Women Decry Deplorable Conditions in State Prison

Women Decry Deplorable Conditions in State Prison Former inmates at the Central California Women's Facility say they were denied health care and diagnosed with diseases they don't have. A recent report backs up their claims. By Andrea Abi-Karam When Theresa Martinez was an inmate at the Central California Women's Facility, prison health officials diagnosed her as having HIV. Martinez said her mental health deteriorated as a result. Prison doctors also put her on a rigorous anti-HIV drug regimen for ten years. Eventually, officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation transferred her to a state prison facility in Southern California. Once there, the facility's health staffers urged Martinez to take another HIV test, even though she had assured them that she was infected with the virus. The results came back negative. They did the test again. It was negative, again. She didn't have HIV. Martinez said she later learned that the Central California Women's Facility, where she and many other East Bay women end up when they're sentenced to prison, had a contract with a pharmaceutical company that sells HIV medication. Martinez, who now works for the Oakland-based prisoners' rights group Justice Now, shared the story of what happened to her at a recent public event. She contends that corporate-driven interests affect the physical and mental health of prisoners throughout the California prison system. There's also compelling evidence that the health facility within the Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla has a history of badly mistreating female prisoners. Late last year, a three-person panel of court-appointed medical experts released a scathing report on the deplorable conditions inside the prison. Overall, the panel found that CCWF "is not providing adequate medical care, and that there are systemic issues resulting in preventable morbidity and mortality disease and death] that present an ongoing serious risk of harm to patients." The 57-page report, which didn't receive much press coverage, also stated that CCWF's health facility is disorganized and overcrowded. "We believe that the majority of problems are attributable to overcrowding, insufficient health care staffing and inadequate medical bed space," the report stated. The court-ordered health care evaluation came in response to a January 2013 report conducted by Governor Jerry Brown's office that declared the health care conditions at CCWF improved. The dismal quality of health care inside California's prisons was the driving force behind orders issued by federal judges to the state to dramatically reduce its inmate population. "Overcrowding and health care conditions cited by this Court to support its population reduction order are now a distant memory," Brown's office stated. Despite the scathing report on CCWF by court-appointed medical experts, federal judges agreed last month to give Brown and state corrections officials more time to relieve overcrowding in California's prisons.The overcrowded conditions at CCWF worsened in 2012 when the state converted Valley State Prison for Women (which is located near CCWF) into a men's facility and then funneled that facility's female prisoners into CCWF and the California Institution for Women near Chino. CCWF's inmate population quickly grew to 184 percent of capacity. According to the court-appointed medical experts, the packed conditions at CCWF resulted in health care staff being slow to respond to inmates' medical needs. "I would assume that during an emergency you would run toward the emergency, but no, 95 percent of the time they walk — stroll," said Mianta McKnight, a former Brisbane resident who was released from CCWF three months ago and currently resides at a prisoner re-entry facility on Treasure Island. McKnight told me that when nurses at CCWF respond to an emergency, they'll only provide care if the patient is incoherent and can't stand up. She described an instance in which her roommate was waiting to get treatment for an earache. The pain became so intense, she passed out and hit her head on her bunk. "She was trying to be seen and was ignored," McKnight said. And even if a prisoner does get seen by health care staffers at CCWF, there's a good chance she won't get appropriate care. According to the court-ordered report, as well as first-hand accounts, CCWF medical staffers routinely prescribe expired, incorrect, or insufficient medication. Inmates also "were given the wrong medications at times — kind of like test this and see if it works and if it doesn't work we'll try something else," she continued. She said she once helped take care of a fellow inmate who became paralyzed down the left side of her body because she received the wrong drugs. McKnight also said that it was not uncommon for prisoners to wait in the pharmacy line for long periods and then watch staffers withhold their prescribed medications. They'd get to the front of the line, and then watch staffers pull up their mugshots and arrest histories on Google, and send the prisoners to the back of the line if the staffers disliked what they saw, she said. At CCWF, prisoners with chronic illnesses and disabilities are consigned to the skilled nursing facility, which further isolates them within the prison system, and further alienates them from their families. "They are sometimes thrown back there and don't know why they're back there," said McKnight of inmates being put in skilled nursing. "They have little or no communication with their families." Prison officials also regularly lock down the skilled nursing facility without explanation, she said. http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/women-decry-deplorable-conditions-in-state-prison/Content?oid=3868191

Women In CCWF Abused

For Immediate Release Imprisoned People Facing Medical Neglect and Violence, Family Members and Organizers Speak Out. > Press Contact: Dolores Canales, Family Unity Network, (714)290-9077 dol1canales@gmail.com or Hannah McFaull, Justice Now, (415) 813.7715 hannah@justicenow.org > Sacramento – On November 11th, an imprisoned person at Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF), faced extreme violence at the hands of prison guards. Stacy Rojas and three others were detained, physically abused, sexually harassed, strip searched in the presence of male guards, and were kept without water, food or restrooms for eleven hours. The group was illegally kept in administrative segregation without a lock up order and have been denied health care support for the injuries caused by these officers. Requests to speak with members of the prison’s Investigative Services Unit have so far been ignored. I just want to let them know that we have been physically abused, sexually harassed,” said Stacy Rojas, “and that this was just wrong. They used excessive force, totally used excessive force against us and we need help. The public acknowledgment of excessive use of force and deadly use of force by police has increased throughout the nation. Video recordings of interactions between the police and the public have increased significantly in recent years as technology has improved and the number of distribution channels has expanded. This is not an option open to people experiencing violence from guards behind prison walls and any attempt to speak out is often met with retaliation and increased force. > Our communities in and out of lock up have lived experiences with biased policing -- ranging from racial profiling, to excessive, and sometimes lethal, use of force”, stated Patrisse Cullors co-founder of #BlackLivesMatter. “We hear about it more and more in the communities we live in, but rarely hear about the traumatic ways that it manifests in the California prison system. Stories like Stacy’s are happening everyday inside of California prisons and jails with little to no measures taken by authorities to keep people safe and hold law enforcement, such as prison guards accountable. Advocacy organizations working with people in women’s prisons are familiar with reports of abuse and violence, like that experienced at CCWF last week. The California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Justice Now, the Family Unity Network, the TGI Justice Project and others regularly provide legal and medical advocacy support following incidents of violence perpetrated by correctional officers at women’s prisons. > This group of organizations and Stacy’s family members are requesting an independent investigation of the violence and excessive use of force used. They are requesting medical care and safe housing for Stacy and all those involved. The group also demands an end to the violence imposed on women, transgender people, gender nonconforming people, and communities of color within the California prison system. > " My sister is at the end of a fourteen year sentence and it seems as though some would wish to take that away. This has never happened to Stacy before. We have never had fear for my sister's life”, said Adriana Rojas. “My sister Stacy Rojas' constitutional rights have been violated by being stripped searched by male guards, assaulted by means of kicking and stomping, taken outdoors in near 40 degree weather, threatened with rape, humiliated, placed in holding cages for nearly 12 hours, and deprived of food and water. Albert Jacob Rojas added, “They were denied medical attention and denied the right to speak to internal affairs. We ask that anybody who cares about human rights and women's rights please join us in demanding justice for all. Family members and advocates are calling for: An immediate independent investigation into the violence and excessive force used by guards in this incident. Suspension of guards involved pending investigation. Comprehensive medical treatment for injuries sustained during the incident. No retaliation for speaking out against this abuse.

Inmates Forced To Have Sex At Florida's Prison For Women

Horrific Report: At Largest US Women’s Prison, Inmates Forced To Have Sex For Basic Necessities .This is a major problem in most of America’s prisons! it is one of the most widespread forms of prison abuse. The abusers must be prosecuted! At the foundation of our civil liberties lies the principle that denies to government officials an exceptional position before the law and which subjects them to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen. – Justice Louis D. Brandeis Florida is one of the largest women’s corrections facilities in the United States, and it is also notorious for being one of the most corrupt and brutal. Recently, numerous inmates have come forward with allegations that they were routinely sexually abused and assaulted by both male and female guards. According to various complaints filed between 2011 and 2015, female inmates would be forced to “barter” sexual acts with guards in exchange for basic necessities like soap and food. According to the complaints, women at Lowell who submitted to the sexual demands of the guards were rewarded with the best food and living supplies available. Meanwhile, women who refused were harassed, neglected, denied basic necessities, and sometimes put in solitary confinement. In many cases, women were put through psychological evaluations and labeled as mentally ill as a result of refusing the guard’s sexual advances.and labeled as mentally ill as a result of refusing the guard’s sexual advances. As we reported last year, in one case, a woman named Latandra Ellington attempted to file a complaint against the guards at Lowell, saying that she was being sexually assaulted, and she was murdered just days later. According to family members, Latandra may have been planning to speak out about the rampant sexual abuse that the correctional officers at the prison have been inflicting on the inmates. Marion County Chief Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgway told the Miami Herald that the sex taking place in these situations was “consensual,” however it is obvious that women in prison are dependent upon the mercy of these guards for their survival, and that the sexual acts in these situations were coerced. sexual activity was absolutely coerced. “What I saw was that some of the girls were truly victims of rape and sexual assault and battery. I believed them when they told me it was unsolicited, uninvited and a nightmare,” Johnson argued. The allegations sparked an investigation by the Miami Herald, which revealed that complaints of rape were frequently silenced by the staff at the prison In the past decade, only two officers were arrested for sexual misconduct at the prison, but both of them pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and only spent a few months in jail. “The so-called punishment for an officer who rapes an inmate is to get transferred to another facility. Florida’s prisons allow officers to rape women in prison because the inmates aren’t considered to have any rights,” Nancy G. Abudu, legal director for the ACLU of Florida pointed out. http://thefreethoughtproject.com/largest-womens-prison-inmates-forced-sex-guards-exchange-basic-necessities-large/

Reports Of Chronic Abuse And Neglect

Residential Schools Goes Too Far Certain programs around the country for kids with emotional and behavioral disorders have a history of physical mistreatment. At least 145 children have died from avoidable causes at residential facilities over the past 35 years. At programs across the country, at least 145 children have died from avoidable causes at residential facilities over the past 35 years, a ProPublica analysis of news reports found. At least 62 children died after being restrained, most often because of asphyxiation. The job of monitoring the well-being of children at the programs is spread across so many state and local agencies that kids can fall through the cracks. State education agencies, for instance, rarely take strong action. A ProPublica survey found that about half of the education departments didn’t have the power to sanction such schools even if they discovered public-school students were being mistreated. School officials in just seven of the 44 states that responded to the survey said they had levied penalties on or closed such a program in the last decade. “State agencies can certainly step up measures to hold all residential treatment programs accountable to high health and safety standards, but the reality is that most have not despite a rash of abuse allegations occurring in programs on their turf,” the California representative Adam Schiff told ProPublica in an email. Schiff reintroduced a bill earlier this year that would require the tracking of abuse allegations lodged against such programs. Despite the public funding, there is little data on residential schools. One federal database collects state data on abuse incidents, but submission is voluntary. There is no required federal tracking of abuse allegations–and there is not even a nationwide list of all residential programs. One often-cited government survey, which is more than a decade old, estimates that there are at least 3,600 facilities across the country, housing more than 50,000 children annually. Ira Burnim, the legal director for the Bazelon Center for Mental Health, believes that the current data gives an incomplete picture. “Our lack of information and data is very troubling,” said Burnim. “To a certain extent, the residential treatment centers are out of sight, out of mind.” Lawmakers have repeatedly called for changes amid reports of chronic abuse and neglect. A government report in 2008 found gaps in state regulation increased the risk of abuse and neglect at some youth residential programs. Some state agencies didn’t visit programs often enough to make sure kids were safe and well-cared for, the report found. In other states, some programs, such as private boarding schools and religious treatment centers, are exempt from licensing and do not have direct regulation. There were residential facilities that had built fortresses around themselves,” Blau said. “They kept kids in and kept families out.” There is great value to having local oversight, but it’s important for there to be federal standards that drive service advancement,” she told ProPublica. Industry groups and providers have at times aggressively sought to fend off federal regulation of their programs and worked to undermine stricter rules. http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/12/kids-get-hurt-at-residential-schools/420846/?utm_source=SFTwitter