Pot Prince Marc Emery Already In Trouble In The Joint

Weedpipe

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Even the walls of a maximum security prison can’t keep Marc Emery out of the public eye.

With a new prison blog, he’s harnessed the Internet to give the world a glimpse into his new lifestyle behind bars.

But now, less than two weeks after he entered a U.S. prison, Emery might have stuck it to the man a little to hard.

The self-proclaimed Prince of Pot is in solitary confinement, cited for violating prison rules.

Emery’s wife, Jodie, 25, said the trouble began when she recorded their prison phone calls and posted them as a podcast on the couple’s Cannabis Culture website.

She said under prison rules, prisoners’ phone calls can only be made between the prisoner and the intended recipient and can’t be redirected to a third party.

Jodie said Emery will be in solitary confinement up to a week until he gets a citation hearing to determine the full extent of his punishment.

Emery’s Seattle lawyer, Richard Troberman, declined comment on details, confirming only that Emery had been cited for a violation.

Jodie said Emery read the rules thoroughly and didn’t think the podcast would be a violation. The couple had created a similar podcast while Emery was awaiting deportation at the Fraser Pretrial Centre in Port Coquitlam, B.C.

Emery, 52, a marijuana activist and former Londoner, pleaded guilty May 24 in U.S. District Court in Seattle to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana.

He’s been held in the Federal Detention Center Sea-Tac near Seattle while he awaits a Sept. 10 sentencing hearing.

Prior to the citation, Emery was allowed 300 minutes of phone calls a month, but Jodie said he might be denied phone privileges for up to two months.

”It’s totally devastating,” she said. “Communication is what was keeping our spirits up.”

Emery isn’t allowed direct access to the Internet.

Instead, using a closed system called Corrlinks, he can log on to a computer and compose a message vetted by prison officials, who send the message via e-mail to Jodie.

She edits and uploads the posts to the blog that’s a feature of the couple’s Cannabis Culture online magazine.

The perennial gadfly’s posts run as long as 1,200 words.

The topics run from the banalities of prison life (he explains how he crafted a light-blocking mask from a prison-issue tube sock to help him sleep in the brightly lit cell), to poignant stories of the sad lives of inmates.

His June 1 entry boasts how he impressed inmates by showing pictures of himself posing with Tommy Chong, ZZ Top and Sean Paul.

Jodie said he’s barred from using Corrlinks while in solitary.

She said after sentencing, when he’ll be transferred to an Oklahoma City facility where federal prisoners are sorted.

She said there’s no indication where Emery will ultimately serve his time. “It could be Mississippi, it could be Texas..”

For American prisoners, proximity to family is taken into consideration, but not for foreigners.

Jodie said she’s can’t visit Emery while waiting for a visitation application to be processed.

If approved, their visits will be limited to “sitting together and holding hands, and nothing more,” she said.

Jodie runs the couple’s business, including the online store and magazine, from Vancouver. She said because of her responsibilities she’d be unable to relocate to the U.S. to be near Emery.

She said Emery’s imprisonment has increased interest in his fight to legalize pot.

“They’re taking a stand, even if that just means spray painting ‘Free Marc Emery’ all over the place,” she said.


News Forum: rollitup.org
Source: Toronto Sun
Author: GEOFF TURNER
Contact: Toronto Sun
Copyright: 2010 Toronto Sun
Website: http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/06/04/14274871.html
 
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