DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Virginia Harper NAACP Correspondence, 1971-1996 | 1995-09-12 Billy Joe Armento to Ms. Virginia Harper Page 1

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Virginia Harper NAACP Correspondence, 1971-1996

1995-09-12 Billy Joe Armento to Ms. Virginia Harper Page 1

THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE
 LEGAL REDRESS REPORT Branch #4017-ISP 
Billy Joe Armento
Legal Redress Chmn. 

September 12 1995
TO:  Fort Madison Branch-NAACP 
Ms. Virginia Harper, President
2326 Harper Lane
Fort Madison, Ia. 52627
Dear Ms. Harper;
This correspondence is to notify yourself, and the Fort Madison Branch, of the legal efforts of the ISP-branch legal redress. 
On or about October 28, 1994, myself and 8 more members of this branch filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, " a Motion for Contempt and Modification of Judgment". The Civil Number is #4-75-CV-80201.
This cause was initiated by our branch for the inmates of ISP in an effort to restore two Prison groups that serviced the entire prison population. One group is called: The Progressive Black Culture Organization (BCG), and Project Harmony (PH). 
The BCG served as a chartered culture group for African-American prisoners. This group existed a the 'signing' of the original "Hazen-Decree" Order, by Jonathan Golden, Assistant Attorney General; Michael V. Reagen, Iowa Department of Social Services, and Crispus C. Nix, Warden of the Iowa State Penitentiary. 
At the time of the signing of this agreement, the BCG was a functioning organization that later became a chartered non-profit organization. I know this personally true because I was the President who filed with the Secretary of State the Incorporation papers. 
It was not until several White-Hate groups decided to organize groups for themselves that Warden Nix declared that 'no' individual culture groups would exist behind the prison walls. Thus, he closed down the BCG group. However, in an effort to be fair to those prisoner's who truly wanted to learn their culture and other's culture, the Warden initiated a group called Project Harmony. This group was to be racially balanced in the application of cultural knowledge, and [underlined] Not [/underlined] balanced on prisoners who wanted to attend. 
For a prisoner to attend Project Harmony. He had to request attendance by forwarding a inmate memo to his counselor who would then place the prisoner in a group. Their were several groups because of the large amount of inmates requesting to participate. Surprisingly, the group

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THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE LEGAL REDRESS REPORT Branch #4017-ISP Billy Joe Armento Legal Redress Chmn. September 12 1995 TO: Fort Madison Branch-NAACP Ms. Virginia Harper, President 2326 Harper Lane Fort Madison, Ia. 52627 Dear Ms. Harper; This correspondence is to notify yourself, and the Fort Madison Branch, of the legal efforts of the ISP-branch legal redress. On or about October 28, 1994, myself and 8 more members of this branch filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, " a Motion for Contempt and Modification of Judgment". The Civil Number is #4-75-CV-80201. This cause was initiated by our branch for the inmates of ISP in an effort to restore two Prison groups that serviced the entire prison population. One group is called: The Progressive Black Culture Organization (BCG), and Project Harmony (PH). The BCG served as a chartered culture group for African-American prisoners. This group existed a the 'signing' of the original "Hazen-Decree" Order, by Jonathan Golden, Assistant Attorney General; Michael V. Reagen, Iowa Department of Social Services, and Crispus C. Nix, Warden of the Iowa State Penitentiary. At the time of the signing of this agreement, the BCG was a functioning organization that later became a chartered non-profit organization. I know this personally true because I was the President who filed with the Secretary of State the Incorporation papers. It was not until several White-Hate groups decided to organize groups for themselves that Warden Nix declared that 'no' individual culture groups would exist behind the prison walls. Thus, he closed down the BCG group. However, in an effort to be fair to those prisoner's who truly wanted to learn their culture and other's culture, the Warden initiated a group called Project Harmony. This group was to be racially balanced in the application of cultural knowledge, and [underlined] Not [/underlined] balanced on prisoners who wanted to attend. For a prisoner to attend Project Harmony. He had to request attendance by forwarding a inmate memo to his counselor who would then place the prisoner in a group. Their were several groups because of the large amount of inmates requesting to participate. Surprisingly, the group