By Jason Renard Walker
In this article,
Jason Walker exposes the full deadly cost of the K2 epidemic, and
staff complicity in smuggling the drug into prisons. Jason is facing
continuing retaliation and harassment for his writing and organizing,
please see here for ways that you can put pressure on the prison
administration to protect him:
https://itsgoingdown.org/
The number of
K2-related deaths in Texas prisons is mounting, year after year. Due
to this drug being undetectable by prison drug-testing kits, it has
become a favourite drug of choice for prisoners and prison officials
who profit handsomely from smuggling it in.
This has caused other
common prison drugs, like cocaine, marijuana and meth to be discarded
by prisoners who now have the ability to get high without worrying
about failing drug tests. Prison staff have also adjusted to this
epidemic by abandoning random drug testing, only doing so if the
testee is “fingered” by another prisoner, or suspected of having
a particular drug in his system. This ultimately increases the rate
of positive hit results and allows TDCJ to save money by reducing the
amount of drug test kits it uses annually.
From my experience,
victims of K2 overdose experience heavy sweating, heart attack and
panic attack-like symptoms before dropping dead. So it's highly
possible that K2-related deaths are being recorded as heart attacks
and heat strokes. A full record for these deaths may not exist.
The Center for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) listed K2 as synthetic marijuana, which
is a misnomer. It's supposed to trigger the same receptors in the
brain as THC – the component in marijuana that produces the high.
But unlike THC, the chemical makeup of K2 is unique, and can cause
hallucinations, seizures, heart attacks, aggressive behavior, and
suicidal acts and behavior.
This is the same drug
that made national headlines when, in
the span of 24 hours, 70 people overdosed in New Haven, Connecticut.1
And it's not only killing prisoners in Texas, Sarah
Blaskey of the Miami Herald exposed in her August 21, 2018 story that
the Florida Department of Corrections has issues with K2-related
deaths.2 Prisons in Alabama and all over the nation are becoming
infested with K2 and its issues.
In prison, K2 often
contains traces of rat poison and roach spray, and doesn't contain a
single chemical makeup, so basically it can contain anything. Despite
prisoners witnessing their friends die during smoke sessions, they
keep getting high. And more often than not, seek the particular K2
strain that killed them. “I gotta get some of that”, some say
after learning of an overdose.
Dr Tegan Boehmer, of
the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, stated that
dozens of chemical are used as synthetic cannabinoids, and their
unknown characteristics make them dangerous. “They are very
dangerous because there are a lot of unknowns.” The CDC studies
also suggest this drug is highly addictive.
Blaskey's Miami Herald
report gave a peek into the perils of K2 use in prison. “Last year,
at Franklin Correctional Institution, Eugene Martin fell forward
suddenly out of bed, dead from K2. At Mayo Correctional Institution,
Hakim Ramatoola had a seizure and died after smoking K2 described by
others who participated as “the worst ever.” Jarquez Jones died
at Santa Rosa after smoking an unusual-looking black K2. Jamil Wright
overdosed at Martin Correctional. Ruben Harris and Calvin Johnson at
Holmes Correctional Institution. Jesse Johnson at Okaloosa
Correctional Institution. All in the last half of 2017. And the list
goes on.”
From November 1 2017
thru to April 19, 2018, I was housed at the Ramsey Unit in Rosharon,
TX; Michael Unit in Tennessee Colony, TX; and Telford Unit in New
Boston TX. These transfers were done as retaliation for me exposing
bad conditions at each prison. After the circulation and exposure of
this piece, I expect to be transferred again.
Between these prisons,
I've gathered many reports about prisoners dropping dead from K2
overdoses. Here at the Telford Unit, prisoners and staff contest that
“Mike” died from a K2 overdose here on 4 Building, D-pod, Cell 54
nearly two years ago. Rumors say that his “stick” had been laced
with nitroglycerin by a guard who'd given it to him. Marks from the
welding on the cell to keep it secure pending the investigation can
still be seen. Since I've been here, two prisoners have died from
overdoses.
In particular, on
August 29, 2018, around 2:00 am, I watched a black prisoner convulse,
foam and jitter while strapped to a gurney and being moved from 4
Building to the infirmary by medical staff who responded with less
than the required urgency to collect an overdose victim. This was
hours after I saw medical staff slowly pushing a gurney to grab
another overdose victim. The two may not have died, but they
certainly overdosed. From what I hear, many prisoners have died
throughout the years.
During my stay at
Ramsey, Nov 3 2017- Feb 21 2018, three prisoners died from K2
overdoses – one died the same day he was leaving the prison to go
home. The number of mild overdoses is astounding. On average, at
least one a day has to visit the infirmary here.
Within the nucleus of
this epidemic, the symptoms of K2 and the drug itself have been given
names that are common to staff and prisoners. Tune, toochie, two,
gas, and dropdead are names given to the drug; tune attack, tuned out
out, and episode are names given to one whose behavior becomes
bizarre, or they “get stuck” and stare into space. Zombie-looking
prisoners can be seen slugging around everywhere.
The rolled-up joint
itself isn't traditional-looking at all. Due to K2 having such a
powerful impact on the mind and body, small toothpick-size “sticks”
are rolled and smoked by up to three people. I've seen a person take
three puffs then instantly pass out within one minute, stick burning
in hand. Guards have a routine of having others place an overdosed
prisoner in his cell without calling medical staff, so many
overdoses, and their harm to an individual's brain, are going
unreported. One guard, Sergeant Garland, is notorious for her
indifference to overdosed prisoners. In one instance, she wrote a
disciplinary case on a prisoners for not going to work. She
recognized he was too high to function, and commented that she knew,
but she failed to seek him medical care.
My first encounter with
a “tune attack” occurred in June 2018. A prisoner sitting next to
me on the dayroom bench had just taken a few puffs; within three
minutes, he began clawing at his chest, all the way down to his
ankle. It seemed like he thought his heart had left its original spot
and come down his leg.
During my stay at the
Clements Unit, a rumor spread in 2017 that a prisoners had a tune
attack, screamed “I believe I can fly”, then leaped to his death
from the cellblock's 3rd tier. On Jan 19, 2018 at the
Ramsey unit, multiple prisoners told me that Alfred Brosig had just
smoked a stick before strangling Kenneth W. Johnson to death and then
showing guards what he'd done. This was after excited friends of
Johnson spent time trying to wake the sleeping guard up.3
Medical staff never
take tune attacks seriously, and often joke about how the prisoner
behaved when they respond to a call. Despite the dangers of this
drug, the Telford Unit administration has provided poor oversight on
containing the drug, or preventing it from being smuggled in. There
is no real interest in implementing a counter, or increasing the
amount of scrutiny guards receive when entering the prison. Burnt
wicks, partially smoked sticks, and the smell of smoke lingers on the
stairwell, in the dayroom, and out in hallway.
Ranking staff see
obvious paraphernalia and simply step over it. Evidence of drug use
is everywhere, so I believe these officials are turning a blind eye
to maintain a dormant environment, even at the cost of self-inflicted
death. This is state-sponsored genocide!
What we as prisoners
need to realize is that this is a staged epidemic that's designed to
stunt our consciousness, growth, and ability to be productive members
of society upon our release. Bringing awareness to this is the right
thing to do, it's sabotaging our culture and killing us off. Guards
get rich, we die!
Between 2016-2017,
nearly 60,000 grams of K2 were confiscated in Florida prisons. This
doesn't include the amount that was smoked or sold. TDCJ has the
biggest prison system in the US, so there's no tellling how much has
been smuggled in here.
In the January 2018
issue of the San Francisco Bayview, Comrade Shaka Shakur hit the nain
on the head in his piece, “They
say the police said I was a snitch, but what does that make you?”,
when he explored the perils of lumpen cats hanging with and gossiping
with the guards, but claiming exposure of the guards violating our
rights is snitching.4
Being in cahoots with
guards to push K2 among the masses is no different than a police
informant selling drugs in the hood that he got from the FBI to help
them frame a drug ring. If someone happened to threaten that guard's
job at the prison, wouldn't you conspire to have that cat shipped
off, killed, or given trumped-up felony charges? If exposing guards
using K2 to kill us is snitching, what does that make you?
Dare to struggle, dare
to win! All power to the people!
Jason Renard Walker
#1532092
Telford Unit
3899 Hwy 98
New Boston, TX 75570
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