A Million Stories

[ a million stories ]

Hard Time

Michael Ta'Bon spent the entire month of February sitting in an outdoor prison cell he fashioned himself along West Hunting Park Avenue. The 36-year-old ex-con and multiple felon — who's racked up convictions mostly for robbery, assault and firearms violations — hopes his stunt will send a message to kids, dissuading them from the path he once chose.

His self-imposed public confinement was supposed to end, along with the month of February, on Monday. But on a drizzling, miserable Feb. 28 around 7 p.m., he told CP that he now planned to stay in "prison" for an extra five days — to serve a "parole violation," he explained, which he had imposed on himself.

The reason? A few weeks ago, Ta'Bon briefly escaped from his homemade jail to attend Mayor Michael Nutter's speech to the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce — an event to which he was not invited — with a cadre of fellow ex-cons. The group entered the room and, despite being asked to leave, attempted to stage a "silent protest" of what they see as insufficient action on the part of the mayor's administration to help ex-cons back into society.

"Not only did you not have permission to leave your cell, but you were not invited to this 'invitation only' affair, " he reprimanded himself in writing. He also self-imposed parole violations for participating in a march against juvenile prisons and another march protesting questions about felony status on job applications.

The lesson for the kids: "even when you think there's a light at the end, they can still lock you back up. "

Ta'Bon's "prison" stint is now set to end Sat., March 5, at 3 p.m.

—Matt Stroud

Return to Sender

According to a group of riled-up Democratic committee people, getting a letter to Congressman Bob Brady can be hard — especially if he doesn't like what it has to say. Gloria Gilman, a Center City lawyer, sent him a dispatch on Jan. 26, signed by her and 13 other Democratic leaders, demanding that the Democratic City Committee, which Brady heads, meet with them to discuss how the party has "failed to honor the will of the voters. "

The letter was returned, with the word "Refused" scrawled by hand across it. Gilman sent City Paper a photograph.

Even without opening it, Brady might have had a sneaking suspicion about what criticisms the letter contained. Back in August 2010, Gilman sent a similar dispatch to Brady — this time signed by more than 40 Democratic committee people and activists — that accused party leaders of acting "in bad faith" to unseat committee person Tracey Gordon, who was elected to the 40th Ward in Southwest Philly during May's primary but then immediately kicked out by the ward leader ["When Elections Don't Matter," News, Holly Otterbein, July 9, 2010]. By the Democratic City Committee's own admission, they didn't let her in, in part, because she wanted to shake up the party.

"If ward leaders remove all committee people who are in dissent, the voices of many people in the minority will be forever silenced," Gilman wrote then. Whether that letter was opened, she doesn't know. Brady never got back to her — or, as of press time, CP.

—Holly Otterbein

CORRECTION: Last week, CP incorrectly stated that the Newbold Neighbors was not a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, citing an outdated reference on the group's website. In fact, the group is a nonprofit. We regret the error.