Supporters anxious about jailed Mom and Dad

By Donna Lamb

Silva and Joseph Swinton were a Queens Village couple in their early 30s who had a total lack of belief in the medical establishment and led a vegetarian life style. Silva, after finding mainstream medicine had little to offer her when she had faced some physical concerns early in life, had turned to vegetarianism. It fixed her right up. Later when she met Joseph, she introduced him to this way of life as well.

Therefore, when they had their first child, a daughter they named Ice, Silva gave birth to her at home, did not seek pediatric care, and fed her a vegetarian diet. At four months, after Ice became "mucousy," as the mother described it, on commercial formula, they began making their own soy formula with the guidance of a homeopathic practitioner. They also fed the infant every other food, except meat, normally given a baby. The only thing was, though the parents didn't know it, the diet was providing Ice with calcium, but her body wasn't absorbing it.

On November 6^th, 2001, due to an anonymous phone call alleging that there was a baby being thrown around and beaten, EMS workers came to the Swintons' home. They examined Ice and found nothing wrong with her, though they noted that she was a little small. But when the Swintons let them know that she had been born prematurely - weighing only three pounds at birth - and that they were vegetarian, the EMS workers were satisfied that everything was OK.

Also responding to an anonymous phone call, on Nov. 7^th an ACS social worker, Kelly Harris, came to see the baby. After talking with the parents and playing with Ice, Harris said she thought everything was fine. She left Ice in the Swintons' care.

Though they expected to hear back from Harris about resolving the case, the Swintons heard nothing. Therefore, on Friday, Nov. 16^th, Mrs. Swinton called her. Harris said she was submitting paper work to have Ice removed from the home on Monday, but if before that they could get her to a doctor who could attest to the soundness of Ice's health, she would dismiss the case.

Silva scheduled an appointment for the next day, but within an hour of having spoken with her on the phone, Harris showed up with two police officers and her supervisor. The baby was taken to the hospital accompanied by the parents.

The good news is, Ice, who will turn three this month, is doing quite well and developing nicely. So is her little brother, Ini, born after their parents' arrests. However, criminal charges were brought against the Swintons. On April 4^th of this year they were both convicted of first-degree assault on their daughter for failing to feed her properly and to seek medical attention for her.

On May 19^th State Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter sentenced Silva Swinton to six years and Joseph Swinton to five, the minimum sentence allowable for the charges against them. Buchter said he gave Mrs. Swinton the extra year because she, unlike her husband who has a below-average IQ, had attended college. And Buchter himself insisted that while "their conduct was certainly bizarre, reprehensible and extremely narcissistic, I believe they were not consciously malevolent. Oddly enough, they may have deluded themselves into believing that they were doing something positive."

This is why the couple's spiritual advisor, Rev. Herbert Daughtry, and other Swinton supporters believe that the punishment was excessive and that if there hadn't been bias against anyone in the Black community having an alternative lifestyle, the authorities could have simply taken the children away temporarily and given the couple counseling in proper nutrition. "There was never any charge that they deliberately set out to harm their children," stated Daughtry, who is Pastor of the House of the Lord Church and a long-time activist. "There was never any abuse - no marks, bruises or anything. The only charge was that they neglected to obtain conventional ways of dealing with the child's malady. People can agree or disagree about the way they went about it, but the Swintons were striving to give the baby the best that they knew to give her. But because of the misrepresentation of the case, word went out across the world that they had deliberately starved their daughter. I talk to people today about the case and they still think the child died!"

The terrible thing is, the "prison code" being what it is, this misinformation could be tantamount to a death sentence for the Swintons. As Daughtry explained, "In the prison code you can kill 10 people and go to jail and be a hero. But if you go in for allegedly doing something to a baby or harming a child you're in deep trouble. You're going to be targeted for all kinds of assaults. And that's precisely what's happening to them."

While being detained at Rikers Island before the trial, though he was in protective custody (PC), there was an incident in which Joseph Swinton was beaten. Then on May 29^th, after he was sentenced, he was viciously slashed. Tom Antenen, spokesman for the city Department of Correction, said that Swinton needed 51 stitches on the right side of his face and 16 on the back of his neck. Another inmate in PC is suspected in the assault.

Then, on June 24^th, Silva Swinton, also in PC, was at Rikers in order to appear at a hearing in Queens Family Court. She had a cold and was given medication by the infirmary. However, because she wasn't used to taking synthetic drugs, she became nauseated and dizzy. She fainted, suffering face lacerations, bruises and a broken tooth. Swinton advocates say Silva doesn't remember what happened to her before she lost consciousness.

"We're not saying that she was beaten," stated Daughtry, "but we want to know who was with her and what is their testimony about what happened?"

Though Mrs. Swinton is back at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility and her husband is now incarcerated at Bare Hill, their supporters are no less apprehensive. "They're in protective custody, but they don't seem to be being protected," Daughtry commented. "No matter where you come down on their guilt or innocence, the point is, they should at least be given protection. They don't have any criminal background, no criminal swagger or body language. In prison they're like people who can't swim in a sea with sharks, and they're going to be devoured. If we don't do something, their lives may be in jeopardy."

There are several steps that activists are taking to try to guard the Swintons and others in similar situations, for this is only one of the many stories of inmates supposedly in protective custody getting hurt.

First, Council Members Yvette Clarke and Charles Barron will hold a City Council hearing on what is occurring with people in PC to find out how other inmates get access to them. When they're being transported, for instance, are they put into a van with the general population or transported separately?

Second, Queens Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubrey, Chairman of the Assembly Standing Committee on Correction is going to speak with the State Commissioner on Correction and other investigative agencies as to why this is happening to the Swintons and what can be done to protect them.

And third, Swinton supporters will make an appeal to New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer for an investigation and to Gov. Pataki for a pardon.

"We're moving," stated Daughtry. "Hopefully we can get them released, but if not, we hope to at least protect them so they will live long enough to get out, reunite and get their lives together."

To find out how you can help, contact Rev. Herbert Daughtry at the House of the Lord Church at (718) 596-1991.