Manuel Alvares:
Un Hombre Bueno Murio Joven
(Written March 2000)
Several days before Christmas, Manuel Alvares left the Bay State Correctional Center in the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service for deportation to Cuba. He was serving a ten year mandatory sentence for drug offenses. While in the Massachusetts prison system, he exercised regularly and participated in the college program.
On Sunday, January 23rd, he was found dead by other prisoners at the INS detention center in Manchester, New Hampshire. Manuel was 44 years old and, though without a history of physical ailments, he apparently died of heart complications. It is significant to note another mysterious death occurred in recent weeks and numerous complaints about inhumane treatment and conditions have been reported at the INS detention center in this region and throughout the country.
The National Lawyers Guild, American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Criminal Justice Policy Coalition and American Friends Service Committee are community organizations and agencies concerned about the brutalizing unfairness towards immigrants (especially Cubans) in the criminal justice system. Who gets arrested for drugs? Who gets prosecuted for the most serious offenses? Who receives the severe mandatory sentences? Who are these human beings languishing for many months (even years) in detention centers after completion of their prison sentence? In Massachusetts, a high percentage of drug offenders face deportation hearings. Dominicans are the largest segment of the immigrants.
No person should die in chains. Manuel Alvares was a father, husband, son, and brother. He was my friend. His choice was to remain in the United States with family, but he was willing to return to Cuba, the place of his adolescent memories. Imagine after completing a lengthy prison sentence, you are anticipating a family reunion with a mother who acquired a 10 day visa from Cuba. Manny died in a cell block with strangers. Someone said he died of a broken heart, instead of physical complications, because his mother was refused permission to visit him by the authorities. He was a good man and brought joy and happiness to others.
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Comments: 1
My opinion is you do not want to go in the american prison system.
Sorry about your friend, but unless you have a good lawyer and money to pay for it, you stand no chance in this system. We had one man die in a correctional center in my town because he was allucinating from alcohol withdrawl and got no help from the guards. 20 years old student, driving on suspended license.