UPDATE:   December 27, 2004

Washington, D.C., December 17, 2004

ELENA'S RELEASE – STILL NO CONFIRMED DATE

Wish we had better news to report as to a possible earlier release than the scheduled Christmas Day. Unfortunately, ignoring our ongoing efforts and protests, D.C. prison authorities have continued their pattern and practice, up to and including the present day, of deliberate obstruction and delay of Elena’s legal rights relating to her release from her present continued illegal incarceration. This, notwithstanding the prison's own investigator concluded in a written report that proper procedure had not been followed and that Elena was wrongfully deprived of her “good time” class credits and would have been legally entitled to release on December 7th but for the Jail’s non-compliance with its own published rules.  

By failure and refusal to follow those rules, DC prison authorities have kept her from having her appeals from her illegal detention adjudicated in a proper and timely manner. This was specifically mandated where prisoner Elena asserted that she has been retaliated against, threatened and intimidated for asserting her prisoners’ rights and subjected to attempted coercion to waive the prison’s liability for its deprivations of such rights.

Jail personnel have repeatedly informed us that she will not be released before she serves her full maximum six month sentence, “no exceptions.” Luckily, this sadistic intent may be thwarted because Christmas Day falls on a Saturday and the preceding day is considered a federal holiday, when we are told that the prison will be without the personnel to perform necessary processing of her release paperwork. No time off whatever is being given Elena for good behavior all these many months in jail.

The Jail has also denied the press its rightful access, wrongfully failing to respond to, and actually denying, requests for appointments for in-jail interviews of Elena. This plainly is calculated to prevent exposure of just how badly the DC jail treats its prisoners, especially one who is blowing the whistle on the Jail’s human rights violations.

As of now, we have been told not to count on Elena's release before Christmas Day!  We have also been   told that such can be anytime “up to 12 midnight of that day.” Presumably, the jail wants to keep her locked up until the very last moment so as to prevent her supporters from being on hand to give her the hero’s triumphal welcome she deserves for her principled defense of our Bill of Rights.

UPDATE   Washington, D.C., December 10, 2004

An American Abu Gharib

DC Warden denies imprisoned Hebrew religious school teacher, judicial reformer Elena Ruth Sassower promised December 7 release, after more than a month of unremitting "torture treatment,"all in violation of her 1st Amendment right to religious freedom, as well as her 5th and 14th Amendment rights to due process and equal protection of the law.

Elena Ruth Sassower, Cofounder and Coordinator of the Center for Judicial Accountability, Inc., (CJA) based in White Plains, NY, has been turned down today  by the Warden of the District of Columbia jail for early release promised for two vocational classes, which would have given her 18 days “good time credit.” That meant she would be coming home on December 7th, in time for her to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah - a Jewish holiday that celebrates religious freedom and freedom fighters -- rather than her scheduled date of December 25, Christmas Day.

 The Warden’s rejection of CJA's plea that he adhere to the promised December 7 release date was a severe blow not only to Elena Sassower and her family, but to the Jewish community of which she has been a vital part. For more than 15 years, as the Warden was told, Elena Sassower has been a Hebrew Religious School teacher, conducting weekly Sabbath, as well as the annual High Holy Day and other holiday services, at two New York Synagogues, representing more than 1300 Congregants. In a letter written to the Warden on December 6th, CJA’s Director, as well as Elena’s mother, Doris Sassower said, “The first night of Hanukkah, a holiday that has been celebrated by Jews the world over for more than 2300 years, is as important to Jews as Christmas Eve is to Christians.”

DC Warden Fred Figueroa conceded his refusal to let Elena go --after more than five months of time served on a conviction that was pending appeal -- did not rely on any legal opinion and cited no legal basis. The Warden claimed that a non-lawyer at the DC Department of Correction told him that he could not give Elena the credit because she had not "completed the courses." This ignored the fact that a prison investigator's memo explicitly admitted that "Inmate Sassower was removed from two academic programs in which she would have received 18 days good time credit if she would have been permitted to remain in class There is no supporting documentation to indicate otherwise due to actions not being supported by proper disciplinary procedure.” 

The Jail's refusal to allow Elena to complete her courses, from which she had been barred on August 31, 2004, was not only a violation of Elena’s First Amendment right to practice her religion, but of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment, as well, which required prior warning and opportunity for the prisoner to be heard before such disciplinary punishment was imposed.

Elena filed a grievance challenging her removal from the classes, as she had a right to do under prison procedure. When such was denied, she appealed it, as she had the further right to do. On November 12, the Jail suspended Elena's privileges, without notice or explanation, This included NO visits, NO outside phone calls, even  to her lawyers or lawyer-mother, NO library (limited as it was to only one hour a week), NO outside recreation (limited to one hour daily, Monday to Friday only), NO canteen, all of which disciplinary punishments were also wrongful for the same reason.

On November 15, 2004, Elena wrote to the Warden that she "was being subjected to retaliation, intimidation, and threats for a grievance pertaining to DDA-CTF's violations."

On November 22, Elena was led to believe that she had won her appeal, that her privileges would be reinstated, and that she might be released on December 7th, with her 18 days of "good time" credit. However, because the Jail had not processed the paper work, she was denied the promised privilege reinstatement, including a "not approved" pre-Thanksgiving Day visit by her attorney-mother and sister on November 22 and a press visit on November 29. 

On that date, she was told that for her to get the good time credit, she would have to sign a written memo that "she had been offered the opportunity to rejoin the class and refused to do so" (a totally false statement) and more importantly, waived her grievance. Elena states that she had simply asked for a copy of the memo before signing anything, so as to permit her to consult with her lawyers, which the prison repeatedly refused to let her do.

Since then, Elena's lawyers have repeatedly sought to meet with the Warden to discuss her December 7 release, as did Elena herself. These requests have all been cavalierly ignored. Said one of the lawyers on her legal team with the  law firm of Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck, "Ms. Sassower was clearly entitled to a timely decision on her appeal and her grivance, and should not have to waive her grievance in order to be awarded her good time credit."

Denial of canteen was especially punitive to Elena. This, because from the outset and for more than five months, she had been denied requested kosher food and could not eat the food provided to her.

From the outset, Elena was also denied access to a Rabbi or to the spiritual comfort of a synagogue service, even while the Jail has an in-house Reverend for non-Jewish prisoners and took those prisoners to Church who wished to attend Sunday worship services.

“The inhumanity and mental torture the Warden has inflicted and condoned is an American Abu Gharib. At very least and to avoid a charge of anti-Semitism,” said CJA Director Doris Sassower, "the Warden should have made the minimal restitution to Elena by granting her the 18 days of 'educational good time credit' so as to make the miracle of Hanukkah happen for Elena. Such would have permitted her to return home before the first night of the sacred Jewish festival of Hanukkah, celebrated by Jews the world over for more than  2300 years. Especially, as the Warden was told that was why she had taken the classes in the first place.”

Elena Sassower’s defense against her wrongful "Disruption of Congress" conviction is being handled pro bono by a team of respected D.C. law firms, led by world-renowned attorney Nat Lewin, who has successfully argued numerous cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

CJA's JUDICIAL MISCONDUCT COMPLAINTS AGAINST JUDGE HOLEMAN

TO BE RECONSIDERED THIS FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 2005

The D.C. Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure met on January 12, 2005, when CJA's judicial misconduct complaints against Judge Holeman were again on its Agenda, following the granting of our request for reconsideration of the Commission's summary dismissal of its misconduct complaints against Judge Holeman (see story below). However, the Commission took no action, BUT, most unusually, placed it on the Agenda of a Special Meeting called for January 28, 2005. At that time, it will reconsider these complaints, wherein CJA calls for Judge Holeman's immediate suspension pending investigation by reason of the danger to society. CJA considers him "a menace on the bench," requiring his ultimate  removal. CJA's documented complaints and request for reconsideration of the Commission's summary dismissal are accessible from our website by scrolling down to Judicial Discipline and clicking on the documents listed. There's still time for CJA supporters to add their e-mailed letters of support, with ccs to CJA, to 'Cathaee.Hudgins@dc.gov' 

Mailing address of the D.C. Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure is Building A, Room 312, 515 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 2001.

December 15th Meeting of the DC Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure (euphemism for judicial misconduct)

DENIED CJA’s Judicial Misconduct complaints, as set forth in its detailed and documented FREE ELENA PETITION against Judge Holeman, the very same day that CJA filed a Supplemental Judicial Misconduct Complaint documenting the fact that Judge Holeman perjured himself as to his credentials submitted by him to the Senate Committee voting on his confirmation.

CJA's call for his removal was bravely supported by three experienced litigators, as well as a media representative, who had witnessed the trial proceedings and been so appalled by Judge Holeman's arbitrary conduct that he presented to the Commission his personally prepared documentary videotapes, representing intensive, time-consuming work on his part.

In his hand-delivered letter to the Commission prior to its deliberation of CJA’s complaints against Judge Holeman, this media witness stated “Frankly, no amount of words can adequately describe the dishonor and diminishment of public confidence in our judicial system that this judge brought upon it.“

The Commission gave all these complaints, representing hundreds of hours of research and investigation, its usual peremptory short shrift, in one of its usual form letters taking "the easy-out" of summary dismissal to avoid its duty to address these facially meritorious complaints on their merits.

Initially, CJA was informed that the dismissal was on the ground that there was no jurisdiction because it found that there was “insufficient cause for the Commission to proceed” -- its shorthand for “the complaint lacks merit”)! After politely expressing our shock and incredulity as to such alleged basis for dismissal, we received from the Commission the very next day its December 16 form letter, which came up with a new and different ground, to wit, “after careful review and consideration, the Commission has dismissed the complaints because they raise matters of law exclusively within the jurisdiction of the Court and beyond the statutory authority of the Commission."

Of course, this is just boilerplate pretense, as anyone can see from reading CJA's Supplemental Complaint and the initial complaint, encompassed in CJA's Free Elena Petition, both online on our website.
 

So once again, we see yet another tax-funded judicial misconduct commission designed to police the judiciary and protect our citizenry from unfit judges proving itself unfit for its own job by covering up, rather than confronting, flagrant judicial misconduct -- a thesis CJA has proved out many times in countless other cases and as Elena so brilliantly reported in her seminal 1997 article “Without Merit: the Empty Promise of Judicial Discipline,” accessible on CJA’s homepage. 

CJA's request for reconsideration by the Commission, filed the very next day, is accessible from our website by scrolling down to Judicial Discipline and clicking on the documents listed.

An Open Letter from the Director

Procedural history since pro bono counsel took over the case