By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on March 3, 2022
Editorial Opinion
In late January, Tuscaloosa, Alabama-based "dirty tricks" political operative and confessed federal lawbreaker Joe Perkins made a desperate attempt to silence my media voice. Following my December 26, 2021 publication of an article titled "Alabama Power Co. Paid $2.5 Million to Joe Perkins, 'Without Invoicing'," and my January 18, 2022 publication of an article titled "Joe Perkins-Alabama Power Company Contracts Raise Red Flags," Perkins' Birmingham-based attorney contacted the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and falsely claimed that my exclusive publication of his two secret contracts with Alabama Power Company somehow violated the law.
Despite language in the Perkins-Alabama Power contracts that is designed to cloak them in secrecy, they are public records maintained by a publicly-traded company. Various federal laws mandate that these contracts are available for inspection and review by members of the public.
Following BOP protocol, prison officials at FCI LaTuna removed me from the general inmate population in the "out-custody" prison camp and placed me in the prison's maximum security Special Housing Unit (SHU). Inmates refer to the SHU as the "Hole."
I was placed on administrative detention status as I entered the SHU on January 20, 2022, pending the outcome of an internal investigation by LaTuna's Special Investigations Services (SIS). The SHU is the worst experience for any inmate non-violent first-time offender in the federal prison system, especially for one who is actually innocent of the criminal charges against him/her.
LaTuna's SIS investigation lasted five weeks. It was handled in a very professional manner and was concluded with no disciplinary charges being filed against me.
Throughout my incarceration in the SHU, I was treated with the utmost respect by staff members and inmates alike.
On Friday, February 25, 2022, I was released from the SHU and returned to the prison camp. I received a warm and generous reception from my fellow inmates upon my return.
If there is a model federal prison in the BOP system, it is certainly located at FCI LaTuna. From top to bottom, this institution commands my respect.
Inmates Are Authorized and Encouraged to Write "Manuscripts" While in Federal Prisons
When Joe Perkins filed his malicious complaint against me with LaTuna officials, he apparently did not know that BOP regulations authorize and encourage me to write articles on subjects of my choosing. I may publish these articles under my own byline without staff approval.
Since entering the BOP system on August 28, 2019, I have strictly adhered to the regulations in this regard. Whenever I had questions about the regulations, I asked for clarification in writing.
My online media platforms have served as a convenient conduit for distributing my news articles and editorials on a continuous basis since 2013. Many of my articles have received critical acclaim by journalist and academic researchers in the United States and abroad. My readership is worldwide.
To date, I have written and published over 700 copyrighted articles.
All Efforts Aimed at Shutting Down My Online Media Platforms Have Been Unsuccessful.
During the past nine years, a long line of Alabama-based public officials and special interest groups have tried to silence my media voice. This group includes former Chief U.S. District Judge Mark E. Fuller (Montgomery), former Alabama governor Robert Bentley, Alabama Power Company, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, new-wave COINTELPRO operatives in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Birmingham, U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, a couple of sitting federal judges in Alabama, several highly compromised representatives of Alabama's mainstream news media, Joe Perkins and his minions, and some other would-be "influencers."
None of these individuals and groups has succeeded in silencing my voice or suppressing the truth regarding the matters reported in my exclusive investigative articles on public corruption and the return of white supremacy in Alabama's governmental institutions. My track record of forcing the resignations of high-level crooked public officials in Alabama since 1974 is second to none.
Additionally, as you read this article today, the 19-judge/justices Alabama appellate court system is all-white in a state that has a 26% black voting age population. This court system has been all-white since January of 2001. Unbelievably, I am the only media voice in Alabama that is openly challenging the racial apartheid on Alabama's appellate courts. I am currently litigating this sensitive racial issue in the Alabama Supreme Court in a case where Joe Perkins is defending the status quo with respect to the state's appellate court system.
Perkins' Former CEO Warned the Public About Perkins' Abuse of the Legal Process, Extortion, and RICO Activities
I discovered Joe Perkins' personal animosity towards me in handwritten notes he made in October 2017. I published Perkins' notes on September 19, 2021 in an article titled, "Joe Perkins' Handwritten 'Dirty Tricks' Notes Exposed." These notes speak for themselves. Under any objective analysis, Perkins' handwritten notes reveal a vicious man who will do any and everything to destroy his perceived enemies.
Jeff Pitts, Perkins' former CEO at Matrix, LLC until last year, told a Florida court in September of 2021 that Perkins is an extortionist who engages in an ongoing pattern of racketeering and who maliciously abuses the legal process. Pitts has worked with Perkins for 20 years and knows all of his dirty secrets.
Despite Perkins' checkered past, Alabama Power Company has publicly acknowledged that Perkins has provided secret services to the company for many years. He is Alabama Power's proverbial "Pitbull."
It is unknown whether Alabama Power can cut ties with Perkins without this "Pitbull" turning against the company. Based upon what I know at this juncture and what I will be reporting in a series of exclusive investigative articles in the coming weeks, I do not think Alabama Power can afford to sever its working relationship with Joe Perkins without exposing the Southern Company, Georgia Power, and itself to serious legal and regulatory jeopardy.
These public utility companies have paid millions of dollars to Perkins and his companies for many years. In return for this money, Perkins was able to silence state and federal regulators, muzzle public officials, compromise the leadership ranks of various civil rights and educational groups, weaken the effectiveness of various environmental rights organizations, and neuter news reporters, all for the benefit for these air polluting giants. In the process, these companies have gouged ratepayers in an obscene way, over and over again.
Perkins' most recent effort to silence me failed, miserably. Fortunately for me, the BOP officials at FCI LaTuna were not in Perkins' back pocket. Their professionalism enabled them to see through Perkins' malicious effort to manipulate and abuse the BOP's disciplinary process for his personal benefit.
Epilogue
It remains to be seen how long Senator Richard Shelby and his cronies in Alabama can keep federal law enforcement officials in the state from investigating Perkins' nefarious financial activities and clandestine political operations on behalf of Alabama Power. Right now, it appears that Joe Perkins is a desperate man.
History shows us that Joe Perkins will confess to breaking federal laws when his back is up against a wall. He make such a confession in 1992 to the Federal Election Commission after federal law enforcement authorities discovered that Perkins orchestrated a scheme to funnel illegal campaign contributions to the 1985 Congressional campaign of his close friend and convicted felon, Roy Johnson. Perkins escaped a criminal prosecution only because the statute of limitations had run out on his illegal campaign financing scheme.
Alabama Power, the Southern Company, and Georgia Power Company apparently find Joe Perkins' background as a confessed federal lawbreaker very attractive. For several months, I have followed the flow of Alabama Power's money into and out of Joe Perkins' companies. The public will be stunned to find out who really benefitted from this money, and why.
Stay tuned!
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