The Caged Crusader And The Fallen Teacher - Harold Hempstead Interviewed On Religious Abuse By Jeremy Schanche

"The students should try to help their fallen teacher.  It is always best to show love and compassion to those in need."  

Florida's Caged Crusader talks about religious abuse, prison, murder and The Bible with Jeremy Schanche - activist and author from Kernow.

When I asked Harold if hearing Darren Rainey screaming as he died in the special shower changed  his life  he answered simply "yes" but he has already said quite a lot about this - his darkest night.

This was the event that set him on a path of opposing evil in a very dynamic way - not only did he risk assault and murder by guards for exposing the torture at Dade but he has also given evidence of how FDC allows sexual predators exposure to children in prisons in Florida -  and he also advocates strongly for disabled rights in prison .

Apart from the shower-torture and murder - Harold Hempstead has written extensively on Florida DC's policy of starving prisoners to death - in particular he tells of the fates of Darrel Richardson and Oscar Davis - both of whom he has testified to seeing be starved to death.

My first interview with Harold from June 2016

The Miami Herald has a large collection of articles on Harold Hempstead - Darren Rainey and FDC -

George Mallinckrodt is a psychologist who worked at Dade CI and has written of the murder there

Madness - An in-depth article from the New Yorker about FDC

 A high proportion of Florida's prisoners are in long-term Solitary Confinement - despite international treaties declaring this totally unlawful and in contravention of UNCAT.  In an amazing and precedent-setting development - the British High Court has just refused to extradite Lauri Love to USA on the grounds that the US prison-system cannot guarantee the most basic human rights to convicts.



Florida Prisons to which Harold Hempstead 
has been transferred so far:
Wakulla CI;  Wakulla CI Annex;  Okaloosa CI;  Jackson CI;  Santa Rosa CI;  Washington CI;  Apalachee CI East Unit;  Jefferson CI;  Everglades CI;  Dade CI;  Martin CI;  Okeechobee CI;  Hardee CI;  Columbia CI; Columbia CI Annex;  Union CI;  Florida State Prison;  Suwannee CI Annex;  Holmes CI;  Tomoka CI;  Lake CI;  Zephyrhills CI;  Regional Medical Centre;  Central Florida Reception Centre;  South Florida Reception Centre.

Video of Harold Hempstead

"It is always best to show love and compassion 
to those in need."  
Harold Hempstead - February 2018

A Challenge To A Wise Lama

I-m inviting World-famous Tibetan Lama Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche to debate me on the policy of ZERO-TOLERANCE OF ABUSE IN BUDDHISM as I think we all need to be clear that true Buddhism will never turn a blind eye to abuse under any name or in any form whatsoever - Surely authentic Buddhism should neither be deaf to the cries of the world - from whatever source they come - My own view is that the best deterrent for institutional abuse is to shine a searingly bright light into the heart of that institution whilst sounding a siren to wake the town and tell the people -
Institutions - be they prisons or monasteries - be they police-departments or job-centres - schools - armies - mental-hospitals or trading companies - tend to be hierarchical in structure and thus require submission of a portion of sovereign autonomy from constituent members - these structures are often arranged like concentric rings of power or tiers of a wedding-cake - The point is that some people - like me - believe that your own conscience should be the boss - the Guvnor - and even the most respected opinion can only resonate with our own - not impose or dominate it!  As usual I have said too much - so here is the letter:

Open Letter to Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche – 8^th January 2018

Dear Rinpoche                               

I have offered to the Three Jewels the policy of ZERO-TOLERANCE OF ABUSE IN BUDDHISM and would be so delighted to receive at least a verbal endorsement of this idea from a real Tibetan Lama –

I would like to invite you to debate me on youtube for at least one hour of unedited free and open discussion of the above offering and its connotations –

I understand that Rinpoche is an unusually busy man and it may be some time before you find the appropriate hour to do this but as I recently discovered that you were visiting my country it seemed timely to extend the invitation -

When you are able to make this meeting I recommend it be in a secular space so free speech can prevail without causing possible offence to anyone-s beliefs –

My view is that for the Buddha-Dharma to flourish in the West and in the World generally it-s representatives will need to conduct themselves in a manner that inspires trust and respect – When the teacher is advertising teachings to the general public my view is that the teacher-s morality must be seen to be at least as good as those he or she is going to teach and possibly even a little bit better -  Given a stark choice between Enlightenment and Human Rights most people I know will tell me exactly where I can put my Enlightenment –

It would make me very happy to see the Buddha-Dharma flourish in new countries like Britain but I know these people and when it comes to teachers - school or religion – we have high standards –

The more Buddhism spreads in the modern world the more attention is focusing on the teachers - the Lamas and Gurus who are spreading this extraordinary message – Some of them have already achieved a status approaching that of a minor pop-star (in worldly eyes) and obviously H H The Dalai Lama is a massive super-star by any definition in this world –

Whilst some of the less critical Buddhists are unwilling to hear tales of abuse within Buddhism I can assure you that the more public Buddhism becomes as its success spreads – then countless secular media people are going to be looking for ways to attack the Dharma – Are we going to hand them a box of weapons –

If abuse continues within Buddhism the media will root it out – they have barely given it any attention so far in history because journalists follow leads – so far there have not been many – In the future we might even see Buddhist-Journalists who make it their life-s work to root out abuse and throw it on the table before the eyes of the world – Personally I would respect a journalist like that –

I look forward to your response Rinpoche

Kind regards – Jeremy Schanche – Penwith - Kernow – Britain – The West

Well this is how naive I am - I was looking for a nice photo of a Tibetan Snow Lion to put on this blog as I thought it would go well - Just a few seconds ago I discovered that the snow lion is a mythical or celestial animal - not to be found within Animalia!  I heard about them years ago and  I always thought these beasts were real - and I also prided myself on knowing a lot about Tibet!  Hmmm - Perhaps I-m just an ignorant pig and nothing more -
Well - don-t panic anyone!  We-ll just have to make do with a picture of a real animal from my country - Palores Kernouac Yw - Pyrocorax pyrocorax - The Cornish Chough - Note how generations of being used down tin-mines has led to the visible evolution of a pick-axe bill -

Feileacan

Almost certainly the best thing to do is KEEP CALM AND PANIC