Amnesty International members from across the Mid-Atlantic region gathered in the Willard Building on Saturday to participate in the Amnesty International Pennsylvania State Meeting "Stop Torture Now!"

Activists worked together to formulate action plans for Pennsylvanians to contribute to the global movement against torture.

Willard was draped in fake police tape reading "Torture Free Zone," and posters were hung around the walls depicting small children and the words "Just think — in about ten years, he'll be old enough to execute."

The day's events were focused around two keynote speakers and various workshops where people could learn more about actions they could take and about Amnesty International in general.

William Nieves, speaking at Penn State for the second time this semester, began the day's activities. Nieves told the story of his unjust imprisonment and the six years he spent on death row before being granted a retrial and being released.

"It took the Supreme Court only three weeks to be convinced that my trial counsel was ineffective," Nieves said. "It was disturbing to know that the prosecutor had in his possession the identity of an eyewitness who could establish my innocence, yet it didn't bother him to re-prosecute me and seek a second death sentence."

The second speaker, who closed the day's events, was Jimmy Johnson. Johnson came to the United States seeking political asylum after fleeing his home country of Liberia. After arriving in the United States, he was imprisoned for six years because he was considered an illegal alien without proper documentation.

"Immigration and Naturalization Services pays jails $200 a day for every prisoner illegal alien that they detain," said Jodi Longo, regional director of Amnesty International. "The money connection in these instances is fascinating."

The rest of the day was spent in workshops, where people learned new methods to raise money, write letters and continue connections with other activists.

"Letter writing is the main component of Amnesty's work," said Lisa Sock, a field operations coordinator. "That's where we got the slogan 'write a letter, save a life.' "

Organizers of the event had definite ideas as to what they wanted to accomplish.

"People have three choices today," Longo said. "First, they can participate in the National Week of Student Activity, in which students work together to end torture in places like Peru. Secondly, there's Lobby Week, when people can talk to their elected officials about making changes that they find important. And third, communities and campuses combine to hold charity walks to support the cause."

Amnesty International has 19,000 active members in Pennsylvania, not including high school chapters. They work specifically with political prisoners and prisoners of consciousness.

"A prisoner of consciousness is someone who is imprisoned because of their race, religion or sexual preferences, when they haven't used any form of violence," Longo said. "We're seeing more and more of that level of injustice."

At the end of the day, organizers were pleased with how the various programs had gone.

"It has been a great day," Longo said. "The goal was to inspire, challenge and provide everyone with both resources and skills so that they can go home with a sense of individual and group activism."