The Ghosts of Doug Ducey: JANUARY 2015 State Prison Deaths

#CHUCKCHUCK #DARTHryan #DarkSideRyan  #FireChuckRyan" 

#DELIBERATEindifferenceKILLS

The first month of the new year was not kind to Arizona's prisoners, at least three of whom died in the first week by their own hand, and one of whom was brutally murdered. What follows are death notices for January 2015. The AZ DOC seldom updates the public with information about a cause of death unless there's a compelling demand from media for it - and all they are inclined to tell us about at times like these are their dead prisoners crimes and punishments. If you have any information on any of these individuals' lives or their deaths, or are a loved one who needs assistance, please feel free to contact me. Peggy Plews arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com

JANUARY 2015 AZ DOC DEATHS

January 1   ASPC-Lewis       SUICIDE      Donald Condra, 51, ADC #233190

January 5   ASPC-EYMAN  SUICIDE      Bernard Stewart, 47, ADC #277366

January 5   ASPC-EYMAN  SUICIDE      Justin Reif, 24 ADC#244623

January 6   ASPC-Florence   UNK           James Haley, 50 ADC#075188

January 7   ASPC-Perryville  UNK           Carolyn Thompson, 67 ADC#038274

January 14  CACF (GEO)     UNK          Craig Aubert, 46 ADC#278241

January 19 ASP-Kingman  Homicide      Neil Early, 23, ADC #250396 

January 31 ASPC-Perryville  UNK        Cheryl Smith, 54 ADC#288162

23 year old Neil Early

Murdered at ASP-Kingman, 

on a minimum security yard.

This was the AZ DOC's Director's statement about suicides on his watch after two guys killed themselves the same day, in the same prison. What I've seen is that Ryan's AZ DOC's methods of "suicide prevention" and "suicide watch" are so brutal and humiliating, with mentally ill prisoners in particular sustaining such emotional and physical abuse, that its no wonder more aren't sent home dead. This really sounds like Ryan is trying hard to look on the bright side of being mediocre ("average") about suicide prevention and response. I wouldnt find it acceptable, myself, if my own kid was inside - by not offering drug abuse treatment and mental health care where needed, Corizon is cutting corners where Ryan lets them, making a profit at the most severely impaired prisoners' expense...

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

Statement from Corrections Director Charles Ryan 

regarding inmate suicides

“The Department of Corrections is dedicated to the safety and security of the general public, ADC personnel and the inmates in our custody.  Any inmate self-harm attempt is taken seriously and is thoroughly investigated.

This department has a goal of zero inmate suicides, and while one suicide is one too many, data from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics indicate that ADC’s rate of inmate suicides was approximately 17 per 100,000 from 2001-2012 (the most recent annual data available).  This is nearly identical to the overall rate for the entire state population. 

This data also shows that in terms of prison systems, 21 states had a higher rate than Arizona, 27 had a rate below, and one has the same rate as ADC. This places Arizona’s rate in alignment with national average. 

In 2009, ADC instituted enhanced measures to address this issue. Those strategies include an integrated approach to mental health and suicide prevention that combines environmental, programmatic, operational, training and staff considerations. This begins for every inmate upon arrival at ADC where they are assessed for any mental health, medical and dental issues.

Specifically, ADC has instituted additional inmate programming to address mental health and self-esteem concerns, enhanced officer patrol procedures to ensure ongoing observation of inmates in max custody units, made facility modifications such as enlarging cell windows to increase visibility and communication between inmates and staff, modified recreational enclosures to increase group contact and promote socialization, replaced individual classroom enclosures with secure desk chairs for programming classes, and installed televisions for self-paced inmate programming.”

# # # #

INMATE DEATHS
BY YEAR AND CAUSE

*FY 2015 as of 01/05/2015
**Actual inmate population as of 01/05/2015
Includes ADC and Contract Beds
ADP – Average Daily Population (for Fiscal Year)
Cause of death figures are subject to change based on official medical examiner reports, which may be issued in a subsequent month.





 

ASPC-Winslow/Kaibab: Homicide of Fabian Lozano, 26.

UPDATE 9/23/14: 

Fabian's family reports that he was strangled to death by another prisoner at ASPC-Winslow after being denied Protective Custody three times...sounds like he fought for his life to the end.

There will be a car wash to try to raise funds for Fabian's funeral expenses on Saturday, September 27 from 8am-3pm in Mesa at the corner of Mesa Drive and Broadway - there's a tire shop across from the Circle K there that will host them. Please support. He left 4 kids behind, so they can use all the help we can give them.

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

Condolences to this young man's loved ones. If anyone knows anything about Fabian's life or death, please contact me at arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com or PO Box 20494 Phoenix, AZ 85036.

If you are Fabian's family and need help getting records from the AZ DOC or contacting an attorney familiar with suing the state, please contact me as well - I'll do what I can to help. My name is Peggy Plews. My number is 480-580-6807.

Fabian Lozano, 26

------------from the AZ DOC website---------------

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: Doug Nick dnick@azcorrections.gov Bill Lamoreaux blamorea@azcorrections.gov

Monday, September 22, 2014

Inmate Death Notification

WINSLOW, (Monday September 22, 2014) – Inmate Fabian Lozano, 26, ADC #260873, was pronounced deceased on September 19, 2014.  The cause of death is under investigation.

Lozano was sentenced out of Maricopa County and was serving one and a half years in prison for aggravated assault.  He returned to ADC custody on March 7, 2014 and was housed at ASPC – Winslow.

All inmate deaths are investigated in consultation with the county medical examiner’s office.

The "execution" of Lino Flores, ASPC-EYMAN: Even supermax isn't "safe".

Another homicide at the AZ DOC, this time in the Supermax prison, ASPC-Eyman. Interestingly, according to the records below, both prisoners were both moved to their current location at Eyman on the same date, perhaps together. Also of note - the victim was Native American, while the killer is identified as Mexican American. That means this crime was intensely personal and spur-of-the-moment, or Salazar had the permission of - perhaps was under the orders of - one of the gangs to take Flores out; otherwise this might start a race war.  

How either of these two men were considered to be lower than MAX custody is a puzzle, since they had both apparently killed someone in custody before. Wow, in fact, this was Flores' case. More startling, here is one of the reports about Salazar's history: it says he actually stabbed an officer in the head in 2007 - and that was apparently before he killed someone else. And he was only close custody? Yet they bury political prisoners and the mentally ill guys who have harmed no one in solitary for years...). 

Inmate 156258

Last Name First Name Middle Initial Birth Date SALAZAR JULIO C 01/22/1982 Gender Height (inches) Weight Hair Color MALE 69 165 BLACK Eye Color Ethnic Origin Custody Level Inmate/Detainee BROWN MEXICAN AMERICAN CLO INMATE Sentence Admission Prison Release Date Max Supervision End Date Sentence Information Below 01/23/2001 09/18/2035 Cur. Absconded Hist. Absconded Release Type Most Recent Loc -N- -- RECEIVED FROM EYMAN Community Supervision Parole Last Movement Commitment Status Status 04/30/2014 COMPLETE AND VERIFIED ACTIVE
Commitment Information 2 record(s)
Commit# Sentence County Court Case# Offense Date Sentence Status Crime Felony Class A01 MARICOPA 2000007153 04/29/2000 IMPOSED MANSLAUGHTER CL2 B01 PINAL 2007-00258 01/17/2007 IMPOSED MURDER 1ST DEGREE CL2
Sentence Information 2 record(s)

I don't know why the DOC didn't have Flores in Protective Custody - he was a target, with that sex crime conviction on his record; it looks like he murdered his rape victim. I'd really call this one a state-assisted execution, not a "murder".

Inmate 040338 Last Name First Name Middle Initial Birth Date FLORES LINO 09/23/1960 Gender Height (inches) Weight Hair Color MALE 67 140 BLACK Eye Color Ethnic Origin Custody Level Inmate/Detainee BROWN NATIVE INDIAN MED INMATE Sentence Admission Prison Release Date Max Supervision End Date Sentence Information Below 11/19/1979 LIFE Cur. Absconded Hist. Absconded Release Type Most Recent Loc -N- -- RECEIVED FROM EYMAN Community Supervision Parole Last Movement Commitment Status Status 04/30/2014 COMPLETE AND VERIFIED ACTIVE

Commitment Information 5 record(s)

Commit# Sentence County Court Case# Offense Date Sentence Status Crime Felony Class A01 MARICOPA 0106761 04/13/1979 IMPOSED MURDER 2ND DEGREE CL3 A02 MARICOPA 0106761 04/13/1979 IMPOSED SEXUAL ASSAULT CL3 B01 PINAL 0009748 10/15/1981 IMPOSED DANG/DEADLY ASLT BY PRSNR CL1 B02 PINAL 0009748 10/15/1981 IMPOSED PRISNR POSS DEADLY WEAPON CL4 C01 PINAL 0010992 01/03/1984 IMPOSED MURDER 1ST DEGREE

Unfortunately, this man's death is not just "one less bad guy off the taxpayers back" (a comment left at the end of this AZCENTRAL.COM article below by one reader). Yet another homicide in the AZ DOC is symptomatic of the huge problem of violent gangs and thugs running the AZ Prison system under Department of Corrections director Charles Ryan (Jan Brewer's chief disciplinarian); even minor drug offenders are vulnerable to being murdered over petty debts. This victim was probably asking for some kind of protection and denied it before he was killed, and the killer was likely given no choice but to do the deed or be killed himself. That's the way it works in the AZ DOC, under the Mexican Mafia's rule. Better take a closer look at the recent suicides, too - they have a habit of strangling guys and leaving them hanging in the showers.

Due to the high rate of violence, medical neglect, and outright abuse of prisoners in the past 6 years, the AZ DOC has come to be known as the most poorly-run prison system in the country; officers and prisoners alike aren't safe in any of the state prisons, not even in Protective Custody ( where the last two homicides occurred). 

So before we celebrate this man's murder - be it because of the seriousness of his own crimes or whatever other reason one may think it represents "justice" -  think about how many lives and tax dollars are being wasted warehousing potheads with murderers in the kind of hellhole where they are more likely to develop a new heroin habit than get any kind of substance abuse treatment. We should all really be asking Jan why she still stands by her man there...

photo by Robert Haasch

art by Margaret J Plews

 the day the nazis came to town 

 (phoenix, november 2010)

---------from the Arizona Republic----

Florence inmate death may be homicide, officials say

Matthew Casey, The Republic | azcentral.com  

2:51 p.m. MST August 17, 2014

Authorities are investigating a suspected homicide at a state prison in Florence, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections.

Prison officials found Lino Flores unresponsive and suffering from traumatic injuries at about 2 p.m. Saturday in his cell at the Eyman prison complex, ADC spokesman Doug Nick said.

Paramedics pronounced Flores, 53, dead at the scene, Nick said. Flores was serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, second-degree murder, sexual assault, possession of a deadly weapon and assault with a deadly weapon.

Investigators are questioning fellow inmate Julio Salazar, Nick said. Salazar, 32, is serving time for first-degree murder and manslaughter.

No other information was immediately available.

Kingman escapee McClusky gets life for Haas' killings; sister forgives.

John McClusky escaped the death penalty this week in New Mexico for the Haas' killing, when he was on escape from Kingman prison in the summer of 2010. I was saddened to hear that his accomplice Cassie Welch will likely die in prison for this; I corresponded with her and believe she is truly remorseful and never expected McClusky to kill people once free. While in jail in Mohave County she never complained to me about her own circumstances or conditions of confinement - she only expressed concern for other women there. I'm posting this account of McClusky's sentencing, though, because I was heartened that the sister of one of the victims here forgave them. That doesn't happen often. It will make no difference to McClusky, but I'm sending this to Cassie - it will matter to her, I think.

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

Victim’s sister forgives killers

Albuquerque Journal

By Scott Sandlin / Journal Staff Writer
UPDATED: Tuesday, June 3, 2014 at 10:23 pm
PUBLISHED: Tuesday, June 3, 2014 at 1:27 pm 
 

If there was anything remarkable about the Tuesday sentencing of a double murderer whose fate was already known – life in federal prison with no chance of release – it was the words of forgiveness from one victim’s sister.

Sandra Morgan made it clear that she cannot forget her older sister Linda Haas or her brother-in-law Gary Haas, victims of the tall skinny guy in a bright yellow state jumpsuit at the defense table.

McCLUSKEY

The sudden decision by John Charles McCluskey, 48, on a hot summer day sent dozens of lives into a whirlwind. McCluskey, a prison escapee from Arizona, burned up their camper-trailer with their bodies in it – the one he’d carjacked only a few hours earlier – and went on a zigzag cross-country trip before finally being arrested at an Arizona campground three weeks later.

“How do you wake up each day with pain?” Morgan asked. “Sure, there’s counseling.” But memories come unbidden, she said, triggered by a song, a gesture, a photo.

Morgan said the hardest thing for her to overcome is the thought of how they spent their final day at the start of an annual camping/fishing trip to Colorado where they would meet with old friends, enjoy the scenery and take in the blessings of retirement before being carjacked at gunpoint and shot in rural eastern New Mexico.

The Haases’ daughter had such difficulties with the deaths that she “spiraled out of control,” and Morgan is now the guardian of the Haases’ grandson, born after the murders.

Morgan said that in the three years and 10 months she has had to think and learn about the awful events of August 2010, one word kept popping up in her mind: forgiveness.

After much thought and prayer, she said her deep Christian faith led her to a point where she has forgiven McCluskey, Tracy Province and Casslyn Welch, the trio responsible for the murders.

“I have no choice,” she said.

Province on Monday was given a life sentence, and Welch was given 40 years in prison.

Gary Haas’ sister, Linda Rook, and Erma Patrick, an aunt to the murdered couple, also spoke at McCluskey’s sentencing.

Patrick showed a photo of a memorial headstone for them, with a commemorative plaque acknowledging Gary Haas’ military service in Vietnam. She told McCluskey that although the legal case is over, it is not over for the family.

“We must deal with the loss for the rest of our lives,” she said.

Rook faced McCluskey defiantly, telling him about the invisible blows struck against her and Gary’s mother, who now cries daily although Rook only saw her cry once, ever, before that.

McCluskey was appropriately dressed in yellow, she said, the color of a coward who abused women to bend them to his will.

“What kind of man are you? I’ll answer. You are a disgrace to your mother, to your family, to society and to the human race,” she said.

McCluskey’s sole word to U.S. District Judge Judith Herrera was a curt “No” when she asked if he wished to speak.

The defense called no witnesses, and Herrera sentenced him to pay $3,820 in restitution to the Patricks.

For the 20 counts of the indictment on which he was convicted, she sentenced him to life plus 2,820 months in prison.

“If it weren’t for three votes on the jury, you’d be facing death today,” she said, referring to the lack of unanimity required for a federal sentence of death. She cautioned him not to take too much comfort in that.

MCSO Deaths in Custody: the homicides of John Klatt and Douglas Walker.

As some folks out there are well aware, cops and prison guards often collaborate with gang leaders to set up people they want to see shut up or executed  - often by celling them with a likely assailant/killer, then looking the other way long enough for the deed to be done. 

Last week a prisoner was killed in a case I think is very much related to the murder of an accused child predator, John Klatt, in MCSO's jail in January by similar means - except this time, I think the intended victim is the one who survived the confrontation.  

In the January killing, it looks like the MCSO placed Klatt in minimum security with a ton of child molestation charges against him - an obvious attempt to have him executed by other prisoners before trial. 20 yo. Nike Black likely did the deed under order of one of the gangs, leaving him no choice but to kill the guy and be the hero, or or die as a coward himself. All the gangs police and punish the members of their own race in prison, whether or not those prisoners are gang members. That kid had a fresh charge that would have forced him to either seek protective custody in prison or do the gang's dirty work. The gang and yard leaders usually tell guys with domestic violence charges (or any offense against a woman) that they can only clear their own name by taking out some prisoner whose crime is worse than their own. What would most guys in similar shoes choose - and how much of a real choice is that, anyway? The MCSO helped force Black into that position, too, by celling him with Klatt.

The community has a lot to do with these extra-judicial execution of prisoners, as well - just look at the comments after this news article about the first of these two killings. Friends and family of both suspect and victim are there, and lots of people are giving the killer props for a job well done. For those of you who think accused pedophiles deserve to be executed, do you also think their killers deserve to have their lives destroyed as well? Because that's part of the collateral damage of extra-judicial executions and vigilantism - someone else then has to be punished for doing that job. Your champion, Nike Black's life will now be spent in prison and most likely shortened by violence and trauma, heroin addiction, or Hepatitis C (which most prisoners in this state contract during their incarceration...). In the meantime, you will all forget his noble sacrifice and he will become like all the other faceless, dehumanized prisoners you like to know are suffering.
 

Arpaio insisted in January that nothing could have been done to prevent Klatt's killing (How about segregating your sex offenders and child molesters from the rest of the population, as the AZ DOC does?) I think they have the right to be safe in custody, be they pre-trial or post-conviction. For those to whom guilt and innocence matters in prisoner rights cases, you're wrong. Let one be abused, and all are at risk - justifying punishments above and beyond those already sanctioned by the court, like rape of child predators, puts everyone in prison at greater risk, even the "good guys". But you should also be aware that up to 15% of convicted sex offenders may actually be innocent. What might the innocence rate be among those who have simply been accused? Sadly, all are condemned as soon as the news of their charges hits the media. Look at Courtney Bisbee.

So now we come to the current killing - a convicted prisoner awaiting sentencing on a violent crime who fears for his own safety is celled with an accused (and confessed) seriously mentally ill child killer awaiting trial, also fearing for his safety. If I was Walker's family's attorney, I'd look closely at Arpaio's refusal to take responsibility for re-visiting policies around celling people with crimes the rest of the prisoner population would find repugnant as the very reason that Walker ended up dead, even if Ward claims self-defense. As I observed earlier, the public was so pleased that the victim of the January attack was an accused pedophile that the MCSO wouldn't have felt much pressure to keep any other child predator in their custody safe from similar treatment. They were outright encouraged to set it up, in fact. It was ordained by that decision to cell those two together that one of the two parties would leave in a body bag - that was a reasonably forseeable event after the January homicide of John Klatt. That spells major liability.


In this more recent homicide,  I wouldn't be surprised if Walker was celled with Ward by folks at the MCSO wagering on whether or not he would kill him. Walker did time before and was on his way back to the joint - I guarantee the gangs would have put a green light on Ward to "discipline" him for the way he killed his 12 year old younger brother; his celly would be the most likely person they'd order to do it, regardless of whether or not the guy was in a gang. If Walker didn't follow those orders he'd be hitting the prison gates as a target himself in a short two weeks - he was expressing fear for his safety as it was, according to this report. I think everyone just underestimated Ward's determination to stay alive, and his capacity for fighting back.

Really, all of these men's families need to sue, with Arpaio's name at the top of the list. MCSO complicity will likely not be proven in criminal court, of course - the investigators handling these cases will never even try to hold officers or Arpaio accountable in their reports. Only the prisoners will appear to be the violent ones in all this - that's consistent with the way the good Sheriff Joe implements justice in the community, too: he subverts it and ducks responsibility every chance he can.

I'm sure I'll have more to say about this case down the road, as more is learned about what community-based psychiatric help, if any, Ward and his family got before he killed his brother. For now, though, I think the real story is about the proclivity of law enforcement officers to act as judges, juries and executioners (or their accomplices); moreover, the willingness of their adoring public to accept it. 

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

Phoenix man accused of killing brother now accused of killing cellmate

Vianka Villa, The Republic |

azcentral.com  

 April 4, 2014

A Maricopa County inmate charged in the fatal stabbing of his 12-year-old brother in Phoenix now stands accused of killing his cellmate in a frenzied attack on Wednesday night.

Andrew Ward, 27, was arrested early Thursday on suspicion of killing Douglas William Walker, who was awaiting sentencing on an armed robbery conviction, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff's officials said Walker was found "beaten, stabbed with a golf pencil and smeared with peanut butter over his head." He was discovered at about 7:30 p.m. when inmates notified detention officers on a security walk of a fight inside the cell.

Phoenix fire paramedics pronounced Walker dead on scene. Paramedics also determined that a plastic bag had been placed in Walker's nose and throat and obstructed his breathing.

Ward reportedly admitted to a play-by-play of the attack in an interview with detectives and told investigators that he had "no regrets," according to a sheriff's statement.

Ward relayed that he had cut Walker's throat with a plastic playing card, stabbed him in the eyes and throat with a golf pencil and finished the assault by stuffing a plastic bag down Walker's throat, according to a sheriff's statement.

Sheriff's Office spokesman Chris Hegstrom said Ward has been re-classifiedd and housed by himself in the Fourth Avenue Jail.

Both Ward and Walker were placed in segregated custody in the county jail system after each told jail administrators they feared for their safety, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Ward was arrested March 12 on suspicion of stabbing and killing his 12-year-old brother in a north Phoenix home last month, and pleaded not guilty to the allegations in a brief court hearing.

Walker pleaded guilty to armed robbery charges last month and was due to be sentenced, and likely transferred to the Department of Corrections, on April 11.

In September 2013 Walker and an accomplice robbed a man in a McDonald's parking lot on Indian School, threatening him with a knife and an Airsoft gun, a type of replica toy gun that fires plastic BB's, according to court documents.

Walker and his accomplice demanded money from the man and took his iPhone, which they later tried to sell after they fled the scene, court documents show. He was charged with armed robbery.


It is the second murder Ward has been accused of in the past three weeks.

Police said Ward called 911 on March 12 from a convenience store and reported he had stabbed someone at a house off 35th Avenue south of Deer Valley Road.

Officers found Austin Tapia with multiple and fatal stab wounds when they arrived at the home at about 5:30 p.m.

Ward had blood on his clothing and was believed to be carrying a knife in his pants pocket when he was taken into custody at the convenience store, said Sgt. Steve Martos, a Phoenix police spokesman.

Police said Ward was alone with his brother, whose mother and two sisters were out to dinner.

Austin had decided to stay home.

Detectives said that when they asked Ward why he killed his brother he told them, "Honestly, I just felt like killing."

Court records suggest Ward struggled with drugs and alcohol.

In filing the probable-cause statement, police suggested Ward may be an addict and mentally ill and had asked to "go to (a) mental hospital" instead of jail when he called police.

The report said Ward's family reported that he suffered from depression and had a history of domestic violence in the home.

The family also said Ward had threatened them in the past and that his siblings had called the police on him before.

Ward's previous convictions included DUI, assault, marijuana possession and resisting arrest, according to court records.

ASPC-Lewis/Bachman Homicide in Custody: Alexander Clark, 27.

This comes from the Facebook page tonight of KPNX/CH12 Investigative Reporter Wendy Halloran. This is really, really troubling to see. If there's anyone with direct information about Alexander Clark or what happened to him, please contact Peggy at arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com or 480-580-6807.

This occurred on a Protective Custody yard, which this prisoner had recently arrived at (1/14/14), almost one year after receiving an internal disciplinary ticket for "sexual contact"- which is probably what forced him into PC in the first place.  That's all I've really been able to discern about this incident that hasn't already been posted, in any case. 

Condolences to this young man's family; please also feel free to contact me if I can be of any help.
                          

 ------per Wendy Halloran (KPNX/CH12) as of 03/18/14 11pm---

re: 03/17/14 homicide at ASPC-LEWIS/Bachman Unit

Fight between 12 Mexican American inmates at ASPC-Lewis in Buckeye leads to homicide of inmate Alexander Clark. Here's some inside information. The Arizona Department of Corrections reports the following incident on 03/17/2014 – 2059 Hours  

In the report's summary it read: 

On 03/17/2014, staff initiated ICS (incident command system) when they observed approximately 12 Mexican American inmates fighting on the red recreation field. 

• Verbal directives and officer presence in the area stopped the fight. 

• TSU (tactical support unit) team members who were working at the Stiner unit responded to help control the incident. 

• Alexander Clark 208882 Mex. Amer., age 27, was transported via ambulance to West Valley Hospital in Goodyear for treatment of multiple puncture-type injuries. 

• Per the hospital doctor, Clark was pronounced deceased at 1940 hours. 

• Staff members from the CIU (criminal investigation unit) are on-site at the unit. 

• Clark's next-of-kin were notified. 

• Ibraham Badri 208275 Mex. Amer., age 25, and Victor Irvin 260996 Mex. Amer., age 26, were also transported to the hospital for precautionary evaluation of head trauma

Deceased was identified as: 

Alexander Clark 208882

Custody: Medium PC

Institutional Risk: 4
Earned Release Date: 03/07/2016
Sentence Begin Date: 12/01/2005

Offense: Armed Robbery / Kidnapping / Aggravated Assault

ASPC-Florence Deaths in Custody: Marcelo Gonzalez, 25.

While Florence was still reeling from the rape and stabbing of a teacher at ASPC-Eyman late last week, another tragedy went down on Sunday, when this happened. My condolences to the family of the Marcelo Gonzalez - this must be heartbreaking. And the family of Jonathan Williams must be distraught as well, albeit grateful that he's the one who survived.

I've received hundreds of letters from prisoners in the past year about the esclaating level of violence on the yards. Even being housed in a single cell in maximum security isn't safe: if you're a target for assault, the other guys will throw hot oil, feces-tipped darts, urine, and other things at you as you're being escorted past their cells on the way to the phone, or the shower, or rec - causing some guys to just stay in their cells 24/7. Guards have all sorts of protective gear to prevent injury, but prisoners in chains generally don't.

Staying holed up doesn't always assure one's safety, though, as the guards sometimes "accidentally" pop the cell doors to let people get assaulted. In fact, I've heard from prisoners across the system that it's also not uncommon for officers to turn the other way when they know a hit is about to go down - or just take a bit longer than necessary getting there to intervene. That seems to be especially the case if the prisoner has been charged with assaulting an officer at any time along the way (the guy who survived this fight was apparently just charged with assaulting staff in October). 

I dont know how someone had the time and ability - perhaps tools - to cut through that fence and be prepared with a weapon to attack the other party, who only the guards should have known would be placed there next to him, without there being officer complicity...I've seen some guys get hurt pretty seriously by the DOC staff getting their revenge.  Though I guess it's possible that this maximum security facility in the center of prison valley would be so lax that it wouldn't take that much for one prisoner to bust through the fence keeping him contained with his bare hands.

It's also interesting that Jonathan Williams (search 222798) is Black and the other guy (search 204980) was Mexican American - usually the races take care of their own, so to speak. There are serious implications if you attack someone of another race - especially if you kill them - without the gang's or yard leader's permission - you could start a race riot that way.  

But that's really just on the lower security yards where prisoners are in dorms or share large common areas and times, like dining and recreation. It's harder to "run" a maximum security yard because everyone is in lockdown, communication and movement is restricted, staff have more control than on the lower custody yards, and so on. Florence Central is max lockdown - they subsist on no meaningful stimulation or programs and a "sedentary diet" that seems to consist mostly of sack lunches eaten alone in their cells. So a cross-racial hit like that to settle a personal grievance or one the assailant's gang or race had with the target isn't out of the question - it's just usually that the whites kill the whites and so on.

Anyway, its really hard to tell what happened here beyond what the DOC has to say (which is generally a whitewash, people). If anyone out there has first hand info on this incident, please contact me. Peggy Plews / 480-580-6807 / arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com.

If your loved one is trying to get protective custody because they are in particular danger, by the way, access these links, and contact me.

AZ DOC Protective Custody Battles: Surviving the fight. (August 29, 2013)

AZ DOC's Protective Custody fight: tend to both body and soul. (April 12, 2013)

If you are about to enter prison and are freaking out, hit this link, then contact me.

Deaths in CCA Custody: Michael Patrick McNaughton, 55: murdered.

Michael Patrick McNaughton, 55, was beaten to death last weekend in a federal lock-up run by Corrections Corporation of America in Florence, AZ. Headlines widely reported it as a "fight", but all that the text of those articles said was that officers witnessed this man being assaulted by his cellie. CCA was quick to deny that there was any sign of problems between the two, so I don't know why they said it was a "fight" in their press releases, too. They must have had indication that the two men weren't getting along to characterize it that way - or else they're trying to blame the victim for his own death by suggesting he willingly participated in it. This is the only article I've seen that flat out calls it an assault.

In any case, condolences to this victim's family. I hope you hire an attorney to do an indepedent investigation of how this happened - you really need one who understand laws specific to suing prisons, so here are some I know who have litigated wrongful deaths and injuries of prisoners in Arizona, often on contingency:

List of Attorneys who have litigated the AZ DOC

If there's anything I might be able to do to help you through the aftermath of losing  a loved one in prison, too, please let me know. My name is Peggy Plews; my contact info is 480-580-6807 / arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com. I'm not a professional anything - I'm just an artist and activist. But I've heard from a lot of families in your shoes over the past few years, and will do what I can to support you. Just don't count on the Feds or CCA to tell you the truth - do your own investigation, requesting records from the hospital, 911 operators and paramedics, as well as from CCA.

Good luck and take care. 

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

Victim, suspect in fatal prison assault ID'd

November 17, 2013 3:47 pm  •  Veronica M. Cruz Arizona Daily Star

Authorities have identified the victim and suspect involved in a fatal assault at a Florence prison Saturday.
Corrections officers at the Corrections Corporation of America, a private prison, saw 43-year-old Roberto Venegas-Fernandez assault his cell mate, 55-year-old Michael Patrick McNaughton during an inspection Saturday morning, according to a news release from the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.

Corrections officers entered the cell and subdued Venegas-Fernandez, the release said.

McNaughton was pronounced dead at the scene.

Both men, who are from the San Diego area, were transported to the prison from a Southern California facility Friday night and neither men expressed any concern about being housed together, the release said.
The men were being held in the Florence prison pending their transfer to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

ASPC-Lewis: Deaths in Protective Custody: John Jones, 63.

I've been hearing, of late, that the AZ DOC Protective Custody yards are as violent as the GP yards now - this guy was just murdered in PC this week, on the Bachman Unit. 

I'm currently compiling a report on the violence in the state prisons to submit to the US DOJ and ask for their intervention in the way of a federal investigation about policies and practices since Charles Ryan took over that have resulted inthe escalating level of violence and despair at the AZ DOC. If anyone has any information about this homicide or any other act of violenc ea tthe AZ DOC,  please send it my way (Peggy Plews) at arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com.

Here's the DOC's news release. Condolences to this prisoner's family, if there's anyone left out there for him.

---------------REVISED June 21, 2013-------------

received a copy of this interesting email yesterday...


From: Middle Ground Prison Reform <middlegroundprisonreform@msn.com>
Date: Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 6:42 PM
Subject: Death of John Jones #054741: Gross Negligence?
To: Charles Ryan <cryan@azcorrections.gov>

Mr. Ryan:

I was  sorry to learn about the apparent murder of Inmate Jones at the Lewis prison.   As you know, I recently contacted you about some serious security concerns that I noted when I visited the Lewis Prison as an agent of an attorney.  You have not responded to my email on that topic.

While my observations about lapses in security at Lewis Prison and the murder of Mr. Jones may not be connected at all,  I am especially concerned about what I consider to be a lackadaisacal attitude toward security at the Lewis Prison.

Today,  I examined Mr. Jones' inmate internet record.  I note that he had several disciplinary infractions, the most recent being just a year ago (unless there are more that are not recorded on the website) which reflect that this man apparently was given disciplinary for "refusal to house."  Often, inmates who are seeking protective custody (frrom gangs, drug or gambling debts, after having snitched on another prisoner, and for many other reasons) will be denied protective custody and issued a disciplinary ticket for refusal to house (in general population).

Is this issue one that relates to the apparent homicide of Mr. Jones?  Has he been seeking protective custody but, instead, been moved to "alternative placement" with DNHW (Do Not House With) names added to his file as the "remedy"?  If so, it would seem that this method did not suffice to protect him.

How many times has this inmate requested an 805 investigation and been denied?  How many times has this inmate been placed in an 805 investigation and subsequently denied protective custody?

Please consider this a standing request to examine the public records documents (written, electronic, video and by any other means collected)  on the investigation into this man's death.  Please have your staff notify me when the records are available for my review at the Central Office.



Donna Leone Hamm, Judge (Ret.)
Director, Middle Ground Prison Reform
Criminal Justice Consultant
(480) 966-8116
MIDDLE GROUND IS ARIZONA'S PREMIER PRISONER RIGHTS AND ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION; ESTABLISHED 1983

Women's Day, violence, and Arizona's state prisoners...

FAMILIES: I've been hearing you. Here's my response. Feel free to download the PDF copy here, print, and send it into as many people you know in the prisons. This has been circulating for two weeks already, and the free men inside are beginning to write back...

International Women's Day
March 8, 2013

To the men who inhabit Arizona's state prisons...

As some of you may know, through my blogs and art for the past several years I've been challenging the escalating level of violence, deliberate indifference, and despair in Arizona's state prisons under the directorship of Charles Ryan - the man I've raged at the most in this time, and demanded accountability from. Only recently has it really sunk in that he is not – and never really was – in control of the prisons he administers. You, the prisoners are. Ryan, therefore, is not the man I need to be talking to about all this – the guys who run the gangs and the yards are. So are the people who listen to them.

And so, today, on International Woman's Day, my appeal to end the violence and transform the culture and politics of Arizona's state prisons goes to all you guys who set the tone in there. Specifically, I'm writing to ask for your help stopping the violence against women and children being perpetrated from behind prison walls.

I know that our welfare is something the gangs and yard leaders care about these days because you're putting a green light on every guy accused of committing a crime against a woman or child, among other things. Word has it that there's a “sweep of the prisons” going on right now to target those guys for assault, extortion, and murder. Based on all the calls I've received from the sisters, mothers, lovers and daughters of these men, however, the effect of this approach has been largely to victimize the women and children who love them.

I know you can't see that kind of unplanned consequence the same way I can – I get at least ten calls a week from women being directly terrorized by prison violence, which is why I've come to talk to you all myself, face to face, so to speak. I've come to amplify their voices, which I hope you care enough to hear. They want you to know that they're tired of losing their men and burying their children, and they want to know who among you has the courage to try to stop it.

If anyone has the power to, it's you.

Some people have told me I'm crazy for trying this – that I'm just making myself a target for gang violence in the process, and that your expressed concern about the welfare of women and children is nothing more than an excuse to justify more violence against us by way of attacking our families, which is no different from what the state does. If I don't ask for your help, though, who will? I learned a long time ago from my father that some things are worth taking a stand and fighting for, even if with it comes risk.

If all that is said about you guys is true, then my public critiques of prison gangs, my aggressive efforts to have you all prosecuted for your crimes against other prisoners, and the number of victims I've rescued from your clutches have already made me a target, anyway, and it's just a matter of time before you send someone after me. So be it: I'm not too hard to find, and won't live in the shadows in fear. I'm just hoping that down to the last man you realize that someday you or your family may need my help, as well, and let me express myself unharmed, so that I can still be here for you should that day ever come.

What I'm really counting on connecting with is your humanity and integrity, though, not your self-interest. I've heard from enough guys who have run with you to know that you're not all just products of your environment or driven solely by greed or fear. Most of you, I bet, don't even buy into the racist garbage that the state tries to divide and conquer you with, treating you as if you're all stupid – I know that's just how the politics break down in there. In a foxhole, under fire from a common enemy, a rival gang member may even come to count on you as a comrade and friend...you know, you're all under pretty heavy fire now, come to think of it.

What I've seen in my relationships with state prisoners is that most ofyou find ways to defy the dehumanization, and are constantly tryingto survive the world you've been exiled to without eternallycompromising your souls. I always thought you guys had some kind of code of honor, but I see so many guys who have felt the only way to live with themselves was to leave their gang behind, which brought them into conflict with other values, like loyalty. When ordered to harm someone they had no business with or be harmed themselves, they felt they were given no choice but to walk away.

I'm hopeful that with Arizona's prison gangs' apparent commitment to reduce violence against women and children now, though, there's room for dialogue about how you guys can help change the overall culture in there and stop chasing men of conscience from your ranks along with all those guys you don't want. Prisoners are the only ones with the power to starve the state from within of what it feeds on (and feeds us) to perpetrate brutality against you and your families: if you could confront and defy the misogyny, heteropatriarchy, racism, classism, and other bullshit that keeps us all down, you would be the heroes of this revolution.

Instead you risk coming off to the world as nothing more than criminal gangs whose power and creativity is limited to extorting grandmothers for a fix or a fast buck...which is the reason Arizonans are so quick to support the building of new Supermax prisons and further sentencing enhancements for men the state can so label. You have so much more power and potential than to settle for exploiting vulnerable people and their families, though.

Some prison gangs across the country have taken a second look at their ethical codes and begun to use their influence and organizational capacity to their people's advantage: calling out the prison system on abuses in custody, imposing statewide moratoriums on inter-racial violence, secretly teaching each other to read and to litigate the state themselves, and so on.

In some prison yards, loyalty and community is being built not through the imposition of prisoner-on-prisoner violence, but through informed and thoughtful struggle against your common oppressor. A fundamental value is growing for the kind of fairness and justice that the state deprives you of; men are no longer being condemned to additional punishments for the crimes that brought them to prison, much less for the unchecked narrative of what they were accused of that was written by the media and the state.

Instead, in some places men are being judged for the values they live in prison by and the skills they have to offer to their community – like teaching, jailhouse lawyering, and caring for elders and the very ill. Those are the kind of people I'd be recruiting as my brothers (and my sisters) – those who can help cultivate collective resistance to the real threat, state violence, not just those who may be good at collecting on debts until they get taken out by younger men like themselves.

Some prison gangs are making a point of finding and reaching out to young guys who can lead with integrity, instead of continuing the dynamics that encourage and empower those who seek “respect” or their own safety by hurting or killing the most vulnerable or detested prisoner they can find. I'm sorry if I offend any of you, but I'd have a real hard time trusting any of the latter to watch my back, and I wouldn't call them brothers, whatever color they were – nor would I have much respect for those whose interests they represented.

In places like Georgia and California in recent years prisoners have used cell phones and their extensive statewide communication networks to organize massive hunger strikes and labor stoppages in protest of their conditions of confinement, their “sedentary diets” and chronic hunger, and the deliberate indifference shown them by health care providers. They've circulated “illegal” petitions and staged solidarity actions with politicized prisoners in solitary confinement. They've called for an end to violence in their home communities, and for mobilization against the police state oppressing us all instead.

Some of you know that I'm a prison abolitionist – a position which causes State Power and prisoners alike to think I'm absolutely out of my mind. “Real criminals” know (better than anyone, I'm told) that some people just need to be locked away from the rest of us forever, and I'm delusional to think that will ever change.

What I advocate, however, is not just the demolition of prisons across the country – it's the deconstruction of the entire prison industrial complex and the creation of community-based, non-heirarchical mechanisms for promoting the values of collective liberation, shared power, and social justice. Anyone who truly wants a world in which there are no longer victims of war, poverty, rape, or other forms of violence should share in such a vision, because those paths are fundamentally inseparable.

Out of an ethical foundation which places humanity, not corporate profit, at the center of our worlds would naturally evolve more productive ways of not only dealing with addiction, mental illness, poverty and political resistance than chaining and caging people up, but that also confronts and stops those among us who harm others for nothing but their own gain or entertainment.

We are ingenious beyond our ability to imagine – surely we can come up with better solutions to our social problems than simply exiling our deviants and transgressors to a netherworld in which they and their families will be preyed on by sociopaths in orange, brown, and business suits alike while they serve sentences formulated to promote political careers, not further the cause of truth or justice.

Reinforcing institutions of state violence is a major problem, not a solution to our problems, in any case. The prison industrial complex is composed of entities and networks which consume valuable life energy and community resources while going to great lengths to justify their survival beyond their obsolescence. It depends on the perpetuation of many evils to keep us all in chains, both literally and figuratively with our fears and diminished expectations of each other.

All of that is to explain the main reason I've finally decided to come to you for help stemming all this violence – other than Chuck Ryan's impotence, as evidenced by his lack of solutions to gangs seizing control of his prisons other than to build more Supermax cells for you all. I don't want to spend any more of my energy trying to make the very system I'm a sworn enemy of stronger than the potential resistance to it. Abuse of state power manifests in far more egregious offenses against humanity than that which we throw so many people into prison for.

Furthermore, you fellows are the ones who have the most control over your environment and your destinies, not the AZ DOC or prison gangs, despite all the illusions to the contrary. Asking the state to quell the violence is only inviting them to invest in more guards, more cages, more tools of domination, and more weapons of repression. I won't do it anymore.

If you are men of honor – which I have taken considerable risk on the confidence that you are - and really wish to stop the violence against women and children, then exercise the control you already have and do the one thing Ryan himself can never hope to do: stop the violence that originates with you and your brothers. Only then will you and others begin to fully realize how much more power each of you have to transcend both the chains and the lies that make you think resistance to this state, and all the attendant evils of incarceration, is futile. It is not. I know this because I have met free men in prison already on this journey. They are organizing quietly among you – and they are everywhere.

If you are a free man, too, please write to me, and tell me how you think we can work together to help liberate the rest from the chains that try to bind us all – help me before their mothers, sisters and daughters are called to bury them instead.

Thanks for your time and concern for our welfare. May the women and children who love you never know the heartbreak of losing you to this madness, too.

Respectfully, 
 

Peggy Plews

Please reply to: Arizona Prison Watch / PO Box 20494 / Phoenix, AZ 85036

for good stuff about women, violence, and the prison industrial complex, see:

INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence