NV-CURE (Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants) 540 E. St. Louis Avenue Las Vegas, NV 89104

702.347.1731(PRE-PAID) website: nevadacure.org email: [email protected]

“STRUGGLE IN SOLIDARITY” “The cruelest tyranny is practiced behind the shield of law and order”

INFORMATIONAL BULLETIN NEWSLETTER June 2015

No.12 several more weeks before they begin answering letters again. We are sorry for the delay. We know your letters are important and we want to be able to help. Be patient. Thank you.

New NV-CURE Board of Directors and Officer NV-CURE has a new Board of Directors and Officers. Former Board Members Travis Barrick, Flo Jones and Michelle Ravell retired from the Board and a total of nine (9) people were nominated to run for the seven (7) Member Board of Directors. The seven (7) people with the most votes from our Voting Members elected to our Board of Directors were: John Witherow, Natalie Smith, Annabelle Parker, Sharnel Silvey, Craig Caples, Chris Raimonda and Richard Simons. After the election results were determined, the following persons were appointed to the following positions: John Witherow, President; Sharnel Silvey, Vice President; Craig Caples, Vice President; Natalie Smith, Secretary; Michelle Ravell, Treasurer; and Annabelle Parker, Webmaster. Congratulations to our new Board of Directors and Officers. We are confident all will do a fine job and we are looking forward to working together to continue the great work performed by our former Board and Officers. Thank you for a job well done.

Prisoner Legislative Action The following is a summary of legislation passed in the 2015 legislative session that affects prisoners. It is short, and NV-CURE is disappointed in the lack of interest in the prison and parole systems by Nevada legislators. NV-CURE had a bill introduced by Senator Tick Segerblom that would have required an independent correctional ombudsman be appointed by the legislature, but, unfortunately, that bill did not even get a hearing. AB 267 amends NRS 176 to eliminate life without the possibility of parole for a person who committed a crime before the age of 18. The maximum penalty that may be imposed is life with the possibility of parole. Section 2 of the bill further requires the Court to consider the differences between juvenile and adult offenders in determining an appropriate sentence to be imposed on a person who is convicted as an adult for an offense that was committed when he or she was less than 18 years old. Furthermore, a prisoner who was sentenced as an adult for an offense that was committed when he or she was less than 1y years of age is eligible for parole as follows: (a) for a prisoner who is serving a period of incarceration for having been convicted of an offense or offenses that did not result in the death of a victim, after the prisoner has served 15 calendar years of incarceration including any time served in a county jail; (b) For a prisoner who is serving period of incarceration for

Apology for Mail Answering Delay NV-CURE apologizes to all prisoners that have sent us mail over the past six (6) months that we have not answered. The people that normally answer that mail have been in the process of moving from Michigan to California and have not had access during portions of that time to their computers, the internet and the materials needed to respond to those letters. They are now in their new house – but are in the process of remodeling the interior to their desire. Therefore, it will be

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having been convicted of an offense or offenses that resulted in the death of only one victim after the prisoner has served 20 calendar years of incarceration including any time served in a county jail. NRS 34.724 has been amended to require exhaustion of administrative remedies (grievance) for resolving a challenge to the computation of time that the person has served. It also adds requirements for a motion to withdraw a guilty plea, a guilty but mentally ill plea or a plea of nolo contendre. The NDOC did, however, make a further attempt to limit transparency in the prison system with SB57, which would have made prisoner records and documents maintained by NDOC confidential. The bill also would have prohibited prisoners, during their time of incarceration, from requesting documents from the department. Please see the article on the shooting at HDSP in this issue. This attempt to hide information came around the same time the NDOC was withholding the fact that Carlos Perez was shot by a guard at HDSP.After an outcry by civil libertarian groups including NV-CURE and the ACLU, SB57 was not passed, and we can call that one a victory. Remember that you can write to the Legislative Counsel Bureau and they will send you copies of NRS sections. Their address is: 401 S. Carson St. Carson City, NV 89701.

available. Tax the gaming and mining industries. Raise the money needed to address these problems. If Nevadans want to lock people up – Nevadans MUST pay for adequate and sufficient care for those people. NV-CURE suggests that, as part of the solution to the problems referenced above, the voters need to elect Legislators that are willing to raise the taxes on the industries making the billions of dollars that make Nevada what it is today and that will use those tax dollars to finance the responsibilities of the State of Nevada for the care required to be provided to Nevada’s prisoners. Fiscal responsibility REQUIRES the State of Nevada to pay for the care required to be provided to those it chooses to incarcerate. Do not allow the Legislature to continue to sweep these problems under the carpet. There are other solutions to these problems. Use your mind and come up with solutions. Do your part, particularly if you are a prisoner or the family or friend of an incarcerated person. The time to address these problems and for change is here. Do your part.

NV Federal Court Docket According to information provided to NV-CURE, fully 40% of the United States District Court docket for the District of Nevada involves prisoner litigation. This is a very large portion of the federal court docket. Additionally, there are numerous federal civil rights cases being filed in the NV State Courts. Why are so many NV prisoners filing cases in the federal and state courts? Could it be there are systemic problems within the NDOC that are not being addressed by the NDOC and/or state Courts? Perhaps there really are major problems within the prison and parole systems that need to be addressed by our Legislators - and by us – the People, and not Corporations, our Legislators are supposed to represent. Contrary to popular belief, not all prisoner litigation is frivolous. When a prisoner files a civil rights case in either federal or state courts, there is a problem. The case may seem frivolous to a person in the community, however, in the vast majority of prisoner cases, the issues are very serious to the prisoner – and the deprivation of a constitutional right is always serious to the person whose constitutional rights have been violated. Know what you are talking about before you label a prisoner case frivolous. As a perfect example, take the much maligned and famous “peanut butter” case labelled as frivolous and much touted by the powers as an example of frivolous prisoner litigation. The case was not frivolous to the prisoner – or many other prisoners. The prisoner who filed the lawsuit was poor and totally dependent on money provided by family and friends (and by working) for his sustenance in prison. In accordance with procedures, he ordered a specific type of peanut butter from the canteen. When he went to pick up his canteen order, the canteen attempted to provide him with a difference type of peanut butter he did NOT ORDER – and he refused to take it. The canteen supervisor charged him and deducted from his account the money to pay for the peanut butter he did not

NV Legislative Non-Action As was shown above, the 2015 Legislative action for prisoners was dismal. Juvenile life without parole clarification and another hurdle in having time computed correctly were the only problems actually addressed. No action was taken on the major problems within the NDOC. What about the real problems? Mass incarceration, lack of adequate medical care and mental health treatment, hepatitis testing and treatment, an independent ombudsman to investigate prisoner grievances, inadequate nutritional food, rehabilitative programs, jobs and programs for ALL prisoners (not just a very small percentage), keeping people in prison past their release dates, pre-release programs and assistance and opportunities for people when released from prison. When are these issues going to be meaningfully addressed by our Legislature? How long are these problems going to be swept under the carpet and ignored? It is way past time for the Legislature to address these matters. The Legislature, from the information we have gathered, is not addressing these problems because of a lack of financial resources. The money, allegedly, is not available to fix or address these problems in a meaningful manner. Why is the money not available? Nevada has a billion dollar casino industry and a billion dollar mining industry. Tax these industries to pay for the costs of operating our government – instead of giving these industries more tax breaks and lower taxes. If Nevadans want to be tough on crime and incarcerate people for inordinately long periods of time, Nevadans are going to have to pay the costs of incarceration – including the cost of all of the problems referenced above. The money is

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New Hep C Treatment Lawsuits

order, did not want and did not take with him when he left the canteen. Was the prisoner wrong? No. He cannot have his money taken for something he did not order, did not want and did not take with him. Was the canteen supervisor wrong? Yes. A store employee cannot charge you for the costs of an item you did not want and did not take from the store. That is a clear violation of your property rights. The amount of money involved was not much (for a person in the community), but to the prisoner, the amount was a large percentage of his money. The issue could have easily been resolved by the canteen employee by simply taking the unordered peanut butter back and not taking the money of the prisoner to pay for it. Think. What if you went to the store for groceries, and the clerk charged you and “took” your money for merchandise you did not request or take with you? Would you complain? Of course you would. That is what the peanut butter case prisoner did. He complained by way of a federal lawsuit, one of the procedures available to him to resolve his complaint. The case was not frivolous and the canteen supervisor responsible for the action should have been disciplined for his conduct. Is it any wonder that the federal court docket is 40% prisoner litigation? It is way past time for the NDOC to internally resolve problems, faulting the persons responsible for the problems rather than the prisoner. Be reasonable and people will respond in kind. Assert your authority, simply because you can do what you want, and people will respond in kind. It is time for the NDOC to act reasonably to reduce the number of prisoner lawsuits.

Attorneys filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts this week on behalf of prisoners who say they’re being denied new lifesaving treatment for Hepatitis C because of the cost of the drugs. Gilead Sciences and Abbie Pharmacutical Limited manufacture three different versions of the cure. The cost of any one of the three is roughly $90,000.00 in the United States; however, in Egypt, for example, the cure costs just $900.00. Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by a virus, which irreversibly destroys the circulatory system, digestive system and liver, leading to cancer, cirrhosis and liver failure. Attorney Peter Erlinder, sued the Minnesota Department of Corrections on behalf of two prisoners there several weeks before attorneys filed this week’s similar lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The new cure is remarkable, according to Erlinder. It’s a very simply administered drug. It’s one pill a day for approximately 12 weeks. With that, the Hepatitis C virus is cleared from the body, irrespective of the degree of viral load that existed beforehand. So it’s not necessary to limit the drug just to the most severely infected. It could be given to anyone with Hepatitis C, and it will eradicate the virus from the bloodstream. The Federal Bureau of Prisons is treating its inmates and the state of California has begun a small program, but most state prison systems have not begun treating inmates, although it is available through the Medicare and Medicaid systems in a limited way in many states. The standards in prisons are different than standards in the community because prisons hold the lives of prisoners in their hands. They don’t have alternatives that citizens might have. It’s possible for people who are covered by insurance companies to appeal the decisions made by insurance companies. It’s possible to, conceivably, go overseas or to have some other alternative for getting the medication. Prisoners don’t have that alternative, and prisons have the obligation of treating those whose lives they hold in their hands, under the Constitution. And the Supreme Court has said that cost is not a legal reason for not treating a prisoner, so this is a situation where the law and the Constitution and these new lifesaving drugs are causing a difficulty for the prisons.

Pro Se Litigant Pilot Program By way of General Order 2014-01, the US Federal District Court in Nevada established the Pro Bono Pilot Program “for the representation of Pro Se Litigants in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada.” The participants in the program are the Federal Bar Association, the William S. Boyd School of Law, Washoe Legal Services, and the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada. Their role is to provide qualified volunteer lawyers to represent indigent pro se litigants. Whether a case is referred to the Program is at the discretion of the Court. As of this date, there have been a half a dozen or so cases referred to the program. Once a case is referred to the Program by the Court, the case is offered to those attorneys who have shown an interest in participating. When an attorney is located to take the case, the Court enters an Order of Appointment, either for Limited Purposes or for All Purposes, including trial. Since referral to the Program is up to the Court, it would be inappropriate to contact the various organizations to ask them for representation. But if you have a case that is referred to the Program, it is recommended that you take advantage of the opportunity, accept the representation and cooperate fully with the appointed attorney. It has been said that the Program was created to deal with the backlog of pro se cases and because 40% of the Court’s docket is inmate pro se litigation.

Forty Five (45) Prisoner Deaths in One (1) Year

Forty five people have died in custody in Nevada’s prison facilities since August, 2014. Four committed suicide. One was shot by a prison guard. One died of cardiovascular disease and the rest are either deaths caused, according to NDOC, by “medical condition”, unknown”, “natural”, or “prolonged illness”. We want to know the causes of death and whether any of these deaths are attributable to the Hepatitis C virus. This information was provided to NV-CURE by an NPR Senior Producer Joe Schoenmann and former Correctional Officer Mark Clarke, whom we thank for their time and efforts regarding this matter. We hope that further

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investigation will reveal the facts regarding each of these deaths. Not one noted death is from hepatitis C, even though we know that the prevalence of that disease is much higher than in the population at large and we know that NDOC gives very little treatment for this very treatable disease. Allegedly, many of these deaths are “under investigation”, and NVCURE finally has volunteers willing to keep track of each death, order the coroner’s report, which is a matter of public record, if necessary, and log the deaths on a spreadsheet, making sure that the media, legislators and the US DOJ are made aware of the high number of deaths due to disease. It is estimated that 12-35% of prisoners nationwide are infected with the Hep C virus. We will never know exactly how many prisoners are infected with the disease, until we have testing, which the Nevada legislature and the NDOC refuse to provide. NDOC claims that they are investigating the potential of providing hospice care, but we have seen no action yet on that claim. On Tuesday, July 7 at 9 am. NV-CURE President John Witherow will be interviewed on Nevada Public Radio 88.9 FM on this subject. A recording of the program will be posted on our website, nevaacure.org. Thank you for your attention to this problem.

NV Supreme Court Decision on Grievance Process The Nevada Supreme Court on February 5, 2015, filed an opinion in Abarra v. State, Case No: 62107, 131 Nev. Advance Opinion No. 3, pertaining to the NDOC grievance process. Prisoners should read this case and understand the meaning of this decision and the effects on the grievance process. This decision is beneficial to prisoners and we thank Mr. Abarra for the work he has done in this case. Good work. Keep it up.

Former Nevada Correctional Officer Speaks Out

The following is an article written by a former Nevada correctional officer for consideration by prisoners and their family and friends. From the Desk of William Mark Clarke, Retired Nevada Correctional Officer Survived 15 years, 11 months This may be strange, but I will give it a shot. I was a Nevada correctional officer for 15 years and 10 months. I worked at Southern Desert Correctional Center and High Desert State Prison. I recall that I did not place hands on an inmate. I was a talker. There was a time or two I saw things that my fellow officers had done that I reported to my shift commander. It was just and fair. Needless to say, nothing happened to me. I’m sure most of you who are reading this don’t know me. That may be a good thing. I hope. For today’s read: Do an experiment with the mail you send and receive. When you send out your mail, put the date on the back of the letter in bold letters. Then mail it. I would suggest that you tell the person who is writing to you to do the same thing. By doing this, you will see if the mail room is “slowing” your mail to you. Second, if you get “privileged” mail, such as mail from a congressman/congresswoman and or any political person, that letter must be received at the mail room, and the mail room is directed to send the mail to the law library to be delivered to the prisoner. Make sure your privileged correspondence, including legal mail, is delivered to you by the law library. I cannot respond to any security questions. Hope the above is helpful in dealing with mail situations. Dating the outside of an envelope is a fairly easy manner to determine whether your mail is being slow played for some reason. Give it a try.

Shooting Incident at HDSP Carlos Manuel Perez, 28, died Nov. 12 at High Desert State Prison. While his death was reported by the DOC at the time, it wasn’t until four months later that it was revealed that Perez was shot and killed by a prison guard. Before seeing the body, Perez’s family knew only that Perez had died in a fight with another prisoner. When they saw his body it was riddled with gunshots. Andrew Arevalo survived the shooting by a guard, but suffered injuries to his face and throat and was treated at University Medical Center. Metro responded to the prison after a report of an assault with a gun just before 9:45 p.m. on Nov. 12, according to agency call logs. But Metro’s homicide unit has no record of Perez’ death and did not investigate it, department spokesman Officer Larry Hadfield said. High Desert called Las Vegas police and told them about the shooting but did not request help in the investigation. Perez’s family, through their attorney Cal Potter, has filed a wrongful death suit, and Arevalo, through his attorney, Alexis Plunkett, has filed an excessive force suit. Both attorneys state that the two men were handcuffed behind their backs when they were shot, and that the prison guard had staged a “gladiator” type fight and then shot both prisoners. The guard who did the shooting and several other people are on administrative leave. Anyone with additional information regarding this shooting should contact the attorneys for the parties.

SALES SERVICES, AND OPERATION OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES By: Ronald Stevenson, April 30, 2015 NRS 209.221(8) states in part that the “Director may, with the approval of the Board [of State Prison Commissioners] establish by regulation a charge on the purchase of electronic devices by offender to defray the cost relating to the operation of the devices.” (emphasis added). This provision went into effect on March 12, 2010. The Public Information Officer (PIO) for NDOC is reporting to the public that based on this statutory provision, a surcharge was placed on televisions ($75.00), fans ($9.30), and

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hot pots ($9.30) to defray the cost of electricity to operate them. The PIO also reports that the television cable services are provided/contracted through Correctional Cable and is paid through the Inmate Welfare Fund (IWF). The IWF is substantially funded through canteen/coffee shop purchases made by prisoners. NRS 209.221(8) conditions the surcharges on the enactment of regulations. Pursuant to this statutory mandate, the Board of State Prison Commissioner met on April 10, 2010 and gave the Director of NDOC the approval to enact those regulations. Shortly afterwards, a surcharge was added to the three appliances without the enactment of regulations in violation of NRS 209.221(8). I have not found any regulations governing these surcharges nor has any inmate law library researcher at Northern Nevada Correctional Center (NNCC). Inmates that have purchased any of these three appliances on or after March 12, 2010 and have paid the surcharge should grieve and sue for a refund of that surcharge. NDOC should not place surcharges on appliances until they have enacted the regulations required under NRS 209.221(8). If (1) the picture/sound is distorted on some or all of your television channels from how they were intended to be received from the networks, or (2) you are not receiving the same channels that other inmates receive at the same or other institutions which are served under Correctional Cable, or (3) you do not have electricity to operate your electronic device, you likely have at least a state law right to grieve and sue over these basic/essential services you paid for through surcharges and/or the IWF. For the premium paid on appliances and other items purchased from NDOC stores, I’m shocked prisoners don’t get the full premium programming package from Correctional Cable. It’s a racket! As it stands now, inmates at NNCC don’t get all the basic local channels like the CW network, as other NDOC prisons get through Correctional Cable. If inmates are paying for these services, they have at least an Equal Protection right under the Fourteenth Amendment to demand the equal use of them. Otherwise surcharges and other IWF fees taxed against merchandise sold to prisoners that pay for these services should be eliminated/refunded to prisoners denied those services. Before grieving these issues and taking them to court, carefully research the factual and legal basis of them to make intelligent and informed decisions. Good luck!

addressed. People in the community cannot do their part if people in there do not do their part. Speak up. Do not allow yourself or any other prisoner to be treated badly or unfairly. If a matter cannot be resolved informally, file a grievance. Complete the grievance process and take the matter to court. Make a paper trail that can be followed. Document everything related to the problem. Make NV-CURE aware of the problem and we will make the public aware of exactly what is going on behind prison walls. If a significant number of prisoners will stand up and speak out, changes can be made. We out here cannot do it without your help. The Legislature may ignore a 40% prisoner federal court docket – but the federal courts and our representatives will not ignore it. Should the prisoner litigation federal court docket reach 60% prisoner litigation, federal authorities will take action and require state authorities to change their ways of operating the prison system. The NV Legislature will not listen to a 40% federal prisoner litigation docket – escalate it. Do not bend down and fold up your tent. Litigate with even more intensity. Changes will be made – but each and every one of you must do your part. There are people out here in the community that want to end mass incarceration and bring constructive changes to the prison and parole systems in this country. NV-CURE works with other CURE organizations, Nation Inside, the ACLU, the Human Rights Defense Center and many others to accomplish those goals. We cannot accomplish those goals without your help. So, STAND UP AND MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD.

Big Money in Prison Industrial Complex There is BIG MONEY in the prison industrial complex. Corporations are making billions of dollars off of your incarceration. The more people “they” incarcerate, the more money they will make. Think about all the ways money is made from your incarceration. The more people that are incarcerated, the more money is poured into building more prisons; hiring more government employees; building, using and staffing more prisons; charging outrageous prices for prisoner telephone calls, canteen, clothing, video visiting, food and health care; more guns, tear gas, training and security devicses and all the other incidental items necessary for the operation of the prison industrial complex.. The tax payers do not want to pay for what is necessary, so costs are shifted to prisoners, their families and their friends. Any what cannot be paid for by them and very limited tax increases – is simply not provided. Health care, food, programs, jobs, educational opportunities and other essential services spending is decreased to a bare minimum amount. Prisoners, and their family and friends, are the people that suffer the consequences of mass incarceration and the increases in the prison industrial complex. Additionally, less money is paid to alleged “correctional’ personnel, which results in the hiring of less competent and uneducated correctional officers and the creation of more problems with inter-personal communications. (This means you get beat, shot and gassed more often). The problems abound and increase.

Stand Up and Make Your Voice Heard NV prisoners need to stand up for themselves and make their voices heard. As was shown in the past Legislative Session, the Legislature is not going to do anything for prisoners unless an issue is made of a situation, the general public is made aware of the problems associated with mass incarceration and the people in the community demand changes be made. The people in the community cannot help if they are not made aware of what the problems need to be

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And that is not the end of the problems. Corruption is rampant in the prison industrial complex. Take the ACA as a perfect example. The President of the ACA was arrested for corruption. Bribery and kick-backs abound. Prisons are “certified” as in compliance with ACA Standards that do not even begin to comply with those standards. Millions are paid and/or “benefits” provided to those that assist in the cutting of corners and the awarding of contracts. Something is not rotten in Demark – it is rotten to the core in the prison industrial complex. Wake up people. You, the incarcerated, are pawns in the big money game. It is way past time for each of you to stand and be counted. Change can be made without death and destruction. Change can be made by your active involvement in making constructive changes to the prison and parole problems. Use the system we have in place, i.e., grievances and litigation. Through those procedures and your reporting of misconduct and abuses by prison and parole officials we can – and will – make changes. Do your part to put an end to mass incarceration.

parties on the project. P&P has not yet responded to the idea for the creation of such a program. In lieu of such a program, NV-CURE is currently working on putting together a booklet of the opportunities available for dissemination to prisoners prior to release. If you are in the community and would like to become involved in developing a PACT Program or assist in writing the booklet on opportunities and assistance, please contact NV-CURE.

Booklet on Assistance to Parolees NV-CURE is attempting to put together a Booklet on assistance available to parolees for dissemination to prisoners. A new member of our Board of Directors is going to work on the project. Hopefully, this Booklet will contain information on preparing for release and obtaining assistance when released. We hope that the NDOC and P&P will work with us to make this booklet happen. We believe it will be of benefit to all persons being released from NV prisons.

Logging of Prisoner Complaints A new member of our Board of Directors and a Vice President of our organization has agreed to handle the logging of prisoner complaints for NV-CURE. She has logged over 150 complaints already and is working on getting us up to date with our logging. It is a big job, but she is getting it done. When the complaint logging is complete, this person will work with our webmaster to have all of our complaint information published on our website. We are also continuing to provide information to the US DOJ and various reporters. The publication of this information will help to educate the public on the problems encountered behind prison walls and bring attention to your problems. In egregious situations, NV-CURE will make special efforts to bring this information to the attention of the NDOC, the DOJ, other prisoner rights organizations and the media. NV-CURE will stand with you to make the constructive changes necessary to change the prison and parole systems. Keep those complaints coming. Keep our Vice President and Webmaster busy and help us educate the public. Thank you for the help.

PACT (Parole and Community Team) Program California has a PACT Program for newly released prisoners. PACT stands for Parole and Community Team. All newly released prisoners on parole are required to attend a PACT orientation meeting. At the meeting, various former prisoners and parole agents provide information on duties, responsibilities and opportunities and, after those discussions, concrete assistance and opportunities are provided. People from various programs in the community are there to help former prisoners reintegrate into society. You need a job, people are there that will put you to work the next day. You need a place to live, people are there to provide you with a place to live that day. Need a counselor or drug program, people are there to provide immediate assistance. Need social security or Medi-Cal, people are there to sign you up. Need ID, driver’s license, educational or vocational opportunities, people are there to help. It is, quite frankly, the best program the writer has ever seen. The parole and community people (who are not parole people) are there to help the former prisoner survive in the community. The attitude of the parole people has changed a great deal. Parole agents in California are no longer interested in simply sending you back to prison. The parole agents actually want to keep you in the community and are there to help you do just that – stay in the community. This writer was amazed – and believes it is a great program. Unfortunately, Nevada does not have a PACT Program. NV-CURE would like to see a similar program started in Nevada. It would be beneficial to all concerned. With that goal in mind, NV-CURE President John Witherow has communicated with P&P Captain Dwight Gover regarding such a program and he and Vice President Craig Caples have met personally with P&P Lt. Brandon and Lt. Jackson to discuss the program. NV-CURE is not quite sure how to stablish such a program, but is willing to work with any and all concerned

Advertising in Newsletter A new member of the NV-CURE Board of Directors is working on fundraising for NV-CURE by selling advertising space in our Newsletter. If we can secure sufficient funding, we will be able to increase our publication to bi-weekly or even monthly. We wish him the greatest results for his efforts. If anyone you know is interested in advertising in our newsletter, please ask them to contact us.

NV-CURE Board of Directors The NV-CURE Board of Directors is limited to a maximum number of seven (7) Directors and requires each Director to perform some type of work for NV-CURE. This limit and requirement is set forth in the By-Laws of the organization. These provisions were added within the past year to make NV-

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CURE a viable organization with Directors working to accomplish the goals of the organization. Unfortunately, the ByLaws also provide that prisoners are not permitted to vote in Board of Director elections. That provision was added to prevent the voting process from becoming too cumbersome and not to disenfranchise prisoners from voting in our elections. This information provided for your edification.

NV-CURE Mail Is Not Legal Mail NV-CURE is not a legal services organization and we are not attorneys. Mail to and from NV-CURE is not legal mail. NV-CURE wants this fact clearly understood by all. We cannot send documents as “Legal Mail” and NDOC facilities are not required to recognize mail to us as Legal Mail. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sending Documents to NV-CURE

NV-CURE and HRDC Meet at Nation Inside Mass Incarceration Seminar

Please do not send NV-CURE documents you want returned or copied. We do not copy and return documents. Send only documents we may retain in our files and disseminate as we deem appropriate. Thank you.

NV-CURE President John Witherow and PLN Editor and HRDC (Human Rights Defense Center) founder and Direcor Paul Wright meet at the Nation Inside Mass Incarceration Seminar in Detroit, Michigan. John has always admired Paul and respected him for the work he performed with PLN (Prison Legal News). It is an honor for NV-CURE to work with Paul’s organization.

NV-CURE Membership NV-CURE Membership for prisoners ($2.00), basic ($10.00), family ($20.00), sustaining ($50.00) and lifetime ($100.00). ALL Memberships are ANNUAL. Each person needs to track their membership date and make a renewal membership donation yearly. Join NV-CURE and recommend joining NV-CURE to your family and friends.

NV-CURE Telephone Calls READ THIS – NO COLLECT CALLS NV-CURE does not accept collect telephone calls! NV-CURE’s number is 702.347.1731. ALL calls to NV-CURE must be prepaid. We do not have the funds necessary to accept collect calls and do not accept collect calls. ADDITIONALLY, all telephone calls to our Las Vegas Office are forewarded to the personal cell phone of NV-CURE President JOHN WITHERFOW. Before you telephone our number, be sure this procedure is NOT GOING TO RESULT in a disciplary report being written against you for violation of prison policies. We cannot be responsible for telephone calls made to NV-CURE. You may telephone John directly at 231.313.0059.

NV-CURE Is Now Accepting Advertisements NV-CURE is now accepting advertizsments. Any person interested in advertising in our publication should contact our office for details. We sell advertising space in business card, 1/4, 1/2 and full page ads. The fees charged for ads will help to defray our costs for printing and mailing our newsletter to prisoners. Thank you for the help.

Articles and Information Wanted

NV-CURE President John Witherow and PLN Publisher and HRDC Director= Paul Wright

Please provide NV-CURE with suggestions for articles and information you may want included in our Newsletter. We are interested in bringing you information on events and issues related to the prison and parole systems. We will attempt to gather the facts on issues of concern and write articles that may be of interest to all.

John has been an avide reader of Prison Legal News since the early 1990s. The information provided in the newsletter was invaluable for use in his jailhouse lawyer activities. He recommends that all jailhouse lawyers subscribe to the publication. John and Paul will work towards ending mass incarceration in the United States and for justice and fairness for all.

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NV-CURE is looking for Sustaining Contributors NV-CURE is looking for Sustaining Contributors who want to advertise their businesses and/or corporations in our IB Newsletter. We currently publish this Newsletter quarterly. Every three (3) months our Newsletter goes out to over four hundred prisoners and 1000 people and organizations in the community. Our primary costs are printing and mailing our Newsletter to prisoners, as we e-mail PDF copies to people with access to computers. It currently costs NV-CURE over $400.00 to mail our Newsletter to Prisoners – the very people who need our help. NV-CURE would like to increase our publication from Quarterly to BiMonthly or Monthly and mail to over 600 prisoners. Our costs would increase substantially. NV-CURE, a tax exempt non-profit organization, needs at least ten (10) Sustaining Contributors to accomplish our goals. With ten Sustaining Contributors, contributing $500.00 per year, which is tax exempt, we can reach our goal. Is your organization interested in becoming a NV-CURE Sustaining Contributor? Visit our Website, nevadacure.org, and see what we do and call our office to sign up. Thank you.

SUSTAINING CONTRIBUTORS NV-CURE (Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants) wishes to express our sincere and deep appreciation to the following Sustaining Contributors for their financial and material support. Travis and Jeanette Barrick, Esq., Las Vegas, NV, Gallian, Welker and Belkstrom, LC, Las Vegas, NV and St. George, UT., Angie Kiselyk, Arizona, Michelle Revell, Las Vegas, Nevada, Michael Cupp, Sparks, NV, Natalie Smith and John Witherow, Oakhurst, CA, John Townsend, Ely, NV, Craig Caples, Las Vegas, NV NV-CURE urges all of our Members and supporters to patronizes the establishments referenced above supporting and making possible the publication of this Newsletter. If you or your corporation/business would like to become a Sustaining Contributor to NVCURE Information Bulletin Newsletter, or would like more information, please call 702.347.0926 or 231.313.0059 or e-mail NV-CURE at [email protected] and place “Contributor” in the subject line.

Struggle In Solidarity

NV-CURE 540 E. St. Louis Ave. Las Vegas, NV 89104

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