{"id":3938,"date":"2010-10-10T16:02:23","date_gmt":"2010-10-10T21:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=3938"},"modified":"2010-10-10T16:02:23","modified_gmt":"2010-10-10T21:02:23","slug":"jamil-abdullah-al-amin-an-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=3938","title":{"rendered":"Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin: An Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

[When Jamil Al-Amin<\/a> who had been transformed from the fiery proponent of violence into the man credited with cleaning up Atlanta’s crime-ridden West End by his conversion to Islam was arrested for “cop-killing” the Muslim community was stunned and suspicious of a frame-up. Recent shocking developments in the handling of his incarceration outlined by human rights activist Mauri Saalakhan below suggest that we must continue to press for the truth in this matter to emerge.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin:\u00c2\u00a0 An\u00c2\u00a0 Update <\/strong><\/p>\n

On Thursday, August 2, 2007, the public learned that\u00c2\u00a0 Jamil Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, no longer was in the custody of\u00c2\u00a0 the State of Georgia; he had\u00c2\u00a0 been moved, without notification to his attorneys or family members, from the\u00c2\u00a0 Georgia State Prison at Reidsville, Georgia into the custody of the\u00c2\u00a0 Federal Bureau of Prisons.\u00c2\u00a0 Information provided to the press indicated that Mr. Al-Amin was moved to\u00c2\u00a0 Oklahoma City and then within a day to the ADMAX\u00c2\u00a0 federal prison in Florence,\u00c2\u00a0 Colorado.\u00c2\u00a0 It was only on August 15, 2007 that he\u00c2\u00a0 was able to inform his attorneys that he was moved from Reidsville State Prison\u00c2\u00a0 to the Atlanta Medical Center, in Atlanta, for two days of exploratory tests for\u00c2\u00a0 chest pains.\u00c2\u00a0 He then was moved to\u00c2\u00a0 Georgia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Jackson State\u00c2\u00a0 Prison before Georgia handed him over to the\u00c2\u00a0 Federal Bureau of Prisons.\u00c2\u00a0 Once in\u00c2\u00a0 federal custody, Mr. Al-Amin was moved to Oklahoma\u00c2\u00a0 City and then moved to his final destination\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Supermax\u00e2\u20ac\u009d federal\u00c2\u00a0 prison in Florence,\u00c2\u00a0 Colorado, to be held in 23-hour\u00c2\u00a0 lockdown.<\/p>\n

Mr. Al-Amin has three legal actions pending.\u00c2\u00a0 The transfer to federal custody in a\u00c2\u00a0 facility over 1,400 miles away removes him from the Georgia area\u00c2\u00a0 where family and friends would be able to visit on a regular basis.\u00c2\u00a0 The move continues to isolate him from\u00c2\u00a0 other inmates and the opportunity to worship with others, and it further imposes\u00c2\u00a0 harsh conditions which Mr. Al-Amin challenged while incarcerated in the\u00c2\u00a0 Georgia prison system.<\/p>\n

Attorneys questioned the Georgia Department of\u00c2\u00a0 Corrections as to the reason for Mr. Al-Amin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s transfer to federal custody, even\u00c2\u00a0 though he has not been charged or convicted of a federal crime.\u00c2\u00a0 Devon Orland, Department of Law, State\u00c2\u00a0 of Georgia, responded:\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The decision to transfer Mr. Al-Amin was made in conjunction with\u00c2\u00a0 the federal government and was based upon legitimate security concerns.\u00c2\u00a0 As for the specific events that led to his transfer I am not at\u00c2\u00a0 liberty to discuss those but can tell you that there were legitimate security\u00c2\u00a0 concerns. Neither I, nor anyone with the Department of Corrections\u00c2\u00a0 has control over where Mr. Al-Amin will be housed within the federal\u00c2\u00a0 system.\u00c2\u00a0 He will be subject to\u00c2\u00a0 the same rules for transfer as any other prisoner within that\u00c2\u00a0 system and you will need to check with them as to his current status,\u00c2\u00a0 likelihood of his being housed within Georgia and rules regarding attorney\u00c2\u00a0 contact and legal mail.\u00c2\u00a0 Mr.\u00c2\u00a0 Al-Amin is in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons but is\u00c2\u00a0 under a State of Georgia prison sentence so \u00e2\u20ac\u0153responsibility\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is hard to define out\u00c2\u00a0 of context. The Bureau of Prisons is responsible for the care and incarceration\u00c2\u00a0 of Mr. Al-Amin if that\u00c2\u00a0 is the question you are asking\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Pending Litigation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Habeas\u00c2\u00a0 Corpus:\u00c2\u00a0 Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin v. Hugh\u00c2\u00a0 Smith<\/em>. On November 14, 2005, counsel for Mr. Al-Amin filed a\u00c2\u00a0 Habeas Corpus in the Superior Court of Tattnall County, State of Georgia.\u00c2\u00a0 The habeas corpus action cited 14\u00c2\u00a0 grounds for reversal of Mr. Al-Amin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s conviction and sentence of life without\u00c2\u00a0 parole. Grounds presented included\u00c2\u00a0 ineffective assistance of counsel based on the failure of trial counsel to:\u00c2\u00a0 request a change of venue due to negative publicity; permit Mr. Al-Amin to\u00c2\u00a0 testify in his own defense; investigate the confession of an individual;\u00c2\u00a0 challenge the issue of the prosecution striking all persons from the jury who\u00c2\u00a0 indicated an affiliation to Muslims; failure of the prosecution to provide\u00c2\u00a0 discovery to the defense; inappropriate statements made by the prosecution\u00c2\u00a0 regarding the failure of Mr. Al-Amin to testify, and his courtroom conduct by\u00c2\u00a0 not standing for the jury as members entered the courtroom. Other grounds included error on the part of the judge by\u00c2\u00a0 denying Mr. Al-Amin the right to counsel of his choice by eliminating all but\u00c2\u00a0 one of his four trial lawyers from participating in voir dire of the jury; the\u00c2\u00a0 opportunity to present favorable evidence and testimony; and the opportunity to\u00c2\u00a0 raise prior misconduct of an FBI agent.<\/p>\n

The habeas also challenges the government sponsored oath\u00c2\u00a0 taken by the grand and petit jurors and witnesses which resulted in a conflict\u00c2\u00a0 between religious practices and state function in violation of the Establishment\u00c2\u00a0 Clause and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.\u00c2\u00a0 Counsel also addressed the issue of\u00c2\u00a0 violation of the 6th and 14th Amendments based on jury\u00c2\u00a0 selection procedures. Attorneys and investigators worked during 2006 to\u00c2\u00a0 identify witnesses and obtain documents to present during a scheduled February\u00c2\u00a0 27, 2007 habeas hearing.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The\u00c2\u00a0 hearing was held and attorneys currently continue to take depositions and to\u00c2\u00a0 supplement the habeas brief before the judge assigned to the case renders a\u00c2\u00a0 decision.\u00c2\u00a0 The attorneys received\u00c2\u00a0 the habeas hearing transcript and trial record free of charge after the judge\u00c2\u00a0 approved pauper status requested by Mr. Al-Amin.\u00c2\u00a0 After depositions are taken and\u00c2\u00a0 presented to the Court, the judge is expected to make a decision whether Mr.\u00c2\u00a0 Al-Amin is entitled to a new trial based on evidence presented.<\/p>\n

From a cell at the Florence, Colorado ADMAX federal prison, Mr. Al-Amin\u00c2\u00a0 continues to challenge the State of Georgia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s prison system through the filing of two \u00c2\u00a7 1983 actions.<\/p>\n

Opening Legal\u00c2\u00a0 Mail: Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin v. Hugh\u00c2\u00a0 Smith and Sanchez-Martin:<\/em> This action was filed to challenge the warden and staff\u00c2\u00a0 of the Georgia\u00c2\u00a0 State Prison at Reidsville for opening legal mail outside\u00c2\u00a0 of Mr. Al-Amin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s presence sent from Attorney Karima Al-Amin.\u00c2\u00a0 In November 2004, the Department of\u00c2\u00a0 Corrections ruled that Reidsville violated standard operating procedures by\u00c2\u00a0 opening mail clearly marked \u00e2\u20ac\u0153legal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from Mr. Al-Amin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wife who is an attorney\u00c2\u00a0 licensed to practice law in Georgia.\u00c2\u00a0 Opening legal mail outside of an inmate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s presence is a First Amendment\u00c2\u00a0 violation as well as a violation of the attorney-client privilege. The District Court ruled that Georgia\u00c2\u00a0 continued to open Mr. Al-Amin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s legal\u00c2\u00a0 mail from Attorney Karima Al-Amin in violation of its\u00c2\u00a0 standard operating procedures.\u00c2\u00a0 The\u00c2\u00a0 State of Georgia appealed the decision to the\u00c2\u00a0 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Court appointed counsel from\u00c2\u00a0 the law firm of Kilpatrick Stockton, LLP, to argue Mr. Al-Amin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case.\u00c2\u00a0 Argument was held on September 20, 2007\u00c2\u00a0 resulting in the 11th Circuit ruling, on January 7, 2008, that the\u00c2\u00a0 Reidsville warden and staff violated Mr. Al-Amin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s First Amendment rights by\u00c2\u00a0 opening legal mail from Attorney Karima Al-Amin outside of his presence.\u00c2\u00a0 The State appealed to the\u00c2\u00a0 11th Circuit for a rehearing, and the Court denied the appeal.\u00c2\u00a0 The State subsequently filed its writ to\u00c2\u00a0 the U.S. Supreme Court, which was denied on October 6, 2008.\u00c2\u00a0 The pro bono attorneys from Kilpatrick\u00c2\u00a0 Stockton are preparing for trial and will explore challenging the Prison\u00c2\u00a0 Litigation Reform Act, which prevents Mr. Al-Amin from receiving punitive\u00c2\u00a0 damages.\u00c2\u00a0 Attorneys further are\u00c2\u00a0 exploring filing a separate action challenging Reidsville\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s effort to infringe\u00c2\u00a0 on Mr. Al-Amin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right to practice his religion while incarcerated.\u00c2\u00a0 This action would be a RLUIPA<\/a> claim.<\/p>\n

Retaliation\u00c2\u00a0 Lawsuit:<\/em> This action addressed Reidsville\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s past 23-hour lockdown\u00c2\u00a0 confinement of Mr. Al-Amin, retaliatory actions, and the transfer to the ADMAX\u00c2\u00a0 federal prison in Florence,\u00c2\u00a0 Colorado.\u00c2\u00a0 The State of Georgia\u00c2\u00a0 transferred Mr. Al-Amin based on a March 1990 Agreement between the Georgia\u00c2\u00a0 Department of Corrections and the Federal Bureau of Prisons to house a state\u00c2\u00a0 inmate upon request.<\/p>\n

This transfer more than 1,400 miles\u00c2\u00a0 from his legal counsel at a time when lawsuits are pending in Georgia took place without notification to Mr. Al-Amin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attorneys or family members,\u00c2\u00a0 even though his habeas and lawsuits were pending.\u00c2\u00a0 The retaliation lawsuit also addressed\u00c2\u00a0 efforts to prevent Mr. Al-Amin from freely exercising his right to practice his\u00c2\u00a0 religion in the Georgia prison system. A new retaliation lawsuit will be filed now that all\u00c2\u00a0 administrative remedies have been exhausted.\u00c2\u00a0 The new legal action will present the\u00c2\u00a0 same challenges as the previous retaliation lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Although the Federal Bureau of Prisons\u00c2\u00a0 maintains it will return Mr. Al-Amin to Georgia upon Georgia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s request, Georgia is\u00c2\u00a0 refusing to seek his return.\u00c2\u00a0 We see the\u00c2\u00a0 transfer out of the State of Georgia to a federal institution that operates a\u00c2\u00a0 behavior modification program is seen as a punitive action on the part of the\u00c2\u00a0 government and welcome assistance<\/a> to petition for a change\u00c2\u00a0 to a neighboring federal facility or Georgia prison, and out of the SUPERMAX conditions.<\/p>\n

El-Hajj Mauri’ Saalakhan
\nDirector of Operations
\nThe Peace And Justice Foundation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[When Jamil Al-Amin who had been transformed from the fiery proponent of violence into the man credited with cleaning up Atlanta’s crime-ridden West End by his conversion to Islam was arrested for “cop-killing” the Muslim community was stunned and suspicious of a frame-up. Recent shocking developments in the handling of his incarceration outlined by human […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3938"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3942,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938\/revisions\/3942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}