Dear Friends
On the 12 December 1997 the parole board rejected my application for parole. I have served an additional two years over my tariff and I have a new parole hearing in December!!! of this year 1999.
I have now served over 13 years in prison primarily for defending myself against a racially motivated attack.
During this time I have consistently challenged the very basis of my conviction, my last appeal having been rejected in November 1995.
Clearly, had the parole board based their decision on an interpretation of the facts then I should not be in prison today. I have already served the sentence which was imposed upon me by the then Chief Justice, Lord Lane, who recommended that I serve 10 years in prison.
This tariff expired in November 1996.
I am now being made to serve an additional sentence. To put my situation into perspective I have been the victim of two racist attacks.
The first occurred back in November 1986 when I was forced to defend my life against an assailant who stabbed me with broken glass, after subjecting me to a torrent of racial abuse.
The second has been a sustained attack by the British State. Right from the very onset of my involvement within the criminal justice system. My arrest at the hands of the police, my subsequent trial and conviction by the judiciary and lastly my treatment at the hands of the penal system.
During my time in prison I have suffered many indignities and hardships. The abuse and maltreatment that I have had to endure and the injustices which have been perpetrated against me amount to a flagrant violation of Human Rights.
I have been put through a process where I have been systematically abused. I have been frequently transferred (ghosted) from prison to prison, having to date been moved 59 times. (The average inter prison movement for lifers is 6).
I have endured years of mental cruelty, I have often been held in total isolation in solitary confinement, having to endure prolonged periods of deprivation, psychological abuse, constant intimidation, starvation diets and physical torture.
On numerous occasions I have been shackled in a body belt and thrown into strip cells having to sleep on the floor cold and naked for days on end. The guards often display sadistic tendencies and specialise in humiliation and degradation. They often enforce their own rules by terrorising those within their grasp.
It is against this background that I have spent many years protesting against my wrongful conviction. I feel that I have suffered in more ways than one and that I should now be released from prison.
My continued imprisonment is totally unjustifiable and goes against the principles of natural justice. I would ask anyone concerned with justice to support me in my fight for freedom.
Satpal Ram
Frankland Prison
November 1999
Messages of support E-mail: FreeSatpalRam@ncadc.demon.co.uk
