A Word from Shohn

Hello to all. First I want to thank everyone for their interest and concern in my imprisonment. I appreciate all the help that we can get. I have been in prison in Cereso in Cuidad Juarez for almost a year and four months now. There has not been one day that I have been here that I have not wanted to be home. I miss my family greatly and couldn't have imagined ever being away from them this long. Without the opportunities to see my family, I couldn’t have made it through the time here. This prison is a ticking time bomb and ready to go off at anytime. Luckily it has only gone off one time since I have been here. Gun fire between the rival gangs rang out back and forth inside the walls of the jail. Not to mention the killing of inmates by inmates. In the time I have been here about 15 inmates have been killed by other inmates. Some were beaten, other given drugs and other hanged. This includes two that have happened fifty feet from where I sleep every night. I do not say this to scare anyone, but I just want you to know how much of a hell this place is and express my desire to leave and leave quickly. This has not just been hard for me but for my wife and family. I ask that anyone and everyone that can help will and show that we can begin to help a corrupted judicial system. With all of your help and pressure on the Mexican government, I believe I can be set free and begin to help all the people that I have met and learned their stories here. I do agree there are some guilty people here but after a year of being around these people I know that the crimes the Mexican Army has accused them of are false. I can count way over a hundred cases of people who have been picked up by the army and crimes placed on them. It all follows a very similar pattern. The people will be yanked out of their homes or cars and hauled off to the military base. Once there the torture begins. The ways of torture vary from hitting with rifle punching and electrical shocks. People have described having plastic bags over their heads until they pass out. If they bite a hole in the bag to breathe they get two more bags put over their heads. The army believes through this torture they are going to get confessions and names of more people to pick up. The army then falsifies evidence of drugs weapons and murders to show that they are working and making a difference in the city and country. While all this is going on they simply wave by the vehicles loaded with drugs or full of Secarios and guns headed to the next job. They imprison the innocent and allow the guilty to keep working. The ease of convicting the people they pick up is easy for the judicial system. From the moment you are picked up you are already guilty and from inside these walls it is difficult to prove your own innocence. The judges would rather avoid the conflict and just pass on the normal sentence and move on with their day instead of really focusing on the evidence of innocence is presented. I thank you for your support and I know with everyone’s help I can be set free and with this we can start to help this country an change the normal presumed guilty mentality this country has. Thank you and I will stay strong and hopefully this nightmare will be over soon.