Tag: Sean Swain

Below is an update on Sean Swain, reporting from Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown, OH. This past September, Sean was transferred from Virginia back to Ohio custody. After ODRC held a transfer hearing for Sean, it was decided that he would remain in Ohio. However, ODRC Interstate Compact Coordinator Earlena Shepherd overrode this decision and plans to transfer Sean to Maryland.

ODRC FUCKWEASEL EARLENA SHEPHERD, PODUNK POTATO PAGEANT QUEEN OF 1982, COMMITS CRIMINAL FRAUD TO TERRORIZE ANARCHIST PRISONER SEAN SWAIN… BREACHES SECURITY BY REVEALING IMMINENT TRANSFER TO MARYLAND

The fuckweasels are at it again.

Sean was illegally transferred to Virginia in 2019 without any pretense of legality, no hearing held despite the fact that statute requires a hearing whereby Sean would be informed of the reasons for his transfer. Rather than doing that, the fuckweasels just tossed Sean in a van and sent him to Virginia.

In October 2021, Virginia sent him back. Properly, Sean was supposed to go to the Corrections Reception Center for intake and processing to a parent institution. Instead, he was delivered to the super-duper-max. No reason was given.

At the super-duper max, he was provided an intake security review that determined Sean scored out as a Level 1 minimum security with an override to Level 2 medium security – according to their own instrument. So, the fuckweasels ignored it completely and placed him at the super-duper max. Sean, possibly the least-dangerous prisoner in Ohio penal history, is treated as the most-dangerous prisoner in Ohio penal history. No reason given.

Then, Interstate Compact Coordinator Earlena Shepherd, whose claim to fame is as the Podunk Potato Pageant Queen of 1982, decided that Sean would not remain in Ohio but would be sent out of state again. This seemed very peculiar to everyone who cares about Sean, given that he had not been accused of any misconduct in almost 4 years and had spent two and a half years at a low medium in Virginia, wearing personal jeans and boots rather than prison uniforms, watching ‘Game of Thrones’ on the in-house movie channel and eating pizza and ice cream for lunch. It seemed very peculiar that someone so un-dangerous suddenly had the Unabomber treatment as soon as he crossed state lines into Ohio.

So, the transfer process began with a hearing on December 23, 2021. In that hearing, prison staff at the super-duper-max weighed the facts and determined Sean did not need to be transferred out of state. That determination was sent to the Potato Queen. She had the last word. The Potato Queen remanded the decision, sending it back to local staffers and demanding that they recommend transfer.

To be clear, no grounds for remand were cited. It wasn’t a case where the facts were wrong, or the conclusion didn’t match the facts. It was just a case where the Podunk Potato Pageant Queen didn’t get the conclusion she wanted, so she bullied underlings to make a new decision that directly conflicts with the old one, and to do it without any kind of excuse or justification for the sudden about-face.

So much for due process. All decisions are predetermined.

In the meantime, supporters and family were seeking answers. They wanted to know why Sean was transferred to Virginia in the first place, and why he was again being transferred. The Potato Pageant Queen claimed these were confidential, and could only be revealed to Sean. Yet, at the sham re-hearing, all the local staffers were allowed to tell Sean was that he was being transferred for “the same reason previously given in 2019.”

There was no reason given in 2019. In fact, Sean has still received not a single piece of paper related to his transfer to Virginia or his transfer back. The Potato Queen won’t even answer Sean’s certified mail.

Not that it matters to fuckweasels, but this is patently illegal. The law requires a hearing on the record where reasons for the transfer are disclosed to Sean. This still hasn’t happened.

So, Lauren Swain contacted the office of Director Annette Chambers-Smith and was put in touch with the director’s assistant. When Lauren expressed concerns about all of this, the director’s assistant looked up the transfer records on Sean and then revealed that, in all of the paperwork and documentation generated, the reason for the transfer was not filled in. In other words, the ODRC has yet to formulate a reason for the 2019 transfer or the 2021 transfer.

It appears that the ODRC is transferring Sean for the same reason that a dog licks his own balls… because he can.

The director’s assistant admitted this in a recorded phone call and Lauren forwarded the recording to Sean’s counsel, Eric J. Allen, who has successfully sued the ODRC repeatedly. He has now filed a civil action, Swain v. Chambers-Smith, to get a declaration that transfer out of state violates the Ohio Constitution, which forbids out of state transfer in Article I, Section 12. If successful, this would mean the ODRC could never transfer prisoners out of state again, and would have to bring back all prisoners currently transferred against their will.

Also in that conversation, Lauren mentioned that Sean was being transferred to Maryland. Turns out, the Potato Pageant Queen wasn’t supposed to let Lauren know that. It is a serious breach of security to reveal the destination of an out of state transfer, because the prison van could be ambushed along the routes between Youngstown, OH, and Maryland’s Reception Center on Madison Street in Baltimore. The Potato Pageant Queen should get fired for that.

In the meantime, anyone concerned about this ongoing campaign of state terror waged against Sean for reporting Trevor Clark’s sexual assault of him in 2013 can contact the Potato Pageant Queen at earlena.shepherd@odrc.state.oh.us to urge an end to PREA retaliation; can urge the director to fire Earlena Shepherd by contacting annette.chambers-smith@odrc.state.oh.us; and urge Maryland NOT to accept Sean, NOT to participate in PREA retaliation, and NOT to permit a transfer that has already been breached, by contacting:

interstatecompactunit1@maryland.gov
lashonda.lee-campbell@maryland.gov
patuxent@dpscs.state.md.us
(410) 585-3511
(410) 585-3357

This past Wednesday, the Ohio Parole Board denied parole to Sean Swain on the basis of lies and political targeting perpetuated by Trevor Matthew Clark, former ODRC Counsel. Read Sean’s account of what happened and his call for support below.

On August 25, I had my 4th parole hearing.

In 1991, I was convicted of Aggravated Murder in what was a provable case of self defense. The judge sentenced me to 20 years to life, the minimum allowable by law, and said I would be expected to serve 12 years before being paroled. I have now served 30. I was told on Wednesday that I will be expected to serve 5 more.

In their decision, the parole board relied upon their own wildly inaccurate characterizations of my political speech, which they construed as “threats.” They also relied upon contrived misconduct engineered by former ODRC Counsel Trevor Clark, who, in 2013, subjected me to inappropriate sexual touching, and, during an interrogation, revealed to me the home addresses of Ohio lawmakers. I reported both the sexual touching and the violation of lawmakers’ personal privacy, and Clark responded with a years-long campaign of state terror, to include suspension of my communications for years at a time and theft of my incoming legal mail.

In 2018, I filed 2 civil actions (18 CV 004272) that named Trevor Clark. Weeks later, in retaliation, he ordered a minion of his to fabricate the misconduct that the parole board now relies upon to extend my imprisonment for 5 years.

Lauren and I are fortunate to have retained attorney Eric J. Allen, who has successfully litigated against the parole board more than once. He promises to aggressively fight to right this injustice, but we need to raise some loot to pay the cost of the litigation.

SwainiacFest 2021, to raise funds for counsel, is in the planning stages… save the date September 23 in Toledo, OH.

Donations can be made via CashApp to $Swainiac1969.

Sample letters and parole board members’ emails are provided below for anyone who wishes to email the parole board on my behalf.

Open in email client | Open in Gmail

To: DRC.ParoleBoardOfficeConference@odrc.state.oh.us
Subject: Concerns about 8/25/21 Parole Board decision on Sean Swain (A243205)

Hi, 
I am contacting you in concern for the decision that the Parole Board made for Sean Swain, A243205, following his fourth parole hearing on August 25, 2021. Mr. Swain has already served 30 years of a 20-to-life sentence for a provable act of self defense. During his recent hearing, however, you decided that Mr. Swain must serve five more years.

I am writing to you because the information through which Parole Board members reached this decision was inaccurate. During his time at Warren Correctional Institution, Mr. Swain endured mistreatment including sexual harassment, mail theft, and inhumane living conditions at the direction of former ODRC Counsel Trevor Clark. It was Mr. Clark's erroneous characterization of Mr. Swain's political speech that led Mr. Clark to commit actions against Mr. Swain that were both wrongfully discriminatory as well as illegal. In 2018, Mr. Swain filed two civil actions that named Mr. Clark. Weeks later, in retaliation, Mr. Clark ordered one of his employees to fabricate incidents of misconduct by Mr. Swain. These reports of misconduct have since been overturned - yet these false accusations ordered by Mr. Clark informed your decision to keep Mr. Swain incarcerated for five more years.

Mr. Swain's attorney is currently working on filing for reconsideration of your decision. As a public servant entrusted with making responsible parole decisions, I urge you to investigate the falsehoods that informed your decision and reconsider Mr. Swain's eligibility for parole.

Thank you.

Open in email client | Open in Gmail

Sean Swain is up for parole this August. His support team has been raising money to pay for legal counsel for this upcoming hearing. Below is an update from Sean. If you’d like to donate to his parole fund, donations are being accepted through CashApp to $swainiac1969.

Every year, once a year – usually around the holidays – I watch the old black-and-white movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. I sit in my cell crying like a six-year-old with a broken bike.

Don’t judge me.

I think about how the world is, about all the desperate situations confronting all of us, our alienation, the way meaning and purpose are leeched from our lives, disconnected, how we work and die and it just doesn’t matter. In “It’s a Wonderful Life,” everyone rescues Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed in a really touching Cumbayah moment when they are confronted with a desperate situation, the crisis of their lives, and the movie affirms that this giving and caring nature defines us as humans.
That’s not typically how the real world feels like it works… We all know that.

But we’d like to dream that it does.

I’ve been locked up for 3 decades. Yanked out of your world and held, at least ostensibly, where you can’t see me or hear me, where I can’t participate directly in your lives. The goal, for those in control, of course, is to get you to forget about me.

But, last week, at the beginning of June, friends set up a donation fund to raise $3,500 for me to retain legal counsel, Eric Allen, for my next parole hearing. In just 3 days, we raised $2,200 and counting – people sending money to hopefully help me out of this desperate situation, acts of selfless generosity at a time when everyone is wondering how to pay rent, when the traumas of COVID and lockdowns are still very immediate.

I’m reminded of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” when everyone rescues Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed in a really touching Cumbayah moment, and I’m so incredibly grateful, overwhelmed by this, and not just because of the funds and the difference that retaining Eric Allen might have, but I’m also grateful because people everywhere– most of you, I have never even met –have proven that the world IS this way, that WE are this way.

My mom is elderly, and we lost my dad last year. Lauren is holding their breath. The state has shown many times how much it doesn’t like me. Crisis.

And then everybody showed up.

You showed up.

Thank you for that. Thank you.

The following is a post from Sean Swain’s support team.

Virginia Department of Corrections has blocked Anarchist Prisoner Sean Swain’s communications

Long time Anarchist Prisoner Sean Swain has had his access to JPay, telephone, and video visitation wrongfully suspended by VADOC. The suspension began on September 3rd and extends until March, a total of six months. Restricting a prisoner’s access to the outside world is inhumane, and we believe that VADOC is carrying this suspension out in violation of their own policies and procedures. 

Here is what we know:

• Sean’s JPay and phone access were suspended on September 3rd for 6 months due to a stated reason that VADOC didn’t approve of something he had said on JPay and telephone. Video visitation was also revoked at some point after, but it is not clear if this is related. 
• Sean did not receive a Disciplinary Hearing prior to this suspension. It is VADOC’s disciplinary policy (OP 861.1) to hold a Disciplinary Hearing before penalties can be imposed. Documents related to Disciplinary Hearings are kept on file for three years. However, a FOIA request for documentation of Sean’s Disciplinary Hearing produced a statement saying that no such documents exist. Without a Disciplinary Hearing, Sean cannot appeal this suspension.
• Policy also says that authorized forms of discipline include suspension of 1 or 2 privileges, for a maximum of 60 or 90 calendar days, depending on the severity of the violation. Visitation, JPay use, and telephone use are counted as 3 separate privileges. Sean’s support team has collectively reached out to a number of VADOC officials concerning this matter, but no one has been able to provide a clear answer as to why VADOC was able to impose a penalty deviating from standard policy. 
• We also suspect that Sean’s regular mail has been intentionally withheld, as multiple letters have been returned to senders for vague reasons. No one at VADOC has been able to answer to this, either. 

We are asking the broader support community to write letters and let us know when, so that we can keep a running log of mail that is sent to Sean. 

We are also asking supporters and friends to continue to pressure VADOC officials* with questions about their violations of their own policies, as well as make FOIA requests, so that we can hold VADOC accountable for their actions. Prison officials are used to throwing their weight around and not being questioned. The last thing we want is for them to continue to believe that they can squash any questions that do arise with their imagined authority. 

We are keeping a file of their responses, as Sean has a domestic torture case currently under review by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Any documentation that we can acquire may help his case. You can now follow Sean’s support team on Instagram for updates. 

Thank you Swainiacs! You are the resistance.

*The five VADOC officials directly involved in the suspension are A. David Robinson, George Hinkle, Moose Fleming, John Woodson, and Teresa Harvey. 

The Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) has blocked communications to and from our friend Sean Swain. We believe this is because prison officials simply didn’t like what he wrote. Listen to Sean’s account of what happened here (via The Final Straw podcast).

Swain communication has been shut down. Call (804) 674-3000 and ask them why. @StrawFinal #protest #BLMprotests @GovernorVA

— Sean Swain (@swainrocks) September 6, 2020

We are asking friends and comrades to contact VADOC to ask them why (and to gently let them know that our 👀’s are on them).

VADOC Headquarters
(804) 674-3000

VADOC Central Regional Office
(804) 674-3008

Buckingham Correctional Center
(434) 983-4400

John Woodson, Buckingham Warden
john.woodson@vadoc.virginia.gov

Jeffrey Snoddy, Buckingham Assistant Warden
jeffrey.snoddy@vadoc.virginia.gov

Rose Durbin, Corrections Operations Manager
rose.durbin@vadoc.virginia.gov

George Hinkle, Regional Operations Chief (Central)
george.hinkle@vadoc.virginia.gov

Sample Script:
“I’m contacting you because Sean Swain, inmate #2015638, has had his communications blocked. I am a friend of Sean, and I know that he does not pose a security threat. Communications may not be censored simply because officials don’t like the content, so I would like to ask what the reason for this is.”