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Political prisoner Peppy (Brian DiPippa) has finally landed in the Bureau of Prisons! Shoot him a letter and let him know you care!

Brian DiPippa #66590-510
FCI Elkton
P.O. Box 10
Lisbon, OH 44432

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Case Summary

Native American activist moves to home imprisonment after Joe Biden commuted sentence at end of presidency. (Donate to his release fund).

Anna Betts and agencies
The Guardian
Tue 18 Feb 2025

The Native American activist Leonard Peltier – convicted in 1975 for the killings of two FBI agents – was released from federal prison on Tuesday after Joe Biden commuted his sentence at the end of his presidency in January.

In a statement, Peltier said that he was “finally free!”

“They may have imprisoned me but they never took my spirit!” he added. “Thank you to all my supporters throughout the world who fought for my freedom.

“I am finally going home. I look forward to seeing my friends, my family, and my community. It’s a good day today.”

Peltier had maintained his innocence since his conviction before Biden ordered Peltier – now 80 and in poor health – to transition to home confinement after spending nearly 49 years federally imprisoned.

“This commutation will enable Mr Peltier to spend his remaining days in home confinement but will not pardon him for his underlying crimes,” Biden said at the time.

The National Congress of American Indians celebrated the commutation, calling it “historic” and adding that the case “has long symbolized the systemic injustices faced by Indigenous Peoples”.

Peltier’s imprisonment resulted from a 1975 shootout that occurred on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation between two FBI agents – who had entered the private property to serve arrest warrants – and members of the American Indian Movement (AIM), a cold war-era liberation group that sought to address police brutality and discrimination against Native Americans.

The group of Native American men who traded gunfire with the FBI agents included Peltier. The shootout resulted in the deaths of both agents, Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, who were shot in the head. Joseph Stuntz, a Native American, was killed, too.

Peltier, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota and an active member in the AIM, was one of several individuals indicted in connection with the agents’ killings.

He was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and given two consecutive life sentences.

Two other movement members were acquitted on self-defense grounds.

Peltier has consistently claimed that he did not shoot the agents. His supporters have long argued that prosecutors withheld critical evidence that could have supported his defense while also fabricating affidavits against him.

Prosecutors argued during trial that Peltier shot both agents in the head at point-blank range. Peltier admitted to being present and firing a gun at a distance, but he claimed that it was in self-defense.

A witness who initially testified to have seen Peltier shoot the agents later recanted her testimony, saying her initial statements were coerced.

For decades, advocates such as Nelson Mandela, Pope Francis and James H Reynolds, the US attorney who handled the prosecution and appeal of Peltier’s case, have fought for his release.

In recent years, Reynolds has written to various presidents, asking them to grant Peltier clemency and calling his prosecution “unjust”.

In a letter to Biden in 2021, Reynolds stated that Peltier’s continued incarceration reflected a flawed justice system.

Peltier’s “conviction and continued incarceration is a testament to a time and a system of justice that no longer has a place in our society”, he wrote.

Peltier was denied parole as recently as July and was not eligible to be considered for it again until 2026.

Biden commuted Peltier’s sentence despite objections from the former FBI director Christopher Wray. Wray had called Peltier “a remorseless killer” in a letter to Biden, which was obtained by the Associated Press and urged the president to not give him clemency.

Wray argued that granting Peltier “any relief from his conviction or sentence” would be “wholly unjustified” and “would be an affront to the rule of law”.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

Doing 20 yrs in NYS prison system for steppin up & not just watching while Proud Boys were on the attack 4 yrs ago in Albany,NY! Lets make sure he knows the movements always got his back!

Alex is currently on lockdown at Upstate Correctional Facility- cops are claiming sickness from fentanyl (easy solution- stop importing it into the prisons in their backpacks).

Write:
Alexander Contompasis 22B5028
Upstate Correctional Facility
PO Box 2001
Malone, NY, 12953

More info from https://freealexstokes.com

URGENT STEP ONE:
The Bureau of Prisons is denying medical treatment to Imam Jamil Al-Amin, 81 years old, formerly known as H. Rap Brown. He has a potentially life-threatening growth on his face, on top of his multiple myeloma (cancer) & other significant medical issues.

A civil and human rights leader, wrongfully imprisoned for the past 24 years, he needs your Help to avoid his death by medical neglect.

CALL TUCSON COMPLEX 520-663-5000
EMAIL WARDEN Mark Gutierrez, [email protected]
Give Name & Inmate Number: Jamil Al-Amin, #99974-555

Demand they grant Imam Jamil an EMERGENCY MEDICAL TRANSFER from United States Penitentiary (USP) Tucson to Federal Medical Center (FMC) Butner for his Immediate Medical Treatment NOW!!

***Deputy Director of BOP [Bureau of Prisons], (202) 307-3198

URGENT STEP TWO:

Tell his Congressional Delegation of his condition, Urge them to use their offices to inquire the BOP & demand that their constituent (Imam Jamil, West End Community Masjid, 547 West End Pl., SW, Atlanta) receive the emergency medical transfer, diagnosis & treatment.

• Email GA Cong. Nikema Williams [email protected]
• Email US Sen. Rafael Warnock [email protected]
• Email US Sen. Jon Ossoff [email protected]
• Email Atlanta City Councilman Jason Dozier [email protected]
• Email GA State Rep Park Cannon [email protected]
• Email GA State Sen. Sonya Halpern [email protected]

 IMAM JAMIL ACTION NETWORK.ORG

SENTENCING STATEMENT

On Monday, January 6, with roughly 40 supporters of Pep and Krystal packing the room, Judge Nicholas Ranjan heard arguments from the prosecution and the defense, and a Victim Impact Statement read by a University of Pittsburgh police officer. Ranjan then agreed to the non-cooperating stipulated plea and sentenced the two. 

SENTENCING DETAILS
Pep was sentenced to serve 60 months in BOP. As he’s served 18 months already, he anticipates being eligible to transition to a halfway house around March 2026 (between 15 and 22 months). After that, he will be on supervised release for 3 years. Krystal was sentenced to 3 years of supervised release and 80 hours of community service.
Pep and Krystal were jointly sentenced to pay $50,225.03, mostly to University Of Pittsburgh Officer TH, with a smaller sum to the University of Pittsburgh. They also were given special assessments of $200 and $100, respectively, and sentenced to repayment of some costs of prosecution and their own punishment. Critically, however, there was no further fine.

Pep and Krystal issued a joint statement:
“We hold in our gravity a deep reverence for love beyond the limited words we have. We know the devoted embrace of solidarity – people leaning in to one another against involuntary servitude and for a world of mutual aid.

If we are convicted, it is of love for each other, and for our community, to which all brave hearts beat devotion to the impossible task of liberation. We are grateful for those who care take, for without you, freedom would be even more distant.”

NEXT STEPS
Pep has been transferred out of Butler County Prison and is now at Northeast Ohio Correctional Center where he will be temporarily held while he awaits BOP classification. He may be moved around a bit before ending up at his designated facility within the BOP. We’ll update the Write To Peppy page on our website as soon as he gets there.

In the meantime, you can also email us messages of solidarity to Peppy or Krystal. We’ll hold on to them and be sure they reach him in the prison where he’ll be doing his time.

You can find more information about the federal BOP initial intake and orientation process here. We will be sure to update everyone with the necessary information on how best to support Peppy once he actually gets to the BOP.

DONATIONS
Peppy and Krystal need your support! In their sentencing, they’re jointly tasked with paying more than $50k dollars in restitution. This is in addition to commissary and the costs of prison support for the remainder of Peppy’s sentence. Please donate today and spread the word!

We remain so grateful to all of you. These punitive structures that we’ve been navigating together exist to separate and isolate, and our solidarity stands as a rebuke and inspiration. 

Leonard Peltier started experiencing intermittent blindness over a year ago. He was told his eyesight would be treated within four to six months. Leonard’s eyesight has worsened severely, and they are still saying it will be four to six months before he is treated. Leonard Peltier is going blind. 

On 12-31-2024, Leonard was taken to the hospital because a blood vessel in his eye ruptured.  The lockdowns have lessened in severity. Many of you have been pressuring the Senate Judiciary Committee, and they may be hearing us. Thank you for your efforts. 

When Leonard had lockjaw, supporters found a senator willing to intercede and fly him to the Mayo Clinic for treatment. We must find someone in Congress willing to intercede to save Leonard’s eyesight. The prison treats emergency symptoms when they arise, but the underlying conditions must be treated. 

A sample letter and Judiciary contacts are here. 

Contact:
Louise Berger, New York City Anarchist Black Cross
[email protected]

31 Dec 2024

Brooklyn, New York – On the noisiest night of the year, organizers with New York City’s Anarchist Black Cross (NYC ABC) are asking folks to join them outside of the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. They are inviting revelers to come, not in an appeal to authority, to speak truth to power, or any other contrivance, but rather to stand with others, and show direct solidarity to those on the other side of the wall.

While much has been made of the fact that two very high profile folks are currently held at MDC–Luigi Mangione and Sean “Diddy” Combs, NYC ABC says they have held New Year’s Eve demonstrations there for years. “As a collective, we work to provide support to U.S. held political prisoners and prisoners of war, folks who come from communities like ours and deserve our support,” said Louise Berger. “There are currently dozens of political prisoners in the United States, coming from movements like those struggling for the liberation of historically oppressed people. Folks like Leonard Peltier or Imam Jamil Al-Amin who have been imprisoned for decades. There are also those more recently imprisoned, like Jesse Cannon, Caleb Freestone, Casey Goonan, and Annarella Rivera, coming from movements for Palestinian self-determination; the ongoing fight against violent white supremacists; and for women’s reproductive freedom.”

NYC ABC has been organizing New Year’s Eve “noise demonstrations” for over a decade, just as other groups have done outside of jails and prisons around the world. A noise demo is equal parts celebratory demonstration to let imprisoned folks know they are not alone and raucous protest to keep guards and administrators on notice that they are being watched. The latter has become crucial in recent years and the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn has come under scrutiny following the 2020 murder of incarcerated Jamel Floyd by aggressive guards who pepper-sprayed Floyd until he went into cardiac arrest. That murder came only one year after the same jail went for days without heat or electricity in the middle of a polar vortex, leaving 1,600 incarcerated folks without water for several days. Conditions have not improved in the following years.

Jem Kapinos is a member of MDC solidarity, a group based in Sunset Park, Brooklyn that organizes around the horrible conditions at the federal jail.

“The conditions at MDC Brooklyn are completely inhumane. Members of our group who have loved ones inside routinely hear reports of spoiled and maggot-infested food; lack of clean, hot water; and medical neglect and deprivation,” Kapinos told us. “The COs use any excuse to lock the prison down, forcing people to spend up to 23 hours a day in their cells without access to regular showers, phone calls, or physical activity. The BOP [Bureau of Prisons] has created a pressure cooker environment that takes a mental toll on everyone inside. It’s torture, and no one should have to endure it.”

When asked why NYC ABC are organizing a demonstration on the night that most folks are solely focused on socializing, Berger said, “Hand in glove, billionaires and the government systematically oppress folks to keep us divided and at each other’s throats. When we decide to fight back, they repress and subject us to draconian punishments, if not immediate death.” Berger added, “there is no better way to celebrate New Year’s Eve than by including those who are expected to feel at their lowest on this night.”
     ###

On December 18, 2024, a Tampa jury declared Gabriella Oropesa guilty of conspiracy against rights, with sentencing scheduled for March 19, 2025.

Two FBI agents testified that they identified Oropesa in Winter Haven, where one of the defaced crisis pregnancy centers (anti-abortion centers which masquerade as legitimate abortion clinics) was located. A chief concern regarding this sworn statement is the lack of evidence supporting it; no evidence regarding this matter was referred to over the course of the trial. Furthermore, an inconsistency glossed over by the jury was a testimony by a CAST (Cellular Analysis Survey Team) FBI agent who stated that tracking evidence does not support the conclusion that Oropesa’s phone was present in Winter Haven. This conflicts with statements alleging that the defendant was present at the site of the anti-abortion center.

Given the sentences imposed by the Dishonorable Judge Virginia Covington for the other defendants in this case, it is apparent that these trials are being used to make examples of the activists and to strike fear in other Floridians protesting the state’s draconian abortion regulations.

We at the Anarchist Black Cross South Florida chapter have been involved in supporting the political prisoners in this case since its inception and will continue to aiding Oropesa moving forward. Here is how You can help assist our anti-repression work:

(1) Share this post with your friends, family, and social justice communities.

(2) Research crisis pregnancy centers and their role in manipulating and harming pregnant individuals in their time of need. You may contact us for educational resources in this matter.

(3) Donate to Oropesa’s Venmo @gabygummy in order to assist with legal fees.

(4) Contact us if you are interested in attending Oropesa’s sentencing hearing on March 19, 2025.

#abortionrights#abortionisahumanright