Mother of Pennsylvania Inmate Requests Calls to Prison on Behalf of Her Son, John Anthony Diaz
Demonstration at the Prison to Follow
Leonna Brandao is founder and president of The New Vision Organization, a nonprofit prison outreach program that helps both inmates and families of inmates.
She claims her son John is being physically abused, deprived, provoked, and written up for numerous unwarranted misconduct's. Other prisoners at this unit in solitary confinement have stated that they are being deprived of food and have lost so much weight that they are now frail men, according to Brandao.
Leonna claims they have been forced to endure so much affliction that some have reverted to suicides and several others have attempted suicides which the officials are trying to cover up.
Leonna alleges there have been grievances and law suits filed by these prisoners which have been neglected, destroyed of dismissed by Lisa Hollibough, who is assistant to the Superintendent and others within the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, which lists a telephone number 717-975-4918.
They can be contacted at this address:
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections
2520 Lisburn Road
Camp Hill, PA 17001
Jeffrey A. Beard, PhD, Secretary
email jbeard@state.pa.us
According to Brandao officials have also been shipping inmates out of the unit who may have either been part of the abuses and /or witnessing everything. Angie Zheng, sister to one of the suicide victims is joining forces with Brandao to stage a demonstration on December 29, 2007 at the prison unit in order to bring attention to the media and to bring awareness to what is happening in the Pennsylvania prisons. They feel the problem is state wide.
They ask that anyone wishing to assist in the planning contact either one of them at the following information:
Angie Zheng at zheng3238@comcast.net
Leonna A. Brandao nvopres@verizon.net
Telephone: (508) 941-5367
New Vision Organization, Inc.
http://mysite.verizon.net/bizuiard/newvisionorg2
Leonna has added that
"Rosalind Burbank Joseph has asked me to give her phone number to anyone who is interested in working with us on the preparation for the upcoming demonstration." Her contact info is as follows:
Rosalind Burbank Joseph - # 917-656-8046 - www.StopPrisonAbuse.org
I have written an article about this issue and it can be read here:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/371834/suicide_and_abuse_in_a_pennsylvania.html
Published by Dee
I am a prison activist/advocate writing about prison issues, hoping to make awareness, and bring reform. One out of every thirty-two people in the USA are currently on parole, probation or in prison. I am ow... View profile
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19 Comments
Post a CommentIt is incredible to me, that you could make yourselves believe there are innocent people in jail. There is no possiblity that there are "innocent" people in jail. I do not know anyone who is in jail other than the man that killed my sister and my hope is that he is tormented and I am sure he does not believe he should be treated the way he is treated in jail. My family will live in torment for the rest of their lives. My mother killed herself, my sister has been emotionally unable to function in the "outside" world. The only thing that gives me pleasure is he did not receive the "Death Penalty". They too get to be tormented just like the family left behind. I wake up @ night seeing the gun (the last thing my sister saw) pointing @ her head before the explosion, with my whole family sitting not 10 ft away. I could go on with a very sad tormented life, not for just one person but all of those left with the memory of the horror one summer night.
Comment to Just A Person...okay, yes prison is a place where very bad people are sent, however, they also send innocent individuals to prison too!!
Deez, you obviously do not have loved ones or know anyone who is incarcerated. I say this because if you did, you would not make such ridiculous statements. Deprivation of food in the DOC does occur and the food they servce (which is very limited) is "not" as you state "healthy" and if it is, the portions are so small, that they would be no use to them anyway. As for the use of force, come on. "We use the least force as possible." This is a down right Okay, maybe some CO's do but not all of them. I know first of hand of hundreds of inmates who have suffered unnecessary abuse at the hands of angry Co's for no apparrent reason other than "they can do it." I know there is what is called "the CO's secret of silence" and they stick up for each other. Be honest and fair on this topic. The inmates are abused by some CO's and this is a fact!
My brother as well as Leonna's son is being physically abused, deprived of visitation, provoked by correctional officer's and the Warden whom Spat in his face, written up for numerous unwarranted misconduct's as well as placed in the hole when attempting to assist fellow inmates in side of SCI. To the point that my brother now has been deemed a threat by the entire PA DOC and threted to be shipped out to another institution in Louisanna. Then while my family and I went to be there as a form of mental support for my brother we where harshly treated by some of the officer there. I say some because at least there is one good person there whom happens to be and officer who was very helpful in assistibg us with answers.. But the judge who's name ends with a ski in Luzurne County he as well as his Adju was very disrespectful to my family and I to one point we over heard them calling us black monkey... We need some help is there any organization that can assist us in getting proper legal assi
My son has been physically and mentally abused by two prisons (county and state). The abuse HAS GOT TO STOP. He has been deprived of food. The state prison took his blood pressure medicine away and won't give it back. The county prison had wrote him up over and over for kicking his blanket off in his sleep. They were going to put him in the hole for it. When I called his lawyer and she called the jail, they lied to her and told her he had no write ups. Then the next day they trashed all his write ups....
THIS HAS TO STOP!!!!!1
Prison is a place where they send very bad people. People that mame, steal and murder other people. Convicted murderers and other law breaking individuals would fare far better if they could accept the consequence of their own decisions and stop blaming the world for what remains wrong in their lives. If they could only understand the devastation they have caused not only to their victims but those that were left to live with the horror that for some will never go away. The prison guards and wardens are only doing their jobs they have not committed unthinkable crimes against any single person, they go home at the end of the day. I know the families of these prisoners have also lost something they too love, but please never forget the innocence of their victims. God Bless all of you.
GOD is the answer!
actualy they are returning him to Massachusetts, and some important people have called the mother to talk to her about this
And we only used the least amount of force necessary to control the situation.
"She claims her son John is being physically abused, deprived, provoked, and written up for numerous unwarranted misconduct's. Other prisoners at this unit in solitary confinement have stated that they are being deprived of food and have lost so much weight that they are now frail men, according to Brandao." sounds like Mom has been hoodwinked into believing everything that comes out of her little angels mouth. Inmates are never deprived a healthy diet. That's a load of BS. The ACA would never stand for that crap. The food may not be as tasty as some would like but it is nutritious and healthy. They are even offered heart healthy meals. They eat healthier than their captors thats for sure. And on the subject of being abused, the only time force is used on an inmate is when they are out of control, hurting themselves or others. We as responsible care takers can not allow this to happen.