To mark the 20th anniversary of the photo exhibit Human Rights 95: Atrocities of the Drug War (www.h495.org), showing families of non-violent drug offenders incarcerated as a result of the U.S. War on Drugs, its organizers Mikki Norris and Chris Conrad have announced plans to update and rerelease in ebook form Shattered Lives: Portraits from America’s Drug War, later this year.
Human Rights 95: Atrocities of the Drug War premiered on June 24, 1995 at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center, in conjunction with the 50th anniversary celebration of the founding of the United Nations. Comprised of photos and stories of some 100 Americans serving sentences of anywhere from five years to life for non-violent drug offenses, the goal was to put a human face on the Drug War, to show the families that had been torn apart, the marriages that had been severed, and the children orphaned as a result of the country’s draconian drug laws. The exhibit pointed out how these policies and their consequences violate international human rights law.
The HR 95 exhibit, created by hemp activists Norris and Conrad with the late Virginia Resner, then California coordinator for Families Against Mandatory Minimums (www.famm.org), was taken on the road and subsequently shown at locations around the U.S. and various countries in Europe. They formed Human Rights and the Drug War and created 30 portable displays for groups across the country, who set them up at conferences, events, libraries, universities, county fairs and other public places. In 1998, they turned the materials into the award winning book, Shattered Lives: Portraits from America’s Drug War.
Both the exhibit and book were filled with stories of low-level offenders serving long sentences due to unjust conspiracy charges, where no money, drugs, or physical evidence was needed to convict them, and mandatory minimums that treat anyone as if they were kingpins. Among those people featured were Nicole Richardson, then serving 10 years for simply giving out her then-boyfriend’s phone number to someone looking to get some LSD. Her boyfriend served a much shorter sentence because he had information to trade. Real estate agent Loren Pogue was sentenced to 22 years after brokering the sale of a property in Costa Rica where, unrelated to him, a drug deal was expected to take place, but never did. Amy Pofahl, featured on the book cover, was serving a 24-year sentence after agreeing to transfer funds on behalf of her estranged husband—money he had obtained through trafficking MDMA. Arrested in Germany, he served just four years. She received clemency from President Bill Clinton in 2000 after serving nearly 10 years in prison.
While Richardson, Pogue, and Pofahl (now Povah) have all since been released, many others have not. Danielle Metz, also featured on the book cover, continues to serve the multiple life sentences imposed on her for drug-related crimes committed by her husband. Prosecutors originally offered her leniency — on the condition that she testify against her husband with information that she did not have. Like many African-Americans, Metz is a victim of disproportionate sentencing so typical of the racist nature of the Drug War.
Norris and Conrad plan to update and add some new stories and photos in Shattered Lives with the help of Amy Povah and her project, CandoClemency (candoclemency.com). They will also add stories from the Life for Pot project (lifeforpot.com). It will be available in ebook form, including as an Apple iBook, later this year.
To learn more about the ebook release of Shattered Lives: Portraits from America’s Drug War or to set up an interview with Norris and/or Conrad, please contact Norris at [email protected] or 510-275-9311.
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Mikki Norris, 510-275-9311 [email protected]
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CandoClemency
Life for Pot Release Non-Violent drug offenders