Lisa Alexander, Mother of Autistic Youth Neli Latson, Thrown in Jail by Vindictive Prosecutor

Lisa Alexander

We shared the story of Neli Latson with our 'villagers' last year. There is some more rank shyt going on this year.


Lisa Alexander, mother of Neli Latson, was convicted earlier this week on misdemeanor charges that for many would have resulted in little to no jail time. Not the case with Ms. Alexander. She was sentenced to one year incarceration (later reduced to six months).

Lisa Alexander is an 11 year military veteran with no prior criminal history. She left the military to dedicate her life to her children and to especially build a stable life for her autistic son, Neli. Neli was racially profiled, thrown in jail, and unjustly convicted in May 2010 at the hands of the same district attorney that prosecuted her.

Lisa has been tirelessly advocating for Neli and the only constant throughout his terrifying ordeal has been his mother's voice by telephone each day and their weekly visits. She is her son's coping mechanism and is absolutely vital to him.

A number of Neli's supporters believe that the incarceration of Lisa Alexander is in direct retaliation for her efforts to speak out against the corruption in Stafford County and her fight to have her son released to a facility capable of addressing his autism. Her Internet campaign to win supporters to her son's cause was even mentioned by the prosecution during the course of the trial.

Lisa has been under such an extreme amount of stress over the past few years since Neli's arrest that she has suffered severe vision loss rendering her barely able to read. Family and friends are greatly concerned for her health and well being.

I encourage all 'villagers' to find a way to support this family in crisis. Here are two things you can do right now:

1. Like the 'Fight Against Autism and Police Injustice' Facebook page
2. Sign the online petition

The goal is to have Neli receive a full pardon so that he can live his life with a semblance of normalcy. You can contact the supporters Neli Latson by email as well.

Pardon Wrongly-Convicted Autistic Youth, Neli Latson

There is some rank shyt out in the world. Racial profiling and improper imprisonment of mentally-challenged people are high up on the list. Villagers need to know about a young 19-year old man in Stafford (VA) who is a victim of both issues!

Reginald 'Neli' Latson is a young autistic man who was sitting on the front lawn of the public library in Stafford (VA) minding his own business. He was waiting for the library to open. The police saw him and made some assumptions about what a young Black man was doing out on the public library's lawn. They acted on their assumptions and approached Latson. They searched him and found that he had no weapons. The incident should have been over at that point.

However, it appears that Latson didn't show the proper amount of respect to the officers. They continued to harass him ... and his response was to physically resist the officers.  What the police didn't realize was that Latson suffers from autism.  He doesn't understand the normal 'cues' that the rest of us understand.

They arrested him. He was held without access to his family. He was sent for psychiatric evaluation. Eventually he was given a 10-year conviction for resisting arrest.

The Huffington Post has written about the case. Neli's family created a blog to talk about the case. Neli's mother posted a video shortly after his initial arrest to seek support for her son.






I'm joining with other online activist to call for this criminal injustice to be corrected. We need to get Neli into a treatment facility where he can rehabilitate from the trauma he has suffered. Each day that Neli is in the penitentiary he is in danger of missing important cues and getting in more and more trouble because he is just not able to understand what is happening to him. In order for this to happen he needs to get a pardon.


I encourage all villagers to sign the online petition and spread the word!