The Bay Area Anti Repression Committee (BAARC) calls on our community to stand in solidarity with Kali, a comrade who is currently serving a four year prison sentence stemming from the targeting and repression of Occupy Oakland activists by the Oakland Police Department (OPD) and Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. In recent months, Kali has once again faced even more violence and targeting by correctional officers, resulting in further prosecution and additional prison time.
First an Update! (May 2015): Our beloved comrade Kali has finally been transferred to a new facility – California State Prison in Sacramento. He has long been looking forward to being transferred closer to home for the final period of his incarceration. This transfer had been delayed for months due to a surgical procedure he needed for his eyes. The procedure was finally undertaken and he reports that he is recovering and healing well. He is extremely happy to have finally been transferred out of California Men’s Colony (CMC) where he had been held in solitary confinement for the past year. He also relayed that he was driven through Oakland during his transfer, and how it reminded him of all the solidarity and support he has received. He expresses his appreciation of this in virtually every letter he sends. So we ask that the community rise up in solidarity and flood him with support to help him through this final period of state repression. Please write to Kali at the address below:
Marcel Johnson
#AM1002
California State Prison – Sacramento
P.O. Box 290066
Represa, CA 95671
FREE KALI!!!
Kali’s Story: The Inequalities of State Repression
Kali was originally arrested on December 16, 2011 during a period when state repression against Occupy Oakland took the form of weekly police raids on Oscar Grant Plaza, resulting in the arrest and prosecution of dozens of Occupiers for petty minor misdemeanor charges. The state’s strategy largely hinged around targeting Occupiers for possession of prohibited “structures” and “lodging materials” (like umbrellas, blankets or personal belongings) and then proceeding to arrest numerous others on charges of “obstruction”. Given that obstruction charges are distinguished in Alameda County as being one of the few misdemeanors for which police can arrest and detain individuals (rather than citing and releasing them), it is clear that this strategy was intended to result in mass arrests and detention. Furthermore, these raids were always undertaken on Thursday or Friday, in a blatant attempt to hold those charged over the weekend until arraignments occurred on Monday or Tuesday. These raids served as a means to hold political activists in jail for days on flimsy charges that most often fell apart in court.
On December 16, 2011 Kali was one of three people arrested in one of these police raids. When the raid commenced, Kali gathered his blanket and few personal belongings and retreated to a nearby bench that he perceived as being a safe distance away from the area being cleared by police. Despite his efforts, an officer approached him and demanded that he provide identification. Once the officer ran his information and found that Kali was on parole, he returned and immediately arrested him without any further explanation. Kali and the two other detained Occupiers were all charged with misdemeanor obstruction. Occupy Oakland raised the necessary money to bail out the other two arrestees in order to avoid their having to spend all weekend in jail (another tactic of state repression that essentially served to embezzle thousands of dollars by kidnapping innocent Occupiers). But in Kali’s case, no bail was set because his parole status resulted in a violation hold. He was forced to remain in Santa Rita Jail for 4 nights before his case was arraigned in court.
Once in court, Kali’s attorney, Dan Siegel, requested that he be released until his next court date rather than continuing to be detained on such a petty misdemeanor charge. Although the court recognized that the minor nature of the charge didn’t justify continued detention, the District Attorney’s office opposed this request solely on the basis of Kali’s lack of residence address on record, which was used to characterize him as “homeless”. Despite Kali immediately notifying the court that he indeed had an address to provide, the judge decided that it was too late in the day for court staff to confirm this residence (the DA’s office having purposely dragged its feet on filing charges until minutes before the courtroom closed). Kali was ordered to remain in Santa Rita Jail until his next court date.
However, given the petty nature of the charges, the judge was forced to set bail and Occupy Oakland immediately began the process to bail out Kali. With all the bail paperwork ready to go, we waited for Kali to be transferred from the courthouse back to Santa Rita Jail so that bail could be posted and the release process could begin. Just a few hours later we were notified that Kali could no longer be bailed out because he was now being charged with a felony count of assaulting a correctional officer. This alleged incident occurred upon his arrival back at Santa Rita Jail (at the very time we were placing numerous calls to jail staff regarding posting his bail) and while guards were transferring him to solitary confinement (“administrative segregation”). It remains unclear why the decision was made to place him in solitary confinement in the first place (prior to any alleged assault) given that he was only being charged with a minor misdemeanor and was in the process of being bailed out. Kali later informed us that guards viciously attacked and beat him while transferring him to solitary, after which he was then charged with the alleged assault. In a matter of just four days, a minor misdemeanor obstruction charge had morphed into a felony assault case with bail now set at a staggering $580,000.
When Kali next appeared in court, the severity of the beating he had suffered was apparent: his face was heavily bruised and one eye was swollen completely shut. Beyond our concern for his physical safety, we were particularly worried about his mental health. Having long struggled with mental health issues, he had been on prescribed psychiatric medication for years. We learned that his medication was being withheld since his arrest and that he had not even received a medical evaluation. He communicated to us that he was suffering enormously as a result of withdrawal from his medication. Most crucially, it was during this period of being denied his prescribed medication that the decision was made to transfer him to solitary confinement and he was subsequently charged with felony assault. Despite numerous attempts to communicate to Santa Rita staff about the urgency of needing to get Kali his medication, he received no medical attention until two weeks later, and only after Dan Siegel obtained a judge’s order forcing Santa Rita Jail to do so.
The fight to get Kali his meds was only the beginning. What lay ahead for Kali was months of prosecution during which he was threatened with the possibility of a “3rd strike” because of his previous convictions. The extreme ferocity with which the DA’s office prosecuted this case made clear the political motivations involved. The state was sending a message to Occupy Oakland and Bay Area activists – a message that was being sent on the back of Kali. Dozens of Occupiers had been arrested and subsequently released through the course of those weekly police raids. But this one Occupier – a Black man who was characterized as “homeless”, who suffered from diagnosed mental health issues, and who was on parole after already having spent most of his adult life in prison – he was being held and punished to the max. Kali’s story serves to epitomize the inherently racist and classist nature of state repression.
The Anti Repression Committee launched a campaign to help defend Kali in the six months of court battle that would ensue. Kali was held in solitary confinement throughout this entire period. He suffered immensely from this, and it became increasingly unbearable for him as the months dragged on. As a result, he eventually accepted a plea deal that imposed a four year prison sentence. He explicitly expressed that he took the deal as the only means to get out of solitary confinement. Sentencing would mean being transferred into general population at a state prison, and he felt that even accepting years there would be preferable to another day spent in solitary. He was eventually transferred to San Luis Obispo State Prison where he has remained ever since, serving a four year sentence for a crime he never committed.
The Re-targeting of Kali
It’s now been three years that Kali has been imprisoned. He had been anxiously anticipating his release, which was scheduled for this month (December 2014). But state repression has once again reared its head. Several months ago he reported that his medication was again being denied to him. He communicated that he was experiencing severe difficulties and had repeatedly requested to be given the necessary medical care. His requests were denied and to make matters worse he was once again transferred to solitary confinement. His letters describe being targeted and harassed by prison guards and being denied care by medical staff. During this period he began receiving multiple violations from correctional officers (after not having had any problems during the entire period he was in general population and receiving his medication). With each violation his sentence was extended, eventually pushed back until April of 2015.
The Anti Repression Committee hired an attorney for Kali, both to assist him in obtaining his necessary medication, as well as to prepare for the possibility that his violations might be prosecuted as new criminal charges. Two weeks ago the District Attorney made the decision to prosecute one of these violations, arraigning Kali on a felony charge of assault on a correctional officer. Kali made the immediate decision to take a plea deal that imposed an additional two year sentence (at half time, meaning he will actually serve one additional year). He relayed to us that he chose to do so both because he worried how his case would fare in trial, but also because he was once again threatened with being prosecuted with a “third strike” (potentially resulting in a life sentence). As a result of this coerced plea deal, Kali’s prison term has now been extended to April of 2016.
The same pattern of state repression has repeated itself once again – Kali has been denied his psychiatric medication, placed in solitary confinement, and subsequently attacked and harassed by prison guards. And once again this has resulted in vicious prosecution and additional prison time.
The Bay Area Anti Repression Committee calls upon our community to stand in solidarity with Kali in the face of these new efforts to target him. It is crucial that we recognize that the violence of state repression has highly unequal impacts on our community. For some, repression has taken the form of police harassment or petty citations. For others it has meant long drawn out court cases over flimsy charges, sometimes even resulting in jail sentences. But in Kali’s case, state repression has fed off of a range of institutionalized inequalities based on race, class, homelessness, prior convictions and mental health – resulting in the fact that this lone Occupier will continue to sit in prison until 2016. It is imperative that we stand in solidarity with a comrade who has taken the worst brunt of the state repression that targets us.
Solidarity with Kali
How can we enact solidarity with Kali?
1) Write Letters: Most of Kali’s privileges have been taken away since he was placed in solitary confinement. He has no phone or visiting privileges, so letters become even more important as the only means of outside contact and communication. Let’s flood the prison with our letters and let Kali know that even in solitary, he is not alone. He has particularly requested pictures (all of his pictures were confiscated along with his letters and property when he was transferred to solitary). Below is his mailing address:
Marcel Johnson
#AM1002
California State Prison – Sacramento
P.O. Box 290066
Represa, CA 95671
2) Material Support: Please do not put any money on Kali’s books – because of restitution and fees imposed at his original sentencing, the vast majority of this will be confiscated by the state. BAARC has been providing support through packages of food, stationary, stamps and personal hygiene items throughout Kali’s incarceration. Since being transferred to solitary his privileges for receiving packages have been restricted and he can only receive a limited number of packages with specific approved items. BAARC is continuing to provide these packages and is in communication with Kali about his needs. We ask that you help us replenish our funds by making donations at https://rally.org/kali so that we can continue to provide this form of support.
The one other form of material support that can make it to Kali through the privilege restrictions include stamps, writing paper and envelopes, which can be enclosed in letters to him. Avoid sending any colored or decorative stationary as these items are often rejected – standard, plain white paper and envelopes are most likely to make it to him.
In Solidarity,
The Bay Area Anti Repression Committee