INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Hrc Individual Complaints Procedure: Edgar Allen Stitzel

Published: Thu 12 Jun 2008 11:57 AM
R 121157Z JUN 08
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 6586
INFO USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
UNCLAS GENEVA 000440
DEPARTMENT FOR IO/RHS AND L/HRR
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM UNHCR US
SUBJECT: HRC Individual Complaints Procedure: Edgar Allen Stitzel
1. Mission has received a note from the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)(G/SO 215/1 USA 47)
transmitting in accordance with paragraph 94 of the annex of Human
Rights Council resolution 5/1 of 18 June 2007 copies of a
communication dated 30 May 2008 concerning human rights, which
refers to the United States of America. The note indicates the
communication will be examined by the Working Group on
Communications of the Human Rights Council Complaint Procedure at
its third session to be held October 20-24, 2008. This letter is #2
on Mission Geneva's 2008 Communications log.
2. The communication is from Mr. Edgar Allen Stitzel, who claims
that he and fellow inmates at the Colorado State Penitentiary have
undergone treatment that violates international laws against
torture.
3. A transcribed copy of handwritten text appears below. A copy of
the original handwritten letter will be sent by registered mail to
IO/RHS, attention Amy Ostermeier.
4. Begin Text:
Date: 2-4-08
From: Edgar Allen Stitzel, #89250
Colorado State Penitentiary
Box 777
Canon City, Co.
81215
The Unite [sic] Nations
Committee Against Torture
1st Ave. and 42nd Str.
New York, N.Y.
10017
To Whom it concerns,
I am here by praying to you, begging you to put a stop to the fact
that inmates at the Colorado State Penitentiary here in Canon City,
Colorado are being tortured by prison staff on a daily bases [sic].
[abusive language deleted] Prison staff love to intentionally make
an inmate get mad and then they turn around and punish the inmate
for getting mad. Staff her [sic] at CSP will make an inmate get
mad, and then they will spray oleoresin capsicum gas (oc gas) into
the inmates cell. They call this move "forced cell entry." When
they gas the inmate that is mad at them for smashing his tv or
ripping apart a picture of the inmates mother or a ton of other sick
things staff love to do, there are 15 other inmates in that pod that
do not deserve to be tortured by the effects/affects of the
extremely nasty oc gas. Staff leave the other 15 inmates locked in
thier [sic] cells and when they spray oc gas into the mad inmates
cell and rush in and beat him down and drag him out, the oc gas
spreads through out the entire pod, it even goes up into the air
vents and gets the pods above the gased [sic] pod. Staff know how
bad this nasty oc gas is. Staff will not enter a gased [sic] pod at
count time or to deliver food trays without wearing gas-masks, but
they always leave the other 15 inmates locked in their cells to be
tortured by the oc gas.
Staff here at CSP also have this nasty little thing that they call
"special controls." This is when they intentionally make and [sic]
inmate get angry and then staff punishes the inmate for getting
angry by taking him down to the basement and taking all of his
clothes off, usually with a female prison guard filming the strip
search with a video camcorder, then after taking his clothes away
they put him into a freezing cold cell for at least 12 hours. Cold
celling [sic] inmates is a form of savage torture that is a
violation of international laws against torture.
OC gasing [sic] inmates is a form of savage torture that is a direct
violation of international laws against torture, and chemical
warfare of this nature is a "crime against humanity."
Unfortunately that is not all of this grim story. Staff here at CSP
also enjoy attacking, beating down, and torturing fully restrained
in mates in a 6 on 1 gang style attack. Prison staff describe the
torture holds they use during these attacks as "pain compliance
holds" that are specifically designed to be extremely painful. When
I was a victim of this type of gang style attack while I was wearing
full restraints, I was tortured for 15 minutes with these "pain
compliance holds." I filed a 1983 civil rights complaint. Then the
named defendants had a member of the Colorado House of
Representatives pull strings for them in a court of law.
Representative Jennifer Viega got all of the ranked Defendants
removed from the case. This encroachment on the Judiciary by
legislative powers is a direct violation of article 3 of the
constitution that seperates [sic] the powers of government to keep
one branch of government from ursuping [sic] the powers of another
branch of government. Then when the case went to a jury trail [sic]
they had a hand picked, cop loving jury sitting there so that this
stacked jury would guantee [sic] the Defendants a "not guilty"
verdict. The Jury of Civil Action 00-N-2567 on 11-13-03 had a Jury
form. The Jury checked the box for guilty on the jury form first
and then they crossed that out and checked the box for "not guilty."
This cop loving jury said yes the Defendants are "guilty" but no
we are not going to let the inmate plaintiff win. All of the jury
members said that they had police officers as acquaintances.
Unfortunately, that is not all of this grim story. CSP staff also
enjoy torturing inmates by intentionally leaving them locked in
small shower stalls for long periods of time and when the inmate
gets angry about it, staff punish the inmate for getting mad about
it.
On 9-11-03, CSP staff in E-Pod rigged a shower so that it would not
shut off, then they turned the water temperature up. This shower
stall has staneless steal [sic] walls. Then they had two other
inmates take showers so that the shower stall had a chance to get
really hot. Then they put me into this shower and left me locked in
there for 48 minutes. I had a heat stroke and almost died. I see
light flashes at the corners of my eyes now. When I filed a civil
rights law-suit about this, CSP staff drew up fake and fraudulent
court documents using a Judge Kenith Plotz's name to make me wrongly
believe that the court did not except my case. The real judges
names here in Fremont County Colorado are Thorson and Marshall with
a magestrate [sic] Judge Freeman. Judge Thorson calls these fake
court documents CSP make up to get out of civil rights law suites
[sic], "A local custom" and Judge Thorson refuses to do anything
about these crimes.
The court judges in Colorado aid and abet Prison staff in Canon City
when prison staff commit "crimes against humanity." Crooked
politicians in Colorado also aid and abet Prison staff in Colorado
concerning these "crimes against humanity"
I have no other way to stop these "crimes against humanity" then to
pray to you, begging you to help me stop CSP staff torturing
people.
These crimes against humanity need to be stopped. These segregated
control-unit prisons like CSP are a direct violation of
international laws against torture. Please help us stop these
torture sessions at CSP.
You are our only hope!
Please help us!
Sincerely,
/s/ Edgar A. Stitzel
P.S.
On 1-27-08 I heard the inmate in B5-23 say that officer R. Martinez
hit him in the nuts when his hands were cuffed behind his back.
Officer R. Martinez still has his job. If CSP staff can hit a
hand-cuffed man in the balls and not get into any trouble, then you
know there is something seriously wrong going on here!
P.S. again
I almost forgot to tell you about the bright neon lights that are on
inside our cells 24 hours a day. These so called "night lights" are
so bright that I can sit at my table and read or write a letter.
This does cause a sensory deprivation environment where a good
nights sleep is impossible.
End Text
Tichenor
NNNN
View as: DESKTOP | MOBILE © Scoop Media