Perryville's Deaths in Custody: Christina Black, 52.

 

According to the Phoenix New Times, 52-year old Christina Black, who reportedly hung herself on the Lumley Unit at Perryville Prison Tuesday, had a history of paranoid schizophrenia. She was sentenced to life in 1999 for killing her grandmother a few years earlier, who was initially considered to have died of natural causes at 88. The police only arrested Christina after she contacted them to confess of her own volition.

The New Times didn't mention Christina's motives for having confessed, but many people with serious mental illness are people of conscience who are devastated upon regaining their sanity to discover the harm they've done to loved ones and others when suffering from manic, depressive, or psychotic symptoms. They'd sooner have killed themselves than hurt another person, and many can't live with the guilt. Some are brave enough to try to move beyond guilt and take responsibility, not only for what they may have done under the influence of delusions, but also to prevent themselves from ever doing such harm to another person again. 

I wonder if that wasn't what drove Christina to turn herself in long after she had already "gotten away with the crime": she came into a period of mental and spiritual wellness. 

Predictably, Arizona's only response was to put her in cages and chains for the rest of her life, where her mental health would be sure to suffer. Between the class action suit and the complaints I've heard from other prisoners with mental illness about the psychiatric services under Wexford these past few months, I wouldn't be surprised if this poor woman's psychiatric meds had been cut off or dramatically changed before she was found hanging in her cell. She was apparently transferred to the maximum security yard (Lumley, where women are also sent to be punished - I mean "appropriately housed" - for being mentally ill, raped, etc.) within the past 2 weeks...

But much of that is speculation. If anyone out there really knows what happened with or to Christina, then and now, please let me know. The only narrative that others will be putting out otherwise will be limited to the state's version of her crime and her punishment. I'd like to know about her struggle, her strength, her reasons for being, and for no longer being. I need to hear from those of you who loved her to help tell her story - we must in order to try to stop this from happening again. Please contact Peggy Plews at 480-580-6807 or arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com. That invitation to contact me is open to those of you worried about a loved one still alive in custody as well; I'll do what I can to help.

Condolences to those who loved Christina, especially those behind prison walls. I hope the DOC and Wexford offers crisis counseling to the grieving women around and close to her for free, lest there be a repeat attempt at self-harm - the guards automatically get help debriefing after critical incidents, and they are hardly the highest risk...

MSNBC: Halloran confronts AZ prison neglect, violence.

The feedback to this MSNBC blog post is important to understanding the scope of the problem with the AZ state prison system. The AZ prison suicide rate has doubled under Jan Brewer's governorship...assaults and homicides have skyrocketed. It's time for Chuck Ryan to step down.

-----------from MSNBC-------------

Did officers' inaction, lack of training contribute to inmate's death?

By M. Alex Johnson
msnbc.com reporter
November 15, 2011

Investigators' interviews with correctional officers at a state prison in Tucson, Ariz., suggest that the officers' indifference and lack of basic first aid training allowed an inmate to bleed to death after his second suicide attempt.

The recorded interviews were obtained by KPNX-TV, the NBC affiliate in Phoenix, which has spent much of the past year digging into the suicide of Anthony Clayton Lester, 26, in July 2010.

The station reports that Lester, who was serving a 12-year sentence for aggravated assault, had a long history of mentally illness and had tried to kill himself the previous month. But he was taken off his medications and was removed from a suicide watch two days before his death.

When he was returned to the general prison population, he was issued a standard prison hygiene kit that included a razor — which he used to slit his throat, wrists and groin.

Investigators' interviews with responding officers, aired this week by KPNX, recorded one officer saying he held back from assisting Lester because he didn't want to have to "wallow" in the sheer amount of blood in the cell.

In another recording, an officer is asked about correctional staffers' first aid training. His response: "I had first aid, but I don't consider it as first aid training."

Watch the two-part report by Wendy Halloran of KPNX:

PART I Failure to Aid
PART II Failure to Aid

FEEDBACK:

Donna Leone Hamm, Judge (Retired)

The actions of Arizona Dept. of Corrections administrators and prison guards all the way up and down the chain of command are inexcusable, as well as unconscionable, with respect to the suicide of Anthony Lester. This mentally ill prisoner was taken off his prescribed mental health medications and not housed in a mental health facility -- despite the clear and written recommendations of his sentencing judge -- by an uncaring and, apparently, completely unconcerned DOC chain of command. This story amply demonstrates the problem we have throughout our entire country with using prisons as places to house seriously mentally ill people who belong in licensed mental health facilities. Thanks for investigative reporter Wendy Halloran for bringing this tragic story to light. If this country continues to incarcerate its citizens at the rate/capita that we do (Arizona ranks 7th/capita), then we have to be committed to providing the resources and professional staff to take care of the medical, mental health and other human needs of our prisoners. Otherwise, we need to much more seriously explore community treatment options, which have been proven to work.

#1 - Tue Nov 15, 2011 4:29 PM EST

Chris Dowling, advocate, friends, families,inmates

Thank you Donna for breaking this down for us. A succinct explanation of the current and far reaching impact of current practises within our prison systems.

#1.1 - Wed Nov 16, 2011 1:20 PM EST

Chris Dowling, advocate, friends, families,inmates

Takes less tax dollars to train and oversee prison staff so that they work with honest dedication of carrying out the mission of their jobs.Following is a direct quote taken from the Arizona Department Of Corrections website, "I am honored to serve more than 10,000 well-trained corrections professionals who are dedicated to public, staff and inmate safety by effectively employing sound correctional practices, efficient operational procedures and proven programming opportunities for inmates." End quote. Had this quote,- which is a promise, a promise to all of us, including our inmates,- been respected by the correction officers, Tony would be alive today. Tony's death is a horrific loss. Unnecessary. Preventable.

#2 - Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:25 PM EST

Mary Lou Brncik

Thank you MSNBC for helping us to bring to light one of America's greatest tragedies, our treatment of the seriously mentally ill. Arizona incarcerates the highest percentage of those with mental illness in the nation being second only to Nevada. In Arizona, if you have a serious mental illness, you are over nine times more likely to be in jail or prison than in a public mental health hospital bed. Anthony Lester's voice must be heard. Our non-profit agency, David's Hope, is dedicated to securing mental health treatment rather than incarceration for all those living with a mental illness. For help or just to share, you can find us at davidshopeaz.org

#3 - Tue Nov 15, 2011 7:23 PM EST

Steven Stevil

I want to thank you for for airing the 2 segmentson Tony Lester. I have 3 questions. Why didn't Director Ryan's office issue a statement about the over 8000 employees receiving suicide prevention training during the 1st segment? When did the trainings begin? What was the quality of those trainings? Thank you again so much. Our system cannot be changed without raising awareness first.

#3.1 - Wed Nov 16, 2011 11:14 AM EST

Patti Jones -4525975

Patti Jones, Mesa Az
First and Foremost I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Wendy Halloran and Channel 12 KPNX News in Phoenix, Az for their excellence in journalistic skills in exposing this horrific tragedy that happened last July 11, 2010, when a severe mentally-ill inmate whose mental health needs were totally disregarded and he was regarded as a manipulator , gaimer of the system; even though his court appointed psychiatrists and sentencing judge highly recommended he be placed in menrtal health unit. Wendy Halloran and channel 12 KPNX news have worked tenaciously for a year to expose the deplorable treatment of the mentally-ill within the ADOC. It is through channel 12 KPNX and Wendy Halloran that these most vulnerable inmates now have a voice that is now heard. Her report exposed the sheer travesty that exists within the ADOC not only on ground level but throughout the whole system especially on the adminstrative level. It is not only alarming , but appalling how the Department itself has so little regard for human life with absolutely no respect for life what so ever. We captured the world's most inhumane individual Osama Bin Laden; then why is it then, that we have a department head that has so little regard for human decency; for so little regard for humanity. Perhaps now through MSNBC bringing such light to such a travesty; that such a change may erect out of such a horrific tragedy. Perhaps now our Department of Justice may become aware of such violations of civil rights that they may open an investigation into the ADOC. It is time that we stop living in the dark ages and start humanizing our mentally-ill prisoners and send a message that their lives matter!!!! If we can just save just one life than our Beloved Tony's Voice will have been heard and his death will not be in vain. Again Much Gratitude to MSNBC for taking Wendy Halloran's and Channel 12 KPNX MAGNIFICENT investigative report to a national level,perhaps now lives will be saved. May God Bless You MSNBC and Wendy Halloran, Channel 12 KPNX for their excellence in journalistic skills. Patti Jones

#4 - Tue Nov 15, 2011 9:46 PM EST

carl-3575315

The Tony Lester Story is just the tip of the iceberg as an indicator how Arizona prisons marginalize human beings inside their prisons. The fact that Tony Lester was convicted as a mentally ill person is a tragedy in its own merits but what really criminalized his death was the total deliberate indifference shown for his civil rights, his humanity and all those other severely mentally ill prisoners that are filling our prisons up under the Governor's policy of mass incarceration. It is with much urgency the ACLU and the Department of Justice should proceed and investigate these prison policies related to suicide prevention, suicide watches, mentally ill treatment plans, and the housing of such disabled persons while incarcerated and left untreated, unprogrammed and certainly left unsupervised in their needs to be compliant with their medication and special needs. As a former corrections administrator, I have seen the toxic and harsh culture result in an attitude of apathy that is demonstrated by the fact that officers are ill prepared and trained to handle such emergencies and rely on raw supervisory skills to get through their shifts without leadership, instruction or direction from competent management rarely prepared for such critical tasks of life preservation and sound first aid rendered in the manner prescribed by established medical standards and mental health care. I have been made privy of this entire investigative packet and find it to contain alleged criminal conduct in content and context but will refrain from calling it criminal as the case is in litigation and hopefully result in changes how the ADOC practices its treatment of the severely mentally ill and others requiring closer supervision and special housing. The leadership culture within this prison system is that of Abu Ghraib and if you look at the specific individuals, you will find the dots connect to the horrific event in that Iraqi prison as Arizona is tainted with DNA of Abu Ghraib as it continues to stack up an unusual amount of "natural deaths", suicides and homicides since the current administration took over in January 2009.

#5 - Tue Nov 15, 2011 10:59 PM EST

Arizona Prison Watch

Thank you Wendy Halloran, KPNX, and MSNBC for bringing Tony's tragic and preventable suicide to light. This is more than just an isolated incident. One week before Tony died, Dana Seawright was brutally beaten at Lewis Prison in a gang hit and hate crime because he was black and became friends with a Mexican. The case was closed unsolved, despite... the culpability of guards who left his dorm unattended when the beat down took place - then watched him gag on blood and vomit without rendering aid. It was three hours before a helicopter got him to the hospital. He died five days later. The homicide and suicide rates in Arizona's state prisons have skyrocketed under the current administration, and mentally ill (Shannon Palmer, Jerry Kulp, James Jennings, Lasasha Cherry to name a few) and women prisoners in particular (Susan Lopez, Brenda Todd, Marcia Powell) have been dying of gross neglect, some begging for medical or psychiatric attention that comes too late, if at all... The ACLU and Prison Law Office are even poised to file suit over these conditions and seek an injunction to protect vulnerable prisoners. No one else's child, father, sister or friend need to die like these folks have. ADC Director Chuck Ryan needs to step down.

#6 - Wed Nov 16, 2011 1:29 AM EST

Chris Dowling, advocate, friends, families,inmates

Thank you Arizona Prison Watch for your comments.

#6.1 - Wed Nov 16, 2011 11:42 AM EST

OUTRAGED!-2807909

Firstly, Wendy Halloran - thank you for an excellent investigative report. Very few reporters even bother about the prison population in this country so I commend you for your hard work and diligence in getting national attention brought to the issues of the mentally ill who are incarcerated in Arizona's Department of Corrections. Secondly, as a resident and tax payer in the State of Arizona I am disgusted at what is taking place in the Arizona Department of Corrections. If it is not blatantly obvious to everyone having seen this report then let me spell it out 'INCOMPETENT LEADERSHIP"!!! which starts with Charles Ryan, the Director of the Arizona Department of Corrections. If this report does not scare the heck out of the Governor's Office, who appointed Mr Ryan, then I am not quite sure what is going to do it! Perhaps a few more dead bodies and some more massive lawsuits will do the trick??? This is not the first case of a mentally ill person dying under Charles Ryan's watch and it will not be the last. If CHARLES RYAN was half the man he pretends to be he would admit he cannot do the job and step down before another person loses their life in his prison. With regards to the correctional officers lacking the very necessary training and resources they need I go back to my original point - incompetent leadership and the obvious failure to provide what is required to operate a safe prison lies with Mr. Charles Ryan.

#7 - Wed Nov 16, 2011 8:36 AM EST

carl-3575315

Perhaps if everyone who has family or friends in the penitentiary will speak out or write their congressman, congresswoman, legislator or even their district reps telling them enough is enough.. human lives are at stake and nobody cares?? what's wrong with that picture. Desensitived administrators working overtime to fill prison beds with victims rather than prison management according to rules of law and civility. The might $$$ has taken control of our minds and hearts and treats prisoners as assets rather than human beings. One dies and another is incarcerated regardless whether they are mentally ill or not.. a body is $$$ to Arizona prison management teams nothing else. This must be addressed and someone must be held accountable at the top. These correctional officers deserve leadership and are not getting it..

#8 - Wed Nov 16, 2011 12:48 PM EST

Gary Bullock

Sadly yes. Deliberate indifference is more than not responding to an ICS, it also includes not taking action during the response itself. I agree though, correctional officers lack the needed training to handle massive critical lacerations to ones neck. I also understand the fear these officers must have felt when facing such vast amounts of blood given the amount of Hepatitis, HIV and other communicable diseases running rapid like a plague in our prisons. But the incident commander has every single resource at their disposal available to them. Did they call for towels to cover the blood so attempts to control bleeding could be made? Did they apply direct pressure to the wound the absolute most basic blood loss control method? Did they call for a PPE cart equipped with blood gel, jump suits, squeegee, mop, goggles and masks? I know they are trained in at least these skills. How long was it before the on call nurse arrived? I feel the answers to these questions will lead us back to square one, deliberate indifference occurred.
In this case there was more deliberate indifference. Classification allowed this mentally unstable man to become a General Population inmate. The judge even made clear in the trial he was concerned for the mental instability of the individual. The inmate cried out to staff over and over for help with his mental health. Accountability need not just be on the staff who responded but on the psychology department, classification officer, warden and State Prison Director.
What happened here was a sad travesty and the only light that can come of it is the education our correctional system can gain from it. But such a thing can only happen as long as we never forget and never back off fighting to change the status quo.

#10 - Wed Nov 16, 2011 3:35 PM EST

Gary Bullock

There are lots of bad politicians, appointees and to be sure lobbyists in the Arizona government. But one man stands out as having the singular largest track record of failures, mistakes and down right atrocities under their failing leadership. That man is Arizona Department of Corrections Director Charles L Ryan.

Director Ryan has been plagued by his own inability to lead and oversee his administration. Under his authority he has repeatedly surprised the citizens of this state with his failure. After Dora Schrirro left with former Governor Napolitano Director Ryan inherited the administration. During the early days of his Administration under his interim, an inmate by the name of Marcia Powell died while being held in an out door enclosure awaiting transportation to a mental health watch. This was quickly followed up by two more men who died in Tucson of the same cause of death from exposure. Fourteen staff were promptly terminated to lay blame, appease the public and media. Of those staff, twelve have returned to their jobs after proving they were not to blame. But the majority of them lost their retirements and seniority. The DOC quickly installed shade, water fountains and rewrote policies regarding holding inmates outdoors. This is a clear display of reactive over proactive, but it also showed the coming pattern of Director Ryan's leadership, to point the finger down hill and always be reactive and never proactive.

Later Director Ryan was appointed by Governor Brewer to become the actual Director and his status as an interim had been lifted. It was after this period of his term, the most publicized escape in modern history took place. The Management Training Corp, Kingman Complex Escape. There has never been such a massive breakdown in security practices, documented so well, as there was during this escape. First, the cousin / girlfriend of one of the inmates was caught attempting to smuggle in drugs to the facility, her visitation was not revoked for any time other than that visit and she was not arrested. Second, the inmate was using the drugs to negotiate cell phone usage with other inmates who smuggled one in earlier. Third, recorded institutional phone calls clearly detected a code for escape plots by the word "camping." Nothing was done other than to keep an eye out. Fourth, correctional staff at the facility were propping open a door to the inner perimeter because they were hot. Fifth, the outer zone alarms to the facility were activating falsely and staff had become desensitized to the alarm sounds. This had gone on for months and months and was well documented. Sixth, those very alarms had not received servicing in over two years. Seventh, prison inspections or audits had been skipped at the facility due to time and budget keeping oversight at a minimum. Eighth, there was only one staff member from the DOC working at the facility reporting to the Director about the goings on at the private prison. Ninth, inmates were often running about without identification for face to ID checks, thus making counts more about paper than actual accountability. Tenth, when the private prison changed custodial housing from level two inmates to level three inmates, Kingman Police were never notified of the change so they could increase patrols in the area. Eleventh, the perimeter officer was supposed to be posted with a partner, but under staffing had him working alone. In fact the lack of staff was so bad the perimeter officer was doubling as an escort. It was at this time he was escorting, that a woman drove onto the perimeter tossed wire cutters over the fence to three awaiting inmates who simply walked out the door propped open by a rock to meet her. They cut the fence, staff ignored the alarm and they drove off into the sunset. Later, on their lamb, they shot at Colorado Police, robbed a trucker and killed two tourists in New Mexico. Director Ryan blames the facility, his liaison / monitor in charge of oversight, he blames staff complacency and he blames Schrirros classification system. Director Ryan does not accept any blame for himself. But here is how things really are, one or two mistakes is an officers fault, two or three mistakes is the fault of a staff supervisor, three or four mistakes is the fault of the Warden and Monitor. A complete totality of mistakes is the fault of the Director and no-one else's, for it is he that is truly in charge. Ryan appointed the monitor, Ryan reviewed the audits and alarm maintenance records, Ryan failed to make the notifications to the local authorities that custody levels had changed. Ryan was again reactive and not proactive and made changes to policy. Ryan is also an Adviser to Management Training Corp and they kept the contract they had, even though they failed so horribly.

Next was a turn of events that was not very shocking, but none the less true. Ryan had slowly been changing they way administrators interacted with staff. The conditions of the working relationship between staff and administrators had become toxic, to the point of a Department wide hostile working environment. The union Arizona Correctional Peace Officers Association stepped in and had members and non members (still DOC staff) alike sign a petition of No Confidence in Director Ryan's leadership. It was so serious local news channel five stepped up to cover the story. The letter was submitted to Governor Brewer and no action was taken of any kind.

During the years of 2010 and 2011 there was a shortage of a drug needed to execute inmates by lethal injection. But Ryan and Brewer had a need and desire to keep the truck rolling and make sure that executions continued. Some how the unavailable drug manifested (one of three required) in Director Ryan's hands. Lawyers of inmates to be executed were fighting to verify they legality of the drugs acquisition. Eventually even the press became concerned over where Ryan had got the drug. For weeks legal services and media alike were utilizing the Freedom of Information Act to learn how Ryan had obtained the drug. Eventually it had came about that he got it not through medical supply but from veterinary supply. It was ruled safe for human use in executions but did cause much embarrassment to the state.

There have been many more injustices from inmates not being properly triaged and diagnosed, to off site work crew inmates escaping custody, like a female working at the auto auction who simply started a car and drove away. Her behavior was unchecked, because the lowest custody inmates are allowed to work under the supervision of the employees contracting their labor and an officer who drives from sight to sight counting them. Ryan stated after her apprehension that the revenue generated from unsupervised off site crews out weighs the risk to the public for these rare escapes that occur. Tell that to the bank teller she robbed and set the tellers desk of on fire.

Privatizing prisons has been an ongoing affair and no state is deeper and faster in this process than Arizona. Director Ryan has been going along with this either because he supports the idea or he is going along with his superiors authority. (Governor Brewer) The private prison lobby in Arizona is incredibly powerful with men like Chuck Coughlin, a lobbyist for several private prison contractors and also being the policy adviser to Governor Brewer. Ryan had a responsibility to the legislators, to provide an in depth cost analysis between private and public prisons to determine which has more savings. Numbers from various studies have reflected both sides being winners in other research. But those numbers can be fudged based on who is taking them and their end goal. Ryan never generated this cost comparison and submitted it to the state.

Violence still climbing in AZ State prisons...

I've been perusing the Arizona Department of Corrections' (ADC) website of late and came across this report with a few things worth sharing. As many regular readers are aware, the ADC is the only state agency this year to have received an increase in their funding, placing their annual budget at about $1 billion. This came despite a decrease in the number of prisoners committed there by the courts since 2009. In fact, the ADC is getting a whole lot of new stuff despite the public's decreasing demand for their services.

To convince us of their dire need, Chuck Ryan and the state's prosecutors have been clamoring all year that 94% of ADC prisoners are "violent or repeat offenders" (as if Vicodin addicts and serial rapists pose an equal threat to the rest of us) and therefore MUST be imprisoned for our safety (see this long report - read between the propaganda, if you can). They argue that our high incarceration rates over the past decade are responsible for a falling crime rate (which was actually seen nationally due to many factors).


In truth, though, there's been a marked decrease in violent offenders among new prisoners being admitted over the past 2 years, so it's not going down because they're all getting put away. Far too many of our resources continue to go towards imprisoning people who have smuggled themselves over the border or worked hard at a job no one else wanted too many times - over 6,000 of our prisoners are foreign nationals - most of whom we just plan to deport after we expend a fortune punishing them.


Actually, contrary to what Chuck Ryan's public claims would lead one to believe, 36% of the state's prisoner population is considered so low-risk that they're in minimum security settings - which means they could be safely walking among us right now. That's over 12,000 people who don't REALLY need to be locked into their beds at night (at about $20,000/year per prisoner) for the sake of public safety.


So why aren't we talking sentencing reform at the legislature this year instead of building 5,000 new prison beds? There's plenty of evidence of the meddling of the private prison lobby and American Legislative Exchange Council in our lawmaking activities here. But there's also a large contingent among law enforcement and corrections - such as ADC Director Chuck Ryan - leading us even further down the path of mass incarceration with fear, not reason. Whether crime goes up or down, their constant refrain is that we need more prisons and police - even when our school budgets are being ravaged.



Charts are from the ADC's 2011 "Data and Information" report. Increases in violence over the past 2 years appear to be more dramatic than the changes in prisoner population and and apparent increase in the staff/prisoner ratio. Despite ADC claims that the violence grew due to budget and staffing cuts, there aren't a significant number of additional CO positions slated to be filled this year.







While there's no hard evidence that Chuck Ryan has - across his career - actually served to reduce crime in Arizona by fighting to secure longer sentences for vast numbers of petty criminals, there's ample proof that he's having a harder time than his predecessor did maintaining a safe environment for both prisoners and staff behind bars. Under his tenure, suicides and homicides have skyrocketed, and assaults are up all over.



Indicators of prison violence are projected to jump even more next year. One would think the ADC would set goals to reduce those rates, not project increases. Sadly, they seem far more concerned with bringing down health care costs than reducing prison violence - even that which is against their own people. In 2009, as Ryan's predecessor was leaving office, 1 in 40 prisoners and 1 in 17 staff were involved in an assault. Things have deteriorated so badly under his directorship that in 2012 1 in 23 prisoners are expected to be involved in fights and assaults, and 1 in 16 staff will be attacked.





Assaults on both prisoners and staff are expected to jump again in 2012. Nothing in the ADC's current 5-year plan addresses how to reduce the assault, suicide or homicide rates. Dora Schriro's reports, on the other hand, looked at these concerns closely.








Meanwhile, prisoners and their families have been told that their lives are of no value to the rest of us short of the revenue that the commodification of their bodies and the enslavement of their labor produces. Visitors have to pay for their security clearance now, rehabilitative programs have been gutted, prisoner pay was cut while medical visit co-pays increased, account deposits are being assessed a new fee, only 2 meals are served each day on the weekends, and women are dying while begging to see a doctor. Things are so bad now that the ACLU National Prison Project and the Prison Law Office are actually talking about suing the ADC for injunctive relief due to the gross medical neglect of their general prison population, as well as the abuse of solitary confinement for prisoners with psychiatric disabilities. That's pretty serious.

AZ prison violence: higher security yards are least secure...

The guys are also writing to me more for help getting protective custody throughout the system, saying that the gangs run all the 3 and 4 yards (medium and maximum security) - and few are getting it, despite being assaulted repeatedly. The guards are often part of the problem - I know of at least one guard who was prosecuted for taking a $1000 bribe to let someone try and kill a friend of mine for being gay. Look at the assault statistics for different custody levels - they tell the story of prison violence spiraling out of control.


All that those violent perpetrators seem to be getting from being in Chuck Ryan's custody, frankly, is target practice on vulnerable prisoners like Shannon Palmer, carelessly housed among the most dangerous. That way both the thugs and the brutalized are good and ready for us when they get out. That's neither tough nor smart on crime - It's just hardest on the most easily victimized prisoners, like the very old, the very gentle, and those with psychiatric, developmental, and physical disabilities - many of whom landed in prison due to the shredded safety net in our state, not due to their inherent criminality.


I suspect from all that I've seen that the violence among prisoners in our state institutions is actually serving a purpose for the ADC. The gangs keep prisoners divided by race and high on heroin so they can't unite against the real enemy and resist the conditions of their confinement. Fear keeps people spending all their energy just surviving prison life, too, and posits other prisoners as sources of danger while making it appear as if their only hope for safety will come from the institution (often in exchange for something), if it comes at all.


In order words, the gangs and yard leaders are in on it with Chuck in a very convenient relationship. How ironic that they're the ones demanding to see guys' police reports for evidence they haven't snitched on anyone when they're the main parties in collusion with the guards and ADC brass. Gang members and leaders make a show of resisting authority, but they are hardly the enemy of the state, by any means. They are in bed with them. Feel free to tell them I said that, too. Too many prisoners are being tattooed and led astray by the very rats who sell all of you out to maintain their own comfort and safety every day. If you were to unite amongst yourselves and start organizing around a new analysis of power inside, you might have a chance at disrupting that particular culture.


So spread the word and call them on their shit, guys - not only does the police report they insist on seeing fail to identify those who turned state's evidence later (everyone pisses their pants when they get busted, so they know you're likely to have something in that report they can make a big deal of), but they have no business questioning your integrity when they've been collaborating with the police state for a long time now. The gang violence also makes you all look bad out here, dehumanizing prisoners for those of us who wish to ignore your desperate predicament. In every way, those guys are just doing prisoners as a whole harm - and doing Chuck Ryan a service by keeping you down so he doesn't have to. They keep his guards in line, too.


On that note, I encourage folks to check out the ADC's website for more information about how our tax dollars are being spent fostering even more criminal activity - and destroying the lives that might be salvaged -behind bars. Here are their collected reports and statistics. The Corrections at a Glance monthly briefs are especially interesting for what they show the ADC isn't doing for the 75% of prisoners these days who come in with drug problems. Even the drunks aren't getting treatment. Given the physical state of most of the prison system, it kind of makes you wonder where all that money has been going...

Waiting in the Silence: Remembering Tony Lester.

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


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

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

-----------

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

All of Our Love

Your Family

Prisoner Rights: PHX May Day Rally, 2011.

Calling all Angels: Appeal to the Phoenix Labor Movement to intercede in AZ state prison crises.

1. Blogger/Human Rights Activist Peggy Plews reading a Perryville prisoner's letter re: work conditions at Martori Farms.

2. Disabled worker, prisoner's mom Kini Seawright confronts prison segregation. Son, Dana, was murdered in ASPC-Lewis/Stiner (July 2010) for being friends with a Mexican and refusing to carry out a satisfactory hit on another Latino prisoner...

from Sandangelmedia


Please ask Representative Cecil Ash to open legislative hearings on conditions in the AZ state prisons through the AZ House Health and Human Services Committee:

AZ State Legislature
1700 W. Washington St.
PHX, Arizona 85007

Thanks to Robert Haasch for this video!

Phoenix PD sends suicidal man off bridge.

What is wrong with the Phoenix PD? Don't they know how to deal with suicidal citizens without killing us? They would have probably been safer diving behind their cars than firing at him like this, when they thought they were in danger - then he would have had to advance from his position on the wall of the bridge, and they could have hit him with all the beanbags they wanted without sending him off the edge.

I know - Monday morning quarterbacking is easy to do with the cops, and I'm sure they hate it when this kind of thing happens - they all want to be the heroes who save the day- but if we don't rethink how some of these scenarios could otherwise unfold, how will they ever change?

If you need help getting through a crisis, and can't get it from a friend - or just need to bounce things off an objective third party - call these folks, not the police:

National Suicide Hotline:

1-800-273-TALK
(Veterans press 1)

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

Threat on Phoenix overpass closes, backs up eastbound I-10

AZCentral.com
by Shala Marks and Kiali Wong - Apr. 18, 2011 12:02 PM
The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team

A man is dead after threatening to jump off the Interstate 10 overpass at 43rd Avenue early Monday in Phoenix, forcing the closure of eastbound I-10 at 51st Avenue.

The closure created a massive backup on Interstate 10. On-ramps to eastbound I-10 were closed at 83rd, 75th, 67th, 59th, 51st and 43rd avenues. Traffic was backed up to at least 75th Avenue, a more than 4-mile backup, causing commute times of more than two hours for many drivers.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety recommends McDowell and Buckeye roads as alternate routes. Traffic appears to be heavy on these and other surface streets near the interstate.

The freeway was expected to closed "a couple more hours," said Sgt. Steve Martos, spokesman for the Phoenix Police Department, at about 11 a.m.

The 40-year-old man was first spotted by a person driving on Interstate 10 at about 4:30 a.m. Monday, said Sgt. Steve Martos, spokesman for the Phoenix Police Department. The driver called Phoenix police after seeing the man apparently standing outside of the railing on the 43rd Avenue overpass.

Police arrived, and the man told them to back away, Martos said. The man, who had an article of clothing wrapped around his right hand, also told officers he had a gun.

Officers tried to negotiate, Martos said. The man told officers about his family and how to contact them.

A semitruck was parked underneath the man in case he jumped, Martos said.

At about 5:30 a.m., the man stood up and started to approach police, Martos said. He pointed his right hand and five officers, fearing for their safety, opened fire with beanbag rounds and rifle rounds. A handgun also was used, Martos said.

Officers are unclear if the man jumped or if he was shot and fell off the overpass. Police didn't immediately know if any of the rounds hit the man.

The man fell just north of the semitruck because he had moved from his original position on the overpass, Martos said.

It is unknown if the man had a weapon, Martos said.

After firefighters determined the man was dead, authorities backed away, Martos said. A Phoenix police crime unit is processing the scene, and a helicopter is taking pictures.

A medical examiner also has been called in, Martos said.

Wrongful Deaths in Custody: Susan Lopez (ADC)

(UPDATED from March 29, 2011 post.)

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

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

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

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

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

All of which appears to have happened to Susan.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

The address is:

Jonathan Smith, Chief

US DOJ Civil Rights Division,
Special Litigation Section

950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, PHB

Washington, DC 20530

SOS DOJ: CRIPA Arizona.

Dodge Theater, Phoenix, AZ.

Halloween Night, 2010.

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

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


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

NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

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

March 28, 2011 Inmate Death Notification

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

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

The death is under investigation by the department.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Perryville prisoner suicide: March 2011.

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

***UPDATED MARCH, 2011 at:

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


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

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

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

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

Deaths in Custody: Smoke, Fire and Ronald Richie.

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


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

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

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

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

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


As for Ronald Richie's death:


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

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

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

There's No Smoke Without Fire

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

By Carl ToersBijns

Associated Content

December 30, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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