| Prison is no fun | 2002-12-17 15:15 4 comments |
 by Flemming FunchCNet: "Prisoner rights groups are cheering a federal court ruling that quashes attempts to halt Web postings that mention prisoners." Good. I'm quite familar with the problems that prisoners face in trying to call attention to injustices they've experienced. For many months last year I was helping Bruce Lisker put up his website. He has spent the last 19 years in prison here in California for a murder he didn't commit. He was a screwed up kid on drugs, hanging out with the wrong crowd, living here in Van Nuys where I also happen to live. His parents lived also close by here, in Sherman Oaks, and were rather well to do. A 'friend' of his murdered his adoptive mother while trying to rob her, after having visited the day before and noticing they had money, and he didn't. Bruce got convicted for it, because he looked the part, and he was the first to show up and get blood on his clothes, and the investigating detective, Andrew Monsue, decided right away it was him, and stepped lightly over the facts, and a combination of factors conspired against him. Nobody in his family ever believed it was him, and the real killer was relatively easily identified as a John Michael Ryan, but there was nothing they could do. It is not easy to change the mind of the law, and Bruce has been sitting in San Quentin and similar places more than half of his life, studying the law, trying to have his case re-heard. Today he's a decent and polite fellow. I have no doubt about his story either, having spoken with him many times and looked at his case. But he was working somewhat blindly trying to get a website up, to call attention to his case, as inmates aren't allowed to touch anything that is connected to the Internet, so his only knowledge of the web was from magazines. Anyway, his site finally got up. Somebody else is maintaining it today. |