Hello, my name is Brandon Sutton but my friends call me Sutton (Remember that name) and I’m an inmate who is currently on work release from this Zoo called Durham County Detention Center. I’m here incarcerated on a DWI charge, my third one actually. I was fortunate enough to hire a lawyer to reduce what could’ve been a 3 to 4 year sentence down to 8 months with a few other stipulations given once I’m released. I’m contacting you because they’re others like me currently serving time in here. Non-violent/ non-accidental prone offenders who have several DWI’s but didn’t have the means to afford an attorney so they settled for a Public Defender. Continue reading
Category Archives: preferential treatment
INHUMANE
this letter was sent in October.
Hey —
Hope you’re doing well. Well I just wanted to write back to let ya know how things are going around here…I asked for toilet paper one day and the c.o. told me NO because she didn’t like me and because I was too white! Really. I put a grievance in on her and nothing was ever done. I still have an open grievance from May about an officer that told me to piss in the shower because she wouldn’t pop my door unless I was gonna stay behind that door. Sick, right? And the other day I saw an officer and a young girl, a minor, age 16, get into it. Continue reading
‘We get to the point it makes us give up on a lot of things…’
Hope that we’re being heard!!!
Sorry I wrote back so late. To answer your question, yes I did hear about some of the protests outside of the jail and I do wanna thank you for being an ear to hear some of these voices that needed to be heard, ya feel me…Things for me are going ok, just a little bit, just ready to hit the yard and get this shit over with. As a 16 year old I’m not really going through that much, just made that they’re holding me for something I didn’t do…A lot of us are being held for something they can’t prove at all. And a guy just shot the police down in the intake area about a month ago and was released on pre-trial release…Me personally don’t think that’s fair at all, and feel something needs to be done ASAP #100. How do you get 18 yrs for one robbery you can’t prove, but get out on pre-trial release or 5 or 6 years for shooting an officer. Shit really doesn’t make any sense at all, but it’s fine, the judge and the DA really don’t give 2 shits about us. Just another black man off the streets is all that matters to them!!! A lot of us get so cold-hearted and stressed out to the point where it makes us give up on a lot of things and so much anger and stress gets built up and makes us do something we would regret.
They also need to give us our 9:00 walk back, or at least give us 15-minute phone calls because 10 minutes aren’t enough when talking to family about something important…It’s so much in here that needs to be changed as quick as possible and I really hope that something will be done.
I just wanna add something that I’ve learned since I been in here…
Attitude—The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what people think, say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill…It will make or break a company, a church, a home…the remarkable thing is we make a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past, we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one thing we have and this is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And it is with you J We are in charge of our attitude.
Free the guys:
Tazz, Blueeyes, OB, J-rocc, Shy, Sosa, ShoNuff, Myself, RugaBlue, Loca, O-dogg, Messiah, Starrboy, Silk
As y’all know I took my time see yall on the outside world. I’ll be home in 30 months.
God Bless the Strong!!!
-HF
‘Something gotta give’
Thursday 6/9/16
Hey —
What’s going on? How are you doing? Fine I hope and all is good and well with you and IOA family and supporters. As for myself, I’m okay, I guess being that I’m still breathing. I want to apologize for not responding to your letters sooner, but I’ve been going through some things. Things that probably 95%, if not 100% of us Durham County Jail Detainees are going through that involves the court system. Things like:
- Being held under outrageous bonds (ransoms).
- Not hearing/seeing attorneys for months at a time.
- Being held for bogus charges (He say/she say/word of mouth).
‘They try to punish you for little things…’
April 21, 2016 (received May 19)
Dear —
I’m doing good, keeping my head high. I’m ready to go home, this ain’t no place for anybody, they treat us like animals and talk to us any type of way. They crazy how they let that wonderful man (Matthew McCain) die. They don’t want to be doing they job. Continue reading
‘Things changing slowly but surely’
1/2/16
What’s up IOA
One day I was out for my 1.5 hour walk and I realized something…Everybody looks forward to mail and visits. When it’s all said and done I know I and have seen people cry after a visit. It’s people in here that got kids out there in the world that need them. It hurts me real bad. I really do feel for them. I hate seeing people sad. I hate that we all in here hoping and praying that we get a letter or visit or money on our books. I wish/want better for my people. As far as myself go, still trying to shake the fact that I’m still in my room, still locked back/admin. Hate this place. I’m not an animal. Officers come up to me a lot and tell me they hate the way they be treating me and it’s officers that be like they know I’m not the person they trying to make me out to be. I’m really a good-hearted person if you took the time to get to know me. Continue reading
‘I didn’t give up’
I just got your letter today on 9-17-15 but your letter was sent out on 8-26-15. I am sending you part of the envelope so that you can see when you sent it out and when I received it.
First of all, I want to thank you and everyone else for what you all are doing for us in here. Continue reading
‘Return everyone to regular schedule now’
Dear —,
I would first of all like to say thank you for all the things that you and everyone at IOA are doing for us here at Durham County Jail (or should I say Durham Concentration Camp).
Also I would like to thank you for the informational material that you take your time and publish each month!!! Without you all, we would be deaf, dumb and blind to the things that goes on in and around the jail. Which is the way Sheriff Andrews and his band of hooligans would prefer it be. Continue reading
‘We living like savages’
Hey –,
I read you letter and I appreciate you writing me. I have noticed the inside/outside protesting outside the jail and I be one of the many in the window supporting. Keep protesting, bruh. What I will say is that the sheriffs tell 50% the truth and lie to make themselves sound good. You also have good and bad sheriffs. Some care and some are here just for the check. And then you have some who choose favorites. In the world it’s mostly who you know. Not what you know. Continue reading
‘What they are trying to do is torture to these people’
this first appeared in our print publication, feedback, volume 9.
VOICE OUTSIDE:
by Dora
I first became aware of the lock back, sometime in March. Because my dad had, had court that day, and when he was brought back to his cell, everyone was locked up. It was bad. It is bad.
As far as what people inside are doing to resist the conditions, I have heard that some inmates create chaos in there. Some have even tried fighting the guards to try to do something about it, and others do as they are told to try to see if that helps better the conditions and situations. But nothing seems to be helping. Continue reading
Amplify Voices Inside 