Betty Smithey: Free at last...

Congratulations to Betty, and blessings to Donna Hamm for sticking with this fight all these years. Now we need to figure out how to get Brewer to let Bill Macumber go, too, before he dies...he doesn't even have a freedom4bill website anymore - I think he gave up.

-------------from AZCentral.com-------------

Betty Smithey with advocate/criminal justice consultant Donna Hamm 

after the clemency board decision Monday. 

Woman walks free after 49 years in Arizona prison

Nation's longest-serving female inmate was granted clemency

Bob Ortega 
Aug. 13, 2012

After 49 years behind bars, the nation's longest-serving female inmate is free.

Betty Smithey, 69, whose prison term began following her conviction for the murder of a 15-month-old Phoenix girl in 1963, appeared at a parole hearing Monday morning and by that afternoon walked, with the aid of a cane, out of the gates of the Perryville state prison in Goodyear.

"It's wonderful driving down the road and not seeing any barbed wire," Smithey said by phone as she traveled with relatives to her niece's Mesa home, where she will reside. "I am lucky, so very lucky."

"Like I told the (parole) board, I know it's going to be a big adjustment, but I'll take it and I'll make good," she said.

Members of Arizona's Board of Executive Clemency agreed that Smithey had proven she is no longer the troubled woman who at age 20 murdered Sandy Gerberick on New Year's Day 1963, while working as the family's live-in baby-sitter, or the woman who that same year threatened to kill herself after being sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Board members voted 4-1 to grant an absolute discharge, not only freeing Smithey from prison but also any community supervision.

Smithey became eligible for discharge after Gov. Jan Brewer granted her clemency in June, reducing her sentence to 49 years to life.

"I really see no value in keeping you in prison any longer. I really see no value in keeping strings on you any longer," Parole Board Chairman and Director Jesse Hernandez told Smithey before voting to grant her discharge.

Monday's vote was a rare occurrence. Sentenced to life before August 1973, Smithey was numbered among the so-called "old-code lifers" who are eligible for parole only if first granted a commutation by the governor. She is only the third such inmate to be granted clemency since 1989.

In 1994 and 2003, boards recommended clemency for Smithey only to have first Gov. Fife Symington and then Gov. Janet Napolitano deny it.

Last spring, not long after the board unanimously recommended clemency for Smithey, Brewer replaced three of its five members; on Monday, the new members in particular sought reassurance that Smithey doesn't pose any danger of violence. Much of their questioning of Smithey, her attorneys and supporters and psychiatrist Elizabeth Kohlhepp focused on Smithey's youthful mental state, whether the board could be sure she'd changed, and whether she could handle the stress of returning to the outside world after five decades.

As the deciding vote came down in her favor, Smithey crossed herself and looked down briefly as if in disbelief that the moment had finally arrived.

Smithey endured a horrific childhood of abandonment, abuse and mistreatment by foster and adoptive parents, creating, Kohlhepp said, a fragile youth with poor coping skills who became psychotic under extreme stress.

In her early years in prison she was rebellious and troublesome, escaping four times from three different prisons between 1974 and 1981.

But Kohlhepp, who evaluated Smithey's mental health in 2003 and again recently, said that over the decades Smithey worked hard to transform herself.

"She has no risk factors for violence," said Kohlhepp. "She doesn't have a criminal mind-set."

The key moment, said Smithey, came in 1983 when she received a letter from Emma Simmons, Sandy Gerberick's mother, forgiving her for the crime.

"She made me feel that I wasn't a monster," said Smithey. "I felt if she could forgive me for taking her child's life, I could forgive myself. ... It was my responsibility to try to become a better person than I was."

Dozens of supporters turned out for Monday's hearing.

Andy Silverman, a University of Arizona law professor who has known Smithey since working on an appeal for her in 1971, said, "I've changed over those 41 years, and I can assure the board that she has as well. ... She's a good and caring person. She always shows more interest in others than in herself."

After Monday's vote, Smithey smiled and waved to her supporters, mouthing "thank you" and then clutching her niece Rebecca Henderson in a tearful hug. Smithey shook each board member's hand and thanked them before being led into the prison to prepare for her release.

Family members said they painted and decorated a room for her to live in.

Freedom Now for Will Macumber!

He's still wasting away in Jan Brewer's dungeon, folks, at over $20,000/year and the irreplaceable cost of his life...

Freedom4Bill

Freedom4Bill

Freedom Now

- Traci Chapman


They throwed him in jail
And they kept him there
Hoping soon he'd die
That his body and spirit would waste away
And soon after that his mind


But every day is born a fool
One who thinks that he can rule
One who says tomorrow's mine
One who wakes one day to find
The prison doors open the shackles broken
And chaos in the street


Everybody sing we're free free free free
Everybody sing we're free free free free
Everybody sing we're free free free free


They throwed him in jail
And they kept him there
Hoping his memory'd die
That the people forget how he once led
And fought for justice in their lives


But every day is born a man
Who hates what he can't understand
Who thinks the answer is to kill
Who thinks his actions are god's will


And he thinks he's free free free free
Yes he thinks he's free free free free
He thinks he's free free free free


Soon must come the day
When the righteous have their way
Unjustly tried are free
And people live in peace I say
Give the man release
Go on and set your conscience free
Right the wrongs you made
Even a fool can have his day


Let us all be free free free free
Let us all be free free free free
Let us all be free free free free


Free our bodies free our minds
Free our hearts
Freedom for everyone
And freedom now


Freedom now
Freedom now
Freedom now


Let us all be free free free free
Let us all be free free free free
Let us all be free free free free

------

Freedom4Bill.com

Arizona: Mercy, Mercy Me...

Davon's clemency board hearing was yesterday - the decision to turn him down was clearly made before we walked into the room, however. The chair made only passing reference to the thick stack of mail that had arrived in support of Davon's application, and cut me off when I was speaking on his behalf. He made a special point of reading things into the record to justify their determination against him. The county attorney's office can be expected to oppose such applications, but they went out of their way, it seems, to damn him - which was precisely what the board needed and asked for. Not that I'm accusing them of any impropriety - I'm sure they did what they felt was right - just as I'm doing. We just come from different places, and they don't know Davon like I do. As evidenced by their decision yesterday, They don't know him at all.


Pardons in Arizona have nothing to do with mercy or grace, by the way - or even justice for that matter, even when sincere people try to deliver it. Look at what our good governor did to Bill Macumber, the innocent man who has already spent 35 years in prison for murder and may well die there. Convinced beyond any doubt that his conviction was based on perjured testimony and manufactured evidence, the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency unanimously recommended him for a full pardon, which would have gone into effect if Brewer had simply left it alone for 90 days. Instead she quashed it, in the interest of her kind of "justice". Affirming Bill's innocence would have implied his ex-wife's guilt. As she worked for the Maricopa County Sheriff's office at the time she framed him, I suspect Brewer was doing someone with history there a favor. But what do I know?



Sadly, despite his story saturating the media across the country before November 2, the voters in Arizona elected that woman anyway.



As for Davon: the outcome of his hearing was no surprise, really - probably least of all to him - but it was still a disappointment; his little sister left the room abruptly in tears. We did, however, raise awareness about the prosecution of the seriously, mentally ill for their symptoms rather than their criminality, and built a network for prisoners with Hep C and their families. We also entered our objections to the prison industrial complex into the public record (that was the part I think they didn't want to hear). One of our legislators even turned out to corroborate Davon's mom's assertion that Arizona's prisoners aren't getting the medical care they need in there - and that came from a self-described "conservative Republican". I suspect he will pay a price for having done that, which is why I won't name him here. I doubt he would endorse my own take on the system, but he's still one of the few politicians I've ever met with real integrity. I can't think of a single Democrat in this state who would put themselves on the line like that for a convicted violent, crazed felon seeking mercy - much less another Republican.



I'm convinced that clemency boards exist largely to reinforce the illusion that the system we have of doling out punishment in our country is a "just" one that serves the best interests of society at large. By allowing room for pardons and commutations, we suggest that the legal system we live under, as a rule, delivers justice to criminals and victims alike, and that any abuse of power or injustice perpetrated by the state in the process is an exception that needs to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. If that was the reality, however, our prisons would not be packed almost exclusively with the poor - most of whom have the least ability to do great harm. In a truly just and morally evolved society it is the money-lenders, warmongers and rogue sheriffs of this land who would be doing time for exploitation, mass murder, and kidnapping - not making the rules the rest of us have to live by. They certainly wouldn't be retiring with honors and drawing down our collective dime.



But ours is neither a just nor a moral society - it isn't even a democracy. It is a capitalist republic in which the wealth and power of the few still depends on their ability to co-opt, terrorize, and restrain the many. We literally replaced our plantations with prisons when overt slavery went out of style. America's governments exploit and injure far more innocent and vulnerable people than all our lone criminals combined do. We've even made the perpetuation of victimization and crime an attractive, acceptable industry from which savvy investors can profit.



Thanks, everyone, for all your support through this. Stay with us, please - this fight is much bigger than one young man, and has only just begun. Keep an eye on what's happening with Davon for awhile longer - he went further out on a limb in the interest of prisoner rights and health care than any of the rest of us had to - and risks paying a much higher price now than the one extracted from him at sentencing. We'll see if he's allowed to keep his good time - and make it successfully through the 4 years of probation he has yet to serve -in light of his and his mother's public defiance. I guess we'll also see if the Arizona State Legislature shows any mercy for the honesty and courage of one of their own.

Old Code Lifers, Bill Macumber, and Sentencing Reform

Ever since learning about William Macumber, I've been wondering what else I can do to help. The Change.org petition seems to be going pretty well. I also made some postcards to send the Governor and the media (and to Bill) for his birthday (AUG 31 he'll be 75). Feel free to download, or get creative and make some of your own - you can still send them out after his birthday; I just thought the timing was good. Here's the photo and text I used:

State of Arizona Capitol, Executive Tower. Phoenix.
“Free William Macumber!”


August 28, 2010

Dear Governor Brewer:

William Macumber will be 75 on August 31. He is an innocent man, whose fate is in your hands. Please free him from prison and send him home to his family. It’s the right thing to do.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Margaret Jean Plews

Arizona Prison Watch


I also found the the Freedom for Bill Macumber website - you folks really need to go there and read more on his case. There are a couple of different petitions there, one being for sentencing reform for Old Code Lifers. Check it out, sign their petitions, and send your "Free Bill Macumber" postcards and letters to the Governor, Rep. Cecil Ash (Chair of the House Study Committee on Sentencing); members of the AZ House and Senate Judiciary Committees, and your own legislators in Bill's support. Changing the Old Code Lifers law seems to be Bill's only shot at getting free, unless the Governor can be convinced to change her mind. The Arizona Justice Project that helped Bill get through the clemency process seems to be behind that.

Actually, I'd like to see some new legislation that requires the state to free people from prison in prison who the Board of Executive Clemency finds to be innocent. We also need to prohibit the courts from refusing to hear new evidence where there remains a claim of innocence, as in Courtney Bisbee's case. It's incomprehensible that either Bill or Courtney are still in prison, and that there isn't a huge public uproar over it. The lives of too many wrongfully convicted people hinge on politics, not justice, when it's up to a governor or the trial judge whether or not to take a second look at a conviction.

Here's a bit on the Old Code Lifers law (from http://freedom4bill.com):

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

What Else Can I Do?

HELP REFORM THE OLD CODE LIFER STATUTE

As of March, 2010, Bill Macumber is still in prison in Douglas, Arizona. His son Ron and family traveled to Arizona in February to preview the documentary film and visit Bill in the Douglas Prison facility. Bill remains upbeat although he is very disappointed that the petition for clemency was vetoed by the Governor.

Bill’s life sentence is considered to be defined by the “old code” (the 1956 Criminal Code). Because of this, he is not eligible for parole. In 1973, the Arizona State Legislature rewrote Arizona’s death penalty statutes, adding a minimum sentence a period of 25 years. However, in doing so, they left a group of prisoners (now 29) ineligible for parole, with only “natural life” as their guideline for time served. Each of these 29 “old code lifers” has served over 32 years, and all are over the age of 55 (the average age is 65).

Many life-sentenced inmates since that time have served at least the minimum, then applied for and received parole. In one of his case’s many heartbreaking circumstances, Bill Macumber has never been allowed this privilege. He is effectively sentenced to life without parole, even though “life without parole” was not a sentence in Arizona at that time.

A proposition is currently being drafted for the Arizona legislature which would allow these 29 “old code lifers” to be eligible for parole. It does not guarantee parole, yet provides an opportunity for those who are trapped in the situation created by the 1973 amendment.

You can help support this bill by adding your name to the petition below and reading more at www.oldcodelifer.com. You are encouraged to email or write to your legislator and let them know that you strongly support a reform proposition which would allow Bill Macumber to apply for parole.

Update: Free William Macumber

I just started a petition to Free William Macumber at Change.org. Help us out with it. Here's the New York Times article you'll find as part of the letter there to Governor Brewer, if you need a refresher. William will turn 75 on August 31. Lets try to give him and his family some encouragement. He may have been juggled around because of the escapes, but his last known address there was:

William Macumber 033867

ASPC-Douglas/Mohave
PO Box 5002
Douglas, AZ 85608

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

Governor Rebuffs Clemency Board in Murder Case

By ADAM LIPTAK

New York Times

June 14, 2010

WASHINGTON — Ronald Kempfert was a young boy in 1975 when his father was sent to prison for murder, and they had no contact for 28 years.

Then, in 2003, Mr. Kempfert heard from a lawyer who had been looking into the case. “Your father is innocent,” said the lawyer, Larry A. Hammond. “And we’re pretty sure your mother framed him.”

That would seem a lot to digest, but Mr. Kempfert, 42, said he felt no hesitation. “My reaction was that it didn’t surprise me,” he said. “She’s my mother, and I love her. But I think she’s capable of anything.”

Mr. Kempfert is now certain that his father, William Macumber, is innocent. Arizona’s clemency board, citing Mr. Kempfert’s “very moving testimony” and saying there had been “a miscarriage of justice,” unanimously recommended last year that Mr. Macumber be freed.

But Mr. Macumber remains in prison, and Gov. Jan Brewer has refused to explain why.

The case against Mr. Macumber began in 1974 as his marriage was disintegrating. His wife, Carol, who worked in the local sheriff’s office, went to her superiors with a surprising story. Her husband, she said, had recently confessed to the unsolved murders of a young couple shot to death a dozen years before, in 1962, in the open desert north of Scottsdale, Ariz.

Largely on the strength of his former wife’s testimony, Mr. Macumber was convicted and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

But the jury did not hear a significant piece of evidence.

In 1967, five years after the murders in the desert, a drifter named Ernesto Valenzuela was charged with a similar double homicide. He told his lawyer that he had also killed the couple in the desert.

“He was just making a point about bragging about the people he killed,” the lawyer, Thomas W. O’Toole, said. “He was a cold-blooded killer who relished committing the murders.”

Mr. O’Toole, who went on to serve 24 years as a state judge, said his client was dead serious about claiming responsibility for the 1962 murders. “There is no doubt in my mind that Ernesto Valenzuela committed those crimes,” Mr. O’Toole said.

For years, Mr. O’Toole kept his client’s secret, as he was required to do by the canons of legal ethics. But after Mr. Valenzuela was himself killed in prison in 1973, and with the permission of Mr. Valenzuela’s mother, Mr. O’Toole offered to testify at Mr. Macumber’s trial.

The judge refused to let the jury hear from Mr. O’Toole, saying his account was unreliable hearsay. The judge also excluded testimony from a second lawyer and a psychiatrist who had heard similar confessions from Mr. Valenzuela.

The jury did hear about two kinds of physical evidence — a partial palm print and bullet casings — that prosecutors said connected Mr. Macumber to the killings.

Mr. Kempfert said he believed that his mother had done more than lie.

“I can fully see how my mother could have set him up and framed him,” Mr. Kempfert said. “She had access to the evidence. She was doing fingerprint courses at the time.”

Last year, the five members of the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency unanimously recommended to Ms. Brewer that Mr. Macumber be released after 35 years in prison “to correct a miscarriage of justice.”

But Ms. Brewer rejected the board’s recommendation without explanation in November. It is possible that politics played a role in her decision; Ms. Brewer, a Republican who became governor last year, is running for a full term in November.

“She denied the application right after she announced that she was running for governor,” said Katherine Puzauskas, a lawyer with the Arizona Justice Project at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. The project, which was founded by Mr. Hammond and works to overturn wrongful convictions, has represented Mr. Macumber since 2000.

There is little political upside to granting clemency, but there is a substantial risk, as Mike Huckabee learned when a man whose sentence he commuted as governor of Arkansas in 2000 killed four police officers last year.

P. S. Ruckman Jr., a political science professor at Rock Valley College in Rockford, Ill., has been fuming about Ms. Brewer’s handling of the Macumber case. “I have been following state clemency for 30 years,” Mr. Ruckman said, “and this is easily, easily, the most disturbing. It’s borderline despicable.”

“Common-sense notions of justice should compel a governor to provide an explanation for imprisoning a man deemed innocent by an official board created to make such judgments,” he added. “You don’t imprison a man for no reason.”

A spokesman for the governor said Ms. Brewer had reviewed the case thoroughly, but he provided only boilerplate concerning her reasoning.

“Every executive clemency case is carefully scrutinized as the governor balances the very real and important concepts of public safety, justice and mercy,” the spokesman, Paul Senseman, said in an e-mail message.

Mr. Macumber is 74 and in failing health, with heart problems and arthritis, and the threat he poses to public safety is not obvious.

But Mr. Macumber’s former wife, now known as Carol Kempfert, said he was a dangerous sociopath who deserved to die in prison. She denied making up his confession and tampering with the evidence used to convict him.

It is her former husband, she said, who is a pathological liar. “I was in law enforcement for almost 20 years, and no one came close to being able to manipulate like Bill,” she said. “This man could sell water to a drowning person.”

Mr. Macumber, she said, would have said anything to save their marriage.

For instance, she said, he once falsely claimed to have a heart condition. “He intimates that if I hang around long enough, he’ll die and I’ll get the insurance money,” she said. “Well, I hung around, and he didn’t die.”

Then he threatened to kill himself. “If you’re going to do it, go outside” she recalled telling her husband. “I don’t want blood on the walls.”

In the course of a half-hour conversation, Ms. Kempfert accused Mr. Macumber of terrible and disturbing crimes beyond the killings in the desert. Asked if he deserved clemency, she said, “Absolutely not.”

“Actually,” she added, “I think he’s lucky. If he had been caught sooner, he would have gotten the death penalty.”

Ms. Kempfert and her son no longer speak. Ronald Kempfert, who took his stepfather’s last name when he was a child, is in the process of changing it back to Macumber.

Dear Director Ryan: Community standards for treating Hep C.

More unanswered correspondence with Director Ryan about Hep C. For all I know he's just sending me to his Spam Box now. The only way I can be relatively sure he sees this is by posting it or hand-delivering it - and I don't want them to trespass me down there if I show up too much.

Besides, this has useful info for everyone. Check out the links to the professional standards. Keep in mind when they were written, too.

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

Arizona Prison Watch	Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 10:15 AM
To: cryan kklausner
For all my criticism of them (which still stands), at least the CDC has easily-accessible information on the basics. Robertson stopped evaluating the extent of Davon's liver disease - and possible co-morbid conditions - when he should have kept going. He still needs the genotyping done to make sure he doesn't have more than one strain of HCV, and to determine the likelihood that he'll even respond to treatment. And in light of the increased risk for disorders like diabetes (and his weight loss and fatigue), his glucose should be monitored more regularly to determine what his ranges are. Davon should also be treated like a human being, not a veterinary specimen - no one seems to really be trying to educate him on his medical condition or lab results, or even ask him about his fatigue, weight loss, headaches, etc. despite hearing concerns from Julie multiple times a week. ------------------------------- CDC HCV FAQs: Testing and Diagnosis Who should be tested for HCV infection? HCV testing is recommended for anyone at increased risk for HCV infection, including: Persons who have ever injected illegal drugs, including those who injected only once many years ago Recipients of clotting factor concentrates made before 1987 Recipients of blood transfusions or solid organ transplants before July 1992 Patients who have ever received long-term hemodialysis treatment Persons with known exposures to HCV, such as healthcare workers after needlesticks involving HCV-positive blood recipients of blood or organs from a donor who later tested HCV-positive All persons with HIV infection Patients with signs or symptoms of liver disease (e.g., abnormal liver enzyme tests) Children born to HCV-positive mothers (to avoid detecting maternal antibody, these children should not be tested before age 18 months) What blood tests are used to detect HCV infection? Several blood tests are performed to test for HCV infection, including: Screening tests for antibody to HCV (anti-HCV) enzyme immunoassay (EIA) enhanced chemiluminescence immunoassay (CIA) Recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA) Qualitative tests to detect presence or absence of virus (HCV RNA polymerase chain reaction [PCR]) Quantitative tests to detect amount (titer) of virus (HCV RNA PCR) How do I interpret the different tests for HCV infection? A table on the interpretation of HCV test results is available at http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/HCV/PDFs/hcv_graph.pdf [PDF - 1 page]. Is an algorithm for HCV diagnosis available? A flow chart on HCV infection testing for diagnosis is available at http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/HCV/PDFs/hcv_flow.pdf [PDF - 1 page]. What is the next step after a confirmed positive anti-HCV test? The level of ALT (alanine aminotransferase, a liver enzyme) in the blood should be measured. An elevated ALT indicates inflammation of the liver. The patient should be checked further for chronic liver disease and possible treatment. The evaluation should be performed by a healthcare professional familiar with chronic Hepatitis C. Can a patient have a normal liver enzyme (e.g., ALT) level and still have chronic Hepatitis C? Yes. It is common for patients with chronic Hepatitis C to have liver enzyme levels that go up and down, with periodic returns to normal or near normal levels. Liver enzyme levels can remain normal for over a year despite chronic liver disease. Management and Treatment What should be done for a patient with confirmed HCV infection? HCV-positive persons should be evaluated (by referral or consultation, if appropriate) for presence of chronic liver disease, including assessment of liver function tests, evaluation for severity of liver disease and possible treatment, and determination of the need for Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B vaccination. When might a specialist be consulted in the management of HCV-infected persons? Any physician who manages a person with Hepatitis C should be knowledgeable and current on all aspects of the care of a person with Hepatitis C; this can include some internal medicine and family practice physicians as well as specialists such as infectious disease physicians, gastroenterologists, or hepatologists. What is the treatment for chronic Hepatitis C? Combination therapy with pegylated interferon and ribavirin is the treatment of choice, resulting in sustained virologic response (defined as undetectable HCV RNA in the patient's blood 24 weeks after the end of treatment) rates of 40%–80% (up to 50% for patients infected with genotype 1, the most common genotype found in the United States, and up to 80% for patients infected with genotypes 2 or 3). Combination therapy using interferon and ribavirin is FDA-approved for use in children ages 3–17 years. Treatment success rates are now being improved with the addition of polymerase and protease inhibitors to standard pegylated interferon/ribavirin combination therapy. How many different genotypes of HCV exist? At least six distinct HCV genotypes (genotypes 1–6) and more than 50 subtypes have been identified. Genotype 1 is the most common HCV genotype in the United States. Is it necessary to do viral genotyping when managing a person with chronic Hepatitis C? Yes. Because there are at least six known genotypes and more than 50 subtypes of HCV, genotype information is helpful in defining the epidemiology of Hepatitis C and in making recommendations regarding treatment. Knowing the genotype can help predict the likelihood of treatment response and, in many cases, determine the duration of treatment. Patients with genotypes 2 and 3 are almost three times more likely than patients with genotype 1 to respond to therapy with alpha interferon or the combination of alpha interferon and ribavirin When using combination therapy, the recommended duration of treatment depends on the genotype. For patients with genotypes 2 and 3, a 24-week course of combination treatment is adequate, whereas for patients with genotype 1, a 48-week course is recommended. Once the genotype is identified, it need not be tested again; genotypes do not change during the course of infection. Can superinfection with more than one genotype of HCV occur? Superinfection is possible if risk behaviors (e.g., injection drug use) for HCV infection continue, but it is believed to be very uncommon. Does chronic Hepatitis C affect only the liver? A small percentage of persons with chronic HCV infection develop medical conditions due to Hepatitis C that are not limited to the liver. These conditions are thought to be attributable to the body's immune response to HCV infection. Such conditions can include Diabetes mellitus, which occurs three times more frequently in HCV-infected persons Glomerulonephritis, a type of kidney disease caused by inflammation of the kidney Essential mixed cryoglobulinemia, a condition involving the presence of abnormal proteins in the blood Porphyria cutanea tarda, an abnormality in heme production that causes skin fragility and blistering Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, which might occur somewhat more frequently in HCV-infected persons Where can I find more information about management and treatment of patients with chronic Hepatitis C? The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases: AASLD Practice Guideline: Diagnosis, Management, and Treatment of Hepatitis C . The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases: Chronic Hepatitis C Current Disease Management. -- Arizona Prison Watch http://arizonaprisonwatch.blogspot.com A community resource for monitoring, navigating, surviving, and dismantling the prison industrial complex in Arizona. “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881)

Fight with the Truth, Director Ryan, or get out of the way.

One of my e-mails to Director Ryan and his corporate counsel last week, addressing the shoddy medical evaluation of Davon's condition, and what I think is really underlying a lot of this resistance. We are collectively, silently lending our consent to the widescale extermination of people with addictions and serious mental illness via Hep C, diverting them from hospitals and treatment programs in order to feed the prison industrial complex in the process, where many will ultimately die of neglect.

I must have hit a nerve or two with this one - it was never answered by either of them. I wasn't that surprised - just disappointed. I'd been holding out hope that Ryan just had a bunch of incompetent subordinates who were covering themselves by keeping the truth from him, and that if he knew the truth, he'd step up to the plate himself. But I think he knows full well what goes on in that place, and it's him that his people cover for. What a no-win situation that must be for them.

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

This is Davon Acklin's prison doctor.

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

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   ELEVENTH ANNUAL ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE DAY WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2007 ...

   - 3:04pm
   File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
   David Robertson, DO. Surgery. Maricopa Integrated Health System .... had no risk factors for viral hepatitis. She reported 1-2 drinks no more than 2-4 times ...
   azmec.med.arizona.edu/.../AED%20Program%20Book%202007%20Final.pdf - Similar

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Or maybe this is.
(I Googled them both to see what he's doing about the epidemic of Hep C in AZ prisons.)
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This is Julie's friend.

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1. Millions of Hepatitis C Funding Dollars Hijacked

   Apr 27, 2009 ... William Remak, Chairman of the National Association of Hepatitis Task Forces and a two-time liver transplant recipient due to HCV is also ...
   www.hcvets.com/nih/PressRelease/0904.asp - Cached

2. The Status & Recommendation for Public Health Education ...

   National Association of Hepatitis Task Forces, CA National Association of Hepatitis C Task Force, William Remak, B.Sc. MT, B. Public Health, SGNA, Chairman ...
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   Hepatitis C Virus (HCV)

   File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View
   The focus of this paper is on the Hepatitis C virus (HCV), ..... William Remak, Chairman, California Hepatitis C Task Force (Phone interview Nov. 2008) ...
   www.californiahcvtaskforce.org/pdf/Beth_Powell_hepatitis_paper.pdf - Similar
4. [PDF]

   CALIFORNIA HEPATITIS C TASK FORCE Little Hoover Commission Stuart ...

   File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View
   Chairman, California Hepatitis C Task Force, Inc. Chairman, National Association of Hepatitis Task Forces. 2X Liver Transplant Patient, Cancer survivor. ...
   www.lhc.ca.gov/studies/198/cirm/CHCTFNov08.pdf

5. Bill Remak - Email, Address, Phone numbers, everything! 123people.com

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

He also goes by "Bill".

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1. California Hepatitis C Task Force

   Jan 23, 2009 ... Bill Remak is Chairman of California Hepatitis C Task Force & Chairman of National Association of Hepatitis Task Forces. ...
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2. Mission Statement - California Hepatitis C Task Force

   CALIFORNIA HEPATITIS C TASK FORCE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND ADVISORY BOARD. BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 1) Bill Remak, Petaluma -Chair. 2) Phyllis Borchardt, San Diego ...
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3. Bill Remak is Chairman of California Hepatitis C Task Force ...

   He is a survivor of liver cancer and two transplants and is diabetic. He was a laboratory scientist at UCSF, but after his illness he started organizations ...
   www.wsradio.com/wsradio-player.cfm/type/...with.../24727.html - Cached

4. Bill Remak (wmremak) on Twitter

   Get short, timely messages from Bill Remak. ... To watch a webcast of the Congressional hearing on Viral Hepatitis, click here... http://fb.me/AYjYIxVP 1:54 ...
   twitter.com/wmremak - Cached

5. Hard Time: Hepatitis C in Arizona's State Prisons.: Remak: The ...

   May 4, 2010 ... By Bill Remak, B.Sc. MT , B. Public Health, SGNA, AHCJ. (wmremak@pacbell.net ) Chair, National Association of Hepatitis Task Forces and ...
   hardtimehepc.blogspot.com/2010/05/remak-scandal-of-hep-c.html - Cached

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Any questions?

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August 18, 2010

Charles L. Ryan, Director
Arizona Department of Corrections
1601 W. Jefferson St.
Phoenix, AZ 85007


Dear Director Ryan,

This is actually the closest to a white flag that you may ever see from me. I'm just showing you part of my arsenal to get your attention because you think I'm outgunned. I haven't posted that Google yet (nor, as far as I know, has Julie, but Facebook is her territory). By the time what I'm offering here expires I'll have thought of something better, though. Hopefully I'll have also figured out the software for my camera so I can upload that video of Julie, too. I don't expect it to ever enter a courtroom, but that doesn't mean it doesn't carry weight.

Davon could be getting well right now, for all the money and staff time you've invested in diverting his mom from getting him appropriate health care. That kid needs to be seen by a specialist competent in treating Hepatitis C before you claim he doesn't have a life-threatening condition with any credibility. So far, I'm not convinced that he's not in imminent danger, and I'm leaning towards thinking there's a whole class of men and women in there who are dying from your neglect.

But no one wins if Davon dies from this illness; we both know there isn't time for a class action suit. You may have fallen for your people's BS (assuming you aren't the source), but we aren't, so please stop sending people who don't know what they're talking about as if we don't get it. You may not have been made aware of this, but Davon's liver enzyme values are not only way out of range, they've multiplied since he was tested nine months ago. He should have been seen by a specialist and considered for treatment immediately. Instead, ever since his most recent labs were done, people have been trying to convince Julie - and now the governor's office - that she's just ignorant and over-reacting.

If the rapid rate at which Davon's liver functioning has deteriorated doesn't trouble you enough, then open his medical chart yourself - the first thing Julie noticed was what was missing. She has volumes of information she provided you folks on his psychiatric history and needs. He had 8 case managers and an ACT team that couldn't keep him out of prison, but you've only given him nine pages worth of care? That's shameful. You're not treating his mental illness, you just have him in chemical restraints.

It gets worse from there. Apart from Dr. Robertson's show of ignorance about his patient's medical conditions and needs, your staff have given Davon medications for illnesses he doesn't even have on more than one occasion. Are we really supposed to be convinced they know him at all? Did Jim Clenney think that giving us some guy with credentials would make us shrug our shoulders and quietly walk away? Did either of you?

Do you know what an aggressive strain of Hep C can do in ten more months? We aren't giving it one more month. I won't wait for the Clemency Board - I'm not putting all my stock in them, and a qualified assessment of Davon's status should have been done at least 3 months ago. You could have had a huge lead on this disease if he started treatment of any kind sooner - he's not even getting vitamin or protein supplements, and Julie's been screaming to your people - and everyone else in range - for months about his fatigue and malaise. There's absolutely NO reason he should be expected to be his own advocate in the face - and custody - of the state. I think he's pretty competent, myself, but he's nonetheless been designated as disabled by the severity and persistence of his mental illness for a long time; his mother even has power of attorney. That should have given someone a clue.

But even the guys who are certifiably sane give up asking medical for help, there. I have volumes of mail to that effect. That tells me a lot. I already know you wanted to save money by revamping how you do things in that arena - like increasing co-pays to discouraging requests for MD visits by people earning pennies an hour (if they're lucky enough to have paying jobs in the first place). I hope you also want to save lives, given the chance, despite the fact that those under your immediate sphere of influence are slaves and criminals. If so, you're investing resources in the wrong places. Prevent lawsuits by offering consistent, decent care.

I don't need an attorney or Julie's okay to tell you that there's nothing more we'd like to see than solid evidence that Davon's health care needs are being competently met and he has a chance to get well. An attorney will want more from you than that, so please don't waste any more time or public resources stalling us. Prove us wrong with the truth. That's what Julie's been asking for all along.

A lot of your other families are hurting too, actually, and the longer you leave me standing out here challenging you, the more there are who will find me. I make no promises to you about how I'll deal with their loved one's illnesses - I won't agree not to come after your department myself again - with an attorney, even - and I'll probably help anyone poor enough to need me. I'll grant that you're stubborn, but you've been wrong about Davon, and your resistance has only made me stronger and more creative as an advocate for prisoners with Hep C - as has time, too much of which has passed now.

It's urgent that Davon is assessed by a hep C specialist - not just have his physician rubber-stamped by a committee. If he was home we'd be calling 911 for an ambulance - a whole lot of people would be.

I can't swing Davon's medical bills - I can't even keep him stocked with peanut butter. Catch up with my credit report if you didn't know that already - I can't keep up with my own doctors. But I'll sell everything I have down to my computer, pledge a part of my monthly income for the cause, sign whatever you draw up that gets the state off the hook for it, and take responsibility for finding more people to help cover it. I'm not shy about asking for help when I find someone in trouble, and I am a witness that this family is in trouble.

I can fundraise a lot easier if this offer is made publicly than if it's just between us, but right now, if you get Davon help this week, you can pretty much write the terms. I'll even surrender my ego - just not other prisoners. I'm sure my little brother - the one who does health policy stuff for the United Way - would tell me that an attorney would never be stupid enough to say such a thing, but I'm not the one with the law degree in the family. Not yet, anyway. I'm already pretty occupied as a writer.

You will ultimately be the villain or the hero here, Director Ryan. In either case, I'll give credit where it seems to be due. I'll figure out my next move in a day or two if you block this one - we aren't playing the waiting game any more with you. Please tell Julie you're having Davon seen by a specialist, and then offer him the option of a full course of the best treatment a guy can get in there - for all any of us know, once he gets a taste of what his mom is fighting for, he'll opt out of interferon treatment until something better for people like us hits the market.

I know what the algorithims boil down to, by the way, that no one wanted to dare say out loud to Julie, because she's going to nail you for it already: treatment "isn't indicated" because he's a bad risk by way of co-morbid psychiatric diagnosis and substance abuse history. Everything else but those things and income level is actually just right for treatment to be recommended, otherwise. In fact, looking at his age and even Dr. Robertson's appraisal of his physical presentation, Davon would be seen by most experts as a really good candidate for treatment now - someone who would probably be successful staying Hep C-free, too.

That's bigger than you, though, I realize. It's the case all across the country, in the prisons and the community (though your standards - as demonstrated by your failure to even assess Davon thoroughly for the Clemency Board's recommendation - are below the community's. You don't even know if he has AIDS???). The scale of the epidemic - and the amount of bureaucratic cowardice in its face - won't stop me from doing everything I can to stop it, though.

In fact, it compels me forward every time I begin to feel too old and tired to keep the pace up. The dually-diagnosed are outright slated to die off from this thing, and I bet the CDC is paying close attention to their mortality rates, co-morbidities, and resiliency factors. If they aren't yet, they should be. But I think it's more insidious than passive observation - they're helping to starve your medical budget by way of issuing treatment guidelines that are way behind current research. A decade, at least. Check it out yourself (don't entrust it to your medical staff, anyway). They're leading the pack in their complicity with something I see as being the equivalent of murdering AIDS victims because they're gay. Only these people are also overwhelmingly poor, too. And people of color - that's why it's taking so long to catch up to HIV.

Can you imagine how many people would be freaking out if they grasped the truth about this disease? They don't have a clue unless their loved one has been to prison - that leaves most of white America in the dark. I'm planning to shine avery bright light in their eyes, too. They think they prevent cirrhosis and liver cancer by being tea-totallers, and they don't even consider the possibility that this could escape like AIDS and kill their own kids. The CDC's leadership role in Hep C wreaking havoc through so many lives may actually be your best defense - but when you have to answer for how you dealt with this epidemic to the generation that will inherit it, do you want it to be "I was just following recommendations?"

You do realize that you're on the front lines, don't you? At least, your prisoners and lowest-paid employees are, anyway. They are directly in the line of fire. They are the fodder creating the illusion of a buffer zone for something that won't be contained and isn't about to burn itself out, at this rate.

I bet mentally ill prisoners with Hep C constitute a large portion of the CDC's control group - the main population that's pretty much guaranteed to be denied treatment. Ever think of that? That's what's driving me to deal with you - it is not the pleasure of your company I seek. I'm much more interested in breaking through your denial - if you have any to begin with - about what's really going on with Hep C than I am in suing you. I need the kind of help you might give someone who was a victim of your merciless enemy - that enemy being Hep C, and hopefully not me. I assure you I will not be shutting up soon about this, whatever you do, so please don't write that into anything I might sign, or it will waste our time. What's happening with this disease in America is extermination.

And my own family has been hit, so don't expect to shake me. I have nothing better to do with my life.

You actually have less than a day, now, before I write again, cc or publish. Consider this to be my call to 911 on Hep C brutalizing someone I love behind your walls - or think of it as your last shot across the bow; that's up to you. It's hard not to post this thing while it's fresh, but like most distress and warning signals no one else has to replay it if it's answered responsibly - it just gets filed. Everyone gets to hear if I have to keep yelling for help from your doorstep, though - and I won't be waiting for you to kill anyone before I holler again.

So, if you're sincere about the public welfare and deserving of any medals for courage under fire, then please stop waiting me out. Invite me in, again, instead. You control the time, the place, and the witness - I only trust Karyn, though, to have both a conscience and a clue. She's the only one I'll talk to other than you without bringing another Copwatcher along.

I'm not asking a lot for Davon, here, but I'm expecting a lot from you. I hope you appreciate what an extraordinary leap of faith I'm taking in both of you to offer to meet you by myself, in fact. That's why this window won't be open very long. Julie doesn't even know that I'm offering to do this, or she would probably stop me - as would most of my friends. You haven't exactly given us much evidence to think that you can be trusted. But, I figured if you were in the pockets of politicians I have good reason to be wary of, I'd already be incapacitated by now.

I'm counting on both your autonomy and your honor really meaning something to you. If they do not, then at least I know that whatever your response is, I will have done what I need to in order to retain mine - and in turn, my own freedom. You may hold a bunch of keys, but that doesn't mean you aren't bound by chains and auctioned off at the market when they're done with you. I won't be; not that way.

This is your chance to stop me, help me, or get out of the way - either way, I need to know where you really stand, and I don't think you can afford to ignore me any longer. I can put this thing on the November ballot, still, by making Hep C in the prisons a pivotal issue. I may yet. Please get back to me today.

Sincerely,


Peggy Plews
480-580-6807


--
“The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.”

- Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881)

Prison Abolitionist
http://prisonabolitionist.blogspot.com
Arizona Prison Watch
http://arizonaprisonwatch.blogspot.com
Arizona Juvenile Prison Watch
http://azjuvenileprisonwatch.blogspot.com
Hard Time: Hep C in AZ Jails and Prisons
http://hardtimehepc.blogspot.com
Free Marcia Powell
http://freemarciapowell.blogspot.com

¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!

Dear Director Ryan: Writing to Goliath.

The following is an excerpt from an email I sent to Director Charles Ryan at the Arizona Department of Corrections this weekend. I offered to meet him in his office to discuss a few things, so don't expect me to post a written response from him - they aren't often forthcoming, as emails have their way of making it to court.

My side was a long letter, though - this part of which was a complaint about the phone call I witnessed Friday between Julie and Ryan's people. I still can't figure out how to get the video of that call posted and distributed, but will leave those links here once I do. That recording is as real as it gets, and everyone who's advocated on Davon's behalf needs to see it. Keep acting up out there.

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

"...By the way, your doctor was really cruel and condescending to Julie Acklin and owes her an apology - at the minimum - as far as I'm concerned. If you all taped that conversation from your end, you'd better play it back. I hope you weren't there condoning his behavior. I also hope you know more about Hep C in prisons than he does - and more about your high profile prisoners, too. He didn't even know if the patient he swore was in no mortal danger had been tested yet for HIV - yet he seemed to think that Davon hadn't asked for an HIV test, either (which was by way of justifying why he wouldn 't have had an HIV test. He knows that kid wouldn't have known to ask before all this.).

That's inexcusable. Furthermore, it's a standard Hep C practice guideline, even in prison, for the physician to automatically test for other forms of hepatitis and HIV whenever a lab comes back HCV+. He should have had some certainty that Davon had been tested if he knew his patient was so healthy that he wouldn't even evaluate him further at this time.

He's full of it. This guy is either strategically trying stall and ridicule Julie, or he really hasn't been keeping up with his profession, so you might want to check him out again. Even I know more about current treatment recommendations than he does. And medical ethics, apparently.

My report of how that conversation went will be in my blogs, whether or not we plan to meet this week - there's no damage control to be done to head off that one. It exemplifies the stone wall your administrators maintain when you're really into denying a problem that everyone else out here can already see - like security in the private prisons...we've been screaming about a lot of this stuff for awhile. Funny how it's ending up an election issue. It still looks a lot like you're waiting Marcia out - as if you're hoping we collapse from the heat or fatigue and shut up already. I guess your doctors are pretty much the same...

...Regarding Davon - whether it takes five months or 15 years to kill that kid, I'll figure out how to prove that he could have become virus-free and avoided such a fate if he'd been treated according to current community standards now, before his liver functioning deteriorates any further. You could be responsible for helping spread Hep C through the community, with the shoddy care he's received.

The one good thing the doctor had to say today is that it may still be early enough in the progression of the disease that there's still hope if he gets prompt treatment - even though he refused to admit that's what he was really saying. That part - the hope - I celebrated tonight. But it is good news that Davon isn't in imminent danger of dying only if that is true, and your physician didn't exhibit a lot of knowledge about either Davon or Hep C..."