Prison Guard Repeatedly Rapes Inmate

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/prison- guard-repeatedly-rapes-inmate-warden-shrugs-go-birth-control-lawsuit-claims -------------- Courthouse News / By Kevin Koeninger Prison Guard Repeatedly Rapes Inmate; Warden Shrugs: 'Go on Birth Control, Lawsuit Claims Violent attacks are met with indifference from above. November 1, 2013 | An Alabama jail guard raped an inmate repeatedly, and the female warden told her there was nothing she could do about it - but put her on birth control, the woman claims in court. Olivia Osborne, who was sent to the Birmingham Work Release Center in January 2011, sued her alleged rapist, Vincent Cheatham, warden Shirley Smith and Alabama Corrections Commissioner Kim Thomas, in Federal Court. Within two weeks of her arrival, Osborne claims, Cheatham began watching her shower, making her cook him meals and forcing her to go on van rides. In May 2011, the behavior escalated to assault, when Cheatham "shoved plaintiff against a meat freezer, sexually groped plaintiff and tried to kiss her. Plaintiff sustained a bruised back during the attack.the complaint states. On May 7, 2011, while in the upstairs TV room of the Birmingham Work Release Center, defendant Cheatham forcefully attempted to take off plaintiff's pants with one hand and had a condom in the other hand. Fortunately, another inmate, Shaina Pouncey walked in and defendant Cheatham stopped his assault. Osborne says when she filed a report about the two attacks, prison officials changed it to say that Cheatham only tried to kiss her. Warden Smith transferred Cheatham to another facility to try to cover up the assaults, Osborne says in the lawsuit. But six weeks later, while working at a hotel as part of her program, Osborne says she "ended her shift by locking the pool and taking garbage out to a gated Dumpster. As plaintiff entered the gated fence where the Dumpster was located, defendant Cheatham drove a blue Trailblazer in front of the gate to block her exit. Defendant Cheatham grabbed plaintiff, put her in his back seat, tore her Best Western shirt and forced her khaki pants off. He then proceeded to brutally rape plaintiff through intercourse and sodomy. Plaintiff received bruises on her chest and arms. When defendant Cheatham was done raping plaintiff, he repeatedly said, 'Just relax, that wasn't so bad,' and 'Once you go black, you won't go back.'" The complaint continues: For the next four months defendant Cheatham continued to harass plaintiff even though he was transferred to another facility. Aware of the harassment, on October 6, 2011, defendant Smith ordered plaintiff to be placed on birth control. Plaintiff was told that she was placed on birth control for irregular periods. However, plaintiff has never suffered from irregular periods and never asked to be placed on birth control. After plaintiff explained that to defendant Smith, the warden told plaintiff that she was actually put on birth control to prevent a pregnancy from occurring." The harassment continued, and Warden Smith eventually decided to put Osborne on birth control, telling her it was to correct "irregular periods." Osborne claims Cheatham raped her again in October when he showed up at her workplace and brought her a pineapple mango smoothie form McDonald's. She told Cheatham to leave, and he asked for a glass of water, Osborne says in the lawsuit. She claims that when she went to get it, "defendant Cheatham rushed into the kitchen behind her. He threw the plaintiff against the kitchen wall, presses his forearm against her neck, and proceeded to remove her clothes and rape plaintiff through intercourse. After defendant Cheatham was done raping plaintiff, he grabbed a macadamia nut cookie and walked out." Osborne reported the rape to a jail lieutenant and to warden Smith, but "defendant Smith told plaintiff that nothing could be done," according to the complaint. Cheatham continued to assault and harass her until July 2012, and raped her again in that span, she says in the lawsuit. She seeks compensatory and punitive damages for assault and battery, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, sexual harassment and deliberate indifference. She is represented by Leroy Maxwell Jr. of the Revill Law Firm in Birmingham

Nearly 20 LA sheriff's deputies charged in corruption, inmate abuse

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/09/21835238-nearly-20-la-sheriffs-deputies-charged-in-corruption-inmate-abuse-probe?lite Nearly 20 LA sheriff's deputies charged in corruption, inmate abuse probe investigations.nbcnews.com Nearly 20 current and former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were expected to be arrested Monday in connection with a two-year federal probe into corruption and inmate abuse in the county jail

Florida's Youth Abused In Private Facilities

Arianna Huffington Huffington Magazine This Week: Juvenile Injustice Posted: 11/01/2013 n this week's issue, Chris Kirkham takes an in-depth look at a private prison empire based in Florida. What he learns about the Youth Services International prison system is deeply disturbing -- the result of six months spent scouring thousands of pages of state audits, lawsuits, local police reports and probes by state and federal agencies, along with interviews with former employees and prisoners. In Florida, YSI manages more than $100 million in contracts. And despite a record of abuse and mistreatment at its facilities, the company has continued to win business in several states. Unwilling or unable to perform the necessary oversight, Florida's Department of Juvenile Justice "routinely awards contracts to private prison operators without scrutinizing their records," Chris writes. As one former Department executive tells him, "They don't want the providers to look bad, because they don't have anyone else to provide this service. Bottom line, the state of Florida doesn't want responsibility for these kids." As a result, young people have faced a range of abuses, from being served bloody, raw chicken to being "choked and slammed head first into concrete walls," as a 2010 lawsuit chronicles. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/huffington-magazine-this-_6_b_4184159.html -------------------------------------------

Young Male Raped By Female County Correctional Officer

By Joe Nelson, The Sun Posted: 10/23/13, 12:57 PM PDT | Updated: 1 day ago SAN BERNARDINO >> A San Bernardino County Probation Corrections Officer was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of raping a teenage male detainee at juvenile hall, according to the Probation Department. Latavia Davis, 30, of Menifee was arrested at her place of work, the Central Juvenile Detention and Assessment Center in San Bernardino, and booked into the Central Detention Center in San Bernardino on suspicion of forcible sexual penetration with someone under age 18. She was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail, and is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in San Bernardino Superior Court, sheriff’s spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said. The alleged victim reported the alleged sexual misconduct, which is reported to have occurred on Friday. It triggered the criminal investigation, police said. The Probation Department launched its own internal affairs investigation on Tuesday. Probation department spokesman Chris Condon said it was a combination of the reporting party’s statements and evidence gleaned from security cameras at juvenile hall that ultimately led to Davis’ arrest. “Within our institutions we have good supervision practices pertaining to the minors in custody and the staff supervising them,” Condon said. “Whenever any type of conduct that is occurring between staff and juveniles is noticed, and if it’s something that is outside of what we feel is the appropriate amount of contact, then we’ll look into it.” Chief Probation Officer Michelle Scray said in a statement that Davis’ alleged actions constituted the most egregious of conduct for someone entrusted with the supervision of minors. http://www.dailybulletin.com/general-news/20131023/san-bernardino-probation-corrections-officer-arrested-for-alleged-sexual-misconduct-with-juvenile-ward

Raped at Eastern Mississippi Correctional Facility in Meridian, MS

Private Prisons . I Was Raped at East Mississippi Correctional Facility By Anonymous Prisoner, East Mississippi Correctional Facility at 2:20pm My name is ______ and I am 23 years old and although my past criminal record isn't at its best, at heart I'm still a great kid! After being locked up for about six months, I suffered from something many young males would hate to speak on and that's rape. I was raped at Eastern Mississippi Correctional Facility in Meridian, MS. I was beat brutally and faced several facial and rectum injuries from this attack. I was raped, robbed, and assaulted by several other prisoners was held hostage due to the attack in a cell. I was threatened with knives and tormented by these inmates for several hours. I was raped from 11:30pm @nite until 3:30am in the morning by one other prisoner. As he raped me continuously all I could do was cry because one false move and I knew this guy would take my life. After being a victim of rape by another male I am suffering still from anxiety, depression and stress issues because of this attack. I fault the reason that I'm in prison today. If I had one wish I would wish that I never violated the law and shoplifting, which is what got me in prison. I've always wanted to live a normal life and hang out with friends and enjoy. But due to this tragic incident that happened to me all I want to do is speak out to others that are suffering from what I went through and let them know it's okay to speak up and tell someone because no one should be violated of their sexual personal space. I was hurt very badly and sometimes I feel like it's my fault but at the end of the day I know it wasn't. Again my name is ______ and I too was a victim of rape. This blog post was adapted from a handwritten letter the victim sent to the ACLU. Click here to read the complete letter. https://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/east-mississippi-correctional-facility-anonymous-prisoner-letter Today, the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Law Offices of Elizabeth Alexander filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of prisoners at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility (EMCF), describing the for-profit prison as hyper-violent, grotesquely filthy and dangerous. Without sufficient staff to protect prisoners, rapes, beatings, and stabbings are rampant. https://www.aclu.org/blog/prisoners-rights-human-rights/i-was-raped-east-mississippi- correctional-facility

Prosecutors Allege a Stare Down Led to Prison Guards Beating Inmate

Prosecutors allege a stare down led to prison guards beating inmate Robbery suspect Jamal Lightfoot was savagely beaten after he ‘locked eyes’ with Supervising Warden Eliseo Perez, who allegedly told a team of officers to attack the prisoner. Some of Lightfoot’s teeth were knocked out, and his eye sockets and his nose were broken, the Bronx district attorney's office said. By Vera Chinese , Oren Yaniv AND John Marzulli / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Published: Wednesday, June 26, 2013, 10:50 PM A group of correction officers behaved like some of the prisoners they were supposed to be guarding — savagely beating an inmate for looking at one of them funny, prosecutors said Wednesday. “I want you to knock his f---ing teeth in,” supervising warden Eliseo Perez allegedly told a team of officers tasked with reducing inmate violence at Rikers Island. RELATED: GANG OF RIKERS ISLAND GUARDS TO BE INDICTED FOR BEATING INMATE The team — including another captain, Michael Pollard — not only knocked out some of Jamal Lightfoot’s teeth, but members also broke his eye sockets and his nose, the Bronx district attorney's office said. The robbery suspect was beaten so badly he had to be taken to an outside hospital, which led the accused attackers and five others to cover up the circumstances of the assault, the Bronx DA’s office said. They falsely claimed Lightfoot, who’s now doing 3 1/2 years behind bars for robbery, was armed. Lightfoot’s family lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein, said the incident is part of a “systemic problem” and shows that “prisoners in Rikers Island are not safe.” The probe was led by the city Department of Investigation. The agency's work has led to the arrests of 53 DOC staff since January 2009, on charges ranging from theft and contraband smuggling to assault. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/stare-led-prison-guards-beating-inmate-prosecutors-article-1.1383637

Prison Guard Beats Up 15-Year-Old Inmate On Camera Keeps Job

Prison Guard Beats Up 15-Year-Old Inmate On Camera, Keeps Job By Zack Beauchamp on December 13, 2012 at 3:50 pm For the third time in in recent memory, a Florida guard has been recorded viciously assaulting a defenseless teenage inmate on camera — but this guard is still supervising children. Shannon Lynn Abbott, an employee at the private Milton Girls Juvenile Residential Facility, threw an unidentified 15-year-old prisoner against a wall and a hard floor on a tape obtained by the Miami Herald. Though the prisoner showed no signs of resistance during the attack, Abbot and another guard proceeded to sit on the prisoner for several minutes while other people entered the room. Yet though Abbott is currently under arrest for assault, she’s somehow still in charge of young inmates: Although the encounter got Shannon Linn Abbott arrested, it didn’t get her fired. The 33-year-old bailed out and was back on the job right afterward and supervising children, to the extreme dismay of the Department of Juvenile Justice. Similar inhumanity is sadly common in the American juvenile prison system. Kids as young as 13 are thrown into solitary confinement and often denied access to basic health care. Many are in juvenile detention for minor school disciplinary violations that simply ”making adults mad.” Though private prisons like Milton Girls are rife with cruel treatment of prisoners, some members of Florida’s state legislature have pursued an illegal end-around to try to privatize the state’s prison health care system.

Two Bexar Co. Jail Guards Put on Leave, Third Quits After Inmate Beating

Two Bexar Co. Jail guards put on leave, third quits after inmate beating Two Bexar Co. Jail guards put on leave, third quits after inmate beating by Dillon Collier / KENS 5 Bio | Email | Follow: @dilloncollier Posted on June 3, 2013 at 11:15 PM SAN ANTONIO -- Two guards at the Bexar County Jail have been on administrative leave since late May after an inmate was beaten inside his cell. Alvaro Ramirez III and Michael Smith were placed on leave following a six-week internal investigation. Inmate Shawn McHazlett was attacked March 31. According to sources within the jail, McHazlett was asleep when Ramirez entered his cell and started to punch him. Officer Michael Smith also is accused of entering the cell and was placed on leave after investigators found he tried to cover up the attack. McHazlett was later treated for bruised ribs and muscle injuries from being shot by a stun gun. A third guard, who witnessed the attack, resigned three days later. He spoke with KENS 5 on Monday and said the beating crystalized his decision to quit. "I felt like I can't work in this type of environment," said the former guard, who asked KENS 5 to conceal his identity. McHazlett was arrested Jan. 13 on felony drug and firearm charges and a misdemeanor charge of interfering with a public servant. "There are almost 800 employees working inside the Bexar County Jail, and a vast majority of them do a wonderful job under stressful situations," said Paul Berry, spokesman for the Bexar County Sheriff's Office. Watch The Video >http://www.kens5.com/news/Two-Bexar-Co-Jail-guards-on-leave-third-quits-after-inmate-beating-210021761.html

CDC Never Told Female Inmates Biopsies Were Never Done

From July to November 1996, a private laboratory billed CCWF $161,000 "for thousands of medical tests, including Pap smears to detect cervical cancer, AIDS Tests and Biopsies, even though the tests had never been used on the inmates. . Although the State of California closed the laboratory in 1997, a 2000 newspaper investigation found that there was (little evidence of any attempt by the California Department of Corrections to retest inmates or notify them that their test results were faked.)

Alabama Inmate's Family Sues After Son Beaten To Death

MONTGOMERY, Ala. A former Alabama prison supervisor was behind bars after a jury convicted him Tuesday of fatally beating an inmate and conspiring to cover it up. The federal court jury of eight women and four men returned guilty verdicts against former corrections Lt. Michael Smith. The verdicts followed six days of testimony about the fatal beating of inmate Rocrast Mack at a state prison in southeast Alabama. Mack's family wept while listening to the jury's verdict. "Justice has been served for my son," Mack's father, Larry Mack, said outside the courtroom. Smith, 38, of Auburn was convicted of violating Mack's constitutional rights by fatally beating him, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. He faces up to life in prison. U.S. District Judge Myron Thomson ordered him taken into custody immediately and did not set a sentencing date. Mack was led out of the courtroom with his hands cuffed behind his back. Two other former officers at the Ventress Correctional Facility in Clayton — Scottie Glenn and Matthew Davidson — have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Another former officer, Joseph Sanders, is scheduled for trial July 8. The state Department of Corrections has had cases before where officers were fired or disciplined for abusing inmates, but the charges in Mack's death were unprecedented. The department sought an investigation after an autopsy on Mack raised questions about Ventress employees' statements that Mack jumped on a female officer and got injured when he continued to resist officers trying to subdue him. After the verdict, Corrections Commissioner Kim Thomas said, "This type of conduct is aberrant." He said the verdict makes clear to correctional officers everywhere "that there are limits to their power and authority" and that they should listen closely to their training about when they can use force. Mack, 24, was serving a 20-year sentence for a drug conviction from Montgomery County when he was beaten at the medium-security prison on Aug. 4, 2010. Testimony showed a female officer hit Mack first when she caught him inappropriately touching himself in his bunk. Mack hit her back, and the officer radioed for help, saying an inmate jumped on her. Smith, the shift supervisor, and other officers responded and during the next hour, the 5-foot-11, 160-pound Mack was hit repeatedly by officers. Witnesses said Smith was angry over the female officer suffering a bloody lip, and he hit, kicked and stomped on Mack's head to send a message to other inmates that they had better not touch one of his officers. Mack died the next morning at a Montgomery hospital with bruises covering his body, his front teeth knocked out, and his brain swollen from the injuries. The defense argued that Smith didn't know his officer had struck Mack first and he was trying to maintain order in a prison overcrowded with 1,633 inmates and only 18 guards on duty. The defense said so many officers hit Mack that it was impossible to know who struck the fatal blow. Kewonda King, the mother of Mack's 5-year-old son, joined Mack's family outside the courthouse to reflect on the verdict. "It lifts a weight off my heart," she said. But she said her son, Rocrast Mack Jr., still doesn't understand after nearly three years that his father is dead. "He used to visit his daddy in jail, and he still asks me to take him to jail to see his daddy," she said. Mack's family sued the state after his death and reached a $900,000 settlement, with $440,000 of it going to his son http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Ex-supervisor-found-guilty-in-Ala-inmate-death-4620876.php

13 Texas prisoners died from heatstroke since 2007

Lawsuit Claims Texas Prison Protects Weapons, Not Prisoners WASHINGTON 6/19/2013 Lawsuit Claims Texas Prison Protects Weapons, Not Prisoners From Extreme Temperatures: 13 Die Of Heatstroke As many as 13 Texas prisoners died from heatstroke since 2007 according to a lawsuit that questions how administrators decided to allocate the much-valued commodity of conditioned air in oppressive Texas heat. Courthouse News Service has the story but buries the lede, which is this: [Texas Department of Criminal Justice] even air-conditions the armory at the prison because it considers possible damage to its weaponry more important than possible, or even likely, death to the inmate population. A little overdramatic perhaps. And of course we’re still in the allegation-making phase of this lawsuit. But still, wow. More from the report: In their complaint, the three families say they “bring this lawsuit to prevent more men from dying of heat stroke in the brutally hot TDCJ Gurney Unit and seek redress for their relatives who perished at the Gurney Unit.” … In the complaint about the three dead men, the families say: “Like most other TDCJ units, the Gurney Unit inmate living areas are not air conditioned, and apparent indoor temperatures routinely exceed 100 degrees. These temperatures last late into the night, providing no relief to prisoners. Even early in the morning, indoor apparent temperatures are sweltering. “As each of the defendants named individually have long known and discussed internally at high-level TDCJ and UTMB leadership meetings well before 2011, temperatures this elevated cause the human body to shut down. As the body can no longer cool itself, body systems fail. If there is no immediate intervention, extreme temperatures will cause death.” Defendant Robert Eason was the TDCJ’s regional director for its Gurney Unit when the inmates died, according to the complaint. “Even though ten men died of heat stroke in 2011 – and eight of them died in his ‘region’ – Eason did not consider these deaths a serious problem. In fact, in the face of these deaths, he believed TDCJ was doing a ‘wonderful job’ and ‘[didn't] have a problem with heat-related deaths,’” the complaint states. “Eason’s direct supervisors, [Brad] Livingston, [TDCJ Correctional Institutions Division Director Rick] Thaler and [Thaler's Deputy Director William] Stephens, were similarly unconcerned. The deaths of prisoners from heat stroke at the Gurney Unit and system wide were regularly discussed at meetings Thaler and Stephens held with their deputies, including Eason. “Even though the existing policies were obviously inadequate, Thaler, Stephens, and Eason continued to follow the same deadly course of conduct. Air conditioning the Gurney Unit or other prisons was never even discussed. Nor was moving individuals with heat-sensitive medical conditions or disabilities to air-conditioned prisons discussed or implemented.” The TDCJ officials were also keenly aware that certain prisoners should not be in the heat, the families say. “It was well known to TDCJ and UTMB leadership that people with certain medical conditions, like diabetes or hypertension, or who take certain medications, like psychotropics or diuretics, are much more vulnerable to extreme temperatures. Their medical conditions prevent their bodies from regulating their temperature, putting them at much greater risk of death,” the families say in the complaint. Each of the four inmates had been prescribed pyschotropics or diuretics before their deaths, according to a chart in the complaints. Makes you happy to have air conditioning, eh? Another more important question: Does it concern you that prison administrators were apparently more willing to spend taxpayer dollars on air conditioning an armory filled with weapons than a prison filled with human beings? If the alleged claims turn out to be true, it should. ——— Follow me on Twitter @ssttrroouudd http://www.forbes.com/sites/mattstroud/2013/06/19/lawsuit-lack-of-air-conditioning-texas-prisons/

Police Officer Ronald Vanrossum as a Rapist}Friendly Fire The Good, the Bad and the Corrupt,

Posted: 12/8/2003 10:14:37 AM Ex-cop, SBPD in conflict By GINA TENORIO, Staff Writer SAN BERNARDINO - It has been a long journey for former San Bernardino police Officer Stephen K. Peach and the Police Department. Throughout this year, Peach and the police have traded accusations of lying and misconduct that ended with Peach's termination in September. He is appealing the decision. Peach also is watching closely to see if his recently released self-published book, Friendly Fire The Good, the Bad and the Corrupt," will have an impact. Published by 1st Books, it claims to reveal secrets the department has tried to hide. "I just decided this was one of the only ways to do this," Peach said. "Society as a whole has lost respect for police officers. Some think the police are no better than criminals." He hopes the book shines a spotlight on the department and forces change, he said. "If they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone," he said. Police Chief Garrett Zimmon declined to comment on the case or the book, saying he couldn't because it was a personnel matter and because an appeal is pending. In the book, Peach details the start of what he claims was the downward spiral of his service with the department and the end of his dream. A native of Great Britain, Peach said he was hired Jan. 5, 1991. http://cdn.preterhuman.net/texts/literature/books_in_PDF/Peach%20S.-%20Police%20Corruption.pdf Things were good for years, he said. But he began to take issue with some officers' behavior. Among those issues was what Peach described as the narcotics team's penchant for beating people up. He began to speak up at briefings and make enemies, he said. The book describes a 1998 shooting during which, he writes, he was shot by a supervising officer while serving a search warrant on Doug Domino, another former officer who also took legal action against the department. "So as this was warrant speed, as soon as the door swung open I was expecting to see (another officer) run into my field of view and I would follow his lead, but nothing happened, he didn't move," the book reads. "I even stopped looking at the potential threat from inside the residence to look at (the other officer) to see why he wasn't running into the doorway and as I looked towards him I was shot in my upper right leg, I did not know where the bullet came from and assumed that Domino had fired from inside the residence and the bullet had gone through the stucco wall prior to entering my leg. The gunshot did not seem loud at all and there wasn't a great deal of pain but I could see that the wound was very serious." He said the ordeal left him without a portion of his leg muscle and contributed to the end of his career. But the real collapse began after he tried to expose officer Ronald Vanrossum as a rapist, he said. Vanrossum was sentenced in October to 34 years in state prison on charges of rape, sexual battery and oral copulation by threat of authority to arrest. "An old informant had told me she'd been raped by Vanrossum," he said. Yet when he tried to tell his supervisor, nothing was done, he said. When he refused to drop the issue, the department began investigating him, he said. Law-enforcement officials paint a different picture of the facts behind Peach's termination in a civil-service board's findings report provided by the City Attorney's Office. His dismissal was a result of a sexual affair Peach had with Michelle Roan, a felon and prostitute, the report said. Officials accused Peach of lying to investigators about the relationship and a number of letters he allegedly wrote to Roan at the state prison in Chowchilla in 2001 and 2002. The documents state that Peach's actions were a violation of the department's core values. There is only one arrest which could be traced in any way to any contact that Peach had with Roan." Investigators denied that Roan was Peach's informant and said Peach was often vague with other officers about her identity. An excerpt from one of the letters he allegedly wrote to Roan in prison states: "So I've got to wait until Oct. '02 hopefully it will go by quickly and I'll come and visit you wherever you end up." Peach insisted the letters were taken out of context and were written to a source in a manner that would not identify her to friends or officials as being an informant, he said. "She had told me she had something important to tell me," Peach said. "I wanted to know what she had to say. I'd always been known to have informants."

5 Guards Beat Handcuffed Inmate

Judge says witnesses, evidence disagree in inmate beating case prisonmovement.wordpress.com The investigation concluded that five prison guards pinned down, kicked and stomped a handcuffed inmate so violently that one nearby onlooker wept, closed her eyes and began to pray. By Jon Ortiz A...

Texas Jailers Ran a 'Rape Camp' Behind Bars,

http://www.alternet.org/rape-texas-jail Texas Jailers Ran a 'Rape Camp' Behind Bars, Claim Two Women www.alternet.org This is unbelievable.

Records Show Excessive Use of Force at Colorado Supermax

Records Show Excessive Use of Force at Colorado Supermax by Lisa Dawson Records kept by the Colorado Department of Corrections show 61 instances from March 1, 2012 to March 1 of this year of corrections officers using force on men held at the Colorado State Penitentiary (CSP), where prisoners are held in administrative segregation on lockdown for 23 hours a day. The "use of force" log, obtained by Denver's Westword, documents varying levels of physical contact used in each incident, some of which required mild force, and others which prison officials deemed it necessary to use brutal control tactics, including restraint chairs and pepper spray. This story comes from Alan Prendergast, who writes for Westword and has reported on Colorado prisons for years: At Colorado's state supermax prison, inmates get into confrontations with guards over food, hygiene, privileges, a refusal to "cuff up" or whatever out of boredom, mental illness or plain orneriness. Some claim to be provoked by staff. Whatever the reason, it's a contest the prisoner is going to lose every time. Like many prisons throughout Colorado and across the nation, people with mental illness compose a large part of the population at CSP. Prendergast writes on the potential impact of solitary confinement on people with mental illness: Although proponents of supermax prisons claim that they act as a deterrent to violence elsewhere in the corrections systems, the facilities also become repositories of "problem" inmates, whose failure to follow the rules tends to prolong their stay in solitary confinement and possibly exacerbate any preexisting mental problems. (As we've previously reported, roughly a third of CSP inmates have been diagnosed with some form of mental illness.) http://solitarywatch.com/2013/06/15/records-show-excessive-use-of-force-at-colorado-supermax/

Lawsuit Filed Against Solitary Confinement of 800 Mentally Ill In Pennsylvania

Lawsuit Filed Against Solitary Confinement of 800 Seriously Mentally Ill In Pennsylvania by Sal Rodriguez RHU cell of prisoner Matthew Bullock, who committed suicide in 2009. The Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania (DRNP) has filed a lawsuit against John Wetzel, the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, charging that the confinement of prisoners in Restricted Housing Units (RHUs) amounts to cruel and unusual punishment of those diagnosed as seriously mentally ill. The suit seeks an end to long-term segregation of such individuals and seeks an order that DOC prisoners receive constitutionally adequate mental health care. According to the lawsuit, prisoners in the RHUs are locked in extremely small cells for at least 23 hours a day on weekdays and 24 hours a day on weekends and holidays. Typically, the lights are on in the cell all the time. The prisoners are denied adequate mental health care and prohibited from working, participating in educational or rehabilitative programs, or attending religious services. Prisoners in the RHU are generally held alone, notes the lawsuit, though even in cases when prisoners are assigned a cellmate, this may be "as deleterious to their mental health as solitary confinement" if the cellmate is "psychotic or violent." Placing people in such conditions, can create a Dickensian nightmare, in which prisoners are trapped in an endless cycle of isolation and punishment, further deterioration of their mental illness, deprivation of adequate mental health treatment, and inability to qualify for parole. The lawsuit provides profiles of 12 men housed in the RHU, which serve to illustrate the widespread use of solitary confinement against prisoners who have been diagnosed as having "serious mental illnesses." A man identified as "Prisoner #1" is described in the lawsuit as having been diagnosed with a delusional disorder with paranoid features and a borderline intellectual diability. Initially placed in a Special Needs Unit, in which prisoners receive psychiatric treatment, he was frequently placed in the RHU following incidents precipitated by delusions. Despite expressing suicidal thoughts before and during his confinement in the RHU, he remained in the RHU until he committed suicide by hanging on May 6, 2011. Prisoner #8 is a 28-year old man at State Correctional Institution-Green (SCI-Green) who has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, a psychotic disorder, a paraphilia, and a personality disorder. According to the lawsuit, he claims to receive "messages from the television and from dead people." The lawsuit states that he has expressed suicidal ideation and has been placed in the RHU after being deemed by the Department of Corrections a "danger to himself and others. The lawsuit charges that Wetzel knows or is deliberately indifferent to the fact that the DOC's treatment of prisoners with mental illness, including the practice of segregating them for long periods of time in RHUs, can cause grave harm to their mental health. While it is unclear what DSM-Axis I mental disorders fall under the scope of serious mental illness, the lawsuit argues that the current disciplinary system within Pennsylvania prisons fails to "consider a prisoner's serious mental illness and the impact of isolation in assessing whether to sanction the prisoners. Pennsylvania prisoner Ricardo Noble, who has spent over five years in the RHU, has written to Solitary Watch about the nature of life in the isolation units: In the RHU life is intense. Especially in the beginning weeks or months. As time passes your mind begins to become clouded with mixed emotions, anger, guilt, hate, paranoia, hopelessness, loneliness, and other frustrations. Some who fail to productively channel their frustrations tend to take it out on those closest to them (mainly other prisoners) or even themselves because they can’t lash out on the ones (the Administration) who can affect change of the physical aspects of their harsh condition. Approximately 1/3 of prisoners in the RHUs, which as of February 28th housed 844 prisoners in long term Administrative Custody and an additional 1,417 in shorter term Disciplinary Custody, have been described by DRNP as seriously mentally ill.The DRNP cited the position of the American Psychiatric Association, which in December 2012 declared that prolonged segregation of adult inmates with serious mental illness, with rare exceptions should be avoided due to the potential harm to such inmates. For more on solitary confinement in Pennsylvania, click here to read Solitary Watch's reporting. http://solitarywatch.com/2013/03/18/lawsuit-filed-against-solitary-confinement-of-800-seriously-mentally-ill-in-pennsylvania/

Nine state prison guards charged in inmate beating probe

MD - Nine state prison guards charged in inmate beating probe Nine state prison guards charged in inmate beating probe Federal indictment alleges officers at Hagerstown prison planned assault, covered it up By Carrie Wells, The Baltimore Sun 10:38 p.m. EST, February 27, 2013 Nine current and former guards at a state prison in Hagerstown were charged Wednesday in a federal indictment that alleges they conspired to assault an inmate and covered up the incident. The U.S. Department of Justice indictment refers to two separate beatings of an inmate, identified only as "K.D.," in the same weekend in March 2008. K.D. was beaten so badly that he had to be taken to a hospital, the indictment says. None of the current and former prison officers was actually charged with assault. The charges included obstruction of justice for one lieutenant at the prison who the justice department says used a magnetic device to destroy surveillance tapes that captured the beating. The beatings of the inmate at medium-security Roxbury Correctional Institution in 2008, coming at the same time as an alleged inmate beating at maximum-security North Branch Correctional Institute in Cumberland, led to a high-profile investigation and scrutiny of the state prison system that year. Two dozen officers at both prisons were fired or put on leave amid the investigation, though two guards were later reinstated. The Department of Justice says K.D. was assaulted first during the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift at Roxbury on March 8, 2008. In one indictment, Correctional Officer Walter Steele and Lieutenant Jason Weicht face conspiracy charges related to covering up the assault. Former Correctional Officers James Kalbflesh and Jeremy McCusker face civil rights and conspiracy charges. Weicht was also charged with obstruction of justice. The justice department said his actions included "encouraging officers to get together to get their stories straight, providing home telephone numbers for the involved officers so that they could arrange for a cover-up meeting, and giving an officer books on interrogation techniques so that he would be prepared to mislead investigators." Steele faces two more counts of providing false and misleading information to investigators. A second federal indictment stems from a second assault on K.D. the following morning, during the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift. It was after that beating, in which K.D. was kicked and punched in his cell "in order to punish K.D. for a prior incident involving another officer" that the inmate was sent to the hospital, according to the Department of Justice. Lt. Edwin Stigile and former Correctional Officers Tyson Hinckle, Reginald Martin and Michael Morgan were charged with conspiring to have officers assault K.D. during the day shift. Sgt. Josh Hummer and Hinckle, Martin and Morgan also were each charged with a civil rights violation, and Stigile was charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly destroying surveillance tapes that recorded the beating. The maximum sentences for the prison officers range from 25 years to 55 years. Dustin Norris, a former correctional officer at Roxbury, pleaded guilty to conspiring to assault the inmate and faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, the justice department also announced Wednesday. cwells@baltsun.com twitter.com/cwellssun http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bs-md-prison-guards-conspiracy-20130227,0,6505284.story#sthash.ZD4dYQnR.dpuf

What Solitary Confinement Does to the Mind

Voices from Solitary: What Solitary Confinement Does to the Mind by Voices from Solitary The following was submitted to Solitary Watch by Michael Jewell, who was sentenced to death in Texas for capital murder in 1970 and spent three years in solitary confinement as a death row prisoner. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1973 following the 1972 Supreme Court ruling in Furman v. Georgia, which prohibited the death penalty nationwide until the decision was overturned in 1976 in Gregg v. Georgia. Over the next 30 years, Jewell spent two two-year-long terms in Administrative Segregation. In Ad Seg, he would spend 23 hours a day in a 5x9 foot cell alone, allowed only a 20 minute shower and one hour of exercise in a cage. The first term was a result of his leading a work stoppage at Ellis Unit in Huntsville, Texas, in support of the Texas civil rights case Ruiz v. Estelle, which ultimately led federal courts to rule that the conditions in the Texas prison system violated 8th Amendment prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment. His second term in solitary confinement was the result of an escape attempt at Ferguson Unit in Madison County. Since his parole, he has found that life after prison is not easy. "Hell, with my criminal history, I couldn't get a job as a speed bump at Kroger's," he writes. "If it were not for a loving wife with enough fixed income to support the both of us, no doubt I would have recidivated for something akin to throwing a brick through a bank window." Jewell has become active in prison reform with Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE), Amnesty International, the Texas Inmate Family Association, and the ACLU of Texas. With his wife, Joan, he founded Con-Care Services, which assists Texas inmates with problems prisoners routinely face, including visitation issues and appealing disciplinary cases. "We don't move mountains but we kick the shit out of molehills," --Sal Rodriguez I served 40 consecutive years on a life sentence in the Texas Department of Corrections, from 1970 to 2010. My first 3 years were on death row, which is much like Administrative Segregation and Solitary Confinement (S.C). I also did time in Ad Seg on two separate occasions, staying over two years each time. During that time I was confined to a 5 x 9 foot cell for 23 hours per day. I was allowed a 20 minute shower and an hour for outside recreation in a cage made of cyclone fencing, which resembled a cage you’d see at the dog pound. The cage measured about 10 x 10 square feet. S.C. is a form of sensory deprivation, in that your perception shrinks to the dimensions of the space and sensations of confinement. Visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, and even the sense of taste are dramatically deprived and constricted. Almost immediately upon being tossed into isolation, though many people may not recognize it for what it is, you begin to suffer from a form of “sensory withdrawal.” Soon, you begin to crave the broader liberty you’ve lost, even the limited freedom of a prison’s environment: the ability to move about and interact with other human beings. Such a radical deprivation of sensory perceptions has a ‘numbing’ effect. You feel ‘stunned.’ Removed from the distractions and diversions of the broader context, the mind is suddenly forced to confront itself. You begin to hear yourself think. When the mind is withdrawn from the experience of ‘perceiving’ and interacting with the complex activities of the broader environment, it is forced to switch to perceptions from within itself and draw upon self-consciousness, as well as the subconscious. Sudden subjection to S.C. is a painful and dreaded experience. Because it is human nature to seek pleasure and avoid pain, we have a tendency to withdraw from the physical and take refuge into the psychological. Different people will have different reactions to this phenomenon. But most will indulge in various memories and forms of ‘fancy.’ Alongside memories of good times come those of sad and bad times. It is my opinion that all prisoners, deep inside, have a poor self-image. In S.C. that fact becomes acutely self-evident, or at least it did in my case. I suffered profound feelings of guilt and shame for past actions and inactions. Hot on the heels of regret come recrimination. Again, it is our nature to seek pleasure and to avoid pain. We tend to escape from over-awareness of our faults and foibles by turning to ‘fancy.’ Over time: days, weeks, months, and years, imagination can verge on, and in many cases, into, hallucination. The next stage is often psychosis and irreparable psychological damage. Resech has shown an irrefutable link between S.C. and mental deterioration: http://solitarywatch.com/2013/02/16/voices-from-solitary-what-solitary-confinement-does-to-the-mind/