Prisoners on this page, are those we maintain to have been targeted by the state for acts allegedly stemming from adherence to a religion, or from a punitive cultural bias against the person’s beliefs. Also included here are those prisoners who are currently being discriminated against by the system, solely on the basis of their religious beliefs. Anarchists support these prisoners from our standpoint of being prison abolitionists, rather than from being in agreement with a particular theology. In other words – the prisoner’s religion is besides the point. We have listed them here as such, only to illustrate how it was the state’s intention to discriminate against the person. Most anarchists realize that religion is nourished by government’s efforts to suppress it. Followers of a faith can feel themselves to have become marginalized within our society. Understanding, is therefore an asset and even though anarchism universally and properly rejects all patriarchal dogma, anarchists are generally able to find points of accord, irrespective of someone’s faith. Religion plays a role in the government’s strategy to contain the rank and file. The control mechanism of religion exploits a human susceptibility to superstition by imposing difference and hierarchy. To some degree, all of the prevalent, patriarchal doctrines dictate their devotees shall adhere to a policy which maintains women, queer and transgender persons, the non-religious, or anyone outside of a given orthodoxy, are somehow less worthy as human beings.
Islamic Scare Prisoners
- Dr. Abdelhaleem Ashqar
- Dr. Rafil Dhafir
- Patrice Lumumba Ford
The Holy Land Five
- Ghassan Elashi
- Shukri Abu-Baker
- Mufid Abdulqader
- Abdulrahman Odeh
- Mohammad El-Mezain
Satanist Prisoners
- Lazaro H. Galindo
Christist Fundamentalists
- Dale Hickman
Non-Patriarchal - Pagan Prisoners
- Hillery Rosendall
- Margie West
- Eric Brown
Islamic Scare Prisoners
Dr. Abdelhaleem Hasan Ashqar
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 1000
PETERSBURG, VA 23804
Rafil A. Dhafir 
Rafil A. Dhafir
11921-052
FMC Devens
P.O. Box 879
Ayer, MA 01432
(scheduled release: 04-26-2022)
*Do not address him as “Doctor” because these letters are being returned.
Dr. Rafil A. Dhafir is an American Iraqi-born physician, who was targeted along with many other Muslims post 9/11 in the Bush administration’s “War on Terrorism.” He started the charity Help the Needy, to respond to the humanitarian crisis created by the Gulf War and US Sanctions on Iraq. The US government originally charged the charity and Dhafir with violations of the US sanctions. When he refused a plea bargain, the government falsely charged the charity with fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and a variety of other nonviolent crimes. You can find out more about the case and how you can help Dr. Dhafir fight his charges by visiting: http://www.dhafirtrial.net.
Patrice Lumumba Ford
Patrice Lumumba Ford
#96639-011 
U.S.P. Pollock
P.O. Box 2099
Pollock, LA 71467
Patrice Lumumba Ford is a Muslim activist and son of a former Black Panther leader who was planning a trip to volunteer in Afghani refugee camps. He was then falsely accused of attempting to travel to Afghanistan to aid the Taliban. He refused to cooperate with the government and was sentenced to eighteen years in prison (avoiding a possible life sentence) after pleading guilty to seditious conspiracy and levying war against American and allied forces.
Patrice Lumumba Ford is Ford’s birth name — he is named after Patrice Lumumba. Ford’s father, Kent Ford, had been a local leader in the Black Panther Party in the 1960s. A family friend and political activist, Kathleen Sadat commented that
“Lumumba was raised by people who taught that we exist in a multicultural world and the trick is learning how to get along with other people, not to destroy them.”
The Holy Land 5:
Ghassan Elashi
GHASSAN ELASHI
#29687-177
USP MARION
U.S. PENITENTIARY
P.O. BOX 1000
MARION, IL 62959
Ghassan Elashi was born in Palestine, in 1953. He lived there until he was 14 when his family moved to Cairo, Egypt. Ghassan attended university in Cairo, obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from Ain Shams University in 1975. He lived in Saudi Arabia and London for a couple of years until coming to the United States in 1978. In 1981 he earned his Master’s degree in Accounting from the University of Miami. Mr. Elashi worked at a company that created the world’s first Arabic computer.
Shukri Abu-Baker
SHUKRI ABU BAKER
#32589-177
FCI TERRE HAUTE
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 33
TERRE HAUTE, IN 47808
Shukri is of Palestinian and Brazilian heritage. He was born in Brazil in 1959. At age 6, his family moved to Palestine, where they lived for a couple of years. In 1967, the family moved to Kuwait and lived there for about a decade. Mr. Abu-Baker migrated to the United States in 1980, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in business administration from Orlando College. During that time, he also helped launch the first mosque in central Florida.
Mufid Abdulqader
MUFID ABDEL ABDULQADER
#32590-177
FCI TERRE HAUTE
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 33
TERRE HAUTE, IN 47808
Born in Palestine in 1959, Mr. Abdelqader lived much of his young adult life in Kuwait. He migrated to the United States in 1980 to receive an education and pursue his dreams. He lived in Texas for a few months before moving to Oklahoma. To fund his tuition at Oklahoma State University, Mr. Abdelqader briefly worked as a dishwasher at an Italian Restaurant and a cashier at Wendys. He recieved his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Civil Engineering in 1984. Since 1996, Mr. Abdelqader has worked for the city of Dallas as a Senior Project Manager in the public works and transportation departments. Driven by a passion to help the less fortunate, Mr. Abdelqader has always had a desire to serve the less fortunate.
Abdulrahman Odeh
ABDULRAHMAN ODEH
#26548-050
FCI VICTORVILLE MEDIUM II
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
PO BOX 5300
ADELANTO, CA 92301
Mr. Odeh was born in Palestine in 1959. His family moved to Kuwait when he was still in infant. Abdulrahman moved to the U.S. in 1982 and received a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Montclair State College, New Jersey. He worked in his own vending business for nearly a decade and as a limo driver for three years before opening Holy Land Foundation’s east office in New Jersey in 1994. Driven by a spirit of service, Mr. Odeh traveled the world to help those in need. In 1996, he visited the Palestinian city of Rafah and hand-delivered 50 tons of flour, 50 tons of rice and 50 tons of sugar for 294 families. He went to Ramadan in 1997 and helped to distribute 100 food packages to several Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan. In 1999, he traveled to Albania for one month and gave out 1,000 tons of flour, two ambulances and a mobile bakery. The same year, he opened up a food pantry in Patterson, N. J. that benefited over 200 needy families. Mr. Odeh also represented the Holy Land Foundation at many United Nation events in Egypt and Jordan.
Mohammad El-Mezain
MOHAMMAD AHMAD ELMEZAIN
#92412-198
FCI TERRE HAUTE
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 33
TERRE HAUTE, IN 47808
Mr. El-Mezain was born in Gaza in 1953 and lived there until age 19. He moved to Egypt in 1973 and got a Bachelor’s degree in Business from Al-Azhar University in Cairo. By the time he completed his college degree, Mr. El-Mezain had memorized the Quran. He lived in several Middle Eastern countries — including Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates — before moving to the United States in 1983. In 1985, he received his Masters degree in Economics from Colorado State University. He moved to San Diego, Calif. in 1999. Mr. El-Mezain worked as an Imam, or a mosque leader, in Colorado and New Jersey. He worked at the southern-California branch of Holy Land Foundation from 1999 until it was shut down in 2001. Described by relatives as kind hearted, Mr. El-Mezain has always remembered his father’s words: “Never say no to a chance to help the poor and needy.”
Satanist Prisoners
Lazaro H. Galindo
Lazaro is serving a life sentence in Florida for murder and sex crimes against children. At his trial, the 20 year old represented himself and pled not guilty. Lazaro was quite outspoken in telling the court about his practice of Satanism but that the unusual behavior he was being tried for had nothing at all to do with it. He said he was only there because he was being persecuted as a victim of religious discrimination. So, how did this all come about you might wonder? It seems Lazaro was in love with his neighbor, Yosalyn Gonzalez, and she had another admirer – 42 year old Argelio Gonzalez. The much older Argelio would drive by Yoslyn’s trailer house at about 2 miles an hour, booming romantic music over the speakers of his fancy gray Cadillac. Sometimes, he would bellow from the window of his car about how much he loved Yosalyn. He often left fruit for her and her kids on doorstep. It all got to be too much for Lazaro Galindo.
Lazaro felt he was being disrespected. Here he was, a powerful satanist and sacrificer of animals, having to compete with a Cadillac-driving 42-year-old guy with fruit. Enough was enough, so one day when Lazaro Galindo saw Argelio driving through the trailer park, he decided he would confronted the competition, telling him to stop with the cruising and the fruit action. Argelio responded he had just as much right to be there as Lazaro, at which point Lazaro started to cry – then he pulled out a switchblade and stabbed Argelio in the face. Not being content with that, he also stabbed him in the chest and back. After the dying Argelio fell to the pavement, Lazaro drug him into his house. Lazaro did not like the fact that the stubborn Argelio was still breathing; so he stabbed him in the lung. That solved it. Then he took a hatchet from the cauldron where he kept all his satanic tools and cleaved his head in two. Lazaro claims that he then ate Argelio’s fingers and that he thought they were tasty.
Lazaro Galindo played around with Argelio’s corpse for a couple of days but then it started getting objectionable. As a clever ruse, Lazaro stuck a white rose in Argelio’s hand and slit his throat, pinning a note on him that said, “Italian Mafia.” Lazaro was pretty sure this would divert any suspicion from himself. Argelio, he decided, was much too large; so he cut him up in two chucks and gift-wrapped them in garbage bags and bed sheets. Once he had two neat parcels, he secured them with phone cords. Putting the pieces of the body into two trash barrels, he loaded it all into the trunk of his girlfriend’s car and dumped the cans in a field near a school – we reckon he thought that a dismemberment just wasn’t as much fun unless shared with some horrified children. Back at the trailer, Lazaro poured water and bleach over everything he could, trying to dispose of the evidence. The bloody clothes were disposed of in various dumpsters around the city. Argelio’s Cadilac keys and one of the knives used to cut up his body were left in an industrial area. Some children later did find the body and called the cops – who naturally went right to Lazaro’s trailer. They found evidence all over the place. Lazaro wrote a 40-page confession, explaining his desire to eat human flesh, detailing his killing of Argelio Gonzalez and how he had disposed of his remains. Then, he defended himself in a court already inclined to view him with a jaundiced eye on account of his predilection for kids as sex partners and a prior conviction for molesting a 13 year old girl. If Lazaro had not been so determined to lay out his satanic views before the court, would the result have been any different? Oh, probably not. It was kind of besides the point wasn’t it. Is he currently being discriminated against on the basis of his Satanic beliefs? Yes. Which just goes to show that an asshole is an asshole no matter what the religion. Are we going to post Lazaro’s contact info? No. If you really want to write to him, let us know and we will try to see that you get some help.
Christist Fundamentalists
Dale Hickman
Dale Hickman, #18574755
Oregon State Penitentiary
2605 State Street
Salem, Oregon 97310-0505
Dale and his wife Sharon were convicted in the death of their infant son. They are members of the Followers of Christ; a fundamentalist sect who do not believe in any medical treatment other than faith healing. Judging from the burgeoning number of dead Follower children resting under headstones in their churchyard cemetery; it appears not to be working too well. Yes – it is getting pretty cramped in there, but we are certain that if they pray hard enough, god will flutter down with a land deed for another acre or two of prime, tax-exempt real estate for the Followers to bury more of their prospective dead babies under. And perhaps a tax-payer funded, branny-new Bobcat tractor. The Hickman’s infant son was born in September, 2009, about six weeks premature. He weighed 3 pounds, 5 ounces and lived nine hours. No one with medical training attended the birth, and no one called a doctor or ambulance. An autopsy determined the infant died of staph pneumonia and complications from a premature birth, including underdeveloped lungs. Dale is serving a six year term. Incidentally, the parents of the little girl pictured below, Alayna Wyland – are also Followers of Christ; however, the Wylands only got nine months for attempting to pray their little child’s eye right out of her head. The State of Oregon intervened in that case to take custody of Alayna and get her medical treatment. She will never see properly but at least she didn’t lose the entire eye.
Non-Patriarchal Pagan Prisoners
Margie West
Margie West, # 331743
CGGCI- SRE-11
4450 Broadriver Road
Columbia, SC 29210
Margie is a wiccan who loves reading (vampire novels and Stephen King are her faves)and also enjoys writing poetry and drawing. She loves cooking (great for exchanging recipes with), gardening, music (classic 70’s rock is her absolute fave), and the outdoors. Her element is water. Her favorite parts of nature include the ocean as well as the sun, moon and stars (celestial). She’s also a cat person and adores mermaids and sea creatures.
Margie has a daughter and two small grandchildren. She’s very family oriented and loves conversing with people about general interest as well as spirituality. She’s also interested in Buddhism although she doesn’t consider herself a follower of the religion.
Eric Brown
Eric Brown, #94608
Lovelock Correctional Center
1200 Prison Rd.
Lovelock, Nevada 89419
Eric is Native American, Paiute/Shoshone Tribes. We can’t find a lot of info about him except he is pagan, an artist of some type and has no children.
