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THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IS ROTTEN TO THE CORE
The Suffering and Striving of Sis. Maryam in Prison
From Sis. Motisola M. Abdallah, Atlanta
As-Salaamu Alaikum Ramadan Mubarak
This is an update on Sister Maryam's situation.
The facility has made it possible for her to observe
Ramadan.
She has gotten one of her prayer rugs and can now eat with the population
wearing her khimar.
The operation is on hold because she is no longer suffering the symptoms,
and her blood pressure is down.
The biggest obstacle facing her now is getting clothes.
The Islamic Humanitarian Service
has attempted to send her clothes,
but there is a Deacon Mamou who keeps sending the packages back.
It seems that JC Penny has exclusive rights to furnish the inmates with apparel.
If it is mailed from JC Pennys it is kosher.
There needs to be a petition drive and petitions need to be sent to the
governor of LA...as well as Mr. Slater...Gov. M.J. "Mike" Foster,
Office of the Governor PO Box 94004, Baton Rouge, LA 70804
email
www.gov.state.la.us/contact
Her family is in the process of hiring a lawyer from New Orleans to file an appeal.
The cost is $5,500 for the appeal.
Please send donations to Greg and Ebony Uloho, 2020 Mayfair Rd., Dayton, OH 45405.
There has been a lack of response from the Islamic Community.
It seems that
9/11
and our need to "fit in" is preventing us from speaking out against this injustice.
There are at least 10 Masjids in the state of LA,
yet there has been no concerted effort to rally behind sister Maryam.
There is also an Islamic woman's organization in LA that has yet to contact her.
She has been incarcerated for two years.
Below is a narrative that describes how she came to be at St. Gabriel.
Any money sent to her has to be a money order with her name and number on it.
She always needs stamps.
Those can be put right in an envelope...shukran...Dr. Mulazimuddin S. Rasool
MARYAM ULOHO, POLITICAL PRISONER
In the land of the free and the home of the brave,
there are over two million prisoners.
Among them is a population that becomes obscured by the believe that
everyone who is in prison belongs there, of course,
with few exceptions like those who somehow slipped through the "just-ice"
sytem and were wrongly convicted.
Oh well...win a few lose a few.
This obscure group are the political prisoners.
They are behind the concrete and barbed wire because
America
did not like their politics or their religion.
They were either set-up in a sophisticated sting operation or railroaded
behind some trumped-up charges.
By the time the injustice is uncovered they have languished in prison for
years and years with no apology or compensation for the time ripped from
their lives.
I always find it amusing when people say we have no political prisoners in America.
Maryam Uloho #464534 is a political prisoner,
who is originally from Dayton Ohio and now resides at the Louisiana
Correctional Institute for Women (LCIW) in St. Gabriel, LA.
In her own words: I was a Real Estate Investor from Dayton, Ohio.
I was arrested on March 3, 2001 in Gretna, Louisiana, close to New Orleans
in Jefferson Parish. I was held 14 months before I went to trial.
During the jury selection on April 12, 2002, the District Attorney dropped
all charges.
Two weeks later I was charged with "obstruction of justice."
The original judge took the hold off me ,
reduced my bail from $200,000 to $50,000 and I bonded out on May 5, 2002.
I returned to Ohio. Every month, sometimes twice a month, I returned to
New Orleans for trial. Each time I returned it was postponed.
The DA demanded my passport because of my international ties.
The charges of robbery of an arnored car and aggrivated battery were dismissed,
because there was no one who could place me at the scene.
I was still held for a year.
I told the detective at the scene that the officer stopped me because,
he wanted to know what a
"nigger"
was doing driving a Lincoln Town Car in a "white" neighborhood?
I told him I was lost.
When the officer saw my credit cards and cash, he said I stole it.
He did a check with the Dayton, Ohio authorities and found that I was
Mary Uloho,
but the authorites in Dayton told him to hold me. So they did.
That's when the officer took a big beige bag from the trunk of his car.
He started putting things in my car.
He got an APB that a robbery had taken place earlier that morning.
I tried to tell the detective that the officer had hidden something and
taken $5,000 from me.
Before I came to Louisiana I completed a closing on a house.
The money was from the closing.
They found everything from the robbery in my car except the "green cash."
Internal affairs found the cash-$30,000 in small bills in two clear plastic
bags-in his house.
He was charged as an accesory to the robbery, but they still held me.
I had an attorney in Dayton.
He sent a private investigator to Louisiana to see me,
but he wanted permission to collect money from a settlement-$4,150,000.
I refused.
When I bonded out I brought charges against him,
because I know he had a hand in helping them keep me.
My charge were accepted by Dayton and they found him at fault.
I couldn't follow through because I was found guilty by a jury that was
made up of 10 whites and two blacks.
One of the black jurors had a son who was involved with a white woman that
I had been in jail with before the trial.
She and I had a very ugly confrontation.
She swore she would get me.
When her boyfriend, the juror's son,
told her his father was a juror at my trial,
she started talking about my case.
All three admitted in court that they had talked about the case.
My motion for a new trial was still denied.
This is called "jury misconduct" or "jury tampering."
It is illegal in every state in the country except for Louisiana.
[note: Mary became Muslim while in jail]
The Public Defender told me not to wear my Khimar
(head covering worn by Muslim women).
The judge was angry when I said I would not remove my khimar.
I didn't flinch or cry when he told me 20 years.
The DA wanted me double-billed because of a self-defense incident in Dayton, Ohio
ten years previous
[note: Maryam was attacked one night while leaving her office].
At the double-bill hearing the judge was expected to give me 40 years.
He looked at me. I looked at him. I was still wearing my khimar. I smiled.
He gave me 25 years.
When I was admitted I had to endure abuse from prisoners and guards because
of my faith.
I have had urine and feces thrown on me by inmates,
and my shoulder was dislocated by a male guard.
I have high blood pressure and heart problems.
If that isn't enough there have been two chemical spills at the plant
across from the correctional facility.
Maryam Uloho #464534 Aquarius 26A
PO Box 26
St. Gabriel, LA 70776
Mary (Maryam) Uloho is being persecuted because she is Muslim.
She is the first inmate to demand her rights as an adherent to the tenets
of Islam.
Because of this there is a certain element in the prison that has dedicated
itself to making her stay as miserable as possible.
She is in need of clothes,
which have been refused because they didn't come from JC Penny.
It seems that JC Penny is the official clothier for female inmates.
Packages from the Islamic Humanitarian Service,
which is an organization that serves inmates nation wide have been returned
with no explanation.
Correspondence and concerns can be sent to IHS c/o Hirah Al-Amin,
210 W. Jolly Road, Lansing, Michigan 48910 (517) 394-4702
email tea-tree@attbi.com
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2003-11-27 Thu 15:40ct