On January 9 2013, Carrington Keys (one of the Dallas 6) had his day in federal court under the jurisdiction of Honorable Judge Richard Caputo. Mr. Keys was the plaintiff in a civil suit against staff members of SCI Dallas for retaliation and abuse. He was a Pro Se litigant and performed quite well according to courtroom visitors from Human Rights Coalition. The trial lasted for 3 days. Mr. Keys subpoenaed 5 prisoners as witnesses and some SCI Dallas staff members as well. The prisoner witnesses gave insight into the abuse and torture that occur in solitary confinement and eyewitness testimony of what happened to Mr. Keys. One prisoner witness, Isacc Sanchez was court ordered to be removed from SCI Dallas because he was in fear for his life and receiving threats from guards during the trial. All witnesses said they received threats from prison staff about testifying. As well as prison guards filled the courtroom and attempted to intimidate Keys supporters by falsely accusing one of voice recording courtroom proceedings and another of taking pictures of the courtroom. Someone also falsely alerted homeland security who placed some of the supporters under investigation due to their lies. During lunch break the guards were seen lunching in the same restaurant as the jurors, which was probably intimidating. In these small towns such as Dallas, the jails are usually the main income and if not for these prisons a lot of people would be out of work. Therefore, they will do whatever to keep their jobs. The trial ended in a mistrial. The jury came out to talk to the Mr. Keys and the defendants lawyer. They were able to ask questions as to how they viewed the case. It was unanimous that they believed Mr. Keys was abused by the guards. Their well known lie about camera malfunction did not work and was very unbelievable to the jurors. To clarify about the cameras, cameras are always used when they prison wants to prove something an inmate did, but when an inmate needs footage to prove their point, the camera has a malfunction. This is an ongoing lie and tactic that the DOC uses to cover up its wrongdoings. This time it didn't work. Though they decided that he was abused, the jury could not decide that it was malicious. I've never heard of prisoners being abused for a good reason! In my opinion, if they abused this man then it would have to be for a bad reason hence, maliciousness and therefore retaliation. Mr. Keys is a known jailhouse lawyer who has many cases against the DOC. For this reason he has been buried in solitary for almost a decade and constantly starved and abused. Mr. Keys retrial will be in June of 2013. We would like to pack the courtroom with supporters and media. Any interested party please email for updates to sd4hrc@gmail.com or post on the blog. More information to follow.
