[Statement by Ojore Lutalo]
July 11, 1995.
Dear Friend:
We are hoping that you can help with a one month campaign to highlight the situation with New Afrikan Political Prisoner, Ojore Lutalo. Ten Years ago in February of 1986, the New Jersey Department of Corrections placed Ojore in the infamous Management Control Unit (MCU) in New Jersey State Prison,
The Management Control Unit is a long term isolation/sensory deprivation unit within the maximum security prison. The people held there are allowed out of the isolation cage for two hours out of every 48. They are permitted limited telephone use and visitation, and their mail is tampered with. Movement out of the cage is accompanied by a body search and shackles. The MCU is reserved for political prisoners, political radicals, militant Islamics and jail house lawyers. It is reserved for anyone that the prison administration feels can teach or pass along Afro-centric lore, history or political perspective. Ojore has been forced to live in isolation for ten inexcusable years -- a decade in isolation for a belief in the liberation of his people.
We want to institute a one month blitz of postcards, telephone calls, faxes, and letters throughout the month of February of 1996 protesting his decade in isolation. Certainly Ojore is not alone in this kind of treatment. The United States has control units proliferating all over the country to contain the growing level of political radicalism in the prison population. Ojore needs to be highlighted because of the extraordinary amount of time he has been forced to endure this physical and psychological torment.
We're targeting the Governor of New Jersey, Christie Whitman, for this short term, International Campaign. While none of us working on this is so naive to think that this will result in Ojore's release, we are hoping it will draw attention of the public and legal community to garner support.
If you believe that you can help in organizing this brief effort, we would be happy to hear from you. Let us know about how many cards/faxes you think you can generate, or if you have other ideas to push this brief campaign forward. We will be developing sample letters, text of phone calls and so on to be sent out in a future mailing.
We'll look forward to hearing from you. Take care.
If you would like to receive a packet of material on Ojore's plight, along with news articles which will confirm the purpose of the Management Control Unit please get in touch with any of the below listed people or organizations.
Milwaukee ABC
c/o BCAC
P.O. Box 93312
Milwaukee, WI 53203
Bonnie Kerness
c/o American Friends Service Committee
Criminal Justice Program
972 Broad Street, 6th floor
Newark, NJ 07102
phone: 201/643-3079 / fax: 201/643-8924
New Jersey ABC
P.O. Box 8532
Paterson, NJ 07508-8532
Write to Ojore at:
Ojore N. Lutalo
CN - 861 - 59860 MCU
Trenton, NJ 08625
[Include two stamps with your letter if you expect a reply]