Bill proposal taken from Lawsuit Joinder complaint that was dismissed voluntarily because of lack fo lawyer :
Here it is pasted with links to exhibits
Proposed
Bill to fundamentally change the way we do Solitary Confinement
note: this is taken
from a joinder action on solitary confinement which was voluntarily dismissed because
of the impossibility to effectively pursue it without a lawyer.
NATURE
OF THIS ACTION
Background
80).This
legal action concerns the overuse and abuse of solitary confinement in
Wisconsin’s prisons. The Wisconsin case is complicated because the
courts ruled in 2002 that the then Boscobel Supermax could not house mentally
ill inmates and there have been rules put forth by the DOC administration in
Madison that if followed would go a long way toward reform. It is our
information and belief however, that neither the court order nor the solitary
limiting guidelines and rules are followed, and
that with various forms of subterfuge, a reduction in use of solitary
confinement looks good on paper when in actuality the use is expanding daily .
We believe that in order to understand the changes needed , it is important to look at how our system became
so overcrowded and how it lost its mission to rehabilitate and keep the public
safe.
81)The Wisconsin prison system today is the product of a perfect storm
of what many now think were short
sighted laws and executive actions first initiated in our nation’s capital in
the 1990’s. The first of these decisions was the closing of our mental
hospitals without providing viable alternatives. This has left the mentally ill
and their struggling families with no affordable place to go for help and
prison has become for many the final wall to end destructive behavior.
82) Prisons
are our defacto mental hospitals and according to all current monitors, over a
third of the inmates in Wisconsin are mentally ill.
83)The second factor in our perfect storm was the enactment
of the VOTIS act in 1994, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act
of 1994,( H.R. 3355,
Pub.L. 103–322 ), the largest
crime bill in the history of the United States. This bill provided, among other
things 9.7 billion dollars for prisons and launched a prison boom throughout the nation.
For Wisconsin, it meant the ending of meaningful parole in the famous memo by
the then Governor Thompson, which swept
all inmates then and for the future under the draconian Truth in sentencing
laws(TIS) .
84) Increased penalties under the new law and the ending of
true parole meant that the prison population went from 7000 to 23 thousand in a
short decade. Prisons became THE growth
industry and a perfect job program in a time when manufacturing and farming
jobs were disappearing. In Wisconsin, Spending skyrocketed on prisons while in
states like MN , money was put into community services and crime prevention.
Spending on education took deep cuts .
85)Jump forward to today and we see Wisconsin saddled with
stuffed prisons in which the mission to rehabilitate prisoners and
keep the public safe has been largely lost.
Conditions for staff have deteriorated to the point there is a severe
shortage of staff at all levels from professional health care staff to guards .
86)We contend that to cope with lack of staff and
overcrowding, The Department of Corrections in Wisconsin is using solitary
confinement as its main population control tool. Also Wisconsin continues to
treat prisoners as unredeemable and deserving of punishment only.
87)This is particularly acute in our solitary confinement
units, whatever they are named by the DOC.
Here the harm done is long lasting and devastating .
Public safety Issue
88) Perhaps of greater concern to the public than effects of
our policies on prisoners , however, is that those WI DOC has also abandoned
its mandate to keep the public safe. It releases the truth in sentencing
inmates ( TIS) regularly as the law demands often without treatment or training
and virtually no support upon release.
89)Those who have been in solitary are often released
directly from solitary or with a short interlude. Many TIS inmates beg for
treatment at Wisconsin Resource Center (WRC), the one treatment center
available to the system- before release and are not given a referral. Each
prison’s social workers are tasked with referring disabled prisoners of their choice to an organization that prepares SSI benefits
before release but that does not happen
for most mentally ill prisoners and they are released little hope of
success. A letter from one inmate writing one month before release sums up the
situation: “I get released in a month
back to the same neighborhood where I was before prison . I have had no
treatment and no training and am drug addicted. I have no support and the DOC
offers almost none. What do you think I will end up doing? “
90)In October 2017 FFUP nonprofit included a survey in its
newsletter asking multiple questions intended to give broad look at whole
incarceration experience, particularly asking if the WI DOC is fulfilling its
mission to rehabilitate and keep the public safe. All responses decried lack of
treatment and release help.
91)The realization that
long term solitary confinement actually
causes mentally illness and a diminished capacity for success AFTER release is growing in this
country. For example, in November 2017
Standford University came out with a
report on how prisoners who endured long term solitary were doing after release. It sites the
devastating effects solitary confinement has on anyone- whether they go into
prison mentally ill or not. (“Mental Health Consequences Following Release from Long-Term
Solitary Confinement in California” Consultative Report Prepared for the Center
for Constitutional Rights )
Media spotlight and New Rules Not Followed
92) In Wisconsin, the actions around solitary confinement have taken a
rocky road and the outcome is still uncertain.
A major force was In 2014, when
the Center for Investigative Journalism (CIJ hereafter) did a series of three
articles on the alleged abuses by guards of prisoners at the Waupun
Correctional Institution ( WCI.) segregation unit. Guards were named and the actual complaints
and were made available. This created a firestorm of letters and petitions and
discussion in the public. These alleged
assaults and the general high level of violence in WI seg units are important
because it is the most vunerable, i.e. the mentally ill, who are usually
the victims of assault or lack enough
self control to navigate the difficult hostile environment and are assaultive
themselves.
93)The then DOC Secretary Ed Wall wrote an essay (exhibit #1)(
leaked )questioning the use of Solitary confinement, writing that at times segregation has become “a method to isolate and punish inmates as a
form of internal judge, jury and executioner. Depriving people of outside
contact, personal property, programming, etc., seems to focus on doing
psychological harm rather than achieve desirable goals.” And: “Courts have
repeatedly found that forcing prisoners with mental illness to undergo solitary
confinement constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. How would our placements
be viewed by the courts?”
94) Finally a draft of new guidelines were enacted. In the
guidelines, solitary confinement for
conduct reports were reduced drastically and other reforms were mandated.
Guards in WCI wore cameras, a rotation program for guards was instituted and
the guards named the most times in the assault complaints were removed from the
unit.
95) However only one prison, GBCI ( Green
Bay Correctional Institution), followed the guidelines reducing seg times and
as soon as public attention waned, rotation and camera wearing at WCI was
abandoned as were all efforts at reforming in the other prisons. Also now the
main guards named in the CIJ articles for the most complaints of abuse are
dominating the solitary units in WCI. It
is our belief that Joseph Beahm who was named in most of the inmate assault
complaints, heads the unit at time of this writing and another named in much
ongoing abuse, Monguey, is back on the unit. At present, the prisoners are
largely silent about the physical abuse they endure as there is no safe way to
report. Also we believe that of late some staff wear cameras but it is not
enforced and arbitrary, allowing removal when convenient.
96) The Madison Central office of the Department of
Corrections has enacted several new policies call DAI Policies which are aimed at remedying the violations of the 8th
amendment against cruel and unusual treatment . These new policies, also, are
largely ignored and not enforced.
97)The result is that each prison is its own fiefdom ,
dealing as it can with overcrowding and lack of staff. Whole prisons go on
lockdown regularly to deal with staff shortages and all programs, library use ,
recreation etc are curtailed for the
whole populations.
Conditions in Solitary in WI prisons
Changing diagnoses and double- celling in seg
98)But conditions in solitary rise most obviously to the level of cruel and unusual conditions,
show deliberate indifference and violate the Americans with Disabilities (ADA) Act .
Violations of human decency and constitutional amendments and ADA law
include but are not limited to the following:
99) One of the most
egregious strategies used to deal with the overcrowding and lack of staff
reality is the changing of Diagnoses of the mentally ill from severe (MH2) to
not severe (MH1). Medicines are cut as are other treatments and severely mentally ill people, now labeled as“not so bad”, sit in long term solitary without recourse to any treatment.(exh#2 see Boivin exhibit)
100) Due to the
Courts prohibition on putting mentally ill prisoners in the Boscobel Supermax,
now WSPF, that is the one prison which always has room. The pattern is to
change the diagnoses inmates in an overcrowded prison and move the now “ cured”
inmate to Boscobel.
101) The placement
of Prisoners on AC has also
expanded by placing people with minor infractions into WSPF, a prison with
only solitary cells which always has room when the rest of the system is
critically overpopulated.
102)The review of AC placement
is considered a joke by prisoners and AC is thought to be used to silence litigators.
103) Confidential
informants (CIs)are used to allege gang involvement with CIs there is no
mechanism whereby the accused can refute charges or even know the name of the
informer.
104) In two prisons,
CCI and WCI , prisoners are forced to cell in a single man solitary cell with
one prison on a mattress on the floor.
In CCI the inmates are given the choice of sleeping two in a one man
cell or taking more time in seg .
Subterfuges used to hide extent
of solitary use
105)Inmates are put into solitary for minor infractions despite
new rules to the contrary and lengths of stays in solitary are often much
longer than rules allow through various renamings and subterfuges as well as
plain disregard of rules.
106) One of the
subterfuges used at WSPF (Wisconsin Secure Program Facility, the former
Supermax) which hides the real extent of solitary confinement use, is a so
–called “warning system.” Here a four level, year long program called High Risk
Offender Program (HROP) is sabotaged by a system where a “warning” can be
issued which can send the prisoner back to the beginning of the program but the
gives the prisoner no recourse to question or appeal.
107) Another
camouflage is terminology shifts between AC and DS ( administrative Confinement
and Disciplinary segregation). Most prisons often give conduct reports to
inmates on AC and assign them to “disciplinary segregation” (DS) which further
confuses the activists and public’s attempts to monitor what is really going
on. Generally the conditions are the same with the two kinds of solitary and
the prisoner is seamlessly transitioned back to AC after his DS time is over.
108) There are many
of such confusing labeling and subterfuges we feel are attempting to camouflage
the true extent of use of solitary.
Therapy, Treatment and Programming
109) Throughout the
solitary units, where most of the mentally ill spend most their prison time, therapy
sessions usually rare and tend to be brief and held at cell door, where all on
unit can hear. Most prisoners complain they cannot talk freely in these
circumstances.
110)The
one treatment facility, Wisconsin Resource Center( WRC.) is run by both DOC and
WI Health and Human Services Department and is inadequate to present needs
because the stay is usually short, there is little follow up once the prisoner
returns to the DOC system and because they treat only a small number of the
thousands in need..
111)
further , there is increasing evidence that the DOC is reluctant to refer many
mentally ill prisoners to WRC even though these prisoners beg for treatment
before leaving prison, as many of these
prisoners will be leaving straight from years in solitary. We hope to do
discovery on this issue to determine the extent of refusal to refer prisoners
to WRC and if that is our finding, the reasons.
112)
The women’s prison in Fond du Lac ( TCI ) has a mental health facility,
mandated in the settlement of Flynn Vs Doyle,06-C-0537 in 2010. This
facility is far superior to anything the male prisoners have and we invoke the
14th amendment and demand that a similar facility be build for the
men’s prisons.(for powerpoint view of mental health treatment facility at TCI: https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/3what-doesnt-kill-you-makes-you-stronger.pdf )
113)
There is a critical shortage of all staff , particularly of health care and
psychological staff. Another effort for discovery is to find out the level of
shortage and the number of people who have quit and why they have done so.
114) As
Far as programming , solitary confinement prisoners often face another catch twenty-two
that keeps the parole eligible prisoners forever in prison. It is our belief
that the prisons don’t allow essential programming to prisoners in solitary and
the prisoner is told he is denied parole because he did not do the programming.
Dealing with self harm issues
115) Rules for
dealing with those at risk of suicide are woefully inadequate and even those
are routinely not followed. Increasingly warnings and pleas for help by
prisoners who feel they are at risk of harming themselves are often not heeded
and/or are laughed at .
116)The
remedy for suicide attempts has been to put the inmate naked or near naked in a
cell with no property (observation status)with close monitoring and a visit
from professional staff.
117) In many prisons that ( Observation)status
is often dropped and “Control status” is used, which has little monitoring and
no professional staff visits. Suicide attempts are often met with more
isolation and often with conduct reports.
118) The use of
restraints in suicide prevention is often brutal and involves excessive force.
In some prisons the inmates are kept in full restraints for days and not
allowed up to use the bathroom .
119) Mentally ill
inmates in solitary are often punished with more solitary time for self harm
behaviors. Self-harm, usually cutting, is so pervasive in these segs at all of
the max institutions that it occurs on a daily basis, sometimes multiply times
in one day.
General conditions in Solitary and Outside
Support Discouraged
120) Conditions in solitary units, whatever they are called, are deplorable, property restrictions are
unconscionable, and the therapy that does go on is woefully inadequate. This
leads to a lack of positive motivation and the inability of staff (guards and
professional staff) to actually help has fostered sadistic behaviors in some
and a determined willfully ignorance in others.
121)Plaintiffs in
WCI, GBCI and CCI allege that solitary
cells are often filthy and feces spread,
are not adequately cleaned between uses. Also, temperatures are not regulated and are
extreme in every season.
122)Property
allowances in all solitary units are punitive to the extreme and for many units
there is no canteen allowed and where it is permitted, the inmates tend to be
indigent. For example, the inmate is given a plastic rectangle of liquid soap
about 2” by 1 inch long and is expected to use that for soap for 3 days when it
actually not enough for one good wash up. We will verify these claims through
discovery.
123)Further,
plaintiffs complain that food portions have been steadily declining and
prisoners are always hungry. This leads to lethargy and many have no recourse
but to sleep all day.
124)Plaintiffs
believe that family support is generally
discouraged. WI DOC has made it very difficult for the families and friends to
stay in contact with and help their imprisoned loved one and this is
particularly of concern with those in solitary. For example, property
allowances need to be revisited and rules for incoming books need to be changed
to reflect our internet world and what is done in other more progressive
correctional systems:
125)Family’s and
friend ability to help their loved ones to cope with solitary by sending books
is truncated with receipt rules that require a paper receipt which most
internet outfits cannot do. Likewise, free books to Prisoners groups that give
to Wisconsin prisoners face rules more draconian that other states.( for
example, the books have to be new). Other hindrances to helping prisoners get
through exist.
126) Books available
by the prisons to solitary inmates are woefully inadequate so opportunities for
learning in seg are diminished for people without family and friends with
means.
127)Hygiene is also
very important to many inmates and is important to anyone’s feeling of well
being yet the basics are unavailable to the neediest inmates and families have no
way to help since products like soap and deodorant and shampoo are not
available at the only vendors families can buy from. The family’s ability to
buy through vendors is made more important by the WIDOC’s unique interpretation of Statute 355 passed by WI
legislature in 2015. Often all or most of money earned by inmates or sent in by families is taken by the DOC to pay
for prisoner debts before the prisoner get any.
128) Mentally ill
prisoners are routinely punished for behavior caused by their mental
illness. The most vulnerable mentally
ill inmates are easily goaded to “snap out “and are perpetually given CRs and
sometimes new cases for assaults. Suicidal thoughts are often taunted and in
general all negative emotions are escalated in this environment that encourages
punishment as the only resolution of every problem.
129) Finally. Time
out of cell for many solitary confinement prisoners is the first thing
routinely cancelled with staff shortages. It is
our information and belief that routinely, most prisoners spend 24 /7 in
cell except for those that have showers out of cell.
Medical care to long term solitary inmates
130) Inmates who have
been in solitary for inordinate lengths of time are not routinely assessed by a
physician. Under WI Statutes, inmates placed in solitary must be under the care
of a physician. However, if an inmate in solitary in WDOC does not request to
see a physician, he is not seen. Despite
WIDOC recognizing the deleterious effects of solitary confinement, inmates in WIDOC
are not routinely assessed for the well-know effects of such an excessively
sedentary life-style on their physical and mental health.
131) LaRon
McKinley-Bey, served 27 years in nonstop solitary confinement, the longest
serving solitary confinement. He was told he would never get off AC and was
told his tests revealed he was an incurable socio/psychopath. In 2016 he took part in a hunger strike that
was well publicized and included public protests. The warden of WCR negotiated
with LaRon and he is now in general population in Colorado, an Instantaneous
cure.
132) LaRon seems to
be the only benefactor of the 2016 hunger strike, for it is our information and
belief that now strikers are not monitored, and the ability of the public to
keep close to conditions of strike or strikers is severely curtailed.
133) Ras Atum- Ra
Uhuru Mutawakkil is now the longest serving administrative confinement prisoner
with 17 years straight solitary His proposal, COMMON GROUND, is a common senseapproach to relieving tensions within the prison while turning the cornertoward healing.(See exh#4)
134) As stated in
beginning of this complaint, some states have joined the international
community in acknowledging the destructiveness of solitary confinement and have
replaced the what many see as a “revenge only” corrections policy with a
healthy balance of treatment , training, and punishment coupled with community
programs that help communities deal with its’ problem in healthy ways,
lessening greatly the reliance on incarceration.
135)Colorado’s
transformation is of special interest to WI residents because the head of CO
system, Rick Raemisch, was WI DOC Secretary. A life changing event for him wasa day he spent in solitary ( see exhibit #5) The rules and principals now used
in CO are well set out in their website. It is increasingly a system that now stresses
rehabilitation and public safety. Present efforts have culminated in the 2017ban on solitary longer that 15 days except for in the most extreme cases andeven in those cases humane treatment and concerted efforts to end theconfinement are mandated.(exhibit #6)
In Sum
136) Plaintiffs seek
relief from Defendants' knowing and deliberately indifferent failure to provide
necessary care for serious mental health needs, it’s arbitrary use of solitary
as a population control tool, and it’s
disregard of prisoner’s basic needs which puts Plaintiffs at substantial and
ongoing risk of physical injury, mental illness and premature death. For the mentally ill and otherwise
handicapped, the Americans with Disabilities act prohibits the very treatment
that the WI DOC most relies on.
137) We believe that
although the whole tapestry of dysfunction is complicated, the details of the
whole system are all rightly brought up here because of their common cause: overcrowding and loss of
mission, evolving from decisions of the 1900’s and first decade of the 21st
century. We believe that the primary bad
actor is the refusal of we, the American public, to accept its responsibility
to its vulnerable citizens. But here we target The WI DOC because they accept
gladly the misguided shortsighted dictums and have abandoned their mission to
rehabilitate and keep the public safe.
138)All efforts to
move the system toward a balance between rehabilitation and punishment have
been met with fake rules and public posturing which is short lived and transits
back “normal” as soon as public attention wanes. Litigation is necessary.
139) Plaintiffs bring
this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983; the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments
to the United States Constitution; Title II of the Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990 (ADA), 42 U.S.C. § 12132; and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act, 29 U.S.C. § 794. Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief to
remedy the gross deprivation of adequate mental health care and arbitrary use
of solitary in the WI DOC.
140) Also, we ask the court to take into account
the growing international and national awareness that long term solitary
confinement IS torture and assert as did
Justice Kennedy (exhibit #7) that prolonged solitary confinement is a violation of human dignity and is unconstitutional, not only when applied to people who are particularly vulnerable or sympathetic, but to everyone.
Evolving
standards of Jurisprudence in the U.S.
141). On his 2011 interim report , Juan Mendez, Special
Rappoteur of the Human Rights Council on Torture and other Cruel, inhuman or
degrading Treatment (CAT) , called on the International community to, among
other things, impose absolute
prohibition on solitary confinement exceeding 15 consecutive days. He concluded that even 15 days in solitary constitutes torture or cruel, inhuman ordegrading treatment or punishment, and that any longer in solitary can causeirreversible harmful psychological effects.(EXHIBIT 8#).
142) Article 1 of CAT (CONVENTION AGAINST
TORTURE” AND OTHER CRUEL AND INHUMAN ,OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT”)defines
torture as: “any act by which severe
pain or suffering whether physical or mental is intentionally inflicted on a
person for such purpose as obtaining from him or a third person information or
a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is
suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third
person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, When such pain
or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or
acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official
capacity.”
143)European
bodies have taken a particularly progressive view on the use of solitary
confinement, allowing it only after a medical examination certifies the
prisoner fit to sustain the isolation and with daily monitoring of the
prisoner’s psychological state. Additionally, the Council of Europe’s European
Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) stated that solitary confinement
can rise to the level of inhuman and degrading treatment and ―should be as
short as possible.
144)In March 2015,
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy was testifying before the House
Appropriations Subcommittee when he received a question on prison overcrowding.
He responded with a sweeping condemnation of the American prison system and
particularly of solitary confinement which, he said “literally drives men
mad.”(exhibit#7)
145). Until recently, the courts have focused on limiting solitary for
vulnerable groups. For example, courts
have ruled that the 8th Amendment limits the placement of people with serious
mental illness in solitary. Courts have similarly found that putting people
with physical disabilities in solitary can violate federal law.146) In his 2015 statement, however, Justice Kennedy invoked solitary confinement as not just another potentially harmful prison practice but as a violation of human dignity: “[t]he human toll wrought” “exacts a terrible price” on all people; and how solitary can bring all people “to the edge of madness, perhaps to madness itself.” Here he is saying that prolonged solitary confinement is unconstitutional, not only when applied to people who are particularly vulnerable or sympathetic, but to everyone.
147) Justice
Kennedy seemed eager to consider whether prolonged solitary confinement is
unconstitutional. If faced According to onlookers, with a lawsuit raising this
issue, he wrote, the courts may have to decide “whether workable alternative
systems for long-term confinement exist, and, if so, whether a correctional
system should be required to adopt them.” In other words, he was saying, bring
us a case.
148) In his October 2016 final report on solitary, Special
Rapporteur Juan Mendez showed optimism about the general trend, though not
without exception, toward reform in the United States. He listed the Federal Government efforts that
chipped away at solitary confinement use including President Obama’s
announcement that juveniles in the federal prison system will no longer be held
in solitary confinement. He also listed state -level reforms, such as Colorado
policy to reserve the use of isolation for “only the most violent and dangerous
offense types,” pending legislation in Colorado
and Pennsylvania to lessen the use of solitary confinement, and further
reform efforts at more local levels—including New York City’s ban on solitary
confinement of those who are under 21 years of age, are seriously mentally ill,
or are physically disabled.
149) in November 2017 , Standford University came out with a report on how
prisoners who endured long term solitary
were doing after release. It sites the devastating effects solitary
confinement has on anyone- whether they go into prison mentally ill or not. The realization that long term
solitary confinement actually causes
mentally illness and a diminished capacity for success AFTER release is also
growing in this country. (“Mental Health Consequences Following Release from Long-Term
Solitary Confinement in California” Consultative Report Prepared for the Center
for Constitutional Rights )
151)Demands
A)
IMMEDIATE
changes to be done immediately(specifics to be
worked out)
1)Property
allowances in various seg units ( details to be worked out- For example, AC[administrative
confinement] is supposed to be non
punitive and should allow all property unless dangerous can be proved and yet
it is one of the most restrictive in property)
2)Books and reading materials to inmates- rules need
to be changed.
3)Guards
who have history of abuse of inmates shown in inordinate amounts of dismissed
inmate complaints must be fired or given assignment with minimum contact with
inmates- give guidelines-
4)Strict
rotation of guards must be instated- no less the 3 months and the incoming
guards must outnumber those left by
two to one. No newly hired guard is to work in solitary units until they have
served at least a year.
5)Cameras
will be worn by guards at all times. Camera shall be placed to cover blind
spots on floors ( those will be pointed out by inmates) and cameras shall
record at each site. Also videos shall be made available to inmates who need
them to litigate- the rules surrounding availability and preservation of videos
need to be reviewed. (At present some guards wear cameras but they take them
off as they desire or point the focus away from the concerning event)
6)protocols
for dealing with Hunger strikes need to be reviewed and updated and enforced so the prisoners are adequately monitored and
the outside has access to information on the strikers. Excessive force is not
to be used and bottled water is to be given where asked. Hunger strikes are a
constitutional right of prisoners. ( at present the prison deal with strikes by
denying their existence, leaving the strikers with no recourse but to quit or
die).
B)Short
term plan For Solitary units:
B1. )The
segregation guidelines published in 2015 but only followed by GBCI shall be
reinstated and enforced (SEE exhibit) . These allow a maximum of 90 days in
solitary for any violation .
B2.) Guards training and
discipline:
B2 a)Guards will be rotated out of
segregation at 3 month intervals. There will be enough guards moved at each
rotation so that the incoming guards
are not just learning bad habits from long time guards.
B2 b)There will be mandatory cameras worn on
forehead in all seg , RHU and AC units.
Cameras will be posted and recordings will be kept in all areas
presently consider the main assault areas by prisoners. Videos will be made
available to inmates who request them.
B3)Extensive
training of guards on how to treat difficult prisoners will be undertaken. Also,
The Warren Statement that prison is the punishment- loss of freedom is the
punishment , will be taught and the myth that the guards’ duty is to punish the
prisons will be debunked in training. The mission statement of the DOC will be
taught and discussed- to rehabilitate offenders and to keep the public safe.
B4)
No one should work in seg/ac units( which are innately psychologically abusive
environments )for more than three months consecutively, let alone years. Guards who have worked for years in segregation
and who have an extensive list of complaints alleging harassment, rapes and
beatings and against them will be removed from segregation duty and will be
assigned to general population and closely monitored there. If the abusive
behavior continues as evidenced by complaints, eye witnesses, and/ or videos
etc he, she will be fired.
B5)DOC
must keep accurate records and make available to the public of the data on
quittings and firings of professional staff
and guards and of staff shortages
of guards, Health service units, Psychological services
unit and physicians and all other services. Only with accurate regular
information can the pubic allocate funds to make up for shortages. Also made available to the public are lock downs
and meals served in cell due to understaffing and overcrowding. NO cells
designed for a single occupant are to have two men in them, let alone one on
the floor. Actual out of cell time available to inmates will be logged each
week , what activities were made available and what was closed due to lack of
staff or other problems. Overtime by guards, forced and volunteer will be made
available to the public.
B6)No
new guards will work in solitary units, seg or AC. A guard must have worked at
that institution for at least a year(?) before being assigned to a solitary
unit.
B7)
Very important for any real change is a change in policy which ensures that the
decisions by the psychological staff overrule security unless security can
prove that the psych staff’s decision opens up an immediate and concrete
danger. IF there is a dispute, the
question goes to the warden.
B8)And at no time will a mentally ill inmate be given
a CR or criminal charges for behavior which is cause by his mental illness.
B9) property allowed : Note: AC is slated as non-punitive and its
residents were allowed all property until Supermax opened and rules were
changed in 2000)AC/ RHU prisoners will provide ALL general population
property where a valid security concern cannot be demonstrated .
B10)All
restrictions on property will be
reviewed with the idea that only a valid security concern warrants the
deprivation. Hygiene will be made available for the public to buy their loved
ones and Books bought off internet shall be allowed in with an email receipt.
The Mandela RULES shall govern a reevaluation of all property restrictions. (Exh 9: The 121 Mandela Rules or the
Standard
Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners , were revised by the UN in 2015. This is a summation
done by theNetherland’s non profit PRI. )
C) LONG TERM)
C1)The
establishment of one or more mental healthcare treatment centers for male
prisoners modeled and operated like the one for women at the Taychedah
Correctional Institution(TCI).
(see exhibit for view of TCI’s center)
a)Note:
We have had alternate suggestions of converting Sections of WCI to
general population AC transition I units. This can be done in addition but a
well run well lighted treatment facility like the one in the women’s prison is
needed and it is our understanding that it was put into the DOC budget a few
years ago and taken out as other priorities arose.
b)What
we are after is effective treatment and programming for the mentally ill that does not exist in
The WI system for males. There is the Wisconsin Resource Center (WRC) but the
stays are temporary and there is little followup when the prison returns to his
former prison. Treatment
suggestion/prescriptions from WRC are seldom followed and there is virtually no
programming. What happens in NP, or north program is not treatment or effective
programming.
C2)OVERALL Goal
a)Our
overall goal is to follow Colorado’s example and end long term solitary
confinement except for the most extreme cases examples . A few months ago CO
banned solitary over 15 days except in the most extreme case. And in those
cases , the prisoners are treated humanely, have appropriate property and
treatment ,are well monitored and leave solitary as soon as possible.
Rick Raemisch, the
former WI DOC secretary now heads the Colorado system and has visited WI trying
to push reform here. The rules and plans they follow are available on the CO
DOC website.
b) Entwined with the ending of our
draconian solitary practices is the need to population reduction. For
overpopulation is the basic reason for this overuse and abuse of solitary. Overpopulation and the attendant staff
discontent/quittings and the lack of treatment-services, recreation etc that
comes with stuff prisons- must be addressed before any real changes can be
done. So far the DOC has provided window dressing in the form of rules that are
not followed and always, the push to build new prisons. Reinstating parole and ending
reincarceration for non-felonies can be done safely and start a return to
balance.
The Wisconsin department of Corrections has
abandoned its mission. It neither protects the public nor rehabilitates offenders.
This must change. Young prisoners, TIS prisoners, are being returned home with
no support, after receiving no treatment and many after lengthy, debilitating
solitary confinement, while older rehabilitated parole eligible prisoners
remain entombed. The way ahead is treatment, training and community involvement
and we hope the first steps are here.
152)
ADA CLAIM
For
prisoners with behavior disorders such as adjustment disorders, explosive
disorders and other mental illnesses which manifest in behavioral problems,
i.e. self harm; or when solitary confinement has give rise to such disorders,
and who are further maintained in solitary because of said behaviors,- that is,
denied access to general population ( “which constitutes a program”)and its
myriad programs, treatment etc: Plaintiffs-(most
fit this criteria)-allege violations of the ADA and section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act.
EXHIBITS
INCLUDED WITH THIS BILL PROPOSAL
EXHIBIT ONE:(Goes with #93 in
text) Ed Wall letter about solitary https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/1wall-essay-2.pdf
EXHIBIT TWO: (Goes
with #99 in text)
“Wisconsin
prison officials quietly changed mental health status of inmates in solitary,
psychologist says” by Center for Investigative Journalism https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/2wi-watch-boivin-article.pdf
EXHIBIT THREE: (Goes with #112
in text)“What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You
Stronger”
Power Point Close look at the mental health treatment center built for TCI,
the women’s prison, as part of the lawsuit: Flynn Vs
Doyle,06-C-0537. (11 pages) https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/3what-doesnt-kill-you-makes-you-stronger.pdfEXHIBIT FOUR: (Goes With #133 in text) “Common Ground” an essay by AC prisoner Norman Green 228971, CCI ( 2 pages) https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/5common-ground-by-uhuru.pdf
EXHIBIT FIVE: (goes with #135) Rick Raemisch former secretary of WI DOC , writes of his night in solitary (2 pages) https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/6raemisch-my-night-in-solitary-2014.pdf
EXHIBIT SIX:( Goes with #135) Colorado bans solitary confinement for longer than 15 days /Denver press 10 12 17 (2 pages) https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/7colorado-bans-solitary-confinement-for-longer-than-15-days.pdf
EXHIBIT SEVEN: (Goes with #140)Justice Kennedy states that
prolonged solitary confinement is a
violation of human dignity and is unconstitutional, not only when applied to
people who are particularly vulnerable or sympathetic, but to everyone.( 2
pages)
EXHIBIT EIGHT:( goes with #141) Juan Mendez, Special Rappoteur of the Human
Rights Council on Torture and other Cruel, inhuman or degrading Treatment (CAT)
, called on the International community to, among other things, impose absolute prohibition on solitary
confinement exceeding 15 consecutive days.( 3pages) https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/9special-rapporteur-two-reports-on-solitary.pdf
EXHIBIT NINE: ( goes with #151 A 3)WI Center for Investigative Journalism did a series of articles an alleged guard abuse in 2014. The guards who were named in most of the complaints are now heading the solitary in WCI
links to articles
on Center’s Website:
EXHIBIT TEN : (151 B10) :the Nelson Mandela Rules,122 Rules
of the Standard
Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners , were
revised by the UN in 2015. We include a summary of those rules done by a
non profit stationed in the Netherlands
Applying the Nelson Mandela Rules from
admission to release (8 pages) https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/10nelson-mandela-rules-summed.pdf
