Unnamed Congressman Has Tim DeChristopher Moved into Solitary Confinement

[Hissyspit]

Source: Kevin Gosztola / Peaceful Uprising Press Release

Unnamed Congressman Has Tim DeChristopher Moved into Solitary Confinement
By: Kevin Gosztola Wednesday March 28, 2012 1:17 pm

Tim DeChristopher

Environmental activist Tim DeChristopher, who was given a two-year sentence in prison for making fake bids in a Utah public land auction that was later found to be corrupt, has reportedly been moved to solitary confinement after a member of Congress contacted the Bureau of Prisons.

Peaceful Uprising, a climate change activism group which DeChristopher co-founded, states in a press release posted on March 27:

On the evening of Friday March 9th, Tim DeChristopher was summarily removed from the minimum security camp where he has been held since September 2011, and moved into the FCI Herlong’s Special Housing Unit (SHU). Tim was informed by  Lieutenant Weirich that he was being moved to the SHU because an unidentified congressman had called from Washington DC, complaining of an email that Tim had sent to a friend. Tim was inquiring about the reported business practices of one of his legal fund contributors, threatening to return the money if their values no longer aligned with his own.  According to Prison officials, Tim will continue to be held in isolated confinement pending an investigation. There is no definite timeline for inmates being held in the SHU — often times they await months for the conclusion of an investigation.

In the SHU, Tim’s movement and communications are severely restricted. In the past two weeks, he has been allowed out of his 8 X 10 cell (which he shares with one other inmate) four times, each time for less than an hour. The SHU could have been designed by Franz Kafka. Tim is allowed one book in his cell, and four in his property locker.  His writing means are restricted to a thin ink cartridge which makes correspondence extremely difficult.  He can still receive mail from the outside, but has no other form of communication other than 15 minutes of phone calls per month. [emphasis not added]

Read more: http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/03/28/unnamed-congressman-has-tim-dechristopher-moved-into-solitary-confinement

[villager]

1. Boy, the truth about what America has become can still be shocking sometimes

...no matter how expected it is...

[nashville_brook]

32. +1

[dhill926]

2. speechless.......

as evidently, is he.......

[nykym]

3. Sounds like the congresspersonis

doing his Energy Corporations bidding! Neutralize the threat, business as usual!

[EFerrari]

22. Send a message to anyone even thinking about doing the same thing.

Yes, this is fascism.

[liberal N proud]

4. Something is afoul and it is more than the fake birds. (should have been bids --- BIDS DOH!)

Last edited Wed Mar 28, 2012, 02:55 PM - Edit history (1)

2 years for fake birds?

Corrup land auction? Congressman? If the congressman was involved in the auction, you can see why he is having the activist put away. He is covering his own ass.

But how in the hell does a congressman have the authority to put a prisoner in confinement? Something is afoul and it is more than the fake birds.

[Blue_Tires]

8. +1

[hack89]

13. Fake bids. Bids. nt

[liberal N proud]

14. Doh!

[midnight]

15. I wonder if it's a private prison? One Mr/MRS congress has stock in?

[loudsue]

17. That's why we need to find out who this nazi congressperson is.

We need some good gum-shoes out there finding this out. That is one congress person who needs to be

1) INVESTIGATED

2) UNEMPLOYED

[sinkingfeeling]

5. By what Constitutional power does a Congressman have to influence a

convict's quarters?

[Justice wanted]

10. Really. None in the traditional Constitution it even protects from Inhuman treatment BUT than the

Freakin PATRIOT ACT came about and just ripped the constitution apart.

[harun]

16. They quit paying attention to that some time ago.

[Hawkowl]

28. "Constitution is a goddamn piece of paper"

So sayeth the Shrub. So doeth Obama.

[Dawson Leery]

6. It's called fascism.

[sabrina 1]

7. That Congressman should be identified. He has not right that I know of to interfere in

the prison system. Sounds like he's trying to cover up something. And ironically, all he's done is draw more attention to whatever it is he's abusing his power to cover up.

[DJ13]

9. complaining of an email that Tim had sent to a friend

Wait, how did a Congressman gain access to a private communication between two other parties?

Do Congress members have unlimited access to the results obtained by our spy agencies?

[sabrina 1]

11. That's another good question. Sounds like there needs to be an investigation.

If members of Congress have this kind of power over what goes on in prisons, I'd like to see the law that made it happen. Congress spying on people in prisons for political reasons. That has to be enough to cause him to lose his seat in Congress.

[Justice wanted]

12. Patriot act basically allows spying on american citizens and that infomation can be given to congres

Let's face it HE is a PEACE activists AND you know what corrupt Money loving congress people think about Peace--IT's a terrorist weapon.

[loudsue]

18. My guess is the "friend" is an infiltrator into the organization.

Just a guess. Why else would the congressman know about the e-mail? The ACLU needs to jump all the hell over this.

[TheMadMonk]

33. If sent from inside prison Tim would have no expectation of privacy.

The CORRECT question to ask is who (what agency) is passing this sort of info on.

[izquierdista]

19. Everything being done by the book

This book.

[Javaman]

26. Article 58...

I love that book. Article 58 basically states that anyone and be thrown into prision for any reason the soviet authorities feel is a threat or not a threat.

[littlewolf]

20. Wow .. Utah prison is alot different then NC prisons

In NC SHU it is a 8x10 cell by yourself ... 3 x per week you get 45 minutes of exercise and 15 minute shower .... no phone calls ... pencil and paper and envelopes all you want .... books sound about the same ... usually investigations are concluded within 30 days ... this one would be more involved since it involved sending electronic communications to a member of congress ....
edit: I misread the post ... I thought he sent the email to the congress critter
I also would be interesting in how the congress critter found out about this...
hmmm something isnt right here ....

[starroute]

30. It was "an email he sent to some of his supporters"

The beginning of the story says it went to "a friend" but further down it seems to be saying it had wider distribution.

That makes it sound less private and more like something that could have gotten out -- especially of any of those friends felt they had to share it with all of their friends or post it to Facebook.

[raouldukelives]

21. He should have just tried to wiretap a Senators office.

Apparently the penalty for that is a slap on the wrist.

[SDjack]

23. President Obama needs to standup and issue Tim DeChristopher

an unconditional pardon and award him the Medal of Freedom. If there's a shortage of medals, take back the one "W" gave to Tony Blair.

[Hubert Flottz]

24. I'm guessing Mr. Hatch...

He's that low down.

[uwep]

25. Sounds like a human rights abuse

When the American government complains how China, North Korea and other repressive regimes control their populations, how can they claim the high ground. This is a real abuse of human rights and the political entity that cause this should lose their position. I do not care if it was a Democrat or repub. It is a matter of common decency.

[happyslug]

27. Sorry, I had to look him up on Wikipedia, bad lawyering, unless he wanted to go to jail

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_DeChristopher

A "necessity defense"? Why not go for the defense that he was MAKING a valid offer, he had raised the money to make an actual bid? i.e. he did NOTHING illegal, his bid was valid. That would have been an adequate defense, but it meant actually looking like you are following the law, as you are undermining it.

I am sorry, he is in Jail for he wanted to be in Jail. His defense left the court with no other choice but to convict him and then to jail him.

On the other hand his placement in Solitary confinement is without justification. How is sending an E-mail a threat to the Prison or its Prison population? Hopefully a Federal Judge will release him from the Solitary Confinement, for the test for such treatment is generally some threat to the security of the Prison OR he is doing ILLEGAL Activities that can NOT be prevented any other way. Is he planning more illegal bids? I doubt it, and protest are NOT illegal by themselves.

I suspect some Oil and Gas Executive disliked his bids, for by "Winning" the bids, he prevented them from winning the bids, and thus lost any standing to oppose Obama's later withdrawal of the leases (The Oil and Gas Companies could have challenged Obama's withdraw of the leases as a taking of property without compensation IF THEY WON THE BID, given that Tim DeChristopher had won the auction for the leases he did make a bid on, the only person with standing to make that claim was Tim DeChristopher, thus the Oil and Gas Company hates Tim DeChristopher for he has no intention of doing so).


His web site:
http://www.bidder70.org/

Peaceful uprising web site:
http://www.peacefuluprising.org/

[littlewolf]

34. dont know what prison he is in ....

but unless it is a federal prison ..
a federal judge can not touch this ...
if it is a state prison has to be a state
judge .....

[happyslug]

36. This is a Federal Charge so he is doing Federal time

Thus he is either in a Federal Prison (My impression) or doing Federal Time in a State Institution (Mostly done by Immigration in regards to illegal immigrants, but done otherwise on a contract basis). Either way, since he is doing FEDERAL Time a Federal Judge has jurisdiction.

[struggle4progress]

29. Hearsay about an unidentified Congressman is not really much of a news story, is it?

[starroute]

31. I think you're grabbing this by the wrong end

It's a documented story about mistreatment targeted against someone who is in jail for environmental activism. That's not hearsay.

The fact that he was allegedly targeted because of intervention by an unidentified congressperson makes the story even more intriguing -- and potentially more infuriating -- but it would be newsworthy even without that aspect.

[struggle4progress]

37. The story isn't making much sense so far:

the claim seems to be that DeChristopher, by email, suggested he might return a donation of some contributor to his legal fund, whereupon the contributor complained to some anonymous congressman, who then complained to the BoP, with the alleged result that BoP slapped DeChristopher into SHU for violating prison rules

It is an inventive tale of oppression, with a certain savory Rube Goldberg flavor

[starroute]

38. In any case, he was released from the isolation unit today

This Washington Post story clarifies the original somewhat by explaining that his use of the word "threaten" might have been what set things off. I'll grant you that it's still somewhat fuzzy, especially concerning the role of the unidentified congressman. But I still think you're being too quick to pooh-pooh the very possibility that he was singled out for punishment -- especially since the felony sentence itself was distinctly excessive for a simple act of civil disobedience.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/lawyers-say-federal-prison-releases-utah-environmental-activist-from-confinement/2012/03/29/gIQAE65DjS_story.html

A prominent environmental activist has been released from an isolation unit at a federal prison and placed back into a minimum-security camp after choosing an ill-advised word in an email about one of his legal-defense donors, his lawyers said Thursday. . . .

DeChristopher was asking supporters to check a rumor that one of his major donors to a legal defense fund was planning to move some manufacturing operations overseas. If true, “I’d threaten to return their money or give it to the workers if they’re protesting,” DeChristopher wrote, according to Shea.

The U.S. Bureau of Prison won’t confirm or deny that DeChristopher was punished or discuss the nature of any of his emails. Federal prosecutors in Salt Lake City also refused comment Thursday.

Shea said DeChristopher’s casual use of “threaten” was inadvisable “and I think he learned a lesson that you don’t necessarily put all of your thoughts down in emails.”

[struggle4progress]

39. Story still makes no sense: he was apparently in the SHU from 9 March,

but nobody makes any noise about it until the day before his release exactly three weeks later; BoP has a policy of not commenting, so the lawyer was sure the tale wouldn't be contradicted

Plus it's a minimum security facility to begin with, and I can't see any reason for BoP to care whether or not he told an alleged supporter he was thinking of refunding their donation cuz he didn't like them

I don't know what was going on here, but the allegations in the thread are all suspect

[fasttense]

35. Just another Political Prisoner. America has more and more of these every day.

Soon the majority of our population will be in prison. Do we have as many political prisoners now as the old Soviet Union?