Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor
CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio-A group of Cleveland activists, led by Black on Black Crime Inc and Refusefacism.org, protested outside of Cleveland City Hall on Nov. 9 against the recent deaths in the Cuyahoga County jail, unfair sentences by the largely White judges of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, mass incarceration and judicial. prosecutorial and police malfeasance.
Activists said they also want jail, prison and parole reform.
Speakers included Black on Black Crime Inc President Alfred Porter Jr, activist Don Bryant, activists Cheryl Lessin, Norm Carr and Brenda Adrine of Refusefacism.org,.and the family of Peter Kenney Jr, who is White and has served 17 years in prison via a conviction as a juvenile.
Kenney was tried as an adult and convicted by a Cuyahoga County jury in 2001 of shooting and killing Terrence Robinson, who was Black, during a crack-induced rampage.
He was convicted of one count of aggravated murder with a firearm specification and one count of kidnapping with a firearm specification and sentenced to what amounts to a life sentence thus far.
A witness at trial said Kenney said he 'killed the little nigger' but his family and attorneys say that is a lie and that he is innocent and was denied a fair trial.
He has lost all of his appeals.
Too many young people, most of them Black, are prosecuted as adults and the sentences often do not support the crimes, activists said. And indigent juveniles and adults, say community activists, are often denied effective assistance of counsel, which results in convictions of innocent people.
Porter called out Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley and Common Pleas Judge Nancy Fuerst for alleged malfeasance and alleged racism and for allegedly pushing malicious and illegal prosecutions for corrupt and racist White cops against Blacks, women and community activists, and said that police do as they please to Blacks in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, and without repercussions.
Porter also talked about the six recent deaths in the Cuyahoga County Jail that have precipitated an urgent FBI investigation, investigators saying two of the deaths were suicides, two were from drug overdoses, and another two are still under investigation
Activists chanted 'the parole board has got to go,' among other chants.
Activists said they are preparing for a larger protest in front of the Cuyahoga County Justice Center, which is down the street from City Hall on Lakeside Ave.
Activists say the prison and jail systems in Ohio have become a money enterprise with excessive bonds and disproportionate and unfair sentencing against poor people and Blacks and other minorities by unfair largely White judges who do as they please.
According to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Ohio incarcerates roughly 50,440 people at an average cost of $67.84 per inmate per day.
Community corrections programs receive roughly $23 per day from the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
Ohio spends over 1.2 billion annually in prison expenditures, data show.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
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