Now we must do it again. Evil never goes away.
Mr Paul Pierre has been held at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution for the past nine months. He- like an estimated 20,000 other immigrant detainees in prison throughout our nation awaiting deportation- has had: no charges brought against him in court, no trial, no access to legal council. He- as are all the other 20,000- is incarcerated, under illegal maximum security, until put on a plane, under armed guard, to a country that is now alien to them and does not want them.
Mr. Paul Pierre's circumstances are unusual. He was transferred to await deportation to his native Haiti immediately upon release from twelve years served in Rahway State prison for attempted murder. Under our Constitution he should be free.
People who are deported to Haiti face very serious conditions and sometimes death. The Haitian government is regularly imprisoning American deportees in horrible jails. For more information on the fight to stop deportation of Haitian immigrants please see articles listed below.
Not only has Mr. Pierre's detention been extended indefinitely, he also suffers permanent punishment for his crime: while at Rahway, Mr Pierre's esophagus was crushed. All his nourishment must come in liquid form through a feeding tube. Can you imagine what would happen to him if he is sent back to Haiti? Of all the New Jersey county jails holding immigrant detainees, only Monmouth would accept him. The others admitted they could not meet his special medical needs. Neither can Monmouth County Correctional Facility - but they still collect federal funds for his bed.
Mr. Pierre's feeding schedule calls for four to five meals a day. Mostly he gets three, sometimes one or two. It depends... he gets punished for complaining...they are too busy...once a new nurse forgot him altogether... He is not given the medically prescribed 2,000 calories per day. Furthermore, he must share one communal shower with 32 other men. Conditions are filthy, aggravating risk of infection. Emotional distress is inflicted through threats.
Is this humane treatment? We don't consider it so. Actually, under these conditions it is a sentence of slow death, and certainly a death sentence were he to be deported to a country too poor to take care of its own. Remember, Mr Pierre has served the time for his crime. Now he is under "administrative detention" for the crime of attempting to settle in the United States.
Paul Pierre cannot be imagined to cause any threat to society, nor to the security of our nation. Surely he has suffered enough and will continue to suffer for the rest of his life. He has family nearby willing to care for him. By all rights he should be released to them. Pending that, he must be transferred to a hospital immediately.
We, the New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Council, urge you to contact the following officials. They are the ones who released Mr Madani Ba and have the power to free Mr Paul Pierre.
We are mounting a call-or-write campaign this week.
We need 2,000 names. Will you help?
Mr Edward McElroy
Field Office Director
ICE Detention and Removal
26 Federal Plaza, Rm. 11-104
New York, NY 10278
212-264-3972
edward.mcelroy@dhs.gov
Victor Cerda,Director
ICE Detention and Removal
425 I Street NW
Washington, DC 20536
202-514-8663
fax 202-353-9435
email (c/o ICE Chief of Staff Shelly Han), shelly.han@dhs.gov
(These are the people who can make the actual decision to free Mr. Pierre. They are the ones who need the most pushing.)
Warden William Fraser
Monmouth County Correctional Facility
1 Waterworks Rd
Freehold, NJ, 07728
732-431-7860
(Please ask the Warden to oversee Mr. Pierre's feedings and stop the threats against him)
Sheriff Joseph Oxley
Monmouth County Sheriff's Office
50 East Main St.
Freehold, NJ, 07728
732-431-7138
www.sheriffoxley.com
(Please ask the Sheriff to transfer Mr. Pierre to another facility since he cannot meet this detainee's needs. Expect hostility from the secretary.)
Freeholder Director Thomas Powers
Hall of Records
1 East Main St.
Freehold, NJ, 07728
732-431-6281
jgray@co.monmouth.nj.us
Freeholder William Barham
same address
same message
732-683-8800
(Ask that Freehold vote for humanity rather than financial gain from misery. Ask them to terminate the contract with ICE.)
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THIS COMPASSIONATE EFFORT
For more information on the fight to stop deportation of Haitian immigrants please see: