DOJ to Ohio: Abuse of Solitary Confinement harming mentally ill youth.

This practice is far too common with kids in Arizona, as well...

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Department of Justice

Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

 

Justice Department Seeks Temporary Restraining Order to Stop Ohio Department of Youth Services from Excessively Secluding Boys with Mental Health Needs

 

Today, the Justice Department sought a federal court order temporarily restraining the Ohio Department of Youth Services (DYS) from unlawfully secluding boys with mental health needs in its juvenile correctional facilities.  The requested order would require DYS to abide by safeguards in its use of seclusion until a final ruling on the claims that DYS’ seclusion practices violate the constitutional rights of boys in DYS custody.  In conjunction with its request for a temporary restraining order, the department sought to expand its existing complaint regarding the Scioto Juvenile Correctional Facility, to include claims of unlawful seclusion at all of the DYS facilities.

 

The department’s request for a restraining order detailed the state’s excessive use of seclusion, including the following information:  

·          In the second half of 2013, the state imposed a total of almost 60,000 hours of seclusion on 229 boys with mental health needs;

·          One boy spent 1,964 hours in seclusion over six months; the state gave another boy 21 straight days of seclusion;

·          Ten boys at one facility spent over 10 percent of their time in custody in seclusion;

·          While secluded, several boys were on suicide watch, had suicidal thoughts or hurt themselves.  

“The Ohio Department of Youth Services must stop violating the rights of youth in its custody through unlawful seclusion,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.  “The way in which Ohio uses seclusion to punish youth with mental health needs, victimizes one of the most vulnerable groups in our society.”

 

“Ohio’s juvenile correctional facilities must comply with the Eighth and 14^th Amendments,” said U.S. Attorney Carter Stewart for the Southern District of Ohio.  “We will remain vigilant in protecting the constitutional rights of all our citizens, particularly young people and those with mental illness.”

 

“The facts in this case reveal a serious disregard for the rights of young people with mental health needs in Ohio’s custody,” said U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach for the Northern District of Ohio.  “The Ohio Department of Youth Services has a responsibility to ensure the health and safety of these young people, including providing appropriate mental health treatment, so that they can overcome challenging behaviors and return to the community to become successful adults.”

 

Following an investigation under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 and the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), the Justice Department issued findings in May 2007 detailing significant constitutional deficiencies regarding use of physical force, grievance investigation and processing and use of seclusion.  In June 2008, the department entered into a consent decree with the state to correct these deficiencies at the Scioto Juvenile Correctional Facility.  However, the recent discovery that DYS continued to unlawfully seclude boys with mental health needs at Scioto Juvenile Correctional Facility and had moved boys to other DYS facilities also using unlawful seclusion prompted the department today to seek a temporary restraining order and an order allowing it to add the remaining DYS facilities to its complaint.

 

This case is being litigated by attorneys from the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio.  Copies of both motions and additional information about the Civil Rights Division will be available on its website.

At the Mercy of the Court: Deaths in Custody.

This is an SOS to the justices of the Maricopa County Superior Court, which is filling the prisons with vulnerable people. Please contact the Department of Justice about a CRIPA investigation, or initiate an independent judicial inquiry into the doubling of the suicide and homicide rates over the past 2 1/2 years among prisoners of the Arizona Department of Corrections, and the neglect and abuse in particular of women prisoners. These folks should get you started; the list of the dead still grows...

Prisoner Names Project: Appeal to Justice
Maricopa County Superior Court /Cesar Chavez Plaza

Phoenix, AZ (August 21, 2011)

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Arizona Department of Corrections' Deaths in Custody
January 2009-June 2011
(suicide & homicide rates have doubled)

HOMICIDES:

Pete Calleros, Mando Lugo, Dana Seawright, Shannon Palmer, James Jennings, Alex Usurelu, William Gray, Ulises Rodriguez, Albert Tsosie, Sean Pierce, Jeremy Pompeneo


SUICIDES:

Susan Lopez, Tony Lester, Duron Cunningham, Lasasha Cherry, Geshell Fernandez, Patricia Velez, Angela Soto, Hernan Cuevas, Jerry Kulp, Robert Medina, Eric Bybee, Erick Cervantes, Rosario Bojorquez-Rodriguez, Douglas Nunn, Monte McCarty, James Adams, Patrick Lee Ross, Caesar Bojorquez, Angel Torres, Harvey Rymer, Dung Ung, Ronald Richie, Michael Tovar, Carey Wheatley, Michael Pellicer, Jessie Cota, Luis Moscoso-Hernandez

Institutional INDIFFERENCE:

Brenda Todd, Marcia Powell, Tom Reed, Edgar Vega, Huberta Parlee


ACCIDENTAL DRUG OVERDOSES:

Pete Childs, William Engelbert, Santana Aqualais, Carl Cresong, Christopher Francis

To contact the DOJ:

Jonathan M. Smith, Chief
U.S. DOJ Civil Rights Division, Special Litigation Section
Patrick Henry Building / 950 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20530

(202) 514-6255
toll-free at (877) 218-5228
Special.Litigation@usdoj.gov

Waiting in the Silence: Remembering Tony Lester.

I received this message and video this morning from Tony Lester's Aunt, Patti Jones. Today died from the despair of his mental illness, incarceration, the threat of violence, and gross indifference to his fading life as five corrections officers stood around and watched him bleed to death, thinking only to pull out a camera and film it, not to try to stop it.


Tony was only 26, and left behind a huge, loving, grieving family, including a little girl he never had the chance to hold. All our love goes out to his family today, and to all survivors of prison violence and neglect. This is for you and your loved ones, from Tony's family, as much as it is for him. To those with someone struggling to survive their sentence in Arizona's state prisons, please spread the word that help is on the way. It isn't the ACLU or the DOJ, folks - it's us: me and you.

Please contact me if you want to be a part of the support team out here for our prisoners. My name is Peggy; reach me at 480-580-6807 or prisonabolitionist@gmail.com. You can do as much or as little as you want, and do it from home. Be patient and persistent if you leave me a message - just don't think we don't need you if it takes a few days - we very much do.

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A Birthday Wish for Beloved Tony: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONY:: We will have your voice heard, your life mattered we will bring about change for those that are so vulnerable. We understand your message, You will live on through the change that we will be brought about through your death, May God Bless You!!

All of Our Love

Your Family

New AZ Juvenile Corrections Director: Charles Flanagan

I seldom ever re-write blog posts, but sometimes new information or insight calls for a re-evaluation of my positions or strategies. In this case, time and reflection has compelled me to re-evaluate both. This is therefore a rewrite - the older version is gone.

Last week, Governor Jan Brewer announced the retirement of the current director of the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections, Michael Branham. This alone concerned me, as I knew he'd been resisting her desire to privatize the whole department. What concerned me more, however, is the naming of his replacement: current Deputy Director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Charles Flanagan - the one man for whom I've had more animosity towards than his boss, Chuck Ryan.

My feelings about Deputy Director Flanagan are rooted in experiences I've had or been privy to behind the scenes that aren't necessary to detail here. What matters is that under his watch the homicide and suicide rates in the state prisons have skyrocketed. The ACLU is investigating the ADC's abuse and neglect of seriously mentally ill prisoners - all too often managed with solitary confinement, which has been shown to be especially harmful to the mental health of prisoners with pre-existing psychiatric disorders.


As an example of both the effects of solitary and the cruel mentality of the state: one young man I know of, Mark, set himself on fire in desperation after begging for a year to have a cellie or be re-classified to a different yard (out of SMU-I, which is where he was when he set himself on fire), the experience of exile and isolation was so tortuous for him. Characteristic of this administration, despite being burned over 80% of his body - arguably punishment enough for an apparent suicide attempt - the state prosecuted him for arson and gave him more time. Is it any wonder that the level of despair and violence has risen so high in there, when the most vulnerable and impaired prisoners are so brutally treated by the ADC as a matter of course?






Such responses to mentally ill prisoners already traumatized by the conditions of their confinement not only shows an institutional culture void of compassion, but also a lack of competency and creativity. Charles Flanagan may have only been in his current position for the past 2 1/2 years, but one of the cases made for his appointment as the new ADJC director is that he's been helping build the ADC into what it is all this time - he's a career soldier there. If he wants credit for that - as if it's something worth claiming - then he needs to take responsibility for where things have gone awry, too - the pattern of abuse and neglect emerging at the state prisons under this administration has been festering for decades under bureaucrats like Chuck Ryan and his mentor, Terry Stewart.


The degree to which Charles Flanagan is part of the same good old boys network at the ADC or part of the resistance to it has yet to be seen. Former ASPC-Eyman Deputy Warden Carl Toersbijns - who I respect immensely, for an officer of the law in this state - keeps trying to convince me that Flanagan is one of the "good guys". My own verdict came in on him long ago - but with new testimony and a look at the old evidence, I'm willing to give his case another look. I want the judiciary in this state to do the same more often for our prisoners with wrongful conviction claims, so I'll try to lead by example.

Still, a good many people have died while Deputy Director Flanagan has helped whitewash the festering conditions inside his prisons over the past couple of years. That's not for me to forgive - that's for those victims and survivors of prison violence and neglect to wrestle with. My job, as I see it, is to amplify their voices, their protest, their resistance to what's happened and continues to happen to Arizona's state prisoners under the current regime, not to give those already in power even more by giving them "equal" space or consideration in my blogs. They already have the benefit of the doubt from everyone else - I'm often the only one to present the other side.

So, while I'm open to Carl's version of the deputy director's role in things under Chuck Ryan, I'm not cutting Flanagan a break. He's responsible by his own claim to leadership there for where the ADC is now at this point in history. I just recognize that I'm not in a position myself to judge accurately what he's done behind the scenes on behalf of prisoners to counter the damage his boss' leadership through the years has done - that is, I'm not absolutely sure if he's part of the problem or part of the solution.

In either case, Charles Flanagan's going to be part of this whole system injustice for some time to come, since the ADJC feeds so many of its kids to the ADC when they're done "correcting" them. In light of that, I invited him to have a dialogue with me; that, after a year or so of having ADC General Counsel Karyn Klausner run interference between us because I simmered with rage at the thought of him (I can only imagine how he feels about me). He promptly and graciously accepted. We'll talk after he settles into his new job - assuming I'm not sidelined over my graffiti by then.

In the meantime, those of you who have questions for him about his term in the adult system or his vision for criminalized youth, please shoot them to me between now and July 1. I can't promise that they'll be answered, but I'll make sure that they're publicly asked. Let your friends and loved ones inside know the invitation extends to them as well, and have them write to me at:

Arizona Prison Watch
PO Box 20494
Phoenix, AZ 85036

I'd love to get some prisoner feedback to share with the community out here about this new appointment; put the word out that it would mean a lot to me what the guys who have seen Flanagan rise through the ranks have to say about his integrity and competency as a CO and administrator.

Anyone interested in following juvenile justice issues in Arizona and helping to maintain a new blog, Arizona Juvenile Prison Watch, please contact me as well.

Thanks.

Another Death in Custody: Suicide at Lewis Prison

Some say that suicide is 100% preventable; this didn't have to happen. Will the family or friends of this young man please contact me about all these suicides in the state prisons of late? The rate has doubled since Jan Brewer took office.

My name is Peggy; my number is 480-580-6807, or email me at prisonabolitionist@gmail.com.

Our condolences to all of this prisoner's loved ones.

Eyman Homicide: Jeremy Pompeneo.

This young man's death is under investigation as a homicide, according to the Phoenix New Times. His original crime was brutal - he murdered his girlfriend by stabbing her 80 times.

He was also seriously mentally ill, however, and should have been safe in ADC custody while being treated for his psychiatric disorder. In light of the skyrocketing rates of homicide and suicide in AZ state prisons since Brewer and Chuck Ryan took over, his may be one death that could have been prevented, and his family should sue the state for everything they can. It may be the only thing that saves the next kid.

Our condolences to any loved ones this prisoner left behind.

Please feel free to contact me at prisonabolitionist@gmail.com or 480-580-6807 if I can be of any assistance as you recover from this. I'm just a blogger and activist - not an attorney or grief counselor - but I'm willing to help connect you with support if I can. That goes for all survivors of jail and prison violence, suicide, and neglect.


To report Arizona homicides, suicides, and medical neglect to the US Department of Justice, ask for a CRIPA (Civil Rights for Institutionalized Persons) Investigation of harmful patterns and practices causing the homicide and suicide rates to double under Jan Brewer's administration, and leaving prisoners to die without medical attention.

Address your concerns to:

Jonathan Smith, Chief
Special Litigation Section - Civil Rights Division
US Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
PATRICK HENRY BUILDING
Washington, DC 20530


Please email me a copy as well.

Surviving Susan Lopez: Mother's Day Grief.

One of the hardest, yet most profoundly meaningful, aspects of the work I do is to bear witness to the suffering of others and help them amplify their voices in any number of ways, in hopes that the rest of us are moved enough by them to change the trajectory we're on.


This is the grief of the parents of Susan Lopez, going into this past family-oriented weekend. Soon it will be their first Father's Day without her, each of her kid's birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the anniversaries of her birth, and of her death...

"When Jesus was a prisoner"
Matthew ch 25: v 35
Christmas, 2010
Phoenix, AZ

Rick Lopez and the Flores families have a difficult, deeply painful road ahead yet - all of the survivors of prison violence and neglect do. May we never again need to hear the grief of a mother who has buried her child in order to bring about a fundamental change in how we view and treat each other here, whatever our respective status or class...


Thank you, Sammy and Gina, for sharing this with us. Our condolences to the entire family.

-----------------left with broken hearts #2------------

A few years ago, my husband and I, together with Susan and her husband Rick, built a beautiful horse corral. I bought a mare, and someone gave us this big black gelding. Susan loved him. One day I went outside our 2 1/2 acre home, and I saw Susan on top of Moose, Rick leading the horse with a rope. I couldn`t believe what I saw, Susan riding Moose! She looked like a giant, but she was so happy, it seemed like nothing in the world mattered. Rick looked nervous, and would tell her "come on get down, get down!"

She loved horses like her mom. She loved cats, they were her life. She hated when anyone messed with them. She loved to look at the stars, and loved Jesus with all her heart. Our hobby was taking care of the horses; me and Susan would feed them and bathe them. I will always miss that...

From my horse corrals, about 4 miles from my back yard, you can see a hill with two giant water tanks. My daughter is buried on the other side of that hill. I am torn apart in my heart, its so hard to go feed the horses. Everytime I do, I see that hill, and I think of her. I break down crying; I'm torn apart. I then go to my front yard to sit on my deck. I look to the right and again I see the hill. I drive to town and I see the hill. It hurts, we loved her so much.

If you, the people working in Perryville prison, have any children then you know the love a parent has for their children, if you truly love them. I know me and my husband do; we loved Susan. And if you, the people working at Perryville prison, would have just listened to the cry of a wonderful woman, she may have touched your heart. And you might have change your ways, and done your job right. My daughter Susan would probably still be alive, that's what she was about. A beautiful woman full of love and kindness.

Again, whoever is responsible for the wrongful death of our daughter: God knows the truth. and may he find it in his heart to forgive you.

sammy & gina flores

(dad, mom)

Wrongful Deaths in Custody: Susan Lopez (ADC)

(UPDATED from March 29, 2011 post.)

As noted in the last post, a prisoner at ASPC-Perryville killed herself last week. Below is the notice of 35 year-old Susan Lopez' death from the AZ Department of Corrections. What follows is what some of the other prisoners had to say about her suicide. If you are a loved one of Susan's, please brace yourself. I'm sorry if this post is painful, but the public needs to know what's happening behind bars in this state, or more vulnerable people will die needlessly.

Susan was a mother of four children, and was apparently a Certified Nurses' Aide. By the number of people landing on my site Googling her this week, I'd say she was probably well-loved by people in her community, even though she was ignored by her caretakers in prison, where she was sent for non-violent crimes. Her history suggests that her criminal activity may have been related to the disease of addiction. Most addicts in America never acquire a record for it; many get medical treatment for their illness or join a 12-step program and give a tremendous amount back to their communities. The ones who get criminalized before they get well are less fortunate, not less worthy of recovery, and their lives are often shredded by the excess branding, shaming, exiling, and impoverishment that results from initiating criminal prosecution. It can be completely devastating.

A few extraordinary souls pick themselves up after prison and make good anyway - we like to use them as proof that incarceration itself can "help" people get back on their feet. They are the exception to the rule, however, and it's what they already have within them - not some magic instilled by going to prison itself - that gets them through hell and back in one piece, if they make it. Once caught up in the machinery of "justice", though, too many just never break free. The criminal justice system is designed to extort us and exploit our troubles, not assist us, if we're in the shoes of the accused - guilty or not. Once law enforcement is on the scene we have no control over how it plays out from there; cops have been known to kill people who are suicidal, and courts here routinely hold mentally incompetent defendants criminally culpable for the symptoms of their mental illness.

There are no easy answers for addiction, of course; the ones out there are really as diverse as the population of addicts. I've seen courts be far too quick to take a one-size-fits-all approach and send people off to prison because AA didn't fit them and they screwed up their probation or couldn't pay off their restitution in time. A lot of folks think that the state is actually benevolent and calling the police on a loved one who's addicted might help speed along their recovery process by raising the bottom they have to hit before committing themselves to breaking the cycle, but that's especially misguided because of what I just described. I would only resort to such drastic action today if it was the only way to protect someone's life or limb in a crisis.

Most addicts who land in prison are admittedly there for crimes supporting their habits, too, like theft or fraud. That doesn't make them dangerous, though, or justify the violence of imposing imprisonment on them at outrageous public expense - especially while simultaneously refusing to cover treatment services for them to get well. Once you're a criminal, however, every relapse - which is "part of recovery" for the rest of us - is a potential parole violation or a new charge as a "repeat offender", and as your record gets longer judges get less sympathetic...

All of which appears to have happened to Susan.

Susan's guilty plea is on the internet; the sentencing minutes should be updated and posted soon. Her Graham County sentence is what's in question; that's the one that hasn't been posted as of yet. You can check current court records by searching her name with her month and year of birth (June 1975). She had a whole lot of petty stuff pile up on her in several different counties at once - apparently accumulating over several years then catching up to her once she was in custody.

I think if all her charges were in one county, she would have had more dismissed in a plea agreement; the poor woman was just pounded by court appearances this winter. By the looks of it, the respective county attorneys filed every single charge they possibly could to intimidate her into the deals she entered: she could have been facing the rest of her life in prison for forgery-related crimes if she lost at trial. They really do hurt people who resist them: I know one fellow doing 52 years for fraudulent schemes (largely because he accused the prosecution and judiciary of racism then lost in court).

I find it astounding that the judges who sent this mother off to prison were prepared to expend anywhere from $60,000 to over $120,000 in public funds just to punish her - that's what really seems criminal. Our legislature is equally as complicit. It's unbelievable that given such an investment no one could even bother to sit down to help Susan figure out how long she would be locked up and away from her family. There are sources of possible confusion evident in Susan's posted ADC records - her death notice lists her as being 40 though she was born in 1975, and her obituary indicates a different middle name than her court and ADC records. All the court documents indicate it's the same Susan, though. How hard could it have been to help her sort this out and cope with it? A little bit of attention could have saved her life.

Unfortunately, the nightmare that unfolded for Susan immediately prior to her suicide seems to be the standard MO at the Arizona Department of Corrections, though I've had some good experiences with at least one CO at ASPC-Tucson, and I know there are other exceptions - like former ASPC-Eyman DW Carl Toersbijns. It's not the individual CO's so much anyway - it's the staffing schedules, inadequate training, and an abusive institutional culture that results in deaths like Marcia Powell's, Brenda Todd's, and Susan's. There isn't the expectation that officers respond with compassion to prisoners, of course - they're all just criminals trying to manipulate them because that's what they do best.

If ADC policies and culture reflected a fundamental value for human rights, there would be less abusive and negligent conduct by employees. The leadership makes their disdain for their prisoners clear to all, however, and throws criminals on the legislature's alter for live sacrifices to offer their constituents without thought for the consequences of new fees and restrictions for prisoners and their families - who are also taxpaying constituents, I might add. The description of the main officer who ignored Susan's pleas for help is consistent with what I would expect from the current ADC, sadly.

At most the officer(s) involved might get written up - unless this becomes a politically charged case, and the ADC decides to sacrifice the officer to minimize the appearance of institutional negligence, as was alleged by CO's over the death of Marcia Powell. The pattern and practice of ignoring women begging for help in AZ state prisons is unlikely to change any time soon, then - not without serious litigation, anyway. The state is far more concerned with avoiding liability than it is with taking responsibility, despite the moralistic garbage it shoves down prisoners' throats about why they must be brutalized the rest of their lives for the smallest of crimes.

To Susan's family, on that note: take your time grieving, but file a notice of claim against the state within six months for each survivor, or you'll be precluded from suing in state court in the future. The ADC needs to be held responsible for their neglect; so many women out there are still suffering, and have no other hope for relief. I'll do what I can to put survivors in touch with attorneys who can help file claims for wrongful deaths - there are far too many happening like this. I'll also do what I can to help you compile evidence; that's what I've been doing in these blogs for nearly two years now.

My number is 480-580-6807; my email is prisonabolitionist@gmail.com; my name is Peggy. My office is at 1009 N. 1st St. #8, Phoenix, next to the Firehouse Gallery. Contact me anytime.


Anyone can contact the US Department of Justice to complain about all the prison suicides under Brewer, by the way. Ask for a CRIPA Investigation into the AZ Department of Corrections.

The address is:

Jonathan Smith, Chief

US DOJ Civil Rights Division,
Special Litigation Section

950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, PHB

Washington, DC 20530

SOS DOJ: CRIPA Arizona.

Dodge Theater, Phoenix, AZ.

Halloween Night, 2010.

-------from the AZ Department of Corrections' website (posted 3/30/2011)-----

ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
1601 W. JEFFERSON
PHOENIX, ARIZONA 85007
(602) 542-3133
www.azcorrections.gov


JANICE K. BREWER, GOVERNOR CHARLES L. RYAN, DIRECTOR

NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

For more information contact:
Barrett Marson
bmarson@azcorrections.gov
Bill Lamoreaux
blamorea@azcorrections.gov

March 28, 2011 Inmate Death Notification

Phoenix, Az. – Inmate Susan Lopez, 40, ADC #184221, died Friday night from an apparent suicide.

Lopez, sentenced out of Cochise and Graham County, was serving 6 years for forgery. She came to ADC Dec. 2, 2010 and was held at the Santa Cruz Unit, ASPC-Perryville.

The death is under investigation by the department.

-----via personal email, March 26, 2011 re: suicide on Santa Cruz-----

"Perryville - 16 yard: Inmate 184221 LOPEZ Susan died last night by hanging. Was told she was a low risk inmate who was put in 16 yard after returning from going to court.

She had just been brought back to from court where she was sentenced to 3 years concurrent on a charge but the counselor told her the computer said she got 6 years-consecutive. She begged for help and was ignored. Her counselor did nothing to try to get that corrected and would not allow her to talk to anyone about it.

She had been seeking help for several days and begged for help. The counselor did nothing. She asked for help from other officers.

Her husband called to say their daughter was having surgery in the hospital - a family emergency. She tried to get the counselor to let her call home on this emergency. He would not help her."

----received from ASPC-Perryville/Santa Cruz via US Mail on March 30, 2011 (dated 3/28/2011)-----

We must do everything we can to keep this from happening again.

Perryville prisoner suicide: March 2011.

SOS DOJ: CRIPA AZ.
Sandra Day O'Connor Federal Court House.
November 14, 2010.

***UPDATED MARCH, 2011 at:

http://arizonaprisonwatch.blogspot.com/2011/03/deaths-in-custody-susan-lopez-adc.html


Another prisoner hung herself out at Perryville last Friday. The department has yet to put up the notice that she even died, for some reason, so I'll wait for them to release her name. I'm guessing they're either still notifying next-of-kin or trying to do some kind of damage control. A lot of people have been Googling her name and poking around my site for news of her, though, so I hope the state puts out the information soon. Once they do, I'll post the notice and fill in the blanks with what little I've been told; it was another case of people just not listening to the distress of prisoners.

I hope the ADC has learned that they need to do critical incident debriefing with affected prisoners or there'll be another suicide out there within a short time; their policies just suggest that they offer counseling to prisoners who ask for it; staff get the debriefing. There have been at least two suicides in the past seven months that were precipitated by another prisoner killing themselves on the same yard: Lasasha Cherry was preceded by Geshell Fernandez at Perryville/Lumley, and Duron Cunningham killed himself at Florence/Central just a week after Rosario Rodriguez-Bojorquez. Both might have been prevented by an intervention after the first suicide.

Just so folks know, if you have a loved one who has killed themselves or been murdered in Arizona's prisons, the best thing you can do to reduce the risk of it happening to the next person's loved one is to hold the state responsible in civil court. Sue them. Survivors must file a notice of claim within six months to take action in state court; don't wait until the last minute.

Contact me at 480-580-6807 if you need help finding an attorney.

Toersbijns: The Perils of Mission Creep at the AZ DOC.

The post below is from Carl Toersbjins' blog. Carl is a former Deputy Warden for the State of Arizona's Department of Corrections. He worked at ASPC-Eyman, the state's Supermax facility, until he retired in 2010. He was also employed for many years by the New Mexico Department of Corrections. Read his blogs at Associated Content and The Arizona Republic for more on mental illness and Arizona's state prisons.

The editorial inferred by the accompanying artwork is mine, not Carl's.

Prisoner Names Project
Phoenix New Times Office
(November 12, 2010)

SOS DOJ: Suicide in AZ State Prisons
(Dodge Theater, Phoenix. Halloween, 2010.)

------------------------------------------

The Perils of Mission Creep

Open Letter to Arizona Department of Corrections' Director Charles L. Ryan


By Carl ToersBijns

It well understood by every lawmaker, every politician and every agency leader in government that the creation of a mission statement should be more than a wall decoration in the office wall. It must reflect a "best practice" and reflect successful planning and goal setting by an agency or organization. Creating a good mission statement is meant to keep you on track and focus on your direction. There are times when the direction you have taken will take you away from your mission statement and into an abyss. This is commonly referred to as mission creep where you "creep" into areas you didn't plan on departing from or explore.

The Arizona Department of Corrections has set guiding principles within its on strategic plan and mission statement. Some of these principles are to provide a level of comfort for those government branches that interact with the agency daily by statute. Others are designed by federal law or agreements initiated to provide logistic or political support. The phrase of "safe and secure" is always part of a mission statement within prisons but rarely taken to the value it was designed to create.

The agency has a legal and operational responsibility to be accountable and responsive to its employees; to inmates and most definitely, its citizens. Their actions must show a high priority on quality of services and trust illustrating their effectiveness to manage such a large agency. Their work should be transparent, done with integrity and willing to change when mission statements and objectives or goals are not met within their time of expectation.

The agency has failed to maintain an environment that is humane and equitable to both employees and inmates. It has failed to address the number of assaults that occur daily within our prisons leaving staff and inmates injured, sometimes seriously and every now and then maimed forever. Today they have not solved the public's needs or expectations of a safe and secure prison environment. The leadership has not demonstrated a passion for action and has not demonstrated proactive skills that could in fact reduce the violence within the prisons. These administrators lack the aspiration to do a job and do it well but are not inclined to perform any better unless encouraged by the leadership of the agency. These leaders who are in charge of staff safety and inmate control have relinquished their authority to those unqualified to lead and accept lesser trade offs in their performance to get paid for eight and out the gate every day. Leadership was designed to energize the work force and inspire excellence by role modeling and doing the job with open communication and good ideas. This is most lacking in many administrators today.

Visiting the agency's website, their strategic plan will reveal an extreme high number or escapes last year at 5 reported. Perhaps it is time for the Director, Charles L. Ryan to review who is at the helm of these institutions where the staff assaults are creeping up beyond limits of reason and acceptance. Perhaps now is the time his energy is directed into the treatment of fairness for all who sweat and toil within the settings of these prisons and receive no gratitude for doing so. Looking at the statistics for 2009 there were an average of 29 staff assaults per month and 52 inmates on inmate assaults reported. Gleaning the same statistics for 2010 the data reveals there the average of 28.5 staff assaults per month and 62 inmates on inmate assaults reported. It is almost certain that he will claim the add inmate population has contributed to these numbers, however, the average reflects no effort to curb the violence.

It would behoove the Director to sit down with his core of leadership [or change his leadership] and review the mission statements for an anticipated change in actions and decision making. Perhaps, he should remind every one of them what the mission statement is and "stick it" into their heads so they won't forget who they work for [the citizens of Arizona] and who they are accountable to for their dealings and decision making.One can see by the charts attached the gradual process of maintaining control over the environment has changed over time and resulted in undesirable consequences that labor on staff injuries, resignations, frustrations and low morale. Another aspect of this erosion to the mission statement is the high inmate assaults on both staff and other inmates, suicides and homicides that occur within the prisons within a culture that has developed a tolerance to death or violence.

The Director needs to infuse new energy into the agency and its leadership. He must deliberately discuss the agency's shortcomings and avoid getting distracted on other issues that created confusion and dissension among staff. He has betrayed his own mission statement and his own policies in the manner business are conducted today inside his agency. His focus has changed and he is losing a grip on those very things that he promised to address when he came on board back in 2009.

Source:
www.azcorrections.gov

SOS DOJ: CRIPA AZ State Prisons
(Dodge Theater, Phoenix. Halloween, 2010.)

Deaths in Custody: ADC January 2011.

Arizona State Capitol/Wes Bolin Memorial Plaza, Phoenix. February 22, 2011.

It is inevitable that some people will die in prison, even given the best of care. Not every death behind bars is due to negligence - some prisoners receive extremely compassionate and capable end-of-life care from the Arizona Department of Corrections, regardless of their crime. The past two years have seen skyrocketing homicide and suicide rates in the state prisons, however, as program resources have been cut, violence has escalated, and the quality of medical services has deteriorated. Look at how young these folks are.

Therefore, we're compiling as much documentation as possible to strengthen our call for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the ADC, and are developing a list of attorneys to refer survivors of prisoners seeking to file claims against the state for their loss. Please contact me if you have evidence that any of these prisoner deaths were preventable (including the "natural causes") and/or serve to illustrate systemic problems with access to appropriate health care, psychiatric treatment, and emergency services in Arizona's state prisons.


Peggy Plews
Arizona Prison Watch
PO Box 20494
Phoenix, AZ 85036
480-580-6807

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According to the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) website, the following prisoners died in custody in January, 2011:

Delbert Carr, 61
David Bandstra, 64
John Zimmerman, 44
David Moreno, 40
Fred Myers, 59
Brenda Todd, 44
Andre Hutchins, 59
Jose Lopez-Hernandez, 46
Timothy Lewis, 54
Jeffrey Ortiz, 55

Our condolences to their loved ones.

Deaths in Custody: Smoke, Fire and Ronald Richie.

Soon after the Arizona Department of Corrections informed the media of the December 29, 2010 death of Ronald Richie at ASPC-Lewis/Buckley, I received information from two sources that it was a suspected homicide and posted it as such. 


I've since received conflicting information that Ronald took his own life - though I can't yet get the ADC to confirm or deny that (they dryly told me to check back when the investigation is done in 4 months). Therefore, I took my initial post on the matter down this week. My apologies to Ronald Richie's family and friends for any confusion or distress that post may have caused, and condolences for your loss.

I was reluctant to remove that post largely because of the evidence I've seen that the ADC has treated at least two probable homicides in the past two years as something else - and because they wouldn't come out and deny that they were looking at Richie's death as a possible homicide. In the current context of skyrocketing suicides and homicides at the ADC, how that fellow died means something to more than just his family. Whether it was due to negligent staff, ineffective or damaging departmental policy, the shoddy state of mental health care in our prisons, the inability of prison leadership to get a grip on the violence, or all of the above, it was not an isolated incident. 

The conditions resulting in the escalating lethal violence and suicides in our state prisons under Director Ryan affects everyone inside (including officers), as well as all those who love them. There's something to be said for allowing the ADC time to do their job right, but once they put out the initial death notices on someone, they never follow it up with another public release. They pretty much count on no one but the victim's family caring about their demise. Read the vicious comments in the media following articles about prisoner deaths and you'll see why. The ADC fans the flames of vindictiveness and ignorance by the way they manipulate data and mis-represent  just who they're holding prisoner and how those folks are dying in their care.

By obscuring the realities of the conditions of our prisons today, the ADC also condemns many more to be sent there not for punishment, but for "care". Many judges, prosecutors, and even public defenders seem to think that the more vulnerable public nuisances we no longer hospitalize or treat in the community for mental illness (Marcia Powell and Shannon Palmer come quickly to mind) will at least be "safe" and get the medical and mental health "treatment" they need in prison. The ADC Criminal Investigation Unit reports I've read recently on prisoner deaths since 2006 are evidence that the courts' - and the public's - trust has been misplaced, even betrayed. No one is safe in AZ state prisons (or our county jails) - especially not the seriously mentally ill.

Someone with more resources and investigative skills than myself needs to expose what the ADC is maintaining under a veil of secrecy. We desperately need the DOJ and ACLU National Prisons Project to step up now, as prisoners are still dying and our mainstream media has no apparent interest in taking this monster on. Please contact them.


As for Ronald Richie's death:


Carl Toersbijns, a former Deputy Warden at ASPC-Eyman for the ADC, has much better sources than I do, however, and identified Richie's death as a suicide in his own blog. He had some very worthwhile comments to go with his report, which I'm posting below. He's been working diligently to try to get the ADC to reform their policies and practices around the treatment of prisoners with serious mental illness and those at risk for both suicide and homicide, and has a number of interesting posts both at Associated Content and the Arizona Republic - they're all worth reading. 

Carl's analyses of the problems at the ADC are particularly useful because of his intimate knowledge of not only institutional policies and practices, but also the ADC's culture. Anyone investigating the dramatic rise in prisoner suicides and homicides at the ADC since Governor Brewer took office should track him down. Here are some of his recent thoughts in the wake of the death of prisoner Ronald Richie...

-----------------------------------

There's No Smoke Without Fire

High Suicide Rates Inside of Prison Draws Smoke Plums in Arizona Skies

By Carl ToersBijns

Associated Content

December 30, 2010

Reading the newspaper yesterday, it was posted that another inmate committed suicide at the Lewis prison facility making this a very common event within the last two years. The Arizona Republic wrote "An inmate died Wednesday while in the custody at a Buckeye prison, the Arizona Department of Corrections said Ronald Richie, 42, was serving a life sentence and was being held at the Buckley Unit of the Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis in Buckeye, authorities said." One must ask the question, is this death an accomplice of the many fires [deaths] burning within the prisons or is it an isolated burn. According to the agency's own record, there have been 10 inmate deaths recorded within a 60 day period. Reflecting at the entire list, there are over 100 inmate deaths recorded in the past 2 years.

Realizing that during the holidays, depression is common and often the main reason for someone taking their own life, it has also come to mind that perhaps not all deaths inside the Arizona prison system can be simple explained as a suicide caused by depression. Recent studies show that Arizona prisons appear incarcerated mentally disabled persons at a much higher than other systems on a national average. In fact, it is very probable that these overcrowded and understaffed prison conditions are contributing to the high rate without any specific intervention or prevention by staff trained for such crisis management. Looking at the agency's death list creates an impression of uncontrolled burning within the system. So as we notice the plumes of smoke coming from the different prisons around the state, we must wonder where the fire is and what is causing this plume of smoke rise so high into the sky. What is starting the fire that is creating all this smoke?

Metaphorically speaking, a fire needs three things to exist. The first being a supply of oxygen, the second being an igniter and the third is fuel. Putting this in simple terms the creation of combustion of creating a fire [death] inside a prison is very simple and very easily accessible by many who choose to make a fire. In prison, the igniter is the negligence or lack of the appropriate level of services related to mental health programs available to these general population inmates. The fuel is the overcrowding and neglect of treatment for mentally disabled inmates and the fact that many are not compliant with their medication, if indeed, they have been diagnosed and treated with medicine. Third the oxygen is the environment that breeds contempt and inciting of violence and disorder eliminating any hopes of recovery for such depressed individuals for their disorder or illness.

One of the solutions to this problem is to remove one of those three elements to douse the fire and eliminate the continued rising of smoke. The ignition tool can be removed by implementing sound mental health treatment programs at all custody levels for the mentally disabled. The fuel can be controlled ensuring they are compliant with their medication. The oxygen can be removed changing the living environment thus changing the social culture and training of staff to address these mentally disabled inmates' needs so they can intervene, prevent and detect these critical masses before someone takes their own life. It has been established the peer pressure by other inmates not mentally disabled [and perhaps sociopaths by behavior] can create or cause an enormous amount of pressure on a mentally ill inmate and requires them to be moved to another location to avoid injury or harm that is imminent if he remains.

A Roman author said "A rolling stone can gather no moss" and the message is clear. The agency must continue to move ahead with more mental health intervention methods to address this crisis. The recent establishment of the behavioral management unit inside the maximum custody unit at Browning is the beginning of a trend that will allow the agency to address mental illness within their custodial responsibilities as prescribed by law. This will address the negative impacts of "solitary confinement" factors. Today, the prison administration needs to make a commitment to expand those services to all mentally disabled inmates at all the prison complexes incarcerated and allow them the treatment they deserve under their constitutional rights to be treated humanely and appropriately. A timely effort will prevent more work later.

Read more:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/12/29/20101229buckeye-inmate-death-abrk.html#ixzz19cC35cEu
http://www.azcorrections.gov/Minh_news_gov.asp
http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/
http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/resources/coned/fe-curriculum/2-72.pdf

MCSO: Prisoner Civil Rights Complaints.

The guy quoted below (in bold red) about how "seriously" the MCSO takes these assaults on prisoners is presumably Jerry Sheridan, the Chief Custody Officer for the Maricopa County's jails. Let me just remind folks that when the MCSO convened their grand press conference Monday to release the video and announce Gerster's arrest, Sheridan seemed to explain his officers' conduct by saying that the victim of Gerster's first recorded assault (the mentally ill guy strapped down in 4-point restraints who got his jaw broken) "was probably mouthing off."

I don't think that was part of the planned press release - that's just what comes out of those guys naturally whenever they open their mouths. I hope all the MCSO's victims catch that and make a point of putting these administrators - and Arpaio - on their federal civil rights' complaints, since they've created a climate in which "mouthing off" at guards justifies violent retaliation against helpless, mentally disabled prisoners.

If you've been a victim of the MCSO while in their custody, here's the form you need to fill out to make a civil rights complaint, with instructions (here and here are a couple of jailhouse layer guides, too). If you're still in custody, don't let that stop you - the courts will be accommodating. Just make sure that you read the directions carefully and follow them. A lot of otherwise sound cases get thrown out because people don't follow the right format, name the right defendants, or go through the internal grievance process available to them.

Also, below is contact info for the folks at the Department of Justice to contact in support of a CRIPA Investigation (Civil Rights for Institutionalized Persons), if you have evidence of a pattern/practice of abuse/neglect of prisoners in any law enforcement agency's custody. I believe they're already on to Arpaio and his Klan at the jails (at least the ACLU has been working it) - give them more evidence anyway. And please feed them stuff about the state prisons - or email me and I'll send it on its way.

Since these big tough men who are supposed to be defending our constitution and safety will no doubt be whining to the press that the Obama administration is just picking on them because of politics, let local media know why you filed a civil rights complaint or contacted the DOJ, that you're ordinary people from Arizona, not politicians from Washington, and that it's all about them violating human rights and abusing the public trust. If they ever really practiced what they preached, they'd suck it up and take responsibility for their own behavior.

----------------------------

US Department of Justice

Special Litigation Section

Mailing Address

Special Litigation Section
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, PHB
Washington, D.C. 20530
For FEDEX: 601 D Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004

Telephone Number
toll-free at (877) 218-5228

Fax Numbers
(202) 514-0212
(202) 514-6273

Chief

Jonathan M. Smith

And this is the Judge who ordered Arpaio to get it together and clean up the jails. Let him know if he's doing his job or not:

HONORABLE NEIL V. WAKE
United States District Court
Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse, Suite 524
401 West Washington Street, SPC 52
Phoenix, AZ 85003
Phone: (602) 322-7640

No more appeals, Arpaio!

http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/10/14/31060.htm

----------------------------------------

Accused Detention Officer Resigns from Job

Fox News Updated: Thursday, 02 Dec 2010, 7:23 PM MST

PHOENIX - The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said Thursday that detention officer Kevin Gerster resigned on Wednesday following his arrest earlier in the week on aggravated assault charges.

A jail surveillance video shows the former Arizona detention officer stepping on the neck of an inmate who was restrained and bent over a table.

The video shows the inmate, William Hughes, handcuffed behind his back, bent over a table, and surrounded by three officers. Gerster walks up to the men, gets on the table and steps on Hughes' neck.

The video of the assault also shows the officer later punching Hughes in the back of the head four times and kicking him in the leg once. Investigators also said they believe he slammed Hughes' head up against a wall in his jail cell, although there is no video evidence of that.

Sheridan said Hughes did not require medical treatment and didn't have any apparent neck injuries, although he had some bruising and a cut on his forehead, which investigators believe happened in his jail cell.

Gerster posted a $36,000 secured appearance bond Tuesday after he was booked into jail on aggravated assault charges stemming from Hughes' assault and from a June incident, which was uncovered during the recent investigation.

In a June video also released to the media, Gerster is shown punching inmate Michael Flores in the jaw.

Gerster also faces charges of accessing criminal history and one count of computer tampering. The sheriff's office said Gerster looked up the address of an ex-inmate for his friend, whose ex-wife was dating the inmate and who allegedly assaulted the two with a box cutter after getting the address from Gerster.

Another officer, Alan Keesee, who is shown in the November video slamming Hughes' head against the table, was not arrested, but the sheriff's office recommended he also be charged with aggravated assault.

Sheridan said the sheriff's office decided to release the video to the public because he and Sheriff Joe Arpaio "took it very seriously."

"We were upset with the actions of both these officers and we quickly initiated a criminal investigation," he said.

Mental illness in Arizona's state prisons: Chuck Ryan on the carpet, again.

This was posted to another site on Friday, November 19, 2010 by the former AZ Department of Corrections deputy warden who was interviewed by Channel 12 this summer and called for Chuck Ryan to resign. It's being reprinted here with Carl's permission. 

As some of you may know, one of the corrections' officers unions also called on the governor to fire Ryan in a letter of no confidence two weeks ago. I shouldn't have to point this out, but prisoners aren't the only ones behind bars at heightened risk under current conditions. The front line staff also have good reason to be concerned.

Needless to say, none of us are making friends in Arizona's high places. In fact, since the people we're antagonizing have badges and guns on their side - as well as the keys to the prisons - it would help if the public and media really watch our backs out here.

Other witnesses to the institutionalized neglect and abuse of prisoners with mental illness in Arizona are urged to contact the US Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division; send them what you know and request that they initiate a CRIPA investigation before the next ADC suicide or homicide goes down. If you need to you may remain anonymous while doing so. 

--------------------------

Arizona's Prison Problems - Open Letter to the Director

Mental Health Treatment for Offenders

By Carl ToersBijns

Open Letter to Charles Ryan, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections

Mr. Director, when are you going to address the horrific mental health conditions of confinement inside your prison? Have you really taken a look into the need to implement a mental health "program" that is realistic and objectively driven by individuals who really care about doing the job and doing it right? Arizona is way behind in providing mental health care for those incarcerated with mental health illness and other disorders.

The very first thing I noticed when I came onboard five years ago was the long lines of inmates waiting to be seen by mental health professionals obviously overwhelmed by the number of offenders on their caseload, and the lack of priority this task has been demonstrated by the administration for the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADOC). Speaking to both mental health professionals and providers, it became obvious to the spectator that these inmates are not receiving the type of care they need during their stay of incarceration or when they are released with a thirty day blister pack. Witnessing this lack of organized effort to create and deliver a sound mental health treatment program in spaces designed for much less tasks, I am astonished how these inmates are able to conform and maintain their individual demeanor under such stress and lack of care.

Certainly, I have gleaned that apathy has set in with some treatment professionals as they are just merely overtaken by the sheer number of "clients" they see daily and the need to provide follow up treatment is dominated or even sabotaged by the lack of cooperation by the administration to provide security escorts to and from such activities to ensure a completion of services. Right now, as we speak, except for a few individuals down there in Tucson, you are warehousing mentally ill inmates in the special management units that receive no attention, no care and no hope of ever coming out with some degree of normalcy when released. It's almost like you are doing it on purpose so ignore their needs. I have witnessed abandonment of several mental health sponsored programs that enhanced the detection of inmate suicides and the willful destruction of morale among your providers. Lacking such structure to create and provide a meaningful treatment environment is almost impossible as there is no dedicated space to do this most urgent task.

Fragmented services are wasteful as there is no continuity in the delivery or the provisions to ensure the medication is successfully delivered or taken. Even New Mexico Corrections has you beat Mr. Ryan for they had the insight and intelligence to begin separating these types of offenders from the general population and provided them treatment instead of repetitive uses of force to make them comply into an environment they don't understand. Being very familiar with their treatment programs, I am astonished that Arizona is no way near the level of care provided in our neighbor's prisons. Located in a secure and orderly treatment center staff with the resources to maintain a sound treatment program for the criminally ill, it has been successful in design and operations.My history with them goes back to its birth as a treatment center and given the task to be the chief of security for a task force of men and women who volunteered to work in such a difficult and multifaceted place called the Mental Health Treatment Center (MHTC).

As a concerned citizen and former corrections professional, I am writing to you regarding the urgency to find in your organization, a legitimate means to address mental health treatment for your incarcerated inmates who are currently void of treatment and the necessary care to function within the parameter expected of them while incarcerated. I have witnessed as an ADOC correctional administrator, the warehousing of such inmates housing them side by side and allowing their psychotic conduct feed to the next inmates housed on the run as the entire pod becomes a bedlam pod of psychotic criminals yelling, shouting and begging for better care.

You need to prioritize your issues inside your prison because you are violating these inmate's rights by not treating them. Chemical restraints are draconic in every way and cruel. Your staff in uniform are doing the best they can with what they have but need professional help in the area of treatment, not confinement. It takes a team effort to be effective. It will only be a matter of time before you are brought into the federal courts and held accountable for the severe shortcomings of a sound and humane mental health program for the many inmates you are responsible for and up to this point, neglected.

• Allocate more security staffing to the lockdown units in Florence Eyman and Tucson so that everybody who works there are safe and the institutions are operating at a safe and sound level by meeting mandated conditions of confinement.

• You need to allow more time and structure for these so called PMRB (prescribed medication review board) for the mental health professionals to gain insight of inmate behaviors before you order them on involuntary (forced) medication creating excessive use of force situations and physical harm to both staff and inmates. Most administrators sitting in on these reviews are called for the task but really have no insight of the inmate's history or medical / mental health needs.

• Allocate more mental health professionals to these units so they can be functional and purposeful and legally in compliance with the civil rights you have sworn to protect.

• Update your Mental Health Treatment Department Order 1103 dated August 22, 1997 as it is a sure indicator of its priority of this administration by being neglected to be revised for such a long time now.

Thank you.

Carl ToersBijns