Arizona Prison Watcher: January 2015

 
ARIZONAPRISONWATCHER 

JANUARY 2015  (rev 3/15)
(DOWNLOAD and PRINT)

IMAGINE NO PRISONS...  

Margaret J. Plews, Editor
ARIZONAPRISONWATCH.ORG


January 13, 2015

New Year’s Greetings to those behind bars in the AZDOC:

This may well be my last letter to you all as Arizona’s Prison Watcher, since my family has recently called me home, where last week it was literally colder than Mars. I moved back East around Thanksgiving and immediately got caught up in my loved ones’ medical crises. Then my house burned down in December, just before I moved in - thank goodness no one was hurt. I’m crashing on a friend’s sofa now, and all my stuff is buried in the garage under the things that were salvaged from the house after the fire. That means my office is still in boxes, and may well sit there until spring, as I have no place else to put it.

Furthermore, while I did put in a forwarding notice with the post office before moving, a lot of stuff didn’t get forwarded for over a month and I got hit all at once with a ton of mail last week. So, I’m not blowing anyone off - I just haven’t been able to get back to most of you who have written in the past few months. That’s what prompted this letter, as I can’t answer all your requests for help - really, I’m having a time of it right now myself. The best I can do is refer you to my friends and comrades back in Arizona, in hopes that they can help you somehow. None of the following people have asked me to promote them or anything, by the way - I compiled this list as a favor to you, not them.

First is Tucson-based attorney Stacy Scheff. I’ve been following the work she’s done these past few years. She’s a civil rights attorney, not a free one, either - she has bills to pay. But she is very competent when it comes to prisoner rights litigation, can coach you through filing a suit yourself if need be, and will do a demand letter re: PC or medical care for a reasonable fee. DOC and the AG know her, and that she’s not to be taken lightly. She used to work with Vince Rabago, but has recently started her own practice in Tucson. If you need a legal consult on a matter of your rights as a prisoner, get a legal call to explain your issue and see what she might charge, or write to her. I get no kickbacks for referrals, by the way - I just know that if you have a case, she can kick the state’s a**, which makes me happy.  Law Office of Stacy Scheff  / P.O. Box 40611  / Tucson, AZ 85717-0611 /  (520) 471-8333  FAX: (520) 300-8033

Of course, there’s also the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona (ACLU-AZ). They sued the DOC in the class action over health care at the DOC, Parsons V Ryan. Ask them for a copy of the original complaint and the stipulations the DOC agreed to in the settlement - it might help you in your own fight for access to medical care. You should also report violations of human and constitutional rights to them. FILE GRIEVANCES over that stuff, first, though, and see them through - follow the policy or you have no chance in hell of holding DOC accountable in court down the road. Even if the ACLU doesn’t intervene in your individual case, its so important for prisoners to document with them what’s going on inside, that’s what get’s them paying attention to areas that may require litigation: a barrage of compelling testimony from prisoners and their family members, and evidence of unconstitutional policies and practices.  They are at: ACLU-AZ / PO Box 17148 / Phoenix, AZ 85011.

I’d also recommend reporting the abuse and neglect of prisoners with serious mental illness (SMI includes major thought and mood disorders, like schizophrenia or manic-depression) to the Arizona Center for Disability Law. The AZCDL has the “Protection & Advocacy” authority in Arizona, which is power to intervene with institutions where disabled individuals are being abused, neglected, or denied their civil rights. Historically they have not helped SMI prisoners on an individual basis (they litigated the DOC in Parsons v Ryan over the poor treatment of mentally ill prisoners and the abuse of solitary confinement), but they may make an exception if your case is representative of a bigger problem they’ve been hearing about. The only way to really drag them into this fight is for those they should be serving (or those looking out for them) to write to them. Even if they don’t help you, your letter may help them tune into what SMI prisoners are going through, and get them more involved on some other level. Their contact info is:

                                     Arizona Center for Disability Law
5025 E. Washington St., Ste 202            100 North Stone Ave., Ste 305
Phoenix, AZ 85034                                 Tucson, AZ 85701
(602) 274-6287 (voice/TTY)                   (520) 327-9547 (voice)
(800) 927-2260 (voice/TTY)                   (800) 922-1447 (voice)

If you’re fighting for your medical care, or dealing with extreme isolation, the folks to write to are at the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in Tucson. They’re on top of prison and health care privatization, new legislation affecting criminal justice issues, and in the fight against solitary confinement. They wrote “Death Yards” about Corizon’s shoddy care, and a booklet on solitary confinement in AZ. They may have other resources that can help, and it’s good for them to hear from prisoners about what’s going on. Their contact info is: AFSC-Tucson / 103 North Park Avenue,  #111 / Tucson, AZ  85719 /  (520) 623-9141

Another place for prisoners (not solely people of color) to report the DOC’s bad conduct  to is the NAACP of Maricopa County.  The attorney who volunteers for them is in only once a week, but is good about checking the mail and will occasionally pursue a complaint on a prisoner’s behalf if it appears civil rights are being violated, whether it’s due to racism, homophobia, or other such prejudices. She’s advocated for the safety of gay and transgender prisoners as well, regardless of race. She’s a member of the National Lawyer’s Guild, too - I often see her at protests doing legal observing (cop-watching). She also goes around the state doing presentations to community groups against private prisons and mass incarceration - thank her for all her community service if you write. Send your letters “LEGAL MAIL” to: Dianne Post, Legal Redress  /  NAACP of Maricopa County / P.O. Box 20883 / Phoenix, AZ 85036

Now, for those of you who like to express yourselves, don’t care what the DOC thinks about it, and want to be a part of a larger community of AZ prisoners sharing poetry, art, essays, horror stories, or experience, strength and hope in a new prisoner-written zine or newsletter, write to the Free Verse at PO BOX 7241 Tempe AZ 85281 with your ideas and ask them what they’re working on - someone will get back with you. Those are my friends, too.

Take care, all.

                                       Peggy Plews

#CHUCKCHUCK #DARTHryan #DarkSideRyan  #FireChuckRyan" 

#DELIBERATEindifferenceKILLS

PS: here are the attorneys I know who have recently sued the AZ DOC successfully, in most cases, I believe. PAGE 1   PAGE 2

ART ATTACK at the Maricopa County Courthouse
Day of the Dead Prisoner: November 1, 2013

LGBTQ Prisoner support: Communities of Resistance's Bent Bars Collective.

Got that cool transgender clip art symbol I used in the post above from these folks, the Bent Bars Collective. They're a British group that formed specifically to build a bridge between community members and LGBTQ prisoners. What follows is an intro and link to their current newsletter, after which is the intro and link to their first newsletter. The links to each are for pdf copies so you can print and mail them to prisoners who might be interested. The writing appears to be done by GLBTQ prisoners, and may be useful in reducing the isolation that GLBTQ prisoners here struggle constantly with. Perhaps it will inspire a similar solidarity collective to form here.


Communities of Resistance is the collective's parent group; the UK has a lot of prison abolitionists. Here's their mission statement:

Communities of Resistance (CoRe) is a new grassroots initiative that aims to stop prison expansion in Britain. We oppose building new prisons, because prisons do not make our communities safe. We support and believe in developing effective, community-based solutions to social problems that do not rely on models of imprisonment.

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Second Bent Bars Newsletter Now Out!

Welcome to the second Bent Bars Newsletter. Here we bring you another collection of writing, poems, images and information contributed by folks on the inside who are part of the project.

It has been a busy year for the Bent Bars Project as our small collective has been working hard to respond to all the communication we recieve. Each week brings another large bundle of letters with new requests, news from those who have now become old friends, news of situations that anger us, bring sadness, inspire us deeply, make us laugh out lud and question our perspectives.

It is a challenge to keep track of everyone contacting us from inside and outside, but we now have more than 70 long-term penpal connections. We are really thrilled that this includes those between people who were inside penpals, were then released and are now writing to others still inside. To read more, click on the link below for a PDF version (5.4MB in size) or write to us if you'd like a paper copy sent by post.

Click here to download the Second Bent Bars Newsletter!

Bent Bars Launches First Newsletter

The Bent Bars Collective is proud to announce our first newsletter! The newsletter is written by and for prisoners and the first issue is on the topic of 'coming out' in prison.

Click on the link below for a PDF version of our first newsletter or if you would like a paper copy, please write to us and we'll send you one.

Since the Bent Bars Project began in February this year, we have received many letters from those in prison. Among the various requests we regularly receive, many asked for information about ‘coming out’ in prison. Yet all the resources we could find on ‘coming out’ were not written with prisoners in mind. So we decided to create our own resource, by asking prisoners to share thoughts and advice on the topic. We put a call out for submissions in July – and asked you to tell us about your own experiences of being out, or not out in prison, and what advice you would give to other prisoners thinking about coming out. The responses are printed here.

One of the aims of the Bent Bars Project is to build links between lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, intersex, queer and gender-nonconforming communities (LGBTQ) inside and outside prison. We work in solidarity with those inside to build stronger community links across prison walls. Issues around 'coming out' ring true for many of us, inside and out: the attitudes of families and friends; wanting to resist being pigeon-holed and identified only by sexuality; fears about prejudice, discrimination, rejection and violence.

Clearly these difficulties are made harder for those inside, where all these problems are increased by the severity and restrictions of prison life. We want to create a space where people inside can read the feelings and perspectives of others facing similar challenges in prison. We also want to make connections between those inside and other LGBTQ people who are currently outside. Prisons magnify repression of queer communities. This repression is at the root of social exclusion that leads to over-representation of LGBTQ communities, communities of colour and low-income communities, within the prison system.

In these pages then you will read the voices of people who answered our call out for writings. The words they have sent us are powerful, moving, funny, creative and harrowing in turn. They offer valuable ideas and raise many questions.


Many prisoners who wrote to us said that we could include their full names with their submissions. Although we wanted to honour those who are “out and proud,” we decided to publish first names or nicknames only for safety reasons. We hope that one day this will not be necessary – that one we will all be free to express ourselves fully and openly.


Once again we want to thank the contributors for all they have shared. It is important also to acknowledge that people inside make many different choices in order to survive, and there are many different ways of expressing identities and sexualities. Many people do not feel safe to come out or even to write to us: for this reason our newsletter cannot be fully representative. For those not able to, or choosing not to 'come out' in prison, we want to acknowledge the strength in those silences as well as the voices heard here.


~From your friends in the Bent Bars Collective

File	Description	File size
BentBars Newsletter 1 - updated	Bent Bars Newsletter 1A	1764 Kb