On Friday January 11th Sean Swain wrote a JPay email notifying outside supporters that his security status review was scheduled for the following Monday. We didn’t receive this email until Tuesday and haven’t heard anything since. On December 26th, Sean sent a fat envelope with instructions for his lawyer on how to pressure officials, threatening a civil suit if they go ahead with the transfer. This envelope didn’t arrive until Thursday January 10th. Intentional delays of communication by ManCI staff prevented us from helping Sean fight this transfer.

This is but one example of the kind of treatment Sean has received since first being accused of leading the Army of the 12 Monkeys’ sabotage campaign back in September. ManCI staff have made special exceptions to almost every rule regulating how they’re supposed to treat someone in ad seg facing these kind of charges. Of course, this is not unexpected. Prison guards at ManCI seem to enthusiastically embrace the reputation that COs are hateful, small minded and trifling.

Calls to the prison and officials in central office contradict Sean’s information and each other. These people are either jerking us around, or they are totally inept. We cannot get trustworthy information on whether the security review occurred, it’s decision, or Sean’s current status.

Sean Swain needs our help standing up to these people. The last communication we’ve received from him was the above-mentioned JPay dated Jan 11th. He needs mail. He needs donations to his legal fund. He needs things to read. ManCI staff deny books sent to him on the slightest pretense, but some zines and articles seem to have gotten through.

He needs the phones at ManCI and ODRC central office to ring off the hook. Sean was scheduled for a status reduction that would have sent him to lower security at Marion when the 12 Monkeys events occurred. Please call the prison and demand that Sean be transferred to Marion, as planned. If you want to be polite or reasonable, you can describe how the Rules Infraction Board presented no evidence, how the investigator admitted that the accusation is based on Sean’s ideology, how these charges are a trumped up retaliation against Sean’s anti-prison privitization essays. You can remind them that the supreme court has ruled that prisons have no legitimate interest in controlling the speech or ideology of their captives. We doubt that Sean cares very much about us being reasonable or polite with these people anymore, though.

Please call ManCI at 419-526-2000 ask for the Warden’s office and demand all this nonsense be dropped and Sean sent to Marion as planned. You can also ask to speak to the Local Control unit manager, Lt Lynch, if you wanna listen to the phone ring while he ignores it.

Please call Director Gary Mohr at Central Office, 614-752-1150 . Let him know that we won’t tolerate the COs and officials in Mansfield trampling on the basic rights of prisoners. Ask to talk to Lotte Sanders in legal services if you want to argue the facts of Sean’s case with a talkative and friendly fascist bureaucrat.

It goes without saying that Sean (like every prisoner) also needs a lot of things that we can’t publically condone or openly speak about.