Dallas 6 Trial Delayed: Whistleblowing Prisoners Allege Prison Abuse, Cover-up

The trial for the Dallas 6 was postponed to February when a new member of the legal team representing the group asked for time to prepare. A group currently incarcerated in the Pennsylvania Correctional Institutions have blown the whistle on prison abuse, cover-up and retaliation. In the upcoming trial of the Dallas 6, six men are charged with “rioting” after they staged a protest against the torture they witnessed, suffered or reported.

Briefly presenting will be Derrick Stanley, formerly incarcerated and member of the Dallas 6; Isaac Sanchez, who said he was held in a torture chair for 16 hours in retaliation for speaking out, which prompted the Dallas 6’s peaceful protest; Shandre Delaney, mother of Carrington Keys of the Dallas 6, coordinator of the Justice for the Dallas 6 Support Campaign, and investigator/advocate with Human Rights Coalition-Fed Up; as well as supporters.

DUANE — After more than 10 years in solitary confinement where he said he endured many years of torture and abuse, Mr. Duane Peters was released into the general population on October 14, 2014. Courtesy photo.

On April 29, 2010 six African American men currently incarcerated at State Correctional Institution Dallas protested against abuse, violence and torture by guards against Black, Latino and white prisoners which they documented. Records of beatings; mental abuse; foreign objects in food such as glass, metal, feces, spit, semen and urine were publicized. In addition mail tampering; deprivation of human contact; withholding medication; and starvation are also part of the claims those affected are making against the state.

Those incarcerated say that when they covered their cell doors and windows in protest, prison authorities responded by viciously beating them in “cell extractions” and four months later charging them with “rioting” after the official complaints they had filed were publicized.

Supporters who had been formerly incarcerated, family members, and supporters held a community meeting in Philadelphia on October 24, 2014.