“Several years ago, as Mike Dewine just became Ohio’s governor, I sent in a “clemency application” to the Ohio Parole Board. The clemency application covers several options for the governor to consider. A pardon is just one of them. In the application, I stated that a pardon is for people who have committed a crime for which the governor could forgive them. I also mentioned that I was an innocent man and did not know if I wanted a pardon. I have committed no crime for which to be forgiven. I went on to say that he could look at the evidence himself by logging onto the website my family had set up for me. We had not yet met Bob Chatelle, and he had not set the other site up. All the evidence files are on the site.”
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
The Ohio Parole Board – a Prison Post from Shane Crum
June 17th, 2021Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
Anger – a Prison Post from Shane Crum
May 31st, 2021I hope some of you are reading these remarkable posts from Shane. He paints a chilling picture of the prison life of an innocent person.
“How many times have you ever been accused of doing something you know you did not do? When that accusation comes, don’t you vehemently deny it? Have you noticed that the more serious the false allegation against you, the more forceful the denial? The most serious and disgusting allegations invoke anger.
“I have been told there are two major differences between those who are guilty, and those who are innocent, in prison. The first is to say that the innocent are always angry. Angry because both the system has failed them in a colossal way, and the accusation remains with them the entire time they are in prison. If it angers you to be falsely accused, then think what it must be like to have that same false allegation pointed at you daily. The second difference is that those who are guilty sleep at night, and those who are innocent do not. Try to imagine being trapped in a nightmare you can not get away from even while you are awake. Your mind will not let things rest, and therefore you do not rest.”
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
Loneliness – A Prison Post from Shane Crum
May 26th, 2021“I am wondering what the word, “lonely” means to all of you? For me, it takes much more of a surreal meaning. It breeds feelings of emotional pain, anxiety, and desperation. I am sure you are saying you feel these things as well. So, let me enlighten you as to what I am really talking about.
“There was a time when I would get to feeling lonely, I would simply find family or a friend to talk to. I would go to their house, call them on the phone, or sometimes they would just show up. I was with people I greatly cared for. All of those feelings would slip away into some place in the back of my mind. Just waiting for the next opportunity to present themselves. Keeping in mind, the internet was not as prevalent in our society when I was a free man as it is now. Social media was in its infancy. From what I can tell, social media has not helped us build our social skills. A cold computer screen does not convey things like, tone of voice, facial and body expressions, or other body language that can express so much more than any written word can. That is another subject I suppose.”
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
The Horror of Being Innocent in Prison: a Post from Shane Crum
May 13th, 2021“Over the years, I saw the strength my Mother had in uncertain times. I do not think anything I did would be considered brave. I still think it is something I needed to go through. So, I just followed my Mother’s example. I stood up and stepped forward. I have been doing this for 25 years now. The fear, uncertainty, and anger have become a part of my everyday life. It is hard to remember what it was to live without those things so very present everyday. The toll it takes on your confidence, your trust in others, and how you view the world is more than anyone should have to pay.
“I am a social pariah to everyone (staff and inmate alike) in prison. The vast majority do not care about my claims of innocence. Even if they would be willing to look at the evidence, their first response is usually something like, ‘You had to do something to get all of that time.’ It really is a no win scenario.”
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
It’s Time to Revisit the Satanic Panic
April 18th, 2021
Lacy Atkins/Los Angeles Times, via Getty Images
“Early in the 1980s, baseless conspiracy theories about cults committing mass child abuse spread around the country. Talk shows and news programs fanned fears, and the authorities investigated hundreds of allegations. Even as cases slowly collapsed and skepticism prevailed, defendants went to prison, families were traumatized and millions of dollars were spent on prosecutions.”
Read the article by Alan Yuhas in The New York Times.
And register for this important free event sponsored by the NCRJ.
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
Is QAnon reviving Satanic Panic?
April 16th, 2021
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
Stranger Danger
April 9th, 2021https://youtu.be/v71MsDLV7ig
On 3/5/21 Paul Renfro and Emily Horowitz had a conversation about Paul’s new book: Stranger Danger: Family Values, Childhood, and the American Carceral State (Oxford University Press, 2020).
Beginning with Etan Patz’s disappearance in Manhattan in 1979, a spate of high-profile cases of missing and murdered children stoked anxieties about the threats of child kidnapping and exploitation. Publicized through an emerging twenty-four-hour news cycle, these cases supplied evidence of what some commentators dubbed “a national epidemic” of child abductions committed by “strangers.”
In this book, Paul M. Renfro (Assistant Professor of History, Florida State University) narrates how the bereaved parents of missing and slain children turned their grief into a mass movement and, alongside journalists and policymakers from both major political parties, propelled a moral panic. Leveraging larger cultural fears concerning familial and national decline, these child safety crusaders warned Americans of a supposedly widespread and worsening child kidnapping threat, erroneously claiming that as many as fifty thousand American children fell victim to stranger abductions annually. The actual figure was (and remains) between one hundred and three hundred, and kidnappings perpetrated by family members and acquaintances occur far more frequently. Yet such exaggerated statistics-and the emotionally resonant images and narratives deployed behind them-led to the creation of new legal and cultural instruments designed to keep children safe and to punish the “strangers” who ostensibly wished them harm. Ranging from extensive child fingerprinting drives to the milk carton campaign, from the AMBER Alerts that periodically rattle Americans’ smart phones to the nation’s sprawling system of sex offender registration, these instruments have widened the reach of the carceral state and intensified surveillance practices focused on children.
Stranger Danger reveals the transformative power of this moral panic on American politics and culture, showing how ideas and images of endangered childhood helped build a more punitive American state.
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
Shane Crum is Seeking Help for a Project
March 27th, 2021“I have always said that I spend most of my time either attempting to prove my innocence or preparing myself for when I do finally go home. Among the ways I work to prepare myself is to try to create new programs for the entire inmate population. You see, ODRC does not always have the educational opportunities I would need to ready myself. So, I try to create those programs just so I can take them myself. Unfortunately, there are staff members that throw roadblocks at every turn. Such as the situation I mentioned in my last post.”
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
Another False Accusation — from Shane Crum
March 23rd, 2021“Many of the staff in these places act in a criminal, cruel, and negligent manner. The inmates who attempt to stand up for themselves are almost always retaliated against. Hopelessness and despair are what they learn. Imagine spending decades being treated this way? I have seen the most confident of men be reduced to a timid hand shy individual who can not make a single decision without first asking staff. I wonder what will become of such men once they are released? A caged animal without the restraints of prison staff let loose on the world. Is this what they mean by preparing inmates for their return into society?”
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
Why Support Systems are Necessary-A Prison Post From Shane Crum
March 16th, 2021“I was talking with another inmate, who also claims actual innocence, when the subject of a support network came up. I watched as tears welled up in this man’s eyes, as he spoke of the few supporters he had were dying off. Literally, dying. Inmates lose family members while they are incarcerated. It is difficult enough to lose a family member, and not be able to say goodbye as it is. When that family member is the total of your support system, it has a deeper impact on the inmate. When they are lost, hope is lost with them. The possibility of a future is gone.”
