frackville - Blogs - TheBlackList Pub2024-03-29T08:38:50Zhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/frackvilleMajor Tillery sues the Pennsylvania Department of Correctionshttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/major-tillery-sues-pa-department-of-corrections2016-01-26T03:30:00.000Z2016-01-26T03:30:00.000ZNana Baakan Agyiriwahhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/NanaBaakanAgyiriwah<div><div style="font-family:arial;font-size:24pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;"><table cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float:left;margin-right:1em;text-align:left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w78AXBItcmw/VqZ5ZdM-MOI/AAAAAAACV7k/qYpRCiutkpw/s1600/Major%2BTillery.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w78AXBItcmw/VqZ5ZdM-MOI/AAAAAAACV7k/qYpRCiutkpw/s1600/Major%2BTillery.jpg" class="align-left" alt="Major%2BTillery.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-family:cambria;text-align:left;"><span style="font-size:x-small;"><b>Major Tillery</b></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;">First Amendment Lawsuit Against Retaliation For Fighting for Medical Treatment For Mumia Abu-Jamal and All Prisoners</span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">URGENT UPDATE: PA JUDGE IMMEDIATELY DISMISSED MAJOR TILLERY'S LAWSUIT AS "FRIVOLOUS." MAJOR TILLERY WILL FIGHT THIS IN FEDERAL COURT!</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;margin:0in;"><span style="font-size:14pt;">Major Tillery filed a civil rights lawsuit</span> <span style="font-size:14pt;">pro se</span> <span style="font-size:14pt;">against John Wetzel, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC), SCI Mahanoy Superintendent John Kerestes, SCI Frackville Superintendent Brenda Tritt and 17 other prison officials. The DOC punished and retaliated against Tillery for acts of solidarity with Mumia Abu-Jamal and other prisoners fighting for the fundamental human right of medical care. <em><strong><a href="http://nanas-rants.blogspot.com/2016/01/major-tillery-sues-pa-department-of.html" target="_blank">SOURCE</a></strong></em></span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">The <a href="http://t.ymlp3.net/yseadaemhsmaxaejsadaw/click.php"><span style="font-weight:bold;">lawsuit</span></a> was filed in the Schuylkill County Court of Common Please on January 5, 2015:</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">This is a civil rights action brought by Major George Tillery, a 65 year-old African-American man to stop and remedy retaliation against him for his exercise of his First Amendment Rights. Tillery was subjected to numerous retaliatory acts by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and its employees, including medical neglect and medical mistreatment, unjustified cell searches, transfer to another cell block, loss of his prison job and precipitous transfer from SCI Mahanoy to SCI Frackville and then being set-up with a false misconduct and given over four months in disciplinary custody (solitary confinement).</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">This retaliation was intended to punish and stop Tillery from filing grievances challenging medical neglect and mistreatment of him and other prisoners, including the well-known journalist and former death row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. This retaliation was punishment for Tillery continuing to publicly advocate for Mumia Abu-Jamal, and to publicly expose the DOC’s neglect and mistreatment of prisoner’s medical problems as well as the DOC’s retaliation against Tillery; and continuing to file grievances objecting to these retaliatory actions by prison officials.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Throughout his over thirty years in prison serving a sentence of life without parole, Tillery has challenged his conviction and sentence, and unconstitutional restrictions on access to courts, prison conditions including security classification and placement procedures, medical treatment, and housing conditions on behalf of himself and other prisoners. He was held in solitary confinement in super-max institutions in the federal and Pennsylvania prison systems for over twenty of those years.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Tillery was the lead plaintiff in <span style="font-style:italic;">Tillery v. Owens</span>, a class action lawsuit filed July 23, 1987, challenging the constitutionality of the conditions of confinement at the State Correctional Institution at Pittsburgh ("SCIP") located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It started as a <span style="font-style:italic;">pro se</span> legal action by Tillery. It resulted in an historic legal order requiring remediation of unconstitutional prison conditions including deficient security, fire protection, access to the courts, over-crowded housing, medical care, mental health care and dental services. The DOC was required to make prison renovations costing more than a million dollars. <span style="font-style:italic;">See Tillery v. Owens,</span> <a href="http://t.ymlp3.net/ysmagaemhsmaaaejsaiaw/click.php"><span style="font-weight:bold;">719 F.Supp. 1256</span></a> (W.D.Pa.1989).</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Major Tillery demands that the DOC stop its retaliation, remove the false misconduct from his record, provide medical treatment and transfer him out of SCI Frackville to a different prison in eastern Pennsylvania so he remains near his family.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">This lawsuit is just part of Major Tillery’s fight for medical care and to protect himself and other prisoners who are standing up for justice. He has liver disease and chronic Hepatitis C that the DOC has known about for over a decade. Tillery is filing grievances against the prison and its medical staff to get the new antiviral medicine. This is part of the larger struggle to obtain Hep C treatment for the 10,000 prisoners in Pennsylvania and the estimated 700,000 prisoners nationally who have Hepatitis-C and could be cured.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><table cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float:right;margin-left:1em;text-align:right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dxo3rOBokOA/VqZ5kH9QtDI/AAAAAAACV7s/iim_xoQ90B4/s1600/Major%2Btillery-daughter-grands.jpg" style="clear:right;margin-bottom:1em;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;"><span style="font-size:x-small;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dxo3rOBokOA/VqZ5kH9QtDI/AAAAAAACV7s/iim_xoQ90B4/s1600/Major%2Btillery-daughter-grands.jpg" alt="Major%2Btillery-daughter-grands.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-style:italic;text-align:left;"><span style="font-size:x-small;">Major Tillery, his daughter, Kamillah <br /> and his two granddaughters.</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Major Tillery’s daughter, Kamilah Iddeen appeals for our support:</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">It is so important that my Dad filed this lawsuit– it shows what really goes on inside the prison. Prison officials act as if my father is their property, that his family doesn’t exist, that he isn’t a man with people who love him. They lied to us every time we called and said he needed treatment. They lied and said he hadn’t told them, that he hadn’t filed grievances. The DOC plays mind games and punishes prisoners who stand up for themselves and for others. But my Dad won’t be broken.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">The DOC needs to learn they can’t do this to a prisoner and his family. Justice has to be done. Justice has to be served. Please help.</div><div><table border="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;border-color:#A3A3A3;border-style:solid;border-width:0pt;"><tbody><tr><td style="border-width:0pt;padding:4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt;vertical-align:top;width:8.8256in;"><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Call prison officials and demand:</div><ul style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.375in;margin-top:0in;" type="disc"><li style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;vertical-align:middle;"><span style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;">Demand decent medical care for Major Tillery!</span></li><li style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;vertical-align:middle;"><span style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;">Stop the Retaliation Against Major Tillery.</span> <span style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;">He should be exonerated for the false charges of drug possession and this misconduct removed from his record.</span></li><li style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px;vertical-align:middle;"><span style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:italic;">Transfer Major Tillery from SCI Frackville</span> <span style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;">back to SCI Mahanoy or to another facility in eastern Pennsylvania to remain near his family.</span></li></ul><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Dept. Of Corrections Secretary</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">John Wetzel</span> <a href="http://t.ymlp3.net/ysjapaemhsmalaejsapaw/click.php"><span style="font-weight:bold;">(717) 728-4109</span></a> </div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Superintendent SCI Frackville</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Brenda Tritt <a href="http://t.ymlp3.net/ysbataemhsmaraejsaoaw/click.php">(570) 874-4516</a></div></td><td style="border-width:0pt;padding:4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt;vertical-align:top;width:.7166in;"><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Write to</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Major Tillery AM 9786</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">SCI Frackville</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">1111 Altamont Blvd.</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Frackville, PA 17931</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">For More Information, Go To: <a href="http://t.ymlp3.net/yshalaemhsmavaejsavaw/click.php"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Justice4MajorTillery/blogspot</span></a></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Call/Write:</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Kamilah Iddeen <a href="http://t.ymlp3.net/yswanaemhsmagaejsacaw/click.php"><span style="font-weight:bold;">(717) 379-9009</span></a>, <a href="mailto:Kamilah29@yahoo.com">Kamilah29@yahoo.com</a></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Nancy Lockhart <a href="http://t.ymlp3.net/ysqapaemhsmafaejsaaaw/click.php"><span style="font-weight:bold;">(843) 412-2035</span></a>, <a href="mailto:thewrongfulconviction@gmail.com">thewrongfulconviction@gmail.com</a></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Rachel Wolkenstein, Esq. <a href="http://t.ymlp3.net/ysyadaemhsmaaaejsazaw/click.php"><span style="font-weight:bold;">(917) 689-4009</span></a>, <a href="mailto:RachelWolkenstein@gmail.com">RachelWolkenstein@gmail.com</a></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;font-weight:bold;margin:0in;">Contribute: Go to JPay.com; code: Major Tillery AM 9786 PADOC</div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><a href="http://t.ymlp3.net/yshalaemhsmavaejsavaw/click.php"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Justice4MajorTillery/blogspot</span></a></div></div>