Posted on 06/21/2007 11:26:43 PM PDT by pissant
A congressional aide who visited Ignacio Ramos in prison said the convicted Border Patrol agent appeared emaciated, losing more than 30 pounds in solitary confinement.
Ramos, who is appealing his 11-year sentence for the non-lethal shooting of a Mexican drug smuggler, has been in a "special housing unit" since he was beaten by inmates in February at the medium-security Federal Correctional Complex in Yazoo City, Miss., said Tara Setmayer, spokeswoman for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif.
"He was very happy to see me, but, overall, he was very emotional," Setmayer told WND. "He is demoralized. Languishing in solitary for 135 days takes its toll on anyone."
The men who bloodied Ramos with kicks from steel-toed boots are in the same unit, Setmayer said.
Although the prison tries to make a distinction, she noted, "the protective measures are punitive, so he suffers all of the same restrictions as those there for disciplinary reasons."
A lockdown had been implemented prior to Setmayer's visit June 11, and Ramos had not received a hot meal in two days, Setmayer said.
Ramos' wife, Monica, visited him Monday and reported he was in the same condition.
Charles Smith, spokesman for the Yazoo City prison, said he could not comment on Ramos, or any prisoner, without the prisoner's written permission.
Ramos and Border Patrol colleague Jose Compean are serving sentences for their actions in the shooting of drug smuggler Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila-Aldrete as he fled back to Mexico after driving across the border with 742 pounds of marijuana in February 2005. U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton gave the smuggler immunity to serve as the government's star witness and testify against the border agents. While under immunity, the smuggler was caught in another drug delivery, but the judge sealed that information from the jury.
In another case prosecuted by Sutton, Texas Deputy Sheriff Gil Hernandez was convicted of violating the civil rights of two illegal aliens injured from shell fragments that struck them as the officer shot at the tires of a van in which they escaped from a routine traffic stop. The van driver had tried to run over Hernandez.
WND reported this week a judge reinstated Border Patrol Agent David Sipe six years after his felony conviction for striking an illegal alien who resisted arrest.
Setmayer also visited Ramos just days after the February assault, witnessing his injuries first hand.
"It was one of the most emotionally intense things I've ever experienced," she said. "The hardest thing was walking out of the facility while they were handcuffing him and taking him away."
Setmayer said that while she didn't have to see bruises this time, she saw an "emaciated officer."
"It just emboldens us even more so," she said of congressional efforts on behalf of the agents, including a resolution calling for pardons. "It was encouraging for him to find out our efforts are moving forward full steam ahead."
Rohrabacher has requested a hearing on the case before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight. Among its aims, the panel wants to examine possible influence by the Mexican government on the case. Sutton has said he is willing to testify.
As WND reported, the Mexican Consulate sought the prosecution of Ramos and Compean, and also Hernandez, according to documents obtained by WND.
Setmayer said her office has been "stonewalled" by the Department of Justice in an attempt to get details of Davila's immunity agreement and of a second attempt by him to deliver a load of marijuana across the border.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security subcommittee, also is examining the case.
Setmayer said more Congress members have signed on to a bill by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., that calls for the two agents to be pardoned.
She pointed out the case has received attention recently amid discussion of whether President Bush should pardon convicted former White House aide Lewis Libby. Presidential candidates Hunter and Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., have asked how the president can consider pardoning Libby if he doesn't pardon Ramos and Compean.
Rohrabacher says he will not endorse anyone for president who doesn't commit to pardoning the two agents.
Inmates have steel toed boots? Are they sure he wasn't beaten by guards?
Illegal aliens. Probably work shop boots.
This is terrible. An innocent man being brutely beaten because he is in a situation he should not be in.
Release him now.
Gee, now I won't be able to sleep tonight!
That is, unless I can stop laughing.
The guy was sentenced to 11 years for shooting an illegal alien drug dealer in the ass. HE should have got a medal, not prison.
What has happened here to this man is obscene. Decent folk the world over should pray for him: I will.
Sadly, Hunter will not pardon these men because Hunter will not be President: HillBilly will, romping home in a landslide. So far, there is no credible challenge to a Democrat sweep led by HillBilly.
The Barney-fication of America shall follow shortly. Count on it: Conservatives have very little time left to get their act together and a credible candidate supported. And were America goes, so goes the rest of us.
It is chilling to watch this happen from “the outside”, being unable to do anything except observe. It is like watching a train-wreck in slow motion.
Western Civilization is in the process of self-immolating, for no good reason. Like Antient Rome, we are mesmerized by Bread-and-Circuses, like the Paris Hilton nonsense (”That’s Hot!”) and ignoring really big issues, like illegal immigration not just within the US but other Western democracies, too.
We are about to be over-run by the hordes, and there are no shortage of them. It’s not just the militant muslims, there are plenty of countries run by despots that would happily see our Civilization go away.
Imprisoning perfectly-good Border Guards for shooting a sneaky drug-smuggler in the arse is a perfect example of what is wrong.
Broken Arrow.
Nope. Hunter or Thompson or Romeny would all crush that unqualified harping hag.
I’m not saying this to get flamed but it was pretty clear from the court transcripts that the agents covered up the shooting. And then that evidence was twisted on talk radio to make a bad situation sound much worse than it was. I still believe that they should have been disiplined within the agency and not put on trial. But maybe that could have happened if they had just admitted that they screwed up in a very tough situation rather than trying to cover it up. Things always get alot worse when we try to hide from a reality.
He used to get about 50 letters a day; now it is about 10.
If you write to him, you must address him EXACTLY as follows :
Ignacio Ramos #58079-180 FCI
Yazoo City Medium Federal Correctional Institution
P. O. Box 5888
Yazoo City, MS 39194
Postcards are NOT allowed. ONLY letters. One page will do. A short hello. A brief
bit of news from the outside world (I do not know if he gets any news at all).
Quality is nice, but quantity is what counts; a short letter is better than nothing.
> Nope. Hunter or Thompson or Romeny would all crush that unqualified harping hag.
Not on current form: the harridan wins hands down. Hunter, Thompson, Romney or even (dare I say) Giuliani alone, with a unified Conservative movement behind them, would carry the day no sweat. Sadly, they don’t have that, and won’t get the chance.
‘Tis the oldest trick in the book: split the vote.
No chance hag-bitch even sniffs the WH.
This just sickens me to no end. We have no leader in America at this point in time.
I want to clean house tomorrow!!
> No chance hag-bitch even sniffs the WH.
From your lips to God’s ears, my FRiend. Perhaps we will compare notes in the gulags, for I fear that I am right in this case, and you are sadly mistaken.
I’d be happier to be wrong this time!
thanks for that...
I cannot dispute we live in interesting times. I appreciate your fear.
> I cannot dispute we live in interesting times. I appreciate your fear.
How’s this for a Democrat ticket? HillBilly/Obama: two “firsts”. Watch this space, this move will happen for certain. The “Winds of Change” will be announced: the “First” female president and teh “First” black vice-president. And all of Hollywood will sing “Halleluja Praise the Devil”, and the Sheeple will vote accordingly...
What can the Republicans do to trump that?
Only a Real American Hero could trump it: someone with a chest-full of medals, worthy to be a Wartime President. None of those are in the race, currently. Not for the Democrats, and sadly not for the Republicans...
...form over substance.
*DieHard*
That’s a horror and perhaps inevitable. But as it was several hundred years ago, 1/3 are fence-sitters, 1/3 are beholden and the last third (hopefully) prevails. Keep your powder dry.
I reread “Camp of the Saints” last week. My sleep remains troubled.
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