Pubdate: Thu, 14 Jul 2016
Source: Tucson Weekly (AZ)
Copyright: 2016 Tucson Weekly
Contact:  http://www.tucsonweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/462
Author: Maria Ines Taracena

FREE KYLE CATLIN

Parents of Medical Marijuana Patient, Caregiver in Prison Are Not 
Giving Up Until Their Son Is Free

Suson Catlin has been letters to the Governor's Office hoping someone 
out there will help get her 27-year-old son, Kyle, out of 
prison-where he's been since mid-January over nonviolent marijuana 
felony charges. Unsurprisingly, she hasn't received a response. But 
as I imagine most mothers would, Suson is willing to exhaust all 
options. Hope dies last.

The night of June 23, Suson got a phone call from Kyle, saying he had 
been charged with assault after another inmate in the Marana 
Community Correctional Facility jumped him and split his lip open. In 
response to the altercation, which Kyle repeatedly told his parents 
he didn't do anything but take the punches, Kyle was placed in 
"protective custody," also known as "the hole," or solitary 
confinement. The inmate who assaulted Kyle was placed in solitary 
first, so he and friends threatened to kill Kyle for being "a snitch."

After Suson made several frantic phone calls to the correctional 
facility, guards moved Kyle to the hole, where he remained for about 
a week (Read "Parents of medical marijuana weed patient in prison 
fear for his life," June 17).

To make matters worse, Kyle got transferred back to the first 
correctional facility he stepped foot in-the Arizona Department of 
Corrections' Whetstone Unit off of South Wilmot Road and East Old 
Vail Road. While there the first time, an inmate jumped Kyle and hurt 
his head. One hopes the correctional system would have enough common 
sense to not send a nonviolent inmate back to a place where his 
safety was jeopardized. But, really, they could give a shit. It is 
not their son. It is not their brother. It is not their friend.

"I'm not giving up, I am going to fight even more to get my son out 
of that hell hole," Suson wrote on Kyle's Facebook after her son told 
her he'd be transferred again.

It makes me sad and anxious to read a mother's near-daily messages to 
her son on social media. There are also tons of posts from friends. 
Sometimes they tag Kyle on photographs of family events where he's 
painfully absent.

While Kyle was in the hole, Suson says she wrote him every day. He 
wasn't allowed to bring any of his possessions with him to solitary, 
so reading letters was the sole connection to the outside that kept 
his mind sane.

"I'm running out of things to write about and pics to send him," 
Suson wrote on Facebook. "If you would like to say something to 
him...post it here and I'll send it to him. If you have the time, 
send him a letter so that he knows people are supporting him. Either 
way, let Kyle know you are thinking about him...#freekylecatlin."

I remember when Kyle was sentenced to at least three years back in 
January, his family and friends told me that Judge Javier Chon-Lopez 
said Kyle shouldn't even be put away. Kyle's dad Marvin broke down 
crying and told him, "thank you" and "God bless you." Because of 
minimum sentencing laws for drug-dealing convictions-even for first, 
nonviolent offenders like Kyle-a judge must punish a person for at 
least a minimum number of years in jail or prison.

Also that day, Marvin says the prosecutors said they did not object 
to Kyle pleading to the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency for a 
shorter sentence. Both statements in court were good signs for Kyle 
in his upcoming clemency hearing and his appeals. Marvin says he 
wants a complete pardon for his son, not just a reduction of years. 
But who knows? (For more about Kyle's charges, check out "In Defense 
of Marijuana," Sept. 17, 2015.)

Marvin celebrated his birthday on June 27. Father's Day was fewer 
than 10 days before that. Kyle's sister, Mindy, got married in 
mid-June. A few months ago, Kyle's brother Kalvin and his wife hosted 
two birthday parties for their daughters-both little ones are very 
close to Uncle Kyle. They post photos on Facebook and they all smile, 
because life doesn't stop no matter how heartbreaking it gets.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom