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ACTION ALERT!

Please use the link below to sign the following electronic petition on behalf of Jeremy Smith, a schizophrenic inmate. The background information follows

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Justice ForJeremy

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GINA CRIES HERSELF TO SLEEP most nights and spends her off days trying to get our justice system to do justice for her son, Jeremy. Jeremy Smith suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and has an IQ between 50 and 70. Gina has her son's power of attorney, but when Jeremy was charged with a crime, the prosecutor talked Jeremy into signing a plea deal sentencing him to eight years in prison. His crime? He hit another patient at a mental hospital, but caused no lasting injury.

The sad truth is that sick U.S. citizens like Jeremy are used to boost profits for private prisons. Each inmate in the general prison population costs taxpayers about $50,000 per year to warehouse, although 2/3 of them are non-violent offenders. Prison labor programs use these inmates to manufacture goods the prison owners sell and trade on Wall Street. Mentally ill and dying inmates are even more lucrative for private prison owners. Taxpayers pay about $100 thousand per year, per patient to warehouse 1.25 million mental patients usually under cruel living conditions without adequate medical or psychiatric care.

Jeremy has been in prison before for hitting someone. In fact, Jeremy spent FOUR YEARS in "the hole," a space no larger than a closet where he lived naked in solitary confinement 23 hours per day. When released from the hole, Jeremy had lost about 60 pounds, was too weak to stand on his own, and could not speak a complete sentence. Jeremy was so malnourished and traumatized after his torture that Gina thought he might die. After being stabilized in the mental hospital, Jeremy was transferred to a facility nearer to his mother. As the new kid on the block, Jeremy was targeted by aggressive psychiatric patients. Jeremy again hit someone, and that is why he is now back in prison and he may be already back in "the hole," as scheduled. Gina has not heard from Jeremy in over a month, and the prison refuses to tell her how her son is doing or allow Gina to see him.

Seven inmates reportedly died in this year in California prisons from tooth decay. Infection from their rotten teeth entered their bloodstreams and killed them. Gina knows that Jeremy is unlikely to receive proper psychiatric treatment while imprisoned.

1. The undersigned petitioners demand that the plea bargain Jeremy Smith signed that was used to condemn him to eight years in prison must be revoked because of his borderline retardation and acute mental illness. The power of attorney Gina has for her son must be fully honored.

2. We demand that mentally ill people be treated as hospital inpatients, not prison inmates. Sick people cannot be punished into a state of mental health.

3. We demand that since taxpayers are charged significantly more for the care of sick inmates, they must actually receive health care. Torture is not a part of their sentencing.

Thank you.

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Message from Luis A. Garcia:

Hi, I signed the petition "Justice for Jeremy and Other Mentally Ill Prisoners". I'm asking you to sign this petition to help us reach our goal of 1,000 signatures. I care deeply about this cause, and I hope you will support our efforts. You can look at my comments when you do. Please view and sign this petition at:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/JusticeForJeremy

Thanks again for you support!

Please stay tuned for future action alerts, and thank you for your support!