B. Cayenne Bird
Columnist

Archives for 2015:

• Petitioning Judge Thelton Henderson: Please do not return control of Calif Prison Medical and Mental Health to the State of California. - Please grant full media access to prisoners so that the cover-up and abuse can end. Please find a way to keep a federal monitor involved. (July 17, 2015)
• Shanesha Taylor: No original plea deal exists, so why were charges re-filed during negotiations? - How could she violate terms of a plea that was never signed, let alone be prosecuted for it? (May 15, 2015)

Archives for 2014:

• Good for Shanesha Taylor for standing up to Co. Atty. Bill Montgomery trying to seize her donations - There is no evidence, no signed financial agreement with the County Attorney, no receipts (only a budget with no verification), yet Veteran and Mom with AA degree who made a desperate choice resulting in no injuries has been defamed internationally

  (November 24, 2014)

Archives for 2012:

• Veteran Op-Ed writer denied prison visit for identifying herself as a journalist - Senior scribe humiliated over bra choice by Prison Guards Tracy Brown, E. Vazquez and D. Alfaro, turned away and forcibly removed from grounds after identifying herself as a journalist. Major First Amendment Rights violation may result in lawsuit. (September 19, 2012)

Archives for 2011:

• Prison employees protected by sick, secret power structure - Family law cases show unlawful activities by judges, attorneys and police (July 25, 2011)
• Selected articles on California prisons - Prison guards, inmates, policy, and conservatives agreeing that government has been over-built via incarceration. (February 13, 2011)
• Scott Kernan retires from prisons post but Who Killed the Capitol Cook? - In the wake of scandals exposing torture and murder by medical neglect of inmates, California prisons undersecretary Scott Kernan has announced his retirement (January 6, 2011)
• CDCR fences controversy highlight prison budget cover ups - We are never going to know the true cost of the fences, their electronics, card readers, labor contracts, but all those questions should be answered. And I certainly am not wrong in asking the questions. (January 1, 2011)

Archives for 2010:

• CDCR puts million dollar prison gate fortress in downtown Sacramento - It has that gray, prison-industrial-complex feel to the unimaginative design of it and couldn't be more of an eyesore. (December 27, 2010)
• Torment of prison inmate lawyer Eric K'napp escalates as he is rapidly moved to Chino dormitory - K'napp is taken out off single cell status after eight years by Warden Frank X. Chavez and sent hundreds of miles away from his family as punishment

  (October 25, 2010)

• Prison Officials Lying About riot at Sierra Conservation Center (September 30, 2010)
• Ron Givens to carry messages from UNION families on prisons 3 strikes law to New Zealand - Speaking tour of New Zealand begins May 12, 2010 (May 2, 2010)

Archives for 2009:

• Family awarded damages - son died of heat and neglect in prison - A wrongful death lawsuit in the case of Joseph Sullivan shows deliberate indifference (December 14, 2009)
• California Constitutional Convention by the people, for the people - could work - Two initiatives filed June 24, 2009 would empower citizens to re-write the State Constitution (July 3, 2009)
• Release prisoners, change sentencing laws, save billions (June 25, 2009)
• Prisoner Release Will Save Billions of Wasted Dollars - and help to end the humanitarian crisis taking place in California prisons (February 22, 2009)
• Inmates Forced to Drink Poison Water, No Place to go for Help (January 9, 2009)

Archives for 2008:

• Throng of Families of Dead, Dying and Mentally Ill Prisoners Beg for Help Outside Calif. Federal Court - Atrocities surface in historic Plata Trial. Hundreds of families demonstrate outside as Judges Thelton Henderson, Lawrence Karlton and Carl Reinhardt hear testimony on the humanitarian crisis inside California's prisons where the media is banned from being able to interview specific inmates. (November 27, 2008)
• Murder By Medical Neglect Must End in CA Prisons - Rally this Fri Nov 21 at 9 am sharp, Philip Burton Fed Courthouse, 450 Golden Gate Ave., San Francisco (November 19, 2008)
• Paralegal Eric K'napp Denied Medically-Mandated Appliance by Salinas Valley Prison Officials - An important part of the present prison reform should be oversight and protection of the jail house lawyers, paralegals and whistle blowers who exercise their rights while incarcerated. (July 10, 2008)
• Salinas Valley Prison Denies Obese Woman Visits - Couldn't fit through the metal detector (July 4, 2008)
• Mom to Gov - Please Intervene - Prison Parole Board Will Block My Paralyzed Son (June 16, 2008)
• Prison Reform Volunteers Neede - Reform can only come from enou (April 19, 2008)

Archives for 2007:

• Prison System is Abusing Visitors - Many Inmate Family Members Robbed or Turned Away - Most California prisons are in complete chaos as members of the state legislature focus instead on a bill to increase their terms in office and meet with one another and lobbyists (December 12, 2007)
• Tear Down the Statue of Liberty, CA Prison Abuse is Outrageous - Prisoner with family ties hog-tied and forced onto transport (October 7, 2007)
• Prison CDCR Agency Secretary Tilton Confirmation Hearing Is Online - The size of the human bondage industry in California will jar you (July 17, 2007)
• Tortured in Prison, Mark Grangetto Probably Won't Live to See Reforms - As the headlines all scream that low voter awareness is causing support of a $7 billion plus prison expansion, a young man is dying a slow, tormented death. (June 13, 2007)
• Prison Plan is Embarrasing to Thinking People Everywhere - Thinking people know that the practice of locking people in cages is from the dark ages. (May 2, 2007)
• Compassionate Release for Sick and Dying Prisoners Deserves Your Support - millions of education and human services dollars are being wasted on punishing very sick people. It's inhumane and serves no public safety interest (April 11, 2007)

Archives for 2006:

• Law was Designed to Overflow Prisons - Unconstitutional Law Will Harm More Children than it Protects (November 11, 2006)
• Corrupt Criminal Justice System Contributes to Over-Crowded Prisons - California's criminal justice system is corrupt arrest through parole. (October 24, 2006)
• Peter Camejo Excluded from Debate - Prisons not even mentioned - Poll showed 68% of Californians wanted to see Green Party Candidate Peter Camejo participate in the one and only debate for Governor. Why I think he was excluded. (October 11, 2006)
• Demand Over-ride of Govs Veto of Prison Media Access Bill/Let Peter Camejo Debate - The citizens need to be outraged and write short letters to editors over two threats to liberty (October 4, 2006)
• Real Prison Reform Must Include Sentencing and Parole Changes

  - Our burgeoned system has remained virtually unchanged to this day despite some good prison and criminal justice reform ideas having been presented over decades.

  (September 28, 2006)

• Prison Reform for Dummies: What's Right and What's Wrong - Since there is obviously a lack of depth and creativity on actual prison reform amongst the Republican lawmakers in particular and even some of the Democrats, I've penned this opinion piece. (September 17, 2006)
• Parents of Prisoners ask: Why are we paying to punish sick people in prison? (August 22, 2006)
• Parents of Prison Inmates Pray for this Reform First

  - Except for a small handful of legislators, these elected officials are not there to do the right thing for all mankind.

  (August 9, 2006)

• Voters Must Demand Sane Prison Reforms to Protect the Public Safety - Demand release of the frail elderly and terminally ill from prisons. Build mental hospitals instead under an all new agency to free up 27,000 beds (July 30, 2006)
• Build Mental Hospitals - Not Prisons, to Lower Crime - 27,000 mentally ill people are being prosecuted and tormented for acting out their illness. Why not heal them instead? (July 13, 2006)
• Absurd Salinas Valley Prison Visiting Policies Routinely Turn Inmate Families Away - Prisons are ripping apart families, Breaking Minds, Bodies and Spirits (June 29, 2006)
• End Restrictions on Prison Watchdogs - We are not a democracy unless Media has Access to Prisoners (March 30, 2006)
• Mothers Warn, Your Teen Could Go to Prison - The hysteria whipped up by the politicians is good for getting votes but not much else. This hysteria is not based on facts. (February 26, 2006)
• Don't Sign Jessica's Law-Political Scam Targets Mentally Ill and Teens - Similar laws already in place in other states are having devastating consequences ensnaring teens in the process. (February 12, 2006)
• Prison Reform and Criminal Justice Gridlock in the Legislature - A Moratorium on the Death Penalty must be forced by the voters (January 15, 2006)

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Biography - B. Cayenne Bird

B. Cayenne Bird is a 45-year veteran op-ed journalist and publisher. A descendant of Mary Todd Lincoln, and General Andrew Porter, she is passionate about human rights and criminal justice issues. A mother and grandmother with advanced degrees in Journalism, Liberal Studies, and Humanities (Cultural Anthropology) she has focused on prison reform making great strides in Calif. supporting the landmark Plata-Coleman case for a decade which resulted in major prison reform. She writes scholarly articles too but prefers op-eds.

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