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Photographer

(1,142 posts)
Sat Dec 12, 2015, 04:38 PM Dec 2015

Son: Don Siegelman held in solitary in La. prison

Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman has been held in mostly solitary confinement in a Louisiana prison since mid-October, his son said Thursday.

“He is not allowed to see any family or speak to anyone including family,” said Joseph Siegelman, serving as one of the former governor's defense attorneys, in a phone interview. “He is completely and utterly in isolation.”

Calls seeking comment from officials at the Federal Correctional Institution in Oakdale, La., where Siegelman is serving out a sentence for his 2006 conviction on corruption charges, were unsuccessful Thursday afternoon. An email sent to the prison was not immediately returned.

Siegelman served as governor of Alabama from 1999 to 2003. A jury convicted Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy of bribery charges stemming from $500,000 in donations Scrushy gave to Siegelman’s 1999 campaign for a statewide lottery. Following the contribution, Siegelman appointed Scrushy to the state’s Certificate of Need (CON) board, which oversees hospital improvements and expansions.

Prosecutors said Scrushy’s contribution was a bribe to win back the seat on the board. Siegelman and his attorneys say the contribution was a normal part of politics. The governor was also convicted on a separate obstruction of justice charge related to payments involving a motorcycle.

<snip>

More at http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/local/alabama/2015/12/10/son-former-alabama-governor-held-solitary-prison/77111936/

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Wellstone ruled

(34,661 posts)
1. This whole thing was a
Sat Dec 12, 2015, 04:52 PM
Dec 2015

Rethug in your face to the Democrats for pushing the Impeachment of Nixon and a see see what we can do if you go after Bush or Cheney. Remember Siegelman was a up and coming Democrat in a Red State and the RNC needed this Guy gone.

 

swilton

(5,069 posts)
4. This is what I can't understand - about the Obama Administration
Sat Dec 12, 2015, 05:37 PM
Dec 2015

1. Why doesn't the Obama Administration stand up for him?
2. The anecdotal information I heard was that Obama and Holder got the state of La. to increase the sentence for Siegelman - it's now been extended to 20 years. I think the original sentence was only 6 years.

Having said the above (stories/rumors), I don't watch this closely because I'm not from that area and there is enough other news that I follow (i.e., Sanders, Russia, GMO's, gas pipelines, climate change - etc.)....But another theory I've heard is that Siegelman was too liberal for the Democrats/not the Republicans.

Tarheel_Dem

(31,207 posts)
5. How do you know they didn't look in this, and come to a very different conclusion? Maybe the DOJ...
Sat Dec 12, 2015, 05:50 PM
Dec 2015

& POTUS don't think he's innocent? PBO could have early released Rod Blagojevich, Jesse Jackson, Jr. & Tom DeLay too, but I think it sets a very bad precedent if justice is meted out according to one's political affiliation. I'm convinced that there's more to this than meets the eye. A federal appeals court judge denied his bid for a new trial.

As Democrats, we won't always be in the White House, and I think we will come to regret all the shortcuts that "progressives" have called on this president to make. Like it or not, we have Congress to make law, and Courts to interpret it. No executive should be able to short circuit that process at the drop of a hat. As much as I hate the saying, the Republicans are right about one thing: "We are a Nation of Laws". I was around here during the Bush years, and "progressives" erupted in disgust each time Bush signed a new EO, or signing statement to get around Congress.

I realize that a whole host of motives and wild theories have been assigned to President Obama, Eric Holder & now Loretta Lynch, but maybe, JUST MAYBE, they know something about this case that you don't?

femmedem

(8,187 posts)
6. Regardless of his guilt or innocence, or of his political affiliation
Sat Dec 12, 2015, 06:27 PM
Dec 2015

solitary confinement is torture, and it's equal parts absurd and reprehensible that this seems to be punishment for calling in to a radio show.

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