New Essays written by Malik Washington!

From: Keith ‘Malik’ Washington
TDCJ #1487958

​Beto Unit
1391 FM 3328
Tennessee Colony, TX 75880

 
Toxic Contaminated Water Alert at Eastham Unit (Lovelady, Texas)
Call For Action!  
By Keith Malik Washington

Greetings sisters and brothers!

    As man of you know South-East Texas was bombarded by Hurricane Harvey recently, and 500 prisoners located in Rosharon Texas were displaced because of flooding.  C.T Terrell is very similar to Wallace Pack Unit in that they house prisoners who are predominantly elderly, infirm, and disabled.
    Eastham Unit located in Lovelady, Texas was chosen to house the displaced prisoners.  Many prisoners have read about or heard of the ongoing problems with Eastham’s water supply, but on Wednesday, August 30, 2017, they got a first hand look at what many Eastham prisoners have suffered through for years!  Contaminated water!
    It started out as strange debris floating in the water - then without warning, we were told the water was being shut off and the pumps had broke!  The water pressure had dropped and historically when water pressure drops, high levels of bacteria enter the system and boil notices are issues!  Shut off time was 12:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, Aug 30, 2017.  Turned back on Wednesday night, 10:30 p.m. I am sending out a call for help and action!  We need phone calls to be made to the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality employees:
Brian Buster - (936) 437-7285
Frank Inmon - (936) 437-7200 / (cell) (936) 577-4035

We need you to inquire and find out exactly what the problem is with the water system at Eastham Unit and demand answers (unit # is 936-636-7321)  Safe and clean water is a Humyn Right!  All power to the people!

-Comrade Malik



We Must Expose The Liars Who Operate Texas Prisons!
(We must not be silent)
By: Keith ‘Malik’ Washington
Chief Spokespersyn for:
End Prison Slavery in Texas (Movement)

Revolutionary Greetings Comrades and Free World Allies!

Many of you know that during slavery times in Amerika the “Massah” who lived inside “The Big House” could have cared less about the quality of food and water his or her slaves received, or the conditions they lived in.  Slaves were given the worst of everything; which included contaminated water and the lowest quality food scraps.  They were forced to eat and drink things that most of us today would refuse to consume.
Not too much has changed inside prisons that are operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ)

The only difference now is the “Massah” has been replaced by the prison Warden.
Recently, many family members and friends of incarcerated prisoners in Texas have noticed some impropriety coming from the TDCJ Ombudsman Office.
The ombudsman acts as a liaison between the public and TDCJ.  When a family member or friend has a complaint about the conditions their incarcerated loved one are subjected to at one of the TDCJ 110 units, they rely on the ombudsman office to not only investigate the problem, but to resolve the problem - but something has gone WRONG!

Through an analysis of the ombudsman office’s performance, many free world activists and humyn as well as civil rights activists organizations have come to the conclusion that the ombudsman office is working in consort with the TDCJ prison officials to cover up or downplay many prison conditions which are deemed to be cruel and unusual as well as inhumane.  
On the unit level, we have discovered that when people from the “outside” call the unit or inquire about the toxic water, deadly heat, or sub-par living conditions, prison officials have received a “green light” from TDCJ executive Bryan Collier to Lie and misinform the public about condiitons inside these slave kamps and gulags.

It is time we collectively come together in order to expose these liars and violators of the public’s trust.

I am committed to this work!
Will you help me?
Dare to struggle, dare to win!
All Power to The People!

Keith ‘Malik’ Washington

September 1, 2017

Subject: Protect The EARTH!

Revolutionary Greetings!

This is the Text for an upcoming You tube by Professor Justin Adkins.

Environmental Activists and Water Protectors will not be bullied or intimidated by Billionaire Earth defilers and their cronies inside the Trump Administration!!

(We must not be silent)

By Keith ‘Malik’ Washington & Justin Adkins

Revolutionary Greetings,

It is I, Justin Adkins, and I have a very serious and urgent message to delivery to you. Malik and I support and defend many causes, but there are certain struggles and fights that have a higher priority to us than others.

One such struggle is the fight to save our planet from imperialist multinational corporations which exclusively deal in the extraction of fossil fuels from the Earth.  Comrade Malik and I are both Environmentalists.  I personally introduced Malik to this struggle.

A couple of years ago, I ordered Malik a subscription to the Earth First! Journal.  That was before he was transferred to the Wallace Pack unit.  Pack is the Texas prison where Malik helped expose the presence of high levels of arsenic in the water supply.

Professor Victor Wallis Ph.D. showed Malik the connection between capitalism and the destruction of our environment and in the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.  Malik and I believe all of us got an up-front and personal look at what Environmental Racism looks like in Amerika - It’s Real!!

Now Malik performs his own studies and in depth analysis, and, as always, he has something to say to you.  I hope you will listen to the words of my comrade and friend.  

Comrade Malik says:

Revolutionary Greetings Comrades!

Energy Transfer Partners!! Yes, let’s say it together, Energy Transfer Partners!! The name tastes like a fat piece of cow dung in my mouth.

This Imperialist Corporation is the chief developer of the Dakota Access Pipeline, and they have filed a federal lawsuit against many of the groups here in Amerika who are fighting hard to save our planet and ensure safe and clean water supplies for future generations of humyn beings and animals, as well as plants and trees.  

Energy Transfer Partners of Dallas, Texas, filed the complaint and it seeks damages of no less than one billion dollars!!  I will briefly give you a list of some of the defendants who have been cited in the complaint: Earth First!, the Sierra Club, Greenpeace International, Bank Track, Bold Iowa, and Mississippi Stand.

The lawsuit alleges environmental protection groups initiated campaigns of misinformation to target legitimate companies and industries with fabricated environmental claims and other purported misconduct, inflicting billions of dollars in damage - Now this is a direct quote from the USA Today - August 24th, 2017.  

Now STOP! Let’s listen very carefully to the language these Earth defilers are using - they are saying that WE are initiating campaigns of misinformation to target legitimate companies and industries with fabricated environmental claims.  Ok, first of all, they are lying!! And I can prove it! But first we need to fully expose their hidden agenda, because there is much more going on here than meets the eye!!

The Energy Transfer Partners of Dallas, Texas, seek to label us and eco-terrorists in an effort to criminalize and silence our Free Speech activities.

In other words, they was us to allow them to destroy our planet, poison our water supplies, pollute our air, and be quiet and watch while they do it!!

And I say Hell NO! I’m not going to do THAT! What do you say?

Now, I am a socialist/communist - I lean hard to the left and I am deeply sympathetic to the Green Anarchist cause.  I’ve been trained to apply a scientific analysis when I encounter a problem.  I seek out facts!! I shut down my emotions in order to perform a concrete analysis of the conditions around me.  The timing of the lawsuit is very interesting and I smell a RAT!

Yes! On its face, this complaint seeks to bully and intimidate environmentalists.  It seeks to cower us into silence.  But I firmly believe there is a SNAKE lurking in the background, and that dirty, rotten, scoundrel has emboldened Energy Transfer Partners.

I state today that Department of Energy Secretary, Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas, is secretly promoting this attack on our free speech rights!!

In Rick Perry’s failed presidential bid, guess who was his number one donor? Really, I want you to take a guess.  I’ll wait.  

Give up? Ok, I’ll tell you; it was Kelay Warren, the CEO of Energy Transfer Partners! Are you Surprised?

Would you like to know how much Mr. Warren donated to good old honest Rick Perry? Six million dollars!! Now listen to me, Mr. Warren got $4.5 million back after Rick Perry pulled out of the Presidential Race, but that is not the only questionable connection our buddy Rick Perry has with Energy Transfer Partners - there is more, much more!!

In a financial disclosure form Perry filed in July 2015, Perry indicated that his wife owned up to $15,000 in Energy Transfer Partners stock, and about the same amount of stock in another pipeline company, Sunco Logistics.  Sunco Logistics is supposed to be the operator of the pipeline that was being protested against at Standing Rock.  

And I have some very interesting information about Sunco Logistics.  According to Reuters, Sunco Logistics leads all of its competitors in spilled crude!!

And if anyone would to fact check any of my reporting, please go to the incredible news website truthout.org and find the article entitled: “Rick Perry, Tapped for Energy Department, Has Multiple Ties to CEO of Controversial Pipeline Project”, posted December 16, 2016 at Truth Out!!

Comrades, who was it that said, “If you want to hide something from a black man, put it in a book,”? Who the hell made up that saying? Whoever it was, they hadn’t met me! Comrade Malik, the servant of the people!!

Comrades, as I wrap up this YouTube video with my good friend, Justin, I must encourage you to be more aggressive in the expose of these unsavory relationships between fossil fuel corporations and highly placed members of the Trump Administration.

Furthermore, please be more mindful that the U.S. Federal Government is waging a war against those who seek to protect and preserve our planet.  But more urgently the Legislative Branch is overtly and covertly crafting laws which criminalize our right to protest.  

We need lawyers on our team!

We need environmental scientists on our team.

We need computer information specialists and technologists on our team!

Sisters and brothers, one of the reasons I am so passionate about this fight is that poor people, and people of color like me, are being exploited and abused by Rick Perry and his cronies in Dallas, Texas at Energy Transfer Partners!  

When you get time, I encourage you to read a brief article by David J. Krajicek on Alternet (January 23, 2016) entitled, “7 Toxic Assaults on Communities of Color Besides Flint: The Dirty Racial Politics of Pollution”.  The lead poisoning of the children in Flint is only the latest example of environmental racism in the U.S.

Remember, comrades, there is strength in diversity.  We must encourage and allow more persyns of color inside our environmentalist ranks.  Justin invited me to the table, who will you invite?  

Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win,

All Power to the People!

Eradicate the Incarceration of Persons with Mental Disabilities- Written by: Carly Janine

Eradicate the Incarceration of Persons with Mental Disabilities

Re-Posted with Permission From the Author, Carly Janine

Please visit her Blog for more posts or connect with her on Twitter or Facebook.

Posted on September 26, 2017

Written By: Carly Janine


Eradicate the Incarceration of Persons with Mental Disabilities

“Prisons were never intended as facilities for the mentally ill, yet that is one of their primary roles today.” – Sasha Abramsky

In 2013, I was reported missing. In the midst of a mental breakdown, I had fled town, driving northward until my truck broke down in San Leandro, in Northern California. I had thrown away my cellular phone. I had no way to get a hold of anyone and very little money. At that point in time, I had no idea that I suffered from a mental disorder. All I knew was that I had started hearing voices, became very paranoid, and thought I was some sort of a government conspiracy whistle-blower. It was terrifying and confusing, and after a week of roaming the streets, I had deteriorated to the point where everyone I encountered thought I was homeless. I attempted to rent an RV with a fake name, and when the rental place refused, I drove off their lot inside a stolen one anyway. I was trying to get to Half Moon Bay, where a friend’s mother lived, thinking I might be able to track her down somehow without a phone. Of course, I soon had a “parade” of police cars following me, with their sirens blaring and lights flashing. I was arrested and charged with three felonies, though one was immediately dropped (evading a peace officer), I still had two to deal with, but first, I went to jail.
The first night in the San Mateo County jail, they tried to put me in with the general population. I completely freaked out, and eventually they began to realize that I wasn’t on drugs (I was repeatedly asked if I was on meth) but that there was something seriously wrong. I was transferred back to medical, my clothes and bed were taken away.  I was put into this large, Velcro outfit that I couldn’t harm myself with, and I was put on suicide watch. (I realize now that I was so lucky that someone recognized my symptoms and they were able to get a psychiatrist in to interview me in the middle of the night.) I was immediately put on lithium and given a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder Type 1. After a few days in a solitary room on medication, I was transferred into a shared rooming facility in the medical wing. When it seemed likely that I wasn’t going to harm myself or anyone else, I was moved back into general population. I spent two weeks in jail before my mental faculties stabilized to the point where I realized I could bail myself out. The whole experience was supremely confusing, embarrassing, cost me my job and many friends. And I was one of the lucky ones. My family managed to get me a $7,000 lawyer.  I received a plea deal based on a psychiatrist interview shortly after I was released, and plead no contest to a misdemeanor of joyriding. I truly believe that had I simply signed the papers in jail for the public defender that I would have been sentenced and would have spent far longer than two weeks in San Mateo County.

My experience is far from unique. Jamie Fellner, of the Human Rights Watch, wrote that the Treatment Advocacy Center recently estimated there were 356,000 persons with mental illness behind bars. Incarceration makes mental illness worse, and prisons are unprepared to deal with the mentally ill and mental health care crisis.  While in jail, every day, I would stand in line for pill call with easily 1/3 of the population.  Solutions are needed in order to properly process and care for the mentally ill within the prison system.

There has been a lack of adequate research in determining which jails and prisons need the most help and how best to go about it. Author Seth J. Prins wanted to provide a broad view of mental illness in prisons after realizing most works cited only two federal reports from 1999 and 2006, so “the author undertook a systematic review of 28 articles published between 1989-2013.” The study concluded that not only are these issues widespread, it is difficult to tell how widespread, as there has been a lot of fluctuation in the numbers of mentally ill reported in prisons. There are wide variations when self-reporting, however, many seriously mentally ill inmates are not competent to consent to self-report. A full mental health screening for every inmate currently incarcerated is called for. We must begin with accurate information in order to see precisely the magnitude of the crisis that we are experiencing in the judicial system.

Perhaps complicating the issue is the fact that for-profit prisons make money off of bodies in cells. If mentally ill inmates are diverted into other programs or facilities, there will be a substantial decline in the number of inmates held in these for-profit prisons. A complete overhaul of the prison system is necessary, and we must start by caring for persons with mental disabilities, not locking them up. We must implement policies and programs and procedures for dealing with the mentally ill in a compassionate way.

Another factor may have to do with poverty.  “Poverty is a common element among many mentally ill inmates, even homelessness.” (Prins) It was certainly true for myself and the people I encountered during my escapade. The way the current system is set up, homeless people can receive encroachment tickets for having their things out in public with them. Once they’ve received enough tickets that they cannot pay, they wind up in jail without the money to bail themselves out. Bail reform is something that Senator Kamala Harris has recently taken up in California. Far too many people linger in jail for longer than necessary due to these bail restrictions.

Another law, I feel is cruel, is the three strikes law. As Tala Al-Rousan wrote in “Inside the Nation’s Largest Mental Health Institution: A Prevalence Study in a State Prison System,” evidence suggests mentally ill persons are more likely to break rules, get in fights, be reprimanded by adding more charges to their time and spend more time in jail than someone who is not mentally ill. Once they’ve reached three strikes, they are now handed lifelong prison sentences.

Not only are mentally ill inmates more likely to be exploited by other inmates, they are more likely to break rules themselves. Abramsky noted in her article that the mentally ill face higher than average disciplinary rates, and lack of behavioral control, “Many refuse to comply with orders like sit down, come out of a cell, stand for count, remove clothes from cell bars, take showers.” A lack of showering is an often-cited symptom of depression.

Do the wealthy pay for mental health care to help avoid incarceration for their children? Why wouldn’t they? It is much easier to stay healthy when one has health insurance and have the money to afford premiums, co-pays, medications and expensive healthier foods. Does this system contribute to the criminalization of the poor? If the poor are disproportionally represented in prison and also lack mental health care prior to incarceration, then it certainly does. “Poor people with mental illness receive only short-term treatment, are stabilized, sent back out into the community with limited access to treatment.” (Abramsky)

The poor are criminalized for being sick, and that is absolutely disgusting.

The mentally ill face a host of challenges. In Prins’ review, he found these common elements: poverty, unemployment, crime, victimization, family breakdown, homelessness, substance abuse, general health problems and stigma. One of the difficulties of stigma is that the actions of the mentally ill are treated as disciplinary problems rather than as symptoms of their illnesses being observed. The inadequate access to community treatment options prior to incarceration is a terrible burden, and as we have seen, many, many people are diagnosed in jail or prison. In the Iowa study, Al-Rousan found 48% of inmates had mental illness, of whom 29% had serious mental illness, and 99% of the inmates were diagnosed while incarcerated, as I was.

Mental illness often interferes with the ability of the prisoner to cope with life in prison. There is a “prison code” that exists, and mentally ill persons are more likely to break this code, snitch on another inmate, and receive retaliation for it. (Abramsky) This leaves people with mental illness vulnerable, and often frightened. Eyal Press’ article “Madness”, presented by The New Yorker, closely followed life in the Dade Correctional Facility. It was found that people with mental disabilities also face general ostracization and are called nicknames like “dings” and “bugs.” Anyone attempting to help an inmate, such as a psychologist, was known as a “hug-a-thug.” This created a hostile working environment for psychologists and case workers at this particular facility, which allowed for the lethal abuse of an inmate with a mental illness.

The abuse and neglect of the mentally ill in prisons is a horrifying subject. I actually found so many examples of neglect and abuse among various sources that I focused on a few cases, two of neglect presented by Fellner, and one of abuse all resulting in death, presented by Press.

Neglect: Anthony McManus, a prisoner in Michigan, died in 2005. He was age 38, weighing a mere 75lbs. Although bipolar and schizophrenic, he was confined in a prison with no psychiatry department. He was pepper sprayed three days before his death and videotaped asking for food and water, although none was provided and his official cause of death was myocarditis and emaciation. (Fellner)

Neglect: Christopher Lopez, an inmate in Colorado, was 35 years old when he died at San Carlos Correctional Facility in 2013. He was schizophrenic and died from severe hyponatremia, which is too much psychotropic medication leading to low sodium in the blood. It is easily identifiable via blood test and treatable, but the nurse(s!) never took his vitals. He was kept in a room 22-24hours a day. (Fellner) Solitary confinement is cruel and unusual punishment, and it should never be used to discipline persons with mental disabilities.

Abuse: Inmate Darren Rainey was boiled to death in a hot shower in June 2012 in Florida at Dade Correctional Facility, where the incident was then covered up. Guards were seen laughing about “putting him in the shower” to discipline him, but the shower was hot enough to make coffee. (Press)
These cases were extreme, but not unique. Correctional Officers, or COs, use excessive force in many cases, and further compassionate training is required. Even when there the proper equipment is provided, such as restraining chairs or psychiatric beds, they are often misused.
There are many challenges to getting prisoners the mental health care they need. Abramsky noted that under staffing, poor screening and tracking of mentally ill prisoners, lack of timely access to mental health staff (guards are not referring prisoners often enough, and “bizarre behavior” is not enough for a referral, though it certainly should be when viewed as a symptom!), diagnosis of malingering (faking it, or manipulation), using medication as the sole treatment strategy, and a lack of confidentiality between the prisoner and the mental health staff all add barriers to prisoners receiving the help and medical attention they need.

I find some comfort knowing that some places are truly making an effort to integrate solutions to the mental health crisis. Tom Dart is an Illinois sheriff. Angela Bradbery wrote about his program for Public Citizen News. “Dart, who oversees one of the largest jails in the country, has implemented changes that have made his jail a role model for humanely managing seriously mentally ill inmates.” (Bradbery, 1) Dart manages his inmates in a number of ways that compassionately support the mentally ill. All staff receives mental illness training. Their jail provides full treatment, and upon release, transitions them to community resources. Once free, access to a 24-hour care line is available for mentally ill ex-inmates. This example is one to be mimicked around the country. Tom Dart has managed to show that some people do care, and that it can be done with proper planning and implementation.

Politicians and the community have failed the mentally ill. Mentally ill persons wind up in prison when they are left untreated within the community until their symptoms have gotten so bad that they commit a crime. The word “transinstitutionalization” refers to the problem of persons with mental illness being left untreated until they end up institutionalized within correctional settings. (Abramsky) This is certainly what happened to me. My symptoms had been getting worse for months prior to my leaving town, and I worsened to the point of not having the self-awareness necessary to monitor my moods. “Thousands of mentally ill are left untreated and unhelped until they have deteriorated so greatly that they wind up arrested and prosecuted for crimes they may never have committed had they been able to access therapy, medication, and assisted living facilities in the community.” (Abramsky) Reform is needed and public funding and support is needed. Stigma must be decreased and people must speak openly about mental health care in order to influence public opinion and garner support.

These changes can happen, and should.

Solutions are desperately needed to help with the mental health care crisis facing both prisons and communities today, for these problems are intertwined. Early preventative care and mental health screening in the community would greatly curb the number of people with mental disabilities being introduced to the criminal justice system to begin with, as they would have access to medications and therapy.

Therefore, I propose a whole host of solutions to offer compassionate methods of processing persons with mental disabilities. To begin, it would be helpful if police received extensive training in recognizing mental health crises. When I was on the streets, I had several interactions with police officers prior to my incident and arrest. None of them realized I was a missing person, and while they obviously could tell something was wrong, they had nowhere to take me and ultimately just released me back on the streets. Ideally, my symptoms should have been identified, and then the police could have transported me to facilities that do not yet exist. Some cities have PERT (Psychiatric Emergency Response Team) which sends out a psychiatrist along with a police officer. Together they determine where the individual needs to be taken. These PERT teams should be in all cities and be standard procedure.

The United States is in desperate need of more specialized facilities for the mentally ill. These facilities would need to process individuals in mental health crisis that have committed no crimes and are therefore free to go as long as they are not posing a threat to themselves or others and not be turned away for lack of insurance.

For the prisoners, there need to be acute crisis care units and intermediate care units with psychiatric beds for long-term care and rehabilitation in all facilities. Each location should include 24-hour psychiatric care and monitoring.

Bail reform is something that would reduce the criminalization of the poor. This can ruin lives, as the incarcerated can lose their jobs, their income and have no one to care for their children. Innocent until proven guilty should not include a bail system that is not intended to be, but is nonetheless, punitive.

Doing away with encroachment tickets would be a great start to reducing the criminalization of the homeless.

Another helpful solution would be the development of a kind of homeless daycare center. Think of it like a park, maybe with a library, with lots of shade and water fountains and bathrooms and showers and large lockers for their things. There could even be an on-site psychiatrist and psychologist available, and administrative staff to assist people with applying for health insurance, disability, and other forms of government assistance. In my utopia, this place already exists, funded completely by taxpayers.

The development of mental health applications has been a new and novel thing. Some apps help time breath, mood swings, all sorts of things. I don’t see why we haven’t seen applications that allow people to report mental illness they see in others (perhaps a PERT team can respond?) or, perhaps even more important, an app that puts the mentally ill in direct contact with help when they are in mental crisis. I’m not talking about a suicide hotline, I mean an app where I can press some buttons to say, “I’m hearing voices and losing my mind, what do I do?” and get put in immediate touch with a psychiatrist, assistance, a PERT team, anything. This is the next logical and necessary step.

Once a crime has been committed, there are many solutions that will aid in the compassionate processing and interfacing with mentally ill inmates. Firstly, as Abramsky points out, low level drug offenders are often diverted into substance abuse treatment programs. Since large numbers of the mentally ill also have substance abuse issues, making this universal would reduce the numbers of mentally ill in prisons. There should also be a diversion program in place for those who do not have substance abuse issues, but do have a history of mental illness. They should be diverted to intermediate care units for rehabilitation with minimum security.

Moving beyond training COs, there need to be treatment programs in place for inmates. There should be group therapy, solo therapy, medications should be introduced and tapered carefully, with staff in place around the clock. Pre-release care is important, as is a smooth transition to community resources for the recently released. I approve of Tom Dart’s 24-hour care line for mentally ill former inmates and think more places, if not all facilities, should implement such a solution.

We have abandoned the mentally ill to the streets and prison system, to struggle with substance abuse issues and endure a number of hardships. De institutionalization has created a public health crisis in the United States. Careful consideration and decisive action is needed to universalize and standardize the mental health care system. The mentally ill do not belong in prisons simply for being mentally ill and need to have access to round-the-clock care in facilities that are designed with their needs in mind. I am so grateful for the care I received while I was incarcerated.  This is not some luxury, it is a constitutional right to medical care, and it is needed now.


Works Cited

Abramsky, Sasha, and Jamie Fellner. “Ill-Equipped U.S. Prisons and Offenders with Mental Illness.” Human Rights Watch, Open Society Institute, 21 Oct. 2003, www.hrw.org/report/2003/10/21/ill-equipped/us-prisons-and-offenders-mental-illness#912713.

Al-Rousan, Tala, et al. “Inside the Nation’s Largest Mental Health Institution: a Prevalence Study in a State Prison System.” BioMed Central, BMC Public Health, 20 Apr. 2017, bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-017-4257-0.

Bradbery, Angela, and Delaney Goodwin. “National Survey Shows County Jails Unequipped, Overwhelmed With Seriously Mentally Ill Inmates.” Public Citizen News [Washington, DC] 1 Oct. 2016, Vol. 36, No. 5: 1+. Print.

Fellner, Jamie. “Callous and Cruel Use of Force against Inmates with Mental Disabilities in US Jails and Prisons.” Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Watch, 12 May 2015, www.hrw.org/report/2015/05/12/callous-and-cruel/use-force-against-inmates-mental-disabilities-us-jails-and.

Fries, Brant E., et al. “Symptoms and Treatment of Mental Illness among Prisoners: A Study of Michigan State Prisons.” International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, vol. 36, no. 3-4, Jan. 2013, pp. 316–325. Science Direct, doi:https://doi.org.ezproxy.palomar.edu/10.1016/j.ijlp.2013.04.008.

Press, Eyal. “Madness.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 2 May 2016, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/05/02/the-torturing-of-mentally-ill-prisoners.

Prins, Seth J. “Prevalence of Mental Illnesses in U.S. State Prisons: A Systematic Review .” Psychiatry Online, National Institute of Mental Health, 1 July 2014, ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ps.201300166.

TDCJ: ACTUALLY END SOLITARY CONFINEMENT NOW!

Media Contact Azzurra Crispino 512-710-7277 iheartpaps@gmail.com

TDCJ: ACTUALLY END SOLITARY CONFINEMENT NOW!

AUSTIN, TX: The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) recently made headlines by claiming they are ending the punishment of solitary confinement in Texas Prisons.  This "fact" hinges on a false dichotomy between solitary confinement and administrative segregation.  The conditions in solitary confinement and administrative segregation are the same: inmates spend 22-24 hours a day in a cell 6’ x 9’. Solitary confinement as a punishment places the inmate in these conditions for up to 30 days. That is the practice TDCJ claims to have abolished, freeing 75 inmates.  However, this does nothing about the roughly 4000 inmates that live in administrative segregation – or permanent solitary confinement – in some cases for decades.

There is no practical difference in conditions between solitary confinement and administrative segregation – except that solitary confinement ends in 30 days, and administrative segregation ends when an inmate dies, finishes their sentence, or participates in the Gang Renouncement and Disassociation (GRAD) program.  The fiction TDCJ pushes is that the 4000 inmates in administrative segregation are hardened criminals too dangerous to be in general population – never mind that at the end of their sentences, these men and women are released into society without any transition.  These inmates often are labeled as being gang members. The problem is that these men and women are too often given this gang affiliation not for actually being gang members, but because they are engaged in jailhouse lawyering or otherwise advocating for better prison conditions or prisoners’ rights.  Once a person has been given a gang designation, the only way for them to get out of adseg is to participate in GRAD, which requires them to admit to being in a gang and giving names of others in the same gang, who would then go into solitary instead.

Obviously, if a person has been given such a designation in retaliation for blowing the whistle on prison conditions, then there is no gang to renounce and thus no way to get out of adseg. For example, Kevin “Rashid” Johnson was labeled as a gang member for his political participation in the New Black Panther Party Prison Chapter, a political organization that advocates for the rights of inmates, to end police violence and racism, and for a better world.  Rashid is most famous for blowing the whistle on wrongful deaths in the Clements Unit in Amarillo, Texas.  When Rashid’s whistle blowing became too hot for Texas to handle, they interstate compacted him to Florida (where he remains in administrative segregation).

Rashid is not the only one. Many other Texas inmates are in administrative segregation on allegations of violence or gang affiliation when they are really in administrative segregation for jailhouse lawyering or peaceful resistance. Keith “Malik” Washington was placed in administrative segregation in September 2017 because he advocated a peaceful work stoppage to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Attica prison uprising. Even though there was no strike, he was charged with inciting a riot and placed in administrative segregation.  Alvaro “Xinachtli” Luna Hernandez has been designated a member of two rival gangs – a feat which defies logic – and has been in administrative segregation for over fourteen years for his jailhouse lawyering and advocating for prisoners’ rights.  The only way for these inmates to be released from administrative segregation is to give names of other inmates in their alleged gang, who would then go into administrative segregation instead.  This is simply not possible for inmates who are not actually gang members.

If TDCJ were interested in something other than positive press, it would take steps to separate the wheat from the chaff and figure out which inmates are actually dangerous and which are in administrative segregation for what amounts to political crimes. For those who are truly dangerous, they would receive rehabilitation: working with animals, therapy, drug rehabilitation, and whatever else is necessary to teach them empathy. We know solitary confinement – whether we call it administrative segregation or secured housing units or by any other name – makes people crazy.  It is time to end this barbaric practice once and for all – not just as a feel-good, public relations headline, but for real.  

###

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Texas-prisons-eliminate-use-of-solitary-12219437.php

http://dailycaller.com/2017/09/22/texas-ends-solitary-confinement-as-punishment-for-inmates/

http://www.mintpressnews.com/activists-bring-solitary-confinement-to-college-campus-for-alvaro-luna-hernandez/206567/

https://www.amazon.com/Jailhouse-Lawyers-Prisoners-Defending-USA/dp/0872864693

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/30/us/us-prisoner-strike/index.html

https://comrademalik.com/

https://papstexas.blogspot.com/2017/07/thrown-in-solitary-for-publisizing.html

http://amarillo.com/news/latest-news/2016-04-26/after-prison-deaths-wardens-retire

https://prisonwatchnetwork.org/category/clements-unit/

http://rashidmod.com/

https://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/divisions/cid/cid_stgmo_GRAD.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/us/texas-death-row-torture-report.html

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/02/solitary-confinement-isnt-punishment-its-torture

https://ccrjustice.org/home/get-involved/tools-resources/fact-sheets-and-faqs/torture-use-solitary-confinement-us-prisons

http://jaapl.org/content/38/1/104

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/03/30/hellhole

#Stamps4Vamps

 After 3 years of paying our own postage, PAPS needs your help! 

Due to the bulk mailings that we have been doing for Hurricane Harvey it has become necessary for us to do a stamp drive.  Because we value transparency we are not asking you for money, but to donate stamps to support our efforts instead.  

As a thank you for your generosity we will send a Prisoner (either random or of your choice - let us know whom you want to receive the card!) a Halloween Card for every $4.90 (10-forever stamps) in stamps donated to PAPS. 

If you send us 14.70 in stamps (30-forever stamps) we will send a Halloween card to 3 inmates of your choice or two non-inmates (you can absolutely have us send you a card!) 

There are two ways to send us stamps.

1. You can mail stamps directly to:

PAPS

 P.O. Box 82193

         Austin, TX, 78708-2193

2.You can send stamps by visiting our Amazon Wish List

If you are part of a support network for a specific prisoner, we are happy to make you an image that will advertise your loved one getting a Halloween card.