Calls Are Helping; Return Rev. Pinkney Downstate

Above Photo: From PopularResistance.org.

UPDATE, 10/18

Thank you to all who have called Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) Director Washington’s office to urge Rev. Pinkney’s safe return down state, including Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein.

Your calls are already beginning to help! Rev. Pinkney was recently moved from a location that was so moldy he was dizzy, sick to his stomach, and unable to eat, to quarters that are less moldy (but still in Marquette, 500 miles from his family and attorney).

It is crucial that MDOC know that we care about Rev. Pinkney. Please continue to make calls every day this week (details below). If we keep the pressure up, there is still hope that Rev. Pinkney will be returned down state! Marquette Branch Prison is known to be dangerous, particularly for Black prisoners.

Sending letters to Rev. Pinkney through the mail is also very important–both for his morale and to show MDOC how many people care about his well-being and are carefully watching his case (address below).

Read on for the stunning truth

We know why MDOC has been spinning us, unable to give a consistent or credible explanation for Rev. Pinkney’s transfer: because despite MDOC’s denials, someone other than MDOC was behind the move. The transfer was politically motivated.

Prisons are communities too, and someone sympathetic to Rev. Pinkney’s plight overheard a conversation at Lakeland four days before the transfer. The phrases overheard included:

“Us” in this case means Lakeland staff and while we don’t know exactly who “they” refers to, it’s safe to assume it’s someone connected to Berrien County. The transfer paperwork was stamped “EXPEDITE.” Does that sound like a routine transfer to you? We have decided to go public with this information because of MDOC continuing to give us the run around.

MDOC officials have tried to give a string of excuses for moving Rev. Pinkney to Marquette, excuses that keep changing and don’t hold up. First they said he was transferred for his own safety because it is a Level I prison. But Rev. Pinkney had already waived his right to a Level I prison–twice, in writing–because he was safer at Lakeland prison (Level II) near his home, than he is at Marquette. Officials claimed that prisoners don’t waive this right, but in truth Level I prisoners are required to sign a waiver any time they set foot in a Level II facility, even for a class, because otherwise MDOC would be liable if they met any harm.

Next MDOC claimed that Marquette was his “proper placement,” yet there are at least 5other Level I prisons in the Lower Peninsula. Then they claimed that he was only at Lakeland C.F. because of court proceedings and that he’s “done with his writ,” but this is not true either. His appeal hearings begin in Grand Rapids in November and an appeal on his bond decision has been filed with the state supreme court.

Don’t let MDOC give us the run around. Keep calling MDOC as long as they fail to justify this move that we know is politically motivated. Continue expressing your concern for his health, safety, and well-being.