R 121157Z JUN 08
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 6586
INFO USMISSION USUN NEW YORK

UNCLAS GENEVA 000440 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR IO/RHS AND L/HRR 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PHUM UNHCR US
SUBJECT:  HRC Individual Complaints Procedure:  Edgar Allen Stitzel 
 
¶1.  Mission has received a note from the Office of the High 
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)(G/SO 215/1 USA 47) 
transmitting in accordance with paragraph 94 of the annex of Human 
Rights Council resolution 5/1 of 18 June 2007 copies of a 
communication dated 30 May 2008 concerning human rights, which 
refers to the United States of America.  The note indicates the 
communication will be examined by the Working Group on 
Communications of the Human Rights Council Complaint Procedure at 
its third session to be held October 20-24, 2008.  This letter is #2 
on Mission Geneva's 2008 Communications log. 
 
¶2.  The communication is from Mr. Edgar Allen Stitzel, who claims 
that he and fellow inmates at the Colorado State Penitentiary have 
undergone treatment that violates international laws against 
torture. 
 
¶3.  A transcribed copy of handwritten text appears below.  A copy of 
the original handwritten letter will be sent by registered mail to 
IO/RHS, attention Amy Ostermeier. 
 
¶4. Begin Text: 
Date:  2-4-08 
From:  Edgar Allen Stitzel, #89250 
Colorado State Penitentiary 
Box 777 
Canon City, Co. 
81215 
 
The Unite [sic] Nations 
Committee Against Torture 
1st Ave. and 42nd Str. 
New York, N.Y. 
10017 
 
To Whom it concerns, 
 
I am here by praying to you, begging you to put a stop to the fact 
that inmates at the Colorado State Penitentiary here in Canon City, 
Colorado are being tortured by prison staff on a daily bases [sic]. 
[abusive language deleted]  Prison staff love to intentionally make 
an inmate get mad and then they turn around and punish the inmate 
for getting mad.  Staff her [sic] at CSP will make an inmate get 
mad, and then they will spray oleoresin capsicum gas (oc gas) into 
the inmates cell.  They call this move "forced cell entry."  When 
they gas the inmate that is mad at them for smashing his tv or 
ripping apart a picture of the inmates mother or a ton of other sick 
things staff love to do, there are 15 other inmates in that pod that 
do not deserve to be tortured by the effects/affects of the 
extremely nasty oc gas.  Staff leave the other 15 inmates locked in 
thier [sic] cells and when they spray oc gas into the mad inmates 
cell and rush in and beat him down and drag him out, the oc gas 
spreads through out the entire pod, it even goes up into the air 
vents and gets the pods above the gased [sic] pod.  Staff know how 
bad this nasty oc gas is.  Staff will not enter a gased [sic] pod at 
count time or to deliver food trays without wearing gas-masks, but 
they always leave the other 15 inmates locked in their cells to be 
tortured by the oc gas. 
 
Staff here at CSP also have this nasty little thing that they call 
"special controls."  This is when they intentionally make and [sic] 
inmate get angry and then staff punishes the inmate for getting 
angry by taking him down to the basement and taking all of his 
clothes off, usually with a female prison guard filming the strip 
search with a video camcorder, then after taking his clothes away 
they put him into a freezing cold cell for at least 12 hours.  Cold 
celling [sic] inmates is a form of savage torture that is a 
violation of international laws against torture. 
 
OC gasing [sic] inmates is a form of savage torture that is a direct 
violation of international laws against torture, and chemical 
warfare of this nature is a "crime against humanity." 
 
Unfortunately that is not all of this grim story.  Staff here at CSP 
also enjoy attacking, beating down, and torturing fully restrained 
in mates in a 6 on 1 gang style attack.  Prison staff describe the 
torture holds they use during these attacks as "pain compliance 
holds" that are specifically designed to be extremely painful.  When 
I was a victim of this type of gang style attack while I was wearing 
full restraints, I was tortured for 15 minutes with these "pain 
compliance holds."  I filed a 1983 civil rights complaint.  Then the 
named defendants had a member of the Colorado House of 
Representatives pull strings for them in a court of law. 
Representative Jennifer Viega got all of the ranked Defendants 
removed from the case.  This encroachment on the Judiciary by 
legislative powers is a direct violation of article 3 of the 
constitution that seperates [sic] the powers of government to keep 
one branch of government from ursuping [sic] the powers of another 
branch of government.  Then when the case went to a jury trail [sic] 
they had a hand picked, cop loving jury sitting there so that this 
stacked jury would guantee [sic] the Defendants a "not guilty" 
verdict.  The Jury of Civil Action 00-N-2567 on 11-13-03 had a Jury 
form.  The Jury checked the box for guilty on the jury form first 
and then they crossed that out and checked the box for "not guilty." 
This cop loving jury said yes the Defendants are "guilty" but no 
we are not going to let the inmate plaintiff win.  All of the jury 
members said that they had police officers as acquaintances. 
 
Unfortunately, that is not all of this grim story.  CSP staff also 
enjoy torturing inmates by intentionally leaving them locked in 
small shower stalls for long periods of time and when the inmate 
gets angry about it, staff punish the inmate for getting mad about 
it. 
 
On 9-11-03, CSP staff in E-Pod rigged a shower so that it would not 
shut off, then they turned the water temperature up.  This shower 
stall has staneless steal [sic] walls.  Then they had two other 
inmates take showers so that the shower stall had a chance to get 
really hot.  Then they put me into this shower and left me locked in 
there for 48 minutes.  I had a heat stroke and almost died.  I see 
light flashes at the corners of my eyes now.  When I filed a civil 
rights law-suit about this, CSP staff drew up fake and fraudulent 
court documents using a Judge Kenith Plotz's name to make me wrongly 
believe that the court did not except my case.  The real judges 
names here in Fremont County Colorado are Thorson and Marshall with 
a magestrate [sic] Judge Freeman.  Judge Thorson calls these fake 
court documents CSP make up to get out of civil rights law suites 
[sic], "A local custom" and Judge Thorson refuses to do anything 
about these crimes. 
 
The court judges in Colorado aid and abet Prison staff in Canon City 
when prison staff commit "crimes against humanity."  Crooked 
politicians in Colorado also aid and abet Prison staff in Colorado 
concerning these "crimes against humanity" 
 
I have no other way to stop these "crimes against humanity" then to 
pray to you, begging you to help me stop CSP staff torturing 
people. 
 
These crimes against humanity need to be stopped.  These segregated 
control-unit prisons like CSP are a direct violation of 
international laws against torture.  Please help us stop these 
torture sessions at CSP. 
 
You are our only hope! 
Please help us! 
 
Sincerely, 
/s/ Edgar A. Stitzel 
 
P.S. 
On 1-27-08 I heard the inmate in B5-23 say that officer R. Martinez 
hit him in the nuts when his hands were cuffed behind his back. 
Officer R. Martinez still has his job.  If CSP staff can hit a 
hand-cuffed man in the balls and not get into any trouble, then you 
know there is something seriously wrong going on here! 
 
P.S. again 
I almost forgot to tell you about the bright neon lights that are on 
inside our cells 24 hours a day.  These so called "night lights" are 
so bright that I can sit at my table and read or write a letter. 
This does cause a sensory deprivation environment where a good 
nights sleep is impossible. 
 
End Text 
 
Tichenor 
 
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