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.

ASPC-Florence deaths in custody: Miguel Sanchez, 28, suicide.

There was another suicide this week in maximum security at the AZ DOC: this young prisoner, here, Miguel Sanchez, who was facing the rest of his life in prison for beating another young man to death while robbing him. Condolences to his family, as well as the family of his victim, for whom today will bring up difficult emotions as well.

I don't know if Miguel was assaulted or being threatened by other prisoners (gangs run ASPC-Florence), or simply couldn't live with the harm he had done another human being. Perhaps he just couldn't see a future worth living for, given the conditions in AZ prisons. Rape is routinely joked about by officers, while some of the most vulnerable, even mentally disabled men are being repeatedly pushed into harm's way on GP yards where they've been told by gangs they won't be welcome because they're gay, were witnesses to a crime, snitched on a co-defendant, just sat down with members of the wrong race at chow, or refused to do the gang's dirty work for them because they don't abide by their racialized politics or they just don't want to hurt anyone anymore. 

Given Miguel's conviction and sentence,  I'm sure the New Mexican Mafia (or whomever was leading his race in his pod) had a laundry list for him to do for them to prove his worth to them and his racial loyalty. If he said no and the DOC wouldn't put him into PC, he may have just figured he was better off dead. His only other option would be to do someone else harm to stay alive and be valued by the gang, and some men just won't compromise themselve that way, even though we think they have no values to begin with.

Some folks would say "good riddance" to this young man's suicide. I don't know - maybe he was another sociopath in whom there was no hope of cultivating compassion or social responsibility...they are the minority in prison, though - the real disturbed ones are "successful" CEO's destroying our planet and other people's lives quite freely. But I know a lot of lifers who have put their time to good use helping others inside, caring for the sick and dying, taking vulnerable prisoners under their protective wings to keep them from harm, and so on...and something about Miguel's confession of his crime suggests he felt remorse - not just fear of execution. 

Not every life behind bars is a waste, or has to be. We all choose every day what kind of person to be in whatever hell we dwell in. Some of us turn out to be better people, with time, not worse ones. So a life sentence doesn't have to mean a long slow tortuous death in prison, if you can give your life to helping others, who might come out of those places as whole human beings if they meet some compassion inside.

In any case, I hope Miguel's family finds a good lawyer who will investigate his death - don't leave it to the state to do so, and take what they tell you with some skepticism. A prisoner by the name of Pete Calleros was murdered by his own gang at ASPC-Tucson a few years back. It was made to look like a suicide, which the DOC discovered soon after cleaning it up but never told his family, nor did they seek prosecution even though they identified the most likely killers. The DOC can't be counted on to tell the truth.

Fortunately, Pete's mom didn't believe he would commit suicide, and had a second autopsy done which proved it. So whatever you do, please get an attorney and demand all his DOC records - as well as records from the hospital that last saw him, if they got him to one. Get tape recordings of CIU interviews, too. Then do your own investigation. Be sure your lawyers get his confidential 805 (protective custody) file, if he has one, as well as his medical/psych records. The 805 file would show if he was being threatened and was denied protection before he did himself in, all too common an occurence at ASPC-Florence.

And feel free to contact me as well, if you need some support getting through this. I hear from all sorts of survivors of prison violence these days, and can help you connect with other families similarly struggling.

Finally, if anyone else out there knows what happened to this young man, please let me know. my name is Peggy Plews. I'm at arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com or 480-580-6807.

ASPC-Florence Death in Custody: Javier Gonzalez, 23

23 year old Javier Gonzalez died this week of an apparent suicide while housed in maximum security at ASPC-Florence/Central. If anyone out there knows anything about this young man's life, death, or family, please contact me. The rate of despair and violence in the prisons is out of sight, and whether this was a suicide, homicide, or other wrongful death, chances are it could have been prevented. Under a different administration, it probably would have been...

contact: Peggy Plews at 480-580-6807 or arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com

AZ Death Row Deaths in Custody: Suicide of Milo Stanley, 50.

Arizona death row inmate is apparent suicide 

by Paul Davenport, Associated Press

azfamily.com

Posted on May 10, 2013 at 2:38 PM

Updated Friday, May 10 at 4:03 PM 

PHOENIX (AP) -- An Arizona death row inmate who murdered his wife and young daughter nearly 27 years ago died Friday in what the Department of Corrections called an apparent suicide.

The department said Milo Stanley, 50, was found hanging in his cell at a unit of the Eyman prison complex in Florence and that his death would be investigated by the department and medical examiners.

Stanley was convicted in Yavapai County of fatally shooting his wife, Susan, and 5-year-old daughter, Seleste, in 1986.

A Corrections Department description of Stanley's criminal history said he shot both victims in the head during an argument with his wife over his drinking.

He then dumped the victims' bodies on the side of a road in a remote area, returned to his Clarkdale home and put his 1-year-old son to bed and called police to report his wife and daughter missing but confessed the next day, the description said.

After a 2 1/2-week trial in 1987, Stanley was convicted and then sentenced 2 1/2 months later to death for killing his daughter and to life in prison for killing his wife.

A federal court docket indicated that Stanley had an appeal pending with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals regarding whether he received effective legal representation during sentencing.

Paula Harms, an assistant federal public defender listed as representing Stanley in the appeal, did not immediately return a call for comment.

In a separate matter, Stanley was among six Arizona death row inmates who were plaintiffs in federal litigation challenging Arizona's execution protocol as unconstitutional. In that now-ended case, federal courts upheld the protocol, but the state made some procedural changes sought by the inmates' attorneys.

The last suicide of an Arizona death row inmate took place on March 14, 2010, when James Adams, 46, was found hanging in his cell.

© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

ASPC Florence Deaths in Custody: Nelson Douglas Johnson III, 31

UPDATE July 4, 2012:  

Since originally placing the following post 24 hours ago, I've spoken to several members of Nelson's family. All have asked me to emphasize that the investigation into his death is still on-going; it hasn't yet been ruled a suicide, and they aren't inclined to believe that's what happened without more evidence than a press release. It's always hard to accept when a loved one takes their own life, but given the history of incompetence and cover-ups at the AZ Department of Corrections - I think some skepticism is always in order. 

Nelson's family will let us know when they've been given the state's official narrative of his death. If anyone has pictures, artwork, stories, etc about his life, please email and share them with me - I'd like to put more out there about him than just his criminal record and a mug shot. Here, for example, is some of Nelson's work from prison...

Nelson Douglas Johnson III:

2002 Award winner in Lowrider Mag

---------------July 3, 2010 (8:20am)---------------

I spent some time this morning trying to learn a little more about this fellows life than the AZ Department of Corrections wants to share with us. All I could draw from were his criminal records though, and some of what comes from them is just my inference...

Nelson Douglas Johnson had a history of having problems with the law dating back to adolescence. At the age of 17 he was charged as an adult for a hit-and-run accident that apparently resulted in someone's death...that's a hell of a thing to live with. Nelson pled guilty to an aggravated assault charge out of that case (eventually agreeing to a $2million restitution order), then picked up a separate weapons misconduct charge around the same time and went to prison young. 

I can't access the sentencing minutes, but by all appearances Nelson did at least eight or nine years in state prison - growing up there, basically - before being released in 2008. He was back in prison in 2010, pleading guilty to resisting arrest in exchange for having a number of burglary charges dropped. That was what he was doing time for when he killed himself this week, just two months short of freedom.

Nelson should have been paroled on September 7 of this year, which is troubling. Whenever I see guys do this I can't help but wonder if there was some more fearsome death they were trying to avoid by taking their own lives. As noted below, Nelson was at ASPC-Florence/Kasson - and according to his AZ DOC record, he had a number of disciplinary actions this past year for what appear to be "refusals to house" - which is usually what someone does when they're afraid they'll be hurt or killed on a GP yard, so they get a ticket and get sent to detention, Like Nelson did.

The only letters I get from Nelson's yard, by the way, are from guys who are begging for help getting protective custody. I hope his family hires an attorney to find out if he had been threatened and was seeking protection at the time he died - too many guys have done themselves in upon being told they were denied protection and would be returned to general population; the terror of what might happen to them there was too much to face. If there wasn't such a huge jump in the violence in our state prisons under Chuck Ryan, the protective segregation program wouldn't be so swamped with applicants right now.

Families, please tell your loved ones to hang on. If they're having trouble getting PS or if you fear they aren't getting the mental health treatment they need, have them write to me (PO Box 20494, PHX 85036). I can't promise to deliver anything, but I'll do what I can to help and encourage them through whatever they're facing in there. Let them know about the class action suit over the neglect and suicides, and that we're working on getting the feds in to assess the skyrocketing assault and homicide rates under Chuck Ryan - tell them that help is on the way, they just need to hold out and hang in there.

Finally, condolences to Nelson's family, who must be devastated. If I can be a support through this or you want to organize with other survivors to prevent this bloodshed from continuing, let me know. 

If anyone knows more about Nelson Johnson's life or death, I'd appreciate it if you'd contact me (arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com or 480-580-6807), so I can tell his story more completely. 

Art by Nelson Douglas Johnson III

featured in Lowrider Magazine (2001) 

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

Florence prison inmate kills himself in his cell

Bob Ortega - Arizona Republic

July 2, 2012

An inmate serving 21 months for resisting arrest was found dead from an apparent suicide in his cell Sunday at Arizona's Florence state prison, Arizona Department of Corrections officials said.

At the time of his death, Nelson Johnson, 31, was being held in maximum security in the prison's Kasson unit, which includes mental-health and disciplinary detention cells. Officials couldn't immediately confirm that Johnson was being held in isolation, but all the cells in Kasson are isolation cells.


Johnson is the fifth acknowledged suicide in the state prison system since Jan. 1. All but one of the suicides have been by inmates being held in isolation in maximum security at Florence or Eyman state prisons. There have been four other deaths since the beginning of March in which the department has not released a cause of death and that officials said remain under investigation.

Johnson had been imprisoned since May 11, 2011.

History of sexual harassment at the AZ DOC.

This goes out to all those AZ DOC corrections officers being subject to sexual harassment from colleagues and supervisors, as a reminder that it's been going on for awhile, that they have no excuse, and that you aren't alone. ASPC-Florence Warden Carson McWilliams, unfortunately, got a promotion since this came out - he's the Northern Regional Operations Director now, apparently. That tells us that you all have a fight ahead of you on this front - Chuck Ryan clearly approves of his way of handling sexual harassment cases.

So, officers: PLEASE file those EEOC complaints, whatever else you my do to address the harassment you endure. With the most recent case being settled, I think it's time the women in brown at the department of corrections team up and file a class action, too...

-------from the October 2010 AZ Republic----------

Arizona corrections officer awarded more than $600,000

JJ Hensley, AZ Republic
OCTOBER 30, 2010

Michelle Barfield was prepared for prisoners to harass her when she started her new job as an Arizona Department of Corrections officer at the maximum-security unit in Florence two years ago.

What Barfield did not count on was receiving worse treatment from her co-workers.

A federal jury found the treatment Barfield endured from a group of male co-workers, including vulgar comments about sexual acts and references to her interracial marriage, was unacceptable. The jury awarded her more than $600,000 in U.S. District Court last week.

The court ruling, in which a judge called the behavior of some officers "bestial," ended Barfield's two-year struggle with the Corrections Department. But her time with the state's prison agency is not over. She continues to work for the state agency, now in a different facility, and she hopes that sharing her story will prevent the situation from repeating itself.

Corrections Director Charles Ryan said the agency is taking harassment claims seriously and has implemented an additional training program for supervisors since Barfield's allegations came to light.

"I am disappointed in the reported behavior and the apparent failure by the previous administration to respond to the employee's complaints appropriately," Ryan wrote in a state- ment. "Such behavior will not be tolerated in the Arizona Department of Corrections under my watch."

Barfield said her allegations of harassment were ignored or minimized by supervisors at the prison in Florence, so she remains skeptical about the agency's commitment to dismantling the corrections officers' "boys clubs" that she said dominate some units around the state.

One of the officers accused of harassing Barfield was fired for "inappropriate conduct" and a supervisor received a written reprimand for not addressing Barfield's concerns sooner, but he remains a Corrections Department employee along with the other man involved.

Barfield claims the harassment began almost as soon as she started working in Florence's Central Unit in November 2008, with her co-workers making comments about her looks, her body and her motivations for working in a prison.

"They said, 'No girl wants to work here unless they want to (have sex with) an inmate or another officer,' " Barfield recalled in a recent interview.

At first, Barfield said, she told the other corrections officers not to speak to her that way. Then she tried ignoring it.

Her fellow officers told Barfield that their behavior - like handcuffing Barfield to an inmate's cell and tearing her rotator cuff in an unsolicited wrestling match - were part of an initiation into the unit.

As time went on without her co-workers changing their behavior, Barfield brought the situation to the attention of a commander.

The commander, Sgt. David Wall, initially encouraged her to not file a report "so it wouldn't become a (human-resources) issue," Barfield said.

Wall was later reprimanded by a deputy warden in Florence.

"If you had been more involved with your subordinates the inappropriate behavior would have been dealt with sooner or not happened at all," Deputy Warden Greg Fizer wrote to Wall.

One officer was fired, but the situation hardly improved. Other officers responded by not communicating with her, a danger in that work environment.

Word also got out in the prison yard of Barfield's interracial marriage. Soon, suspected members of a White supremacist prison gang began making remarks about her marriage.

Barfield's attorney wrote a letter to Attorney General Terry Goddard, warning him that the state's unresponsiveness was putting Barfield in a dangerous situation.

While Barfield's treatment at work improved with her transfer to another complex, the apparent indifference the Florence warden maintained on the stand during Barfield's trial left her wondering whether the state's prison system is serious about addressing sexual harassment.

During the trial, Barfield's attorney, Stephen Montoya, questioned Warden Carson McWilliams and went into detail about statements other officers made to Barfield. The statements included explicit comments from other officers wanting to subject her to sexual acts.

McWilliams said the statements were certainly inappropriate. But he maintained that they stopped short of harassment because there were no "other factors" involved, such as a supervisor making those statements to a subordinate.

"One of the things we certainly teach our staff to do and train our staff to do is speak up when those things happen, and we will deal with them," McWilliams testified. "That's part of what led to this, is the facts about speaking up and speaking up immediately to do things."

Barfield and her attorney say her attempts to speak up were ignored and there was little or no immediacy in the department's response to her complaints.

U.S. District Judge Frederick Martone agreed, writing that the state's response "goes far beyond negligence."

"I mean, it's almost worse that they didn't know what kinds of conditions were prevailing in Cell Block 4 than if they did know and didn't do anything," Martone wrote. "It's just scandalous."

ASPC-Florence Death in Custody: Karot Phothong, 37.

Condolences to this man's family. Please contact the ACLU of Arizona about your loved one's death; they are filing a class action suit against the state for medical and psychiatric neglect of prisoners. One big concern has been the doubling of the suicide rate under the current administration. Violence has skyrocketed as well. 

Feel free to contact me anytime if you wish to organize with other families who have had similar experiences with the Arizona Department of Corrections, or if you wish to share more of Karot's story. 

Finally, suicide can be a devastating thing to survive, whatever the circumstances surrounding it. You might want to check out Survivors of Suicide, Tucson  for support coping with your loss. For more information about them, contact the executive director, Tyler Woods at 520-861-663.

Take care,

Peggy Plews 

(arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com / 480-580-6807).

Karot Phothong 

 -----------------------------

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 more information contact: Bill Lamoreaux
blamorea@azcorrections.gov

January 31, 2012

Inmate Death Notification

Florence, Az. – Inmate Karot Phothong, 37, ADC #98842, was found unresponsive in his housing unit Saturday. He was pronounced dead from a possible suicide after medical responders attempted life saving measures.

Phothong, sentenced out of Pima County, was serving 12 years for aggravated assault. He came to ADC Sept. 9, 2005 and was held at the Central Unit, ASPC-Florence.

The death is under investigation by the department.

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

Deaths in Custody: Joshua Haynes

Another death under investigation -

Condolences to Joshua's loved ones.

To the rest of you guys inside: please hang in there and look out for each other...I'm sure that help is on the way, I just don't know who it will be or how they'll help, but you need to outlive your sentences, in the meantime, if you can. This fellow was only doing six years (which seems a lot for burglary...)

I'll post an update on the cause of death once I get it. If anyone knows this prisoner and can fill in the blanks so we can know him better - and find out what really happened to him - please feel free to contact me at 480-580-6807 or prisonabolitionist@gmail.com

- Peggy Plews





























UPDATE (9/28/2011): Joshua's obituary came in today from a reader. Our condolences, again, to his loved ones.


Joshua Michael Haynes

Phoenix, AZ - Joshua Michael Haynes, 38, formerly of Springfield, lost his battle with cancer on August 25, 2011...
A celebration of Josh's life is planned for a future date.

ADC officer arrested for child sexual abuse.

More on the good character of people in uniform sworn to protect us, working the "hardest beat in the state". If you think the women at Perryville prison in Goodyear aren't also vulnerable to abuse and exploitation by the people with the keys to their chains, think again. As is the case with minors, there is no such thing as consensual sex with a prisoner...

Please: AZ Legislature, DOJ, ACLU, someone get an investigation going out there.

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

Corrections officer arrested in Mesa, suspected of sex with minor

by Alex Ferri - Aug. 22, 2011 04:07 PM
The Arizona Republic

Mesa police arrested a Department of Corrections officer and his brother on suspicion of having sex with two girls aged 15 and 16 on three separate occasions.

Officers arrested Corrections Officer Leon Scott, 34, at 9:20 p.m. Friday. His 24-year-old, unemployed brother, Anthony Kniffin, was taken into custody at 2:30 a.m. Saturday.

Both men were identified by the victims, and each confessed to having sexual conduct with them, according to a police report. Scott has been employed as a corrections officer at Arizona State Prison in Florence, according to Department of Corrections Spokesman Barrett Marson.

Scott and Kniffin both confessed that three separate sexual encounters with the girls took place in June and July, according to a report.

Both men admitted knowing the girls were underage, but said they did not believe the girls when they initially told them their ages. Police documents indicated both men were present during the discussion of one of the victims' planned sweet 16 party.

All three of the encounters reportedly took place in the men's apartment, police reported. The victims' mother had previously had a brief relationship with Kniffin's brother, police said.

According to Sgt. Ed Wessing, spokesman for Mesa Police, the mother of one of the victims learned of the sexual conduct through a post on her daughter's Facebook profile.

Deaths in Custody: Michael Tovar, 20. ASPC-Florence/Central

UPDATE: Weds 4/20/2011 5:45pm


I heard from Michael's family this afternoon - my heart goes out to them. Michael's suicide is a mystery, baffling even his mom. I spent the day with Dana Seawright's and Tony Lester's loved ones - all of whom send their best to Michael's people.

To the best of his mom's and brother's knowledge, Michael didn't have a history of suicidal behavior, nor was he previously diagnosed with a mental illness. He wasn't in trouble with any gangs, and seemed to have adjusted to prison. Michael had trouble with the other guys when he first got there - everyone has to show their court papers to prove they aren't a snitch or a child molester right away, or they draw suspicion. But his bro cleared that up for him, and he was doing alright, as far as he knew.

So, as is so often the case, this totally blindsided his family. Perhaps it came as a surprise to the ADC as well. For now, though, they just need to grieve; an attorney will make sure to get to the bottom of what happened to Michael for them, once the ADC's criminal investigation is complete.

Whatever other folks out there can do to keep pressure on the Department of Justice to open a CRIPA investigation into these AZ prison suicides and homicides would still be greatly appreciated. Let them know you're a concerned citizen, or have family in AZ state prisons, or whatever your standpoint is, in relation to the prisons. Point out there appears to be "patterns and practices" at the ADC that have increased the suicide and homicide rates, beginning in January 2009, from previous years. Use examples - search Google "deaths in custody" with "Arizona Department of Corrections" - tell them what you're seeing going on here (they hit the same stuff when they look). The point is to make it clear that the word is already out in the community about these deaths, and we want to know when they're going to get on the ball and help the ADC fix whatever problems they're having right now.

I want more for my tax dollars out of the ADC, though frankly - I want these kids coming home safe, and to be better prepared to move on with their lives than they were the day they walked into prison - not more likely than ever to return. We must first keep them alive, though...for $20,000/year, we should be able to do at least that much.


Send your "CRIPA Arizona" requests to:

Johnathan M. Smith, Chief
US Department of Justice - Civil Rights Division
Special Litigation Section
950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Patrick Henry Building
Washington DC, 20530

Please also help us get the AZ House Health and Human Services Committee to open an investigation into the mental health and medical care - and the suicide and homicide rates - at the AZ Department of Corrections. We want testimony to be entered into the public record from prisoners and family members alike. We want transparency, and accounting of how all mental health resources are being distributed among the 25% of their prisoners with a diagnosed mental illness. We want oversight into both the public and private prisons.

You can add your own demands to that list, and write to the HHSC Chair, Cecil Ash (personal snail mail letters are best) at:

Rep. Cecil Ash
AZ House of Representatives
1700 W. Washington St.
Phoenix, AZ 85007
(602) 926-3160

If you are a prisoner or family member, all the better - you can give first-hand information.

Finally, here's the national suicide hotline, for folks who have a rough time with this kind of thing: everyone should be on the alert for another suicide in the coming days and weeks, too - keep a close eye on your friends, if they're troubled - suicide can be contagious...hopefully the prisoners most affected by this young man's act will be given the support they need coping with it, without having to fill out an HNR and come up with the medical co-pay. Unfortunately, I don't think state prisoners can dial out to toll-free hotlines - though it wouldn't be a bad idea to set something like that up for them.

If you're on the outside, though, 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:

National Suicide Hotline:

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

---now here's today's original post on Michael's suicide----

The AZ Department of Corrections announced today that this young prisoner from ASPC-Florence/Central killed himself yesterday morning, April 19. He was doing time for burglary - six years for a "non-repetitive, non-dangerous" property crime - why are we doing that to our troubled youth? He got more for that than for an attempted aggravated assault charge. I suspect I'll get more details on what happened to him in the next few days.

Michael Tovar
August 11, 1990 - April 19, 2011.
ASPC-Central/Florence

Our condolences go out to Michael's family. Please get in touch with me if there's anything I can do to help you though the process of dealing with this - you don't have to go through this alone. I can at least help you connect with other families surviving the same kind of trauma. They are the families of Susan Lopez, Dana Seawright, and Tony Lester - and they all know good attorneys, sad to say... They're also mad as hell and getting organized to take the state on in court. There's a resource page we just started here, with a memorial gallery of victims in custody linking to articles about prison deaths in the past two years:

http://azprisonsurvivors.blogspot.com


Click on Duron Cunningham and Tony Lester's portraits, at the bottom of that site.

Duron was at Florence/Central, waiting for a decision on protective segregation, when he killed himself in September - after being raped and beaten on separate occasions. He was terrified that what was coming next for him would be worse than death.

Tony Lester apparently killed himself, too - he was at ASPC-Tucson/Manzanita and cut his throat after being told he didn't belong on the yard by members of the Native American gang.

What happened to Michael didn't happen in isolation. I suspect he was seeking Protective Segregation, since he was at Florence/Central - that's what all my mail from there is about: guys fearing for their lives because of the gangs they defied or otherwise crossed. Most of the folks I see get hit were killed for refusing to hurt or kill someone else the gang wants taken care of - you don't see a bunch of inter-racial murders (they're all segregated by race in their housing, too.) It's actually the decent folks who get targeted, not the real creeps, most of the time.

With your permission, I'd like to add Michael's photo there, too, and tell people more of his story - as you know it, not as the Department of Corrections tells it. He was more than just a criminal; pretty much everyone is. That's the part about him I most want to know.

My name is Peggy: I'm just a human rights activist and blogger. I've been tracking and reporting civil rights violations the AZ state prisons for the past two years; your attorney needs to know what I know.

My door is open to you any time. My office is at 1009 N. 1st St., Phoenix, AZ 85004. My email is prisonabolitionist@gmail.com. Call me at 480-580-6807. I don't charge any fees.

The suicide and homicide rates doubled after Brewer took over the budget and Chuck Ryan took over the prisons. There have been far too many of these kinds of prison deaths lately, so survivors have also been organizing to push for AZ Legislative hearings, to get testimony from both prisoners and their families about the conditions of confinement, medical neglect, and the increasing level of violence and victimization over the course of the past 2 years on the record, and hold our legislators responsible for taking some kind of corrective action.

Also, on May 1st, at Margaret T. Hance Park in Phoenix, some of those survivors of AZ prisons will be gathering for the May Day Workers' Rights Rally, at about 1:30. That's by the Main Public Library, off of Central. The coalition of human rights groups organizing it agreed that we won't get far in the worker's liberation struggle if we don't deal with the prisons - the most urgent matter being to bring down the level of violence, neglect, and suicide. We'd love to have you join us. (Look for the blonde in the black hat and bandanna - I look like something of an outlaw...)


To all the other AZ prisoners:

I believe that when we survive hell with any kind of voice intact, we need to raise it so the others can find their way through, too. So please don't bail on us, or return to a life of crime - come join the Revolution, instead. Raise your voice in protest, or help someone in worse circumstances resist.

Fight the battles really worth taking a stand on through the grievance process -and write to me, if you're struggling to do so, or have exhausted all you administrative remedies already. We'll help you work through the process of defending your rights.

If you have family out here, have them contact me too - they're your best allies - we need their help.

MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL, THOUGH:

PLEASE LOOK OUT FOR EACH OTHER IN THERE.

DON'T LEAVE A DESPAIRING BROTHER OR SISTER ALONE,

OR WAIT FOR THE PRISON TO HELP THEM THROUGH IT.

SPREAD THE WORD: HELP IS ALREADY HERE.

IT'S NOT JUST ME - IT'S EACH ONE OF YOU, TOO.

YOU'RE REALLY THE ONLY FOLKS

WHO ARE GOING TO HEAR THEM, IT APPEARS.

TAKE CARE,

Peggy Plews
Arizona Prison Watch
PO Box 20494
Phoenix, AZ 85036

Prison suicide and gangs at Florence Central.

UPDATED 3/25/2011


This is the second suicide out of ASPC-Florence Central in one week: Word there is that Rosario, the new prisoner who hung himself last Friday, had just been turned down for protective custody that day. I know of another kid who tried to do himself in to avoid going back into general population. I think the gangs are getting some mileage out of Shannon Palmer's murder.

Our condolences to Duron's mom, Saundra Cunningham, and the rest of his family. By their report, he has a history of depression, and had been both sexually and physically assaulted since being incarcerated just a few months earlier; they think he was seeking protective custody at the time that he killed himself. The discovery process for the lawsuit they file should tell us a lot about how the ADC really deals with prison rape, and if they actually counsel affected prisoners after the suicide of a peer (they provide the COs with critical incident debriefing by a specially-trained team).


If any of you haven't written to the Department of Justice by now, this would be a good time. We're up to 17 dead in 15 months now; that should be enough to get them started. Just print this up, write CRIPA across the top, and mail it. Be sure to emphasize your concern that you see a "pattern and practice of neglect" of prisoners' mental health needs. Their address is:

Jonathan M. Smith, Chief
US DOJ _ Special Litigation Section
950 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Patrick Henry Building
Washington DC, 20530

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ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
1601 W. JEFFERSON
PHOENIX, ARIZONA 85007
(602) 542-3133
JANICE K. BREWER, GOVERNOR
CHARLES L. RYAN, DIRECTOR

NEWS RELEASE For Immediate Release

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

Sept. 30, 2010
Inmate Death Notification

Florence, Az- Inmate Duron Cunningham, ADC#245305, died while in Arizona Department of Corrections custody Thursday after apparently committing suicide.

Cunningham, 40, came to ADC on Aug. 17, 2009, after convictions from Maricopa County for dangerous drug violation and kidnapping. He was serving five years and housed at the Central Unit of ASPC-Florence.

The death is under investigation by the Department.

Deaths in Custody: Rosario Rodriguez-Bojorquez, 29

UPDATE: I  received a letter a couple of weeks after this suicide from a guy in the same cell block as Rosario, who saw his body get carted out when he died. He said Rosario had just been told that his application for protective custody was denied before he hung himself. The ADC doesn't routinely debrief traumatized prisoners after someone is murdered or kills themselves inside, so it's no surprise that another prisoner at ASPC-FLorence who was seeking protection - Duron Cunningham - hung himself a week later.

If Rosario's family is out there and needing any support or assistance at all, please contact me. I'm no mental health professional or lawyer, but I will do whatever I can to help the survivors of prison violence, neglect and suicide. My name is Peggy Plews, my number is 480-580-6807, and my email address is prisonabolitionist@gmail.com.

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

ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

1601 W. JEFFERSON PHOENIX, ARIZONA 85007
(602) 542-3133

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

NEWS RELEASE For Immediate Release

For more information contact:

Barrett Marson
www.bmarson@azcorrections.gov

Bill Lamoreaux
www.blamorea@azcorrections.gov
Sept. 27, 2010


Inmate Death Notification

Florence, Az- Inmate Rosario Rodriguez-Bojorquez, ADC#256497, died while in Arizona Department of Corrections custody Friday after apparently committing suicide.

Rodriguez-Bojorquez, 29, came to ADC on Sept. 3, after a conviction from Maricopa County for aggravated assault, kidnapping and 1st degree burglary. He was serving 12 years and housed at the Central Unit of ASPC-Florence.

The death is under investigation by the Department.