Election at the Prison

This past week, the prison population held elections for the “IRG” – the “Inmate Representative Group.” Each building elects a representative to discuss policies and procedures with the administration. The IRG then chooses a chair who argues on behalf of the group during discussions with the warden. For almost four years, I had successfully avoided any involvement with IRG. I found it cliquish and its suggestions not well thought out or relevant to life behind the fence. Frankly, I didn’t care that the IRG argued for “Texas Beef” ramen noodles versus “Cajun Chicken.”

            

Then a funny thing happened the other night. A group of the Muslim guys in the building brought up the IRG elections at the evening meal breaking the Ramadan fast. One of the Muslims spoke up and urged his Sunni brothers to “pay attention to the teachings” in the Koran which specifically calls on Muslims to support those who are “just” and have “wisdom.”

            

Unknown to me, this Muslim inmate gave my name to the building counselor as a candidate for our building’s IRG rep. Less than five minutes after ballots were collected I was called in the counselor’s office. “Are you willing to serve?” she asked. I had apparently won in a landslide. Two days later, the newly constituted IRG met and I was elected chair. (I told the reps in attendance I preferred the treasurer position which drew a loud laugh).

            

So what does it mean? Inmates are not allowed to organize.  DOC policy expressly forbids inmates from acting in concert. There can be no organized work stoppages, or protests, or even petitions. Ironically, it happens quite regularly. In California, over 12,000 high custody inmates went on a hunger strike a few months ago to draw attention to the fact that the state had ignored the orders of the United States Supreme Court – to release 30,000 plus inmates by year-end due to the shameful, unconstitutional conditions in the California prison system.

            

In Georgia, thousands of inmates participated in a work stoppage to call attention to that state’s slave-like treatment of its inmate workforce. In both cases, change occurred. But, not without inmate organizers being placed in solitary.

            

Candidly, there will be no such action at a place like this. With few exceptions – those rare inmates here who carry life sentences with the release date: “12/28/9999” – prisoners here are relatively short on their time. No one is willing to consider the moral imperatives that go along with incarceration.

           

Even more bluntly, the notion of loyalty, of standing together, standing for principle is in even shorter supply. Character is a rare commodity in a place like this. It’s usually, “What can I get?”

            

But there are things that can be done. You won’t ever drive the hustles and scams out of prison. You won’t ever convince the vast majority of those held behind bars that they are being treated fairly. You won’t convince a majority of those here to change and re-enter society as law abiding citizens because they are repeatedly lied to by staff here and programs are long on words and short on effect.

            

I had always thought I would avoid inmate governance because it didn’t amount to anything. Then, my Muslim friend told me just by speaking to the warden, and the chief of security maybe small things could change. Maybe the toxic atmosphere that pervades prison life could lesson just a bit. I told him I’d do my best.

            

I’m not sure if I’m as just or wise as the Muslim community here thinks. But, I know this is no way to run a prison. The current system does nothing but waste lives. It’s not even punishment really. The punishment is in your mind as you contemplate all you’ve lost. Trouble is, when you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing left to lose.

Election at the Prison

This past week, the prison population held elections for the “IRG” – the “Inmate Representative Group.” Each building elects a representative to discuss policies and procedures with the administration. The IRG then chooses a chair who argues on behalf of the group during discussions with the warden. For almost four years, I had successfully avoided any involvement with IRG. I found it cliquish and its suggestions not well thought out or relevant to life behind the fence. Frankly, I didn’t care that the IRG argued for “Texas Beef” ramen noodles versus “Cajun Chicken.”

            

Then a funny thing happened the other night. A group of the Muslim guys in the building brought up the IRG elections at the evening meal breaking the Ramadan fast. One of the Muslims spoke up and urged his Sunni brothers to “pay attention to the teachings” in the Koran which specifically calls on Muslims to support those who are “just” and have “wisdom.”

            

Unknown to me, this Muslim inmate gave my name to the building counselor as a candidate for our building’s IRG rep. Less than five minutes after ballots were collected I was called in the counselor’s office. “Are you willing to serve?” she asked. I had apparently won in a landslide. Two days later, the newly constituted IRG met and I was elected chair. (I told the reps in attendance I preferred the treasurer position which drew a loud laugh).

            

So what does it mean? Inmates are not allowed to organize.  DOC policy expressly forbids inmates from acting in concert. There can be no organized work stoppages, or protests, or even petitions. Ironically, it happens quite regularly. In California, over 12,000 high custody inmates went on a hunger strike a few months ago to draw attention to the fact that the state had ignored the orders of the United States Supreme Court – to release 30,000 plus inmates by year-end due to the shameful, unconstitutional conditions in the California prison system.

            

In Georgia, thousands of inmates participated in a work stoppage to call attention to that state’s slave-like treatment of its inmate workforce. In both cases, change occurred. But, not without inmate organizers being placed in solitary.

            

Candidly, there will be no such action at a place like this. With few exceptions – those rare inmates here who carry life sentences with the release date: “12/28/9999” – prisoners here are relatively short on their time. No one is willing to consider the moral imperatives that go along with incarceration.

           

Even more bluntly, the notion of loyalty, of standing together, standing for principle is in even shorter supply. Character is a rare commodity in a place like this. It’s usually, “What can I get?”

            

But there are things that can be done. You won’t ever drive the hustles and scams out of prison. You won’t ever convince the vast majority of those held behind bars that they are being treated fairly. You won’t convince a majority of those here to change and re-enter society as law abiding citizens because they are repeatedly lied to by staff here and programs are long on words and short on effect.

            

I had always thought I would avoid inmate governance because it didn’t amount to anything. Then, my Muslim friend told me just by speaking to the warden, and the chief of security maybe small things could change. Maybe the toxic atmosphere that pervades prison life could lesson just a bit. I told him I’d do my best.

            

I’m not sure if I’m as just or wise as the Muslim community here thinks. But, I know this is no way to run a prison. The current system does nothing but waste lives. It’s not even punishment really. The punishment is in your mind as you contemplate all you’ve lost. Trouble is, when you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing left to lose.

Prison Stories

A couple of recent newspaper and magazine pieces about the current state of “corrections” around the country jumped out at me. I recently read “Chicken Soup for the Prisoner’s Soul” and was deeply moved by so many of the stories represented there. But, I found the following cautionary quote each of us must consider when we approve of the status quo with incarceration:



“Does society understand what they create in the men they wear down by time? The whole concept of punishment seems to teach offenders how to effectively not be part of society, the unmaking of a man.”


Prisons do more to perpetuate crime than they do to rehabilitate. Money is spent on housing and holding instead of educating and rehabilitating.


Ohio recently began exploring an overhaul of its criminal justice system. As the Columbus Dispatch recently reported, Ohio’s 1996 enactment of “Truth in Sentencing Law” led to an exponential growth in the number of inmates and the cost to hold them. Ohio is now 33% over capacity and unable to sustain current prison funding requirements. In 2008, 10,000 convicted felons went to prison in Ohio on property and drug offenses at a cost of $189 million. “Few received rehabilitative treatment while in prison.” As the chief sponsor of a bill calling for sentence reform, Republican Bill Seitz said:


“You can’t fit 10 pounds in a 5 pound bag. That’s what we’ve been trying to do in Ohio. The time for talk is over. No more sticking our heads in the sand.”


Supporters of the change are as varied as Conservative Republican John Kasich and the ACLU.


Virginia, at 164% capacity according to DOC’s own spokesman (here’s a hint: if DOC finally admits to a capacity problem, it is probably higher than what they’ve admitted), has the same “Truth in Sentencing Law” as Ohio. Where is Virginia’s courageous conservative Republican Governor on this? Governor McDonnell talks a great deal about his faith. Perhaps now is the time for him to put his faith in action.


The San Francisco Chronicle reported that California, in a move to close its $60 billion budget deficit, slashed rehabilitation programs for prisoners. The budget cuts included planned layoffs of 850 academic and vocational instructors in the prison system. At the same time, California continues to violate a court mandated release of inmates from its prisons due to the unconstitutional conditions inmates have been living under.


And, in another case involving California’s Corrections Department, it was reported corrections officers are the primary conduit for up to 10,000 cell phones finding their way into inmates’ hands. Even Charles Manson has had two cell phones in the last four years.


So, the people employed to watch the “criminals” are themselves lawbreakers, being paid up to $1000 by inmates for a phone. One officer made $150,000 in cash in one year transporting phones into the prison. His punishment? He was terminated from employment. California does not prosecute guards who bring phones in for a fee.


It was reported Governor McDonnell and the Virginia General Assembly failed to properly fund regional jails (coincidentally, it is by using the regional jails that DOC keeps 3800 inmates housed rather than further taxing its already overcrowded prisons by moving them to DOC facilities).


McDonnell assured Sheriffs who are facing staff layoffs themselves that the shortfall will be addressed. Governor McDonnell, in the words of the Ohio Representative, “you can’t fit 10 pounds in a 5 pound bag.”


And finally, Mike Vick visited a Florida prison the other day with his mentor, Tony Dungy, to speak with the inmates. While there he said one of the most profound things I’ve ever read:


“If I was standing outside a prison two years ago with what I know now, and you gave me the choice of going in and changing my life or staying out and continuing to live the life I was living, I’d go in…I needed the change. God gave me a timeout.”


I thought about Mike Vick’s words a great deal. Sometimes we don’t realize how blessed we are in our trials. It’s something I have to remind myself of every day. I’m not sure where I’d be right now if God hadn’t given me a timeout. The losses I’ve sustained have, at times, been unbearable. But learning to live righteously in this environment has been worth it. Mike Vick was right.

At Least This Isn't California

About a week ago, a riot broke out at California’s Folsom Prison (think “the Man in Black”, Johnny Cash) on a handball court. When it was over about 250 inmates were injured or charged with fighting. California has 155,000 men and women incarcerated in a system only built to house half that many. They are currently operating under a Federal Court order to release 40,000 inmates in the next 18 months to reduce their inmate population to 137% of bed capacity [Note: the inmate lawsuit over this issue took the Federal Courts 10 years to finally order the mass release. For eight years California operated under a consent order to either release or build more prisons. Oh yeah, they have a $19 billion budget shortfall so they can’t afford to build any new prisons.]



Things are so bad with California prison medical care that “Governor Aahnold” agreed by consent order to spend $150 million immediately to improve medical care for inmates when faced with “an alarmingly high rate of deaths of inmates due to poor care and suicide”.


At least Virginia doesn’t have the problems California has. Really? Last Friday, August 27th, one inmate was stabbed to death and three others seriously injured at the level 4 Nottoway Correction Center.


At Greensville, a massive 3,000 inmate prison holding level 2 and 3 inmates, since January two inmates have been murdered and one committed suicide. And, at Red Onion prison – the Commonwealth’s Super Max facility – two inmates have been murdered – by the same inmate.


But forget that. After all, those guys are felons. They deserve what happens to them (I wonder how many people dare say that while they’re sitting in their church pews on Sunday morning). Instead, think about the cost.


According to Virginia’s State Government website, there are approximately 38,900 inmates serving time in Virginia’s prisons. That does not include another 5,000 with DOC numbers awaiting transfer to a DOC facility who are sitting in regional jails, overcrowding them. The DOC website announces “fortunately, we don’t yet have an overcrowding problem”.


I guess it depends on how you define “overcrowding”. Having bunks sitting in fire lanes must not meet DOC’s definition of overcrowding. Having 200 inmates being watched by two officers must not meet their definition either. And, I guess being so understaffed that COs at Nottoway couldn’t search for “shanks” isn’t overcrowding, at least according to DOC’s spokesman, Larry Traylor.


Still not convinced, consider the other costs. As former Lt. Governor (and now head of Prison Ministries) Mark Earley recently said: “Virginia spends more than $1.1 billion annually on its prisons”. That’s more than is spent on education or healthcare in the Commonwealth.


Then there are the legal costs. In between filing lawsuits challenging the new federal health care plan, or going after a University of Virginia Professor who conducts research on global warming for fraud, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is responsible for defending DOC in a myriad of cases.


Each year, inmates file thousands of Habeas Corpus petitions in an attempt to get their sentences reviewed. Each case requires an Assistant Attorney General (and support staff) to defend the legitimacy of the incarceration.


Each year thousands of other suits are filed by inmates over violations of constitutional rights, such as religious freedom. Injured inmates or inmates denied adequate medical care sue.


Then, there are the major lawsuits brought by or on behalf of inmates. Currently, Troutman Sanders (a major Richmond law firm) is providing counsel to eleven inmates who have been denied parole (guys locked up pre-1994 are still parole eligible).


The National Lawyer’s Guild filed suit against DOC for refusing to allow inmates to order a legal self-help book. Prison Legal News filed a similar lawsuit over censorships of their paper, a monthly compilation of cases around the country involving inmates and prisons.


On September 2nd, U.S. District Court Judge James Turk, sitting in Roanoke, found “laughable” the Attorney General’s argument in an inmate censorship suit. In that case, the inmate sued because Augusta Correction Center refused him access, under Operating Procedure 803.2, to literary classics such as James Joyce’s Ulysses, DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Nabokov’s Lolita (all three books appear on various “100 Must Read Books”). The reason for denying access to these books according to the Attorney General? Inmates read these books for the sex scenes depicted in them, then “barter” the books for goods and services.


The Judge – not a bleeding heart, a no-nonsense conservative – found the policy unconstitutional censorship. DOC has dozens of rules that are selectively enforced and/or vague and nonsensical that lead to litigation. Imagine the dollars Virginia taxpayers spend just on legal costs alone. Add that to the $1.1 billion annual budget and you start talking about “real money”.


In this case, Virginia DOC is well on the road to copying its neighbor to the west. Soon Virginians will be able to paraphrase President Kennedy’s famous words. When it comes to prisons, Virginians can say: “Ich bin ein Californian”.

Dr. Doolittle

Don’t get sick in prison. You learn that the moment you get locked up. Two weeks after my arrest, routine blood work was done. A short while later I was called back down to the medical unit and greeted by these words “you have leukemia”. Fortunately, the moronic doctor had misread the results. After six more tubes, he “discovered” his error.



Virginia has contracted out inmate medical care and the company with the contract makes money by seeing high volumes of inmates each day. As a result, the care sucks.


Our “physician” here is flat out incompetent. You wouldn’t let him treat your family pet. A sampling of his recent diagnoses:


Corey – went to medical with severe lower abdominal pain. For four days he was denied treatment. His family called; he was seen and rushed to MCV (Medical College of VA in Richmond) where they discovered his appendix had burst.


Softball Larry – a great young athlete. Larry dropped 40 pounds in less than a month. He couldn’t keep food down. The doctor’s diagnosis: “You need vitamin D. Get outside.” One evening a C.O. saw Larry shaking uncontrollably. He demanded medical see Larry. They found him with a 104 fever and rushed him to MCV. After a four week hospital stay he returned. He was found to have ulcerative colitis.


Ray – a 62 year old inmate. He complained for weeks about pain and numbness in his arm. It took repeated calls into the prison before he was given an EKG. Shortly thereafter he was taken to MCV for two stents to open up blocked arteries.


These are just three examples. I have dozens. The truth is medical care in prisons is atrocious. Every issue of Prison Legal News reports dozens of cases throughout America each month where incompetent medical care led to million dollar awards to inmates (or, in most cases, the deceased inmate’s family).


In Portsmouth, Virginia last month PHS (Prison Health Services) agreed to settle a deceased inmate’s suit for $1.6 million. The inmate died in his cell of dehydration.


For inmates to get adequate health care they have to fight. Almost every diagnosis, every request for treatment only comes about after filing repeated grievances and – in many cases – getting family and friends to call the prison and demand adequate care.


Some may say “you guys get what you deserve”. That’s not the law. When society incarcerates a person they assume the obligation to provide for that person’s basic needs. California currently is under federal court order to release 46,000 of their 172,000 inmates. Why? Because they are at 200% capacity and medial care and housing has completely collapsed. California has this case on appeal to the US Supreme Court, but the writing is on the wall! You want to “lock criminals up? Pay for it!” It is against the law to deprive incarcerated persons of adequate health care. Ironic, isn’t it. The same Commonwealth that prosecutes criminals is itself breaking its own laws in its treatment of convicts.


But, every so often an inmate “wins one”. Flo has wanted a bottom bunk for months. He got one last Wednesday. How? He went outside and faked passing out in the heat. Rushed over to medical the doctor “checking his vitals” asked if he was OK. “What can we do for you?”


As Flo was moving into his new bunk he yelled out “don’t hate the player. Hate the game!”