Doing time for environmental crime – the DoJ way

The ‘land of the free’ is too tough on seafarers caught up in Department of Justice probes.

Richard Udell hasn’t shown his face at many shipping conferences the US for a while and probably won’t resurface in a hurry, after the reaction he provoked at the Connecticut Maritime Association Shipping 2010 conference yesterday.

'Offensive', 'infuriating', 'painfull' - just some of the reactions to Mr Udell's comments at CMA yesterday

The Department of Justice senior trial attorney who prosecutes the so-called ‘magic pipe’ cases provoked much anger from delegates when he failed to explain the policy on detaining seafarers while these cases are investigated. He insisted such detentions “protect their rights” – a disingenuous defence of a policy causing much personal anguish for those mariners and their families abroad, who find themselves ‘enjoying’ a prolonged stay courtesy of Uncle Sam and paid for by their unimpressed employers.

On one hand some of these seafarers are possibly witnesses in cases, or end up being defendants. But on the other hand, being holed up in a hotel room — in a region of the country at the DOJ’s choosing – is an incredibly unfair and unjust way to treat somebody supposedly accorded the presumption of innocence. You can only imagine what is going on behind the scenes. Outraged lawyers have recounted stories of crews, their passports seized by US Customs, unable to leave areas, trapped in the US while the wheels of ‘justice’ grind on.

About eight years ago, I remember covering ‘magic pipe’ cases in the US, and the usual practice saw the shipowner usually paid a hefty deposit up front in exchange for allowing the crew to leave. But seafarer rights in the US are abysmal. Many are denied shore leave when they land at the US and are treated as possible terrorists instead of the maritime professionals they are. There are some truly heartbreaking stories behind the headlines about the criminalisation of seafarers.

I ran into Rev William Fensterer in my travels around the exhibitors booths yesterday, from New York’s Seafarers & International House. He told me about the case of a young crew member detained in Greece over a case where drugs were found on board (innocent of course), who has since died upon his release. The cost to crew members’ physical and mental health cannot be overlooked.

Not that Richard Udell appears to care. The DOJ has refused to allow lawyers to move their clients to areas of the US where their quality of life might improve, virtually imprisoning them in hotels in isolated and faraway areas. Is it not more humane to allow them to live in areas where they can have some form of social interaction with the rest of the world? Where is their discretion? If shipowners with a good reputation and longstanding trade connection with the US agree to return seafarers who are witnesses in trials, why can’t they leave? why refuse to allow video evidence?

The senior trial attorney didn’t have any answers yesterday. This arrogant and contemptuous disregard for the industry seems to guarantee that innocent seafarers will continue to be needlessly caught up in this ‘War on Environmental Crime’, not just the ‘War on Terror’ if their ship calls at a US port.