get as much credit as when they win 10-1. 

     As usual, Rosado showed class in his post-fight interview, but he was distraught in the dressing room, surrounded by his father and two cousins who worked the corner.  I sat there listening to their complaints—justified as they were—but couldn’t help but think about Jack McKinney’s “close enough to steal” line. 

     “What did I tell you before we left the dressing room?” I asked Rosado.  “I told you we weren’t going to get the decision.”

     “I know, Russell,” he said, “but I still deserved to win.”

      “You did,” I said, “but it was close enough to steal and they stole it,”

     Judging professional boxing is not rocket science.  Rosado landed the harder punches, scored the only knockdown of the fight and finished stronger.  The rounds he won were much more dominant than the rounds Love won. 

     Love says he will give Rosado a rematch.  Sure, and I have a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you.  If boxing were a sport, that would happen.  But boxing is a business, not a sport.  It ceased being a sport in the 1980s when many promoters decided that forging relationships with TV executives who liked a particular fighter of theirs was more important than pleasing fans with competitive matches.  That’s why you often seen televised fights in 10,000-seat arenas where 9,000 fans show up disguised as empty seats (An old line, but an appropriate one).

     My fighter, Mike Jones, was judged the winner over Jesus Soto-Karass nearly three years ago in Cowboys Stadium in Texas.  Moments after Jones was given an unpopular decision, I went to Soto-Karass’ dressing room and asked trainer Joe Goossen for a rematch.  I may be one of the few promoters on the winning side to ask the loser for a second chance.  HBO liked the idea and bought the fight and Jones proved his superiority the second time around.  Let’s see if Love and Showtime are up for it!

     In the meantime, I had decided before the fight Saturday that if Rosado won, I would wear home his black souvenir T-shirt with his picture on it. 

     When I woke up Sunday morning and got dressed to go to the airport, I looked at that T-shirt and proudly put it on. "   

Re-published with consent of the author J. Russell Peltz and Peltz Boxing    

Question Time

Email from a student:

Hello Shaun,

I found your talk at my college to be an extremely insightful experience into the prison system and it has seriously deterred me even more so than I actually was from committing a crime as I would not want to ruin my life's chances (if I may put it that way) and the picture painted in my head about prisons is a very powerful one. I just emailed to thank you for this experience that I won't forget and I wish to ask a question or two.

1. Although I recognise that you would change a lot about the prisons, what is the main thing you would wish to change.

2. After hearing the news about T-Bone would it be possible after a potential sentence is past if it goes that far, for T - Bone to be brought to a UK prison if necessary, if someone were to contact personnel within the American Embassy, as he would be able to give students an insight into modern prisons and give possible comparisons between UK prisons and US prisons, would that be possible?

3. When did you get released?

Regards,

Andrew

My answers:

1 The main things I would like to see changed are the illegal conditions and guard brutality. Human rights state that inmates should receive over 1000 calories of food they can eat per day, medical treatment, sunlight and recreation, that they shouldn’t have to sleep in insect infested environments, and the guards shouldn’t be murdering them.

In Phoenix, Arizona, it’s the guy at the top, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who’s responsible for violating all of these human rights, and creating an extremely dangerous environment. A big change I would like to see is for him to not get re-elected. Jail shouldn’t be easy, but neither should vulnerable inmates be getting murdered by gang members and guards. People find it hard to believe this stuff is going on, so I direct them to the video evidence.

Here's a video of an Aryan Brother murdering Robert Cotton (on remand for a petty crime) who refused to beat someone up for the gang: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba_vGzkcdHQ

Here are videos of guards murdering Marty Atencio (a Latino war hero on remand for allegedly kicking a door) at the jail: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=K9PJE2wx2tA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzraGcUO5O4&feature=relmfu

The maximum security Madison Street jail was shut down 2 years after I started this blog, but Arpaio opened a new high tech house of horrors down the street, and he is the boss of 6 jails in his system, so all of this stuff is still going on.

2 T-Bone and I would like nothing more than for him to be able to get a passport and to share his experiences with young people in schools in the UK. Regarding transferring him to a UK prison, that’s not possible. Arizona will make him serve all of his time in Arizona, and as he isn’t a UK citizen nothing can be done.

I spoke to T-Bone’s wife on the phone in Arizona. She said T-Bone allegedly went back to cocaine and has allegedly committed crimes to get money for drugs. Because he is considered so dangerous due to his fighting skills, it took 30 cops with riot shields and shotguns to arrest him. They even put a shotgun to a neighbour lady's head, and asked her if she knew T-Bone.

T-Bone has decided to take his case to trial. All we can do is wait the situation out now, and hope that he is released soon, or if he loses the trial, that he gets a short sentence.

T-Bone on Facebook.

3 I was released in December 2007, and I just posted my full release story here: http://jonsjailjournal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/question-8-locked-up-abroad-raving.html

Thanks for your questions, Andrew. Take care out there!

Shaun Attwood

Response from Andrew:

Hello Shaun,

Thank you for your reply. I wish you never had to go through what you did, but I am grateful that you took the time to come in and talk to us and your story will influence me throughout my life and once again I thank you for it.

The answers that you have given me have furthered the insight I have about how unjust the "justice" system is in the US, and partially of what you have told us about the UK. It also shows how much power prisons have vs the governments, it is wrong that they should kind of rule over the government. The whole justice system needs reforming, but unfortunately no one in higher authority listens to the general public unless they can make money from it, which again is a shame. I've seen two of the video's and it furthers my beliefs and what I just said.

Thank you for taking the time and effort to reply to me, it’s good to see that society does have people like you that young people will listen to and take heed of what you say, thank you again.

All the best,

Andrew

Click here for the previous Question Time: http://jonsjailjournal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/question-time_17.html