I'm still serving the remainder of a four and a half to twenty year sentence for my part in a robbery which occurred more than twenty years ago, on November 9, 1981. One of the reasons that I'm still doing time on a twenty-year-old sentence that's over twenty years old is that the Department of Corrections ("DOC") refuses to credit the time I was awarded by Judge George Ross when I was finally brought to trial in 1984. Long story short...after my arrest, I was held in a Texas prison during 1982 and 1983 while Pennsylvania county prosecutors made sweetheart deals with my co-defendants, a stock broker, an ex-con and the ex-con's girlfriend. Compare my twenty year sentence with the sentences given to my co-conspirators: stock broker (who had planed the robbery of his client) - probation, girlfriend - probation, ex-con - 4 to 8 years. I was told that either I must plead guilty or my three co-conspirators would testify against me and I'd receive 10 to 20 years. I did plead guilty. I pled guilty because I was guilty and I sincerely apologized to my fellow citizens for my actions at that time. I've apologized before and I've repented to God and changed my ways.1 I have not been convicted of any further crimes and I've served the sentence pronounced on me by Judge Ross. After my parole from Pennsylvania prison on September 11, 1988, I did violate various Parole Board rules. For those "technical" violations, I was returned to prison. Some of my violations were legitimate, others were purely harassment by parole officers who were sick themselves; sick with alcoholism, power addiction, fear, self-hate, drug addiction, anger at the world and other emotional and character disorders. In 1999, I was arrested in Nye County, Nevada, where I'd relocated, at the instruction of the Pennsylvania Parole Board. The reason for my arrest was a statement by a Nye County deputy sheriff that I "smelled like beer." It should be noted that the deputy wouldn't give me a Breathalyzer test. He said that I was being held on a "parole-hold" so he had no obligation to test me. At my hearing in Nevada, I specifically asked for my right to confront and cross-examine my accuser. I was flatly told that Deputy McGraff was "unavailable" to be confronted. That should have been the end of it and I should have been released. Instead, I was extradited back to Pennsylvania and, once again I had a parole violation hearing. I was told that since Nevada is 1800 miles away, the Board didn't have to produce my accuser for cross-examination. Over my attorney's objections, I was given a 9 month "hit." I appealed to the Commonwealth Court, but by the time the case was heard, 14 months had elapsed so my appeal was moot. In August 2000, I was re-paroled, this time to a community corrections center ("CCC"), "Renewal" in Pittsburgh. Within a week I was busily working two jobs, steel fabrication and car washing. After about a month, I quit and took a drivers job for Pittsburgh Limousine Services, Inc. It was a bad move. In October after only a month as a driver, a dispatcher for the limo company, Colleen Cox, phoned the CCC (which is almost like a prison) and told them that I'd failed to report to work, a serious breach of the rules. It should be noted that after I was arrested Ms Cox's boyfriend took over my driving job and the company failed to pay me for the four weeks that I'd worked. Two days later, parole agents staged a storm-trooper-type raid on the CCC, arrested me and returned me to SCI-Pittsburgh. I wasn't given the "full and fair hearing" promised by Renewal's rules. At my parole violation hearing, I produced my receipts (signed by my supervisor, Mike Ryan) for the work I'd done while I was supposedly not at work. The hearing examiner, Benjamin A. Martinez, wouldn't admit my receipts as evidence because, as he said, they were photocopied. He did, however, accept the photocopied records used by Ms. Cox and Mr. Martinez gave me a year hit. This stiff sentence flew in the face of the guidelines which call for only 3 to 6 months. In October 2001, after I'd done almost the whole year, I wrote an article for the prison journal, Graterfriends. The article asked that when people get out of prison they vote for politicians who will help us get rid of the vengeful, evil, lying, confused monstrosity we call the Parole Board. I suggested that it be replaced with a post-incarceration supervision program that works such as the Delancey Street Foundation2 or a variation thereof. Obviously, by writing for Graterfriends, I was exercising my inalienable right to express an opinion and attempting to get others to vote out a system that is corrupt and doesn't work, and vote in a system that does and has worked in California, New Mexico and North Carolina since 1971. The truth is that in the present Pennsylvania system, if a person knows who the "go-to-guy" is, the right bagman can get a person paroled no matter what his DOC record is. What subsequently happened to me is a very good example of how prisoners are punished for writing political articles. Recall that I'd been given a one year hit for a technical violation on October 25, 2000. In keeping with parole policy, I was supposed to see the Parole Board to be considered for re-parole in October of 2001, ah, but I'd written that article. Although I was recommended for parole by the Smithfield prison staff (where I was then imprisoned), I was not interviewed by the Board as scheduled in October. When I asked why I hadn't been seen, I was told that my papers were "lost." Eventually, I was scheduled to see the Board in December 2001, but it never happened. Again I asked why. This time I was told that the delay was because of my legal appeal to the Commonwealth Court. Finally in February 2002, 16 months after I'd gotten the 12 month hit, I was again interviewed by Board member Benjamin Martinez. With him, he had a sidekick, a Mr. Wilson, who didn't say a word or ask a question. During the brief interview, Martinez made one snide remark after another about me being a writer. For example: "yes, Emmett, we've read your article in Graterfriends, you're quite the newspaper reporter, aren't you? snicker, smirk. All I replied at the time was "glad you enjoyed it, it's all true." At any rate, Martinez let me know there and then that he had the power to crucify me and that he was going to use it. And he did! Martinez not only refused me re-parole, but required me to max-out my sentence which the Board has miscalculated until August 2004. It should be 2002. The boilerplate explanation was: "the fair administration of justice could not be achieved through your release on parole." It was a flimsy and clearly politically vindictive action. During my year at Smithfield prison, I didn't receive any disciplinary write-ups, I attended and completed every program they told me to take. I acquired a barber's license and entered the Barber Managers Program. I cut both inmates' and staffs' hair. I'm 48 years old, well past the time I should have been released. One last reflection: why aren't parole hearings videotaped? There are cameras everywhere else in the prison. A video record of parole hearings would be an eye-opener. Currently, the Board doesn't even use a certified stenographer. Martinez brings only a little hand-held tape recorder which he turns on and off at will to edit out his unprofessional remarks. They've started to have a guard attend the parole hearings. Typically the guard spreads whatever rumors Martinez decides to put forward. Ostensibly, the guard is there to protect Martinez's safety. Given his personality and the way he talks to people, it may not be a bad idea. FOOTNOTES 1 By the way, thank you all for your forgiveness. For those who cannot or will not forgive me, I understand and I'll pray for you. 2 The Delancy Street Foundation, 600 Embarcadero San Francisco, CA 94107 415-957-9800