Cruel & Inhumane, Unfair, Discriminitory, Destructive
If the local media doesn't want to reveal what's happening in it's own back yard, then I will try to fill the void.
I'm a middle class anglo with some mental health issues. However, until last June, I'd never been to jail, or really thought much about it, nor had any of my friends. We assumed, just as the people in the professional media, that jail was a place for criminals and crooks. After being incarcerated in the county jail for eight months, I would estimate that about 20% of the inmates are criminals. The rest are poor, non-white minority and mentally disabled people. They get negible representation and are so disenfranchised, they accept it. Their lives are too often ruined irreparably.
I am not of the ilk to let this simply go on, ignored by the middle class, so confident and self consumed. The situation regarding the entire criminal justice system is deplorable, intolerable and illegal in itself.
I am starting my own poor man's media, The Badger Guild Reporter ---
A websight about police brutality, inhumane jails and poorly run mental health units last updated 8-29-05
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It was a torturous living situation. My backround is more of the upper middle class, not the street people.
One of the very obnoxious bullies called 911 on July 2, 2004 telling them I had beat him with a stick and that I had a cache of illegal weapons in my room. All of this very untrue.
The police woke me up, beat and shackled me and took me to jail. I was in jail for 8 months before I was acquited. The conditions in the Santa Clara County Jail are worse than any I could have imagined, worse than most anything I've seen in the media or the movies. I was beaten several times by corrections officers because they didn't believe in panic attacks, just inappropriate behavior.
I had a total of 8 public defenders. I only once asked to have one replaced. The changes were made as a result of bureacratic and policy changes with the Public Defender's office.
While in jail, Alliance evicted me on the basis of a crime I had yet to be convicted of and sold everything I own. They also filed a "Notice of Action" which, upon my release, denied me access to all County Mental Health sevices. I filed a grievance and the Mental Health Quailty Improvement Unit upheld Alliance's false and inflamitory claims against me.
I was released on March 14, 2005 but not before a corrections officer beat me up one more time on the night of my release..
mideval, out of control,
unbeliveable
San Jose Police Department
bruatlity, lies, conspiracy
The Courts
arbitratry, pompus, unfair
Office of the Santa Clara Public Defender
self important,
self righteous
ineffectual,
My injuries, ailments after my arrest
I have been wrecked
Mental Health Advocacy Project
City of San Jose Indpedent Police Auditor
useless, waste of tax payer money
Santa Clara County Dept. of Mental Health
Alliance for Community Care
mismanaged, coverups
Attorneys:
who declined
who have helped
lawyer remain true to their reputation
Media contacts: helpful
useless
Links regarding our criminal justice system
The poor and disabled and their advocates
My observations
I came to realize
in Jail:
May 12, 2005
I recently spent eight months in the Santa Clara County jail on the basis of a false alegation of a drug addled roommate. I was fiercely beaten by peace officers four times and denied proper medical and mental health treatment. I couldnÕt pay rent while I was in jail and was evicted, lost everything I own, as well as my good name and reputation.
Be it known that my Public Defender told me to tell everyone I had won my trial. He seemed quite proud of himself. All of the public defenders I dealt with seemed quite pleased with themselves handling their tremendous caseloads
Did I really win? I had to plead quilty to something or I never would have gotten out of jail, as my trials were continually denied to me. I was forced to plea guilty to something, even an infraction or misdemeanor, after eight months in jail, just to protect the Police or District Attorney from a false arrest or imprisonment lawsuit. So, for doing nothing to no one, I have false charges, including a false charge of resisting arrest, and a conviction record that should never have happened.
The Santa Clara County jailed is filled with the poor, the disenfranchised and the mentally ill. Though I am poor, I have a rather upper middle class background and attitudes. What I saw and experienced in the jail, in the courtrooms and on the streets was nothing less than unbelievable. Since my release several weeks ago, I have been telling people that the criminal justice system is substantially worse than what you normally see in the media. Various levels of torture are rampant. Lives are crushed, diminished and wasted on a wholesale basis. Sure, the system is justified by real criminal activity, but the number of decent, hard working, honest people who get arrested and are then subjected to this life shattering treatment is criminal in itself. And it takes virtually nothing to get arrested these days.
Considering my background, I did a lot of yelling and screaming to get some representation from your office as you personally know. Despite this, I have lost everything. But at least I am out of jail. IÕm horrified to think what has happened to the many others who arenÕt even aware of the fact that they can complain. Way too often, they end up in state and federal facilities, for years, because of the gross lack of representation.
The middle class is insulated from this reality and from your self-effacing office.
I invite people who have suffered from lack of representation to contact me.
Edward Bellezza
P.O. Box 41144
San Jose, CA 95160
P.S.: Please note the attached article regarding the Louisiana Supreme Court.
"Throw Away People"
I have been cornered and crossed first by a Mental Health organization in San Jose, CA. Second, by the San Jose Police, third, by the Santa Clara County Deptartment of Corrections, by the Santa Clara Public Defender's Office and lastly, by the Santa Clara County Department of Mental Health.
It is not in my nature to be violent or unreasonable. It is in my nature to be passionate, subborn and righteous, when need be. It is not in my nature to let wrongs, especially done to me, go unrectified.
My childhood best friend through this very day, Steve Long and myself are both victims of the Viet Nam era; the extreme polarization, the new, socially significant music and literature, the demonstrations and even the riots. We get pretty committed to our causes.
Our cause now is to show the Santa Clara County Criminal Justice System for what it is; brutal, abitrary, excessive both in force and in punishment, inhumane and tremendously out of control. It is as if there is no concept of humanity or legitamcy in the entire system.
(some personal history)
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Jail Diary
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