A Reflection From the
Bowels of the Beast

Bon in a Storm

1970 was a year of uncertainty, in America. The system
Sremed out of control - it could not hold the loyalty of the pubiic.
This national moad of hostiity harbored by the people toworis
Jyertiment and business came out of the Vietnam War, its 58,000

goverment.
On top of this came the political disgrace of the Nixon
administration, known as the "Watergate" scandals. This would
lead to Richard Nixon's resignation from the U.S, presidency n
August 1974 - the first president in American history to do xo.
The CIA had also been involved in assassination plots against
Castro of Cuba and other heads of state. It had introduced Afean

The FBI COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program)
perations included tactics of badjacketing (faise labeling,)
discrediting, forging letters, illegally opening matl, ‘wrongful
\mprisonment and assassination (sponsored government murder. )
\Within a few years, these tactics, sanctioned by the FBI and tre.
U-S- government, resulted in the dissipation, neutralization ame
Pbiiteration of thousands of determined, revolutionary politieat
forces and their leadership, such as Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Hhalcolm X, numerous members of the Black Panther barty and the
Black Liberation Army (BLA.)

Many Afrikans who refused to stomach this repression, fied into
gained on the backs of African people, were made public. The Z
O et New Bethel Church incident, where hundrecs of African
people, meeting for political advancement, ducked under gunfire
from police and agent prove yrs, who had turned out the lights,
took place. The 70's were a time of uprisings, ‘within American
prisons. These rebellions took on 2n ‘unprecedented political

B wer. The 50's and 60's movement in the U.S. W= taking
effect within the U.S. prisons.

During colonial imes, the traditional punishments inuSs.
prisons had been mutilation, hanging and exle. BY mid-nineteenth
Pentury, the prison was based on hard labor, along with other
e mshments, such as sweat boxes, iron yokes and solitary
confinement.

e Quaker reform approach was a bellf that through solation,
a prisoner would repent and reach state of salvation, but most
heoners went insane and died in Isolation. A warder, at the
D ron: New York Penitentiary, summed up this approach: “In
order to reform a criminal you must first break his spirit.” This
approach persisted.

R Rupuet 7, 1970, Jonathan Jackson (George's brother)
‘entered a courtroom In San Ratael, California, with a sub-machine

Y hchette and George Jackson (his brother.) So happen, George
§id not appear in court on this date. Jonathan, 17 years of age,
Sen armed the Soledad prisoners and took five hostages, induding
the assistant district attorney and a judge.

A few minutes later, inside 2 rented van for the getaway, in 2
nail of bullets, Jonathan was murdered. ‘Subsequently, after this,
Ruchell Cinque Magee was ‘wrongfully accused and convicted for
the death of the judge, ‘despite evidence which proves the bullet
that killed the judge in Marin County Courthouse, on August 7,
1970, came from police gunfire.

T November 1970, prisoners at Folsom in California, organized
what became the longest work stoppage and strike In the history of
T mitea States. August 21, 1971, George Jackson s shot to
ucth at San Quentin, during an escape attempt. George was
G fered by the govemment for daring to be a revolutionary n
prison.

ot long after George's death, there was 2 domino effect of
rebelions all over the United States - in San Jose Cic Center Jail,
e balias County fail, in Suffolk County Jail in Boston, In
O rpertand County failin San Antono, Texas. The spirt of
George had come back to haunt the prison system. George's
death, spawned a climate of tension throughout the U.S. prison
system. The most direct effect of George's murder, was the 3
rebellion at Attica prison in September, 1971.

A group of Attica prisoners in New York took over one of the
four yards at the prison. Forty guards were held hostage, for tive
days. Prisoners set up a remarkable community in the yard, that
was free of racism. The governor at the time was Neison
Rockefeller, who ordered a full-scale assault on the prisoners.
Thirty-one prisoners, who had no firearms and nine guards held
hostage, were killed in a hail of bullets. By the year of 1978, 50
of prisoners in American jails were black, 31% had been
unemployed in the month prior to their arrest, 60% had earned
less than $6,000 in the year prior to their arrest.

The spring of 1970, Nixon ordered an invasion in Cambodia,
sparking the first general student strke in United States history.
Students at Kent State University gathered to demonstrate against
this war. National Guardsmen are ordered to fire into the crowd,
killing four students and paralyzing one. By years end, in 1979,
the CIA, playing both sides against one another, are involved in
arms trades with Iraq and Iran, in which millions of lives are lost in
bloody war, between these countries. In the same year Nicaragua,
the very dynasty installed by U.S. marines before World War 11,
was toppled by a revolutionary army, and the U.S. government
seemed unable to prevent this.

Aaron israel

Into this whirlwind, was born Aaron Israel (fka Aaron Isby,) on
September 16, 1970, in Riverside California, the first of three (3)
children and only son of Morris Isby and Linda Hilton-Bruce. Four
months after Aaron was born, his father was sent to Soledad
Prison.

The abuse Aaron's mother recewved from his father, and ater
he went to prison, would now, give her a chance to escape and
never look back. So, she dropped out of Riverside City Coliege
where she majored in psychology, packed up the little possessions
they had, and took Aaron and moved to Detroit in 1973.

Growing up fatheriess, in a single parent environment, not only
created a challenge for Aaron, coming up in the poverty-stricken
ghetto/colonies in Detroit and later Fort Wayne, but aiso would
deny him a primary reference of true manhood. To say it wasn't a
struggle growing up without a father, would not be a statement of
truth. Aaron had become affected by a rapidly nsing trend among
Africans in America, the destructive social forces of hustlers,
pimps, drug addicts, prostitution and gangsterism overwheimed
T ermromment of the ghetto/colonles In which Aaron tved. 1

Aaron's mother struggled, moving regularly In the country, due
to financial woes and Instability. The youngster called several
states his home early on. At a very young age, Aaron leamned
responsibility and hard times. Sometimes his mother could not
make "ends meet.” During these desperate times, Aaron would go
to the comer store on Delaware in Detrott, to raise money for food,
by carrying senlor’s groceries and collecting cans.

Settling in Detroit, which had been known as the automobile
capitol of the world, was not easy. Aaron was tested physically by
his peers dally. He had to stand his ground or become the
nelghborhood sissy. The streets, Is where this young manchild
received his basic orlentation to life. The lack of positive male role
models forced Aaron to tum to the social outcast in his
neighborhood, to obtain the essential skills needed to survive in
the world he lived.

As a teen, Aaron settied in Fort Wayne, a city growing and
becoming attractive to outsiders from major cities, such as Los
Angeles, Chicago, Clevetand, Detroit and New York. The influx of
various out-of-state street personalities migrating to Fort Wayne,
had a major Influential impact, on the social attitudes and appetites
of those within the nelghborhoods. The 1980's brought another
challenge to Aaron, the flourishing of street institutions, aiso known
as "gangs” made the streets of Fort Wayne, more difficult. The
struggle for territory and control over the "game,” created a new
intensity of violence.

By the mid-80's, it was ‘common to see 12 - 15 year olds
carrying pistols or tommy machine guns. The streets of Pontiac
hecame Aaron's stomping grounds. ‘When Aaron was not in school,
he was out chasing females, drinking o getting high, partying In
the club or skating rink, hustling to make a dolfar. School was
never primary, although he play football his 9” and 10™ grade year

the racist institution of leaming could not provide. The stocky
built, nearly six foot tall youth, weighing close to 180 pounds, a
handsome manchild - was a product of his environment.

The streets bestowed on him certain values and norms that
ultimately became his way of Iife. Unkike many youngsters,
Aaron's world was a cruel world. It denied him the right of life,
liberty and the pursult of happiness. The hall of gunfire became a
Aaily occurrence. In many instances, Aaron's life was threatened
in shoot-outs, in which rivairy in the streets, made attempts to
‘ambush him by gunfire. 5

His experiences in the streets taught him at a young age, self-
preservation. Aaron had to contend with an American society that
was in backlash mode since the 60's. ‘Warnings from this white-
run, white-defined social order about where he was accepted, or
wasn't, where he was to take his displeasure, insighttul questions
and limited joys were doled out by the white teachers and people
in “authority” that looked like him in skin tone.

The Rise of Mental Weapon

The Riverside, Detroit, and Fort Wayne streets, full of those
boys and girls, babies when the potential revolutionary social,
‘economic and political changes were ready to hatch, now listéned
Wwith scom to the elders. The rise of hip-hop music and rapping
over music dominated their hours. Some, bonding together
against abusive parents and an uncaring society, belonged to
groups called "sets.”

Confusion, begun long ago about "turf" being in possession of
one group or another, led to tragic shooting deaths. As in
infamous Los Angeles, wearing the wrong colored clothing or ones
hat the wrong way, could mean your life in the ghetto/colony.

Laboratory produced crack cocaine, yet another false baim tor
oppressed souls, appeared in the 1980's. Weapons were far easier
t0 get than food or books In these ghetto slums. They ranged
then, and do now, from rusty pistols (from the 2" impenaiist war
(1940's) to mac-10 and Tek-9 automatic guns, capable of shooting
dozens of rounds in mere seconds.

Hospitals, police stations, jails, courtrooms, the television news
and Hollywood films were packed with the African youth, their rage
unheard by an America deaf to the building explosion. Drug
arrests, often for minor possession charges, led to an escalation of
prison terms for the poverty stricken and those poorly educated -

those who would never be employed to support a family. From
400,000 U.S. prisoners at the beginning of the 80's, the number
swelled to over 2 million today. Lawyers, judges, guards,
construction companies, private prison firms, parole officers and
secretaries have steadily built their income on the backs of the
exploited.

Brown politicians' faces enforced the U.S. status quo, denying
decent housing, schools, health care, nutrition, while they pocketed
burgeoning salaries. Incredibly, sounding like the white officials
that they said they opposed, these women and men, with an eye
on lifetime "public service" scolded the people for not participating,
one politician who gt out of hand and who was eliminated was
Chicago's finest and last African mayor, Harold Washington, in

Caode - philadelphia's only African mayor In 301 years ”
o ated with the U.S. military, Pennsylvania and local cops, to
Grop a military explosive on the MOVE house in 1985. Numerous.
P b resulted, but the ones attacked, the MOVE family, had a
G or 9o to prison - Ramona Africa - but not the legions of state
mats, who were not even considered as criminalsy

O williams, whose late 1950's stand to protect fus North
Carolina community from Ku Klux Kian terror, meant he had to flee
o iraming on a kidnapping charge, finding an exlle home in Cuba,
China and Tanzania.

earon made the dedision to become a soldier in the struggle
and prison activist.

ranim ji Jaga Pratt, after tours in Vietnarm, used his grasp of

e etes Biack Panther Party from ambush by urban U2,
O ttacks. He was fingered for a murder and spent 27 VE3
behind bars, 1970 to 1997, before it was ‘conclusively proven that
DL iegally entrapped him, suppressing the fact that he had
not killed anyone. An FBI agent had posed as ji Jaga's lawyer at
o aint.. Aaro's clashes with himself, over the Americeth
Sightmare he had somehow survived to that polnt, o¥cr \dentity,
Cprtual and political matters, had been overwhelmed by the death
e Mother. Aaran had come face to face with lfe and wondered
% make sense of the artifical version, all around him.

Ranald Reagan, an actor turned president of the U.S.
government, had been govemor of Calfornia in 1967, when a
I ueaun bearing Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther
Party for Gelf-Defense and dozens of armed others, into
the state assembly ‘bullding in the capitol, Sacramento. His point,
B bch made headlines in newspapers globally, was that Oakiand
Police could not take the lives of Africans with Impunity, Citles,
DO Cmdustrialized Oakland, had major corporations like Kaser,
protected by mainly all-white policemen.

R hralt, which had just 277 African policemen out of 4,356, W3S
home to multinationals, Chrysler, GM, and Ford.
But, the rage after Vietnam veteran Danny “Thomas' murder by
B e T abuge Park, and a police raid of a party for two other
Africans, returning Vietnam veterans, began a firestorm.. Forty-one
‘Deople were Killed, 650 Injured, including 85 police, 23 3 fourteen

square mile ghetto was sealed off, induding the U.S./Canadian
Sorder with Windsor. 4,700 U.S. paratroopers (many brown faces)
\eft fown by July 30, having enforced Martial Law. A key target of
COINTELPRO, which was drawn up by the FBI dunng that August of
1967, Huey P. Newton, was shot dead twenty years later. This was
also during Israel's soul-searching time. The report came that
Huey's 1989 death was by an assassin.

On the television, worldwide in the early 90's, the filmed
version of police terrorism in the form of one African man being
beaten senseless by several white Los Angeles highway cops was
dismissed by many whites. Some Americans even said that the
cops were acting in self-defense against Rodney King. American
Justice would agree a year later, releasing the police to continue
‘their job, and a major U.S. ity erupted. Whites, Asians, Mexicans
and Africans were hauled in for taking food and bedding out of
burning stores. Many were seized for breaking into banks they
were too impoverished to ever have an account in.

‘A hurricane of rage poured forth at the police, who had tortured
and killed, deported Mexicans, €1 Salvadorans and Hondurans to
certain death, and controlled powerful cocaine shipments and sales
forces (often informers afraid to be sent to prson) on the streets.
It seemed almost like the 1960's uprisings against injustice. That
was the appearance on the surface, at least. There were 12,000
arrests. A popular map of the times noted that "slavery 1s back In
effect.”

‘But before the 20 year old Aaron Israel could gather the
maturity needed to handie everything before him, utilize a mind
brimming with promising human greatness, he was arrested for
two counts of attempted murder and one count of battery in
Indiana. He was wrongfully charged, tried and sentenced to 71
years of imprisonment. The year was 1992. He is today, in 2005,
35 years old.

He sits in Administration Segregation in the Michigan City,
Indiana Maximum Security Prison.

What Happened?

“My name is Aaron Israel (f.k.a. Aaron Isby,) a Hebrew Israelite
and a conscious humanitarian/Pan-Afrikanist freedom fighter. 1am
a prison activist, and a writer of Biblical, historical, political
commentaries and essays. 1 was arrested and wrongtully charged,
was provoked and instigated by corrupted and racist reformatory
prison guards and officials. 1 was convicted by a rigged jury, that
‘was all-white, in which jury members consisted of friends and kin
to either the judge, prosecutor, reformatory guards 8/or witnesses
who testified for the state. My trial attomey was incompetent and
lacked sufficent resources necessary for a skilled
defense.. Subsequently...sentenced to forty years on count one,
thirty years on count two and one year on count three. Even
though my sentences were concurrent, the total was 71 years...

On October 12, 1990, under instructions ‘corrupt and radist
reformatory prison guards, with premeditated intent to do me
serious phvsical harm, staaed a violent attack against me, while I
was locked in my prison cell and of no threat to anyone. Prior to
this indident and from the very inception of my arrival to the
Pendleton Reformatory, 1 had ‘experienced "a long train of abuses™
that lead up to the events. described herein. On this day in
question, me and a prison counselor named David Miller, got into 2
heated exchange about legal papers he had been withholding for
<everal weeks, which I had given him to notarize.

'Not comfortable with my questioning his Incompetence,
Counselor Miller became agitated and called me a "nigger punk.” 1
reacted by reaching through the steel bars, which separated me
from Miller, and swung at him. In seconds, at the instructions of
Miller, 1 was repeatedly assaulted with pepper gas. At no time did
1 physically touch or spit on Miller's person..

Not satisfied with a mere gassing, subsequently, a gang of
reformatory guards, in full body armor, decided I really needed this
show of force. And, that I was going to be made to pay for
reacting as a proud black man to being called "fuckin' nigger
punk.” So what do they do? They bring in the armed militia, with
5400 pound high pressured fire hose, k-9 dogs, pepper gas and
rint gear. They proceeded with their pernicious assault against me.
1 was in fear of my life as 1 attempted to ward off this deadly
attack on me. For offering up self-defense, I was later charged
and convicted for the offenses as alleged above herein.

The state's sole evidence was based on prison guard Daniel
Jayne's inadmissible testimony. ‘According to prison guard Jayne,
who was not involved In the incident of October 12, 1990, I had
threatened him verbally. Jayne stated I said, "You fuckers think
you're safe, but I'm going to get another one of you
Totherfuckers.” The use of Jayne's testimony, not only violated a
standing motion of mine, but was a subsequent bad act, that
Sllegedly occurred October 13, 1990 and could not be used as
evidence by the state (which the state violated) to prove my intent
on October 12, 1990. The fact the state used Jayne's Inadmissible
testimonty, a subsequent act, may have created an Impression in
the jurors minds that because I was accused of "verbally”
threatening Jayne on October 13, 1990, I may have intended to kil
Darby and Lane on October 12, 1990 and was thus found guitty of
this crime.

The state's "evidence” Is fiimsy at best. There is no evidence T
had any or under the circumstances formed the mens rea of
attempted murder. 1 did not attempt to murder anyone. The facts

show that prison officials instigated and provoked me. I was called
2 *fuckin’ nigger punk” by David Miller. Seconds later, T was
repeatedly assaulted with pepper gas, then an armed militia of
guards with riot gear attacked me with a pressurized fire hose, k-9
dogs and more pepper gas.

Evidence further showed that reformatory guards were in
violation of thelr own protocols and policies, because the classified
"deadly force" was not to be used against a prisoner locked in a
prison cell. This type of force was only o be used in riots and
hostage crises. The fact reformatory guards used pernicious force
against me while I was locked In my cell, in vinlation of their own
policy, only further factually proves that their intent was to harm
me and that I could not be responsible or guilty of this crime.

The state relled on prison guard's testimony, who was allowed
to testify in their prison guard uniforms before the jury. My trial
was far from fair. My defense witnesses were forced to testify in
full body restraints, while prison guards In uniform stood directly
behind them in full view of my jury. My jury was also exposed to
guards displaying shotguns at my trial. My judge, Frederick
Spencer, was also observed by my jury, engaging in a heated
argument and a physical scuffle with my defense attorney.

Crudial evidence and testimony i aid of my defense had been
repeatedly stonewalled by the state and T was not allowed to
present It before my jury. The state prosecutor and the judge who
conspired together throughout my entire trial, felt it was necessary
In order to ensure this wrongful conviction against me, to conceal
favorable evidence that proved that I was not at fault and Innocent
of this charge, by forcing my defense witnesses to testify outside
the presence of my jury.

For example, testimony evidence I attempted to submit in my
defense, was that some of the guards who attacked me on October
12, 1990, had made threats on my life, subjected me to forced
rectal probe, that was akin to sexual assault, and had been under
investigative scrutiny for engaging in criminal and racist activity,
prior to this Incident. When the state prosecutor and judge
realized these testimonies relating to these prior incidents of
misconduct by prison guards, whom the state was using, to build
their case, would make the state's case look bad, they suppressed
this evidence and forbade my jury from hearing it.

“The prosecutor also misstated facts and law, alluding to facts
not in evidence to bolster the state's case. The prosecutor is
quoted as saying In opening arguments that I punched and spit
upon David Miller without provocation. Testimony revealed that
David Miller referred to me as a "fuckin’ nigger punk,” on October
12,1990. Subsequently, after this provocative racist comment, I
swung at Miller. There is no evidence I ever touched, 1o
punched Miller causing him injury. The trial records prove that
Miller was never treated or seen by a doctor on October 12, 1990,
for any injury.

So, the question is, why did he perjure himself? Furthermore,
Miller was wearing a riot helmet the day he approached my cell.
There was no way possible I could have punched him in the
forehead, or eye through a barred cell. Also, Miller's helmet had a
face shield attached to it. There is no doubt in my mind that this
was a set-up. I strongly believe these prison officials were
instructed by some unseen hand, in the Allen County court system,
to instigate this altercation and stage the deadly attack against me
and set me up and be made to stay in prison. The Allen County
Court officials who were involved in falsely imprisoning me had
been very displeased with my uncooperative attitude. In fact,
Judge Surbeck, months before October 12, 1990, had held me in
contempt for pleading my fifth amendment rights not to
incriminate myself and sentenced me to 90 more days in prison.

Not tool long after this, I started receiving a lot of harassment
from reformatory guards, which eventually lead to me being placed
in punitive segregation for three years and from this point my
conditions continued in a downward spiral. My three years
segregation term turned into thirty-three years? Other facts not in
the records, reveal that a high percentage of the reformatory
prison guards, had roots and ties in the city of Fort Wayne...I
further believe that those who controlled the Reformatory
Administration used my case to ask the state legislature for more
money, which would establish a clear motive why reformatory
officials agreed to participate in this conspiracy to ensure that I
would get additional prison time, and would not get out.

It is my further belief that Allen County court officials knew that
1 was to get the wrongful conviction overturned, I would be in a
position to sue those who falsely imprisoned me. So, to prevent
this, they had to ensure that I had another conviction and sentence
over my head just in case this happened? My public defender
throughout my trial showed his inability to provide me with an
effective defense. The lack of resources and adequate funding for
the most part, contribute to this ineffectiveness, but my defense
counsels incompetence was also a factor.

The evidence in my case showed a history of provocation.
From the very inception that I arrived in the reformatory prison, ail
the way up to October 12, 1990, I was harassed by reformatory
officials. This pattern of provocation, in my case, warranted a
diminished capacity defense, which my attorney failed to pursue.
The evidence of racial slurs, repeated assaults, threat of k-9 dogs

and threats on my lfe, most definitely proved my diminishe®
Tapacity to form the mens rea of attempted murder on 'Douglas 1/
Darby and William Lane. Because the state relled on my conduct
o prove my "speciic intent” (the essentlal eleiment in attempted
B Per,) they failed to meet the beyond a reasonable doubt
Mandard to find me guilty of attemting to murder Darby o Lane,
firther, the fact that provocation was an issue in my case, 7y

A one could not be intentional; and the issue of “specific Intent”
I disputs, making It impossible for the state to prove 1 was
guilty.

Y s aways been an accepted legal principle, that a persofis
responsibllity for a violent crime is diminished If It wos provoked by
P emhing that might lead a “reasonable man" to respond
ently? Apart from who represented me (the courthouse regular
appointed as my defense counsel) It truly mattered a great deal
D the state tried me, I was charged by felony information 7
e am County, location of the reformatory prison. The number of
Toosl residents who worked at the Indlana State Reformatory
prison, made a fair trial for me impossible.

ige Spencer had close friendly relations with top-ievel
e ory prison officals, n fact he would quite regularly v
The golf course outside the prison walls on the reforatory, grounds
e ey golf with these high ranking prison officials? Furfhermore,
not one African American lived in Pendleton at the time. 1was
k4 In Madsson County. The jury pool was stacked against M %
the jury coordinator. There was not one African American in my

jury pool. The African American community in the city of Anderson
Ly Geliberately overlooked, during the selection of my jury pool.
e {ndiana trisl court, Appeliate, Supreme Court and the Indiana
attomey general's office for the past 15 years have continued to
Sonspire together to deny me “just relfiet.” In fact, the Indiana
Judiciary, through their chronological decisions ‘and written opinions
o my case, have manifested a pattern of legal fraud, arbitrary and
capricious Interpretations and applications of the law, 2 total
Qisregard for the law swom by them to uphold.

Chicago: The Butcherhouse

The fortunes of African people in the custody of a radist, corrupt
system of U.S. injustice, are seen in the foul example of Chicago.
e the populous city on Lake Michigan, which today is the focal
polint for an International campaign to halt the death penalty in the
Dnited States. Recent unprecedented reviews of death row coses
in Tiinols (Land of Lincoln, who, It has been lied about, “freed the
slaves") which former governor George Ryan figured in, saw a 12
moratorium put on executions. This has justifiably put the
spotlight on this city.

Before Governor Ryan's moratorium on Tllinois' house of death,
the highest percentage of people of color on U.S. death row sat In
Llinois (67%.) This was higher than Indiana, Pennsylvania,
Virginia, California, New York and even Texas, where the former
governor George Bush, now U.S. president, helped to make Texas
the most murderous of U.S. states.

In Ilinois, as in Indiana, many all{white juries sentence African
(black) defendants to death. Attorneys disbarred for misconduct
and jailhouse informants being used for getting the penalty of
death, is routine.

In the 1980's, while globally, basketball fans knew Chicago for
its Bulls, Michael Jordan and the champs, a "Captain Terror
controlled the streets of the city and those who might never afford
a ticket to the stadium.” An introduction to an individual in
Chicago's "law enforcement” system, Irish descended Jon Burge, is
below.

In an article by Rachel Naba, Burge, the vicious type of
policeman known to African men everywhere in America, is
described~

“Burge received many awards for his ‘professional’ efforts,
including promotions, advances and support from powerful political
figures. His unit got results - they solved homicide cases and got
‘dangerous Killers' off the streets - while the public was made to
feel secure in Burge's work to protect the community, he was, in
reality, practicing torture on ‘criminals’ that had the unfortunate
luck of facing him. Deozens of poor, African-American men were
telling their lawyers and judges of the misatreatment and abuse
they had suffered at the hands of Burge and his officers. Methods
of torture indluded electric shocks from cattle prod and a hand-
Ppowered generator, suffocation, Russian roulette, bums, beatings
and threats of death.”

Burge was fired in 1993, after the blood curdling Wilson vs. City
Chicago case of 1989. One of his 1980's victims, Andrew Wilson,
was said by the state to have killed three police. Rachel continues:

.. Wilson had been sentenced to death for allegedy killing three
police officers. He arrived at the County Jail with facial
and cuts, alligator-clip marks on his ears, nose, penis and testicles,
burns, and marks that implied wires having been attached to his
extremities. The staff at the County jail refused to admit him
before he was examined by a doctor. His ‘confession’ that led tn
his death sentence, was thrown out three years later by the |2
Supreme Court, which found overwhelming evidence of ‘excessive
police force." The dity of Chicago was forced to admit the use of
torture by Burge in the Wilson vs. City...”

Many people who are reading this document, might be asking
the question: Why is he using death penalty cases to support his
call for support, In his non-capital case? My answer to this
question is this: Thousands of death penalty cases across the
U.S., Including many Indiana death penalty cases, have proven
repeatedly that our American system of jurisprudence is flawed
with corruption, bigotry and racism. Because of this reality, there
is no way without public scrutiny, that I can right this wrong and
gain my freedom from this unjust Incarceration.

Until Recently, Here is a Brief List of Some Tilinois.
Death Row Prisoners.

Burge's victims:

Derrick King - February 23, 1980: Threatened and repeatedty
beaten in the head

Reginald Mahaffey - September 2, 1983: Threatened with a gun
pointed at his head, punched, kicked, thrown against a wall and
suffocated with a plastic bag.

Stanley Howard - November 1, 1984: Handcuffed to a wall rina.
slapped, punched, kicked and suffocated with a plastic bag and
typewriter cover until he passed out.

Leroy Orange - January 1984, Pants pulled down, testicles and
buttocks electroshocked.

Leonard Kidd - January 1984: Pants pulled down, testicles and
buttocks electroshocked.

Aaron Patterson - April 1986: Threatened with a qun, beaten,
Kicked and suffocated twice with a typewriter cover after 25 hours
of Interrogation.

Andrew Maxwell - November 12, 1986: Handcuffed to a wall,
threatened, kicked, punched and stapped.
Madison Hobley - January 6, 1987: Handcuffed to a wall ring,
threatened, punched in the chest, face and stomach, suffocated
with a typewriter cover until he passed out. 14

Grayland Johnson - April 17, 1988: Handcuffed to a wall, beaten
witn a telephone book, suffocated with a plastic bag, head shoved
in a toilet full of urine.

Konaid Kitchen - August 25, 1988: Handcuffed to a wall, beaten
with a telephone book, blackjack and phone receiver, struck in
groin and knees.

Frank Bounds - One of the original members, died in prison of
medical neglect.

Former Governor George H. Ryan, of Iilinois, on January 10,
2003, granted pardons to four men, sentenced to death, whose
contessions were obtained by torture at the hands of Chicago
police officers. Leroy Orange, Madison Hobley and Stanley Howard
were released to the streets, while Aaron Patterson, who aiso had
been released has been re-incarcerated, after being very active
politically and being set up with trumped up charges and sentenced
in a sham trial.

Former Commander Jon Burge now lives in a 4-room stucco
nouse in Apollo Beach, Florida, near Tampa. He is receiving a
police pension and no doubt, payment for being a Vietnam War
veteran. His government, the U.S. superstructure that asserts that
it 15 supreme to international law, doesn't recognize him as a war
criminal. In any other land, he is going to be seen as an official in
violation of the Geneva Convention on torture.

Wrat You Can Do

Aaron Israel, beginning in 1996, had initiated his pro se petition
for post-conviction relief, with the state circuit court, in Anderson,
Indiana, seeking relief from this wrongful conviction and sentence.
The state courts refuse to acknowledge fundamental errors raised
in Aaron's post-conviction hearing and denied him just relief. In
2003, Aaron filed a writ of habeus corpus petition with the federal
court for relief in my case.

Aaron was never afforded any hearing on his habeus corpus, his
case was Just rushed through the federal court, without thorough
examination of his issues or the records in his case. This appeal to
the federal court, to remedy Indiana's systematic injustice in his
wrongful conviction and sentence, can be supported by ordinary
people contacting Aaron. He is still pushing on. With the 2003
Iiinols events, the 2004 and 2005 U.S, Supreme Court rulings in
Blokely v. Washington and U.S. v. Booker, many US. states must
B tonider or grant non-capital defendants new sentences. 15

Aaron stands the chance of getting his. sentence vacated during
the many appeals sure to follow in the Blakely and Booker
decisions. Donations to a fund that Aaron has begun will defray
legal and correspondence Costs. Naturally, people across the world
GNWWMMBWIWIHM mega»complexMMU.S
prisons, which Aaron has endured.

Why My Case Is Key Intemationally

naron Israel has a case of significance to the world in that it
highlights the human rights violations rampant in the U.S. courts
and prisons. Long-standing UN laws and agreements such as the
Intemational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, have taken the
'S, govemment 30 years to sign, though the ‘majority of nations
hiad done so decades ago. This was finally ratified in 1972, but it,
e he nternational Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination (ratified In 1994) that came Up for signing
Defore Aaron's birth. It's been ignored by the U.S- Aaron's
extended period of incarceration in the U.S. prison system, when
compared with sentences served by Norway prisoners, is a serious
international concern.

"Unlike the many foreign nationals who have been publicly
<entenced to U.S. death rows, 73 In 1999 alone! Aaron has been
gm-nmdummnbmmwmma sentence of
Seath in an Indiana prison system, despite his innocence. Aaron's
case deserves international support, because the same system that
s wrongfully executed thousands of innocent human, beings, is
the same racist system of jurisprudence that has unjustly
incarcerated Aaron since he was 17 years young, & Juvenile?

The United States was ruled against at The Hague In the
Netherlands during 2001 In the case of two Germar, brothers that
Acizona executed during the 1990'w. Refusing to allow foreign
nationals access to their government's consulate officials under the
Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, remains an ‘added horror
for prisoners from other lands. Pakistani, Paraguayan, Canadian
‘and persons from numerous nations are routinely denied lawyers
Shat they are satisfled with, or that provide actual legal assistance
e their governments cannot even communicate with them to
ensure this under international law.
Aaron's situation in the Indiana prison system parallels with
many foreign nations and death row prisoners, for the past 15
years or more, the Indiana prison officials, in conspiracy with the
racist judiciary, have subjected Aaron to endless Isolation and
abuse. His communication with the public about his plight has
been repeatedly obstructed. His current condition within the DOC
s an International outrage! The Indiana Judiciary has abandoned
his cause, making It easy for prison officials to deny Aaron his
human rights. In early 2003, Mexico with 54 Mexicans on U.S.
death rows, charged the U.S. with these and other violations at the
International Court of Justice (The Hague) seeking commutation of
their death sentence. Non-Spanish speaking lawyers are regularly
assigned death penalty cases even when the public defenders have
no experience in capital law. There are 100,000 Mexican nationals
in U.S. prisons. They are being executed despite outrage at the
U.S. from the world.

Furthermore, Aaron attempts to obtain counsel that will
vigorously aid him in his legal challenge, has been hindered
repeatedly by the highest Indiana institution. The State public
defenders, who have undermined Aaron's legal challenges, are
under the management of the Indiana Supreme Court and are also
paid by them, they cannot and will not serve two masters? The
court has often Intimidated them, imploring them not to raise legal
claims in his case or appeals that could conceivably overturn
Aaron's wrongful conviction and sentence.

Aaron's bright intellect and clear writing style has him becoming
what all U.S. political prisoners must be, legal minds capable of
grasping domestic U.S. and the intemnational canon. Aaron's
integrity for Africans in America and within the U.S. prison system
has been a clear reality of his humanity and love for his people and
humanity in general. He is a voice of a generation bomn in the
midst of the latest phase of America's war against it's African
colony. But, Aaron is also one who lived to tell!

FREE AARON ISRAEL!!

For more information:

Write Aaron!
Aaron Ben-Israel

SOUTH CHICAGO
(fka. Isby) #892219
P.0. Box 41 ISP DE-411 ABC ZINE DISTRO
Michigan City, IN 4636100041 PO BOX 721

HOMEWOOD, IL 80430