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	"Prophet" Warren Jeffs May Lose Privileges for Preaching from Prison Pulpit By Cathy Scott The Forbes December 29, 2011 http://www.forbes.com/sites/crime/2011/12/29/prophet-warren-jeffs-may-lose-phone-privileges-for-preaching-from-prison-pulpit/ Colorado City, Arizona (8)Warren Jeffs, inmate number 08888382, and a self-proclaimed prophet, has been manipulating, controlling and terrorizing a polygamist sect from behind prison walls. But his antics may soon end if a state probe finds his actions to be illegal. Jeffs has given members of the polygamist sect of the FLDS, a fringe Mormon group, an end-of-year deadline to prove their loyalty to him — or else. And this from a man who is serving out a life sentence at the Powledge Unit maximum-security prison near Palestine, Texas, for sexually assaulting two underage girls at an FLDS compound in Texas. How was he able to pull it off? Apparently, via telephone calls. “We went through the phone records and did determine that [Jeffs] made two calls to a family member on Christmas Day,” said Michelle Lyons, spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. “We’re determining whether the person put that phone call on speaker.” Jeffs’ surprise sermon was delivered from prison during a First Ward church meeting in the small, rural Arizona town of Colorado City near the Utah state line. In his sermon, Jeffs ordered that his followers be “chosen” by December 31 or be destroyed. Jeffs’ latest do-or-die edict has sent the FLDS community into a frenzy and launched the state inspection general into investigation mode. Jeffs’ errant behavior, Lyons said, “is something we take seriously.” 15 Minutes Was All It Took What is disturbing is that Jeffs’ protective custody – which, in essence, is solitary confinement – has not prevented him from governing in the worst way. The prison allows 15-minute calls to approved landlines to residences, not to businesses and not to cell phones, and forwarding of calls is not allowed. The good news for his followers is that Jeffs may not be allowed to make future phone calls. “If [Jeffs] violated the rules,” Lyons said, “he very well could lose his phone privileges.” But here’s the kink: Jeffs may be using a cell phone in his isolation cell, according to an insider. Lyons said prison officials would look into that as well. “Inmates are not allowed to have cell phones,” she said. “It’s contraband, [and] it’s a felony to possess a phone.” It appears to be more than two telephone calls placed on Christmas day. Two weeks ago, the children of Colorado City were ordered by Jeffs to turn over their bicycles, trampolines and all-terrain vehicles, and families were ordered to give up their pets. Jeffs ordered the bicycles to be stored in a building-turned-store from which to sell the bikes. The only way the children can prove to Jeffs that they deserve to keep their bikes is to go through loyalty interviews and be re-baptized. It’s unknown what has happened to the dogs and cats he banned from Colorado City. Yet Another Edict from The ‘Prophet’ That’s not all Jeffs has been up to. Two months ago, according to an insider, he issued another edict, that unmarried women could not hold jobs. So, the younger women working at local restaurants, convenience stores and markets left their jobs and were replaced with married women, most of them older. How he was he able to pull that off as well, right under the noses of his jailers, is a quandary. Back in August, it was reported that Jeffs was critically ill, in a coma, and might not survive. Apparently, he has recovered. According to a source familiar with the FLDS, the First Ward people in Colorado City, despite his incarceration, still believe that Jeffs is delivering his orders to them directly from God. “He’s telling them the world is going to end and that people who oppose him will be punished. The whole town is in turmoil,” the source said. Where is the justice in that? Hopefully, the state of Texas will do right by the people of Colorado City and take away phone privileges from Warren Jeffs, a man deemed a danger to society, so that he is not able to continue terrorizing the people in his former community.
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