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Environmentalist Back in Jail Days After Writing About His Secretive Prison Unit for HuffPost
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/04/05-6
Environmentalist Back in Jail Days After Writing About His Secretive Prison Unit for HuffPost
- by Will Potter
I was supposed to meet Daniel McGowan for coffee today, and got an email from him last night that his work pass was denied. The revocation of his pass was a surprise, because McGowan has done everything possible to adjust himself to life post-prison, including securing a job at a law firm, and reporting to work and to his halfway house every day on time. However, he expected to be able to go back to work on Friday. Instead, he was taken into custody.
<snip>
There has been no official word from the Bureau of Prisons about his re-incarceration, and attorneys at the Center for Constitutional Rights are working on this now. But the drastic move comes just days after McGowan wrote about his experiences in a secretive prison unit for domestic terrorists called a Communications Management Unit (CMU), and it fits an on-going pattern of behavior by the Justice Department and Bureau of Prisons attempting to keep this prisons out of the public spotlight.
<snip>
The terrorism enhancement reclassified McGowan within the Bureau of Prisons, and he was later moved to a CMU. As I have reported extensively, these prison units radically restrict prison communications to the outside world, to levels that meet or exceed some of the most restrictive prison units in the country. In the government’s proposal to make these prison units permanent, they were described as facilities for prisoners with “inspirational significance.” (For additional information about the CMUs, here is an interview I did with Democracy Now.)
McGowan was released to a halfway house in Brooklyn to serve the last few months of his sentence. After receiving new court documents related to his incarceration, he wrote an article for the Huffington Post this week: “Court Documents Prove I was Sent to Communication Management Units (CMU) for my Political Speech.”
<snip>
As I reported in my book, journalists are not allowed in the CMUs. I was permitted to visit McGowan in the CMU only as a friend, and McGowan was told that if I asked any questions or reported about the visit he would be punished. The government threatened to retaliate against a prisoner for the First Amendment activity of a reporter.
A Freedom of Information Act request revealed that the Counter-Terrorism Unit has kept files on journalists’ lectures, articles, and media interviews about the CMUs.
<snip>
Will Potter is an award-winning independent journalist based in Washington, D.C. He is the author of Green Is the New Red: An Insider’s Account of a Social Movement Under Siege.
Environmentalist Back in Jail Days After Writing About His Secretive Prison Unit for HuffPost
- by Will Potter
I was supposed to meet Daniel McGowan for coffee today, and got an email from him last night that his work pass was denied. The revocation of his pass was a surprise, because McGowan has done everything possible to adjust himself to life post-prison, including securing a job at a law firm, and reporting to work and to his halfway house every day on time. However, he expected to be able to go back to work on Friday. Instead, he was taken into custody.
<snip>
There has been no official word from the Bureau of Prisons about his re-incarceration, and attorneys at the Center for Constitutional Rights are working on this now. But the drastic move comes just days after McGowan wrote about his experiences in a secretive prison unit for domestic terrorists called a Communications Management Unit (CMU), and it fits an on-going pattern of behavior by the Justice Department and Bureau of Prisons attempting to keep this prisons out of the public spotlight.
<snip>
The terrorism enhancement reclassified McGowan within the Bureau of Prisons, and he was later moved to a CMU. As I have reported extensively, these prison units radically restrict prison communications to the outside world, to levels that meet or exceed some of the most restrictive prison units in the country. In the government’s proposal to make these prison units permanent, they were described as facilities for prisoners with “inspirational significance.” (For additional information about the CMUs, here is an interview I did with Democracy Now.)
McGowan was released to a halfway house in Brooklyn to serve the last few months of his sentence. After receiving new court documents related to his incarceration, he wrote an article for the Huffington Post this week: “Court Documents Prove I was Sent to Communication Management Units (CMU) for my Political Speech.”
<snip>
As I reported in my book, journalists are not allowed in the CMUs. I was permitted to visit McGowan in the CMU only as a friend, and McGowan was told that if I asked any questions or reported about the visit he would be punished. The government threatened to retaliate against a prisoner for the First Amendment activity of a reporter.
A Freedom of Information Act request revealed that the Counter-Terrorism Unit has kept files on journalists’ lectures, articles, and media interviews about the CMUs.
<snip>
Will Potter is an award-winning independent journalist based in Washington, D.C. He is the author of Green Is the New Red: An Insider’s Account of a Social Movement Under Siege.
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