Phone/Email Zap! Continued Retaliation Against Faheem Shabazz after Hunger Strike at Westville CU
Update 2/5/20: Faheem has been released from the control unit to general population! Huge thanks to everyone who called, emailed, and spread the word!!!
—————————————————————————————————————————————
Please email IDOC Chief Counsel Robert Bugher and call IDOC Central Office to request that he review Case Number WCC19-11-0186 & Case Number WCC19-12-0466 for violations of due process and IDOC Policy! Faheem (Jerry Smith #129911) has a parole hearing coming up on March 26, and he needs to be free of conduct violations. These trumped up conduct violations are threatening to keep him locked up for another year! He’s been locked up since he was 14, for nearly 20 years (he got out on parole for almost a year in 2018 before his parole was violated).
Email: rbugher@idoc.in.gov
Call: (317) 232-5711 ext. 2, ext. 3, ext. 1
Sample Script:
“Hello, I am [writing/calling] in regard to Jerry Smith #129911, who is in custody at the Westville Control Unit and has been found guilty of two major conduct violations under false pretenses and without proper due process under IDOC Policy & Procedure. Please review Case Number WCC19-11-0186 & Case Number WCC19-12-0466 for violations of due process and IDOC Policy! In clear violation of IDOC Policy 02-04-101, “The Disciplinary Code for Adult Offenders,” Mr. Smith was not provided 24 hours advance notice of his DHB hearings, was not allowed to review the evidence against him, was not allowed access to a lay advocate, and has not been provided with State Form 39586(R8/11-17) “Report of Disciplinary Hearing” for either case. He is innocent of the charges and would have been able to prove that, if he had been afforded appropriate due process.”
What follows is an account of ongoing abuses and retaliation against Faheem Shabazz (Jerry Smith #129911), who is in Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) custody at the Westville Control Unit (WCU). He went on hunger strike for 5 days in late December because of abuses he was experiencing, but the abuse has continued. The abuses and retaliation that Mr. Smith has been and continues to be subjected to constitute serious violations of his rights under the US Constitution and IDOC Policy and Procedure.
You can also listen to Faheem discussing the situation in the audio below.
On December 26, 2019, in response to Mr. Smith’s hunger strike and many calls to the facility about his situation, Westville CF Deputy Warden Gann visited Mr. Smith in his cell and spoke to him about the problems he was experiencing. At that point Mr. Smith was being held on strip-cell without access to his property or a phone, and he hadn’t eaten for 5 days. Staff had placed him on strip cell in retaliation for his hunger strike. He was on hunger strike because he had not been found guilty by DHB for anything more than a Class C Conduct Report for ‘vulgarity,’ yet he had been held in a Restricted Housing Unit (RHU) for over a month without a hearing on the Class B Battery conduct violation he was charged with. He was under investigation by Internal Affairs (IA) for a separate incident involving trafficking that he had no involvement in, but had not been provided with a Restrictive Status Housing Report (State Form 39588), as is required under IDOC Policy 02-04-101, “The Disciplinary Code for Adult Offenders,” if an inmate is to be held in RHU prior to his DHB hearing. Furthermore, his property had been confiscated, but he had not been provided a Notice of Confiscated Property, as is required by IDOC Policy. Deputy Warden Gann informed Mr. Smith that he would speak to the Disciplinary Hearing Board (DHB) and IA and that he expected the charges would be dropped because there was no evidence.
The following day, a DHB officer visited Mr. Smith in his cell and informed him DHB had found him guilty on the Class B Assault/Battery charge (Case Number WCC19-11-0186). Mr. Smith was not provided any advance notice that the hearing would be happening that day, in violation of policy which requires at least 24 hours advance notice. The hearing officer told him she thought the charge was ludicrous and knew he didn’t do it. DHB sanctioned Mr. Smith with a 30 day phone and commissary restriction, which is an appropriate sanction for a charge of Battery against a nurse. Such a charge carries a sanction of 90 days on lock-up (RHU), loss of credit time, and credit class demotion. Moreover, Mr. Smith was not allowed to call the two staff witnesses who had reviewed the video, Sgt. Flakes and Lt. Diaz. They had reviewed the video immediately after the incident took place on Nov. 14 and refused to charge him then because they saw that he hadn’t committed battery. Mr. Smith was also not allowed to review the video evidence himself or have a lay advocate, in direct violation of his rights under IDOC Policy 02-04-101, “The Disciplinary Code for Adult Offenders.”
Soon thereafter, Mr. Smith was again visited by a DHB officer, who informed him that he was being found guilty of a Class A Attempt to Traffic charge as a result of the IA investigation. Again, in violation of policy and procedure, Mr. Smith was not provided that 24 hours advance notice that the hearing would be taking place. Again, when Mr. Smith requested to review the evidence, call witnesses or get witness statements, and have a lay advocate, all of his requests were denied. In this case, the DHB officer laughed at him when he requested that his due process rights be respected and walked away grinning, after informing him of the sanction.
IDOC Policy 02-04-101, “The Disciplinary Code for Adult Offenders,” states that offender’s charged with a conduct violation are entitled to:
(4) The ability to call witnesses and present evidence
unless the person conducting the hearing finds that
to do so would subject a witness to a substantial risk
of harm, or would result in the admission of
irrelevant or repetitive testimony;
(5) The ability to confront and cross-examine
witnesses, unless the person conducting the hearing
Finds:
(a) That to do so would subject a witness to a
substantial risk of harm;
(b) That to do so would result in the admission
of irrelevant or repetitive testimony; or,
(c) Based upon good cause stated on the record,
that a witness is unavailable to attend the
hearing.
(6) The ability to have a lay advocate as indicated in
Procedure IX. D. 1 . . .
By refusing to allow Mr. Smith to review the evidence against him, cross-examine witnesses or even collect witness statements, have the assistance of a Lay Advocate on his case, or have 24 hours notice in advance of his DHB hearing, Westville CF has grossly violated Mr. Smith’s due process rights and IDOC Policy & Procedure.
The Report of Conduct for the Class A Attempt to Traffic charge says:
Report of Conduct State Form 39590
Case number 19-12-0466
Date assigned 12-31-19
Date of incident 11-20-19
Time of incident 9:47pm
Date report written 12-30-19
Code number 111/113
Offense Attempt Trafficking
Based on evidence gathered, this investigator M. Slatton is charging offender Smith, Jerry 129911 with aboved offense Class A 111/113. Refer to report of investigation.
The Report of Investigation for the Class A Attempt to Traffic charge says:
State Form 39591 (R/5-94) Report of Investigation of Incident WCC 19-12-0466
Date of completed investigation 12-30-19
M.Slatton
Summary of Results of Investigation: A visitor named Jessica Duffield was stopped prior to her visit in the visiting room on suspicion that she possessed contraband on 11/23/19. She was found with 2 packages of contraband on her person. Each package contained 45 suboxone strips totaling 90 strips. Evidence was found that offender Smith made a phone call on 11/20/19 at 9:47 pm to phone number (574-286-7683).
The number belongs to Christie Lofton (Smith’s cousin) in the call Smith tells Christine to call Jessica. Christine asks ‘what's her number?’ Smith tells her ‘574-535-3825.’ That number is the number that belongs to Jessica Duffield. Smith tells Christine to tell Jessica that she is going to have to go with her to get the $90 tommorow. Based on the info above gathered during investigation, info is sufficient to issue Smith, Jerry 129911 with above offense Class A 111/113 Conspiracy to Traffic. Please refer to Case Number 19/0208.
In this investigation report Internal Affairs Officer M. Slatton assumes that the $90.00 Mr. Smith spoke to Lofton & Duffield about is referring to money for the suboxone strips allegedly found on Duffield, when in fact Mr. Smith was simply trying to pay another inmate back for money he had borrowed to buy food. Jessica Duffield is the girlfriend of Zach Delong #137445, from who Mr. Smith had borrowed money to buy food. That’s why Mr. Smith told Lofton to call Duffield and spoke to them about the $90.00. Duffield is not on Mr. Smith’s visiting list, so could not have possibly been visiting him when she was allegedly caught with suboxone strips. Mr. Smith had no involvement in or knowledge of whatever happened with the alleged suboxone strips. He could have easily proven his innocence if he had been afforded the due process to which he entitled under IDOC Policy & Procedure and the US Constitution.
For this unjustified Class A Conduct Report, Mr. Smith was sanctioned with 180 days in the Restricted Housing Unit (RHU), in addition to the nearly two months he had already been held in RHU prior to his hearing. According to policy, the time he had already been in RHU should have counted toward his sentence as time served. He was further sanctioned by being demoted to credit class 2 and put on a 45 day phone restriction. These sanctions are unjust, and in clear violation of IDOC Policy & Procedure. We believe that IA and the DHB at Westville CF found Mr. Smith guilty of these charges, when he is so obviously innocent, in retaliation for his hunger strike, which drew Deputy Warden Gann’s attention to their misconduct. The sanctions need to be lifted, and the charges dropped, immediately. Mr. Smith needs to be released to general population immediately.
You can support Faheem by making an account at web.connectnetwork.com and writing him, allowing him to call you, and sending him money. Or you can write to him via regular mail at Jerry Smith #129911 (Faheem Shabazz), Westville Control Unit, 5501 S 1100 W, Westville, IN 46391.
