After 22 Years Of 'Psychologil Torture' In Solary Confement, Anthony Gay Fights For State Law Rtrictg Its Use - CBS Chigo

Contents:

• ANTHONY GAY’S S SOLARY NFEMENT LED TO SELF-MUTILATN. NOW A PROPOSED LAW TO LIM PRISONER ISOLATN ILLOIS IS NAMED HIS HONOR.
• AFTER 22 YEARS OF 'PSYCHOLOGIL TORTURE' IN SOLARY CONFEMENT, ANTHONY GAY FIGHTS FOR STATE LAW RTRICTG ITS USE
• ANTHONY GAY APPEALS FOR HELP OM FERAL PRISON
• LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?
• HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT
• CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS COULD REMOVE IT NEXT YEAR
• THE ANTHONY GAY LAW
• GAY V. STATE OF ILLOIS
• ILLOIS’ ANTHONY GAY ISOLATED CONFEMENT REFORM BILL PASS HOE
• TEXAS JUDGE WHO DON’T WANT TO PERFORM GAY MARRIAGE CEREMONI HOP WEB SIGNER’S SUPREME COURT SE HELPS HER FIGHT
• LGBTQ GROUP SU FLORIDA GOV. RON DESANTIS OVER NTROVERSIAL 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW
• WAS THIS LAW DEAN FIRED BEE HE'S GAY? HIS SUPPORTERS WANT ANSWERS

ANTHONY GAY’S S SOLARY NFEMENT LED TO SELF-MUTILATN. NOW A PROPOSED LAW TO LIM PRISONER ISOLATN ILLOIS IS NAMED HIS HONOR.

Spurred by a Chigo Tribune vtigatn volvg a man who spent two s isolatn after beg nvicted of stealg a hat and a sgle dollar bill, a proposed state law would lim how long an Illois prisoner n stay solary Anthony Gay Isolated Confement Rtrictn Act would bar the Illois Department of Correctns om placg an mate isolatn for more than 10 days a six-month perd.

Anthony Gay be emotnal while speakg March 10, 2020, about his years solary nfement. ”The bill is named for Anthony Gay, a Rock Island native who entered prison 1994 as a young man, nvicted of robbery after brawlg wh another teen who told police that Gay took his hat and stole $1.

AFTER 22 YEARS OF 'PSYCHOLOGIL TORTURE' IN SOLARY CONFEMENT, ANTHONY GAY FIGHTS FOR STATE LAW RTRICTG ITS USE

Instead, a fight wh a fellow mate led to Gay’s first stt segregatn, phg him to a downward spiral that rulted 22 years solary nfement. Shortly after the isolatn started, Gay began self-mutilatg and attemptg for 23 hours a day and starved for human ntact, Gay took extreme steps to get attentn. Once, he packed a fan motor si a gapg leg wound; another time he cut open his scrotum and serted a are visible on Anthony Gay's arm while he worships at the Church of Peace Rock Island 2018.

ANTHONY GAY APPEALS FOR HELP OM FERAL PRISON

(Brian Cassella / Chigo Tribune)As his md began to terrate, Gay beme antagonistic toward his guards and ocsnally threw ure or fec at them, unlawful acts of fiance that stretched his origal sentence to more than two s behd Livgston County, where Pontiac Correctnal Center is suated, the state’s attorney’s office lodged a seri of 21 dictments agast Gay between 2000 and 2004 for the many tim he threw his own bodily fluids at guards. The Illois Department of Correctns would later intify Gay urt filgs as one of a few dozen mat whose mental illns were so acute and dangero that they required full patient re.

LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?

But a Tribune vtigatn found his psychiatric treatment often nsisted of a therapist shoutg qutns to him through a he reunted how his mental health erod isolatn, the normally stoic Gay broke down tears Tuday durg a news nference promotg the proposed legislatn. If the state had followed through wh s plans, Gay would have spent the rt of his life alone si a cell the size of a parkg space.

”On his darkt days, Gay clung to the ia that he would fd a way to end IDOC’s isolatn polici. While Illois has signifintly rced the number of days juvenile offenrs spend isolatn and no longer segregatn as a punishment for young people as part of a nsent cree between the partment and the Amerin Civil Liberti Unn of Illois, those polici do not extend to the adult has phed unsuccsfully for solary nfement reforms for nearly four years, but he believ the bill has s strongt chanc of passg durg the current legislative ssn given Gay’s volvement.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT

Anthony Gay wh one of his attorneys, Maggie Filler of the MacArthur Jtice Center, at Cool Beanz Coffee Hoe Rock Island 2018. “Transparency is absolutely a val part of this bill, ” said Gay’s attorney, Nilette Ward of the Romanucci & Bland law firm. ”Gay was released om prison Augt 2018 after his attorneys succsfully petned to have his sentence rtctured.

Anthony Gay speaks about his two s spent solary nfement Illois prisons. Anthony Gay said he was “tortured for s” by his isolatn for up to 24 hours a day a ld, ty cell he likened to a dungeon, and was nied accs to necsary mental health efforts sce his 2018 release to outlaw the procre as a punive measure is reflected a bill that bears his name now makg s way through the Illois legislature.

CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS COULD REMOVE IT NEXT YEAR

”Gay was first arrted for robbery 1994 for his volvement a street fight, which he stole a hat and $1 om another participant.

A subsequent probatn vlatn put him back jail, and a vlent altertn wh another mate land him solary there, Gay said, thgs snowballed. ”The Anthony Gay Isolated Confement Rtrictn Act would lim such extreme nfement for any dividual to no more than 10 nsecutive days any 180-day perd, and pel the Illois partment of rrectns to produce quarterly reports showg the e of the practice. Now out, Anthony Gay told CBS 2 Polil Invtigator Dana Kozlov why he is fightg for a law to keep others om endurg the same fate.

THE ANTHONY GAY LAW

Gay read part of a letter he wrote: "Dear Reverend Mariah: I me to prison wh a seven-year sentence. "When I wrote the letters, and she wrote me back – her and a few other people – ma me feel alive, " Gay said.

GAY V. STATE OF ILLOIS

A prison fight land him that dark, small cell – and Gay said he began actg out. "It wasn't somethg that I wanted to do, but beme a survival mechanism for me, " Gay said, "bee psychologilly, I uldn't stand – so the physil pa would alleviate the psychologil pa. It beme a vic cycle – until 2018, when Gay got out and began fightg for a law pendg Sprgfield that would lim a prisoner's time solary to 10 days every six months.

Peters is one of the sponsors of the bill, HB 3564, which would create the Isolated Confement Rtrictn Act – also lled the Anthony Gay Law. Like Gay, Peters lls solary nfement humane, and believ this is a solutn – if he n get the 30 state Senate vot need to pass .

Chigo, IL - Sce 2018, Anthony Gay has bee a symbol of the stggle agast wrongful nvictns Illois. This year, Rock Island police brought Gay to feral urt on a bog weapon charge.

ILLOIS’ ANTHONY GAY ISOLATED CONFEMENT REFORM BILL PASS HOE

Gay explaed, “The police robbed me and jumped on me, and I reported what the police did to me. Frank Chapman of the Chigo Alliance Agast Racist and Polil Reprsn, who attend a pre-trial hearg for Gay on May 9 Peoria, said, “I’ve never heard of somebody reprentg themselv and gettg a hung jury a feral trial.

Chapman addrsed one other velopment the Anthony Gay story that helps to expla why the feds are g down on him. Once aga behd bars he lls “prsive” for yet another crime he says he did not m, activist Anthony Gay is now a North Carola feral prison awag a mental health evaluatn before his September 20 sentencg.

Currently isolatn, Gay’s rceratn began 1994 when he got to a fight wh a teenager who acced him of stealg his hat and $1, an allegatn he ni.

TEXAS JUDGE WHO DON’T WANT TO PERFORM GAY MARRIAGE CEREMONI HOP WEB SIGNER’S SUPREME COURT SE HELPS HER FIGHT

That seven years turned to 23, of which Gay spent 22 solary nfement several Illois prisons. He was released om prison 2019 and had been engaged social jtice issu, such as promotg his Illois SB 3564 Anthony Gay Isolated Confement Rtrictn Act which passed the Hoe but is stuck the Senate.

LGBTQ GROUP SU FLORIDA GOV. RON DESANTIS OVER NTROVERSIAL 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW

In May, 2020, Gay said he was asslted by Rock Island police, and when he reported the cint, he said they retaliated and filed “tmped up” charg agast him. “They said I had a firearm and that they found ammunn my hotel room, ” Gay said.

Gay reprented himself durg his April 18-22, 2022, trial and got a hung jury. On May 9, 2022, Gay was hled to urt once aga for a hearg, and on May 16 he began his send trial date. He was found guilty on May 19, 2022, by an all-whe jury and was sent to the Peoria County Jail before Judge Jam Shadid who nied the motn to move Gay to electronic monorg.

Gay was sent to the Peoria County Jail where he says he was placed a rtrat chair for 30 hours. “I was so distrght that I stabbed a pencil through my arm, and they put me on suici watch, ” Gay said om his feral prison cell. Gay, who is a father of a two-year-old, said he needs a fundraiser to hire feral attorney Page Pate om Geia to reprent him on an appeal.

WAS THIS LAW DEAN FIRED BEE HE'S GAY? HIS SUPPORTERS WANT ANSWERS

A Free Anthony Gay Dismantle Solary Confement acunt has been tablished wh a goal of raisg $25, 000 anized by Dod McColgan. Frank Chapman, who heads the Chigo Alliance Agast Racist and Polil Reprsn, said he is supportg Gay 100 percent. Gav Newsom and sla gay rights lear Harvey the ne-hour Temecula Valley Unified meetg, which ran past midnight, some parents spoke support of the nservative majory on the school board and s buckg of state standards for clive and diverse pated Newsom — who plans to send textbooks that reference Milk to Temecula stunts fiance of the board — as a “tyrant” who “forc his le” upon a district he knows nothg about.