PA Prison Report- Monday June 13, 2011

In this edition: Sexual harassment and medical neglect of women at SCI Muncy, abuse continues in the solitary units at SCI Cresson, jailhouse lawyer Andre Jacobs seeks a court injunction against retaliation by prison staff, and more..

 

 

An additional report from an anonymous prisoner describes another woman, Josette Wakely, being brutally beaten by her cellmate on March 3. Surrounding prisoners hit their alert buttons, informing prison guards McElroy and Lorico that Wakely was being beaten and raped. The officers responded by threatening to write up anyone who disturbed them again. It was only after the attacker rang her alert button to inform the officers of what she had done that they attended to the injured woman. Josette Wakely was life-flighted out of the institution and sustained scars and bruises.

Also at Muncy, an anonymous prisoner reported the wrongful death of Tonya Green on April 20, due to medical neglect.  The reports that "Green had a history of medical issues and was put in [solitary confinement] after she could not get up from the sidewalk, after they allowed her to stay there for half an hour.  They knew this woman was in pain.  After she cried out while in [solitary] no one attended her.  Later that night she died." A memorial service was held for Tonya Green at the SCI Muncy chapel.

Prisoner assaulted by guards after protesting illegal search of another man's cell: Davon Hayes reports from the Restricted Housing Unit (RHU) at SCI Dallas that after protesting the April 4 search of a nearby prisoner's cell without the prisoner present, a team of guards then searched his own cell, tampered with his property, and assaulted him while he was handcuffed, leaving him with a fractured left orbital bone.

 

Hayes reports that after witnessing a search team enter the nearby K-A-35 cell without the occupant present, he spoke up against the search, citing DOC policy ADM 203 which requires that prisoners be physically present during searches of their cells. His words infuriated Sergeant Donald Buck, who immediately called for a team of guards to seach Hayes' cell. During the search, he was handcuffed behind his back and to his cell window while officers Santero, Fitzgerald, Amos, Headman, and Whiteman threw his legal property in the air, threw his Islamic materials on the floor, and removed his books from the cell. The team then uncuffed him from the window, forced him to the floor, and proceeded to beat him about the face, in the process fracturing his left orbital bone. During the assault, guards repeatedly pressured him to "sign off on the paperwork" and at least one guard yanked and pulled on the tether attached to his handcuffs in an attempt to make it appear that Hayes was resisting the assault.

 

Hayes has filed a private criminal complaint about the incident. He remains in solitary confinement in the SCI Dallas RHU.

 

 

The civil rights suit deals with two years of retaliation that Jacobs has suffered since winning a $185,000 award in a lawsuit against prison staff. Since that victory in November of 2008 he has been subject to assaults, racist harassment, starvation, deprived of all his property on multiple occasions, been issued dozens of fabricated misconducts, had false criminal charges pressed against him, and been separated from most of his legal property for the past 6 months.

 

The injunction was filed as reports from SCI Rockview indicate an escalation in the threats and retaliation against Mr. Jacobs. According to one declaration, Lt. Andrews refused to permit Jacobs to access his property and made obscene comments and gestures toward him. Another declaration states that Lt. Nixon was reading confidential medical and legal property of Mr. Jacobs, and that she told him to “destroy as much of this shit as possible. Just ask around, I’ll write you up and bury you.” She then seized addresses, pictures, and legal notes of Mr. Jacobs without issuing a confiscation slip. Lt. Nixon also deprived Jacobs of a shower and a razor. Superintendent Lamas has also instituted a new policy of restricting solitary confinement prisoners to a maximum of two envelopes per week from commissary, reportedly stating that “Inmates are sending way too many complaints to HRC, the courts and Central Office for grievance appeals.  This limits that.”

 

 

 

Law school challenges federal government's violation of solitary prisoners' right to due process: On May 31, the University of Denver's Civil Rights Clinic filed an opening brief in an appeal to the Tenth Circuit of two cases challenging the government's failure to provide due process to four prisoners held in isolation for years at the federal supermax (ADX) in Florence, CO. The case, Rezaq v. Nalley, is a consolidation of two district court cases that held that there is no liberty interest in the conditions of confinement at ADX. The district courts decided against the prisoners based on DiMarco v. Dep't of Corrections, a 2007 decision in which the Tenth Circuit established a four-factor test for determining whether a liberty interest exists, one of which is whether there is a "legitimate penological interest" for the segregation.

 

The plaintiffs in the case, who had lived successfully in general population for years and had earned positive adjustment records and the respect of prison officials, were placed in solitary confinement in the hours immediately following the September 11 attacks. The lead plaintiff, Omar Rezaq, was initially told by a prison Captain that he was being moved to ADX Florence "because he was Arab".

 

 

 

Lappin announced his retirement in March, a few days before making public an earlier arrest on DUI charges in Maryland. In a memo apologizing to BOP employees, Lappin admitted to a ”lapse in my judgment…giving rise to potential embarrassment to the agency,” but he would not acknowledge any direct link between his arrest and his retirement. The announcement of his appointment to a leadership position at CCA came just over three weeks after his effective retirement date of May 7.

 

Taking advantage of two concurrent 30-year trends–toward mass incarceration and toward privatization of government services–CCA has grown to a $1.6 billion company that operates 66 facilities in 20 states, with approximately 90,000 beds. It has become notorious for its poor treatment of prisoners, and for numerous preventable injuries and deaths in its prisons and immigrant detention centers. About 40 percent of CCA’s business comes from the federal government, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as the Bureau of Prisons. As BOP director, Lappin would have overseen government contracts with CCA worth tens of millions of dollars. CCA spends approximately $1 million annually on lobbying on the federal level alone.

 

Philly area: Wednesdays are Write On! Prison Letter Writing Night at the LAVA space at 4134 Lancaster, 6-9 pm. Come help us stay connected with the many prisoners who write to us with news from inside, learn to document crimes committed by prison staff, and help bring an end to the abuse and torture of our brothers and sisters behind bars.

 

If you'd like to know more about the Human Rights Coalition or would like to get involved, come to Write On!, to our monthly general meetings (second Monday of each month, 6pm), or call us at 215-921-3491, email info@hrcoalition.org, or visit our website at http://www.hrcoalition.org./

 

Pittsburgh area: Write On! – letter writing to prisoners and HRC work night every Wednesday at 5129 Penn Avenue from 7 -10pm. To get involved with HRC/Fed Up! in Pittsburgh,email hrcfedup@gmail.com or call 412-654-9070.