Texas veteran imprisoned for 35 days for refusing to surrender his Facebook password; fed donuts and insulin injections

Tuesday, May 12, 2015
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Tags: Jeremy Alcede, Facebook password, human rights

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(NaturalNews) Texas entrepreneur and U.S. Army veteran Jeremy Alcede has been imprisoned for 35 days (and counting) over his refusal to turn over his Facebook account password as part of a business bankruptcy court order. Federal bankruptcy Judge Jeff Bohm of the Southern District of Texas ordered Alcede thrown in jail for an indefinite period of time until he surrenders his Facebook account password, potentially creating a dangerous precedent that threatens the privacy and control of all our social media accounts.

For background, see the previous Natural News article Federal judge orders entrepreneur to commit his own Facebook identity theft or go to jail.

Jeremy Alcede is now being incarcerated at the Joe Corley Detection Center in Montgomery County, a for-profit "private prison" run by a corporation. Jeremy Alcede has not been charged with any crime and has been denied a jury trial. He is a "prisoner of conscience" for standing his ground on the issue of social media account ownership, and to my knowledge he is the only American currently being held under indefinite detention for refusing to give up his Facebook password.

Why does his Facebook account matter so much that he's willing to go to jail to protect it? Before being incarcerated for committing no crime, Alcede told Natural News that his Facebook account contains privileged conversations with his attorney, and that forcing him to turn over his account would violate attorney-client privilege. It would also violate the Facebook terms of service, which states that no Facebook account can be assigned to another party without the written permission of the Facebook company. Turning over his own account password to another party, as ordered by Judge Jeff Bohm, would constitute Jeremy Alcede committing his own identity theft on Facebook because it would allow the party receiving the account to impersonate Alcede to his entire list of friends and followers.

"If this judge is able to force me to surrender my Facebook account password," Alcede told Natural News, "it would set a dangerous precedent that could see federal courts seizing social media accounts from any person targeted by the government, in gross violation of due process and their First Amendment rights."

Judge Bohm claims the Facebook account in question belongs to the new owners of the Tactical Firearms business, who acquired it through bankruptcy proceedings. But the Facebook account in question -- which has thousands of likes and followers -- was used almost exclusively for personal messages, not business communications or promotions. The question posed here is whether a business bankruptcy can cause that business founder's personal social media accounts to be stripped from them by order of the court. Because there is no precedent on this question, Judge Bohm invented his own answer and appears to be willing to keep Alcede imprisoned until he complies with his demands, no matter how unreasonable they may seem.

Targeted for being a patriot?

Alcede stirs controversy in many quarters, and he's an outspoken critic of Obama administration policies. He's the co-founder of the Katy, Texas, firearms retailer known as Tactical Firearms, which made headlines throughout 2013 and 2014 for carrying provocative, satirical messages on its signage visible from a major thoroughfare in Katy called Mason Rd.

The following image shows one of many such signs posted by Tactical Firearms. This one reads, "Criminals obey gun laws like politicians follow their oaths of office." Other signage poked fun at President Obama, Harry Reid and gun control zealots.



Just as the Obama administration's IRS targeted conservative non-profits for their political and religious beliefs, Alcede believes he is being held as a "prisoner of conscience" because of his outspoken speech on controversial topics like gun control, Obamacare and illegal immigration. He says that the courts imprisoning someone for an indefinite period of time is a violation of federal and state laws against "cruel and unusual punishment."

"I have always stood up and voiced my opinion regarding the civil liberties that our founding fathers created. I would not be true to myself or to you if I laid down and blindly obeyed an unlawful order which has currently been placed upon me," Alcede writes on his GoFundMe page, which has so far raised $3,000 for his legal bills. "I desperately need legal representation but cannot afford it as I have been robbed of everything."

To prevent Alcede's story from getting out, Judge Jeff Bohm has denied media visitation access to all reporters, including Andrea Watkins from a local Fox affiliate. As this email shows, the request to interview Alcede was denied.

What kind of prisoner gets held without charge, is sentenced to "indefinite" imprisonment in a for-profit prison run by a corporation, is denied access to the press and fed a health-destroying diet? Welcome to the new Amerikan police state.

Fed donuts and insulin shots, Alcede turns to fasting to protect his health

According to reports from those in direct contact with Alcede, he was fed donuts and processed cereal by the prison staff, causing his blood sugar to experience wild clinical swings. In response, the medical staff at the facility began administering insulin shots to control his blood sugar.

Because prison food is so disastrously malnourished and imbalanced, Alcede's health status only worsened. It wasn't long before they tried to put him on metformin, a diabetes drug widely known to cause permanent liver damage. In essence, the prison is now waging a chemical war on Alcede's physical health, subjecting him to punishment that goes beyond the incarceration itself. Alcede refused the metformin drug, and in a desperate attempt to protect his health from the disastrous diet forced upon him, he went on a six-day fast, during which his blood sugar stabilized.

"I wrote this post at 5 pm after waiting all day in hopes of getting a normal meal which did not happen," Alcede wrote from prison on April 30. "The medical doctor on staff was ordered yesterday to specify the exact foods I am to be fed. He said that the warden denied the MEDICAL ORDERS and I am being poisoned. I am curious as to why a Muslim is allowed a special diet to appease their God, but a life and death diet is not worthy. Every day that passes I am uncovering MORE and MORE CORRUPTION! With the Texas prisons generating 13 plus billion dollars, yes with a b, a year...it makes perfect sense..."

Human rights violations committed by the government

Alcede remains in isolation at the facility, living in a cell no more than five feet wide. He remains the only known prisoner in America who is serving an indefinite detention for the "crime" of protecting his own social media account.

As this is happening, the United States government is being heavily criticized by a scathing human rights review from the United Nations, which accuses the U.S. government of repeatedly violating fundamental human rights.

"The United States was slammed over its rights record Monday at the United Nations' Human Rights Council, with member nations criticizing the country for police violence and racial discrimination, the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility and the continued use of the death penalty," reports Al Jazeera. The news publisher also states:

The March findings of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on torture were not overlooked by international delegates. Many echoed the concerns of the Danish delegate, Carsten Staur, who recommended that the U.S. "further ensures that all victims of torture and ill treatment, whether still in U.S. custody or not, obtain redress and have an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation and as full rehabilitation as possible, including medical and psychological assistance."

With the case of Jeremy Alcede, the United States federal government now stands as a tyrannical regime that will throw someone in prison for daring to protect their control of their own social media account.

Resources

Jeremy Alcede's Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/Tacticalfirearms

Judge Jeff Bohm:
http://ballotpedia.org/Jeff_Bohm

Go Fund Me page for Jeremy Alcede:
http://www.gofundme.com/Fborjail