Rev Matt Hale(Civil Case).. Declaration of Amy Kelley

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO

Civil Action No. 14-cv-00245-MSK-MJW

REVEREND MATT HALE,

Plaintiff,

v.

FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS,

Defendant.

DECLARATION OF AMY KELLEY

I, Amy Kelley, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, and based upon my personal knowledge and information made known to me from official records reasonably relied upon by me in the course of my employment, hereby make the following declaration relating to the above-entitled matter:

1. I am employed by the United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons (“Bureau”). I am a Lieutenant detailed to the Special Investigative Services Department (“SIS”) of the Federal Correctional Complex (“FCC”) in Florence, Colorado. I have been a Lieutenant at ADX Florence since October 2016 and I have worked in the Bureau in positions of increasing responsibility since September 2012. Before becoming a Lieutenant, I was employed as a Technician in the SIS Department.

2. FCC Florence consists of a minimum-security Federal Prison Camp (“FPC”), a medium-security Federal Correctional Institution (“FCI”), the United States Penitentiary (“USP”), and the United States Penitentiary-Administrative Maximum (“ADX”).

 

3. As Lieutenant, I assist with operations of the SIS Department at ADX Florence. This includes investigations conducted into inmate conduct, as well as monitoring and investigating Security Threat Groups (“STGs”). As part of my official duties as Lieutenant, I have access to documents maintained by the SIS Department during the ordinary course of business. These documents include, but are not limited to, documents regarding the restriction of inmate communication privileges and the grounds therefor; information maintained in the SENTRY1 database, inmate central files, and TruAccess system; and rejections of incoming or outgoing mail or publications sent to ADX inmates.

4. I am familiar with Plaintiff, federal inmate Matthew Hale, Register Number 15177-424. He is currently housed at ADX Florence.
 

5. I am aware that Plaintiff alleges the Bureau improperly rejected an outgoing “article” he had written to be disseminated to his followers. See Doc. 208 at 2. He claims it was “for distribution to those who believe in my innocence, explaining why I want to be free, the lack of any evidence that I committed a crime, and our ongoing efforts to secure the commutation of my imprisonment.” Id. I submit this declaration in order to clarify the Bureau’s reasons for rejecting the outgoing letter, as well as to provide the Court a fuller context of what Hale’s letter actually said.

6. Inmate Hale or any federal inmate can generally write to outside correspondents about his innocence. He can write about how he wants to be free, how his underlying conviction 1 SENTRY is the Bureau’s national database that tracks various data regarding an inmate’s confinement, including but not limited to the inmate’s institutional history, sentencing information, program participation and completion, administrative remedies, and discipline history was baseless, or why his supporters should lobby for his release. But to be clear, Hale’s mass letter to his followers did not stop there. See id. at 11-33. 

7. If Hale stopped his mass communication after its first ten pages, the Bureau would not have rejected it. See id. at 11-20. Those pages outline his contention that he is innocent, the alleged government plot to incarcerate or silence him, and his yearning to be home with his mother and to start a family. Id. There is nothing in those pages to jeopardize security of the institution, or that of staff, inmates, or the public.

8. But then Hale pivots. See id. at 21. He hails his own written contributions to the white supremacy movement as “two of the greatest books for the future of our White people that have ever been written.” Id. This statement is just a transition into Hale’s true purpose for this mass letter. He follows, “[T]he fact remains that it is the free world where I can help our people the most. Merely writing books, I fear, is not going to save our White Race. Rather, the right direction, the right organization, and the right hands-on, dynamic leadership is what we need if our kind is to survive in this world.” Id. at 21-22 (emphasis added). As I have declared in this lawsuit previously, the Bureau generally and the SIS Department in particular become gravely concerned when the leader or former leader of any STG—which, again, the Bureau considers the Creativity Movement or Church of the Creator to be—asserts leadership, direction, or control of other members or associates of the STG. Given that Hale’s mass release titled “Why Do I Want to be Free?” is a bald pitch to followers to appoint Hale as the resurgent leader of Creativity, the letter was rejected because it could have very easily jeopardized intuitional security or public safety.

9. The rest of the letter follows in that vein: Hale appeals to his followers to free him, to do so (apparently) by legal means, and yes, to engage in what would likely be First Amendment-protected conduct. See id. at 22-33. But the question was not just what Hale encouraged his followers to do, but the reason why he wanted them to do it: so that he could again lead this group that the Bureau considers a STG. See id. at 25-26 (“I urge you rather to fight for my freedom so that I can fight again for you. Let me put my charisma and drive to good use on your behalf for I know that if you do I will unite and push our movement forward in ways that have never been seen before” (emphasis in original)).

10. In line with his pitch for leadership, direction, and control of the STG, Hale attempts to draw upon his cache within Creativity to spur his followers to act: “The cause of my freedom must become the cause celebre of the entire Racial Loyalist movement. I’m counting on you to make that happen.” See id. at 31-32. The Bureau interprets such words not just as a cry for help from one inmate to his supporters, but as a demand and an exhortation from an STG leader to once again control the reins.

11. Furthermore, the letter concerned the SIS Department in how Hale used the language of victimhood. He writes, “I can’t [lead the movement] from this prison cell where I am stymied and harassed by my captors at every turn” and notes, “I have never been broken by our enemies and I never will be.” Id. at 22-23, 24. Historically, Hale has used terms of victimhood to encourage his followers to take matters into their own hands and to declare open war on federal employees or members of the judiciary when they are seen by Creators as agents of the Zionist Occupied Government (“ZOG”). His use of the above terms to describe staff, while not a standalone reason to reject the letter, was also concerning when read in tandem with the previously-mentioned sections regarding direction, leadership, and control of the STG.
 

12. It is equally problematic that inmate Hale did an end-run around the Bureau by filing this rejected letter with the Court. He effectively sent out, through legal mail, a letter that the Bureau in its discretion felt was unsafe to send. Such conduct in the future will not be tolerated and could lead to disciplinary charges against inmate Hale. After he filed this mass letter, his followers have posted it on various websites https://freematthale.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Document-208-filed-by-Matt.pdf and https://creativitymovementtoronto.blogspot.ca/2018/02/who-do-i-want-to-be-freeby-rev-matt-hale.html  If Hale takes issue with the Bureau’s rejections, he may grieve those decisions through the Administrative Remedy Program. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my information, knowledge, and belief. Executed this 28th day of February, 2018, in Florence, Colorado.

s/ Amy Kelley

Amy Kelley Lieutenant
FCC Florence
Federal Bureau of Prisons