USP LEWISBURG: ALLEGED INMATE ABUSE

This article has been copied from The Daily Item. I’m posting this because my son has been transferred into the SMU there, and I am concerned for his welfare!

Article by Marcia Moore

• Nov 29, 2016

• Amanda August/The Daily Item

An entrance to the U.S. Federal Penitentiary at Lewisburg is shown in this October 2013 file photo.

Nearly 40 civil and human rights, mental health and religious organizations are calling for a federal investigation into alleged inmate abuse at the U.S. Penitentiary at Lewisburg.

A letter delivered Monday to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch petitioning her to request the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General launch an investigation into the Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) practices at Lewisburg, including housing inmates in double cells for 23 hours a day, the alleged prolonged use of hard restraints and lack of mental health treatment, was sent by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.

Describing “harrowing allegations of abuse and torture” the letter was endorsed by 37 organizations, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Southern Poverty Center, American Civil Liberties Association and National Council of Churches.

“Prolonged isolated confinement has been defined as torture by the United Nations and is widely opposed by medical and mental health professionals and leading corrections officials,” said the Rev. Laura Markle Downton, director of U.S. Prisons Policy and Program at the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. “With bipartisan momentum building at the state-level for humane alternatives to restrictive housing, reported conditions at USP Lewisburg call for swift intervention and accountability.”

Prison officials have said all complaints are taken seriously and steps have been taken to ensure the safety of all1,000 inmates housed in the SMU, prison staff and the public.

A joint National Public Radio and Marshall Project report in October on alleged abuse of inmates inside the Special Management Unit (SMU) at U.S. Penitentiary at Lewisburg, which included allegations reported by The Daily Item for years since the SMU was established at the facility in 2009 to hold the most dangerous or difficult to manage inmates in the country, prompted the call for an investigation.

At least four inmates have been killed by cellmates in seven years, pushing the rate of assault at Lewisburg six times higher than federal prisons nationwide.

Several lawsuits filed by Lewisburg inmates are pending against the BOP including a suit filed by Sebastian Richard who claims he was left in restraints for 28 days in 2011 when he refused to accept a cellmate he feared.

“By any measure, this is a facility in crisis that requires greater oversight, transparency and accountability to ensure humane and lawful conditions of confinement,” the letter to Lynch said.

Dave Sprout, paralegal with the inmate advocacy group, the Lewisburg Prison Project, has been calling for an independent investigation into alleged mistreatment of inmates at the facility for years. He hopes national attention will spur action.

“We hope that the Justice Department (and) Congress will look into the inhumane conditions that have persisted at USP Lewisburg’s SMU since 2009,” he said. BOP staff and administration should be held accountable for any violations of BOP policy, for any violations of the constitution and any possibly criminal conduct. We do not believe the BOP will investigate their own so either the Attorney General or Congress needs to investigate the practices that have been ongoing at USP Lewisburg.”

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HEAT IN OUR PRISONS

This excerpt is taken from Sonni’s blog,  My Name is Jamie. My Life in Prison

Because of the time of the year, heat is affecting many people.  It is easy for some people to say inmates don’t matter. It is their own fault they are in prison. But we know there are many people in prison who shouldn’t be there, and at the very least shouldn’t have prison sentences that last nearly their entire lives. But since prisons are for profit, the longer they are there, the richer some corporations get. Who cares if inmates are “uncomfortable.” But it is more than just being uncomfortable. Heat kills. In the prisons, medical care is already done on the cheap.  If they can get away with not treating the inmates illnesses, who is going to stop them? When you try to stop any corporation from making money, they use that money to buy the right people who will allow them to continue their dirty games. How can we stop that? You will find a link further down the newsletter to a petition that was started at www.change.org. Prisons need cooler air that is tolerable to breathe. Inmates shouldn’t die from the heat inside their cells.  In addition, prison guards shouldn’t have to work in those conditions, either. They work there because the small towns that most prisons are located in, provide needed jobs. Would anyone tolerate  up to 120 degrees and low pay unless they had to? High heat adds up to shortened tempers and violence in prisons and in the workplace, especially when you can’t get out of it. I hope you take the time to go to the link, read the article, sign your name and share it with as many people as possible. Make a good cause.  Do the right thing. Sometimes we wish there was something we could do to help but don’t know what to do. There has been so much in the media this past year as both Republicans and Democrats blame each other for the prison system being so out of control. It is everyone’s fault.  No one calculated what the costs were going to be if we continued to lock up people with the same diligence year after year.  Now it takes more money than we ever dreamed of to keep these people locked up. The people don’t want to pay for the inmates care, but the Prison Industrial Complex has signed twenty year contracts with state governments being promised them the prisons will be kept full, in exchange for the corporations footing the bill for the food, care and educations they promised the inmates but don’t deliver with any decency.  Who loses the most?  The people who don’t belong there.  There will always be bad guys to lock up, but we locked up too many in our zest called the War on Drugs, the War on Crime and the War of Terror. None of these so-called wars worked, but it sure did make certain corporations a crapload of money. We ruined people’s lives, and caused the mess our country is in right now. We have no one but ourselves to blame. Now these people in prison need medical care we don’t want to give them, decent food to stay healthy and help ward off diseases like diabetes and heart disease, or give them education and training. Especially the ones they keep in G5, AdSeg or solitary confinement so they can support themselves and their families when they get out, because x-felons are not eligible for SNAP or section 8 housing. Jamie used to have a GED book he studied just in case someday he could take the test, but recently the property manager at  the prison he was moved to took (stole) it from him, along with 19 other books.  Why would she take his GED book? What was her motive? Now he needs a new one. Inmates are punished and have cases written up against them if they are caught sharing their books with other inmates who don’t have anyone to send them books. Over all, who is going to pay to help the inmates?  Why, the American people, of course. We are supposed to be the good guys. The corporations that caused this won’t fix it and we can’t make them. We, the people, have paid for all of their greedy mistakes so far, haven’t we, because the people swallowed, hook, line and sinker, all of the propaganda mainstream media could pump out. People were told that black people have a crime gene that makes them prone to commit crimes.- and you believed it. Black people do more drugs than white people – and you believed it. Black people are not as intelligent and only want government handouts. (like White people don’t) On and on until people even believed they were a more privileged race of people, even though it has all been proven false.  But they say all they have to do to believe the lies was to see how many black people are locked up. Disclaimer – I know all white people don’t fall into this kind of thinking. There are good and bad of every race. Race does not determine if you are a good or bad no matter what anyone thinks. There needs to be change at our prisons.  Everyone needs to help.  It affects all of us. We need to change the laws.  We need to care about each other.  This crap with racism has to stop and we need to stop blaming each other about who is more responsible than the other. Change is slow, but it can happen.  Please be part of that change.