Adolfo Matos

Adolfo Matos (born September 18, 1950) is a Puerto Rican member of the FALN (a group which fought for Puerto Rican independence during the 1970s) who received a sentence of 70 years for seditious conspiracy and other charges.[http://www.prisonactivist.org/archive/pps+pows/adolfo-matos.html Prison Activist Resource Center. Adolfo Matos. Oakland, Calif.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090720135120/http://www.prisonactivist.org/archive/pps%2Bpows/adolfo-matos.html |date=July 20, 2009 }} He was sentenced on February 18, 1981, and incarcerated in a U.S. federal prison. However, he was released early from prison, after President Bill Clinton extended a clemency offer to him on September 7, 1999.[https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/08/us/12-imprisoned-puerto-ricans-accept-clemency-conditions.html?pagewanted=1 "12 Imprisoned Puerto Ricans Accept Clemency Conditions"] by John M. Broder. The New York Times September 8, 1999

Early years and personal life

Matos was born in Lajas, Puerto Rico on September 18, 1950. He moved to New York City at a very young age where he later married Helen Rosado, and with whom he fathered two daughters, Rosa Maria and Lydia. Matos is a skilled artist, working with copper etchings that depict Puerto Rican historical and cultural figures. His work has been displayed at the Juan Antonio Corretjer Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Chicago and elsewhere.

Seditious conspiracy

Matos and 11 others were arrested on April 4, 1980, in Evanston, Illinois. They had been linked to more than 100 bombings or attempted bombings since 1974 in their attempt to achieve independence for Puerto Rico. At their trial proceedings, all of the arrested declared their status as prisoners of war, and refused to participate in the proceedings.[http://www.westword.com/1995-07-12/news/end-of-the-line/ Prendergast, Alan. End of the Line. Denver Westword, July 12, 1995.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128052932/http://www.westword.com/1995-07-12/news/end-of-the-line/ |date=January 28, 2012 }} Retrieved on November 21, 2008{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XKJtYNvKKrgC&pg=PA147 |title=The Puerto Rican movement: voices from the diaspora. By Andrés Torres. Temple University Press. 1998. Page 147 |isbn=9781566396189 |accessdate=January 17, 2012 |last1=Torres |first1=Andrés |last2=Velázquez |first2=José Emiliano |date=September 24, 1998 |publisher=Temple University Press }}

None of the bombings of which they were convicted resulted in deaths or injuries. Matos was given a 70-year federal sentence for seditious conspiracy and other charges.{{cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/pardon/clinton_comm.htm |title=United States Department of Justice. Office of the Pardon Attorney: Commutations of Sentences |publisher=Justice.gov |accessdate=January 17, 2012}} Among the other convicted Puerto Rican nationalists there were sentences of as long as 90 years in Federal prisons for offenses including sedition, possession of unregistered firearms, interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, interference with interstate commerce by violence and interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit a crime. None of those granted clemency were convicted in any of the actual bombings. Rather, they had been convicted on a variety of charges ranging from bomb making and conspiracy to armed robbery and firearms violations.{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9909/10/faln.clemency.02/index.html |title=Eleven Puerto Rican Nationalists Freed from Prison |publisher=CNN |date=September 10, 1999 |accessdate=January 17, 2012}} They were all convicted for sedition, the act of attempting to overthrow the Government of the United States in Puerto Rico by force.{{cite news|last=Hanley |first=Charles J. |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19980510/2749925/puerto-rican-inmate-has-no-regrets-for-his-terrorist-actions |title=Puerto Rican Inmate Has No Regrets For His Terrorist Actions |publisher=Community.seattletimes.nwsource.com |date=May 10, 1998 |access-date=January 17, 2012}}

Human rights violations

There were reports of human rights violations against the FALN prisoners. The prisoners were placed in prisons far from their families, some were sexually assaulted by prison personnel, some were denied adequate medical attention, and others were kept in isolated underground prison cells for no reason. Amnesty International and the House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Administration of Justice both criticized the conditions. The conditions were found to be in violation of the U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.{{cite web|url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43/003.html |title=ProLIBERTAD. ProLIBERTAD Campaign for the Freedom of Puerto Rican Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War: Arm the Spirit 30 October 1995 |publisher=Hartford-hwp.com |accessdate=January 17, 2012}} A federal judge also expressed concerns regarding FALN prisoners held at the Female High Security Unit, Lexington, Kentucky. In the case of Baraldini vs. Meese, the judge found that their exceptionally restrictive conditions of detention were not in response to any legitimate security threat, and were therefore "an exaggerated response" and in violation of the prisoners' First Amendment rights.{{cite journal |last1=Susler |first1=Jan |title=High Security Unit in Lexington, KY |journal=Law and Liberation |date=1989 |volume=1 |issue=1 |url=https://openyls.law.yale.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.13051/7716/07_1YaleJL_Lib31_1989_.pdf?sequence=2 |access-date=18 April 2022}}

After his capture in 1980,{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/678728042.html?dids=678728042:678728042&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+06%2C+1980&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=11+Arrested+as+Puerto+Rican+Terrorists&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021195505/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/678728042.html?dids=678728042:678728042&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+06,+1980&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=11+Arrested+as+Puerto+Rican+Terrorists&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 21, 2012 |title=Los Angeles Times. Eleven Arrested as Puerto Rican Terrorists. April 6, 1980 |publisher=Pqasb.pqarchiver.com |date=April 6, 1980 |accessdate=January 17, 2012}} Matos was held for almost 4 years in several Illinois state prisons. He was transferred 10 times to nine different state prisons. He was almost always held in solitary confinement, was not allowed personal property, nor use of the telephone. He was locked down twenty-three hours a day. All of his activities were documented every half-hour by prison guards who kept a log. Following these transfers Adolfo was then incarcerated in a federal prison camp in Lompoc, California, despite having been captured in Illinois, and having the rest of his family in New York City and none in California.

Political prisoner

At the time of their arrest Matos and the others declared themselves to be combatants in an anti-colonial war against the United States to liberate Puerto Rico from U.S. domination and invoked prisoner of war status. They argued that the U.S. courts did not have jurisdiction to try them as criminals and petitioned for their cases to be handed over to an international court that would determine their status. The U.S. Government, however, did not recognize their request.

The sentences received by Matos and the other Nationalists were judged to be "out of proportion to the nationalists' offenses." Statistics showed their sentences were almost 20 times greater than sentences for similar offenses by the American population at large.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XKJtYNvKKrgC&pg=PA149 |title=The Puerto Rican movement: voices from the diaspora. By Andrés Torres. Temple University Press. 1998. Page 149 |isbn=9781566396189 |accessdate=January 17, 2012 |last1=Torres |first1=Andrés |last2=Velázquez |first2=José Emiliano |date=September 24, 1998 |publisher=Temple University Press }}

For many years, numerous national and international organizations criticized Matos' incarceration categorizing it as political imprisonment.

[http://www.peopleslawoffice.com/archives/puerto-rico/ Peoples Law Office. Puerto Rico.]{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9909/10/faln.clemency.02/index.html |title=Cable News Network (CNN). Eleven Puerto Rican Nationalists Freed from Prison. September 10, 1999 |publisher=CNN |date=September 10, 1999 |accessdate=January 17, 2012}} Adolfo Matos was finally released from prison on September 10, 1999,{{cite web |url=http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=IDSearch&needingMoreList=false&IDType=IRN&IDNumber=88968-024&x=88&y=15 |title=Federal Bureau of Prisons. U.S. Department of Justice. Inmate Locator |publisher=Bop.gov |accessdate=January 17, 2012 |archive-date=September 12, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120912133936/http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=IDSearch&needingMoreList=false&IDType=IRN&IDNumber=88968-024&x=88&y=15 |url-status=dead }} after President Bill Clinton extended him clemency.{{cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/1999/August/352dag.htm |title=United States Department of Justice. Press Release. August 11, 1999 |publisher=Justice.gov |accessdate=January 17, 2012}} Clinton cited Rev. Desmond Tutu and former President Jimmy Carter as having been influential on his decision to grant Matos the clemency offer.{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9909/09/faln.clemency/ |title=FALN prisoners another step closer to freedom: Clinton condemned on Capitol Hill for clemency |publisher=CNN |date=September 9, 1999 |accessdate=January 17, 2012}}[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/keyraces2000/stories/faln091199.htm "Puerto Rican Nationalists Freed From Prison"] by Charles Babington. The Washington Post September 11, 1999, Page A2 Cases involving the release of other Puerto Rican Nationalist prisoners have also been categorized as cases of political prisoners, with some[https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/gacol3138.doc.htm United Nations General Assembly. Special Committee on Decolonization Approves Text Calling on United States to Expedite Puerto Rican Self-determination Process: Draft Resolution Urges Probe of Pro-Independence Leader's Killing, Human Rights Abuses; Calls for Clean-up, Decontamination of Vieques. June 12, 2006.](GA/COL/3138/Rev.1*). Department of Public Information, News and Media Division, New York. Special Committee on Decolonization, 8th & 9th Meetings. (Issued on June 13, 2006.) The Approved Text reads, in part, "As in previous years, ...the Special Committee called on the President of the United States to release Puerto Rican political prisoners..." (page 1)[http://www.centropr.org/documents/general_pdfs/Finding_Aids/Reynolds_Ruth.pdf Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College, City University of New York. Guide to the Ruth M. Reynolds Papers: Archives of the Puerto Rican Diaspora. August 1991 and December 2003. Updated 2005.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100715044154/http://www.centropr.org/documents/general_pdfs/finding_aids/reynolds_ruth.pdf |date=July 15, 2010 }} Reviews Puerto Rico – U.S. relations, including cases of Puerto Rican political prisoners.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120112031601/http://www.cheverote.com/reviews/marcantonio.html Vito Marcantonio, U.S. Congressman. In his August 5, 1939, speech before Congress titled Five Years of Tyranny. (Recorded in the Congressional Record. August 14, 1939.)]}} In the words of Congressman Marcantonio, "There is no place in America for political prisoners...When we ask ourselves, 'Can it happen here?' the Puerto Rican people can answer, 'It has happened in Puerto Rico.' as he spoke about the treatment of Puerto Rican Nationalist and U.S. prisoner Pedro Albizu Campos. Retrieved August 28, 2010.[http://wbbm.cbslocal.com/2010/07/26/puerto-rican-community-celebrates-release-of-political-prisoner/ Chicago Sun-Times. Puerto Rican community celebrates release of political prisoner.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100731183442/http://wbbm.cbslocal.com/2010/07/26/puerto-rican-community-celebrates-release-of-political-prisoner/ |date=July 31, 2010 }} Report states, "Chicago's Puerto Rican community celebrates the release of political prisoner Carlos Alberto Torres..." being more vocal than others.{{cite news|url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/puerto-rican-nationalist-sentenced-to-7-years-for-1983-wells-fargo-robbery-in-conn |title=Puerto Rican Nationalist Sentenced to 7 Years for 1983 Wells Fargo Robbery in Conn. |publisher=Fox News |date=May 26, 2010 |access-date=January 17, 2012}}{{cite news|author=Danica Coto |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/28/carlos-alberto-torres-pue_n_661955.html |title=Carlos Alberto Torres, Puerto Rican Nationalist Imprisoned In Illinois For 30 Years, Returns Home To Puerto Rico |work=Huffington Post |accessdate=January 17, 2012 |date=July 28, 2010}}{{cite news|last=Martin |first=Douglas |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/us/03lebron.html |title=Lolita Lebrón, Puerto Rican Nationalist, Dies at 90 |location=Puerto Rico |work=The New York Times |date=August 3, 2010 |accessdate=January 17, 2012}}

In criticizing President Clinton's decision to release the Puerto Rican prisoners, the conservative U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee also categorized Matos as a "Puerto Rican Nationalist", echoing a recent Newsweek article.{{cite web|url=http://rpc.senate.gov/releases/1999/eb2092199.htm |title=U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee. Al Gore: Quick to Condemn "Arms-for-Hostages," but What About "Terrorists-for-Votes?" September 21, 1999 |publisher=Rpc.senate.gov |accessdate=January 17, 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301131911/http://rpc.senate.gov/releases/1999/eb2092199.htm |archivedate=March 1, 2012 }} In 2006, the United Nations called for the release of the remaining Puerto Rican political prisoners in United States prisons.[https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/gacol3138.doc.htm United Nations General Assembly. Special Committee on Decolonization Approves Text Calling on United States to Expedite Puerto Rican Self-determination Process: Draft Resolution Urges Probe of Pro-Independence Leader's Killing, Human Rights Abuses; Calls for Clean-up, Decontamination of Vieques. June 12, 2006.](GA/COL/3138/Rev.1*). Department of Public Information, News and Media Division, New York. Special Committee on Decolonization, 8th & 9th Meetings. (Issued on June 13, 2006.)