Former Raza Unida gubernatorial candidate Ramsey Muñiz has been transferred from a federal corrections institute in Three Rivers six months after arriving at the facility. Muñiz, who ran for governor of Texas in 1974 and 1975 under the Raza Unida Party, was transferred from Three Rivers on Tuesday.
Mike Truman, spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, said Muñiz is being housed in the Federal Transfer Facility in Oklahoma City until he can be transferred to another facility.
Truman said he could not release where Muñiz would be transferred or when, citing security concerns. He also said he did not know why Muñiz was transferred.
Muñiz, 64, is serving a life sentence for three felony drug convictions.
The Three Rivers Federal Correctional Institute, 77 miles northwest of Corpus Christi, has been the closest the former Miller High School football star and local defense attorney has been to home since his 1994 conviction.
Under the banner of Raza Unida, a political party shaped and led by Hispanic activists seeking a political voice, Muñiz earned support from 6 percent the state's registered voters.
Muñiz's wife, Irma Muñiz, said she was surprised to learn of the transfer especially because senators, congressmen and civic groups have written letters to the Federal Bureau of Prisons on her husband's behalf.
Irma Muñiz said her husband had hoped to be housed at the Three Rivers facility because of its proximity to his family in South Texas.
Since he was transferred there in December from an institute in Colorado, Irma Muñiz has made frequent trips to visit her husband.
She likened Muñiz's transfer out of Three Rivers to the treatment of Hispanic Civil Rights figure Felix Longoria.
Longoria, a U.S. Army private killed on-duty in the Philippines in 1945, was refused a proper funeral in his hometown of Three Rivers because the only funeral home in town didn't allow Hispanics to use its funeral chapel.
Civil Rights hero Dr. Hector P. Garcia interceded and U.S. Sen. Lyndon Johnson arranged for Longoria to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Joe Ortiz, League of United Latin American Citizens district director and national and state civil rights director of the American GI Forum, helped organize letter-writing campaigns when Muñiz was in Colorado asking for his transfer to Texas.
Ortiz didn't know about the transfer out of Three Rivers but said both LULAC and the American GI Forum will work toward getting Muñiz returned to Texas.
"We are going to petition our legislators to see if they can do anything to bring him back," Ortiz said.
Contact Adriana Garza at 886-3618 or garzaa@caller.com
Posted by geomatica on June 21, 2007 at 9:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I am certain that Ramsey Muniz was falsely imprisoned, but no matter what you believe, he was and is a model prisoner, and it is a complete waste of taxpayer money to be moving him all over, when it makes the most sense for him to be here near his family. He didn't kill anybody, and his treatment has been nothing but inhumane. Something has to be done about the inequities in our prison system. His punishment certainly does not fit his supposed crime. When is his mistreatment and that of his family going to end?
Posted by colorderosa on June 22, 2007 at 9:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Only in America does a convicted murderer, chlld rapist, or other harden criminal walk free, while a supposed drug dealer gets life in prison.
colorderosa
Posted by sosiouxme13 on June 22, 2007 at 8:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
In my opinion, someone convicted of dealing drugs, can be likened to a murderer...
Posted by dannoynted1 on June 23, 2007 at 5:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is retaliation for the "scared status quo". They are afraid if he is in Texas he just might get out.
Only in Texas can this happen.
Eureka~ perhaps Jurisdiction resides in Oklahoma?
or is it Louisiana, where i hear Hayden Head is sending our Federally convicted non white americans as of late?.
Is that legal?
Why would you send a texan to another state unless you want to keep them from their family.
Posted by gmikedear1954 on June 23, 2007 at 3:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
As a career Federal Agent living in Detroit, Michigan, I find it silly to deny this man the opportunity of being close to his family. As one person stated earlier that far worse criminals are given the option to be close to their family. Also, The whole war on drugs is nothing more than a farce to make contractors rich.
Posted by chuco11 on June 23, 2007 at 8:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Ram, you were the impetus for the movement that slowly is gaining speed. Maybe not in our lifetimes but down the road there will be Spanish spoken along with English in the schools, businesses and professional sports, to name a few, all across America not just Texas. "The Man" sees this and doesn't like it! But he can't stop the ineviteable. What was that old adage...."GOD grant me the serenity....... Irma, you are a model of a loving wife. All men should be this fortunate!
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