Update on Animal Liberation prisoner Kevin Olliff

Update from Kevin Olliff, animal liberation prisoner, jailed for petty theft since Feb 2008.

A short update on my case. Because I am eligible to bail out of this jail on October 23 (The day my Los Angeles County prison sentence ends) the District Attorney here today sought, and succeeded in obtaining, a bail increase. My bail (in Santa Barbara County), for allegedly stealing a few hundred dollars worth of stuff from a bookstore, was originally set at $10,000- the standard for one count "commercial burglary". Today, it was raised to no less than $500,000- yes, as in half a million dollars. In argument in court, my alleged crime- shoplifting- was never mentioned; instead, the day was spent detailing accounts of my protected expressive and associative activities- also known apparently as "terrorizing families"- and other activity totally unrelated to myself, in the campaign against (animal cruelty at) Huntington Life Sciences.

The guy sitting next to me on the bus- in for dealing drugs and intimidating a witness in a gang-related crime, with a gang-enhancement and four "prison-prior" enhancements making his minimum sentence 18 years, had the same bail! But of course, the judge was sure to note that his decision was not based on my animal rights activism- no surely it must have been based on- crime-of-all-crimes, the thumb drive I supposedly stole.

Further evidence that my treatment here is totally unrelated to animal rights activism- the District Attorney has offered to let me out now with credit for time served if I agree to sign a 5-year waiver of my first amendment rights, refraining from all protest activity and getting specific permission from the state to associate with any known "anarchist" or "activist".

Funny, I thought this was a theft case....

Hoping to see the light of day in the next year:
Kevin Olliff