UPDATE: Elbert Walker was released as a result of The Remedy Project's advocacy. Here is what he told us after he was released: "I just wanna let you and the students of The Remedy Project know, y'all did a great job for me, and my family. They love it and all the inmates, they love the way you have treated me through this project. And I just find myself sitting there thinking about how good a job you're doing and I will tell everyone else how good you are in your project with the students. They are very educated and they know exactly what to do. They can’t make errors and they have to say the right thing at the right time."
Elbert Walker Jr. is a 74-year-old man who has been unjustly put behind bars for a false charge. On June 20th, 2020, Elbert Walker Jr. was placed on house confinement. 2 years later, Walker reported to a halfway house for a regular check-in. When he drove away, a staff member called after him, and ordered him to come back. Walker refused, as he was finished with his meeting. Furious that their order was disobeyed, the staff member wrote Walker up for escape, even though he did nothing of the sort. If the staff member wanted to charge Walker, they should have written him up for disobeying an order; however, they made up an escape charge in an attempt to teach him a lesson. Thankfully, the fabricated charge against him was removed completely, and he was ordered to be returned to home confinement as he had been trying to do all along. Instead of obeying this blatantly clear order and sending Elbert Walker Jr. home, multiple staff members kept him in prison and placed him in the federal prison camp. They had absolutely no right to do this. Walker was supposed to continue serving his sentence at home, and that order should have been obeyed and respected.
Home confinement is an alternate form of incarceration that is only available to those eligible, and provides a path to reentry into society. The fact that Elbert Walker Jr. was placed in house confinement from the very beginning shows that he has been ready to begin his journey back into society, and the staff members that put Walker in prison refuse to acknowledge this. Not letting Walker continue his sentence in home confinement completely undid any of the progress he had previously made when readjusting to life outside the prison. How is Walker expected to improve and grow if he isn’t given an opportunity to do so? There is no reason for him to suffer, and yet he is. Elbert Walker Jr. should not be in prison. He should be rehabilitating and preparing to return to society so he can continue living his life. In addition to this, Elbert Walker is a 74 year old man. He has spent 10 years of his life in prison. He has been torn away from his family, and they are worried sick about him. His family is hurting because of the staff members that are subjecting an older man to pain and unhappiness out of pure spite and disregard for how this justice system is supposed to work. In prison, Walker is exposed to abuse and disease, instead of being at home and surrounded by his family.
Walker has participated in sentence reduction programs, but the prison is taking an extremely long time to add those credits to his case. If those credits are added to his case, Walker will have grounds to be released immediately. But instead of respecting Walker’s work, officials have left him in prison. Every day that he waits for release is another day where his rights are clearly violated. I am appalled at the blatant disregard for Elbert Walker Jr. 's situation shown by the prison and its staff.
I do not pretend to understand why Elbert Walker has not yet been released. All of the charges against him have been dropped, and he is now just a man being held in prison for no reason. Why are workers standing by and allowing Walker to be held unjustly? Elbert Walker should be free. It is a glaring and undisguised dismissal of his rights as a citizen of the United States that Elbert Walker has been held in prison, unable to return to the safety and comfort of his own home and family despite having all of the qualifications needed to do so. If staff members expect everyone to obey their orders, they need to be prepared to do what is expected of them as well. That includes writing charges correctly and carrying orders that have been given to them. This system will never work if people charge others on the inane grounds of “teaching him a lesson”. What the prison says Walker did does not add up to what they are doing to him. No one deserves to be put behind bars for a charge that genuinely does not exist.
The Remedy Project students will fight for Elbert Walker and for everyone who finds themselves stripped of their rights by officials of the justice system. We will not condone the actions of a partial justice system, and we will continue to speak out until the treatment of people in this system is rectified, and the rights of the people can be respected.
UPDATE: Elbert Walker was released as a result of The Remedy Project's advocacy. Here is what he told us after he was released: "I just wanna let you and the students of The Remedy Project know, y'all did a great job for me, and my family. They love it and all the inmates, they love the way you have treated me through this project. And I just find myself sitting there thinking about how good a job you're doing and I will tell everyone else how good you are in your project with the students. They are very educated and they know exactly what to do. They can’t make errors and they have to say the right thing at the right time."
Elbert Walker Jr. is a 74-year-old man who has been unjustly put behind bars for a false charge. On June 20th, 2020, Elbert Walker Jr. was placed on house confinement. 2 years later, Walker reported to a halfway house for a regular check-in. When he drove away, a staff member called after him, and ordered him to come back. Walker refused, as he was finished with his meeting. Furious that their order was disobeyed, the staff member wrote Walker up for escape, even though he did nothing of the sort. If the staff member wanted to charge Walker, they should have written him up for disobeying an order; however, they made up an escape charge in an attempt to teach him a lesson. Thankfully, the fabricated charge against him was removed completely, and he was ordered to be returned to home confinement as he had been trying to do all along. Instead of obeying this blatantly clear order and sending Elbert Walker Jr. home, multiple staff members kept him in prison and placed him in the federal prison camp. They had absolutely no right to do this. Walker was supposed to continue serving his sentence at home, and that order should have been obeyed and respected.
Home confinement is an alternate form of incarceration that is only available to those eligible, and provides a path to reentry into society. The fact that Elbert Walker Jr. was placed in house confinement from the very beginning shows that he has been ready to begin his journey back into society, and the staff members that put Walker in prison refuse to acknowledge this. Not letting Walker continue his sentence in home confinement completely undid any of the progress he had previously made when readjusting to life outside the prison. How is Walker expected to improve and grow if he isn’t given an opportunity to do so? There is no reason for him to suffer, and yet he is. Elbert Walker Jr. should not be in prison. He should be rehabilitating and preparing to return to society so he can continue living his life. In addition to this, Elbert Walker is a 74 year old man. He has spent 10 years of his life in prison. He has been torn away from his family, and they are worried sick about him. His family is hurting because of the staff members that are subjecting an older man to pain and unhappiness out of pure spite and disregard for how this justice system is supposed to work. In prison, Walker is exposed to abuse and disease, instead of being at home and surrounded by his family.
Walker has participated in sentence reduction programs, but the prison is taking an extremely long time to add those credits to his case. If those credits are added to his case, Walker will have grounds to be released immediately. But instead of respecting Walker’s work, officials have left him in prison. Every day that he waits for release is another day where his rights are clearly violated. I am appalled at the blatant disregard for Elbert Walker Jr. 's situation shown by the prison and its staff.
I do not pretend to understand why Elbert Walker has not yet been released. All of the charges against him have been dropped, and he is now just a man being held in prison for no reason. Why are workers standing by and allowing Walker to be held unjustly? Elbert Walker should be free. It is a glaring and undisguised dismissal of his rights as a citizen of the United States that Elbert Walker has been held in prison, unable to return to the safety and comfort of his own home and family despite having all of the qualifications needed to do so. If staff members expect everyone to obey their orders, they need to be prepared to do what is expected of them as well. That includes writing charges correctly and carrying orders that have been given to them. This system will never work if people charge others on the inane grounds of “teaching him a lesson”. What the prison says Walker did does not add up to what they are doing to him. No one deserves to be put behind bars for a charge that genuinely does not exist.
The Remedy Project students will fight for Elbert Walker and for everyone who finds themselves stripped of their rights by officials of the justice system. We will not condone the actions of a partial justice system, and we will continue to speak out until the treatment of people in this system is rectified, and the rights of the people can be respected.
