The following email was sent on 10th January 2019:
Attn: Dade County – Florida – State Attorney
Dade County – Florida – Medical Examiner
Dear Dade County State Attorney and Dade County Medical Examiner
Harold Hempstead has published a book entitled “Department of Corruption – Darren Rainey – The Untold Story” – His book can be located at Crusaderbooks dot com – In his book he explains in extensive detail how he obtained covert recordings of Roland Clarke admitting to killing Darren Rainey and torturing mentally disabled inmates in the Dade CI Transitional Care Unit – The March 17 – 2017 State Attorney-s memo doesn-t mention these recordings that Hempstead wrote about in his book – Also it should be noted that Hempstead said he has access to the covert recordings that he obtained – Will you please let me know why you didn-t mention these recordings in your memo~ Will you also let me know how the Medical Examiner could say what she said about Rainey-s body when Hempstead said Roland Clarke admitted that the shower was “extremely hot” on the records~
Will you please respond to these questions as soon as possible~
Sincerely –
Harold Hempstead
CC
Howard Simon
Steve Wetstein
Randal Berg
Casey Frank
Julie Brown
Adam Playford
Craig Patrick
Susan Chandler
Windy Hempstead
Roland Clarke leading Darren Rainey to his death in the torture-shower - Dade CI
50,000 (fifty thousand) volts into a human, from a taser, yet the authorities still quibble over 'cause of death' in so many cases! Vacillation by politicians of the Big T'ree (Lib-Lab-Con have all evaded discussion on the status of the UNCAT,) has contributed to ongoing deaths and torture on adults, the vulnerable and the young, by police taser in the UK. The Green Party and Mebyon Kernow have both given me statements saying they support my assertion that taser violates UNCAT. Conservative Member of Parliament Derek Thomas in particular has been lying to me and dodging this issue for nearly a decade now, as is the Tory way...
The recent death of Falmouth man Marc Cole (30) brought the issue of taser back into stark focus here in Cornwall - Marc was the first person in Cornwall to die after being hit by a police stun-gun.
After Falmouth police repeatedly tortured Stefan Naumczyk with a stun-gun during a 'royal street-party,' I tried to register a complaint of torture. He was stunned, cuffed, then stunned again, in front of a large crowd. This constitutes torture - in my book, and also in the book of law... The police's lying response to me that they could not hear my complaint eventually led me to communicate with the U.N. in Geneva, which is how I discovered that Britain had not ratified Article 22 of the UNCAT which would have allowed UN Investigators into the realm. Thanks for the tip, Falmouth Police, I'd never have found out without you!
Due to corruption at all levels in the British State, my MP has totally failed to fulfill his on-camera promise to raise the UNCAT Article 22 Ratification issue with the British Government. This has stalled any progress on the issue and been a major contributory factor in the unlawful slaughter of Marc Cole by these policemen. My MP, Derek Thomas, also claims to be a Christian, but won't lift a finger to save an old man, a British citizen proven innocent, from dying of flesh-eating bacteria in a vile foreign jail, namely Krishna Maharaj, who languishes in the Florida Department of Corrections.
Soft-Tipped, a.k.a. Dum-Dum Rounds, a.k.a. Hollow-Tipped Bullets have been banned in warfare by international law since at least World War One. That didn't stop police in Falmouth, Cornwall from slaughtering Antony Kitts with one, back on 10th April, 1999. These rounds cause massive internal damage, because they expand as they go through a person, thus ripping out a much bigger tunnel than a typical bullet. Not legal to use on enemies in wartime, but legal for the British Police to use for culling troublesome citizens in the streets.
"The use of TaserX26 weapons, provoking extreme pain, constituted a form of torture, and that in certain cases it could also cause death, as shown by several reliable studies and by certain cases that had happened after practical use," the UN Committee said in a statement, November 2007.
My letter of 13th June, 2017, to the Commanding Officer of Police for Cornwall and Devon, UK:
Public message to:Chief Constable Shawn Sawyer, Cornwall & Devon Pol., Mrs. F.Wills, Complaints Dept., 13.6.2017 RE: RESIST CARDIAC ARREST CAMPAIGN / ILLEGAL INSTRUMENTS OF TORTURE & DEATH
C.C. United Nations, Geneva; Jeremy Corbyn, Labour Party Leader; Richard Burgon, Shadow Minister of Justice; Dick Cole, Mebyon Kernow; Andrew George; Julie Girling MEP; Danette Chavis, National Action Against Police Brutality and Murder; Amnesty International; The Guardian newspaper, The Independent Newspaper, The Cornishman newspaper; BBC Radio Cornwall; etc.
Dear Chief Cons.Sawyer and Mrs F.Wills,
I am rather surprised to receive a letter from you asking why I am unhappy with police using stun-guns on humans when your constables have recently burned a man to death in public and now slaughtered another young man in the streets of Falmouth, Cornwall.
Strange as it may seem to some, the average citizen is not too happy with cops that publicly burn citizens to death with illegal weapons of torture or kill people with 50,000 volts when they are having emotional crises.
I've requested that you seek clarification with the British Government (if we have one) and the United Nations, as the rightful, lawful and legal authorities who can clarify the legal status of the x-26 stun gun for you.
You have not responded to me, Chief Constable.
Please do so urgently.
I shall be further clarifying my complaint to you in writing within your statutory complaints period of three weeks.
Further to my original communique, would you please inform me whether Marc Cole's bereaved and grieving family have been offered a Liaison Officer from your department yet? This question was not answered by you.
Please let me know as soon as possible what the United Nations and the British Government have told you about the X-16 being defined in international law as an INSTRUMENT OF TORTURE by the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Lisbon in 2007.
Please do not ignore this communication but respond to it fully in accordance with your lawful responsibilities.
Yours sincerely,
Jeremy Sch@nche
Newlyn, Kernow, Britain.
When I wrote to Chief Constable Sean Sawyer about the above, he passed it the IPCC - this is their response.
The IPCC is the 'Independent Police Complaints Commission,' which, I have to say, has a notorious record for either bungling investigations, or basically functioning as the police's alibi-department. A frequent technique of the police is to use the IPCC as a kind of shield, granting them protection and an aura of 'justice.' The so-called 'watch-dog' lives in a kennel adjoining the police-station and seems to live on scraps thrown to it from said building.
I believe that Marc Cole's family had an experience when they contacted police about Marc's death, only to have the matter described as a 'complaint' and referred to the IPCC, who did not respond satisfactorily. The same thing happened to me when I approached Cornwall's Chief Constable about the matter recently. I pointed out the matter of the UN's ruling in 2007 that taser-usage constituted torture, and asked him to liaise with the government and the UN. He did neither, but merely referred the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, who responded in an unsatisfactory manner. They even said that I had not been affected by the killing of Marc Cole - how can anyone assume that?
There are ways to approach a person in emotional crisis, even in danger, that de-escalate and calm the situation. This takes a basic understanding of human psychology, in which our constables urgently need to be trained to avoid further unnecessary killings. Rather than 'portable electric-chairs' that zap the recipient with 50,000 or more volts, better to issue cudgels to the constabulary, for surely two big strong cops with broom-sticks could easily floor a citizen who's out of order and borderline violent, without inducing cardiac arrest and putting a temporarily unruly citizen and father of young children into a permanent grave.
Tasers are undemocratic, murderous, torturous, illegal cattle-prods that have no legitimate, or even vaguely legal, human use. They also cause cancer in those who use them, as found by the State of California. It's time for genuine debate on how society protects itself from violence, without going to the other extreme and taking the current 'overkill' approach. I appreciate the protection of the police in this quasi-free society and am under no illusions about street violence, but I contend that if policing is claimed to be done by consent, then that claim has to be proven by those who make it, if they wish to retain the 'democratic' image.
Jeremy Sch@nche, 26..9.2017
Marc Cole of Falmouth.
Derek Thomas MP lies on camera about protecting the People from state-torture. Good old tories!
9.15 pm approx… Just walking past the Warfside Centre in Penzance to get my bike, when who should I see but Derek Thomas, coming out of his Conservative Party office – literally – I hope – as today is general election day in Britain, 8th June, 2017…..
“Derek!” said I, taking off my glove and offering him my hand. “I will shake your hand,” said the Great Democrat, with visible disdain and so he did. He then immediately launched into a tirade about how he’d photographed all my posters (of himself as the snake in the garden of Eden) and reported me to the police. I was tired and hungry, working on my Klan article all day, hurrying home to publish it, and was flabbergasted by Derek’s pathetic rant about my posters – that’d I’d resorted to as my only form of political representation, thanks to his negligence!
Furious, I reached for my wire-machine and started taping him… he made some utterance to which I replied… “you’re my MP and you’re scared to talk to me on the record…!” “I’m NOT your MP, he said, backing off the pavement, where he stood in the middle of the road, like a typical politician, before beating a pathetic retreat whilst I called him a liar and a thief, saying he took our money to be our representative but did not reply to letters, simply ignored me! We could have had a friendly talk – even at this point – but Derek tried to threaten me and ended up running from me, which he has been doing ever since taking office. Let’s hope he keeps running…. away...
How many people get the opportunity to personally call their Tory MP a liar and a thief, to their face, on General Election day, or at least to the back of their departing head, as they scuttle away to the safety of their luxury car and an angst-ridden night of fear, having freaked out in the street and given way to a vulgar and childish temper-tantrum – the stress must be getting to him, poor baby!
I was hoping to transcribe and upload the recording of our little conversation but I can't find it in my machine and I'm not sure if, in the heat of the moment, I successfully recorded the exchange. Oh well, as they say in Japan, 'Nothing Matters!'
Perhaps Derek was agitated because today (General Election Day) the local paper, The Cornishman, published my letter about the police-taser killing of Marc Cole in Falmouth on 23rd May, 2017 and I mentioned that the illegality of taser was an issue I had touched on with Derek Thomas MP, who had kept me waiting eleven months so far, for a response. I was pleased that the letter was published today - it seemed just, showing, as it did, that a Conservative Party MP's failure to respond with a constituent who had a valid and legitimate matter under discussion with the government, was inter-connected with the police continuing to torture and kill with tasers, with impunity and in violation of the UNCAT. As Blog is my witness, I've tried to reach out to Derek many, many times, seemingly innumerable as the sands of the Ganges and again and again he has ignored my letters, phone-calls, emails etc., even after twice meeting me in person and twice promising to start responding to communications from me and giving me proper representation as my Member of Parliament. Shabby treatment indeed from a guy who's paid handsomely to represent the Great British Democracy. This evening's meeting of 'minds' did feel like fate. I don't believe in fate, or luck though - only action can make a difference in politics. If I am fortunate, Derek Thomas will not return as our MP, and if I am even luckier, Jeremy Corbyn will be Britain's Socialist Prime Minister in a few hours time.....
Surprises always take you unawares and I'm sure Derek was no more delighted to see me than I was to see himself. But I'm glad we met, unpleasant though it was. I was amazed that his opening gambit to me was to start rabbiting on about the 'posters' and that he threatened me with the law! This is the man who's paid over £74,000 a year to represent us, who's lied to me on film, on youtube, about the UNCAT, who's failed to reply to my urgent requests for his help over Kris Maharaj, a 78 year old British Citizen who contracted flesh-eating bacterial disease after 30 years languishing in the Florida prison system on a wrongful murder conviction., etc. etc.. Derek is another of these people who are more concerned with the medium of a message than the message itself. If I had an MP who actually bothered to reply to me, I wouldn't actually have to spend my time and money flying posters of him all over town - as I told him to his face on more than one occasion. (Curious how the only three people who have ever attacked my free speech newspaper are paid by me to protect and uphold free speech - a cop in the street once when I was postering about the police-murder of Ian Tomlinson; Chris Roynon, my kid's head-teacher, who tried to physically attack my newspaper when I was on hunger-strike over his Right-Wing sell-out of Mousehole School; and now my Member of Parliament- good old British Democracy - all on first-name, hand-shake terms, and everyone tries to play you for a sucker - if you let them!)
Derek ran from me tonight. He would not talk to me, he is terrified of my recording-machine, even though I'm not quite sharp enough to operate it properly and actually tape anything..... I saw another side of Derek tonight. Last time we'd met, for the youtube interview, he was all charm and reason, smiles and promises - tonight he was a snarling, seething, pullulating poodle, scurrying back to his eldritch kennel of Conservative, Right-Wing, Capitalist, Reactionary Doom - a Diamond Dog with his tail between his legs - howling for the glory days of 1984.
Well, I've ranted enough in the smoldering ruins of British Democracy, baying at the full moon like a wild fox of the night, waiting to see which way the pendulum will swing. Either way, the fight for justice continues - Whoever is the next MP in West Cornwall can no longer evade the issue of ratifying Article 22 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture. Power To The People!
Gregory Shevlin was one of the most worked orderlies in the Dade C.I. Transitional Care Unit in 2011 and 2012. We worked together as orderlies more days than any other orderlies in the TCU in 2011 and 2012. On the day Darren Rainey was killed Shevlin was one of the two orderlies working. I didn’t know the events that happened with Shevlin on the night Rainey was murdered until a few days after Rainey’s murder. On the day Rainey was murdered, Shevlin slept in Wing J1 and I slept in Wing J3 of the TCU. A few days after Rainey was murdered, I was able to see Shevlin for the first time since Rainey’s murder where I could actually speak with him. It was at a group meeting with several other inmates. Shevlin was expressing to Dr Cesar and the rest of the group that he was mad because Sgt. Fanfan wrote him a Disciplinary Report for refusing to clean up the feaces in Darren Rainey’s cell on the night Rainey was killed. Shevlin said that on the night Rainey was killed, after Ofc. Clarke took Rainey out of his cell to escort him to the shower, Sgt. Fanfan told Shevlin to clean Rainey’s cell. Shevlin said that when he looked in Rainey’s cell and seen the feaces, he told Sgt. Fanfan he wasn’t “going to clean it up,” to “get Hempstead.”
Sgt. Fanfan then told Shevlin to lockdown in his cell and that he would be receiving a Disciplinary Report for disobeying a verbal order. Shevlin said when he got back to his cell he was mad so he took a razor and made a big cut on the top (not the palm) of his hand. Shevlin further said that as Sgt. Fanfan and the security staff dealt with the issues going on with Darren Rainey, he (Shevlin) stood in his cell bleeding. He said security staff refused to help him so he almost bleed out and had to go to the hospital late on the night Rainey was killed. Shevlin knew I had been studying law for a long time, so while he was sharing the foregoing with all of us, he asked if I’d help him “fight the Disciplinary Report.” He wanted to get it thrown-out. I of course said yes. I wanted to see the Disciplinary Report right away. I knew the Disciplinary Report and the events that happened with Shevlin on the night Darren Rainey was killed was more evidence to prove Rainey’s murder.
Gregory Shevlin’s nickname was ‘New York.’ He was a very loud and vocal inmate when he wanted to be. The Disciplinary Report Shevlin received and the medical records relating to Shevlin cutting his hand on the night Rainey was killed are evidence. Another thing that I’d like to point out is that when prison staff, medical staff and law enforcement were at Dade C.I. on the night of Rainey’s murder, Shevlin was in the same general area of all of these people. If I know Gregory Shevlin like I believe I do, I can assure that my old vocal work-partner made sure that everybody he seen on the night Rainey was killed knew what was going on with him (Shevlin.)
Finally, the cell Shevlin was housed in on the night Rainey was killed (even though it was in Wing J1) had a direct view of the shower Rainey was killed in (even though the shower was in Wing J3.) What this means is, when Shevlin was in his cell bleeding on the night Rainey was killed, he could see (but not hear) everything going on with Rainey in Wing J3.
Obviously all of the foregoing made Gregory Shevlin a very important witness and all the documents relating to what happened with Shevlin are very important to prove Darren Rainey’s murder. I provided all of this information and a lot more details to the MDPD, Dade County Medical Examiner and State Attorney, and Department of Justice and FBI. When I seen on page 42 of the Dade County, Florida State Attorney’s 3/17/17 written decision to not prosecute Rainey’s killers, that the MDPD interviewed Shevlin while he was still housed in the Dade C.I. TCU, I could only say “why?”
Why would the MDPD interview Shevlin while he was housed in the Dade C.I. TCU where inmate-patients had a long history of being murdered, tortured, starved and abused? They knew Shevlin was an important witness and that he’d have to be willing to place his life in danger to speak about what he knew about the Darren Rainey murder while he was still housed in the TCU.
Why would they place Shevlin’s life in danger? The detective assigned to the Darren Rainey murder case had been in law enforcement for many, many years. They knew what they were doing. They knew they were placing Shevlin in danger. They knew they were placing Shevlin in a position to not tell them (the police) everything he witnessed on the night Rainey was killed. The MDPD interviewed Gregory Shevlin while he was housed in the Dade C.I. TCU because they didn’t want Shevlin to tell them what he witnessed and knew about the Rainey murder.
Another thing I noticed when I was reading the Dade County State Attorney’s 3/17/17 decision to not prosecute Rainey’s killers was there was no references to the Disciplinary Report Shevlin received or any of the other documents relating to what happened with Shevlin on the night Rainey was killed. I believe it’s reasonable to say the State Attorney, police and medical examiner in the Rainey case didn’t even try to obtain the foregoing report and documents. Why? Because these agencies didn’t want to prosecute Rainey’s killers so they didn’t take the investigation into Rainey’s murder serious and the police interviewed Shevlin in the Dade C.I. TCU knowing that would place him in a position to not talk about what he witnessed and knew about Rainey’s murder. Why do you think all these problems have happened with the Rainey case that I’ve presented and will continue to present if it’s God’s will? I believe the answer is obvious, and so obvious it really doesn’t require repeating because of how many times I mentioned it in other blogs. However, because this might be the first blog you read that was written by me, I’m compelled to state again what I’ve stated in so many other blogs. To the Dade County, Florida State Attorney and Miami-Dade Police Department, Rainey’s life wasn’t worth how much it’d cost to prosecute his killers. Why? Because Rainey came from a poor family, he was a black, mentally disabled Muslim prisoner, in prison for minor possession of drugs. It shouldn’t matter what or who Rainey was. What should matter is Rainey’s life had value. What should matter is those who tortured and killed Rainey violated state and federal law. Will you please join us in our quest for justice for the murder of Darren Rainey? Will you please join us in our fight for the value of life? Will you please share this blog with your friends and anybody you believe would like to join us in our fight for the value of life? Will you please sign our petition on Change.org entitled THE LIFE OF BLACK, MENTALLY DISABLED MUSLIM PRISONER DARREN RAINEY DOES MATTER.
Harold Hempstead, a.k.a. Caged Crusader, Tennessee Dept. of Corrections, USA, April 2017
In January 2012 Dade C.I. staff started using a shower in Wing J3 of the Dade Correctional Institution Transitional Care Unit (TCU) that reached temperatures of more than 160 degrees Fahrenheit to torture mentally disabled inmates. Inmates who refused to do what staff said were placed in the shower and the water was turned on full hot with no cold. Inmate-patients placed in the shower for punishment would stand as close as they can to the shower door to avoid the hot water. What made the shower punishment wasn’t the hot water that they could avoid but the heat and steam from the shower they couldn’t avoid.
From January 2012 till June 23rd, 2012 several mentally disabled inmates were placed in the shower as punishment, each of them were placed in the shower one or more times. All the inmate-patients to some degree or another yelled, kicked the door, or made noises wanting to get out of the shower. The foregoing always happened on the 4:00pm till 11:00pm shift.
For the inmate-patients housed in Wing J3 of the TCU, the above happened so much it was considered normal.
I explained this numerous times to the MDPD and Federal Government. The Dade County State Attorney knew this. The reason why I’m explaining the following is because the Dade County Florida State Attorney contended in her 3/17/17 memorandum that the fact that the inmates only went to their cell windows a few times in Wing J3 on the night Rainey was killed, in essence showed nothing unusual was happening in the wing that night. She makes this assertion but fails to state in her memorandum that the reason why nothing unusual was happening in Wing J3 the night Rainey was killed was because it was normal for us inmates housed in J3 to hear inmate-patients in the shower for punishment, trying to get out of the shower.
Also, the Dade County State Attorney hopes that everybody doesn’t use common sense in realizing how it’s a common instinct for people who don’t want to get hurt to not make themselves seen when they’re in an area where somebody is getting hurt. If you’re in the area of where a person is severely hurting and killing a person and you could avoid being seen by the suspect, would you hide? Most people would. Does the Dade County State Attorney expect the witnesses to the Darren Rainey murder to have stood at their windows all night long and in essence tell the staff torturing Rainey “Hey, I’m watching you torture Darren Rainey?”
Anyone using reasoning when reading the Dade County Florida State Attorney’s 3/17/17 memorandum stating they aren’t going to prosecute Rainey’s killers will see that the State Attorney used unreasonable, trivial and frivolous reasons to attempt to attack the circumstances of what happened on the night Rainey was killed and etc..
If you have any information to show corruption with the Miami-Dade Police Department and/or Dade County Florida State Attorney’s Office, will you please share that information with us?
To: Theo Blackmore, Liberal Democrat Party, Penzance, West Cornwall, Britain.
Dear Theo,
I've known you for many years and I consider you a friend so I was happy to hear of you standing as a Liberal Democrat Party local councillor and thought you had a good chance of getting voted in. Back in February you came to my door with some of your Party colleagues, including a lady in a wheel-chair who I believe you said was a Baroness. We talked briefly and I took some literature from you and also briefly described my work on the Rainey case. Darren Rainey was the mentally-disabled Muslim who the Florida jail-guards Clarke and Thompson etc., steamed to death in a torture-chamber in the mental wing of Dade prison, Florida. Your colleagues were very interested in what I had to say on the Rainey case and it was agreed between us all that I would forward material on the case to the Baroness - via you.
I sent spent some time writing you an email with several links to information on this matter on 14th February.
Receiving no reply from you, I sent the same message on 15th March.
Receiving no reply from you, I sent a message on 18th March asking if you had received the others. I was using the email address from your propaganda leaflet, so presumably you monitor it.
Receiving no reply from you I re-sent the message of 18th March again on 20th March.
Receiving no reply from you I became somewhat pissed off.
Meeting you on the road some weeks back I explained all this to you and you said you would respond.
Receiving no response from you, I became disillusioned.
Voting day came round and you didn't get in, it was won by corrupt Tory Roger Harding, the car-salesman who chops down protected woodlands for a hobby. It seems doubly sad and ironic that Roger won. If only you had communicated with me as you said you would, you could have helped the human rights crisis in USA and I could have given you loads of dirt on Roger Harding. These people, these Tories, these Conservatives are so openly corrupt, it's quite easy to collect good evidence on them. I could have helped you demolish that corrupt joker, but instead, we're saddled with more years of right-wing, capitalist, austerity and general malaise. Shame.
From long years of unpaid political activism I've learned one thing. Most of your time, if you are a writer, rather than a thrower of bricks, is spent chasing evasive politicians who do not like to get embroiled in various human rights and legal conundrums and crises that people like me constantly throw at them. Rather than having the honesty to just say 'go away', most of these politicians will lead you into a time-wasting dance that can go on for years. This was well-known to Charles Dickens in the nineteenth century who devoted a chapter of Little Dorritt to the 'Circumlocution Office' of the British Government, where they basically just fuck you around and play little tricks on you... Well, while I'm dealing with the Circumlocution Office, people are getting their heads kicked in in Florida and in every state of the union where people are herded into cages like animals and tormented in the name of the law. They are dying of starvation, dehydration, injuries, medical neglect, medicinal poisonings and many other forms of torture, cruel, unusual, degrading and inhumane treatment. Which is why I hate having to spend hours writing chasing-messages to people who promise to respond and then fail to.
The information you said you would pass to your Party colleagues concerns an American prison that has descended to the level of a kind of death-camp. The State has already admitted liability in the case, including torture and multiple fatalities.
Since discussing this issue with you in February, the State of Florida has found 'no wrong-doing' in the killing of Darren Rainey. For those of us fighting to bring justice for a dead, black Muslim and the other disabled people and blind people being starved to death in the Amerikan prison system, the last thing we need is politicians wasting our time with false promises of help.
To earn the people's respect, and votes, politicians have to do what they say they are going to do.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Schanche
P.S. I made a critical remark about your politics to my mother who told me to "shut up" and slammed the phone down on me. She hasn't spoken to me since...
Read how Florida's 'Caged Crusader' speaks out courageously for the rights of the disabled inmates incarcerated in the Florida Department of Corrections. Harold Hempstead has been putting his safety in jeopardy to publicize the torture of mentally and physically disabled convicts by prison staff who are confident in getting away 'Scott' Free with their crimes - which include murder.
"From the beginning I explained to the Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) that Daniel Geiger was the first mentally disabled inmate placed in the shower (Rainey was killed in) as a torturing device, and easily the most mentally disabled inmate I witnessed get placed in the shower as punishment. Just prior to Geiger leaving the Dade C.I. TCU to go to Lake C.I. TCU I witnessed him eating his own faeces. I don’t believe Geiger was ever in touch with reality when I knew him in the Dade C.I. TCU.
In 2012 Geiger was transferred to Lake C.I. TCU. I was told that in the end of 2016 Geiger was found dead in the Lake C.I. TCU. I don’t know anything about Geiger’s death, I just know he died.
When I was reading the Dade County, Florida State Attorney’s 3/17/17 memorandum stating they aren’t going to prosecute Rainey’s killers, I noticed that it said that the MDPD attempted to interview Geiger. Page 36 of the State Attorney’s memorandum provides a synopsis of MDPD’s attempt to interview Geiger. The synopsis says Geiger appeared despondent, that Geiger didn’t appear to fully understand the questions and that he was adamant that he was never incarcerated at Dade C.I., but this synopsis contends that the interview was done at Dade C.I. In other words, Geiger didn’t know he was at Dade C.I. when the interview was being done. (I guess Geiger returned from Lake C.I. to Dade C.I. sometime prior to this interview and sometime after this interview he transferred to Lake C.I. again.)
By reading this synopsis on page 36 of the Dade County Florida State Attorney’s memorandum, you can see that Geiger was severely mentally disabled when the MDPD tried to talk with him. However this fact didn’t stop the Dade County State Attorney from citing Geiger like she was citing a mentally-stable man. To be specific, on page 69, first paragraph, last sentence of the State Attorney’s memorandum it states “Geiger said he was unaware of the shower being used for punishment or torture.”
Do you think it’s right that the Dade County Florida State Attorney cited Geiger like he was a stable inmate? Let’s think about this: when the MDPD interviewed Geiger at Dade C.I. they said he appeared despondent, did not appear to fully understand the questions and was adamant that he was never incarcerated at Dade C.I. To me it’s outrageous that the State Attorney cited Geiger like he was mentally stable. The mentally unstable shouldn’t have their words used against them, and they should be given more protection because they are mentally unstable.
Do you believe it’s right for the police to ask severely mentally disabled people if they were victimized and when they give some kind of answer that can be interpreted as ‘no,’ that the police and State Attorney use that answer against them and let the suspect get away that harmed them? Shouldn’t the police and State Attorney use witnesses and other types of evidence to prove the crime(s)?
Another thing that I find outrageous is not only that the State Attorney cited a mentally unstable man like he was stable, but she also cited a dead man. Yes, Daniel Geiger died several months prior to the State Attorney releasing their memorandum.
If you look at Martin Christianson’s statement on page 41 of the State Attorney’s memorandum you’ll read that the State Attorney told us what Christianson’s statement was, but also told us that Christianson was deceased. The State Attorney didn’t tell anybody that Geiger was deceased. Why do you think the State Attorney did this?
Harold Hempstead, a.k.a. Caged Crusader, a.k.a. Miami Harold - Tennessee D.C., April 2017
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A few thoughts on the above, by Jeremy Schanche. I strongly believe that those convicted of crimes should be treated in accordance with the law. I don't approve of every law, or every sentence handed down, but the principal of the rule of law is vital, and is central to democracy and free society. Convicts should be protected from arbitrary, cruel and unusual punishment, which obviously would include starvation and torture, by any means. This is in accordance with the law.
Those who feel that the law is either too lenient or too oppressive in any instance can seek redress through various channels including courts of law, lobbying political leaders, engaging in activism and outreach, protesting, exercising your free speech, attempting to influence people through media, writing, publications, etc.. if you're lucky enough to live in a so-called democracy, that is.
The reality does not live up to the ideal, or the legal entity and is failing countless inmates, who suffer extremely cruel but all-too-usual punishments that constitute torture. Again and again I ask myself when someone is going to call in the UN - I know they've already been involved at Pelican Bay prison in California where sleep-deprivation was policy.
Daniel Geiger was deeply disturbed and not only was he not getting the medical help that might have led towards his eventual rehabilitation, he was being tortured, and starved, systematically along with others, in a Florida prison of the twenty-first century.
The notorious 'Shower-Treatment' that has cast such an oppressive shadow over Dade Correctional Institution sine 2012, was actually devised for and tested on Daniel Geiger. He was tortured in the super-heated steam on at least two occasions, if not more. He was also known to be starved and lost a dramatic and dangerous amount of his body-weight in Dade, as did others. To my knowledge, so far, at least six witnesses to the shower-torture at Dade C.I. have already died, through various causes. How many are still left alive, I wonder?
Daniel Geiger was extremely noisy and shouted continuously, day and night. Rather than get him appropriate medical treatment, he was cynically used by guards as a weapon. They would place him in cells next to inmates they wished to sign out of the TCU. This was essentially using a deranged and tormented soul as a pawn, a mere tool to apply leverage to other inmate-patients who were seeking medical help in the Transitional Care Unit.
To me this represents an incredible degree of callousness, using an acutely suffering man to influence the behaviour of other intensely suffering inmate-patients.
Geiger was so deranged that he was known to eat his own shit and he would not accept the fact that he was even in Dade prison, yet, Katherine Fernandez Rundle and the MDPD got him to say he was not aware of any torture at Dade TCU - even though he himself was starved and tortured there.
So a deranged man who was starved and tortured was interviewed by police, presumably without a lawyer present, and supposedly gave reliable testimony that he knew of no torture being practiced. This was in an environment that the guards referred to as 'Auschwitz' as they greeted new arrivals and told them, "we kill guys here and get away with it..." and yet Geiger's 'statement' to the MDPD detectives who got him in that room, is considered reliable evidence by the police and the Miami-Dade State Attorney, Katherine Fernandez Rundle. Reliable enough to disprove any ridiculous stories of torture and abuse, that is.
And as Harold Hempstead points out, she was also using the words of a dead man to her own advantage, without bothering to inform people following the case that he even was dead.
An increasing number of witnesses to the torture at Dade C.I. have been dropping dead in dubious circumstances, inmate-witnesses to the torture and killing that she's gone on a long, circuitous and futile journey to try to deny, Katherine Fernandez Rundle would prefer to try and bury this fact along with so many others, after all, it's what she does best.
On 6/23/12 when Darren Rainey was murdered the MDPD was assigned to investigate said murder. On that same day the MDPD assigned case number : 1206 23238979MDPD as the MDPD case number for the Rainey murder.
MDPD and Miami-Dade County Florida State Attorney records will show that from 6/23/12 till June 2014, the MDPD didn’t conduct any investigations into the Rainey murder.
All law enforcement officials are taught to not postpone investigating a case. Why? Because as time passes evidence is destroyed or lost, witnesses die and their memories get worse. All law enforcement officials know that as time passes the chances of proven the crime decrease. The MDPD detectives assigned to the Rainey case knew the foregoing and they still refused to investigate the Rainey case. Why do you think the MDPD refused to investigate the Rainey case for approximately two years, knowing that as time progress the chance of proving the case decrease? I cannot think of any valid legal or moral reason for the MDPD doing the foregoing. The only logical reason I can think of as to why the MDPD would do the foregoing was that the MDPD detectives assigned to the Rainey case believed they had more important cases to investigate. The Rainey murder wasn’t important to the MDPD detectives assigned to the case. Why wasn’t it important to them? I believe it was because of who Darren Rainey was. Rainey was a poor, black, mentally disabled Muslim prisoner, in prison for possession of a small amount of drugs. To the MDPD nobody cared about Rainey’s murder apart from some convicted burglar serving 165 years in prison. Since nobody in society cared about Rainey’s murder, why would they care about it! To the MDPD detectives assigned to the Rainey case, Rainey was a nobody. If you order the MDPD rules for investigations and the MDPD Homicide Department Standard Operating Procedures For Investigations, you’ll see the MDPD detectives assigned to the Rainey case violated their own rules in not starting an investigation into the Rainey case until almost two years after Rainey’s murder.
Now I’d like to address what actually caused the MDPD to actually start investigating the Rainey murder. If you go to the Miami Herald newspaper internet site and read the first Miami Herald article published on the Rainey murder on 5/18/14, and read all their articles that mention Rainey’s name until about the second week of June 2014, you’ll see it was the media that caused the MDPD to do their job and start investigating the Rainey murder. Yes the only thing that caused the MDPD to do their job and investigate the Rainey murder was the Miami Herald publishing several articles on how the MDPD was refusing to investigate the brutal murder of Rainey that happened almost two years earlier.
MDPD and Dade County Florida State Attorney records will prove that absolutely nothing was done to investigate the Rainey murder from June 2012 till June 2014. Please investigate what I’m saying. Also, please read the May and June 2014 Miami Herald articles and you’ll see how they mention the MDPD not investigating the Rainey case. I believe this should show the people of Dade County, Florida and the World that certain types of people’s lives don’t matter to the MDPD. If you’re poor your life don’t matter to the MDPD. If you’re black your life don’t matter to the MDPD. If you’re mentally disabled your life don’t matter to the MDPD. If you’re Muslim your life don’t matter to the MDPD. If you’re a prisoner your life don’t matter to the MDPD. If you’re anything else your life might not matter to the MDPD.
My friends, I’ve told people over these years that by taking a stand asking for justice for the murder of Rainey, I’m not just taking a stand for Rainey, I’m taking a stand for the value of life for all people. By saying Rainey’s life mattered we’re saying all lives matter. In other words, a quest for one is a quest for all. Please join us in our quest to show that Darren Rainey’s life mattered and that all lives matter.
THE LAWYERS AND
OFFICIALS WHO TACITLY SAID THERE WAS ENOUGH EVIDENCE TO PROVE THE ABUSE AND
TORTURING OF MENTALLY DISABLED INMATES IN THE DADE C.I. TCU.
In the end of 2014,
Disability Rights Florida filed a 42 USC 1983 Civil Rights complaint lawsuit
against Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) Secretary Michael Crews, FDC
and Wexford Health Sources Inc. This
lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court, for the Southern District
of Florida, Miami Division and assigned case number 1 : 14 – CV – 23323.
If you google ‘Pacer’
on the internet and go to the Pacer site, you can use the Pacer service to read
this lawsuit and all the filings on it.
I ask that you please do this because if you do you’ll read the
following:
The actual complaint
that was filed in this class-action lawsuit mentions in some detail the shower
in the Dade C.I. TCU that was used as a torturing device to punish mentally
disabled inmates, it mentions the murder of Darren Rainey and it mentions how
inmates were physically abused and denied food in the Dade C.I. TCU as a form
of punishment. I haven’t read this
lawsuit in over a year, but I believe these are the only circumstances the
lawsuit mentioned.
The court documents
you read on this case will further show that the defendants (FDC Secretary,
FDC, and Wexford Health Sources Inc.) in this lawsuit agreed to settle it with
Disability Rights Florida in favour of Disability Rights Florida within a year
of the lawsuit being filed.
A review of the
settlement offer in this lawsuit will show that the changes the defendants
agreed to make to the Dade C.I. TCU were the types of changes the defendants
would of only agreed to if they knew the torturing and abuses mentioned in the
actual lawsuit happened. Please read
this lawsuit, the filings in this lawsuit and the settlement. You’ll see what I’m saying is accurate.
Now why would these
defendants agree to settle a class action lawsuit and institute several changes
in the Dade C.I. TCU that cost these defendants substantial money to institute,
if the circumstances stated in the actual lawsuit were not true? The answer to this question is obvious. They wouldn’t have. The FDC Secretary, FDC and Wexford Health
Sources Inc. knew the shower was being used as a torturing device to punish
mentally disabled inmates, these defendants knew that Darren Rainey was killed,
these defendants knew mentally disabled inmates were being physically abused
and denied food in the Dade C.I. TCU as a form of punishment; and these defendants knew that the mentally
disabled inmates in the Dade C.I. TCU were being subjected to cruel and unusual
punishment. The defendants knew these
things were factual so they agreed to the settlement.
The settlement in the
foregoing class action lawsuit was obtained in 2015. The Dade County State Attorney had from 2012 till
March 17, 2017 to find ways to twist all the evidence relating to abuse and
torturing in the Dade C.I. TCU and the murder of Darren Rainey.
Isn’t it outrageous
that the lawyers representing FDC’s Secretary, FDC and Wexford Health Sources,
Inc. all knew there was enough evidence in this lawsuit to settle it in favour
of those who sued them and the Miami Federal District Court accepted that
settlement, based on the lawyers tacitly recognizing the evidence and agreeing
to settle, but the Dade County State Attorney now tells the people of Florida
and the World she’s not going to prosecute?
What is the obvious real reason why State Attorney Katherine Rundle
decided to not prosecute Rainey’s killers?
It is the same reason her office has chose to not prosecute any law
enforcement official for killing an African American in Dade County,
Florida. To simply state it: Black Lives don’t Matter to Dade County State
Attorney Ms Rundle.
I believe that it is
obvious that the law enforcement officials in Dade County Florida know that if
they unlawfully kill an African American they don’t have to worry about being
prosecuted. Dade County State Attorney
Ms Rundle will protect them.
What is happening to
the foundation our country was built on?
What is happening to our country?
You say, “well this stuff doesn’t affect me now.” As things continue to get worse, you will one
day be affected by the racism and hatred that is happening in these times. Why don’t you, with peace, love and wisdom, take
action now and maybe you won’t be affected?
I believe Black Lives and all Lives mater. What do you believe and do your actions
support what you say you believe?
At the Judge Rotenberg Centre in Massachusetts, autistic children and adults are controlled with a harrowing series of techniques such as repeated electrocution. Two people have already died at this noturious institution, and we urge you to raise your voice in protest at this brutality by signing the petition.
I'm Jeremy Schanche, British artist and activist. This blog features my paper, The Limpet. Here I write about human rights, the environment and politics. Please see my articles about Harold Hempstead and Florida Department of Corrections, with more at Harold Hempstead Caged Crusader Wordpress.com.
I have another blog that's completely different - it's where you'll find The Caterpillar, a journal of collage, poetry and surrealism that is remixed as The Caterpillar Dub - the world's first Dub newspaper. Both of these can be found at:
http://yecaterpillar.blogspot.com.
In October 2024 I published my first paperback book of fiction - The Horned Whale or An Morvil Kornek by Jeremy Schanche - available at various bookshops and at Amazon.
ISBN: 9780993490903.
175,710 words.
£15.
Contains the mystery novel - The Kramvil, plus two novellas, poetry and glossaries.
