BY FRANK FORRESTAL

CHICAGO - Supporters of imprisoned union and political activist Mark Curtis have been reaching out and winning new support here over the last few weeks.

Curtis was beaten by Des Moines police and framed up in 1988 while participating in a public campaign to defend 17 co-workers from Mexico and El Salvador who were seized in an immigration raid on the meatpacking plant where he worked.

Curtis won parole from Iowa authorities last November, but remains in the Iowa State Penitentiary waiting to be accepted for release to Illinois, where his wife, Kate Kaku, lives. His application is currently being processed for the second time by the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Kate Kaku, defense committee coordinator John Studer, and committee activist Adam Gray attended a public Midwest regional hearing April 20 on "Control Units, Prisoners, and Political Prisoners," sponsored by a number of prisoners' rights groups in the Chicago area.

Studer spoke about Curtis and conditions at the Iowa State Penitentiary at a workshop on political prisoners. Numerous participants in the gathering were already supporters of Curtis's fight. Delbert Tibbs, a former death row prisoner in Florida who won his freedom after an international campaign, told Kaku and Studer he had followed Curtis's case for a number of years. Quentin Young, a prominent peace and justice activist in Chicago, said he sent a letter to Iowa parole authorities on Curtis's behalf last fall.

Jo Ann Patterson, the mother of Aaron Patterson, who is currently on death row in Illinois on frame-up charges, expressed her solidarity with Curtis and asked to meet with supporters to discuss the case further. Tony Valentín, son of Carmen Valentín, who has been imprisoned for 16 years for her efforts to win independence for Puerto Rico, also extended his support.

Curtis's defense committee is asking supporters to write to him and express their solidarity with his fight to be released. Letters can be sent to Mark Curtis, #805338, Iowa State Penitentiary, Box 316, Fort Madison, IA 52627.  
 
 
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