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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