Posted on 12/08/2002 5:49:57 AM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
SYRACUSE NY- While many local residents were making shopping lists, a Lyons man spent the first week of the holiday season in jail.
Last month, John Murtari, of Franklin Street, was sentenced to 10 days imprisonment by a federal judge for refusing to leave the Hanley Federal building in downtown Syracuse. He paces corridors there outside the offices of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton hoping to win her support for family law reform.
On Nov. 22, Murtari was taken to Oneida County Jail, where he served his sentence because the Onondaga County jail was full.
"The first thing they do is take your belongings and give you prison clothes: an orange jumpsuit, orange sweatshirt and pants, and a few changes of underwear," Murtari said Friday. "They give you sheets, a blanket and toothpaste, and a toothbrush obviously made by the lowest bidder. Mine was from China. The bristles fell apart by the end of the week.
"Then they take you to your cell - an 8-by-15 (foot) room behind a Plexiglas window with a bed, toilet, sink and table. For the first 24 hours you can't leave the cell. I read a mystery novel the last guy had left there, meditated and did calisthenics.
"After the first day, you spend most of the time with the rest of the prisoners in a common area."
Since 1998, Murtari, has been arrested 27 times for pacing the corridors, picture of him and his 9-year-old son, Dominick, in hand, in Family Courts, sheriff's stations and the federal building. Until last month, he'd never been convicted on any of the charges.
A Catholic, Murtari compared life in jail to spiritual retreats he's attended.
"It's very quiet," he said. "I spent most of the day playing chess or cards. Sometimes I watched TV.
"It's a lot safer than people think. As a typical white-collar citizen, I thought the prisoners would be dirt bags. Most of them are normal people (who are) addicted to drugs or alcohol."
In November, Murtari asked the judge to spare him the 30-day maximum because he plans to fly to Colorado Dec. 18 to pick Dominick up for the holidays.
Murtari founded the Web site Akidsright.org, and started his civil disobedience after his ex-wife won custody of Dominick in the mid-1990s.
For years, the trespassing and loitering charges against Murtari were always dropped.
"It became absurd," Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Southwick. "What he's doing is demonstrating, and for that he needs a permit."
Southwick has asked a federal judge for a restraining order barring Murtari from entering the Hanley Building. Murtari could be sentenced to six months in jail if he violated such an order.
Murtari is appealing last month's conviction, and said he will return Dec. 30 to the Hanley Building.
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