Thread: Lawmaker: Terrorists treated better than Ramos, Compean

Lawmaker: Terrorists treated better than Ramos, Compean
Congressman calls for investigation into reported harsh conditions

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Posted: October 17, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern


By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com


Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., at news conference with now-imprisoned former U.S. Border Patrol agent Jose Compean
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., is calling on the Bush administration to conduct a thorough review of harsh treatment convicted Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean reportedly are receiving in solitary confinement.

Rohrabacher argues that for 10 months Ramos and Compean have been in conditions more severe than experienced by terrorists held by the U.S. at the Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The congressman also disclosed he has written a letter to Manhattan federal trial judge Michael Mukasey, Bush's nominee to replace Alberto Gonzales as attorney general, demanding that upon confirmation Mukasey conduct an unbiased review of the agents' prosecution.

"Given the close personal relationship between the prosecuting U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President Bush, past requests for inquiries into prosecutorial misconduct in this case have been ignored," Rohrabacher claimed in a statement.

"Conflicting statements made by Mr. Sutton during Senate testimony in July and to the press have yet to be clarified," Rohrabacher continued, "and newly obtained information regarding the treatment of the officers in solitary confinement for the last 10 months reveals conditions that are harsh and unnecessarily punitive in nature."

Ramos and Compean received sentences of 11 and 12 years respectively for their actions in the shooting and wounding of Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, a Mexican illegal who was fleeing across the Mexican border and resisting arrest after having smuggled 750 pounds of marijuana into the U.S.

In a fact sheet comparison of Gitmo Camp 4, the medium-security terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, and the solitary confinement experienced by Ramos and Compean under the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, Rohrabacher claims the former border agents' spend 23 hours per day in their cells, with only one hour permitted outdoors per day.

Camp 4 Gitmo detainees, according to the fact sheet, are allowed to live in a communal setting that permits up to nine hours per day in outside exercise and recreational facilities that included covered picnic tables and ping-pong tables, as well as access to soccer fields and volleyball courts.

Rohrabacher's analysis is backed up by a U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons program statement issued Dec. 29, 1987, which defines the solitary confinement standards for the administration detention of prisoners on a non-punitive status who are isolated for their own safety.

On Feb. 6, WND broke the story Ramos was severely beaten by inmates at the Federal Correctional Complex in Yazoo City, Miss., where he was initially placed in general prison population.

The attack came immediately after the airing of a segment on Ramos and Compean by the "America's Most Wanted" television show.

The White House initially cautioned WND against publishing the report, but the Bureau of Prisons confirmed the assault.

Ramos and Compean began serving their federal prison sentences on Jan. 17, while their cases were yet under appeal.

An American Armed Forces Press Services news article published Feb. 16, 2006, confirms Camp 4 Gitmo detainees have privileges that include culturally sensitive food, periodic visits from a designated librarian, popular books translated into Arabic, electric fans in the bays, ice water available around the clock and plastic tubs with lids for detainees to store personal items. The detainees also are issued white uniforms, considered a more culturally respected color than the orange suits typical of many prisoners in the U.S.

While Gitmo Camp 4 detainees get weekly ice cream parties and access to Subway or McDonald's meals, Rohrabacher's fact sheet says Ramos and Compean receive no special meals or extra food privileges.

At one point, Ramos lost 30 or more pounds and his family was concerned he was not receiving needed prescription medications.

Gitmo Camp 4 detainees are allowed to watch Arabic family TV programs and soccer highlights, while Ramos and Compean are denied access to TV.

Gitmo Camp 4 detainees are allowed showers after daily exercise periods, while Ramos is permitted only three showers weekly and none on the weekend.

The former border agents are kept in concrete slab solitary confinement maximum security cells, while Gitmo Camp 4 detainees live in a communal setting.

WND reported a request by Ramos and Compean to be released on bond pending appeal was denied.

Critics point out the Bush administration refused to intervene on behalf of Ramos' and Compean's bond request, in sharp contrast to the president's decision to commute the sentence of convicted White House aide Scooter Libby before he spent a day in federal prison.


http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/artic ... E_ID=58188

Johnny Sutton needs to be dis barred and Ramos and Compian needs to be able too sue Sutton, President Bush and the Federal Government for Billions and Billions of dollars

What a travesty of Justice when a Federal Prosecutor takes the word of a drug smuggler over 2 federal agents.

Suttons bank account needs to be checked for irregularities such as drug smuggling kick backs

Bush needs to be tried and sentanced for TREASON with just sentencing in accordance with federal law

Border Agents Treated Worse Than Terror Suspects, Congressmen Say
Fred Lucas
Oct 17, 2007
Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - Calling the treatment of two imprisoned border agents worse than the treatment of suspected terrorists, several House Republicans demanded that Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey pledge to review the case when he takes office.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday will begin the confirmation hearing for Mukasey, nominated last month by President George W. Bush to be the next attorney general. His nomination follows the departure of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales after months of turmoil in the Justice Department.

"If this new attorney general is unwilling to look into this, he doesn't deserve to be attorney general," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) said.

Rohrabacher was joined by four other House Republicans who have been vocal advocates of ex-Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, sentenced to 11 and 12 years, respectively, for shooting a Mexican drug smuggler in the buttocks as he fled back to Mexico.

The smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, was given immunity to testify against the two agents and is suing the federal government for $5 million.

Referring to Defense Department and Bureau of Prison documents, Rohrabacher's office compared the treatment of Ramos and Compean and some of the enemy combatants detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

While Ramos and Compean are in solitary confinement - being held in their prison cells 23 hours a day -- prisoners in Guantanamo's medium-security Camp 4 are allowed seven-to-nine hours of exercise every day.

Ramos is limited to three showers a week, while Camp 4 prisoners are allowed to have showers every day. Meals are served to the agents in their cells. According to the Defense Department, prisoners at Guantanamo's medium security camp can have community meals as well as weekly ice cream parties.

"Only in America would we treat prisoners of war in Guantanamo Bay better than we treat our peace officers," said Rep. Ted Poe (R-Tex.). "I hope the concern people have about the treatment of terrorists is reflected here as well."

Reps. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) also spoke about the matter Tuesday.

The lawmakers called on the Justice Department to look into the treatment of the border agents in prison, as well as the way the case was prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton of the Western District of Texas and the statements that Executive Branch officials made to Congress as part of the overall review.

The letter to Mukasey, signed by 47 House members, said, "Given the close personal relationship between Mr. Sutton, President Bush and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, numerous questions regarding the propriety of this prosecution remain unanswered by the Department of Justice."

Sutton served under then-Texas Gov. Bush as state criminal justice director from 1995 to 2000, where he worked closely with Gonzales, then counsel to the governor's office.

Sutton has said that the prosecution of the border agents was justified, and in testimony before the Senate, he said that Ramos and Compean acted recklessly. Aldrete-Davila was unarmed and the two agents did not know he was a drug dealer when they shot at him, Sutton said. He also said the agents tried to cover up the shooting.

Ramos was assaulted by five other prisoners in February, and both former border agents are now in solitary confinement at medium security prisons for their own safety. Ramos was transferred to an Arizona prison from one in Mississippi to be closer to his family. Compean has served 10 months of his sentence at an Ohio prison.

The letter to the attorney general nominee asks that the agents be immediately transferred to a minimum security prison, which would allow them to leave solitary confinement and mingle with the general prison population.

"The detrimental effects of long-term solitary confinement have been well-documented, and it is not only unacceptable, it is inexcusable in this case," the letter said.

The letters says the ex-border agents are now living in conditions that "are worse than those enjoyed by suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay."

It concludes, "As the nominee to be the next attorney general, we urge you to investigate the case against these two agents who we believe acted in accordance with their duties to enforce the law."

http://www.crosswalk.com/news/11556984/

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Our Immigration laws are not upheld because of the PC attitude that polititians have. They are afraid of offending the minority as the minority usually votes for the Democrats as the Democrats fund their free social programs.

Well said Billm and welcome to alipac.