http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201011230630/OPINION/11230302
The fallout from a federal lawsuit and a U.S. Justice Department probe of a Mississippi lockup for youths should come swiftly in the form of legislative hearings, but it remains to be seen if any action will be taken.
It's not as if state officials don't have a sort of roadmap for how to address the alleged corruption at the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility. The allegations come seven years after the U.S. Justice Department sued the state over its treatment of teen offenders housed at training schools.
The state eventually acknowledged wrongdoing in that earlier case and entered into a consent decree to make changes at Oakley Training School and Columbia Training School. Those changes resulted in Columbia's closure, and a reduced inmate population at Oakley, which now only houses the most violent offenders.
It could be argued the claims against Walnut Grove are particularly disturbing because some legislators had held it up as a model for how youth detention centers should be run. Opened in 2001, the facility was to offer inmates, aged 13 to 22, general education development, brick masonry, adult basic education and job skills training. The lawsuit filed last week by the Southern Poverty Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union and Rob McDuff, a Jackson attorney, contends most of the 1,200 inmates at the lockup aren't even getting basic education.
The 376,000-square-foot facility in Leake County is overseen by the Walnut Grove Correctional Authority, a group appointed by the town. The authority has a contract with the state to house the inmates. The authority then contracts with GEO Group, Inc., a Boca Raton, Fla.-based private prison company, to operate the prison. Both the authority and GEO Group are named as defendants in the lawsuit, as well as Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps and state Superintendent of Education Tom Burnham. The lawsuit centers on allegations of inmate abuse fueled by staff shortages and lax oversight. The same kind of environment was described in the training school probe.
House Juvenile Justice Committee Chairman Earle Banks, D-Jackson, said he wants to hold hearings on the allegations as soon as possible.
Banks said he wants to hear from parents of inmates, the operators of the facility, former inmates and former staff. But he said he already has some ideas for proposals geared toward rectifying the situation. For example, Banks wants to strengthen state laws pertaining to the notification of parents when an inmate has been hurt at a corrections facility. During a news conference in Jackson last week, one inmate's father said he didn't know the location of his son for two weeks after the youth was severely attacked.
Senate Judiciary B Committee Chairman Gray Tollison, D-Oxford, said he's also concerned about the allegations raised in the lawsuit. "Certainly, these allegations need to be investigated, which will occur during the course of the lawsuit," Tollison said. "If it is determined that the Legislature needs to make changes regarding the operation of Walnut Grove, then we should do so."
While other lawmakers may want to wait to see how the case unfolds - through the courts and the federal probe - Banks wants to move forward on legislation.
"Whatever the Justice Department does is appreciated, but I am a state lawmaker dealing with state issues in Mississippi," said Banks. "Every day it goes without being handled, that means more kids have to go with this type of alleged treatment."
Shelia Byrd covers Mississippi politics and government for the Associated Press bureau in Jackson.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
IN MEMORY OF ASHLEY SMITH AGE 19
Coroner's inquiry will take broad look into death of troubled teen Ashley Smith
By Linda Nguyen and Carmen Chai, Postmedia News November 12, 2010
Smith, 19, was found dead in a segregated prison cell at Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ont., on Oct. 19, 2007. She had tied a piece of cloth around her neck and strangled herself to death.
Dr. Bonita Porter, Ontario's deputy chief coroner, wrote in a long-awaited decision. "Her state of mind is part of the circumstances of her death and will be relevant to the issue of 'by what means' the death occurred.
"A commission of inquiry would be the only way to look at the systematic realities for the mentally ill in our prison system," said lawyer Julian Falconer from Moncton, N.B., where he is visiting the family. "Ashley Smith was in essence tortured over an 11-, 12-month period and anyone who thinks this was one isolated incident that never happened before or ever happened again . . . nothing short of a royal commission of inquiry will be able to address that."
Last week, Falconer and lawyers with the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies and the province's advocate for children and youth made submissions to Porter that the inquest should at least include the 11 months Smith was held in federal custody.
The lawyers argued that those months were instrumental in shaping Smith's state of mind prior to her death, because she was shunted 17 times to facilities and institutions in five different provinces in what they called a failure of the prison system.
(The majority of the prison transfers were a result of staff fatigue and a shortage of beds.)
Throughout her incarceration, Smith was also kept shackled and in segregation. Inmates are only supposed to be kept segregated for a maximum of 60 days, but that time allowance was reset upon each of Smith's prison transfers.
(Reports later revealed that on the day of her death, prison guards were told ahead of time to not intervene until she had stopped breathing. Criminal charges laid against the guards were later dropped.)
They also argued that the transfers resulted in her never being properly diagnosed with a mental condition, and prevented her from benefiting from therapy.
Her family has formerly requested a criminal probe by the RCMP into how Smith was treated in prison.
According to prison documents, Smith was repeatedly pepper sprayed and drugged against her will and her requests for assistance were "routinely" ignored in these last months.
The documents, which chronicle Smith's life starting on June 14, 2007, revealed nearly 200 "use of force" incidents, 10 cases of involuntary body cavity searches and 90 instances where Smith's requests for programs, hospital treatment and calls to a lawyer were denied, said Kim Pate, executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, a non-profit advocacy group for federally sentenced women.
About 1,000 records have been reviewed so far since the remaining documents in Smith's file were released to the group from Corrections Canada in August.
"It's clear there are many incidents, a multitude of instances of use of force against her, and we believe from the documentation that many of them were unjustified. We know there was forcible treatment — unlawful treatment — in situations where Ashley had the authority to withdraw consent and refuse treatment but she was forced," Pate said, noting these latest records from Corrections Canada are "contrary to the impression that has been created.
The inquest will no longer be limited by age, geography, date or nature of the institution where Smith was held and allow a coroner's jury to access documents, reports and evidence of Smith's experiences while imprisoned in both youth and adult facilities across the country.
Smith was first incarcerated at 15 in her native New Brunswick for breaching her probation after an original incident in which she threw crab apples at a postal worker. She racked up institutional charges that saw her time behind bars continually extended.
Read more: http://www.canada.com/Coroner+inquiry+will+take+broad+look+into+death+troubled+teen+Ashley+Smith/3819344/story.html#ixzz15DXzCFeH
By Linda Nguyen and Carmen Chai, Postmedia News November 12, 2010
Smith, 19, was found dead in a segregated prison cell at Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ont., on Oct. 19, 2007. She had tied a piece of cloth around her neck and strangled herself to death.
Dr. Bonita Porter, Ontario's deputy chief coroner, wrote in a long-awaited decision. "Her state of mind is part of the circumstances of her death and will be relevant to the issue of 'by what means' the death occurred.
"A commission of inquiry would be the only way to look at the systematic realities for the mentally ill in our prison system," said lawyer Julian Falconer from Moncton, N.B., where he is visiting the family. "Ashley Smith was in essence tortured over an 11-, 12-month period and anyone who thinks this was one isolated incident that never happened before or ever happened again . . . nothing short of a royal commission of inquiry will be able to address that."
Last week, Falconer and lawyers with the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies and the province's advocate for children and youth made submissions to Porter that the inquest should at least include the 11 months Smith was held in federal custody.
The lawyers argued that those months were instrumental in shaping Smith's state of mind prior to her death, because she was shunted 17 times to facilities and institutions in five different provinces in what they called a failure of the prison system.
(The majority of the prison transfers were a result of staff fatigue and a shortage of beds.)
Throughout her incarceration, Smith was also kept shackled and in segregation. Inmates are only supposed to be kept segregated for a maximum of 60 days, but that time allowance was reset upon each of Smith's prison transfers.
(Reports later revealed that on the day of her death, prison guards were told ahead of time to not intervene until she had stopped breathing. Criminal charges laid against the guards were later dropped.)
They also argued that the transfers resulted in her never being properly diagnosed with a mental condition, and prevented her from benefiting from therapy.
Her family has formerly requested a criminal probe by the RCMP into how Smith was treated in prison.
According to prison documents, Smith was repeatedly pepper sprayed and drugged against her will and her requests for assistance were "routinely" ignored in these last months.
The documents, which chronicle Smith's life starting on June 14, 2007, revealed nearly 200 "use of force" incidents, 10 cases of involuntary body cavity searches and 90 instances where Smith's requests for programs, hospital treatment and calls to a lawyer were denied, said Kim Pate, executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, a non-profit advocacy group for federally sentenced women.
About 1,000 records have been reviewed so far since the remaining documents in Smith's file were released to the group from Corrections Canada in August.
"It's clear there are many incidents, a multitude of instances of use of force against her, and we believe from the documentation that many of them were unjustified. We know there was forcible treatment — unlawful treatment — in situations where Ashley had the authority to withdraw consent and refuse treatment but she was forced," Pate said, noting these latest records from Corrections Canada are "contrary to the impression that has been created.
The inquest will no longer be limited by age, geography, date or nature of the institution where Smith was held and allow a coroner's jury to access documents, reports and evidence of Smith's experiences while imprisoned in both youth and adult facilities across the country.
Smith was first incarcerated at 15 in her native New Brunswick for breaching her probation after an original incident in which she threw crab apples at a postal worker. She racked up institutional charges that saw her time behind bars continually extended.
Read more: http://www.canada.com/Coroner+inquiry+will+take+broad+look+into+death+troubled+teen+Ashley+Smith/3819344/story.html#ixzz15DXzCFeH
Monday, November 8, 2010
Blood Pooled Near His Head
Kenneth Hernandez's fate was sealed by a guard's grunt.
That small utterance took on larger significance at High Desert State Prison in Susanville, 200 miles northeast of Sacramento, where Hernandez was imprisoned on drug and weapons charges. He was housed in a gym filled with bunk beds and lockers – typical in the state's crowded prisons.
On May 26, 2004, Hernandez, then 21, had the misfortune of crossing paths with Officer David Sharpe between rows of beds. Sharpe said Hernandez struck the guard's chest with his elbow. Another guard said he heard Sharpe grunt. Hernandez denies any such attack.
In sworn statements, witnesses said that Sharpe, who stands 6 feet tall and weighed about 300 pounds, bear-hugged Hernandez – 5 feet 9 and 140 pounds – from behind. He threw Hernandez head-first into a metal locker. Hernandez fell to the floor, with Sharpe on top of him, then twitched and jerked violently. Blood pooled near his head.
In a subsequent court proceeding, Sharpe confirmed those events but faulted the confined area and said he did not intentionally injure Hernandez.
"He's having a seizure!" some of the prisoners said they shouted in alarm. Sharpe kneeled on the back of the convulsing prisoner.
"Shut the f--- up!" Sharpe yelled, pressing his forearm against the nape of Hernandez's neck, according to inmate witness statements in the prison investigation report.
Hernandez was airlifted to Reno for emergency surgery, his skull fractured.
Back in his cell weeks later, Hernandez suffered from facial paralysis, seizures and vomiting, according to medical records. He also had to defend himself against the serious charge of assaulting an officer.
Hernandez told The Bee he didn't get a fair hearing because key evidence was barred. The prison investigator disallowed photographs of the scene, a complaint by other inmates alleging criminal misconduct by Sharpe, and statements from FBI examiners, according to his report.
Also rejected by the investigator was Hernandez's "stress voice analysis" – a lie-detection method – conducted by High Desert internal affairs, which the inmate claimed proved his innocence.
The investigator did include in his report accounts of inmates, who said they saw Sharpe attack Hernandez without provocation. None said Hernandez attacked the officer and no guards witnessed the event.
But the hearing officer, Lt. J.L. Bishop, said the inmates' testimony "lacks credibility," because they fear revenge from other prisoners for supporting a guard.
Guards said that inmates moved to the floor reluctantly when ordered to during the altercation, Bishop wrote. That reticence, he said, "strongly colors this incident in staff-assaultive tones."
The linchpin was the officer's recollection of the grunt.
Sharpe's grunt, "prior to commanding the inmates to 'get down' strongly indicates that he was struck with force," Bishop wrote, "and without warning."
Bishop found Hernandez guilty and sentenced him to five months' loss of good-behavior credit, a year without family visits and a possible term in the hole.
Six years later, Hernandez is out on parole. He still has trouble with balance, and said in cold weather the clip that secures his skull makes his head ache. As of 2009, Sharpe still worked at High Desert.
'I'll answer to God'
Hernandez's injuries were severe, but his due-process experience was typical of accounts from dozens of inmates in state lockups.
Current and former correctional officers said guilty findings often were preordained informally and hearing officers knew they would be in trouble with higher-ups if they didn't consistently find inmates guilty.
Gerald Edwards, a former lieutenant at Calipatria State Prison east of San Diego, said he conducted about 100 rule-violation hearings in the last few years of his 24-year prison career. In 2009, Edwards alleges he was harassed by superiors after ruling in favor of inmates four or five times.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/01/2928417/rights-of-prisoners-under-siege.html?
That small utterance took on larger significance at High Desert State Prison in Susanville, 200 miles northeast of Sacramento, where Hernandez was imprisoned on drug and weapons charges. He was housed in a gym filled with bunk beds and lockers – typical in the state's crowded prisons.
On May 26, 2004, Hernandez, then 21, had the misfortune of crossing paths with Officer David Sharpe between rows of beds. Sharpe said Hernandez struck the guard's chest with his elbow. Another guard said he heard Sharpe grunt. Hernandez denies any such attack.
In sworn statements, witnesses said that Sharpe, who stands 6 feet tall and weighed about 300 pounds, bear-hugged Hernandez – 5 feet 9 and 140 pounds – from behind. He threw Hernandez head-first into a metal locker. Hernandez fell to the floor, with Sharpe on top of him, then twitched and jerked violently. Blood pooled near his head.
In a subsequent court proceeding, Sharpe confirmed those events but faulted the confined area and said he did not intentionally injure Hernandez.
"He's having a seizure!" some of the prisoners said they shouted in alarm. Sharpe kneeled on the back of the convulsing prisoner.
"Shut the f--- up!" Sharpe yelled, pressing his forearm against the nape of Hernandez's neck, according to inmate witness statements in the prison investigation report.
Hernandez was airlifted to Reno for emergency surgery, his skull fractured.
Back in his cell weeks later, Hernandez suffered from facial paralysis, seizures and vomiting, according to medical records. He also had to defend himself against the serious charge of assaulting an officer.
Hernandez told The Bee he didn't get a fair hearing because key evidence was barred. The prison investigator disallowed photographs of the scene, a complaint by other inmates alleging criminal misconduct by Sharpe, and statements from FBI examiners, according to his report.
Also rejected by the investigator was Hernandez's "stress voice analysis" – a lie-detection method – conducted by High Desert internal affairs, which the inmate claimed proved his innocence.
The investigator did include in his report accounts of inmates, who said they saw Sharpe attack Hernandez without provocation. None said Hernandez attacked the officer and no guards witnessed the event.
But the hearing officer, Lt. J.L. Bishop, said the inmates' testimony "lacks credibility," because they fear revenge from other prisoners for supporting a guard.
Guards said that inmates moved to the floor reluctantly when ordered to during the altercation, Bishop wrote. That reticence, he said, "strongly colors this incident in staff-assaultive tones."
The linchpin was the officer's recollection of the grunt.
Sharpe's grunt, "prior to commanding the inmates to 'get down' strongly indicates that he was struck with force," Bishop wrote, "and without warning."
Bishop found Hernandez guilty and sentenced him to five months' loss of good-behavior credit, a year without family visits and a possible term in the hole.
Six years later, Hernandez is out on parole. He still has trouble with balance, and said in cold weather the clip that secures his skull makes his head ache. As of 2009, Sharpe still worked at High Desert.
'I'll answer to God'
Hernandez's injuries were severe, but his due-process experience was typical of accounts from dozens of inmates in state lockups.
Current and former correctional officers said guilty findings often were preordained informally and hearing officers knew they would be in trouble with higher-ups if they didn't consistently find inmates guilty.
Gerald Edwards, a former lieutenant at Calipatria State Prison east of San Diego, said he conducted about 100 rule-violation hearings in the last few years of his 24-year prison career. In 2009, Edwards alleges he was harassed by superiors after ruling in favor of inmates four or five times.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/01/2928417/rights-of-prisoners-under-siege.html?
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Florida Teen Sexually Abused In Youth Facility
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A federal class-action lawsuit claims a teenage inmate was sexually abused at a youth offender facility where other juveniles were forced to go hungry, endure hot and moldy conditions, and sleep on the floor.
The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in Fort Lauderdale by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It alleges that a 15-year-old boy who had been held there for 10 months was sexually abused in a laundry room and at a dental office by an employee at Thompson Academy in Pembroke Pines.
According to the lawsuit, the teen reported the sexual abuse to the facility's administrator and other staff, but nothing was done to remove the employee or prevent him from having contact with the children at Thompson Academy.
The attorneys who filed the lawsuit said the teen tried to kill himself three times by drinking bleach and attempting to hang himself. The boy -- who is not being identified because The Associated Press does not name people who may be victims of sexual assault -- was released to his mother's care on Friday.
Jesse Williams, senior vice president at Youth Services International, which operates Thompson Academy and 14 other facilities in the U.S., said the lawsuit's claims were unsubstantiated.
He said the staffer accused of assaulting the teen no longer has contact with youth sent to the company's program and will be fired if found to have harmed any children.
The Department of Children and Families has up to 60 days to complete an investigation of the facility's procedures, spokesman Mark Riordan said.
Lawyers from the law center said they interviewed about 20 children from Thompson Academy. One youth claimed an employee physically abused him during a restraint. Others said they were forced to go hungry, endure hot and moldy conditions caused by broken air conditioners, and sleep on the floors of other children's rooms.
The teen and other children in the youth corrections program "endured horrific physical and sexual abuse by staff at the facility and were intimidated by staff from reporting the abuses," the lawsuit claims.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/09/lawsuit-claims-kids-abused-florida-youth-offender-facility/
The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in Fort Lauderdale by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It alleges that a 15-year-old boy who had been held there for 10 months was sexually abused in a laundry room and at a dental office by an employee at Thompson Academy in Pembroke Pines.
According to the lawsuit, the teen reported the sexual abuse to the facility's administrator and other staff, but nothing was done to remove the employee or prevent him from having contact with the children at Thompson Academy.
The attorneys who filed the lawsuit said the teen tried to kill himself three times by drinking bleach and attempting to hang himself. The boy -- who is not being identified because The Associated Press does not name people who may be victims of sexual assault -- was released to his mother's care on Friday.
Jesse Williams, senior vice president at Youth Services International, which operates Thompson Academy and 14 other facilities in the U.S., said the lawsuit's claims were unsubstantiated.
He said the staffer accused of assaulting the teen no longer has contact with youth sent to the company's program and will be fired if found to have harmed any children.
The Department of Children and Families has up to 60 days to complete an investigation of the facility's procedures, spokesman Mark Riordan said.
Lawyers from the law center said they interviewed about 20 children from Thompson Academy. One youth claimed an employee physically abused him during a restraint. Others said they were forced to go hungry, endure hot and moldy conditions caused by broken air conditioners, and sleep on the floors of other children's rooms.
The teen and other children in the youth corrections program "endured horrific physical and sexual abuse by staff at the facility and were intimidated by staff from reporting the abuses," the lawsuit claims.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/09/lawsuit-claims-kids-abused-florida-youth-offender-facility/
Saturday, October 9, 2010
In Memory Of:Farron Barksdale, 32, of Athens Texas
September 23, 2009 Huntsville Times
A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the mother of an inmate who died just 12 days after entering prison has been settled with the state Department of Corrections, her lawyers said Tuesday. Though the terms were not disclosed, the settlement was also confirmed by state prison Commissioner Richard Allen. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Montgomery on behalf of Mary Barksdale, the mother of Farron Barksdale, 32, of Athens, who died Aug. 20, 2007, after he was found unconscious in his Kilby Prison cell. Barksdale, who pleaded guilty to capital murder in the shooting death of two Athens police officers, had been transferred to the prison just three days earlier to begin serving a sentence of life without parole. Mary Barksdale, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, was represented by Sarah Geraghty, an attorney for the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights, and Huntsville attorney Jake Watson. Geraghty and Watson confirmed that Mary Barksdale was awarded a cash settlement, but they would not disclose the amount. The defendants in the suit were former Kilby Warden Arnold Hold, Drs. Michael Robbins and Joseph McGinn, two unnamed correctional officers, an unnamed medical worker and Vienna, Va., based MHM Correctional Services. MHM provides mental health services for the Department of Corrections. The suit alleged that Barksdale, who suffered from schizophrenia, died because of "the deliberate indifference, medical neglect and negligence" of the prison staff. "Mr. Barksdale was medicated with an unusually large dose of psychotropic medications that made his body unable to withstand high temperatures, confined to an isolation cell with a medically dangerous degree of heat and left there without adequate monitoring," the complaint said. "He fell into a coma and died." The complaint said Barksdale was not placed in Kilby's mental health unit, which is air-conditioned. On the day he was found unresponsive in his cell, the temperature in Montgomery was 106 degrees. Kilby is located just east of Montgomery. On that day, the complaint said, correctional officers found Barksdale in a coma, "snoring and moaning," with a temperature of 103.1 degrees. He was taken to the hospital but never regained consciousness after eight days. An autopsy said he died of pneumonia and complications from hypothermia and a blood-clotting problem, and that bruises on his upper body and hip did not contribute to his death. A state prison inmate later wrote in an Oct. 24, 2008, letter to Montgomery County Circuit Judge Eugene Reese that Barksdale was severely beaten by four prison guards. Allen asked the Alabama Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Corrections' Department of Investigations and Intelligence to reopen the investigation into Barksdale's death, but the results of that probe have never been released. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Department of Corrections must comply with the state's Open Records law and make records available on crimes committed within prisons. The Southern Center for Human Rights had sued over that issue. Despite the high court's 5-0 ruling, Allen said Friday state attorneys may ask for a rehearing.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the mother of an inmate who died just 12 days after entering prison has been settled with the state Department of Corrections, her lawyers said Tuesday. Though the terms were not disclosed, the settlement was also confirmed by state prison Commissioner Richard Allen. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Montgomery on behalf of Mary Barksdale, the mother of Farron Barksdale, 32, of Athens, who died Aug. 20, 2007, after he was found unconscious in his Kilby Prison cell. Barksdale, who pleaded guilty to capital murder in the shooting death of two Athens police officers, had been transferred to the prison just three days earlier to begin serving a sentence of life without parole. Mary Barksdale, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, was represented by Sarah Geraghty, an attorney for the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights, and Huntsville attorney Jake Watson. Geraghty and Watson confirmed that Mary Barksdale was awarded a cash settlement, but they would not disclose the amount. The defendants in the suit were former Kilby Warden Arnold Hold, Drs. Michael Robbins and Joseph McGinn, two unnamed correctional officers, an unnamed medical worker and Vienna, Va., based MHM Correctional Services. MHM provides mental health services for the Department of Corrections. The suit alleged that Barksdale, who suffered from schizophrenia, died because of "the deliberate indifference, medical neglect and negligence" of the prison staff. "Mr. Barksdale was medicated with an unusually large dose of psychotropic medications that made his body unable to withstand high temperatures, confined to an isolation cell with a medically dangerous degree of heat and left there without adequate monitoring," the complaint said. "He fell into a coma and died." The complaint said Barksdale was not placed in Kilby's mental health unit, which is air-conditioned. On the day he was found unresponsive in his cell, the temperature in Montgomery was 106 degrees. Kilby is located just east of Montgomery. On that day, the complaint said, correctional officers found Barksdale in a coma, "snoring and moaning," with a temperature of 103.1 degrees. He was taken to the hospital but never regained consciousness after eight days. An autopsy said he died of pneumonia and complications from hypothermia and a blood-clotting problem, and that bruises on his upper body and hip did not contribute to his death. A state prison inmate later wrote in an Oct. 24, 2008, letter to Montgomery County Circuit Judge Eugene Reese that Barksdale was severely beaten by four prison guards. Allen asked the Alabama Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Corrections' Department of Investigations and Intelligence to reopen the investigation into Barksdale's death, but the results of that probe have never been released. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Department of Corrections must comply with the state's Open Records law and make records available on crimes committed within prisons. The Southern Center for Human Rights had sued over that issue. Despite the high court's 5-0 ruling, Allen said Friday state attorneys may ask for a rehearing.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Are Some States Drugging Incarcerated Kids to Alter Their Behavior?
Are Some States Drugging Incarcerated Kids to Alter Their Behavior?
Despite the risks to the kids, adolescents in detention are being given antipsychotic drugs instead of counseling.
October 6, 2010 | By Marian Wang
http://www.alternet.org/story/148425/are_some_states_drugging_incarcerated_kids_to_alter_their_behavior
Though the use of antipsychotic drugs on children is believed to carry significant risks even when used properly to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, it’s not uncommon in some states for juveniles in detention to be prescribed antipsychotics simply to counter mood disorders or aggressive behavior, according to an investigation by Youth Today, which covers the juvenile justice system and youth services. . . .
+
Please watch the video, and sign....share with others!!
http://criminaljustice.change.org/petitions/view/buried_alive_in_texas_prisons
Buried Alive In Texas Prisons ( petition text)
Franz
CC:
Robert Manor
Prison &Jail Monitor
John Howard Association
(312) 503-6302
Despite the risks to the kids, adolescents in detention are being given antipsychotic drugs instead of counseling.
October 6, 2010 | By Marian Wang
http://www.alternet.org/story/148425/are_some_states_drugging_incarcerated_kids_to_alter_their_behavior
Though the use of antipsychotic drugs on children is believed to carry significant risks even when used properly to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, it’s not uncommon in some states for juveniles in detention to be prescribed antipsychotics simply to counter mood disorders or aggressive behavior, according to an investigation by Youth Today, which covers the juvenile justice system and youth services. . . .
+
Please watch the video, and sign....share with others!!
http://criminaljustice.change.org/petitions/view/buried_alive_in_texas_prisons
Buried Alive In Texas Prisons ( petition text)
Franz
CC:
Robert Manor
Prison &Jail Monitor
John Howard Association
(312) 503-6302
Friday, September 3, 2010
Inmate Dies After Left Out In Arizona's Heat Locked In A Cage
Powell, 48, died last year after being exposed to the sun for nearly four hours at Arizona State Prison Complex-Perryville in Goodyear. On May 19, the day she died, temperatures reached 107.5 degrees.
*Corrections Director Charles Ryan has called Powell's death "unconscionable" and "an absolute failure.
The department disciplined 16 people in connection with the incident, with five employees fired or forced to resign.
But a four-month investigation of the incident by the department last year failed to answer several key questions, including how much water Powell received while in the enclosure, and when and how she succumbed to the heat.
Moreover, investigators could not determine how the actions or inactions of the corrections staff contributed to the delay of discovering that Powell was in distress and on the verge of death.
"We really did spend a lot of time and man-hours looking at this in an effort to see if we could patch together a case that we could prove," Ahler said. "We just felt at the end of the day, we didn't have enough to do that."
Ahler was chairman for the committee that reviewed the investigation. Incident-review teams met five times over the past year in an effort to build a case.
Donna Hamm, executive director of Middle Ground, a prison-reform group, said statements from officers who walked by Powell and ignored her cries could have been enough to charge someone with negligent homicide.
Hamm said she was more troubled about the message corrections officers could take from the county attorney's decision, despite new policies being put in place to limit the amount of time inmates are detained in outdoor cages.
"All of these things that they're doing don't matter a whit unless the staff follows the policy," Hamm said. "Clearly prosecuting someone would send a very strong message, that the policy means something even if they didn't get a conviction. I think exactly the opposite message is communicated: that the staff can act with impunity against the inmates, and there is no recourse."
Hamm said she planned to contact the U.S. Department of Justice to see if it is willing to review the case.
The investigation into Powell's death showed that lengthy confinements in outdoor cages had become a common practice as officers tried to "wait out" prisoners who were agitated or refusing to return to their cells.
Inmate Vanessa Griego, 24, was confined to a similar cage at Perryville for 20 hours last year after refusing to return to her cell. She did not require medical attention, although the incident alarmed staff members and fellow inmates.
"Waiting out" prisoners meant corrections officers did not have to use force to return inmates to their cells. But it also meant inmates were regularly left outdoors for longer than the two-hour maximum dictated by prison policy.
The practice was discontinued as part of a series of reforms initiated in the wake of Powell's death.
Powell, who was serving a sentence for prostitution, said she felt suicidal at 11 a.m. on May 19. She was taken to the outdoor cage to await transportation for psychiatric care.
The sergeant who saw Powell lose consciousness never reported that to supervisors, despite the fact that Powell said she was having trouble breathing, according to the investigation.
At least 20 inmates told investigators that Powell was denied water for most or all of the time she was in her cage, despite regular requests. Those reports were bitterly disputed by officers, who insisted that Powell was given water.
After more than two hours in the sun, Powell asked to be taken back to her indoor cell. She was denied.
Powell also was denied a request to use the restroom and defecated in the cage. An officer saw that Powell had soiled herself but left her where she was, the investigation found. Medical personnel later found feces underneath her fingernails and all over her back.
The psychiatric unit to which Powell was awaiting transport should have accepted her hours before she died, the report said, but a series of miscommunications prevented her being taken in.
The Corrections Department had recommended negligent-homicide charges against seven corrections officers: Esmeralda Pegues, Evan Hazelton, Iain Fenyves, Electra Allen, Cortez Agnew, Anita Macias and Ariana Mena.
A presentation to the County Attorney's Office said the officers were "negligent in providing the appropriate shade and water a reasonable person should have known needed to be provided" to a person in Powell's situation.
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office has declined to pursue criminal charges in the death of Marcia Powell, a state prison inmate who died of heat-related causes after being left in an outdoor cage for hours.
The Department of Corrections had recommended that seven corrections officers on duty that day be charged with negligent homicide in connection with Powell's death. But there was not enough evidence to prosecute them, said Paul Ahler, chief deputy prosecutor.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/09/01/20100901goodyear-inmate-heat-death-brk.html#ixzz0yRXqfkvo
*Corrections Director Charles Ryan has called Powell's death "unconscionable" and "an absolute failure.
The department disciplined 16 people in connection with the incident, with five employees fired or forced to resign.
But a four-month investigation of the incident by the department last year failed to answer several key questions, including how much water Powell received while in the enclosure, and when and how she succumbed to the heat.
Moreover, investigators could not determine how the actions or inactions of the corrections staff contributed to the delay of discovering that Powell was in distress and on the verge of death.
"We really did spend a lot of time and man-hours looking at this in an effort to see if we could patch together a case that we could prove," Ahler said. "We just felt at the end of the day, we didn't have enough to do that."
Ahler was chairman for the committee that reviewed the investigation. Incident-review teams met five times over the past year in an effort to build a case.
Donna Hamm, executive director of Middle Ground, a prison-reform group, said statements from officers who walked by Powell and ignored her cries could have been enough to charge someone with negligent homicide.
Hamm said she was more troubled about the message corrections officers could take from the county attorney's decision, despite new policies being put in place to limit the amount of time inmates are detained in outdoor cages.
"All of these things that they're doing don't matter a whit unless the staff follows the policy," Hamm said. "Clearly prosecuting someone would send a very strong message, that the policy means something even if they didn't get a conviction. I think exactly the opposite message is communicated: that the staff can act with impunity against the inmates, and there is no recourse."
Hamm said she planned to contact the U.S. Department of Justice to see if it is willing to review the case.
The investigation into Powell's death showed that lengthy confinements in outdoor cages had become a common practice as officers tried to "wait out" prisoners who were agitated or refusing to return to their cells.
Inmate Vanessa Griego, 24, was confined to a similar cage at Perryville for 20 hours last year after refusing to return to her cell. She did not require medical attention, although the incident alarmed staff members and fellow inmates.
"Waiting out" prisoners meant corrections officers did not have to use force to return inmates to their cells. But it also meant inmates were regularly left outdoors for longer than the two-hour maximum dictated by prison policy.
The practice was discontinued as part of a series of reforms initiated in the wake of Powell's death.
Powell, who was serving a sentence for prostitution, said she felt suicidal at 11 a.m. on May 19. She was taken to the outdoor cage to await transportation for psychiatric care.
The sergeant who saw Powell lose consciousness never reported that to supervisors, despite the fact that Powell said she was having trouble breathing, according to the investigation.
At least 20 inmates told investigators that Powell was denied water for most or all of the time she was in her cage, despite regular requests. Those reports were bitterly disputed by officers, who insisted that Powell was given water.
After more than two hours in the sun, Powell asked to be taken back to her indoor cell. She was denied.
Powell also was denied a request to use the restroom and defecated in the cage. An officer saw that Powell had soiled herself but left her where she was, the investigation found. Medical personnel later found feces underneath her fingernails and all over her back.
The psychiatric unit to which Powell was awaiting transport should have accepted her hours before she died, the report said, but a series of miscommunications prevented her being taken in.
The Corrections Department had recommended negligent-homicide charges against seven corrections officers: Esmeralda Pegues, Evan Hazelton, Iain Fenyves, Electra Allen, Cortez Agnew, Anita Macias and Ariana Mena.
A presentation to the County Attorney's Office said the officers were "negligent in providing the appropriate shade and water a reasonable person should have known needed to be provided" to a person in Powell's situation.
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office has declined to pursue criminal charges in the death of Marcia Powell, a state prison inmate who died of heat-related causes after being left in an outdoor cage for hours.
The Department of Corrections had recommended that seven corrections officers on duty that day be charged with negligent homicide in connection with Powell's death. But there was not enough evidence to prosecute them, said Paul Ahler, chief deputy prosecutor.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/09/01/20100901goodyear-inmate-heat-death-brk.html#ixzz0yRXqfkvo
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Prison Is Designed To Break Ones Spirit
Prison is designed to break ones spirit and destroy ones resolve. To do this the authorities attempt to exploit every weakness, demolish every initiative, negate all signs of individuality - all with the idea of stamping out that spark that makes each of us human and each of us who we are.
-Nelson Mandela
-Nelson Mandela
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
SC. Inmate Beaten By Prison Guard
SC deputy investigated, fired after inmate beating
CAMDEN, S.C. — Authorities say a deputy has been fired after being caught on video beating a South Carolina inmate dozens of times in the legs with a baton or pipe.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said Monday that state police and the FBI are investigating whether the civil rights of inmate Charles Shelley were violated. Columbia television station WIS-TV aired the surveillance video of the beating Thursday and reported that Shelly's leg was broken and he needed stitches.
Kershaw County Sheriff Steve McCaskill said the deputy was fired. The sheriff did not give the deputy's name.
Shelley told the station he had been arrested on an outstanding warrant and other violations. WIS said the deputy reported the inmate threatened him.
CAMDEN, S.C. — Authorities say a deputy has been fired after being caught on video beating a South Carolina inmate dozens of times in the legs with a baton or pipe.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said Monday that state police and the FBI are investigating whether the civil rights of inmate Charles Shelley were violated. Columbia television station WIS-TV aired the surveillance video of the beating Thursday and reported that Shelly's leg was broken and he needed stitches.
Kershaw County Sheriff Steve McCaskill said the deputy was fired. The sheriff did not give the deputy's name.
Shelley told the station he had been arrested on an outstanding warrant and other violations. WIS said the deputy reported the inmate threatened him.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Federal Oversight for Troubled N.Y. Youth Prisons
Federal Oversight for Troubled N.Y. Youth Prisons
Four of New York’s most dangerous and troubled youth prisons will be placed under federal oversight, strict new limits will be imposed on the use of physical force by guards, and dozens of psychiatrists, counselors and investigators will be hired under a sweeping agreement finalized on Wednesday between state and federal official
The agreement will usher in the most significant expansion of mental health services in years for youths in custody, the vast majority of whom suffer from drug or alcohol problems, developmental disabilities or mental health problems.
Currently, the state does not have a single full-time psychiatrist on staff to treat young offenders.
Guards at the youth prisons, known as youth counselors, will be barred from physically restraining youths except when a person’s physical safety is threatened or a youth is trying to escape from the institution.
Guards will be allowed to use the most controversial method — in which a youth is forced to the ground and held face-down — for at most three minutes, with evaluation by a doctor to follow within four hours.
The accord comes almost a year after the Justice Department threatened to take over New York’s juvenile justice system unless the state took significant steps to rectify problems at the four prisons, where physical abuse was rampant and mental health counseling was scant or nonexistent.
“It is New York’s fundamental responsibility to protect juveniles in its custody from harm and to uphold their constitutional rights,” Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said in a statement. “We have worked cooperatively with New York officials to craft an agreement to ensure that the constitutional rights of juveniles at the four facilities are protected, and we commend New York and the New York State Office of Children and Families for their willingness to work aggressively to remedy these problems.”
Federal investigators found that staff members at the four institutions — the Lansing Residential Center and the Louis Gossett Jr. Residential Center, in Lansing, and two residences, one for boys and one for girls, at Tryon Residential Center in Johnstown — routinely used physical force to discipline the youths, resulting in broken bones, shattered teeth, concussions and dozens of other serious injuries in a period of less than two years.
Introducing Legislation in June to let judges sentence youths to juvenile prisons only if they had been found guilty of a violent crime or a sex crime or were deemed to be a serious threat to themselves or others. Juvenile prisons house those convicted of criminal acts, from truancy to murder, who are too young to serve in adult jails and prisons.
The federal inquiry began in 2007 after a spate of episodes, including the 2006 death of a disturbed 15-year-old after two employees at the Tryon center pinned him down on the ground.
Two monitors, jointly chosen by federal and state officials, will oversee the state’s efforts to carry out the accord over the next two years, making regular progress reports to a federal judge, who must approve the agreement before it goes into effect
The state-federal accord, filed in United States District Court in Albany, echoes recommendations issued in December by a state task force, which found major shortcomings throughout the youth prison system. The task force recommended substantially expanding mental health care and replacing most residential youth prisons with smaller centers closer to communities where most young offenders and their families are from.
It Will require all youth prisons in New York to abide by the restrictions on physical restraint. She said the state also planned to hire a chief psychiatrist in the near future to oversee drug regimens and mental health counseling at all of the state’s youth prisons.
But advocates for youths in state custody said they would continue to seek a far-reaching transformation in the juvenile justice system in New York, which they say merely warehouses youths who in most cases need intensive psychiatric care and counseling rather than being locked up.
“The changes will only affect those kids who have mental health needs who are already incarcerated,” said Gabrielle Prisco, director of the Juvenile Justice Project at the Correctional Association of New York. “It doesn’t get to the fact that any of those young people could be safely treated in their communities without ever seeing the inside of a prison cell.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/nyregion/15juvenile.html?scp=13&sq=juveniles%20/us&st=cse
Four of New York’s most dangerous and troubled youth prisons will be placed under federal oversight, strict new limits will be imposed on the use of physical force by guards, and dozens of psychiatrists, counselors and investigators will be hired under a sweeping agreement finalized on Wednesday between state and federal official
The agreement will usher in the most significant expansion of mental health services in years for youths in custody, the vast majority of whom suffer from drug or alcohol problems, developmental disabilities or mental health problems.
Currently, the state does not have a single full-time psychiatrist on staff to treat young offenders.
Guards at the youth prisons, known as youth counselors, will be barred from physically restraining youths except when a person’s physical safety is threatened or a youth is trying to escape from the institution.
Guards will be allowed to use the most controversial method — in which a youth is forced to the ground and held face-down — for at most three minutes, with evaluation by a doctor to follow within four hours.
The accord comes almost a year after the Justice Department threatened to take over New York’s juvenile justice system unless the state took significant steps to rectify problems at the four prisons, where physical abuse was rampant and mental health counseling was scant or nonexistent.
“It is New York’s fundamental responsibility to protect juveniles in its custody from harm and to uphold their constitutional rights,” Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said in a statement. “We have worked cooperatively with New York officials to craft an agreement to ensure that the constitutional rights of juveniles at the four facilities are protected, and we commend New York and the New York State Office of Children and Families for their willingness to work aggressively to remedy these problems.”
Federal investigators found that staff members at the four institutions — the Lansing Residential Center and the Louis Gossett Jr. Residential Center, in Lansing, and two residences, one for boys and one for girls, at Tryon Residential Center in Johnstown — routinely used physical force to discipline the youths, resulting in broken bones, shattered teeth, concussions and dozens of other serious injuries in a period of less than two years.
Introducing Legislation in June to let judges sentence youths to juvenile prisons only if they had been found guilty of a violent crime or a sex crime or were deemed to be a serious threat to themselves or others. Juvenile prisons house those convicted of criminal acts, from truancy to murder, who are too young to serve in adult jails and prisons.
The federal inquiry began in 2007 after a spate of episodes, including the 2006 death of a disturbed 15-year-old after two employees at the Tryon center pinned him down on the ground.
Two monitors, jointly chosen by federal and state officials, will oversee the state’s efforts to carry out the accord over the next two years, making regular progress reports to a federal judge, who must approve the agreement before it goes into effect
The state-federal accord, filed in United States District Court in Albany, echoes recommendations issued in December by a state task force, which found major shortcomings throughout the youth prison system. The task force recommended substantially expanding mental health care and replacing most residential youth prisons with smaller centers closer to communities where most young offenders and their families are from.
It Will require all youth prisons in New York to abide by the restrictions on physical restraint. She said the state also planned to hire a chief psychiatrist in the near future to oversee drug regimens and mental health counseling at all of the state’s youth prisons.
But advocates for youths in state custody said they would continue to seek a far-reaching transformation in the juvenile justice system in New York, which they say merely warehouses youths who in most cases need intensive psychiatric care and counseling rather than being locked up.
“The changes will only affect those kids who have mental health needs who are already incarcerated,” said Gabrielle Prisco, director of the Juvenile Justice Project at the Correctional Association of New York. “It doesn’t get to the fact that any of those young people could be safely treated in their communities without ever seeing the inside of a prison cell.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/nyregion/15juvenile.html?scp=13&sq=juveniles%20/us&st=cse
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Suspicious Death In Maine State Prison
Another Suspicious Death in Maine State Prison’s Lockdown Unit
AUGUST 3, 2010
by James Ridgeway
Maine Attorney General Janet Mills reportedly will review the results of an investigation by the state police into the death of a prisoner named Victor Valdez, who died last November in the Special Management Unit (SMU) of Maine State Prison. While the Maine Department of Corrections says he died of natural causes, inmates who say they witnessed the incidents insist he was beaten and abused by prison staff, who also hindered him from receiving treatment for a serious medical condition.
Lance Tapley, who has written before about abuses in the SMU, published a lengthy article on Valdez’s death last week in the Portland Phoenix. As Tapley described the situation:
[Valdez] was a very sick man. His kidneys had failed, and he had required dialysis treatment several times a week for eight years, via a stent implanted in his arm. He also suffered from congestive heart failure, cirrhosis of the liver, and lung problems, according to court documents filed prior to his sentencing in 2009 to four years’ incarceration for a 2008 aggravated assault in Portland…While at the prison, which is in the coastal village of Warren, he received his dialysis at Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta.
Various inmates described the treatment of Valdez in letters to the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, a group that actively opposes the abuse of solitary confinement in Maine’s prisons. One reason for the beating by guards, one letter said, was their anger at having to take Valdez to dialysis treatments at a nearby hospital early in the morning. An inmate named Jeff wrote to Coalition member Judy Garvey that staff had “ripped out” Valdez’s dialysis tubes in order to cart him off to the SMU for breaking a prison rule, “and he bled all over the place.” Another inmate named Joel OlavarrÃa Rivera, a friend of Valdez, wrote to Garvey in Spanish (here translated by Eda Trajo of El Centro Latino in Portland):
I saw how the officers abused Victor Valdez. I saw the officers cover him with pepper spray and they took him away to check his blood pressure, and afterwards they put him back in the cell without cleaning the cell or him. When the officers put him back in his cell I could smell the pepper spray because it’s so strong. And Victor fell on the floor and he stayed like that with all that stink of pepper spray.
In 10 minutes they called code blue. When the medics came Victor was foaming at the mouth, which came from the pepper spray. They left the pepper spray on him and they didn’t clean it. I thought he was dead because he was a sick man and the pepper spray made it difficult to breathe. The next day they brought him back one room closer to mine, and he tells me that they didn’t want to take him to dialysis and that they forced him to sign a document that says he doesn’t want to go to dialysis. And he doesn’t read English and they don’t even translate for him. He can’t miss dialysis or he’ll die and therefore they’ve forced him to sign for his own death.
Shortly before his death, according to Garvey, inmates were ordered to return to their cells immediately. Valdez, who was hard of hearing and had limited English, did not respond right away. Other prisoners told Garvey he was then beaten and pepper sprayed. Valdez died less than a week later.
Initially Denise Lord, the Associate Corrections Commissioner, told the Bangor Daily News that Valdez had died of “medical causes in the hospital.” However, as Tapley points out:
[N]o state medical examiner looked at Valdez’s body, despite a prison protocol requiring the prison to notify the state police to see if they wished to investigate a prisoner’s death. The medical examiner’s office, part of the attorney general’s office, works hand in glove with the state police. The medical examiner’s office assistant told the Phoenix that Valdez’s death “didn’t meet our criteria” because he was “sick enough” to have died from natural causes. In such a case, a prison physician would sign the death certificate, she said. But who signed it and the cause of death listed is information unavailable to the press and general public, according to the state’s Office of Vital Records.
According to Tapley’s article, Valdez’ mother, at the time traveling out of the country, gave permission for his body to be cremated.
After Garvey and other prison reformers launched a campaign for an investigation, Attorney General Mills asked the state police to prepare a report on the causes of death. She is expected to announce the findings soon. In the meantime, Garvey has sought information from Associate Corrections Commissioner Denise Lord on the details surrounding the death.
.. Who certified Mr. Valdez’s death and at what date and time?
Lord: Medical information is confidential and we cannot disclose this to a member of the public without consent…
Tapley cites Paul Wright, editor of Prison Legal News, who told him that it is “quite common for prisons to cover up and restrict the info on prisoner beatings, deaths, etc., and it generally works quite well. . . . The use of laws on medical privacy to cover up wrongdoing is also fairly widespread.”
This is not the first suspicious death to take place in Maine State Prison’s SMU. The death of an aging prisoner named Sheldon Weinstein is referenced in Tapley’s article, and was also described here on Solitary Watch by former Maine State Prison chaplain Stan Moody.
http://solitarywatch.com/2010/08/03/another-suspicious-death-in-maine-state-prisons-lockdown-unit/
AUGUST 3, 2010
by James Ridgeway
Maine Attorney General Janet Mills reportedly will review the results of an investigation by the state police into the death of a prisoner named Victor Valdez, who died last November in the Special Management Unit (SMU) of Maine State Prison. While the Maine Department of Corrections says he died of natural causes, inmates who say they witnessed the incidents insist he was beaten and abused by prison staff, who also hindered him from receiving treatment for a serious medical condition.
Lance Tapley, who has written before about abuses in the SMU, published a lengthy article on Valdez’s death last week in the Portland Phoenix. As Tapley described the situation:
[Valdez] was a very sick man. His kidneys had failed, and he had required dialysis treatment several times a week for eight years, via a stent implanted in his arm. He also suffered from congestive heart failure, cirrhosis of the liver, and lung problems, according to court documents filed prior to his sentencing in 2009 to four years’ incarceration for a 2008 aggravated assault in Portland…While at the prison, which is in the coastal village of Warren, he received his dialysis at Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta.
Various inmates described the treatment of Valdez in letters to the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, a group that actively opposes the abuse of solitary confinement in Maine’s prisons. One reason for the beating by guards, one letter said, was their anger at having to take Valdez to dialysis treatments at a nearby hospital early in the morning. An inmate named Jeff wrote to Coalition member Judy Garvey that staff had “ripped out” Valdez’s dialysis tubes in order to cart him off to the SMU for breaking a prison rule, “and he bled all over the place.” Another inmate named Joel OlavarrÃa Rivera, a friend of Valdez, wrote to Garvey in Spanish (here translated by Eda Trajo of El Centro Latino in Portland):
I saw how the officers abused Victor Valdez. I saw the officers cover him with pepper spray and they took him away to check his blood pressure, and afterwards they put him back in the cell without cleaning the cell or him. When the officers put him back in his cell I could smell the pepper spray because it’s so strong. And Victor fell on the floor and he stayed like that with all that stink of pepper spray.
In 10 minutes they called code blue. When the medics came Victor was foaming at the mouth, which came from the pepper spray. They left the pepper spray on him and they didn’t clean it. I thought he was dead because he was a sick man and the pepper spray made it difficult to breathe. The next day they brought him back one room closer to mine, and he tells me that they didn’t want to take him to dialysis and that they forced him to sign a document that says he doesn’t want to go to dialysis. And he doesn’t read English and they don’t even translate for him. He can’t miss dialysis or he’ll die and therefore they’ve forced him to sign for his own death.
Shortly before his death, according to Garvey, inmates were ordered to return to their cells immediately. Valdez, who was hard of hearing and had limited English, did not respond right away. Other prisoners told Garvey he was then beaten and pepper sprayed. Valdez died less than a week later.
Initially Denise Lord, the Associate Corrections Commissioner, told the Bangor Daily News that Valdez had died of “medical causes in the hospital.” However, as Tapley points out:
[N]o state medical examiner looked at Valdez’s body, despite a prison protocol requiring the prison to notify the state police to see if they wished to investigate a prisoner’s death. The medical examiner’s office, part of the attorney general’s office, works hand in glove with the state police. The medical examiner’s office assistant told the Phoenix that Valdez’s death “didn’t meet our criteria” because he was “sick enough” to have died from natural causes. In such a case, a prison physician would sign the death certificate, she said. But who signed it and the cause of death listed is information unavailable to the press and general public, according to the state’s Office of Vital Records.
According to Tapley’s article, Valdez’ mother, at the time traveling out of the country, gave permission for his body to be cremated.
After Garvey and other prison reformers launched a campaign for an investigation, Attorney General Mills asked the state police to prepare a report on the causes of death. She is expected to announce the findings soon. In the meantime, Garvey has sought information from Associate Corrections Commissioner Denise Lord on the details surrounding the death.
.. Who certified Mr. Valdez’s death and at what date and time?
Lord: Medical information is confidential and we cannot disclose this to a member of the public without consent…
Tapley cites Paul Wright, editor of Prison Legal News, who told him that it is “quite common for prisons to cover up and restrict the info on prisoner beatings, deaths, etc., and it generally works quite well. . . . The use of laws on medical privacy to cover up wrongdoing is also fairly widespread.”
This is not the first suspicious death to take place in Maine State Prison’s SMU. The death of an aging prisoner named Sheldon Weinstein is referenced in Tapley’s article, and was also described here on Solitary Watch by former Maine State Prison chaplain Stan Moody.
http://solitarywatch.com/2010/08/03/another-suspicious-death-in-maine-state-prisons-lockdown-unit/
Sunday, August 1, 2010
California Inmates Abused And Have Rights Violated
'Daniel into the lion's den'
Another factor undermines the appeals process, according to prisoners and former officers: fear.
Edgar Martinez, back home after a recent term at High Desert, claimed that guards trampled his belongings and strip-searched him in a snow-covered yard. He said he watched guards provoke fights among inmates and tell others, "this 602 needs to go away or we're going to make your life a living hell." Afterward, Martinez said, he was too terrified to protest mistreatment.
In one 2007 case, said Edwards, the former lieutenant, several inmates were brutally beaten by guards and denied adequate treatment. None filed a complaint. "Nothing ever came of that incident. Not a damn thing," he said.
Inmates sometimes refrain from reporting abuse to avoid being shipped to other facilities. "There are staff who say, 'He's a pain, get rid of him,' " then transfer the prisoner to a location dominated by his racial or ethnic enemies, Cervantes said, "like Daniel into the lion's den."
Kernan defended the process for discovering and punishing misconduct, which includes independent oversight, court supervision and avenues for inmates and officers to complain anonymously to outside watchdogs.
The state Inspector General's Office closely monitors some investigations of serious lapses by staff, including excessive force, sexual misconduct and dishonesty. Last year it agreed with the prisons' handling of the vast majority of such cases.
Lee Seale, corrections deputy chief of staff, called that record "a departmental success story."
In 2009, 42 officers or sergeants were dismissed in misconduct cases involving prisoners. That total did not include those fired for granting prisoners special favors.
However, when officers caused moderate to severe inmate injuries – or deaths – discipline was relatively light. The Bee examined all 15 such episodes monitored by the inspector general in 2009, involving 32 officers. Eight were dismissed; most received small pay cuts or short suspensions.
In one case, an officer needlessly punched a prisoner in the head, broke his elbows and lied about it in reports. The penalty: a 12-day suspension.
An officer assigned to monitor inmates on suicide watch failed to do so and falsified his records. When he eventually did his check, he overlooked the fact that one prisoner was dead. He "also failed to notice a note the deceased inmate posted in a window on his cell door," the inspector general's report notes, "indicating his intent to commit suicide."
That officer's salary was cut by 10 percent for two years.
Such cases suggest that California prisons lack a workable process to impose reasonable discipline, said Elyse Clawson, a former correctional official in two states who served on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2007 expert panel that examined the state prison system.
"You have to wonder," she said, "if there is a (prison) culture that assigns much value to what happens to inmates."
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/01/2928417/rights-of-prisoners-under-siege.html?mi_pluck_action=comment_submitted&qwxq=1387966#Comments_Container#ixzz0vPmSRZAl
Another factor undermines the appeals process, according to prisoners and former officers: fear.
Edgar Martinez, back home after a recent term at High Desert, claimed that guards trampled his belongings and strip-searched him in a snow-covered yard. He said he watched guards provoke fights among inmates and tell others, "this 602 needs to go away or we're going to make your life a living hell." Afterward, Martinez said, he was too terrified to protest mistreatment.
In one 2007 case, said Edwards, the former lieutenant, several inmates were brutally beaten by guards and denied adequate treatment. None filed a complaint. "Nothing ever came of that incident. Not a damn thing," he said.
Inmates sometimes refrain from reporting abuse to avoid being shipped to other facilities. "There are staff who say, 'He's a pain, get rid of him,' " then transfer the prisoner to a location dominated by his racial or ethnic enemies, Cervantes said, "like Daniel into the lion's den."
Kernan defended the process for discovering and punishing misconduct, which includes independent oversight, court supervision and avenues for inmates and officers to complain anonymously to outside watchdogs.
The state Inspector General's Office closely monitors some investigations of serious lapses by staff, including excessive force, sexual misconduct and dishonesty. Last year it agreed with the prisons' handling of the vast majority of such cases.
Lee Seale, corrections deputy chief of staff, called that record "a departmental success story."
In 2009, 42 officers or sergeants were dismissed in misconduct cases involving prisoners. That total did not include those fired for granting prisoners special favors.
However, when officers caused moderate to severe inmate injuries – or deaths – discipline was relatively light. The Bee examined all 15 such episodes monitored by the inspector general in 2009, involving 32 officers. Eight were dismissed; most received small pay cuts or short suspensions.
In one case, an officer needlessly punched a prisoner in the head, broke his elbows and lied about it in reports. The penalty: a 12-day suspension.
An officer assigned to monitor inmates on suicide watch failed to do so and falsified his records. When he eventually did his check, he overlooked the fact that one prisoner was dead. He "also failed to notice a note the deceased inmate posted in a window on his cell door," the inspector general's report notes, "indicating his intent to commit suicide."
That officer's salary was cut by 10 percent for two years.
Such cases suggest that California prisons lack a workable process to impose reasonable discipline, said Elyse Clawson, a former correctional official in two states who served on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2007 expert panel that examined the state prison system.
"You have to wonder," she said, "if there is a (prison) culture that assigns much value to what happens to inmates."
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/01/2928417/rights-of-prisoners-under-siege.html?mi_pluck_action=comment_submitted&qwxq=1387966#Comments_Container#ixzz0vPmSRZAl
Saturday, July 10, 2010
RESTRAINT_AND_SECLUSION Used In School
Nationwide, since 1993, at least 64 children died and thousands were injured while being restrained in face-down and other methods. About half of the restraints that caused deaths were unnecessary, a review of restraint deaths by Cornell University Residential Child Care Project found.
Cornell's trainers, who have worked with Parmadale, teach both the face-up and facedown techniques as a part of their Therapeutic Crisis Intervention system but warn neither is safe. Facilities choose which methods suit their philosophy. Some choose never to use restraints.
"Every single restraint assumes a certain level of risk, including death," said Michael Nunno, the project's principal investigator. "You never want your intervention to be more risky than what the child is doing."
According to the coroner's ruling, Faith was restrained after an "outburst of disruptive behavior."
Faith had been tossing things around her room and may have approached the staff aggressively, said Parma police and Parmadale officials.
That type of behavior alone is not enough to restrain a child, Nunno said.
Workers often get into power struggles with kids they supervise, especially if the atmosphere in the facility is chaotic. Staff involved in such struggles should remove themselves from dealing with the children, he said.
According to police records and other sources, the situation in Parmadale's Cottage 14, where Faith lived, was particularly tense.
In the days leading up to her restraint, several children escaped, one stole a car, a child-care worker was injured by a teen and -- just before Faith died -- another girl in the cottage was beaten so badly, she was taken to the hospital.
People can be trained and tested over and over, Mullen said, but in the heat of a situation, it's hard to maintain control of an agitated child who is struggling with staff.
"What people need to understand is that these are interactions between humans," he said.
Bellefaire JCB in Shaker Heights, which also treats troubled children, uses restraint as a last resort, said Jeffrey Cox, clinical director.
"For us, disruptive is not enough," he said. If a child were to punch a staff member and walk away, that would not be a restraint situation because the immediate danger would be over, he said.
When restraints are used, the child's vital signs are carefully monitored, and children are not left alone immediately after being restrained, Cox said.
Faith was allowed to rest on the floor after she was released from the restraint, and workers later discovered her breathing was shallow. Parmadale staff lacked access to life-saving measures such as an automatic defibrillator to try to restart her heart.
The number of restraint-related injuries in Ohio is unclear because no agency collects the data. Information about major incidents, such as deaths or serious injuries, is supposed to be reported to the agency or agencies that license a facility. But that information is not shared.
In 2006, the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities, an umbrella group that includes county mental health boards, pleaded for the creation of a statewide system to report child injuries in facilities.
The report pointed out that thousands of restraint-related injuries each year, including rug burns, black eyes, bloody noses and broken teeth, are not required to be reported. It concluded that fear of liability and the potential of losing facilities, which are already in short supply, were reasons that reforms were not being pushed.
"We tinker around the edges, but nobody is biting the bullet and fixing this problem," Cheri Walter, CEO of the group, said at the time.
Asked this week if any changes had been made since the 2006 paper was printed, Walter said, "Frankly, nothing has changed."
But now, officials are facing the death of a 17-year-old.
"It's unfortunately taken kids' deaths to prompt these kinds of changes," Nunno said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CBS 5 Investigates: School 'Quiet Rooms' Continue Advocates Push For Restraint And Seclusion Law Changes
http://cbs5.com/investigates/Quiet.Rooms.kids.2.898717.html (Click on the link to watch the video)
Reporting Anna Werner
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― Holding school kids down to the floor or closing them in so-called "quiet rooms" are practices advocates say can have dangers for the children and should be reduced or even eliminated.
But they're still allowed under California law, despite those advocates' efforts.
Naomi Liron says of her son, "He came home with three big pinch marks on his arm."
Liron says her 11-year-old son Reuben sustained injuries at school, like bruises on an arm, a rug burn on his face and emotional pain.
"He was depressed, very anxious and very depressed," says Liron.
Diagnosed with conditions including bipolar disorder and ADHD, Reuben attended the private Lincoln Child Center in Oakland, a school for children with special educational needs, for five years.
But his mother says it wasn't until earlier this year that she reallyunderstood what was happening with Reuben.
"I cried, when I read the incident reports," Liron said.
Those incident reports show how center staff at times restrained Reuben on the floor, in one report, holding him down for "ten minutes" after he misbehaved.
And on other occasions, how staff closed him into the "quiet room", where they noted he was "banging" and "ramming his body against the door."
In one report, a therapist wrote that he pleaded with her before being put in the room, "I love you, don't leave me, don't hurt me."
His mom says, "That's the one I cried the most about, because he's so desperate, and he's so scared."
Lincoln Child Center declined an on-camera interview about the case, citing confidentiality. In a statement, it says its ultimate goal is to keep children safe.
And under California law, restraining and even keeping children in those quiet rooms can be legal.
Which is why attorney Maggie Roberts, with Disability Rights California says, "I have great concerns."
Roberts is working on Reuben's case for Disability Rights California (formerly Protection and Advocacy).
According to Roberts, "They are reporting things that show that a child is very traumatized, and yet they continue to do it."
And a CBS5 investigation found similar incidents reported in schools across California and around the nation, in both public and private schools. Children have been locked in closets, or restrained, one even tied down with duct tape.
So last year, Roberts' group tried to change California law to limit those practices, and eliminate seclusion entirely. But Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to sign the bill authored by Senator Sheila Kuehl.
The governor said the bill could stop school employees "from intervening in an emergency and place more students at risk."
But disability rights' Leslie Morrison says:
"By vetoing the bill and allowing these practices to continue we have put teachers and students at great risk."
Morrison says her group is looking into still more cases even now, like that of a 12 year old girl held repeatedly in asmall room with bare walls and no windows in San Diego and an injury sustained by a 9 year old boy on his backside, after being dragged by a classroom aide in a district north of Los Angeles.
http://www.caica.org/RESTRAINT_AND_SECLUSION_CAICA.htm
Cornell's trainers, who have worked with Parmadale, teach both the face-up and facedown techniques as a part of their Therapeutic Crisis Intervention system but warn neither is safe. Facilities choose which methods suit their philosophy. Some choose never to use restraints.
"Every single restraint assumes a certain level of risk, including death," said Michael Nunno, the project's principal investigator. "You never want your intervention to be more risky than what the child is doing."
According to the coroner's ruling, Faith was restrained after an "outburst of disruptive behavior."
Faith had been tossing things around her room and may have approached the staff aggressively, said Parma police and Parmadale officials.
That type of behavior alone is not enough to restrain a child, Nunno said.
Workers often get into power struggles with kids they supervise, especially if the atmosphere in the facility is chaotic. Staff involved in such struggles should remove themselves from dealing with the children, he said.
According to police records and other sources, the situation in Parmadale's Cottage 14, where Faith lived, was particularly tense.
In the days leading up to her restraint, several children escaped, one stole a car, a child-care worker was injured by a teen and -- just before Faith died -- another girl in the cottage was beaten so badly, she was taken to the hospital.
People can be trained and tested over and over, Mullen said, but in the heat of a situation, it's hard to maintain control of an agitated child who is struggling with staff.
"What people need to understand is that these are interactions between humans," he said.
Bellefaire JCB in Shaker Heights, which also treats troubled children, uses restraint as a last resort, said Jeffrey Cox, clinical director.
"For us, disruptive is not enough," he said. If a child were to punch a staff member and walk away, that would not be a restraint situation because the immediate danger would be over, he said.
When restraints are used, the child's vital signs are carefully monitored, and children are not left alone immediately after being restrained, Cox said.
Faith was allowed to rest on the floor after she was released from the restraint, and workers later discovered her breathing was shallow. Parmadale staff lacked access to life-saving measures such as an automatic defibrillator to try to restart her heart.
The number of restraint-related injuries in Ohio is unclear because no agency collects the data. Information about major incidents, such as deaths or serious injuries, is supposed to be reported to the agency or agencies that license a facility. But that information is not shared.
In 2006, the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities, an umbrella group that includes county mental health boards, pleaded for the creation of a statewide system to report child injuries in facilities.
The report pointed out that thousands of restraint-related injuries each year, including rug burns, black eyes, bloody noses and broken teeth, are not required to be reported. It concluded that fear of liability and the potential of losing facilities, which are already in short supply, were reasons that reforms were not being pushed.
"We tinker around the edges, but nobody is biting the bullet and fixing this problem," Cheri Walter, CEO of the group, said at the time.
Asked this week if any changes had been made since the 2006 paper was printed, Walter said, "Frankly, nothing has changed."
But now, officials are facing the death of a 17-year-old.
"It's unfortunately taken kids' deaths to prompt these kinds of changes," Nunno said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CBS 5 Investigates: School 'Quiet Rooms' Continue Advocates Push For Restraint And Seclusion Law Changes
http://cbs5.com/investigates/Quiet.Rooms.kids.2.898717.html (Click on the link to watch the video)
Reporting Anna Werner
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― Holding school kids down to the floor or closing them in so-called "quiet rooms" are practices advocates say can have dangers for the children and should be reduced or even eliminated.
But they're still allowed under California law, despite those advocates' efforts.
Naomi Liron says of her son, "He came home with three big pinch marks on his arm."
Liron says her 11-year-old son Reuben sustained injuries at school, like bruises on an arm, a rug burn on his face and emotional pain.
"He was depressed, very anxious and very depressed," says Liron.
Diagnosed with conditions including bipolar disorder and ADHD, Reuben attended the private Lincoln Child Center in Oakland, a school for children with special educational needs, for five years.
But his mother says it wasn't until earlier this year that she reallyunderstood what was happening with Reuben.
"I cried, when I read the incident reports," Liron said.
Those incident reports show how center staff at times restrained Reuben on the floor, in one report, holding him down for "ten minutes" after he misbehaved.
And on other occasions, how staff closed him into the "quiet room", where they noted he was "banging" and "ramming his body against the door."
In one report, a therapist wrote that he pleaded with her before being put in the room, "I love you, don't leave me, don't hurt me."
His mom says, "That's the one I cried the most about, because he's so desperate, and he's so scared."
Lincoln Child Center declined an on-camera interview about the case, citing confidentiality. In a statement, it says its ultimate goal is to keep children safe.
And under California law, restraining and even keeping children in those quiet rooms can be legal.
Which is why attorney Maggie Roberts, with Disability Rights California says, "I have great concerns."
Roberts is working on Reuben's case for Disability Rights California (formerly Protection and Advocacy).
According to Roberts, "They are reporting things that show that a child is very traumatized, and yet they continue to do it."
And a CBS5 investigation found similar incidents reported in schools across California and around the nation, in both public and private schools. Children have been locked in closets, or restrained, one even tied down with duct tape.
So last year, Roberts' group tried to change California law to limit those practices, and eliminate seclusion entirely. But Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to sign the bill authored by Senator Sheila Kuehl.
The governor said the bill could stop school employees "from intervening in an emergency and place more students at risk."
But disability rights' Leslie Morrison says:
"By vetoing the bill and allowing these practices to continue we have put teachers and students at great risk."
Morrison says her group is looking into still more cases even now, like that of a 12 year old girl held repeatedly in asmall room with bare walls and no windows in San Diego and an injury sustained by a 9 year old boy on his backside, after being dragged by a classroom aide in a district north of Los Angeles.
http://www.caica.org/RESTRAINT_AND_SECLUSION_CAICA.htm
Friday, July 2, 2010
Stop Prison Rape
As you read these two personal accounts below, keep in mind that we can put this terrible and illegal practice to an end. --Lovisa Stannow, Executive Director, Just Detention International
***
by Kimberly Yates:
I spent about 15 years in state and federal prison on drug charges. In 2004, I was at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia where I was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Officer Theodore Woodson.
I was manipulated by this officer, and he forced me to have sex with him on several occasions. What he did to me was inhumane and has stayed with me ever since - rather than let it tear me down, I have taken the opportunity to speak out and educate others about the serious crisis of sexual violence in our nations prisons and jails.
Officer Woodson would take me to the warehouse in the basement of the detention center, and that is where he raped me. After the first time, he told me that if I ever told anybody that he knew where my family lived,where my children lived, threatening to hurt them. I was afraid for myself and my family, so I did not say a word to anybody. He would repeat this threat every time he would attack me.
The final time he raped me, I was badly injured and needed to go to the emergency room. I was bleeding and hemorrhaging - and the medical report identified that I had been raped. When I informed the captain of what happened, fortunately he believed me, and he had Officer Woodson escorted out of the facility.
The captain's response was crucial - if he had refused to believe me, or even blamed me, the situation could have turned out very different. It is really important that any standards you issue include clear measures about officials' responsibility to report incidents of sexual abuse, to take such violence seriously, and the development of clear steps to be taken to initiate an investigation. I believe that these points are well addressed by the standards proposed by the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, and I encourage you to draw on their expertise rather than duplicate their efforts.
Eventually, I found out that Officer Woodson had preyed on at least four other women, and that another inmate had reported his conduct more than a year before he raped me. A family on the outside had written to BOP to ask them to investigate this officer. But BOP did nothing - they swept it under the rug.
After my report, BOP finally conducted an investigation. Because I had the courage to tell my story, several other women whom he had sexually assaulted came forward as well. They were too afraid to say anything before then. Three of us were transferred to another facility (FPC Alderson), where we did not get the proper follow-up care that we needed.
The counselor I was assigned was not helpful. I don't think the staff at Alderson took the assault seriously. In fact, some staff made comments to us about what happened with Officer Woodson - they wanted to scare us, intimidate us, make us feel bad for reporting the abuse.
I don't think those officers should have been able to access our files in any way. It is really important that any information related to a sexual assault not become common knowledge. Since they knew about this, many of the staff treated us badly because we had reported on another officer, and that is not right.
The recommendations you are reviewing also address these issues: keeping sexual assault information on a need-to-know basis and giving victims proper follow-up care. This violence is extremely traumatic, and victims need to receive, or at least be offered, counseling to help them heal. Corrections facilities should work with outside rape crisis agencies to make their services available to inmates. And corrections mental health staff need specialized training in providing support to victims of sexual abuse in detention.
I wonder if I had not spoken up, would Officer Woodson still be there? Would he still be abusing women? The BOP was the entity that was supposed to keep me safe. I was supposed to serve time for the crime I committed, not be raped. How many women could the BOP have spared if they had taken notice of what they were told?
Officer Theodore Woodson was eventually charged criminally. He pled guilty to felony counts of engaging in sexual acts with three women inmates and received only a four month jail sentence and three years of probation. At first I felt a lot of anger because of that -- I felt that he got a lesser sentence because we were prisoners and did not have rights. But the truth of it is that he could have gotten life in prison and it would not have taken away from the pain I was left with because of what he did.
What makes my case especially alarming is the fact that the BOP was put on notice about this officer but continued to allow him to work in that position, knowing what he had done and that he could do it to someone else. The standards must address this. Reports that an officer is abusive - even from an outside source like the inmate's family in Woodson's case - must always be taken seriously with a full investigation and real repercussions. If earlier reports of his abuse had been acted on, my rape could have been prevented.
The memory of the assault will ever go away for me, but I have decided how to deal with it. Some of the women involved in my case have a hard time dealing with the trauma - they feel scared and mistrustful, they blame themselves for what happened. We never asked to be raped and I know now that it is not our fault. Even if I was incarcerated, I was still a human being, I still had feelings, I still could get hurt.
I could choose to move on or let it kill me, and I chose to move on. I started my own business when I got home. I have had support from my attorney. My probation officer is one of the fairest, most respectable men, and he has made things easier by being someone that I can call.
The trauma of this experience has caused me serious harm. I developed an eating disorder and other problems. I experienced loss of self-esteem, loss of self-confidence, guilt, and shame. It took something from me that I can never get back. The worst part is it could have been prevented.
***
by Bryson Martel:
While I was in an Arkansas state prison, I was raped by at least 27 different inmates over a nine month period. I don't have to tell you that it was the worst nine months of my life.
In 1991, I was sentenced to six years in prison on a probation violation. I was originally convicted of forging a check to buy crack cocaine. When I went to prison, I was young, skinny, and bisexual. I was scared to death.
As soon as I got there, inmates started acting like they were my fi-iends so they could take advantage of me. They jumped on me and beat me. Within two weeks, I was raped at knifepoint.
Being raped at knifepoint was the worst thing I could ever imagine. The physical pain was devastating. But the emotional pain was even worse.
I reported the rape, and was sent into protective custody. But I wasn't safe there either. They put all kinds of people in protective custody, including sexual predators. I was put in a cell with a rapist who had full-blown AIDS. Within two days, he forced me to give him oral sex and anally raped me. I yelled for the guard, but no one came to help me. I finally had to flood the cell to get a guard to come.
Because I was raped, I got labeled as a "faggot." Everywhere I walked, everyone looked at me like I was a target. It opened the door for a lot of other predators. Even the administrators thought it was okay for a "faggot" to be raped. They said, 'Oh, you must like it.' No one wants to be raped. No one likes being violently attacked.
I documented the abuse, I filed grievances, I followed all of the procedures to report what was happening to me, but no one cared. They just moved me fi-om cell to cell. This went on for nine months. I went through nine months of torture - nine months of hell - that could have been avoided.
In August, I started bleeding really bad from the rectum. I didn't want to go to the infirmary, because I was still so ashamed about what had happened to me, but I had to. They gave me a test, and that's when I got the devastating news. I was HIV-positive. I felt suicidal. I felt like my world had come to an end. I cried and cried. I felt ashamed, embarrassed, degraded, and humiliated. I haven't forgotten those feelings. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about this.
Finally, I was placed in a cell by myself in administrative segregation. The only way I could stay safe was to deliberately disobey the rules so I could get away from my predators.
Eventually, I was interviewed by an investigator from the State Folice, and I made a report of every assault I survived in prison. I had to list all the inmates who sexually assaulted me, and I came up with 27 names. Sometimes just one inmate assaulted me, and sometimes they attacked me in groups. It went on almost every day for the nine months I spent in that facility.
In 2002, I was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS. I can't even count how many medications I have to take every day. I can't do a lot of things I used to do. I moved from Arkansas to Michigan to be closer to my family. I wanted to get to know my family before I die.
The amount of trauma and pain I have endured cannot be put in dollars. I'm not able to work. I collect disability. Fighting for my life is my full-time job. They took my life, but they didn't take my ability to live my life.
Everything that happened to me could have been avoided if the prison was accountable for inmates' safety. Standards are needed to protect people like me. Prison officials mix all kinds of inmates together in dormitories and cells. They need to screen inmates so that vulnerable people don't get thrown in with mass murderers. I was a small, non-violent, bisexual, first-time offender. If Classification had done its job, I never would have been placed with violent predators.
I know I had to pay the price for what I did, but I've paid double price. That check I wrote cost me my life. Every day I wake up and I'm just grateful that I'm still here. I've already accepted that I'm going to die, but before I do, I want to see justice in the prison system. The only way to help me now is to put an end to rape in prison.
Learn more about how you can help prevent prison rape at Just Detention International.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/ 147303/the_ brutal_horror_ of_prison_ rape,_as_ told_by_its_ victims
***
by Kimberly Yates:
I spent about 15 years in state and federal prison on drug charges. In 2004, I was at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia where I was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Officer Theodore Woodson.
I was manipulated by this officer, and he forced me to have sex with him on several occasions. What he did to me was inhumane and has stayed with me ever since - rather than let it tear me down, I have taken the opportunity to speak out and educate others about the serious crisis of sexual violence in our nations prisons and jails.
Officer Woodson would take me to the warehouse in the basement of the detention center, and that is where he raped me. After the first time, he told me that if I ever told anybody that he knew where my family lived,where my children lived, threatening to hurt them. I was afraid for myself and my family, so I did not say a word to anybody. He would repeat this threat every time he would attack me.
The final time he raped me, I was badly injured and needed to go to the emergency room. I was bleeding and hemorrhaging - and the medical report identified that I had been raped. When I informed the captain of what happened, fortunately he believed me, and he had Officer Woodson escorted out of the facility.
The captain's response was crucial - if he had refused to believe me, or even blamed me, the situation could have turned out very different. It is really important that any standards you issue include clear measures about officials' responsibility to report incidents of sexual abuse, to take such violence seriously, and the development of clear steps to be taken to initiate an investigation. I believe that these points are well addressed by the standards proposed by the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, and I encourage you to draw on their expertise rather than duplicate their efforts.
Eventually, I found out that Officer Woodson had preyed on at least four other women, and that another inmate had reported his conduct more than a year before he raped me. A family on the outside had written to BOP to ask them to investigate this officer. But BOP did nothing - they swept it under the rug.
After my report, BOP finally conducted an investigation. Because I had the courage to tell my story, several other women whom he had sexually assaulted came forward as well. They were too afraid to say anything before then. Three of us were transferred to another facility (FPC Alderson), where we did not get the proper follow-up care that we needed.
The counselor I was assigned was not helpful. I don't think the staff at Alderson took the assault seriously. In fact, some staff made comments to us about what happened with Officer Woodson - they wanted to scare us, intimidate us, make us feel bad for reporting the abuse.
I don't think those officers should have been able to access our files in any way. It is really important that any information related to a sexual assault not become common knowledge. Since they knew about this, many of the staff treated us badly because we had reported on another officer, and that is not right.
The recommendations you are reviewing also address these issues: keeping sexual assault information on a need-to-know basis and giving victims proper follow-up care. This violence is extremely traumatic, and victims need to receive, or at least be offered, counseling to help them heal. Corrections facilities should work with outside rape crisis agencies to make their services available to inmates. And corrections mental health staff need specialized training in providing support to victims of sexual abuse in detention.
I wonder if I had not spoken up, would Officer Woodson still be there? Would he still be abusing women? The BOP was the entity that was supposed to keep me safe. I was supposed to serve time for the crime I committed, not be raped. How many women could the BOP have spared if they had taken notice of what they were told?
Officer Theodore Woodson was eventually charged criminally. He pled guilty to felony counts of engaging in sexual acts with three women inmates and received only a four month jail sentence and three years of probation. At first I felt a lot of anger because of that -- I felt that he got a lesser sentence because we were prisoners and did not have rights. But the truth of it is that he could have gotten life in prison and it would not have taken away from the pain I was left with because of what he did.
What makes my case especially alarming is the fact that the BOP was put on notice about this officer but continued to allow him to work in that position, knowing what he had done and that he could do it to someone else. The standards must address this. Reports that an officer is abusive - even from an outside source like the inmate's family in Woodson's case - must always be taken seriously with a full investigation and real repercussions. If earlier reports of his abuse had been acted on, my rape could have been prevented.
The memory of the assault will ever go away for me, but I have decided how to deal with it. Some of the women involved in my case have a hard time dealing with the trauma - they feel scared and mistrustful, they blame themselves for what happened. We never asked to be raped and I know now that it is not our fault. Even if I was incarcerated, I was still a human being, I still had feelings, I still could get hurt.
I could choose to move on or let it kill me, and I chose to move on. I started my own business when I got home. I have had support from my attorney. My probation officer is one of the fairest, most respectable men, and he has made things easier by being someone that I can call.
The trauma of this experience has caused me serious harm. I developed an eating disorder and other problems. I experienced loss of self-esteem, loss of self-confidence, guilt, and shame. It took something from me that I can never get back. The worst part is it could have been prevented.
***
by Bryson Martel:
While I was in an Arkansas state prison, I was raped by at least 27 different inmates over a nine month period. I don't have to tell you that it was the worst nine months of my life.
In 1991, I was sentenced to six years in prison on a probation violation. I was originally convicted of forging a check to buy crack cocaine. When I went to prison, I was young, skinny, and bisexual. I was scared to death.
As soon as I got there, inmates started acting like they were my fi-iends so they could take advantage of me. They jumped on me and beat me. Within two weeks, I was raped at knifepoint.
Being raped at knifepoint was the worst thing I could ever imagine. The physical pain was devastating. But the emotional pain was even worse.
I reported the rape, and was sent into protective custody. But I wasn't safe there either. They put all kinds of people in protective custody, including sexual predators. I was put in a cell with a rapist who had full-blown AIDS. Within two days, he forced me to give him oral sex and anally raped me. I yelled for the guard, but no one came to help me. I finally had to flood the cell to get a guard to come.
Because I was raped, I got labeled as a "faggot." Everywhere I walked, everyone looked at me like I was a target. It opened the door for a lot of other predators. Even the administrators thought it was okay for a "faggot" to be raped. They said, 'Oh, you must like it.' No one wants to be raped. No one likes being violently attacked.
I documented the abuse, I filed grievances, I followed all of the procedures to report what was happening to me, but no one cared. They just moved me fi-om cell to cell. This went on for nine months. I went through nine months of torture - nine months of hell - that could have been avoided.
In August, I started bleeding really bad from the rectum. I didn't want to go to the infirmary, because I was still so ashamed about what had happened to me, but I had to. They gave me a test, and that's when I got the devastating news. I was HIV-positive. I felt suicidal. I felt like my world had come to an end. I cried and cried. I felt ashamed, embarrassed, degraded, and humiliated. I haven't forgotten those feelings. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about this.
Finally, I was placed in a cell by myself in administrative segregation. The only way I could stay safe was to deliberately disobey the rules so I could get away from my predators.
Eventually, I was interviewed by an investigator from the State Folice, and I made a report of every assault I survived in prison. I had to list all the inmates who sexually assaulted me, and I came up with 27 names. Sometimes just one inmate assaulted me, and sometimes they attacked me in groups. It went on almost every day for the nine months I spent in that facility.
In 2002, I was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS. I can't even count how many medications I have to take every day. I can't do a lot of things I used to do. I moved from Arkansas to Michigan to be closer to my family. I wanted to get to know my family before I die.
The amount of trauma and pain I have endured cannot be put in dollars. I'm not able to work. I collect disability. Fighting for my life is my full-time job. They took my life, but they didn't take my ability to live my life.
Everything that happened to me could have been avoided if the prison was accountable for inmates' safety. Standards are needed to protect people like me. Prison officials mix all kinds of inmates together in dormitories and cells. They need to screen inmates so that vulnerable people don't get thrown in with mass murderers. I was a small, non-violent, bisexual, first-time offender. If Classification had done its job, I never would have been placed with violent predators.
I know I had to pay the price for what I did, but I've paid double price. That check I wrote cost me my life. Every day I wake up and I'm just grateful that I'm still here. I've already accepted that I'm going to die, but before I do, I want to see justice in the prison system. The only way to help me now is to put an end to rape in prison.
Learn more about how you can help prevent prison rape at Just Detention International.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/ 147303/the_ brutal_horror_ of_prison_ rape,_as_ told_by_its_ victims
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Inmate Dies In Prison From medical Neglect
I have started coping each one of these stories & am going to each month send my articles to the White House. Praying some one soon will do something about the abuse & neglect in all of our states prisons & jails* God Bless you & your Loved loves locked behind bars* Gellybean*
Story>>>
Sun 27, 8:36 PM EDT
Ill. inmate died in agony while pleading for help
By DAVID MERCER
Associated Press Writer
PEKIN, Ill. (AP) -- For days before he died in a federal prison, Adam Montoya pleaded with guards to be taken to a doctor, pressing a panic button in his cell over and over to summon help that never came.
An autopsy concluded that the 36-year-old inmate suffered from no fewer than three serious illnesses - cancer, hepatitis and HIV. The cancer ultimately killed him, causing his spleen to burst. Montoya bled to death internally.
But the coroner and a pathologist were more stunned by another finding: The only medication in his system was a trace of over-the-counter pain reliever.
That means Montoya, imprisoned for a passing counterfeit checks, had been given nothing to ease the excruciating pain that no doubt wracked his body for days or weeks before death.
"He shouldn't have died in agony like that," Coroner Dennis Conover said. "He had been out there long enough that he should have at least died in the hospital."
The FBI recently completed an investigation into Montoya's death and gave its findings to the Justice Department, which is reviewing the case. If federal prosecutors conclude that Montoya's civil rights were violated, they could take action against the prison, its guards, or both. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment, saying that the matter was still being investigated.
The coroner said guards should have been aware that something was seriously wrong with the inmate. And outside experts agree that the symptoms of cancer and hepatitis would have been hard to miss: dramatic weight loss, a swollen abdomen, yellow eyes.
During Montoya's final days, he "consistently made requests to the prison for medical attention, and they wouldn't give it to him," said his father, Juan Montoya, who described how his son repeatedly punched the panic button. Three inmates corroborated that account in interviews with The Associated Press.
The younger Montoya was taken to the prison clinic one day for "maybe five, 10 minutes," his father said. "And they gave him Tylenol, and that was it. He suffered a lot."
The federal prison in Pekin will not discuss Montoya's death. Prison spokesman Jay Henderson referred questions to the Bureau of Prisons, which denied an AP request for information on Montoya's medical condition, citing privacy laws.
It isn't clear whether the prison system, relatives or even Montoya himself knew the full extent of his illness. Montoya's father had no idea his son had cancer or hepatitis. Inmates who knew him said he told them he had cancer, but they knew nothing of his HIV.
According to its website, the Bureau of Prisons tries to screen the health of new inmates within 24 hours of their arrival. A closer examination within two weeks is required for prisoners with serious, long-term illnesses. But officials have not said whether Montoya was given any kind of exam or whether his medical records made it to Pekin.
Montoya pleaded guilty in May 2009 to counterfeiting commercial checks, credit cards and gift cards. Prosecutors will not say how much money was involved in the scheme, but Montoya was ordered to pay a little over $2,000 in restitution.
Montoya, who had a history of methamphetamine abuse, was released while awaiting sentencing and was ordered not to use drugs. At the time, he was living with his father and working for his father's process-serving business, which delivers legal documents. His father said he was paying Montoya's bills and paying him about $300 a week.
Then in mid-June, Adam Montoya was diagnosed with HIV.
"It hit him like a ton of bricks," his father said.
After the diagnosis, Montoya retreated back into methamphetamine. Following a urine test, he admitted using the drug three times in a month, and he was locked up.
Montoya began taking antiviral drugs, so his father still had hope and tried to give his son a sense of the same. "I thought, 'You'll get out. You'll get your probation, and you'll have years of life," the elder Montoya said.
In mid-October, Montoya was sentenced to two years and three months in prison. When he arrived at a federal prison transfer center in Oklahoma City, his medication was waiting for him. His father took that to mean that the prison system knew Montoya suffered from HIV.
Montoya arrived at the Pekin prison on Oct. 26. He lived just 18 more days. The inmates around him say he spent much of that time pleading for help from his cell.
Prison staff told Montoya he had the flu, according to Randy Rader, an inmate in the next cell who wrote letters to his mother about Montoya and discussed him in an e-mail interview with the AP.
"That man begged these people for nine days locked behind these doors," Rader wrote to his mother on Nov. 14. The letter was first obtained by The Pekin Daily Times, which wrote about Montoya's death earlier this year.
Rader has since been moved to a prison in California - far from his family in Michigan. He suspects the move was retaliation for speaking out about Montoya.
The last time a staff member visited Montoya, about 10 p.m. on Nov. 12, he reported having trouble breathing and complained that he could no longer feel his fingers, Rader said in the e-mail interview. The staff member told Montoya that he would try to get help the next day.
Around 6:30 a.m., prison officials found Montoya's body in his cell.
The autopsy showed that Montoya's spleen was almost 10 times the normal weight because it had been engulfed by a cancerous tumor, which was on its way to doing the same with his liver.
The pathologist who examined Montoya's body said his eyes were also yellow - an unmistakable sign of hepatitis. Dr. John Ralston is reluctant to speculate whether treatment could have saved Montoya's life by the time he reached Pekin. The doctor suspects he would have needed a liver transplant to have a chance.
That said, "You would think that he would have been feeling bad enough and complaining enough that somebody should have tried to get to the bottom of this," Ralston said.
The AP sought opinions about Montoya's condition from other doctors who did not examine him but were familiar with his diseases. They agreed he probably displayed obvious signs of distress.
Montoya would have had a swollen abdomen because of his spleen. At the same time, he probably was losing weight rapidly because the large tumor would have left little room in his belly for food, according to Dr. Krishna Rao, an assistant professor of oncology at Southern Illinois University Medical School in Springfield.
Someone in Montoya's condition should have been taking heavy doses of chemotherapy for his cancer or receiving stem cell transplants, if he were healthy enough, said Dr. James Egner, an oncologist with the Carle Foundation Hospital in Champaign.
If the cancer was too advanced, Montoya should have at least been treated for pain with powerful drugs, possibly in a hospice, Egner said.
The president of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project said it isn't uncommon for medical records not to arrive with a federal inmate.
"Sometimes it arrives late, and sometimes it doesn't happen at all," said David Fathi, who has spent 15 years studying prison conditions. "That's why it's so critical that the new facilities do a medical screening" of new inmates.
Fahti said Montoya's death "is really an egregious failure, of the kind that you wouldn't expect from even a small county jail, let alone the largest prison system in the United States."
After his son's death, Juan Montoya wrote to the prison complaining about its medical care. Warden Richard Rios wrote back to defend his institution.
"I must respectfully disagree with your characterization of the medical care Adam received and want to assure you that we carefully monitored you son's medical condition," wrote Rios, who was not hired for the job until months after the death. He did not elaborate, writing that privacy laws limited what he could say.
The elder Montoya is now waiting for his son's medical records, but he doubts they will offer many clues. The family has hired lawyers but has not decided whether to file a lawsuit.
Montoya thinks a lot now about the assurances he offered his son as he headed for prison.
"Your time will go by fast, and you'll get out, and we'll get you a job and be part of the family," Montoya recalls telling his son. "It never happened."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_INMATE_DEATH_IN_AGONY?SITE=MOSPL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Story>>>
Sun 27, 8:36 PM EDT
Ill. inmate died in agony while pleading for help
By DAVID MERCER
Associated Press Writer
PEKIN, Ill. (AP) -- For days before he died in a federal prison, Adam Montoya pleaded with guards to be taken to a doctor, pressing a panic button in his cell over and over to summon help that never came.
An autopsy concluded that the 36-year-old inmate suffered from no fewer than three serious illnesses - cancer, hepatitis and HIV. The cancer ultimately killed him, causing his spleen to burst. Montoya bled to death internally.
But the coroner and a pathologist were more stunned by another finding: The only medication in his system was a trace of over-the-counter pain reliever.
That means Montoya, imprisoned for a passing counterfeit checks, had been given nothing to ease the excruciating pain that no doubt wracked his body for days or weeks before death.
"He shouldn't have died in agony like that," Coroner Dennis Conover said. "He had been out there long enough that he should have at least died in the hospital."
The FBI recently completed an investigation into Montoya's death and gave its findings to the Justice Department, which is reviewing the case. If federal prosecutors conclude that Montoya's civil rights were violated, they could take action against the prison, its guards, or both. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment, saying that the matter was still being investigated.
The coroner said guards should have been aware that something was seriously wrong with the inmate. And outside experts agree that the symptoms of cancer and hepatitis would have been hard to miss: dramatic weight loss, a swollen abdomen, yellow eyes.
During Montoya's final days, he "consistently made requests to the prison for medical attention, and they wouldn't give it to him," said his father, Juan Montoya, who described how his son repeatedly punched the panic button. Three inmates corroborated that account in interviews with The Associated Press.
The younger Montoya was taken to the prison clinic one day for "maybe five, 10 minutes," his father said. "And they gave him Tylenol, and that was it. He suffered a lot."
The federal prison in Pekin will not discuss Montoya's death. Prison spokesman Jay Henderson referred questions to the Bureau of Prisons, which denied an AP request for information on Montoya's medical condition, citing privacy laws.
It isn't clear whether the prison system, relatives or even Montoya himself knew the full extent of his illness. Montoya's father had no idea his son had cancer or hepatitis. Inmates who knew him said he told them he had cancer, but they knew nothing of his HIV.
According to its website, the Bureau of Prisons tries to screen the health of new inmates within 24 hours of their arrival. A closer examination within two weeks is required for prisoners with serious, long-term illnesses. But officials have not said whether Montoya was given any kind of exam or whether his medical records made it to Pekin.
Montoya pleaded guilty in May 2009 to counterfeiting commercial checks, credit cards and gift cards. Prosecutors will not say how much money was involved in the scheme, but Montoya was ordered to pay a little over $2,000 in restitution.
Montoya, who had a history of methamphetamine abuse, was released while awaiting sentencing and was ordered not to use drugs. At the time, he was living with his father and working for his father's process-serving business, which delivers legal documents. His father said he was paying Montoya's bills and paying him about $300 a week.
Then in mid-June, Adam Montoya was diagnosed with HIV.
"It hit him like a ton of bricks," his father said.
After the diagnosis, Montoya retreated back into methamphetamine. Following a urine test, he admitted using the drug three times in a month, and he was locked up.
Montoya began taking antiviral drugs, so his father still had hope and tried to give his son a sense of the same. "I thought, 'You'll get out. You'll get your probation, and you'll have years of life," the elder Montoya said.
In mid-October, Montoya was sentenced to two years and three months in prison. When he arrived at a federal prison transfer center in Oklahoma City, his medication was waiting for him. His father took that to mean that the prison system knew Montoya suffered from HIV.
Montoya arrived at the Pekin prison on Oct. 26. He lived just 18 more days. The inmates around him say he spent much of that time pleading for help from his cell.
Prison staff told Montoya he had the flu, according to Randy Rader, an inmate in the next cell who wrote letters to his mother about Montoya and discussed him in an e-mail interview with the AP.
"That man begged these people for nine days locked behind these doors," Rader wrote to his mother on Nov. 14. The letter was first obtained by The Pekin Daily Times, which wrote about Montoya's death earlier this year.
Rader has since been moved to a prison in California - far from his family in Michigan. He suspects the move was retaliation for speaking out about Montoya.
The last time a staff member visited Montoya, about 10 p.m. on Nov. 12, he reported having trouble breathing and complained that he could no longer feel his fingers, Rader said in the e-mail interview. The staff member told Montoya that he would try to get help the next day.
Around 6:30 a.m., prison officials found Montoya's body in his cell.
The autopsy showed that Montoya's spleen was almost 10 times the normal weight because it had been engulfed by a cancerous tumor, which was on its way to doing the same with his liver.
The pathologist who examined Montoya's body said his eyes were also yellow - an unmistakable sign of hepatitis. Dr. John Ralston is reluctant to speculate whether treatment could have saved Montoya's life by the time he reached Pekin. The doctor suspects he would have needed a liver transplant to have a chance.
That said, "You would think that he would have been feeling bad enough and complaining enough that somebody should have tried to get to the bottom of this," Ralston said.
The AP sought opinions about Montoya's condition from other doctors who did not examine him but were familiar with his diseases. They agreed he probably displayed obvious signs of distress.
Montoya would have had a swollen abdomen because of his spleen. At the same time, he probably was losing weight rapidly because the large tumor would have left little room in his belly for food, according to Dr. Krishna Rao, an assistant professor of oncology at Southern Illinois University Medical School in Springfield.
Someone in Montoya's condition should have been taking heavy doses of chemotherapy for his cancer or receiving stem cell transplants, if he were healthy enough, said Dr. James Egner, an oncologist with the Carle Foundation Hospital in Champaign.
If the cancer was too advanced, Montoya should have at least been treated for pain with powerful drugs, possibly in a hospice, Egner said.
The president of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project said it isn't uncommon for medical records not to arrive with a federal inmate.
"Sometimes it arrives late, and sometimes it doesn't happen at all," said David Fathi, who has spent 15 years studying prison conditions. "That's why it's so critical that the new facilities do a medical screening" of new inmates.
Fahti said Montoya's death "is really an egregious failure, of the kind that you wouldn't expect from even a small county jail, let alone the largest prison system in the United States."
After his son's death, Juan Montoya wrote to the prison complaining about its medical care. Warden Richard Rios wrote back to defend his institution.
"I must respectfully disagree with your characterization of the medical care Adam received and want to assure you that we carefully monitored you son's medical condition," wrote Rios, who was not hired for the job until months after the death. He did not elaborate, writing that privacy laws limited what he could say.
The elder Montoya is now waiting for his son's medical records, but he doubts they will offer many clues. The family has hired lawyers but has not decided whether to file a lawsuit.
Montoya thinks a lot now about the assurances he offered his son as he headed for prison.
"Your time will go by fast, and you'll get out, and we'll get you a job and be part of the family," Montoya recalls telling his son. "It never happened."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_INMATE_DEATH_IN_AGONY?SITE=MOSPL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Saturday, June 12, 2010
June 2010 Update On Jamie Scott
Mrs. Rasco arrived in Mississippi yesterday for a visit with Jamie today
and one with Gladys tomorrow, yet was told once she arrived at the
prison today that she and her granddaughter had on open-toed shoes
and were not permitted in. They had to leave the prison and purchase
closed-toe shoes to even get into see Jamie after all of that travelling.
She was also told that she would not be permitted to see Gladys
at all tomorrow because she is NOT on Glady's visitation list!!
She has been on Gladys' visitation list for 15 years and visited she
and Jamie recently. This is unconscionable and pure harassment,
and the family and Gladys are extremely hurt and disappointed.
Jamie was feeling and looking better today and told her mother that
she is getting better medication, although she did state that she feels
her body is changing and deteriorating slowly. She has unresolved
chest pains that come and go and have not been evaluated. She's
very, very grateful to all of the supporters for all that is being done!
The conditions in the Quick Bed unit where she is housed are horrible.
This unit is the worst place in the prison, no one even goes back there
except those that work there. It is in the back of the prison and there
are also men housed back there. When it rains, the water pours into
the unit and they all have to mop up the water. Water leaks around
Jamie's bed and electrical socket and she is worried about getting
sick or even electrocuted. The toilets still have major plumbing
problems and overflow. Mold is also still an issue on the unit.
The Board of Health needs to go into the prison and get these
problems addressed once and for all, Jamie's health is tenuous as
it is! On April 16, 2010 , Mr. Jeffrey Brown of the Board of Health
stated that the mold, sewage and spider infestation at CMCF/quickbed
would be taken care of but only the insect infestation has been
addressed.
Jeffrey Brown - Jeffrey.Brown@ msdh.state. ms.us
Mac Arthur Washington - Macarthur.Washingto n@msdh.state. ms.us
Central Office Phone
601-576-7400 (8am-5pm)
Agency personnel are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in public health emergencies.
and one with Gladys tomorrow, yet was told once she arrived at the
prison today that she and her granddaughter had on open-toed shoes
and were not permitted in. They had to leave the prison and purchase
closed-toe shoes to even get into see Jamie after all of that travelling.
She was also told that she would not be permitted to see Gladys
at all tomorrow because she is NOT on Glady's visitation list!!
She has been on Gladys' visitation list for 15 years and visited she
and Jamie recently. This is unconscionable and pure harassment,
and the family and Gladys are extremely hurt and disappointed.
Jamie was feeling and looking better today and told her mother that
she is getting better medication, although she did state that she feels
her body is changing and deteriorating slowly. She has unresolved
chest pains that come and go and have not been evaluated. She's
very, very grateful to all of the supporters for all that is being done!
The conditions in the Quick Bed unit where she is housed are horrible.
This unit is the worst place in the prison, no one even goes back there
except those that work there. It is in the back of the prison and there
are also men housed back there. When it rains, the water pours into
the unit and they all have to mop up the water. Water leaks around
Jamie's bed and electrical socket and she is worried about getting
sick or even electrocuted. The toilets still have major plumbing
problems and overflow. Mold is also still an issue on the unit.
The Board of Health needs to go into the prison and get these
problems addressed once and for all, Jamie's health is tenuous as
it is! On April 16, 2010 , Mr. Jeffrey Brown of the Board of Health
stated that the mold, sewage and spider infestation at CMCF/quickbed
would be taken care of but only the insect infestation has been
addressed.
Jeffrey Brown - Jeffrey.Brown@ msdh.state. ms.us
Mac Arthur Washington - Macarthur.Washingto n@msdh.state. ms.us
Central Office Phone
601-576-7400 (8am-5pm)
Agency personnel are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in public health emergencies.
Juveniles Abused While In State Facilities
The girls at the Mississippi detention center were tied up for weeks at a time. Minor offenders, some as young as 13, were cuffed and chained when they ate or used the bathroom. In the words of Erica, a 16-year-old detainee, it was a place that ‘made you feel like you were nothing.’
The boy was beaten and restrained by guards on his first day at a juvenile boot camp in Northwest Florida, suspected of faking an illness to avoid exercise. Martin Lee Anderson died from his injuries early the next day. He was 14.
David Burgos spent much of his young life running away from abusive group homes. One of the estimated 80 percent of juvenile offenders who suffer from a recognizable mental health disorder, the bipolar 17-year-old was arrested in 2006 for a probation violation related to a minor theft charge. After four months at Connecticut's Manson Youth Institution without mental health care, David hung himself with a bed sheet.
According to the most recent data from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, nearly 80,000 people under the age of 18 are held in juvenile detention and residential facilities around the United States each day. To juvenile justice advocates across the nation, the stories above are all too common in a system where punitive policies increase recidivism and exacerbate juvenile crime. “ (Juvenile Junction- By Will Di Novi September 15, 2008)
http://www.manipulatedtrial.de/Letter%20to%20my%20Friends%20III%200809.pdf
The boy was beaten and restrained by guards on his first day at a juvenile boot camp in Northwest Florida, suspected of faking an illness to avoid exercise. Martin Lee Anderson died from his injuries early the next day. He was 14.
David Burgos spent much of his young life running away from abusive group homes. One of the estimated 80 percent of juvenile offenders who suffer from a recognizable mental health disorder, the bipolar 17-year-old was arrested in 2006 for a probation violation related to a minor theft charge. After four months at Connecticut's Manson Youth Institution without mental health care, David hung himself with a bed sheet.
According to the most recent data from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, nearly 80,000 people under the age of 18 are held in juvenile detention and residential facilities around the United States each day. To juvenile justice advocates across the nation, the stories above are all too common in a system where punitive policies increase recidivism and exacerbate juvenile crime. “ (Juvenile Junction- By Will Di Novi September 15, 2008)
http://www.manipulatedtrial.de/Letter%20to%20my%20Friends%20III%200809.pdf
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Restraints And Seclusion
Nationwide, since 1993, at least 64 children died and thousands were injured while being restrained in face-down and other methods. About half of the restraints that caused deaths were unnecessary, a review of restraint deaths by Cornell University Residential Child Care Project found.
Cornell's trainers, who have worked with Parmadale, teach both the face-up and facedown techniques as a part of their Therapeutic Crisis Intervention system but warn neither is safe. Facilities choose which methods suit their philosophy. Some choose never to use restraints.
"Every single restraint assumes a certain level of risk, including death," said Michael Nunno, the project's principal investigator. "You never want your intervention to be more risky than what the child is doing."
According to the coroner's ruling, Faith was restrained after an "outburst of disruptive behavior."
Faith had been tossing things around her room and may have approached the staff aggressively, said Parma police and Parmadale officials.
That type of behavior alone is not enough to restrain a child, Nunno said.
Workers often get into power struggles with kids they supervise, especially if the atmosphere in the facility is chaotic. Staff involved in such struggles should remove themselves from dealing with the children, he said.
According to police records and other sources, the situation in Parmadale's Cottage 14, where Faith lived, was particularly tense.
In the days leading up to her restraint, several children escaped, one stole a car, a child-care worker was injured by a teen and -- just before Faith died -- another girl in the cottage was beaten so badly, she was taken to the hospital.
People can be trained and tested over and over, Mullen said, but in the heat of a situation, it's hard to maintain control of an agitated child who is struggling with staff.
"What people need to understand is that these are interactions between humans," he said.
Bellefaire JCB in Shaker Heights, which also treats troubled children, uses restraint as a last resort, said Jeffrey Cox, clinical director.
"For us, disruptive is not enough," he said. If a child were to punch a staff member and walk away, that would not be a restraint situation because the immediate danger would be over, he said.
When restraints are used, the child's vital signs are carefully monitored, and children are not left alone immediately after being restrained, Cox said.
Faith was allowed to rest on the floor after she was released from the restraint, and workers later discovered her breathing was shallow. Parmadale staff lacked access to life-saving measures such as an automatic defibrillator to try to restart her heart.
The number of restraint-related injuries in Ohio is unclear because no agency collects the data. Information about major incidents, such as deaths or serious injuries, is supposed to be reported to the agency or agencies that license a facility. But that information is not shared.
In 2006, the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities, an umbrella group that includes county mental health boards, pleaded for the creation of a statewide system to report child injuries in facilities.
The report pointed out that thousands of restraint-related injuries each year, including rug burns, black eyes, bloody noses and broken teeth, are not required to be reported. It concluded that fear of liability and the potential of losing facilities, which are already in short supply, were reasons that reforms were not being pushed.
"We tinker around the edges, but nobody is biting the bullet and fixing this problem," Cheri Walter, CEO of the group, said at the time.
Asked this week if any changes had been made since the 2006 paper was printed, Walter said, "Frankly, nothing has changed."
But now, officials are facing the death of a 17-year-old.
"It's unfortunately taken kids' deaths to prompt these kinds of changes," Nunno said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CBS 5 Investigates: School 'Quiet Rooms' Continue Advocates Push For Restraint And Seclusion Law Changes
http://cbs5.com/investigates/Quiet.Rooms.kids.2.898717.html (Click on the link to watch the video)
Reporting Anna Werner
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― Holding school kids down to the floor or closing them in so-called "quiet rooms" are practices advocates say can have dangers for the children and should be reduced or even eliminated.
But they're still allowed under California law, despite those advocates' efforts.
Naomi Liron says of her son, "He came home with three big pinch marks on his arm."
Liron says her 11-year-old son Reuben sustained injuries at school, like bruises on an arm, a rug burn on his face and emotional pain.
"He was depressed, very anxious and very depressed," says Liron.
Diagnosed with conditions including bipolar disorder and ADHD, Reuben attended the private Lincoln Child Center in Oakland, a school for children with special educational needs, for five years.
But his mother says it wasn't until earlier this year that she reallyunderstood what was happening with Reuben.
"I cried, when I read the incident reports," Liron said.
Those incident reports show how center staff at times restrained Reuben on the floor, in one report, holding him down for "ten minutes" after he misbehaved.
And on other occasions, how staff closed him into the "quiet room", where they noted he was "banging" and "ramming his body against the door."
In one report, a therapist wrote that he pleaded with her before being put in the room, "I love you, don't leave me, don't hurt me."
His mom says, "That's the one I cried the most about, because he's so desperate, and he's so scared."
Lincoln Child Center declined an on-camera interview about the case, citing confidentiality. In a statement, it says its ultimate goal is to keep children safe.
And under California law, restraining and even keeping children in those quiet rooms can be legal.
Which is why attorney Maggie Roberts, with Disability Rights California says, "I have great concerns."
Roberts is working on Reuben's case for Disability Rights California (formerly Protection and Advocacy).
According to Roberts, "They are reporting things that show that a child is very traumatized, and yet they continue to do it."
And a CBS5 investigation found similar incidents reported in schools across California and around the nation, in both public and private schools. Children have been locked in closets, or restrained, one even tied down with duct tape.
So last year, Roberts' group tried to change California law to limit those practices, and eliminate seclusion entirely. But Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to sign the bill authored by Senator Sheila Kuehl.
The governor said the bill could stop school employees "from intervening in an emergency and place more students at risk."
But disability rights' Leslie Morrison says:
"By vetoing the bill and allowing these practices to continue we have put teachers and students at great risk."
Morrison says her group is looking into still more cases even now, like that of a 12 year old girl held repeatedly in asmall room with bare walls and no windows in San Diego and an injury sustained by a 9 year old boy on his backside, after being dragged by a classroom aide in a district north of Los Angeles.
http://www.caica.org/RESTRAINT_AND_SECLUSION_CAICA.htm
Cornell's trainers, who have worked with Parmadale, teach both the face-up and facedown techniques as a part of their Therapeutic Crisis Intervention system but warn neither is safe. Facilities choose which methods suit their philosophy. Some choose never to use restraints.
"Every single restraint assumes a certain level of risk, including death," said Michael Nunno, the project's principal investigator. "You never want your intervention to be more risky than what the child is doing."
According to the coroner's ruling, Faith was restrained after an "outburst of disruptive behavior."
Faith had been tossing things around her room and may have approached the staff aggressively, said Parma police and Parmadale officials.
That type of behavior alone is not enough to restrain a child, Nunno said.
Workers often get into power struggles with kids they supervise, especially if the atmosphere in the facility is chaotic. Staff involved in such struggles should remove themselves from dealing with the children, he said.
According to police records and other sources, the situation in Parmadale's Cottage 14, where Faith lived, was particularly tense.
In the days leading up to her restraint, several children escaped, one stole a car, a child-care worker was injured by a teen and -- just before Faith died -- another girl in the cottage was beaten so badly, she was taken to the hospital.
People can be trained and tested over and over, Mullen said, but in the heat of a situation, it's hard to maintain control of an agitated child who is struggling with staff.
"What people need to understand is that these are interactions between humans," he said.
Bellefaire JCB in Shaker Heights, which also treats troubled children, uses restraint as a last resort, said Jeffrey Cox, clinical director.
"For us, disruptive is not enough," he said. If a child were to punch a staff member and walk away, that would not be a restraint situation because the immediate danger would be over, he said.
When restraints are used, the child's vital signs are carefully monitored, and children are not left alone immediately after being restrained, Cox said.
Faith was allowed to rest on the floor after she was released from the restraint, and workers later discovered her breathing was shallow. Parmadale staff lacked access to life-saving measures such as an automatic defibrillator to try to restart her heart.
The number of restraint-related injuries in Ohio is unclear because no agency collects the data. Information about major incidents, such as deaths or serious injuries, is supposed to be reported to the agency or agencies that license a facility. But that information is not shared.
In 2006, the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities, an umbrella group that includes county mental health boards, pleaded for the creation of a statewide system to report child injuries in facilities.
The report pointed out that thousands of restraint-related injuries each year, including rug burns, black eyes, bloody noses and broken teeth, are not required to be reported. It concluded that fear of liability and the potential of losing facilities, which are already in short supply, were reasons that reforms were not being pushed.
"We tinker around the edges, but nobody is biting the bullet and fixing this problem," Cheri Walter, CEO of the group, said at the time.
Asked this week if any changes had been made since the 2006 paper was printed, Walter said, "Frankly, nothing has changed."
But now, officials are facing the death of a 17-year-old.
"It's unfortunately taken kids' deaths to prompt these kinds of changes," Nunno said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CBS 5 Investigates: School 'Quiet Rooms' Continue Advocates Push For Restraint And Seclusion Law Changes
http://cbs5.com/investigates/Quiet.Rooms.kids.2.898717.html (Click on the link to watch the video)
Reporting Anna Werner
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― Holding school kids down to the floor or closing them in so-called "quiet rooms" are practices advocates say can have dangers for the children and should be reduced or even eliminated.
But they're still allowed under California law, despite those advocates' efforts.
Naomi Liron says of her son, "He came home with three big pinch marks on his arm."
Liron says her 11-year-old son Reuben sustained injuries at school, like bruises on an arm, a rug burn on his face and emotional pain.
"He was depressed, very anxious and very depressed," says Liron.
Diagnosed with conditions including bipolar disorder and ADHD, Reuben attended the private Lincoln Child Center in Oakland, a school for children with special educational needs, for five years.
But his mother says it wasn't until earlier this year that she reallyunderstood what was happening with Reuben.
"I cried, when I read the incident reports," Liron said.
Those incident reports show how center staff at times restrained Reuben on the floor, in one report, holding him down for "ten minutes" after he misbehaved.
And on other occasions, how staff closed him into the "quiet room", where they noted he was "banging" and "ramming his body against the door."
In one report, a therapist wrote that he pleaded with her before being put in the room, "I love you, don't leave me, don't hurt me."
His mom says, "That's the one I cried the most about, because he's so desperate, and he's so scared."
Lincoln Child Center declined an on-camera interview about the case, citing confidentiality. In a statement, it says its ultimate goal is to keep children safe.
And under California law, restraining and even keeping children in those quiet rooms can be legal.
Which is why attorney Maggie Roberts, with Disability Rights California says, "I have great concerns."
Roberts is working on Reuben's case for Disability Rights California (formerly Protection and Advocacy).
According to Roberts, "They are reporting things that show that a child is very traumatized, and yet they continue to do it."
And a CBS5 investigation found similar incidents reported in schools across California and around the nation, in both public and private schools. Children have been locked in closets, or restrained, one even tied down with duct tape.
So last year, Roberts' group tried to change California law to limit those practices, and eliminate seclusion entirely. But Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to sign the bill authored by Senator Sheila Kuehl.
The governor said the bill could stop school employees "from intervening in an emergency and place more students at risk."
But disability rights' Leslie Morrison says:
"By vetoing the bill and allowing these practices to continue we have put teachers and students at great risk."
Morrison says her group is looking into still more cases even now, like that of a 12 year old girl held repeatedly in asmall room with bare walls and no windows in San Diego and an injury sustained by a 9 year old boy on his backside, after being dragged by a classroom aide in a district north of Los Angeles.
http://www.caica.org/RESTRAINT_AND_SECLUSION_CAICA.htm
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Justice study tracks rape, sexual abuse of juvenile inmates
Justice study tracks rape, sexual abuse of juvenile inmates
The disagreement appears to center on three issues, according to three people following the process: whether prison systems should be subject to independent audits every three years that would assess their compliance; whether guards and staff members of the opposite sex should be prevented from monitoring inmates in bathrooms, showers and other sensitive locations; and whether the reforms involve a "substantial" expense to prison operators.
"Congress did not intend to permit facilities . . . that had done a poor job of protecting inmates to plead expense as an excuse for failing to improve their performance," said Jamie Fellner, a panel member and senior counsel at Human Rights Watch, who sent a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. this week expressing her concern.
John Ozmint, director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, said the prison rape commission operated with "flawed" statistics and a "one-sided" understanding of the pressures and legal obligations of state corrections administrators. In an interview, Ozmint said that he and most of his colleagues had put in place new training and reporting requirements for allegations of sexual misconduct. Several of the recommendations, he said, including the one suggesting pat-downs only by guards of the same gender as inmates, posed problems under employment laws and union contracts.
"Ninety-two percent of my inmates are men," Ozmint said. "Forty-four percent of my work force are women. How do I avoid cross-gender supervision and even cross-gender searching of those inmates?"
The Association of State Correctional Administrators will share its concerns with the Justice Department in a session next month, co-executive director George Camp said. California and Oregon have agreed to put into place the commission's recommendations, advocates say.
Among the sites mentioned in the new study where youths reported high rates of abuse were the Culpeper Juvenile Correctional Center in Fauquier County; the Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center in suburban Richmond; and the Backbone Mountain Youth Center in Swanton, Md.
Bruce Twyman, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice, expressed concerns about the methodology of the study but said officials were taking it seriously.
"We certainly agree that sexual victimization is an issue that needs to be addressed in the state of Virginia as well as the nation," Twyman said. Over the past 18 months, Virginia has increased staff training and upgraded video surveillance in juvenile facilities, he added.
In Maryland, a spokesman for the Department of Juvenile Services said the department "has not had any substantiated complaints for sexual misconduct at the facility in Swanton and has had only one allegation made there" since 2007. The department also announced a review.
Lovisa Stannow, executive director of Just Detention International, which works to prevent prison sexual abuse, said the study reflecting that juveniles may be abused at three times the rate of adults underscores the need for quick action.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/07/AR2010010703849_2.htm
The disagreement appears to center on three issues, according to three people following the process: whether prison systems should be subject to independent audits every three years that would assess their compliance; whether guards and staff members of the opposite sex should be prevented from monitoring inmates in bathrooms, showers and other sensitive locations; and whether the reforms involve a "substantial" expense to prison operators.
"Congress did not intend to permit facilities . . . that had done a poor job of protecting inmates to plead expense as an excuse for failing to improve their performance," said Jamie Fellner, a panel member and senior counsel at Human Rights Watch, who sent a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. this week expressing her concern.
John Ozmint, director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, said the prison rape commission operated with "flawed" statistics and a "one-sided" understanding of the pressures and legal obligations of state corrections administrators. In an interview, Ozmint said that he and most of his colleagues had put in place new training and reporting requirements for allegations of sexual misconduct. Several of the recommendations, he said, including the one suggesting pat-downs only by guards of the same gender as inmates, posed problems under employment laws and union contracts.
"Ninety-two percent of my inmates are men," Ozmint said. "Forty-four percent of my work force are women. How do I avoid cross-gender supervision and even cross-gender searching of those inmates?"
The Association of State Correctional Administrators will share its concerns with the Justice Department in a session next month, co-executive director George Camp said. California and Oregon have agreed to put into place the commission's recommendations, advocates say.
Among the sites mentioned in the new study where youths reported high rates of abuse were the Culpeper Juvenile Correctional Center in Fauquier County; the Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center in suburban Richmond; and the Backbone Mountain Youth Center in Swanton, Md.
Bruce Twyman, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice, expressed concerns about the methodology of the study but said officials were taking it seriously.
"We certainly agree that sexual victimization is an issue that needs to be addressed in the state of Virginia as well as the nation," Twyman said. Over the past 18 months, Virginia has increased staff training and upgraded video surveillance in juvenile facilities, he added.
In Maryland, a spokesman for the Department of Juvenile Services said the department "has not had any substantiated complaints for sexual misconduct at the facility in Swanton and has had only one allegation made there" since 2007. The department also announced a review.
Lovisa Stannow, executive director of Just Detention International, which works to prevent prison sexual abuse, said the study reflecting that juveniles may be abused at three times the rate of adults underscores the need for quick action.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/07/AR2010010703849_2.htm
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Sexual Assult Case Of Youth In Texas
go to web page for more information on the Sexual Assault Case of Youth in Texas
http://peopleagainstprisonabuse.com/TYC/TexasYouthComission.html
Please pray for Justice, Flo, PAPA
http://peopleagainstprisonabuse.com/TYC/TexasYouthComission.html
Please pray for Justice, Flo, PAPA
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Crippled Inmate Beaten By Guards
Crippled inmate was alone with guards
Prisons chief says he wasn't beaten
BY MICHAEL BIESECKER - STAFF WRITER
Published: Sat, May. 02, 2009 04:03AM
Modified Sat, May. 02, 2009 04:06AM
RALEIGH -- The head of the state prison system said Friday that
security camera footage of Timothy E. Helms being pulled from his
smoke-filled cell shows guards did not beat him. But a second segment
of tape shows the inmate being taken into another cell where he was
alone with up to five guards, out of view of the prison's cameras,
for 22 minutes.
Reviews of the Aug. 3 incident by both the state Department of
Correction and the State Bureau of Investigation have failed to
determine precisely how Helms received extensive blunt force injuries
that left him a quadriplegic.
The prosecutor who Wednesday said there was not enough evidence to
pursue any criminal charges was not shown footage of guards at
Alexander Correctional Institution taking Helms to another cell after
they removed him from the one he set on fire. Helms, who had a long
history of mental illness, had been held in solitary confinement for
more than a year.
The video shows four officers taking the inmate to a cell in another
section of the maximum security state prison in Taylorsville. Helms
is handcuffed and wearing a white T-shirt and long pants. He is seen
on the video walking upright and without assistance as the guards
escort him into the cell. A fifth officer then enters the confined
space.
For the next 22 minutes, Helms is in the cell with guards, out of
view of the camera, until medical personnel are taken to see him.
When four guards take him out of the cell six minutes later, at 10:18
p.m., he is wearing only underwear. Two of the officers appear to be
helping support him as he is hustled out of the cellblock.
At noon the next day, Helms was taken in the back of a squad car to
the emergency room of a hospital in Hickory, where medical records
indicate he told his doctor that he had set a fire in his cell and
that guards then beat him with sticks.
A CT scan showed that his skull was fractured in two places and a
doctor wrote that Helms had welts on his back and chest "consistent
with multiple blows from a Billy club."
Within days, as the bleeding in his brain continued, Helms slipped
into a coma.
Helms now lives in a hospital ward at Central Prison. Though can now
speak in a whisper, he can't sit up on his own, feed himself or
control his bowels. Extensive bleeding damaged the parts of his brain
tied to speech and memory.
Helms has been imprisoned since he was sentenced to three life terms
in 1994 after a fatal drunken-driving crash.
Alvin W. Keller Jr., secretary of the state Department of Correction,
said at a news conference Friday that there is no evidence that Helms
was abused by the staff at Alexander Correctional.
To bolster his case, Keller, a former military judge and prosecutor,
played a video clip recorded on the night of the fire, showing guards
removing Helms from his cell while his bedding was ablaze. That video
shows officers dragging Helms from his cell and into a nearby shower,
out of view. A short time later, the officers can be seen carrying
him out of the smoky pod of cells.
"I think that when you look at the tape, when you truly look at the
tape, these gents were focused on trying to do a good job here," said
Keller, who took over the top job at DOC in January. "I was quite
proud to see what they were doing. There focus was on trying to get
Helms out of there."
Keller said the video discredited the account Helms gave his
emergency room doctor of his being beaten by guards using batons.
A written DOC statement released Thursday said that guards on the
cellblock where the fire occurred were not issued batons until a
month later. On Friday, officials acknowledged that officers in
neighboring cellblocks who responded to the emergency did carry
batons, as could be seen in the video clip Keller showed at the news
conference.
michael.biesecker@... or 919-829-4698
Prisons chief says he wasn't beaten
BY MICHAEL BIESECKER - STAFF WRITER
Published: Sat, May. 02, 2009 04:03AM
Modified Sat, May. 02, 2009 04:06AM
RALEIGH -- The head of the state prison system said Friday that
security camera footage of Timothy E. Helms being pulled from his
smoke-filled cell shows guards did not beat him. But a second segment
of tape shows the inmate being taken into another cell where he was
alone with up to five guards, out of view of the prison's cameras,
for 22 minutes.
Reviews of the Aug. 3 incident by both the state Department of
Correction and the State Bureau of Investigation have failed to
determine precisely how Helms received extensive blunt force injuries
that left him a quadriplegic.
The prosecutor who Wednesday said there was not enough evidence to
pursue any criminal charges was not shown footage of guards at
Alexander Correctional Institution taking Helms to another cell after
they removed him from the one he set on fire. Helms, who had a long
history of mental illness, had been held in solitary confinement for
more than a year.
The video shows four officers taking the inmate to a cell in another
section of the maximum security state prison in Taylorsville. Helms
is handcuffed and wearing a white T-shirt and long pants. He is seen
on the video walking upright and without assistance as the guards
escort him into the cell. A fifth officer then enters the confined
space.
For the next 22 minutes, Helms is in the cell with guards, out of
view of the camera, until medical personnel are taken to see him.
When four guards take him out of the cell six minutes later, at 10:18
p.m., he is wearing only underwear. Two of the officers appear to be
helping support him as he is hustled out of the cellblock.
At noon the next day, Helms was taken in the back of a squad car to
the emergency room of a hospital in Hickory, where medical records
indicate he told his doctor that he had set a fire in his cell and
that guards then beat him with sticks.
A CT scan showed that his skull was fractured in two places and a
doctor wrote that Helms had welts on his back and chest "consistent
with multiple blows from a Billy club."
Within days, as the bleeding in his brain continued, Helms slipped
into a coma.
Helms now lives in a hospital ward at Central Prison. Though can now
speak in a whisper, he can't sit up on his own, feed himself or
control his bowels. Extensive bleeding damaged the parts of his brain
tied to speech and memory.
Helms has been imprisoned since he was sentenced to three life terms
in 1994 after a fatal drunken-driving crash.
Alvin W. Keller Jr., secretary of the state Department of Correction,
said at a news conference Friday that there is no evidence that Helms
was abused by the staff at Alexander Correctional.
To bolster his case, Keller, a former military judge and prosecutor,
played a video clip recorded on the night of the fire, showing guards
removing Helms from his cell while his bedding was ablaze. That video
shows officers dragging Helms from his cell and into a nearby shower,
out of view. A short time later, the officers can be seen carrying
him out of the smoky pod of cells.
"I think that when you look at the tape, when you truly look at the
tape, these gents were focused on trying to do a good job here," said
Keller, who took over the top job at DOC in January. "I was quite
proud to see what they were doing. There focus was on trying to get
Helms out of there."
Keller said the video discredited the account Helms gave his
emergency room doctor of his being beaten by guards using batons.
A written DOC statement released Thursday said that guards on the
cellblock where the fire occurred were not issued batons until a
month later. On Friday, officials acknowledged that officers in
neighboring cellblocks who responded to the emergency did carry
batons, as could be seen in the video clip Keller showed at the news
conference.
michael.biesecker@... or 919-829-4698
Houston Inmate Dies While In Custody
https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/21777_displayArticle.aspx
On March 7, 2008, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ) notified Harris County officials that it would be investigating conditions at the jail. The investigation resulted in a June 4, 2009 report that acknowledged “In many ways, the Jail actually performs quite well.” However, the 24-page report also concluded that “certain conditions at the Jail violate the constitutional rights of detainees.” The DOJ said the “number of inmates deaths related to inadequate medical care ... is alarming,” and found the jail had failed to provide prisoners with adequate medical and mental health care, protection from serious physical harm, and protection from “life safety hazards.”
The report detailed a number of deficiencies in medical care by Harris County jail staff that resulted in prisoner deaths; the DOJ investigators also stated they had “serious concerns about the use of force at the Jail,” which was described as “flawed.” The report noted that jail officials did “not train staff that hogtying and choke holds are dangerous, prohibited practices.”
Additionally, the DOJ cited overcrowding problems at the jail and observed that the Texas Jail Commission had granted waivers to allow Harris County to house 2,000 more prisoners than the facility’s original design capacity. The county has had to send hundreds of jail detainees to Louisiana to relieve overcrowded conditions, at a cost of $9 million a year. [See: PLN, Oct. 2008, p.28].
Overcrowding has exacerbated a number of other problems at the jail, including access to medical care and the ability of staff to ensure prisoners’ safety. In the latter regard, the DOJ stated that “in one recent ten month period, the Jail reported over 3,000 fights and 17 reported sexual assaults.” At least 500 pretrial detainees at the jail have been incarcerated for over a year, which contributes to the overcrowding problem. The Harris County jail system holds over 11,000 prisoners.
In an unrelated investigation, Houston’s city jails were found to be deficient, too. In a May 26, 2009 report, a court-appointed inspector found “filthy” conditions at the city jails and recommended that Houston build new detention facilities “with all due speed.” After visiting one of the jails earlier this year, City Councilwoman Jolanda Jones called it “inhumane” and said prisoners were “being forced to live in subhuman conditions.”
Houston’s jails have been under a court-enforced consent decree resulting from a class-action suit filed in 1989, which requires quarterly inspections. The inspector, David Bogard, cited problems with the use of interlocking restraints on prisoners, an inadequate investigation into a prisoner’s death, delays before arrestees were arraigned, and delays in follow-up medical care.
“We’re doing the best we can,” said Houston Police Captain Doug Perry, who is in charge of the city’s jail division. Apparently, though, those best efforts have not been good enough.
Other Texas Jails Also Problematic
In all fairness, Houston does not have the only jails in Texas with serious shortcomings. In 2004, inspectors determined that the Dallas County Jail was dangerously short of smoke detectors and emergency ventilation systems. The facility had also failed every state inspection for years. [See: PLN, Nov. 2007, p.14]. So it was major news when jail officials finally began to install smoke detectors four years later, in June 2008.
It was only after a prisoner in a holding cell at the Nueces County Courthouse tampered with the plumbing and flooded a courtroom floor in May 2008 that state inspectors even realized prisoners were being held there. The following month, a female detainee tried to commit suicide in one of the holding cells. It had been decades since the cells were inspected, and the Texas Commission on Jail Standards admitted it “was not aware there were holding cells being utilized in the courthouse.”
In Montague County, the sheriff and ten guards were indicted on Feb. 27, 2009 following an FBI investigation into sexual misconduct and contraband smuggling at the county jail, which was compared to the rowdy fraternity in “Animal House.” [See: PLN, Sept. 2009, p.40; May 2009, p.1].
In June 2008, Rodney George Cole II, a guard at the Jefferson County Jail in Beaumont, was sentenced to one year on probation and a $4,000 fine for assaulting prisoner Joseph Christopher Roberts. A video caught Cole hitting Roberts four times in the face, injuring his mouth.
When Roberts spit blood onto some jail paperwork, another Jefferson County guard, Johnny Lynn Vickery, Jr., threw him against a wall and smeared the bloody papers across his head and face. Vickery received a $4,000 fine but no jail time or probation. At the time of the incident, Roberts was being held for unpaid parking tickets.
Adrienne Lemons, incarcerated at the Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth, died on June 13, 2008 after being denied medication for an aggressive staph infection. Lemons had been diagnosed with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) while at the Dallas County Jail. She received four days’ worth of medication before she was transferred. When she arrived at Tarrant County, her paperwork indicated that she needed six more days of medication. She never received it.
When the pain from the MRSA infection became too much to bear, Lemons became suicidal. Jail staff placed her in segregation but did not check to see why she was in pain, which would have revealed her need for medical treatment. She died within hours after being taken to a local hospital.
The Tarrant County medical examiner determined that Lemons’ death was caused by a “rapid and catastrophic” infection from “flesh-eating” pneumonia and septic shock. Doctors responsible for medical care at the jail insisted that Lemons had never informed them she was on medication. They also agreed that she probably would have lived had she received the additional six days of antibiotics. Like Roberts, Lemons had been arrested for unpaid parking tickets.
“It is a tragic thing that my sister goes in for some traffic tickets and comes out dead,” said Lemons’ brother, Shannon Woodrome. “I can see an infection killing someone in the 1600s or the 1700s, but that shouldn’t happen today.”
The More Things Don’t Change
Harris County has made efforts to improve its jail system following the release of the DOJ’s report last June – though such efforts were likely motivated, at least in part, by a desire to avoid a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice. “We have been making, are making and will continue to make improvements to the way we operate at every level,” said Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia.
The jail passed a surprise inspection by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards in late July 2009, after failing an April inspection due to overcrowding, malfunctioning intercoms and broken toilets. Harris County has also appointed a former district judge as its “jail czar” to act as a liaison between the jail and court systems.
Yet county officials remain in denial over the seriousness of the problems in their jails. On August 25, 2009, the County Attorney’s office released a 300-page rebuttal to the DOJ report, arguing that “At no time ... has the jail not met constitutional standards.” The County Attorney noted that million of dollars had been spent to computerize prisoners’ medical records since the DOJ’s inspection, and said “At the least, the jail system of the past and present meets minimal standards.”
County Judge Ed Emmett opined that the DOJ report was “fairly positive .... It has some episodic events but it does not show a pattern of problems.” Which is, of course, a very optimistic – and entirely incorrect – interpretation of the findings made by the DOJ, which said it could sue the county if improvements were not made.
Meanwhile, Harris County jail prisoners continue to die. On August 18, 2009, prisoner Daniel Aguirre, 20, fell into a coma and died after he was reportedly involved in several altercations with jail staff. His family has claimed he was “beat up by a jailer three times” and had his head slammed against a wall. An investigation is pending.
Year after year, PLN has reported on the abysmal conditions in Texas jails. Time and again there have been empty promises of change from local leaders. Yet the number of deaths and the extent of abuse in jails in the Lone Star State continue to increase. Each new administration inherits the apathy of its predecessor, and Texas citizens unfortunate enough to find themselves in jail continue to pay a high price – up to and including their lives.
Sources: Associated Press, Beaumont Enterprise, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, www.houstonpress.com, www.kristv.com,KTRK-TV Houston, www.rawstory.com, http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com
On March 7, 2008, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ) notified Harris County officials that it would be investigating conditions at the jail. The investigation resulted in a June 4, 2009 report that acknowledged “In many ways, the Jail actually performs quite well.” However, the 24-page report also concluded that “certain conditions at the Jail violate the constitutional rights of detainees.” The DOJ said the “number of inmates deaths related to inadequate medical care ... is alarming,” and found the jail had failed to provide prisoners with adequate medical and mental health care, protection from serious physical harm, and protection from “life safety hazards.”
The report detailed a number of deficiencies in medical care by Harris County jail staff that resulted in prisoner deaths; the DOJ investigators also stated they had “serious concerns about the use of force at the Jail,” which was described as “flawed.” The report noted that jail officials did “not train staff that hogtying and choke holds are dangerous, prohibited practices.”
Additionally, the DOJ cited overcrowding problems at the jail and observed that the Texas Jail Commission had granted waivers to allow Harris County to house 2,000 more prisoners than the facility’s original design capacity. The county has had to send hundreds of jail detainees to Louisiana to relieve overcrowded conditions, at a cost of $9 million a year. [See: PLN, Oct. 2008, p.28].
Overcrowding has exacerbated a number of other problems at the jail, including access to medical care and the ability of staff to ensure prisoners’ safety. In the latter regard, the DOJ stated that “in one recent ten month period, the Jail reported over 3,000 fights and 17 reported sexual assaults.” At least 500 pretrial detainees at the jail have been incarcerated for over a year, which contributes to the overcrowding problem. The Harris County jail system holds over 11,000 prisoners.
In an unrelated investigation, Houston’s city jails were found to be deficient, too. In a May 26, 2009 report, a court-appointed inspector found “filthy” conditions at the city jails and recommended that Houston build new detention facilities “with all due speed.” After visiting one of the jails earlier this year, City Councilwoman Jolanda Jones called it “inhumane” and said prisoners were “being forced to live in subhuman conditions.”
Houston’s jails have been under a court-enforced consent decree resulting from a class-action suit filed in 1989, which requires quarterly inspections. The inspector, David Bogard, cited problems with the use of interlocking restraints on prisoners, an inadequate investigation into a prisoner’s death, delays before arrestees were arraigned, and delays in follow-up medical care.
“We’re doing the best we can,” said Houston Police Captain Doug Perry, who is in charge of the city’s jail division. Apparently, though, those best efforts have not been good enough.
Other Texas Jails Also Problematic
In all fairness, Houston does not have the only jails in Texas with serious shortcomings. In 2004, inspectors determined that the Dallas County Jail was dangerously short of smoke detectors and emergency ventilation systems. The facility had also failed every state inspection for years. [See: PLN, Nov. 2007, p.14]. So it was major news when jail officials finally began to install smoke detectors four years later, in June 2008.
It was only after a prisoner in a holding cell at the Nueces County Courthouse tampered with the plumbing and flooded a courtroom floor in May 2008 that state inspectors even realized prisoners were being held there. The following month, a female detainee tried to commit suicide in one of the holding cells. It had been decades since the cells were inspected, and the Texas Commission on Jail Standards admitted it “was not aware there were holding cells being utilized in the courthouse.”
In Montague County, the sheriff and ten guards were indicted on Feb. 27, 2009 following an FBI investigation into sexual misconduct and contraband smuggling at the county jail, which was compared to the rowdy fraternity in “Animal House.” [See: PLN, Sept. 2009, p.40; May 2009, p.1].
In June 2008, Rodney George Cole II, a guard at the Jefferson County Jail in Beaumont, was sentenced to one year on probation and a $4,000 fine for assaulting prisoner Joseph Christopher Roberts. A video caught Cole hitting Roberts four times in the face, injuring his mouth.
When Roberts spit blood onto some jail paperwork, another Jefferson County guard, Johnny Lynn Vickery, Jr., threw him against a wall and smeared the bloody papers across his head and face. Vickery received a $4,000 fine but no jail time or probation. At the time of the incident, Roberts was being held for unpaid parking tickets.
Adrienne Lemons, incarcerated at the Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth, died on June 13, 2008 after being denied medication for an aggressive staph infection. Lemons had been diagnosed with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) while at the Dallas County Jail. She received four days’ worth of medication before she was transferred. When she arrived at Tarrant County, her paperwork indicated that she needed six more days of medication. She never received it.
When the pain from the MRSA infection became too much to bear, Lemons became suicidal. Jail staff placed her in segregation but did not check to see why she was in pain, which would have revealed her need for medical treatment. She died within hours after being taken to a local hospital.
The Tarrant County medical examiner determined that Lemons’ death was caused by a “rapid and catastrophic” infection from “flesh-eating” pneumonia and septic shock. Doctors responsible for medical care at the jail insisted that Lemons had never informed them she was on medication. They also agreed that she probably would have lived had she received the additional six days of antibiotics. Like Roberts, Lemons had been arrested for unpaid parking tickets.
“It is a tragic thing that my sister goes in for some traffic tickets and comes out dead,” said Lemons’ brother, Shannon Woodrome. “I can see an infection killing someone in the 1600s or the 1700s, but that shouldn’t happen today.”
The More Things Don’t Change
Harris County has made efforts to improve its jail system following the release of the DOJ’s report last June – though such efforts were likely motivated, at least in part, by a desire to avoid a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice. “We have been making, are making and will continue to make improvements to the way we operate at every level,” said Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia.
The jail passed a surprise inspection by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards in late July 2009, after failing an April inspection due to overcrowding, malfunctioning intercoms and broken toilets. Harris County has also appointed a former district judge as its “jail czar” to act as a liaison between the jail and court systems.
Yet county officials remain in denial over the seriousness of the problems in their jails. On August 25, 2009, the County Attorney’s office released a 300-page rebuttal to the DOJ report, arguing that “At no time ... has the jail not met constitutional standards.” The County Attorney noted that million of dollars had been spent to computerize prisoners’ medical records since the DOJ’s inspection, and said “At the least, the jail system of the past and present meets minimal standards.”
County Judge Ed Emmett opined that the DOJ report was “fairly positive .... It has some episodic events but it does not show a pattern of problems.” Which is, of course, a very optimistic – and entirely incorrect – interpretation of the findings made by the DOJ, which said it could sue the county if improvements were not made.
Meanwhile, Harris County jail prisoners continue to die. On August 18, 2009, prisoner Daniel Aguirre, 20, fell into a coma and died after he was reportedly involved in several altercations with jail staff. His family has claimed he was “beat up by a jailer three times” and had his head slammed against a wall. An investigation is pending.
Year after year, PLN has reported on the abysmal conditions in Texas jails. Time and again there have been empty promises of change from local leaders. Yet the number of deaths and the extent of abuse in jails in the Lone Star State continue to increase. Each new administration inherits the apathy of its predecessor, and Texas citizens unfortunate enough to find themselves in jail continue to pay a high price – up to and including their lives.
Sources: Associated Press, Beaumont Enterprise, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, www.houstonpress.com, www.kristv.com,KTRK-TV Houston, www.rawstory.com, http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com
Teen Suffocates & Chokes On Her Own Vomit
CLEVELAND — A jury on Tuesday acquitted three former employees of an Ohio treatment center for troubled teens of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 17-year-old girl who suffocated and choked on her own vomit after being restrained facedown on the floor.
Cynthia King, Lazarita Menendez and Ebony Ray were also found not guilty of child endangering in the December 2008 death of Faith Finley. Menendez was also found not guilty of felonious assault and inciting to violence.
Menendez faced additional charges because she initiated the incident by taking Finley's CD player, which the disruptive 17-year-old used to calm herself, and shoved the girl's hand under her as she lay on the floor, prosecutors said.
The women, who pleaded not guilty, were fired from the Parmadale Family Services center after Finley's death. The Cuyahoga County coroner ruled Finley's death a homicide.
The type of restraint prosecutors say the women used was later banned by Gov. Ted Strickland at the recommendation of state agencies that said the technique carries a high risk of serious injury or death.
Ray, of Broadview Heights, and Menendez, of Bedford Heights, were accused of wrestling Finley to the ground on her chest and applying pressure to her back — a technique known as prone restraint — while King watched.
Assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor Maureen Clancy said King told the other two women to leave after Finley calmed down. King, of Warrensville Heights, dozed off in a nearby chair as Finley lay on a tile floor, and she checked on the girl about two hours later when another youth alerted her, the prosecutor said.
"All of these ladies were very sorry for what happened but it was just something that didn't rise to the level of a crime," said Ray's attorney, Patrick Talty. "They are certainly happy it came out the way it did. I think it came out the correct
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6859010.html
Cynthia King, Lazarita Menendez and Ebony Ray were also found not guilty of child endangering in the December 2008 death of Faith Finley. Menendez was also found not guilty of felonious assault and inciting to violence.
Menendez faced additional charges because she initiated the incident by taking Finley's CD player, which the disruptive 17-year-old used to calm herself, and shoved the girl's hand under her as she lay on the floor, prosecutors said.
The women, who pleaded not guilty, were fired from the Parmadale Family Services center after Finley's death. The Cuyahoga County coroner ruled Finley's death a homicide.
The type of restraint prosecutors say the women used was later banned by Gov. Ted Strickland at the recommendation of state agencies that said the technique carries a high risk of serious injury or death.
Ray, of Broadview Heights, and Menendez, of Bedford Heights, were accused of wrestling Finley to the ground on her chest and applying pressure to her back — a technique known as prone restraint — while King watched.
Assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor Maureen Clancy said King told the other two women to leave after Finley calmed down. King, of Warrensville Heights, dozed off in a nearby chair as Finley lay on a tile floor, and she checked on the girl about two hours later when another youth alerted her, the prosecutor said.
"All of these ladies were very sorry for what happened but it was just something that didn't rise to the level of a crime," said Ray's attorney, Patrick Talty. "They are certainly happy it came out the way it did. I think it came out the correct
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6859010.html
Sunday, April 4, 2010
MENTAL PATIENT DETERIORATING FAST IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN CALIF.
++++Please Note This story is from 2009 & the petition is out dated* The Abuse taking place in our county & state facilities is not! It is taking place every day and could happen to someone you love:>> Gelly*
+++++++++++++++++++++++++*
MENTAL PATIENT DETERIORATING FAST IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN CALIF.
Jeremy Smith is a mentally ill young man who is suffering solitary confinement in California Prison System, and the Chief Psychologist reported to his mother that he is deteriorating rapidly. Please help remove Jeremy from solitary confinement in prison and into a mental hospital where he belongs! e-Mail Gov. Schwarzenegger http://gov.ca. gov/interact
Justice4Jeremy Peition: http://www.thepetit ionsite.com/ 1/JusticeForJere my
PLEASE, WILL SOMEONE HELP THIS FAMILY?
Letter from Gina, Jeremy Smith's Mother
Gina B.
March 17, 2009
Hello Mary and AIMI members,
Jeremy is in "Segregated Housing Unit" "Shu", is Solitary confinement for eight years, he as been there for a year now. I had been calling the Cal prison "CSP, SAC" to inquirer about my son, since I haven't heard from him in over 6 months, and never received any return calls. I did receive a call from the Head Chief Psychologist Mrs Kelly, I told her my concerns about my son. She said that she would call me back once she found out about my son Jeremy, well she did call me back in a couple of days and told me that she was unable to locate any consent forms allowing me to receive any information concerning my son, but she was able to tell me that he wasn't doing good, I was crying asking her if my son was dying she said no, that he was in good health, so in said I take it that mentally in he was in a mental crisis and that's why I hadn't heard from him.
She replied that that was a very good assumption. The prison is responsible to give him mental health care and he is not receiving it!
Please help us!
Gina
mentalunderstanding @yahoo.com
************ ********* ********
REMEMBER THIS NEWS? Please be Jeremy Smith's Good Samaritan today!
PRIVATE PRISON TORTURE OF MENTALLY ILL AMERICAN - 9 MO. SOLITARY IN FILTH
http://my.nowpublic .com/health/ private-prison- torture-mentally -ill-american- nine-months- solitary- confinement- filth-and- naked
TAKE A LOOK, GINA. MAYBE SOMEONE WILL HELP YOU!! JEREMY'S PETITION IS ON THE HOME PAGE OF THE SENATE SELECT COMMUNITY COMMITTEE ON CALIFORNIA'S CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM! http://ssccccs. org/
LOOK, AIMI MEMBERS! YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE! Our link is on the SSCCCCS homepage as well!
Gina, please write to the SSCCCCS and let them know of your terrible news about Jeremy.
If there is anyone at all in a position of authority who gives a damn about this young mental patient suffering solitary confinement and deterioriating every day, PLEASE HELP!
Will everyone please sign Jeremy Smith's petition now? He is deteriorating, and California has him locked in solitary confinement - a schizophrenic young man who was reportedly sentenced to prison for eight (8) years for merely hitting another mental patient at a mental health facility, but he caused no lasting damage to the other patient. Some people did not get eight years sentences for manslaughter, or stealing government money. Read Jeremy's petition in itilacs below:
************ ********* ***
Justice4Jeremy Peition: http://www.thepetit ionsite.com/ 1/JusticeForJere my
Justice for Jeremy and Other Mentally Ill Prisoners
Target: Governor Schwarzenegger
Sponsored by: Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
GINA CRIES HERSELF TO SLEEP most nights and spends her off days trying to get our justice system to do justice for her son, Jeremy. Jeremy Smith suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and has an IQ between 50 and 70. Gina has her son's power of attorney, but when Jeremy was charged with a crime, the prosecutor talked Jeremy into signing a plea deal sentencing him to eight years in prison. His crime? He hit another patient at a mental hospital, but caused no lasting injury.
The sad truth is that sick U.S. citizens like Jeremy are used to boost profits for private prisons. Each inmate in the general prison population costs taxpayers about $50,000 per year to warehouse, although 2/3 of them are non-violent offenders. Prison labor programs use these inmates to manufacture goods the prison owners sell and trade on Wall Street. Mentally ill and dying inmates are even more lucrative for private prison owners. Taxpayers pay about $100 thousand per year, per patient to warehouse 1.25 million mental patients usually under cruel living conditions without adequate medical or psychiatric care.
Jeremy has been in prison before for hitting someone. In fact, Jeremy spent FOUR YEARS in "the hole," a space no larger than a closet where he lived naked in solitary confinement 23 hours per day. When released from the hole, Jeremy had lost about 60 pounds, was too weak to stand on his own, and could not speak a complete sentence. Jeremy was so malnourished and traumatized after his torture that Gina thought he might die. After being stabilized in the mental hospital, Jeremy was transferred to a facility nearer to his mother. As the new kid on the block, Jeremy was targeted by aggressive psychiatric patients. Jeremy again hit someone, and that is why he is now back in prison and he may be already back in "the hole," as scheduled. Gina has not heard from Jeremy in over a month, and the prison refuses to tell her how her son is doing or allow Gina to see him.
Seven inmates reportedly died in this year in California prisons from tooth decay. Infection from their rotten teeth entered their bloodstreams and killed them. Gina knows that Jeremy is unlikely to receive proper psychiatric treatment while imprisoned.
1. The undersigned petitioners demand that the plea bargain Jeremy Smith signed that was used to condemn him to eight years in prison must be revoked because of his borderline retardation and acute mental illness. The power of attorney Gina has for her son must be fully honored.
2. We demand that mentally ill people be treated as hospital inpatients, not prison inmates. Sick people cannot be punished into a state of mental health.
3. We demand that since taxpayers are charged significantly more for the care of sick inmates, they must actually receive health care. Torture is not a part of their sentencing.
Thank you.
********
Please sign Jeremy's petition and email the governor and send to your friends and groups. Not everyone is shot down like Oscar Grant. Many people die slow deaths, out of sight, deprived of medical care and oversight in prison.
Please call and write Governor Schwarzenegger on behalf of Jeremy Smith and other mental patients locked in dungeons like the Dark Ages!
PLEASE help Jeremy Smith, everyone! Don't let what happened to Mr. Horton in CCA's prison in Nashville happen to this young man!
Mr. Horton was kept in isolation in Nashville, TN's CCA prison for 9 months. He lived in filth - no baths, no medical or psychiatric care, and no exercise until a prison guard feared for the mentally ill inmate's life and blew the whistle on his employers!
Mary Neal
Website: http://wrongfuldeat hoflarryneal. com
Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
Visit Online at Care2: http://www.care2. com/c2c/group/ AIMI
+++++++++++++++++++++++++*
MENTAL PATIENT DETERIORATING FAST IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN CALIF.
Jeremy Smith is a mentally ill young man who is suffering solitary confinement in California Prison System, and the Chief Psychologist reported to his mother that he is deteriorating rapidly. Please help remove Jeremy from solitary confinement in prison and into a mental hospital where he belongs! e-Mail Gov. Schwarzenegger http://gov.ca. gov/interact
Justice4Jeremy Peition: http://www.thepetit ionsite.com/ 1/JusticeForJere my
PLEASE, WILL SOMEONE HELP THIS FAMILY?
Letter from Gina, Jeremy Smith's Mother
Gina B.
March 17, 2009
Hello Mary and AIMI members,
Jeremy is in "Segregated Housing Unit" "Shu", is Solitary confinement for eight years, he as been there for a year now. I had been calling the Cal prison "CSP, SAC" to inquirer about my son, since I haven't heard from him in over 6 months, and never received any return calls. I did receive a call from the Head Chief Psychologist Mrs Kelly, I told her my concerns about my son. She said that she would call me back once she found out about my son Jeremy, well she did call me back in a couple of days and told me that she was unable to locate any consent forms allowing me to receive any information concerning my son, but she was able to tell me that he wasn't doing good, I was crying asking her if my son was dying she said no, that he was in good health, so in said I take it that mentally in he was in a mental crisis and that's why I hadn't heard from him.
She replied that that was a very good assumption. The prison is responsible to give him mental health care and he is not receiving it!
Please help us!
Gina
mentalunderstanding @yahoo.com
************ ********* ********
REMEMBER THIS NEWS? Please be Jeremy Smith's Good Samaritan today!
PRIVATE PRISON TORTURE OF MENTALLY ILL AMERICAN - 9 MO. SOLITARY IN FILTH
http://my.nowpublic .com/health/ private-prison- torture-mentally -ill-american- nine-months- solitary- confinement- filth-and- naked
TAKE A LOOK, GINA. MAYBE SOMEONE WILL HELP YOU!! JEREMY'S PETITION IS ON THE HOME PAGE OF THE SENATE SELECT COMMUNITY COMMITTEE ON CALIFORNIA'S CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM! http://ssccccs. org/
LOOK, AIMI MEMBERS! YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE! Our link is on the SSCCCCS homepage as well!
Gina, please write to the SSCCCCS and let them know of your terrible news about Jeremy.
If there is anyone at all in a position of authority who gives a damn about this young mental patient suffering solitary confinement and deterioriating every day, PLEASE HELP!
Will everyone please sign Jeremy Smith's petition now? He is deteriorating, and California has him locked in solitary confinement - a schizophrenic young man who was reportedly sentenced to prison for eight (8) years for merely hitting another mental patient at a mental health facility, but he caused no lasting damage to the other patient. Some people did not get eight years sentences for manslaughter, or stealing government money. Read Jeremy's petition in itilacs below:
************ ********* ***
Justice4Jeremy Peition: http://www.thepetit ionsite.com/ 1/JusticeForJere my
Justice for Jeremy and Other Mentally Ill Prisoners
Target: Governor Schwarzenegger
Sponsored by: Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
GINA CRIES HERSELF TO SLEEP most nights and spends her off days trying to get our justice system to do justice for her son, Jeremy. Jeremy Smith suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and has an IQ between 50 and 70. Gina has her son's power of attorney, but when Jeremy was charged with a crime, the prosecutor talked Jeremy into signing a plea deal sentencing him to eight years in prison. His crime? He hit another patient at a mental hospital, but caused no lasting injury.
The sad truth is that sick U.S. citizens like Jeremy are used to boost profits for private prisons. Each inmate in the general prison population costs taxpayers about $50,000 per year to warehouse, although 2/3 of them are non-violent offenders. Prison labor programs use these inmates to manufacture goods the prison owners sell and trade on Wall Street. Mentally ill and dying inmates are even more lucrative for private prison owners. Taxpayers pay about $100 thousand per year, per patient to warehouse 1.25 million mental patients usually under cruel living conditions without adequate medical or psychiatric care.
Jeremy has been in prison before for hitting someone. In fact, Jeremy spent FOUR YEARS in "the hole," a space no larger than a closet where he lived naked in solitary confinement 23 hours per day. When released from the hole, Jeremy had lost about 60 pounds, was too weak to stand on his own, and could not speak a complete sentence. Jeremy was so malnourished and traumatized after his torture that Gina thought he might die. After being stabilized in the mental hospital, Jeremy was transferred to a facility nearer to his mother. As the new kid on the block, Jeremy was targeted by aggressive psychiatric patients. Jeremy again hit someone, and that is why he is now back in prison and he may be already back in "the hole," as scheduled. Gina has not heard from Jeremy in over a month, and the prison refuses to tell her how her son is doing or allow Gina to see him.
Seven inmates reportedly died in this year in California prisons from tooth decay. Infection from their rotten teeth entered their bloodstreams and killed them. Gina knows that Jeremy is unlikely to receive proper psychiatric treatment while imprisoned.
1. The undersigned petitioners demand that the plea bargain Jeremy Smith signed that was used to condemn him to eight years in prison must be revoked because of his borderline retardation and acute mental illness. The power of attorney Gina has for her son must be fully honored.
2. We demand that mentally ill people be treated as hospital inpatients, not prison inmates. Sick people cannot be punished into a state of mental health.
3. We demand that since taxpayers are charged significantly more for the care of sick inmates, they must actually receive health care. Torture is not a part of their sentencing.
Thank you.
********
Please sign Jeremy's petition and email the governor and send to your friends and groups. Not everyone is shot down like Oscar Grant. Many people die slow deaths, out of sight, deprived of medical care and oversight in prison.
Please call and write Governor Schwarzenegger on behalf of Jeremy Smith and other mental patients locked in dungeons like the Dark Ages!
PLEASE help Jeremy Smith, everyone! Don't let what happened to Mr. Horton in CCA's prison in Nashville happen to this young man!
Mr. Horton was kept in isolation in Nashville, TN's CCA prison for 9 months. He lived in filth - no baths, no medical or psychiatric care, and no exercise until a prison guard feared for the mentally ill inmate's life and blew the whistle on his employers!
Mary Neal
Website: http://wrongfuldeat hoflarryneal. com
Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
Visit Online at Care2: http://www.care2. com/c2c/group/ AIMI
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