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Having served 11 YEARS of an 18 year sentence IN FEDERAL PRISON for selling $69 real estate video tapes in the US, Chantal has finally been granted her Treaty Transfer and has been repatriated to the United Kingdom

First-time, non-violent offender and British citizen, Chantal McCorkle, had been serving this sentence for years in the US, far from home. She was not eligible for a razor wire-free, less-secure prison camp because she is not an American citizen. On the contrary, Chantal's ex-husband and co-defendant, resides near his family in an open prison camp. He is an American citizen and will be released before Chantal. Same charges. Same sentence?

Now Chantal is closer to her family, and has been desgnated to finish her sentence in HMP Send.

Chantal McCorkleHi Friends,

 

Just a little update on Chantal. She will be moving to SEND next Friday. October 3Chantal McCorkle0th. The address below is going to be her address.  You can write her at thisdress Via Snail mail, after October 30th.

 the team

Just FYI, no one really knows how long she will be at SEND. Her next stop w

February 1, 2010 

Hi Friends,

Just a little update on Chantal. She has moved to EAST SUTTON PARK. The address below is going to be her address. You can write her at this address Via Snail mail, and or email her via emailaprisoner.com.

Her next stop will be freedom!!!  

Chantal McCorkle A2760AG 

HMP/YOI East Sutton Park

Sutton Valence
Maidstone
Kent
ME17 3DF
UK

Tel: 01622 845000

Fax: 01622 845001



Very warmest regards,

The Free Chantal Team

 

Friday, October 23, 2009

 

Hi Friends,

Just a little update on Chantal. She will be moving to SEND next Friday. October 30th. The address below is going to be her address. You can write her at this address Via Snail mail, after October 30th.

Just FYI, no one really knows how long she will be at SEND. Her next stop will be freedom!!! 

 

Chantal McCorkle A2760AG 
HMP SEND
Ripley Road
Woking
Surrey
GU23 7LJ
UK

Very warmest regards,

The Free Chantal Team

 

September 12, 2009
Dear All,
We are delighted to tell you that Chantal was returned to the UK last week and is now in Holloway prison, London. Here is the news as reported today by  BBC. 
Her address is noted above.

As far as we know, she will remain in Holloway until being moved to a more open prison (perhaps in the near future). We'll post the address on the free chantal web site I'm sure.

I'm sure that Chantal would like to thank everyone who has supported her over the last months and years. I will pass on people's email addresses to her, once she has a computer herself, as I dare say she will wish to write personally.

Very best wishes,

The Free Chantal Team.

 

 

July 6, 2009

Dreams come true

Dear Friend,

I am so excited to be sharing this news with you. Finally after nearly 11 years in a USA prison I have been approved to transfer to a prison in England so I can serve the remainder of my sentence close to my family.

I still feel like I am in a dream, but this dream is beautiful and not the nightmare that I have awakened to every morning prior to this transfer approval. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel shining so brightly. As you can imagine my family is extremely happy and many tears of joy have been shed.

There are still a few steps that need to be taken before I arrive back in the UK. I am currently awaiting a court date so that I can sign the transfer papers and I expect that to be within the next few weeks.

I will then be transported by bus to the Oklahoma transfer center awaiting a prison flight to the Federal Prison in New York. I expect to be in New York a couple of weeks awaiting the UK prison officials arrival to transport me back to the UK.

Currently, I do not know what prison I will be transferred to in the UK or what date that actually will happen, but the Free Chantal team will send an email with all the newest information, when available.

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your positive thoughts, love, and prayers. I could not have made it this far without your support.

At this time my family is getting ready for my arrival. I am allowed my own clothes, CD's, and DVD's in the UK prison. It's so exciting to be able to wear my own clothes again in exchange for the khaki prison uniform I have had to wear all these years. I feel I am gaining back a part of who I was before this experience.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Fondly, Chantal

May 29, 2009

Treaty Transfer Approved

Dear Friend,

I have the most exciting news I want to share with you and an experience that allowed me to feel what I would call the happiest day of my life.

The US Department of Justice has approved my application allowing me to transfer to a prison in the United Kingdom to serve my sentence close to my family.

When I was told this wonderful news by my attorney's words escaped me, but the tears of complete happiness came forth abundantly.

I am still waking up each morning and pinching myself to make sure I am not dreaming. The reality is that I will soon be seeing my loved one's again after so many years of separation and will be meeting all of my new nieces and nephews, which thrills me.

There are still a few steps that must be taken prior to my transfer.
One is to go before a magistrate Judge to sign my transfer papers. I am expecting to be back in the UK within a couple of months.

People are asking me, when am I leaving ? How long will the process take ? I don't know the answers and I am not worrying myself searching for the answers, because I know it will happen and for the first time in 11 years I am feeling inner peace.

I am taking the advice of a very dear friend. She told me to draw on every inch and moment of happiness into my being and let it wash away the years of anguish. I am and it feels so good.

I want to thank the official's at the Department of Justice for approving my transfer, the attorney's in the USA and UK who believed in me enough to help me from the goodness of their hearts, the UK government official's who have supported my return to the UK and to all of my family and friends who have fought for this day and continued to pray for my safe return. I could not feel this way without each and every one of you.

Thank you, Chantal

December 7, 2008

The holiday season is in full swing around the world and Chantal is busy working, training, and decking the halls of Carswell Federal Prison in Ft. Worth, Texas, USA. As we've come to learn, Chantal is determined to bloom where she is planted, turn lemons into lemonade, and drink from a cup that is half full!

The much anticipated news regarding her potential presidential pardon, which would allow Chantal to return to her home country of England, came on October 30. Chantal's DC-based attorney received a letter from the US Department of Justice Pardon Attorney's office, penned August 27. Here is an excerpt from the correspondence:

The application for commutation of sentence of your client, Chantal McCorkle, was carefully considered in this Department and the White House, and the decision was reached that favorable action is not warranted. Her application was therefore denied on August 28, 2008.

This was a very difficult letter to receive, as one can imagine. Nonetheless, she may try again next year in August when the opportunity is available. In the meantime, our prayers, hopes, and energies are focused on Chantal's Treaty Transfer application, filed this summer, two years after her previous application was denied due to the "seriousness of the offense." It has been more than four months since the current application was filed. We learned of her previous denial in less time.

This fall, Chantal severed a significant tie with her ex-husband, William McCorkle, and officially became Ms. Chantal Watts. Although the US government does not recognize the name change, Chantal will return home to England with her maiden name and is quite happy about this!

Lastly, thanks to family and other generous supporters, Chantal was able to become a student this year and complete two very important courses that have secured her ability to support herself when she is no longer incarcerated. She is now a fully certified Personal Trainer and Nutrition Specialist. This month, Chantal will tackle a Certified Endurance Specialist course and undoubtedly pass this exam with flying colors, as she did the previous two exams. Way to Go, Chantal!

Please feel free to write to Chantal and keep the encouragement flowing. Cards and letters brighten her day like nothing else can.

Chantal and the entire Free Chantal network would like to thank you for visiting her site and for the amazing encouragement so many provide. May your holiday season overflow with peace, love, and happiness.

Cheers!
The Free Chantal Team


December 17, 2008 - Note from Chantal

Hello, today in the mail I received my certificate pronouncing me as a Certified Advanced Sports Nutrition Specialist. :-) I was so happy and passed with 92%! I could not believe my score and was shocked as I am not book smart and had to study hard, but it was well worth it.

I am hoping to start the next course as soon as it arrives. It is to become a Certified Endurance Specialist. It will entail knowledge in the aerobic and endurance fields of exercise.

Thanks for all of your support, C x x

It's not too late to add your voice. Sign the petition!

Criminal or Victim?

Sentenced to a mandatory 24 years imprisonment in 1999 for an Infomercial Fraud, Chantal McCorkle remains in jail to this day. Our consciences are clear when we say "this is NOT Justice". But, you decide for yourself. Was she failed by a legal system which missed the truth at every turn or guilty as charged? The fact remains that Chantal is serving a sentence that a murderer may not face.

Whatever you conclude, you must agree: the punishment does not fit the crime!

Decide for yourself if Chantal deserves to spend even one more day in prison!

Read her appeal brief and the letter from Sir Menzies Campbell asking President Bush to pardon Chantal in the Legal section. Read Cosmopolitan articles and BBC News transcripts in Media. Read Chantal's story "In Her Own Words"...

Read more about this case and you, too, will be outraged that American justice can be so horrifically unjust.

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Murderers Get Less Time

"Murderers get less time. Someone could bring in three freighters of marijuana and get less time. The judge didn't want to hear it, and this is the result." - Mark Horwitz, Chantal's Defence Attorney in the US

We must speak out! A democracy must protest injustice. Please get involved.

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