Oregon Political Prisoner Being Stripped of Phone Use

"A political prisoner is someone held in prison or otherwise detained, perhaps under house arrest, for his or her involvement in political activity" - Wikipedia

(SALEM, Ore.) - The story of an Oregon prison inmate who helped bust a state orchestrated act of Whistleblower retaliation has taken a turn for the worse. State officials say they will strip Terrence Kimble of his phone privileges and place him in the 'hole' again as he continues surviving a pattern of what clearly appears to be official misconduct and corruption.

We have written about inmate Terrence Kimble several times. He helped a former prison guard who is also African-American, William Coleman, expose a mail tampering crime that involved a guard's racial scrawls on a People Magazine story about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's adoption of a black child.

It took some effort, but Coleman was able to get the magazine out of the prison. It later would become part of his defense in a trial he never expected, for crimes he never committed.

For exposing the situation with the magazine, Kimble was transferred to the Snake River Correctional Institute (SRCI) hundreds of miles across the state, in eastern Oregon, "Cowboy Country", as it is known in DOC speak. Kimble says he was sent there in retaliation, after reporting the racial incident at Oregon State Prison (OSP) in Salem.

Kimble's real mistake? Being willing to expose the mail crime and later, agreeing to testify in court on behalf of William Coleman, who the state would later unsuccessfully frame on very serious charges.

In the wake of this inmate's advocacy for a former prison guard who blew the whistle on racism, he has watched his life go from bad to worse.

Honesty has no apparent rewards or merits in this correctional system that is supposedly based on honor and integrity. In fact if it ever existed in Oregon, it must have fled the building long ago; years before the Murder of Oregon Corrections Chief Michael Francke in 1989, who was hired expressly by the Oregon Governor to rid the state's prisons of rampant corruption.

When it comes to Kimble's story, anyone can read the arrest report that landed this man in prison for 19 years on a sex abuse charge, and clearly see that it is impossible Kimble committed the crime he was accused of. The man's life appears to be a series of false accusations. Perhaps his biggest mistake was moving to Oregon from California where he trusted the system to be just and fair.

The alleged underage 'rape' victim had never engaged in sex, according to emergency room doctors in Eugene who examined her after the alleged crime. The girl told the ER physician she had not engaged in sex with anyone. Kimble, who reportedly is an extremely well endowed male, would certainly have left evidence.

So, as we report on this man being falsely convicted, surviving a violent physical attack from law enforcement, and having his federal mail tampered with by state DOC officials; we learn that the staff at the Snake River Correctional Institute are now trying to strip Terrence Kimble of his telephone privileges.

"Ongoing contact with supportive family and friends is an important part of inmates’ success in prison and upon release. The Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) is committed to providing the best possible inmate telephone service at the most reasonable cost per call."

Of course the problem is that Kimble talks to William Coleman, and it screams of more Whistleblower retaliation. Coleman could write a book about it. Fortunately that honor has been directed to me.

A three way call is a conversation involving more than two telephone lines. Never was a third line involved, Coleman says. He believes the threats and possible disciplinary charges are an effort at minimum, to prevent Kimble from communicating information that damages the DOC's illegal political patterns.

Coleman says Capt. Tom Watson and Oregon DOC Security Manager Al Hannon, are conspiring to maintain a harassment campaign against Kimble. Hannon has recently approached Kimble and asked, "So what's up with Coleman?" Both Coleman and Kimble believe the DOC is paying close attention to this ongoing news series on prison corruption, and doing everything possible to keep these men from communicating.

At stake are big lawsuits and legal culpability on the part of Oregon Corrections, Oregon State Police, the Marion County District Attorney's office, and several other local agencies that tried in vain to convict Coleman of a series of crimes he had nothing to do with.

Our investigation reveals that they remained motionless and silent during the exposure of racism, but moved quickly and in unison to send Coleman to prison on charges that we now know for certain, were without merit.

Officials at Snake River accuse Kimble of making a three-way call on 28 October 2010 around 6:11 p.m. Kimble says at the time of this accusation, he was in the chow hall, as he is generally at that time.

The prison day room doesn't open until 6:30 or 6:45 p.m., so seems impossible that he could have made the phone call at that specific time.

Kimble was written up a month later, on 28 November 2010, by a Lieutenant named K. Jackson. The writeup was placed in what is known as a hearing box.

"When Kimble calls from the prison he calls his personal cell phone at his sister's house, his sister calls me, and puts Kimble's cell phone on speaker phone alone with hers, that way I can hear him a little clearly."

Coleman continued, "I can never speak directly to Kimble; when we do this his sister interprets most of the conversations between myself and Kimble. The prison phone recording will prove that Kimble's sister tells me what Kimble is saying to me."

"This is clearly a two way call using a speaker phone- it is no crime. Phone records will clearly prove it's no three way call, and DOC has no proof of three way calling. It's impossible for Kimble to do three way calling from the inside. I have communicated with Kimble this way for months and now DOC wants to play their games."

"The Oregon DOC is threatening to take Kimble's pin number away so he can't communicate with me. Kimble stated to me he been in prison since 2000 never been written up for phone violations, he say DOC is trying hard to stop our communications," Coleman said.

It seems apparent from our ongoing investigation of this matter, that the state is trying to prevent Kimble from talking to Coleman.

"I've been in here ten years and I've never had a phone violation." In the last conversation that was relayed to Coleman, Kimble related how a Capt. Tom Watson tried to hang a heroin-related death on Coleman.

"Watson said I would never be able to prove racism, over and over, and Watson was the one who sent homicide detectives to Kimble at Snake River, saying they tried to get him to say I was the one who brought the heroin in that led to an inmate death."

Coleman says Watson was a source of many problems at the state prison in Salem. "All he ever had to do, was be honest and do the right thing", Coleman said.

"In addition to contraband (cigarette) smuggling charges, Oregon wanted to charge me with an inmate drug death, I now find out", Coleman says.

He says Watson is the staff official who told him to "stay out of inmate's affairs" after Coleman complained about a movie on Adolf Hitler being played for inmates.

We have revealed in previous reports that Oregon State Police interviewed at least 2,000 inmates while trying to build a case against Coleman. Ultimately, detectives found two convicts, members of a known white supremest gang, willing to say Coleman smuggled cigarettes to inmates.

As he approached his trial, Coleman knew he faced a 40-year prison sentence if convicted. Still, rather than take one of several plea bargains, Coleman took his case to a jury, who found him not guilty of all 15 counts, unanimously. The state's case was a complete and total failure. What Oregon's DOC inadvertently did, was make Coleman's allegations against the state extremely credible.

If it were not for the integrity of Terrence Kimble, William Coleman likely would have been convicted and sent up the river for decades on bogus 'cigarette smuggling' charges. For Coleman, the knowledge of Kimble's kangaroo court conviction, coupled with his willingness to testify for a former guard, as a prison inmate, makes for a maddening situation.

"It is frustrating, he's doing all he can to see big effective change, and they are waiting to foil him at every stop," Coleman said.

Inmate calls are expensive, and families have a hard time meeting the cost of this communication. Coleman says the cell phone speaker call is not a crime, nor is it a three way call.

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Joe Brady December 10, 2010 4:07 pm (Pacific time)

Great Job on this one.

Silence Dogood December 4, 2010 8:53 am (Pacific time)

Moral to story: Be careful no to make a claim in state courts, so as to protect jurisdiction for a federal civil rights complaint. Federal Statute was passed by Congress on April 20, 1871 and provides as follows: "Every person who, under color of statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of any State or Territory, subjects or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress." Jurisdiction is provided at 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3). Pertinent case for violation Oregon prisoner rights (retaliation and failure to protect) see 10th U.S. District Judge Kane wrote in 1980 (Ramos v. Lamm, supra, 639 F.2d at 572-73):

JB December 1, 2010 8:31 pm (Pacific time)

This is breaking news, according to the DOC website he is in prison for being a rapist.

Editor: That would be interesting, he certainly was charged with being a rapist, but not convicted of that crime. When the victim has never engaged in sex, the charge becomes very hard to prove. There are, if you don't know, very definitive ways of determining a young female's sexual history, if you know what I mean. So in summary, he is serving time for Sex Abuse and Attempted Rape, not Rape.

From the DOC Website:

Docket Number	County	Crime	Sentence Type	Begin Date	Termination Date
200024274/01	LANE	SEX ABUSE 1 NEW	Inmate Sentence	05/08/2001	03/10/2007
200024274/02	LANE	SEX ABUSE 1 NEW	Inmate Sentence	05/08/2001	-
200024274/03	LANE	SEX ABUSE 1 NEW	Inmate Sentence	05/08/2001	-
200024274/04	LANE	SEX ABUSE 1 NEW	Inmate Sentence	05/08/2001	03/10/2007
200024274/07	LANE	RAPE I ATTEMPT	Inmate Sentence	05/08/2001	04/10/2003
200024274/08	LANE	RAPE II ATTEMPT	Inmate Sentence	05/08/2001	02/07/2002
200024274/10	LANE	WEAPON USE UNLAWFUL	Inmate Sentence	05/08/2001	02/07/2002

Yes, all of those charges and convictions stemming from one unproven incident, crazy isn't it? A white man would never have been convicted in this way or sentenced to 19 years. Welcome to Oregon, land of absolute 'good ol' boy' injustice for African Americans.

Joe Vigil December 1, 2010 1:19 pm (Pacific time)

Great writing.Great article. DOC in Oregon needs a clean-up. Maybe the Governor-Elect will take an interest in this injustice.

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