This is the official website for
Tommy Silverstein: 14634 - 116
5th April 2012: latest update
Keep an eye on this page.
Tommy asked me to extend his warm wishes to all his friends and supporters, and to thank you for "hangin in there" first I want to post the result of a recent disciplinary hearing he was involved in, and as you will see its a very petty issue, but none the less they (the BOP) felt it nec to inflict further punishment on a man that has spent 28 years in Solitary Confinement, what they failed to mention in this document is, that also to his loss of commisary of 15 days, they have taken off 6 months visitation rights, although he hasnt had any visits for years, some were being planned, plus the Step Down program has been put back another year.
Go to informal resolution (1) & (2).
regards B.J.
Solitary Confinement: what is it.
A short video explaining Solitary Confinement
Painting by Tommy silverstein:
established in 2005 with the full
cooperation and participation of
Tommy himself:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
16th Jan 2012
for the latest news, please click on the Step down Program Refusal above,
Meanwhile, please take care,
your Pal Tommy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8th January 2012, Latest News:
What follows is the latest available regarding Tommy's request for an Administrative Remedy regarding his recreation, as you will have seen in the 2 seperate entries regarding this matter, (top right of this page) he was being given indoor and outdoor recreation, albeit in single and seperate dog cages, he was allowed to rec with other prisoners alongside, giving him some means of social contact and conversation with other guys, but they stopped that and has had to rec in solitary, after several requests to know why, and to go back to exercise along with others, here is his most recent request and their (BOP) response.
A brief heads-up to new visitors to this site:
Thomas Edward Silverstein was born in
On page 143 of Pete Earley’s book, The Hot House, Silverstein’s mother is described as:
“Vivacious and tough, Virginia Silverstein herself had served time in prison for robbery as a teenager. “
His mother hit the kids with anything she could get her hands on, Silverstein said. Once, after he was beaten up by another boy, she told Silverstein that if he didn't stand up for himself the next time, she would take a belt to him.
So Silverstein began to fight back. And at the age of 15 this new attitude got him into a fist fight with a police officer and he was sent to the California Youth Authority. There his mother’s lessons were only reinforced.
Toms experience in the CYA is summed up by him on Page 144 of The Hot House:
“Anyone not willing to fight was abused.”
In 1971 a nineteen year old Silverstein entered San Quentin in the middle of what Edward Bunker called a “War Behind Walls” in his 1972 Harpers Magazine article.
Here are two excerpts:
“...they stabbed every white on the tier, all of whom wore white jumpsuits, for they had just gotten off bus and had no idea they would be attacked for being white. One died, and one vaulted the railing to avoid the stabbing blades broke both his angles on the concrete below….
Men without friends, those trying to quietly serve a term and get out, were in the worst predicament. They had no allies. Warriors stayed together, knew many of their opposition, suspected others from hairstyle, mannerism, and association.”
On page 144 Earley writes about this period of time in Silverstein’s life:
“It was there, the bureau noted, that he first began associating with members of the Aryan Brotherhood. “
Released four years later he is rearrested shortly thereafter for armed robbery along with his two crime partners, his cousin and his own father.
"I was 23 when I was sentenced to 15 years for that robbery," Silverstein wrote in his declaration. "My share of the proceeds was a few hundred dollars. My life on the outside was over forever."
Silverstein was sent to the U.S. Penitentiary in
For his own safety, Silverstein felt he had to align with a group.
According to “prosecutors”, he chose the Aryan Brotherhood.
In his declaration, Silverstein denies committing two of the four murders attributed to him.
In reference to the first of the four murders, the one in
“On appeal a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit said it was appalled by the quagmire of conflicting testimony and recanted statements…The judges ordered federal prosecutors to either dismiss the murder charge against Silverstein or conduct a new trail.”
There was no retrial.
The environment at the Federal prison at Marion Illinois, when Silverstein arrived there is described below:
“Between January 1980 and October 1983, there were more serious disturbances at
During a separate trial, for the murder of an inmate by the name of Chappelle, while both men were at
When called to the stand to testify Norman Matthews… was asked whether he could remember
Did the judge improperly exclude this testimony?
The third murder is not denied by Silverstein but was committed only after Smith had failed in two documented attempts to kill him.
(Smith had been a close friend of Chappelle’s and the leader of their prison gang. “Cadillac” Smith had been moved to a cell next to Silverstein from another institution after Chappelle's death in what appears to be a set up by the authorities involved.)
Excerpts from Pete Early’s, book “Hot House”.
“I tried to tell Cadillac that I didn’t kill Chappelle, but he didn’t believe me and bragged that he was going to kill me,”
Silverstein recalled. “Everyone knew what was going on and no one did anything to keep us apart. The guards wanted one of us to kill the other.”
Enter guard Clutts the fourth victim.
Page 233 The Hot House:
“To this day, Silverstein claims that Clutts set out to break him by harassing him in a dozen petty ways that most guards learn early in their careers.”
Officer Clutts also knew there were possible consequences of this harassment for he had learned this lesson the hard way early into his career in an event that foretold his own demise.
On
The murder of Jarvis was committed by James K. Marshall also a convicted bank robber with a 25 year sentence. The motive, Officer Jarvis had confiscated his candy, fruit and magazines when he was placed
In an audio recording of an interview conducted by Earley, Silverstein explains his own motive in murdering Clutts:
AS MANY KILLINGS THAT I HAVE SEEN WHEN SOMEONE SAYS HE IS GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU CAN’T SIT BACK AND SAY AWE IT AIN’T NOTHING AND DO NOTHING.
When somebody has gone that far especially when you’re telling him you don't want no trouble why don't you get off my case.
You know, I PLEADED WITH THAT GUY…
Silverstein said he was living "in constant fear of reprisals" when on
Like
This is where the similarities between the two cases end.
On March 29, 1972 Marshall was transferred to Oregon Department of Corrections and was later paroled from his federal sentence in 1982.
However Silverstein’s life sentence came with a “no human contact” order attached to it and with no achievable release date therefore he will die in prison.
In his recent apology to the world Silverstein wrote:
"Even writing this declaration, I feel my words of regret are inadequate to explain the remorse I feel. There is no justification for what I did.”
But there is logic behind his actions, even if it is only understandable by other inmates that have also been trapped like tethered animals in a slaughterhouse
This is an article published in the Denver Post in 2009 by Sarah Green:
Breaking News:
Thomas Silverstein: Judge rules conditions at
supermax not "extreme"
 |
| Tommy Silverstein. |
Conditions at the U.S. Penitentiary
Administrative Maximum, or ADX, aren't
"atypically extreme," Judge Philip Brimmer
ruled. Silverstein isn't subject to the "special
administrative measures" reserved for convicted
terrorists at ADX, which severely limit their
ability to communicate with any outsider,
even family or legal counsel. But his journey
through the federal prison system has been
anything but typical. A former Aryan
Brotherhood leader, "Terrible Tommy" was
convicted of four murders while in prison; one
was later overturned. He's now serving three
consecutiive life sentences plus 45 years.
The last killing, the 1983 slaying of a federal
guard in the most secure unit of what was
then the highest-security federal pen in the
entire system, put him on a "no human
contact" status that lasted for decades. For
close to seventeen years he was housed in a
specially designed, Hannibal-Lecter-like cell
in the basement of Leavenworth where the
lights were on 24 hours a day.
In 2005 he was moved to a highly isolated
range at ADX, as first reported in my feature
"The Caged Life" (which also appears, with a
coda, in The Best American Crime Reporting
2008).Since Silverstein first filed his lawsuit
in 2007, with assistance from student lawyers
at the University of Denver, he's been moved
from his tomb in Range 13 to D Unit, which is
considered "general population" at ADX.
Inmates are still in solitary confinement and
have meals in their cell, but they also have
access to indoor and outdoor recreation and
can shout to each other. That lessening in
the general degree of Silverstein's isolation
seems to have been one factor in Brimmer's
decision to dismiss the former bank robber's
claims of enduring extreme deprivation and
lack of any social contact. U.S. Bureau of
Prisons officials maintain that Silverstein's
placement in isolation is necessary because
of his own extreme behavior -- "plaintiff's
disciplinary record, in addition to the
aforementioned murders, shows assaults
of three staff members, a threat to a staff
member, an attempt to escape by posing as
a United States Marshal, and the discovery
of weapons, handcuff keys, and lock picks in
plaintiff's rectum," Brimmer notes. But
Silverstein hasn't been cited for a disciplinary
infraction since 1988, and even the BOP's
psychologists have rated the 59-year-old
prisoner as having a "low" risk of violence for
years. On his official website, maintained by
outside supporters -- incarcerated since the
1970s, he hasn't had much opportunity for
surfing the Internet -- Silverstein reports
that he's still being moved frequently from
one cell to another to prevent any kind of
ongoing communication with other prisoners.
"ALL they care about (obviously) is
maintaining my ISOLATION, by any
convoluted means necessary," he writes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All the Art-work done by Tommy on this site, and all the photo's of him are Copyright ©
©copyright and reproduction rights of all items viewed or sold are reserved by the Hosts of www.tommysilverstein.bravehost.com & our sister site; tommysilverstein.blogspot.com/
The reproduction of any of the above mentioned items on any other site, or social network is a violation of that copyright, and will be Prosecuted.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Warning:
Friends and supporters wanting to send Tommy or any inmate some funds, should do so via the official BOP website, section "inmate money" or try "Kitesender" which i find very efficient, and fast, BUT DONT send money to persons claiming to run collections for inmates; use the tried and tested sources like The BOP website, or as mentioned Kitesender, there are bogus collections being set up, just to deprive you of money, that will end up in somebodies pocket, not the particular inmates commissary.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Activists and Inmates alike, Tom still is Synonymous with Isolation:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To read an interesting account to the rise of Supermax Prisons, by Eric Randolph, click on the link, or failing that, type into your server:
http://www.armyofgod.com/EricRudolphSuperMaxPrisonIssues.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
America’s Most Isolated
Federal Prisoner Describes
10,220 Days in Extreme
Solitary Confinement
"Control Unit" by Thomas Silverstein
Thomas Silverstein, who has been described as America’s “most isolated man,” has been held in an extreme form of solitary confinement under a “no human contact” order for 28 years. Originally imprisoned for armed robbery at the age of 19, Silverstein is serving life without parole for killing two fellow inmates (whom he says were threatening his life) and a prison guard, and has been buried in the depths of the federal prison system since 1983.
In his current lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Silverstein contends that his years of utter isolation in a small concrete cell violate the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, as well as its guarantee of due process. (The lawsuit, brought by the University of Denver’s Civil Right Clinic, is described in detail in our article “Fortresses of Solitude.”)
In support of that lawsuit, Tommy Silverstein, now 59, has written a lengthy declaration, the purpose of which “is primarily to describe my experience during this lengthy period of solitary confinement: the nature and impact of the harsh conditions I have endured in spite of a spotless conduct record for over 22 years, and my lack of knowledge about what, if anything, I can do to lessen my isolation.” After apologizing “for the actions that brought me here in the first place,” particularly the murder of corrections officer Merle Clutts, Silverstein contends that he has “worked hard to become a different man.” He continues, “I understand that I deserve to be punished for my actions, and I do not expect ever to be released from prison…I just want to serve out the remainder of my time peacefully with other mature guys doing their time.”
The bulk of the declaration is a detailed account of Silverstein’s experiences and surrounding in a series of what constitute the most secure and isolated housing in the federal prison system: in the notorious Control Unit at Marion, the supermax prototype; at USP Atlanta in a windowless underground “side pocket” cell that measured 6 x 7 feet (“almost exactly the size of a standard king mattress,”); at Leavenworth in an isolated basement cell dubbed the “Silverstein Suite”; on “Range 13″ at ADX Florence, where the only other prisoner was Ramzi Yusef; and finally in ADX’s D-Unit, where he can hear the sounds of other prisoners living in neighboring cells, though he still never sees them.
The following is from Tommy Silverstein’s description of his life at USP Atlanta:
The cell was so small that I could stand in one place and touch both walls simultaneously. The ceiling was so low that I could reach up and touch the hot light fixture.
My bed took up the length of the cell, and there was no other furniture at all…The walls were solid steel and painted all white.
I was permitted to wear underwear, but I was given no other clothing.
Shortly after I arrived, the prison staff began construction on the side pocket cell, adding more bars and other security measures to the cell while I was within it. In order not to be burned by sparks and embers while they welded more iron bars across the cell, I had to lie on my bed and cover myself with a sheet.
It is hard to describe the horror I experienced during this construction process. As they built new walls around me it felt like I was being buried alive. It was terrifying.
During my first year in the side pocket cell I was completely isolated from the outside world and had no way to occupy my time. I was not allowed to have any social visits, telephone privileges, or reading materials except a bible. I was not allowed to have a television, radio, or tape player. I could speak to no one and their was virtually nothing on which to focus my attention.
I was not only isolated, but also disoriented in the side pocket. This was exacerbated by the fact that I wasn’t allowed to have a wristwatch or clock. In addition, the bright, artificial lights remained on in the cell constantly, increasing my disorientation and making it difficult to sleep. Not only were they constantly illuminated, but those lights buzzed incessantly. The buzzing noise was maddening, as there often were no other sounds at all. This may sound like a small thing, but it was my entire world.
Due to the unchanging bright artificial lights and not having a wristwatch or clock, I couldn’t tell if it was day or night. Frequently, I would fall asleep and when I woke up I would not know if I had slept for five minutes or five hours, and would have no idea of what day or time of day it was.
I tried to measure the passing of days by counting food trays. Without being able to keep track of time, though, sometimes I thought the officers had left me and were never coming back. I thought they were gone for days, and I was going to starve. It’s likely they were only gone for a few hours, but I had no way to know.
I was so disoriented in Atlanta that I felt like I was in an episode of the twilight zone. I now know that I was housed there for about four years, but I would have believed it was a decade if that is what I was told. It seemed eternal and endless and immeasurable…
There was no air conditioning or heating in the side pocket cells. During the summer, the heat was unbearable. I would pour water on the ground and lay naked on the floor in an attempt to cool myself…
The only time I was let out of my cell was for outdoor recreation. I was allowed one hour a week of outdoor recreation. I could not see any other inmates or any of the surrounding landscape during outdoor recreation. There was no exercise equipment and nothing to do…
My vision deteriorated in the side pocket, I think due to the constant bright lights, or possibly also because of other aspects of this harsh environment. Everything began to appear blurry and I became sensitive to light, which burned my eyes and gave me headaches.
Nearly all of the time, the officers refused to speak to me. Despite this, I heard people who I believed to be officers whispering into my vents, telling me they hated me and calling me names. To this day, I am not sure if the officers were doing this to me, or if I was starting to lose it and these were hallucinations.
In the side pocket cell, I lost some ability to distinguished what was real. I dreamt I was in prison. When I woke up, I was not sure which was reality and which was a dream.
In a summing up, Silverstein reflects on the physical and psychological effects of 28 years in solitary and on his own development as a self-taught artists and practicioner of yoga and Buddhist meditation. He reiterates his plea to be allowed into the BOP’s “Step-Down program” toward less isolated confinement. The complete declaration, which runs to 64 pages, can be read here
For a further update click on, or copy and paste the link below, N.B. where it states 26 years, read 28 years.
http://solitarywatch.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/declaration-of-dr-craig-haney-in-silverstein-case.pdf