The Internet never ceases to amaze.
Someone on eBay has just purchased the used prison shirt of disgraced former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman for $4,500 in an effort to “help free America’s #1 political prisoner.”
In 2005, Siegelman was indicted on corruption charges alleging he had accepted campaign contributions in return for political favors. A year later, a federal jury found Siegelman guilty on seven counts, including bribery, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, mail fraud and obstruction of justice.
Siegelman was released from prison in 2008 while he appealed his conviction, claiming that he had been convicted unjustly. In 2009, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the charges against him and refused to grant him a new trial.
He has continued to maintain that the charges against him and his conviction were politically motived attacks by Republican operatives.
Federal judges last year again said there was no evidence supporting those claims and saw no reason to grant a new trial.
He is scheduled to get out of prison in 2017, but money raised from the sale of the prison shirt is going toward the production of a documentary film that Siegelman’s allies hope will help get him out sooner by getting the attention of the White House.
Here’s the full explanation from the eBay sales page:
Governor Siegelman is GIVING THE SHIRT OFF HIS BACK to raise money for a documentary about his political assassination, “Atticus v. The Architect”.
How many people do you know who have an authentic prison T-shirt worn by “America’s #1 Political Prisoner?”
Governor Siegelman was sentenced to 88 months in 2007 and has worn this T-shirt as he walked countless laps around the prison asphalt track thinking, not of himself, but how he could help prevent this from happening to others.
He has worn this shirt through hard times, when his lawyers told him, “No, your appeal will not be heard by the Supreme Court.” He had this shirt on when he was thrown into solitary confinement because he gave a radio interview in support of criminal justice reform.
Gov. Siegelman says, “T-shirts are available for purchase from the prison commissary. T-shirts are allowed to be worn during exercise and personal time after 4pm when work is done for the day. The prison T-shirt is something that a prisoner can own, one of the only pieces of clothing that does not belong to the government. They are made by prisoners who work as hard as they can for $0.23 cents an hour.
This particular shirt has traveled across the country, has been touched, sewn and stenciled by other prisoners who toil around the clock to earn enough money to buy what is needed at their own commissary and to send the rest home to their family.
Once the T-shirt was made, it was shipped to the Oakdale Federal Corrections Complex, where it arrived at the prison warehouse, also run by prisoners. From the warehouse the shirt made its way to the Oakdale commissary, where I stood in line waiting and waiting to purchase it. The stenciling does not come with the shirt. That is something that has to be done for you, as a favor from another inmate, this way no one can steal your shirt.”
While Governor Siegelman is out of legal appeals, he still has one option… US!
“Atticus v. The Architect,” recognized by the International Documentary Association, MUST get the attention of President Obama. http://www.documentary.org/film/atticus-v-architect
Thank you.
Friends of Don Siegelman
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