Advocates for 6 prisoners in Phila. to seek support

Family and representatives of five state prison inmates and a former prisoner who face trial next month on rioting charges were in Philadelphia on Friday to bring attention to what they have characterized as a miscarriage of justice.

Addressing reporters at AFSCME District 1199C headquarters in Center City, they said the six State Correctional Institution in Dallas inmates were peacefully protesting on April 29, 2010, when prison guards violently broke up their demonstration. The six were subsequently charged.

One of the inmates, Derrick Stanley, a Philadelphia man who was released in February 2012 after serving more than 20 years for an armed robbery he did when he was 17, said he fled into his cell when the guards began to break up the demonstration. It didn't help, he said.

"Six to 12 officers came in our cells with riot gear on," Stanley said. "They Tasered me and kicked me continuously in my groin."

He could hear the kicks, punches and screams from their cells, he said.

The six - Duane Peters, Anthony Kelley, Anthony Locke, Andre Jacobs, Carrington Keys, and Stanley - had been protesting alleged mistreatment of inmates in general, and the beating of another inmate, Isaac Sanchez, earlier that day.

Sanchez had been held naked in restraints for 16 hours for speaking out against the guards before his beating, Stanley said.

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and Pennsylvania State Correctional Officers Association were contacted but did not reply for comments.

Keys' mother, Shandre Delaney, said her son had told her about inmates being beaten, pepper sprayed, and deprived of food and water.

"You don't expect guards to be extra-courteous or even sociable," says Delaney. "But you do expect them to not intentionally harass, threaten, shout racial slurs, or provoke suicide because you have complained about their lack of professionalism and ethics."

The trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 10 at the Luzerne County Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre.