Press Releases and Alerts

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January 15, 2007

ACTION ALERT!
www.alternativechance.org
altchance@aol.com
212-613-6033

Alternative Chance/Chans Altenativ
January 15, 2007

Situation of Criminal Deportees in Haiti

ACTION NEEDED:

Ask the United States to afford the Preval/Alexis government the same courtesy it gave the recent Interim government of Haiti by suspending all deportations to Haiti of Criminal Aliens. The Preval/Alexis government needs time to continue to reinforce democracy and its democratic institutions such as justice, police, social affairs, etc. Further, the Preval/Alexis government has still not received the majority of the funds committed to it by the international community, which are necessary to stabilize the nation.

BACKGROUND:

The United States, at the request of the Interim government (Boniface/Latortue), suspended deportations of Criminal Aliens to Haiti. Since President Preval came into office the United States has resumed these deportations AND is now deporting up to 100 persons per month, because of the backlog accumulated during the period in which they suspended the deportations of Criminal Deportees to Haiti.

ACTION NEEDED:

Please ask the Government of Haiti to respect the rights of Criminal Deportees. They have not committed any crimes in Haiti and it is a violation of Haitian law and human rights standards to imprison them.

BACKGROUND:

The Haitian government arrests and detains newly arrived Criminal Deportees in prison or police station holding cells for an indefinite period of time and without any due process.

CONDITIONS:

Since December 20, 2006 the Haitian government has placed newly arrived Criminal Deportees in various police station holding cells in and outside the capital of Haiti.

On January 4, 2007, the National Penitentiary, built to house 800, was overflowing with 2,287 prisoners, and the police holding cells were already grossly overcrowded leaving prisoners with no where to sleep or even sit. Prisoners are forced to take turns sleeping.

The Government of Haiti continues to imprison the Criminal Deportees in these police station holding cells.

Please note that prisoners in police station holding cells are not provided food, water, medical care or telephone access.

The Criminal Deportees are crowded into one cell at each police station. The conditions are identical to what we described in earlier reports when they were placed in police station holding cells previously.

Please read through these old reports for information on prison conditions for Criminal Deportees today, particularly in police station holding cells. These descriptions are still relevant today!

October 12, 2006

Press Release

Date: October 12, 2006
Contact: Michelle Karshan, Executive Director
Telephone: (New York): 212-613-6033
or 786-897-6572
Telephone: (Haiti): 011509 490-0782
Email: altchance@aol.com
Website: www.alternativechance.org


Alternative Chance, Haiti's Criminal Deportee program,to hold Awards & Fundraising Dinner in New York City on Saturday, October 28, 2006

Ten Years of Services & Advocacy for Haiti's Criminal Deportees


Port-au-Prince, Haiti, October 12, 2006 -- Alternative Chance (Chans Altenativ in Haitian Creole), a self-help, peer counseling and advocacy program in Haiti for Criminal Deportees since 1996, will hold an Awards Dinner and Fundraiser in downtown Brooklyn marking its Tenth Anniversary and honoring those engaged in fighting the injustices of Criminal Deportation to Haiti and those fighting for respect of the rights of Haitian Criminal Deportees. The evening of solidarity, networking, Haitian food and entertainment will be held Saturday, October 28, 2006, at 6 pm at the Belarusian Church, 401 Atlantic Avenue, corner Bond Street, in downtown Brooklyn, New York and will feature Special Guests of Honor, Ira J. Kurzban, Esq. (leading Haitian refugee rights attorney, author of Kurzban's Immigration Law Sourcebook, and former counsel to the Government of Haiti) and John P. May, MD (Founder and Medical Director of Health through Walls -- providing sustainable health care in prisons in developing countries).

The evening will include an authentic Haitian dinner, Silent Auction, Photo Exhibit, Awards and remarks, including by Renal, who lived in Haiti as a Criminal Deportee for a few years before returning to the US when his U.S. citizenship was established. With the help of Alternative Chance, Renal got a start as a rapper in Haiti, and now, in addition to his day job, continues to rap while back in his home town in Florida. Musical performances by Renal, Riva Precil, Caitlin Karshan & Ahmed. The silent auction will include Haitian sequined & beaded art, a life-sized cloth & papier mache Haitian market woman statute, Haitian paintings and iron works, and other high quality items. Michelle Karshan, returning from Haiti, will briefly comment on her findings regarding current conditions for Criminal Deportees there.

Awards, presented in several categories to those who over the past ten years contributed significantly, and courageously, over a long period of time, to the plight of Haiti's Criminal Deportees, will go to (in alphabetical order): Father James Aherne, Sisters Ann & Ellen, David Belle/Katherine Kean, Samantha Black, Isabelle Dufort, Olivia Cassin, Esq., Jennifer Cheek Pantaleon, Yves Colon, Edwidge Danticat, Donna DeCesare, Rebecca Feldman, Esq., Virginia Floyd/Janet Lugo, Steven David Forester, Esq., Thomas M. Griffin, Esq., Ira J. Kurzban, Haiti's former Minister of Foreign Affairs Fritz Longchamp, John P. May, MD, Privat Precil, Esq., Riva Precil, Andrew Reding, Susan & Guy Renaud, Jan Voordouw, Jack Wallace, Esq.

A special thanks will be made to Jack Wallace, Esq., and a warm welcome extended to Jessica Zagier, Esq., of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Coalition, who recently replaced Jack as a central resource for attorneys and keeper of a data bank relating to legal representation for Haitian Criminal Aliens in their deportation cases.

Brooklyn, where many Haitian Criminal Deportees grew up, attended schools, and started families, is also the original home of Michelle Karshan, the co-founder and Executive Director of Alternative Chance (Chans Altenativ).

Tax-deductible donation of $100 per person to attend Awards/Fundraising benefit. To purchase a ticket: contact altchance@aol.com or telephone 212-613-6033

For more information please see www.alternativechance.org or contact Michelle Karshan at altchance@aol.com

Donations to support the work of Alternative Chance can be made by visiting www.alternativechance.org or contacting 212-613-6033.

Editors: High resolution photos available to press. Please contact Jennifer Cheek Pantaleon at jetphire@aol.com or Michelle Karshan at altchance@aol.com

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