Showing posts with label 2012. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2012. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Danger in the Prisons

From: Travis N. Barrick, in: Las Vegas Sun, Dec. 17th 2012

Advocating on behalf of prison inmates can be a lonely task. Politicians and taxpayers are understandably focused on the kids and the kitchen table and are largely unsympathetic to the problems of convicted felons.

But there’s an issue developing inside prisons that’s threatening to move outside those walls. It’s looming as a potentially catastrophic public health risk to the mainstream population.

The rate of hepatitis C in prison populations has raised red flags for at least a decade at the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A 2005 study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Infections shows prison inmates are infected at a significantly higher rate than the population as a whole. It also suggests that person-to-person transmission, typically through tattooing, continues during incarceration, making infection all the more likely as more time is spent in an institution.

If you don’t find this sobering, you should, because more than 95 percent of prison inmates are released back into society, according to U.S. Department of Justice statistics. An unacceptable number will carry hepatitis C back into neighborhoods and workplaces, where they will continue living with the undetected disease for decades. They will have ample occasion to spread it in their social circles.

The incidence of hepatitis C among Nevada prison inmates is not known because the Nevada Department of Corrections doesn’t administer a test for it upon entry.

Nevada CURE, a nonprofit group devoted to reforms in the prison system, wants a statute in Nevada requiring the state to administer a routine hepatitis C test to inmates entering the system.

There’s a humanitarian concern: Untreated hepatitis C causes a lingering, painful death, ravaging the liver. But consider, too, the expense of treating the end-stage complications of cirrhosis or cancer, compared with the smaller, controllable cost of the test and some antiviral treatments that are available.

Attempts to discuss a hepatitis C testing regimen with the state prison director have been largely ignored. During a face-to-face meeting in June, Director James G. Cox said immediately that cost would be a concern.

We aren’t sure whether Cox meant the cost of the tests or the cost from the Pandora’s box that would surely follow — the necessity to give lengthy treatments to the hundreds of inmates who would be expected to test positive. It could conceivably be tens of thousands of dollars per case. And the treatment is not always successful, either.

It’s a stiff price tag, but it’s less costly, and less dangerous for everyone, than the current alternative.

In fairness, Cox has a challenging package of responsibilities. He’s running a crowded prison system that has had safety and labor issues. He’s doing the job in the face of a tightening state budget that has left him with limited options.

At our June meeting, Cox said he would investigate the health procedures related to hepatitis C in other jurisdictions. Despite several follow-up reminders to his office, we’ve heard nothing back.

Since we expect the prison director to take seriously a threat to people inside and outside the walls, we followed up this fall with a public records request for information. The state took longer than the law allows to respond, and the documents we received raise more questions than they answer.

Las Vegas is no stranger to the horrors of hepatitis C. Our city is still living with the fallout from an episode in which innocent patients were infected with the virus in a clinical setting.

The disease also is in the spotlight nationwide. After discovering a higher-than-expected rate of infection in Baby Boomers, the CDC recently recommended a hepatitis C test for all adults born between 1945 and 1965.

The rate among incarcerated people is higher still and can’t be viewed as contained if it isn’t even monitored.

Nevada CURE does not regularly tug on the sleeve of the average citizen to ask for help getting something done. But we believe this issue is a cause for general alarm.

Travis N. Barrick is a Las Vegas attorney and vice president of Nevada CURE.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Nevada-Cure Book Drive!

We have started a Book-Drive to get the libraries of the prisons in Nevada filled with some new or some more books for those incarcerated.Books form a very welcome and helpful way of educating, diffusing tension and giving a mental boost to people who are locked up.

Some prisoners have been locked up in solitary confinement for 23 to 24/7 since extremely long time (years...).

The libraries are not a priority of NDOC, nor is education or rehabilitation high on the agenda of NDOC. Yet, libraries need fresh streams of books from time to time in order to keep their goals.

You can help us with the book drive:

Anyone with books to donate to NDOC prisones should contact KIM at (702) 378-1217 and arrange for her to pick-up or take delivery of the books to be donated. She is handling the book donation drive for NV-CURE. Please contact Kim as soon as possible. If you cannot reach her, email [email protected].

This book drive has been a long and drawn out project - and we need to get books to the prisoners as soon as possible.

Thank you for your help.

What kind of books?

Paperbacks are best, because from hardbacks covers will be taken.
Non-fiction: languages, dictionaries, history books and politics, religions. Healthcare books, medical books, spiritual books, etc.
Spanish books, African American books, etc.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Please Sign petition against Predatory Phone Prices

Received per email:
Here is an online petition urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to pass the Wright Petition, CCDocket No. 96-128, that would end exorbitant prison phone rates:

http://www.takepart.com/actions/end-predatory-prison-phone-rates

The FCC can address this nationwide problem by passing the Wright Petition (CC Docket No. 96-128) and setting standards to ensure consumers who must use prison phone services have options for communications affordability and access.

The Wright Petition was a set of recommendations filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2003 by a group of prisoners, family members, and their allies seeking federal action to stop the prison phone overcharging. Many organizations contacted the FCC to urge the agency to accept the recommendations of the Wright Petition.

The Wright Proposal refers to an additional set of filings made to the FCC in 2007, after the agency still hadn’t acted on the original petition. The petitioners sent an alternative proposal to the FCC, asking for reasonable limits on the rates a company can charge for an interstate call from prison and cheaper debit calling options. They are still waiting for a response.

Timeline

On February 16, 2000, the Wright v. CCA complaint was filed in the D.C. District Court.

On August 22, 2001, District Judge Gladys Kessler referred the case to the Federal Communications Commission, under the doctrine of primary jurisdiction.

On October 31, 2003, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a petition for rulemaking with the FCC. The petition sought restructuring of long distance inmate calling services to introduce competition.

In March of 2007, CCR and its partners filed an alternative rulemaking proposal requesting that the FCC establish benchmark rates for all interstate inmate calling services no higher than $0.20 per minute for debit calling and $0.25 per minute for collect calling.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Cure's Expectations for a Justice System

Cure's Expectations for a Justice System


Adopted: September 3, 2012

Because we believe that…

• No one deserves to be measured only by the worst thing she or he has ever done.

• Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and have his or her human rights preserved.

• Justice systems should be restorative rather than retributive.

• There is no way to create a perfectly safe world. Expecting that of our justice systems leads to policies that are counterproductive.

• Detention must be justified by a legitimate public safety concern.

• Those who are incarcerated should have all of the resources they need to turn their lives around.

• No one should be incarcerated for his or her immigration status.

• National and international human rights documents provide a sound basis for ensuring that justice systems meet these goals.

• The politics of fear should not be allowed to influence sentencing practices or parole policies.

• All efforts should be made to depoliticize justice system offices.

• Drug use should be decriminalized and treated as a public health issue.

• All juvenile cases should be handled in the juvenile system that is geared toward rehabilitation and education rather than incarceration.

We therefore believe that the following practices should define our justice systems
with respect to…

ADJUDICATION:

Anyone accused of a crime shall be represented by an attorney who has the qualifications, resources, and time to thoroughly explore the circumstances surrounding the crime and advocate for the defendant. This is true whether the crime is considered violent or nonviolent and whether it is resolved by trial or plea agreement.

The justice system shall understand and consider the individual’s background and accomplishments, as well as the mitigating circumstances of the crime as thoroughly as they understand and consider the aggravating circumstances.

No plea agreement shall occur without negotiations that are done with an engaged and competent attorney, in a manner that does not result in harm to any other defendant, and includes the judge.

Anyone who refuses to negotiate a plea agreement and is subsequently tried and convicted shall not be sentenced to a longer term than was offered in negotiations.

The defendant shall not appear in court in shackles, restraints, or jail “uniform.”

Any action that results in the deprivation of an individual’s liberty shall be decided based only upon the beyond a reasonable doubt standard.

There shall be no loss of voting rights as a result of a criminal conviction.

The criminal prosecution system shall consider evidence of someone’s innocence, regardless of when that evidence becomes available and whether or not the court process or representation was flawed.

SENTENCING:

We shall not incarcerate persons who are mentally ill.

We shall not incarcerate persons who are developmentally disabled.

Juveniles shall never be housed in adult facilities.

There shall be no death penalty.

No one shall be sentenced to life without parole.

There shall be no mandatory sentences, since they prevent adequate consideration of
aggravating and mitigating circumstances.

We shall utilize non-incarcerative sanctions whenever possible. Those include, but are
not limited to:

• Restitution
• Forfeiture of all gains from economic crimes
• Therapeutic solutions
• Restorative/transformative justice (Alternative restorative justice programs shall
be provided to an individual when the victim is unwilling to participate.)
• Community service
• Fines and fees based only upon one’s ability to pay.

No one shall be sentenced to a prison term unless it will serve a greater purpose than incapacitation.

The minimum sentence for any offense shall be only long enough to complete an appropriate, well-defined, treatment and training program. Programming shall be provided in a timely manner.

Time added for aggravating circumstances shall not exceed the sentence for the basic crime.

We shall not give significant weight to prior criminal history when crafting a sentence, without considering the probability that recidivism represents a failure of the justice system.

Felony murder statutes shall be eliminated.

All mandatory minimums shall be abolished.

The cost of the sentence shall be identified at the time of sentencing.

TREATMENT OF THE INCARCERATED:

The Prison Litigation Reform Act shall be eliminated.

Persons who are incarcerated shall have access to earned benefits (e.g. retiree health insurance, veterans health care, veteran’s educational benefits, etc.) in cases where the department of corrections cannot or will not provide comparable services.

No one shall be subject to long-term restraints (greater than 4 hours) unless authorized and monitored by a medical doctor.

Individuals shall be provided timely and appropriate health care. No fees shall be charged for health care.

Persons entering the system shall be evaluated to determine their educational, psychological, and social needs. Every effort shall be made to address those needs while the individual is incarcerated.

No one shall be held for a lengthy period in a facility (e.g. jail) that provides very limited programs and services.

No person shall be held in isolation for a nonviolent infraction.

No person shall be held in isolation for a total of more than four hours for a violent infraction.

There shall be mechanisms to prevent overcrowding, since that contributes to inhumane
treatment.

No one shall be shackled or restrained during labor or if it will interfere with the delivery of medical care.

Every effort shall be made to compensate for lack of education that may have contributed to a person’s criminal behavior. GED classes shall be standard and provided free by the state to all prisoners without a diploma or GED. Aptitude testing and vocational training shall be provided to ensure job readiness upon release.

Individuals who are incarcerated shall be able to access Pell grants and other similar aid programs to facilitate their pursuit of a college education.

Programs, policies, and tools shall ensure that individuals are able to maintain their social networks through fair and friendly telephone, surface mail, email, and visitation services, including private family visits. Restrictions shall be imposed only if needed to protect specific victim(s).

Family members in the free world shall be able to visit any and all incarcerated family members. Subject to security screening, there shall be no limit to the number of persons on a visiting list or call list.

At the very least, persons who are indigent shall be provided with postage and writing materials to facilitate contact by surface mail and at least one call per month to family or friends.

While incarcerated, individuals shall be given responsibilities and decision-making opportunities. Every opportunity shall be made to utilize the talents of those who are incarcerated. Those opportunities may be in the form of facility operation and maintenance, tutoring one another, or providing public services. Where it is possible for an individual to gain certification in an area of expertise that shall be encouraged.

Those who are incarcerated shall receive adequate compensation for the work they perform. Persons shall be paid a minimum wage with a portion going to fines, fees, child support, victim restitution, and savings for use upon release. To the degree possible, community service programs shall be available for interested persons.

The United State shall ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), and shall set up a mechanism that will operate to prevent abuse and torture in the country’s confinement facilities.

No person who is incarcerated shall have administrative, disciplinary, or supervisory power over others who are incarcerated.

There shall be no involuntary interstate transfers.

Housing shall be by consent.

RELEASE OF THOSE INCARCERATED:

Regardless of the length of sentence, individuals shall be released if they become permanently physically incapacitated and are no longer a risk to the community.

There shall be a presumption of parole at the earliest release date. Release decisions shall be based upon validated, dynamic risk assessments and performance (including therapy) while incarcerated. The nature of the offense of conviction and criminal history shall not be a factor other than the impact they may have on the outcome of a risk assessment.

Lack of programming staff shall not be used as rationale to delay release. Based upon validated risk assessment results, persons who have not completed programming through no fault of their own shall be released to the community where they shall receive community treatment and monitoring to ensure their successful re-entry.

Everyone past his or her minimum release date shall have an opportunity for release annually.

No one shall be denied release because of a pending appeal or for lack of a home placement. If the individual is not able to live with family members, adequate housing shall be provided outside of the prison system.

No fee shall be charged by the state for probation or parole services. This is the responsibility of the state government.

Licensing restrictions shall be imposed only if there is a strong correlation between the crime(s) committed and the activity being licensed.

Anyone released from a prison shall have access to a re-entry program for assistance with housing, transportation, job searching, health care, and other needs.

Incarceration shall not be extended through mechanisms such as civil commitment, lifetime parole, or home confinement. No individual shall be subject to residency restrictions.

Community supervision, in the form of probation, parole, or registration shall be imposed only if a dynamic risk assessment indicates it is warranted. Persons shall be listed on police registries only if they screen high risk on a dynamic risk instrument.

There shall be no public registry.

Social security, veterans' benefits, pension payments, etc. shall be available to the person leaving the prison system.

All persons leaving prison shall have their birth certificate, social security card, and state ID card.


See also here for this downloadable document.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Prisoner at NNCC retaliated against for his complaint about Human Rights Abuses

On August 20th 2012 Nevada-Cure sent this message out via email about retaliation against a prisoner held in NNCC (Carson City, NV). Philip Tragale has asked the Courts for a Guardian and/or Lawyer to protect prisoner Daniel Stenner who is blind and mentally handicapped. Mr Tragale filed the text here underneath to the District Court in Nevada on June 6th 2012.

We have another case Mr Tragale filed which contains complaints about a few employees of NDOC who are alleged to be abusive towards prisoners. We will soon post that case here too.

Please write to your Legislator and Director Cox of NDOC to ask them to have an independent commission look into these alleged abuses, and have them stopped.

NV-CURE has not conducted an independent evaluation of Mr. Tragale's claims. However, such an investigation must be conducted by a person that is fair and impartial. The truth and actual events must be made public and scrutinized by the Legislature. Please e-mail / write NDOC Director COX and members of the NV Legislature with your views and opinions on this matter.
Thank you.

The text is published here.

Monday, July 2, 2012

129,000 Lobato Supporters Press D.A. Wolfson for DNA Testing

From: CBS-Las Vegas
July 2nd 2012

(LAS VEGAS CBS KXNT) Advocates for an imprisoned 29-year-old woman they believe was wrongly convicted presented a box of petitions to the Clark County District Attorneys office on Monday, urging DNA tests on crime scene evidence.

Supporters of Kirstin Lobato posted an online petition that drew the attention of justice organizations around the world, and garnered 129,000 signatures. The petitioners want District Attorney Steve Wolfson’s office to cooperate with the Innocence Project, which has offered to pay for DNA tests on evidence found at the scene where a homeless man’s body was found sodomized, sexually mutilated, and wrapped in plastic.

Lobato has served nearly 11 years for the crime. Members of Justice4Kirstin have repeatedly asserted that the waistband of the dead man’s pants and the plastic wrapped around his body must have been touched by the real killer, and that semen inside the body would clearly point to someone other than Lobato.

They claim the evidence used at trial was full of inconsistencies, notably, that the crime was committed six week later than an incident Lobato described to police, which was interpreted as a confession, and led them to arrest her.

Wolfson’s office did not respond to a call from KXNT, but under his predecessor, the office filed a formal objection last year to a request by Lobato’s attorney for DNA tests on a list of items from the crime scene.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Press Release: Nevada Cure (NV-CURE) Receives Grant Award From RESIST

PRESS RELEASE

APRIL 27, 2012

Nevada Cure (NV-CURE) Receives Grant Award

Nevada Cure (NV-CURE), located in Las Vegas, Nevada, has just been awarded $1200.00 by RESIST, Inc., a national progressive foundation located in Somerville, Massachusetts.

NV-CURE advocates to unite prisoners and their family, friends and supporters across artificial dividing lines of race, religion, gender and sexual orientation in order to make constructive changes to Nevada’s prison and parole system: Prisoners helping prisoners, with assistance from supporters outside. We gather information on prisoner abuse, medical neglect, retaliation and other constitutional violations by the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC), publicizing such information and brining incidents to the attention to the director of NDOC, the general public, and the United States Department of Justice. NV-CURE assists prisoners with obtaining access to the courts by providing assistance with the grievance process and aiding them in understanding federal civil rights law and the remedies they have for redress.
To contact NV-CURE, please call or write:

John Witherow, President, NV-CURE,
540 E. St. Louis Avenue,
Las Vegas, NV 89104
(702) 347-1731
or email them at [email protected]

President of NV-CURE John Witherow, a paralegal who spent 26 years in Nevada’s prisons says, “With this help from RESIST we are heading in the right direction. Thank you, RESIST for your confidence in our efforts!”

Secretary Natalie Smith, a writer and retired high school teacher and secretary of NV-CURE says, “I am so proud that RESIST chose us to receive this grant. RESIST is a well-known force for good and has funded many important progressive projects, and now we are among them!”

RESIST began in 1967 in support of draft resistance and in opposition to the Vietnam War. As the funder of first resort for hundreds of organizations, RESIST’S small but timely grants and loans are made to grassroots groups engaged in activist organizing and educational work for social change. RESIST defines organizing as collective action to challenge the status quo, demand changes in policy and practice, and educate communities about root causes and just solutions. RESIST recognizes that there are a variety of stages and strategies that lead to community organizing. Therefore, they support strategies that build community, encourage collaboration with other organizations, increase skills and/or access to resources, and produce leadership from the constituency being most directly affected. In fiscal year 2011, RESIST gave over $342,000 to 130 organizations across the country.

“Each year, RESIST funds groups like NV-CURE because our mission is to support people who take a stand about the issues that matter today, whether it’s to resist corporate globalization, promote a woman’s right to choose, or develop activist leaders,” says Board Chair Miabi Chatterji. “And we believe it’s especially important to help grassroots organizations that might be too small or too local - or too radical - for mainstream foundations.”

RESIST Contact:
Robin Carton, Co-Director of Grantmaking

RESIST, Inc.
259 Elm Street
Somerville, MA 02144
617-623-5110 or
robin @ resistinc.org; www.resistinc.org

Saturday, March 10, 2012

We need a Real Prisoner Advocate on the ACAJ

Anyone wanting a NV-CURE Board of Directors Member to be appointed as the Prisoner Advocate on the Nevada Advisory Commission on the Administration of Justice (ACAJ) should express that desire by writing a letter and sending it to:

Legislative Counsel Bureau
Attn: Director’s Office
401 S. Carson St.
Carson City, NV 89701-4747

The ACAJ membership should include a real prisoner rights advocate.

Be sure to send a copy of your letter to NV-CURE. Thank you.

Our address:

Nevada-CURE
540 E. St. Louis Ave.
Las Vegas, NV 89104

Email: [email protected]

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Question: What is Nevada Cure?



By Gilbert Paliotta
Ely State Prison

Question, what is Nevada Cure? What does it/they do? Has it/they ever helped an inmate? Please, be honest with me. “Help” to me and others like me so that we’re able to take something that was given or done for us and elevate ourselves to a better place than where we were before that help.

Some of these prisoner support groups believe that whatever they do is enough, its beneficial to inmates. On some, albeit minor levels that’s true, but most of us are in way above our heads and need more than that.

Please do not think that I am ungrateful for them doing what they can, because I am not; and, I also understand that a majority of them -- if not all -- are work on a volunteer basis with little or no money.

 I look at things from behind bars, you see things without bars. So everything in my world will always be looked at with doubt, skepticism, like nothing is true anymore. This type of environment breeds distrust.

One thing I noticed in regards to the general public is that they don’t care unless “it” (being constitutional violations, injustices, etc) is happening to a large group of inmates or if it’s happening to one of their loved ones. I would like to change that.

The fraudulent ACLU for example, they only stepped in when it became apparent to them money was involved. It took many years for them to care about the medical abuse at ESP, if they cared at all.

Why did it have to take that long?

My suggestion would be to get involved from the very beginning, even if it’s happening to a single inmate: Jump all over it and broadcast it like it happened to you personally.

Here’s why. Let’s say NV-Cure screamed bloody murder and blew up the Internet with the violations going on with me. For example; that you talked at every attorney possible, stayed in their ear and guilt-tripped them into doing the “right thing”, that you sent out massive emails to anybody and everyone w/an email address, hit every chat room, attacked everyone’s wall on Facebook, and tweeted like crazy, urging them to help you do battle, someone will hear your cry, someone will reach out to you. I believe a closed mouth doesn’t get fed.

By taking on one individual’s situation it does a couple of things. First it sends a huge message to the Department of Corrections that there is someone out there who wants to intervene on the behalf of just one inmate. It makes them re-think their strategy on what they are doing. It leaves them wondering “why”? First, the DOC are bullies: Get hit in the face and they back up; two, it prevents one situation from becoming new situations. It’s tantamount to having a flat tire on a car; if a tire goes flat you fix the tire. You don’t wait for the other remaining tires to go flat before you fix them. That allows one inmate to become an “example” for the entire prison system. If something good happens to one inmate, others want to know about, it’s a “oh Yeah”? That one example is now in a position to help guide others so their situations don’t have to go beyond say the grievance level. That “example” has become a standard. The DOC now must follow because if the “example” was granted this/that/whatever, they now have to provide or allow that same action to the next inmate, four, you establish a “pay it forward” system. That “example”, whether you demand it or not, is going to feel obligated to do the same for someone else and also repay that kindness back to you, even if it is monetary.

If I win any of my lawsuits the plan is to set aside money to hire the services of an attorney for a prisoner whose constitutional rights have been violated. I also want to donate a portion to a legitimate prisoner support group for their efforts. The rest I want to give to my ex-fiancé for the pre-paid flights she already booked prior to my visitation being stolen from us and to the family members who helped me pursue this civil action I have pending in federal court.

 If you can, imagine yourself in my position, and me in yours.

Tell me everything you would want me to do in order to make the wrongs right again. Administration just took your visitation privileges for something you didn’t do, you’ve lost your husband because of it, and other family members are scared to go near the prison because of what they could be set up for. You’re stuck in segregation long past your expiration date. How would you feel?

 What would you want me to do to help you.

 What would you want done to those who attack you while you are in full restraints and beat on you while you are on the ground helpless?


Gilbert has a Facebook page and is looking for friends for correspondence:
http://facebook.com/dreamerspellbroken

Sunday, February 19, 2012

News from NV-CURE

02/19/2012
 
This is an article written especially at the request of prisoners for their Newsletter (Nevada Prisoners' Newsletter, NPN), which is for and by prisoners.

By Natalie Smith, Secretary, NV-CURE

By now, many of you are aware that Nevada Cure (NV-CURE) has been reorganized under new leadership and we are taking a proactive approach to problems within the Nevada prison system .Our new president, John Witherow, spent 26 years in Nevada’s prisons and is acutely aware of the problems prisoners face.

NV-CURE’s Investigation into Abuse of Prisoners

As the NPN is going to press, NV-CURE is sending  out seven (7) more cases of excessive force/abuse of prisoners to Director Cox.

 At our meeting in December, Director Cox expressed an interest in disciplining bad guards, the ones whose names repeatedly make their way to our mailbox as the perpetrators of cowardly acts of violence, sometimes against chained and shackled prisoners, some of whom are old or sick, handicapped or mentally ill.   We have to give the department the first opportunity to correct the problems, even though that method has failed in the past, before we go to a higher authority to force them to correct the problems.

Abuses addressed in the mailing to Cox include a 70 year old prisoner who has tumors and a pacemaker beaten inside the medical unit of NNCC, guards using force only before the video camera arrives, five guards attacking a restrained prisoner while yelling racist slurs and acts of brutality in retaliation for prisoners “seeing” guards committing other atrocities.  Another case involves a prisoner having his face bashed into the wall, and even after his face split open guards continued to bang his face into the wall. This behavior must not be tolerated. Please continue to provide NV-CURE with affidavits of any such incidents you are a victim of or witness to.

According to correspondence we have received, some prisoners condone the actions of the abusive guards, perhaps because the mentally ill are irritating, perhaps because it makes some people feel safer to be on the side of the guards;  or, perhaps those prisoners are receiving “favors” from their sponsoring guards; however,  remember that not all our correspondence is from mentally ill or “weak” prisoners. Once the floodgate of abuse is open, any and all prisoners may fall victim to vicious attacks. Speak up when you see an act of abuse committed against a weak prisoner or someone with a mental illness. Remember, guards are not your friends and condoning their abuse only leads to more abuse. You may be next on the list of prisoners disfavored by guards!!! The old boy system of protecting abusive guards must STOP, regardless of whether you personally like or dislike the prisoner being abused. Join us in the struggle for JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS FOR ALL!!!

Free! Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook!

The Center for Constitutional Rights offers FREE copies of their “Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook”. It can be downloaded by family and friends from their website at ccrjustice.org or you may order it directly by writing to CCR at :

Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook
c/o The Center for Constitutional Rights
666 Broadway, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10012

Order it, read it, know your rights! The Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook is a primer on how to bring a federal lawsuit to challenge violations of your rights in prison via a section 1983 civil rights lawsuit

Become a Member! Invite your family and Friends to Join us!

NV-CURE invites all prisoners to become members. All we ask is a $2.00 donation of stamps. Please send your name ,number and address and $2.00 in stamps to:

Nevada Cure
Law Office of Gallian, Wilcox, Welker, Olson & Beckstrom, LC
540 E. St. Louis Ave.
Las Vegas, NV  89104
702.347.1731 - nevadacure.org

Conference Call Number and Code
712-451-6000
Code: 493815 #

Please ask your family and friends on the streets to become involved with NV-CURE. There is a lot of work to do and we need as much help in the struggle for justice and fairness for all. Nothing will get done without typing, mailing, attending prison commission meetings and more. NV-CURE meets on the last Wednesday of each month at the above address and we invite the attendance and participation of all. For family and friends not in the LV area, they can call in and join the meeting on a conference call by calling conference call number listed above and entering the code.

We welcome any and all suggestions from prisoners. Write to us with your ideas and issues. We will present your information at the monthly meetings.

Unfortunately we do not have the financial resources to accept collect calls or to copy and return documents. We will, however, accept pre-paid calls at the above number.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

From: The Prisoner's Advocate: State’s Meanness Is Shameful!

From: The Prisoner’s Advocate
For immediate release
[email protected]

State’s Meanness Is Shameful!

David Honeman

The high walls and fences surrounding prisons are designed not only to keep prisoners in, but also to hide ugly secrets. That is exactly what’s happening in the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC). It is a well-concealed environment of abusive treatment of prisoners and a waste of taxpayer’s dollars.

One must walk in someone else’s shoes to fully understand and appreciate what they experience, especially adversity. While I’ve never been in prison, I have been an advocate for prisoners and prison reform for over 15 years. In that time, I have visited many prisons, talked with many prisoners and prison staff, and it has been an eye-opening experience for me. The mental, emotional and often physical abuse that prisoners endure daily from unscrupulous prison staff is unfathomable. If the public knew what really goes on behind those high walls and fences, with their tax dollars, they would be livid.

Everyone understands that people are sent to prison as punishment for their crimes. Being separated from family and society is their punishment. They were not sent to prison to be punished, abused, degraded and humiliated. Yet, that’s what is happening in the NDOC. While most corrections employees are there to do an honest day’s work, many feel it is their job to harass, threaten, intimidate and punish inmates for their crimes. They feel they can abuse inmates anyway they choose and not be held accountable for it. To a large extent, that’s true. That’s because most prisoners are functionally illiterate and come from impoverished families, and neither have the wherewithal to challenge the abuse. They have no voice; those who do challenge are retaliated against. Prison administrations cover up the abuse inflicted by unscrupulous staff. So the state wastes millions of dollars annually defending the unethical behavior of prison employees.

Lovelock Correctional Center (LCC) is a prime example. It’s touted as a model prison; however, that’s a huge misnomer. It is a prison filled primarily with sex offenders, homosexuals and dropout gang members. Those are the miscreants that staff loathe the most, and as a result, they are degraded, humiliated and harassed because of their crimes. Officers who gloat about abusing prisoners brag about this reprehensible misconduct; they find it very satisfying. Efforts of this kind are an attempt to beat up on prisoners because they are not liked. People who think prisoners are worthless and feel it is their right, as prison employees, to degrade and abuse them should not work in prisons.

An employee of LCC, who spoke on conditions anonymity said,
“The dearth of leadership at LCC and NDOC is unfathomable. There are no visionaries or people trained in corrections. It’s just a good ol’ boy network of uneducated, redneck racists who think they are executives and are paid as such. The NDOC does not want change, so they don’t recruit outsiders. But, educated visionaries won’t work in corrections no matter what you pay them. Within the last year, LCC got all new wardens, all were promoted from within and none were qualified; therefore, they don’t get the respect of the staff. Most wardens are so shielded by their command staff that they don’t have a clue about what’s going on in their prison. They do little work, instead, they delegate to their underlings. They lie and cover up for their staff’s abusive misgivings. They are cowards and not accessible to staff or inmates. Most hold jobs they are not qualified for, and therefore, are so far over their heads that they only know how to manage through threats, intimidation, degradation and humiliation”.

Citing an example, the employee said, “The shift lieutenant, Matthew Wightman, is a good example. He was promoted through the ranks, and is too uneducated, and has no people skills to do his job adequately. Yet, his title gives him a false sense of superiority. He is intimidated by anyone, staff or inmate, who is more educated than he is; therefore, he loses control, gets red-faced, and can only supervise with loud threats, cursing and degrading comments. To show that he’s in charge, he lies, embellishes reports of incidences, and instructs the staff to do so just to punish inmates he does not like. Staff feels compelled to follow suit because he’s their supervisor. Wightman is so insecure and jealous of other’s success, even inmates, so to feel superior and in control, he degrades and humiliates. He thinks this earns him respect from the staff, when, in fact, they have no respect for him. The administration condones his behavior”.

Caseworkers, who have the most direct contact with prisoners, are often the most abusive culprits. Their jobs are to assist prisoners, help prepare them for re-entry and prepare reports for parole hearings. One employee said, “Those reports are filled with lies. I’ve never read a positive report on an inmate, and no inmate has ever been pardoned from LCC since it opened about 18 years ago. Most caseworkers, like Dwayne Baze, are lazy; they slough off and don’t do their jobs. They are not accessible to inmates; they lie and makeup answers to inmate’s questions, just spin them, and ignore their inquiries. If they don’t like an inmate, then they brag about how they lie and file false reports to paper f---them out of the prison. Even inmates deserve an honest answer and to be treated with respect. Caseworkers feel it is their job to hurt rather than help inmates because they don’t like them, especially sex offenders.

It’s almost comical how incensed prison staff becomes if an inmate is not honest with them. They become offended, infuriated and punish them severely. Ironically, no one lies more than the people who work in corrections! Yet, they demand respect, and act as though they are morally beyond reproach. Actually, many of them are former alcoholics, drug addicts and prostitutes”.

Prisons are run on lies and deception. People who work in prisons are not much different than those they lord over. The biggest difference is that employees have not been prosecuted - yet! Staff, who is honest, will admit that too. Prisoners are facing their wrongs and are being punished for it, while employees see themselves as doing no wrong, and therefore anticipate no punishment for the evil they do. They know if they do wrong, their co-workers will cover for them. And, they do cover up because the union is so powerful and will defend them. One prison employee said, “Our union is no different than a street gang with its unwritten code of silence. We violate our own Employee Code of Ethics daily by lying and covering up the abuse”.

I know that in the more than 15 years that I’ve been involved in advocacy, I’ve never encountered a more mendacious and unscrupulous prison administration than is currently in place at LCC with Robert LeGrand and Quentin Byrne. It’s criminal, not to mention shameful.

While most prison employees do not abuse, they see it done on a daily basis by co-workers and just turn a blind eye to it. In my opinion, that makes them just as guilty. To work in prisons, one must sacrifice their conscience for the benefit of a job. For if they have a conscience, “it” will not allow them to work there. That’s why the average tenure of an employee of the NDOC is less than 2 years. They hate their jobs, they feel trapped, and can’t speak out against all the lies and abuse for fear of retribution from co-workers and supervisors. It’s no wonder that prison employees have the highest rates of alcohol, drug abuse, heart attacks, strokes and divorce. It’s not because they work in a dangerous environment either.

At the end of the day, whether the end of this day or the end of one’s career, all any of us have to reflect on is how well we’ve treated other people. When corrections employees do that, their conscience consumes them, and that’s why they hold that dubious honor.

Prison officials and the media are quick to blame prisoners’ families for introducing contraband into prisons. They place severe restrictions on visits and mail to prevent it. While I would never suggest that people visiting prisoners don’t try to bring in contraband, most contraband (drugs, cell phones) is brought in by prison staff and sold to prisoners. Employees police their own ranks and are not adequately searched. In some prisons, like LCC, employees can bring in coolers large enough for a family picnic, so they can bring in any contraband. Let’s put the blame where it’s due.

Prison jobs are good jobs. Most only require a high school diploma or GED. Yet, prison officers earn more than teachers with Master’s degrees and college professors with doctorates, but are not held accountable. The trend today is to end tenure for teachers and tie their salary to how well their students score on tests. If that’s so, then why not tie corrections employee’s salaries to how many prisoners they rehab or to the recidivism rate? It makes about as much sense.

It’s the power over others that prison staff craves. That power gives them a false sense of superiority. They are quick to judge, find fault and punish, often severely, for petty infractions they are guilty of themselves. Often they lie and file false reports out of revenge. It’s akin to judges doling out lengthy prison sentences to drug users when they are drug users themselves. The hypocrisy is disgusting.

People think everything in prison is free, however, that is far from true. When prisoners get sick and have to be seen by medical staff, they must pay an $8 fee. If they don’t have the money to pay, then they are seen, but the $8 fee is held in arrears on their prison account, and is deducted whenever family sends them money. If they get injured playing sports, then they must pay the entire medical cost, which could be thousands of dollars. Yet, they are not allowed to have health insurance or choose their medical provider. The prison refuses to give an itemized bill showing the expenses. They only release the total amount. Imagine going to the hospital for treatment and getting a bill for $2000 with no explanation. The NDOC recently settled a lawsuit filed by the ACLU over inadequate prison healthcare. Greg Cox and E. K. McDaniel were responsible for the inadequate healthcare that precipitated the lawsuit. Yet they were promoted to director and deputy director, respectively.

Research shows that when prisoners have regular contact with their families that it improves their behavior and reduces recidivism, yet, a phone call from prison is so expensive that average families can’t afford it. A 30-minute in-state call costs $5 and that same call out-of-state costs over $20, a local call costs $1.95. The NDOC collects over 50% kickback on all prison phone calls. It’s shameful.

By their own admission, the NDOC is not meeting the nutritional needs of its inmates. The diets are not balanced or nutritional. The diets consist primarily of fast foods - hamburgers, hot dogs, and corn dogs. Elementary school children get more to eat than prisoners. Poor diets lead to poor health and poor behavior.

A visit to the prison commissary is robbery without a gun. A TV that sells for $89 at Wal-Mart goes for $350, which includes a fee for the electricity to use it.

Nevada is trying to finance the DOC on the backs of prisoners’ families, most of whom are already impoverished. Prisoners must rely on family and friends for money to survive in prison. Fewer than 10% of prisoners’ jobs have pay numbers, and top pay is about $30 a month.

To retaliate against inmates, officers shakedown and tear apart their cells with vengeance, often damaging and destroying their property and stealing their commissary items. Then laugh about it, and say, “what are you going to do about it?”

While there is a grievance procedure in place, most grievances are denied, lost or never responded to. They are denied because the prison knows that most inmates cannot afford the fee to file a lawsuit against them. Those that do sue are retaliated against.

Taxpayers spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually on corrections, and don’t understand why the recidivism rate is so high. There’s a reason why it is so high. People leave prison angrier than before they arrived. I use this analogy to describe prison: If you catch a tiger, put it in a cage and poke it with a stick everyday for 20 years, then turn it loose on your family and friends, what does it do? That’s what prisons do, so it’s no wonder people leave prison angrier than before they arrived, and the recidivism rate is so high.

All crimes are bad and regardless of how one feels about prisoners, they deserve to be treated humanely and with respect. And, given the resources needed to rehab in order to become productive, law-abiding citizens. Prison staff are paid to do that -to help, not abuse.

Given the nature of their work and the power they exercise over inmates, employees like LeGrand, Byrne, Wightman and Baze have shown themselves to lack fitness to hold employment. The harm that can be produced by this type of intimidation and humiliation can lead to tragic consequences. Inappropriate actions by prison staff or statements which could lead to dangerous situations in the prison (system) should not be tolerated. There should be zero tolerance for intimidation by staff as well as prisoners. .

One former employee said, “I’ve never seen a prison employee put in a full day’s work. They have access to the Internet, so they can play computer games and sleep. They read inmate’s newspapers and magazines, often keeping them for weeks, and working the crossword puzzles before giving them to the inmates, who paid for them. While prison jobs are good jobs and pay well, my conscience would not allow me to work there. I was ashamed to tell people where I worked”.

Prisons house our homeland war causalities, the wounded of our unsolved societal battles with racism and poverty. Our prisons have become housing for the poor, those who are the wrong race, the wrong class, and from the wrong side of town, with the wrong kind of drugs in hand.

Prison life is one of never-ending sorrows and sufferings. It is a society of despair, with anxieties and fears fostering mistrust and manipulation. Punishment takes precedence over programs for rehabilitation. Controlled movement and constant surveillance undermine a sense of dignity. Survival and advancement depend on submission and compliance. Anger rumbles beneath the surface, with some predictable eruptions into violence. Prisoners feel alone, sometimes plagued by guilt, often bombarded by stress. And usually they lack support and resources to address their struggles.
Prisoners are regularly shamed and humiliated by a system that is relentlessly cruel. It is shredding to the soul. Even humane correctional officers find it difficult to practice respectful ways when the system rewards and praises harsh treatment.

Where did we get the peculiar idea that further punishment and diminishment of a person’s life will create better human beings? In my imagination, I dream of ushering in new prisoners with the words, “Welcome. The violence and hurt stop here. Here you will learn a new way of being human. Here you will learn to live with dignity and respect for yourself and others”. It does not happen.

We should all be held responsible for our behavior, not just prisoners, but also those who work in prison. Put yourself in the shoes of a prisoner. Would you want to be mistreated and abused? Would you want your child, sibling or parent to be abused, regardless of their crime? Don’t you want them helped?

Taxpayers of Nevada deserve better and its prisoners deserve better.

David Honeman is Legal Counsel of the National Alliance for Prisoners’ Rights,
a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, nonprofit organization that advocates for prisoners and prison reform. He can be reached at PO Box 384, Milltown, NJ 08850.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Feb. 20th: National Occupy Day in Support of Prisoners

Nevada Cure endorses this day of action.

Here is the proposal, made by a group of volunteers mainly based in California. We want to see this in Nevada as well, but we need a group or groups on the ground(s) to make it happen.

Here is the proposal that was accepted by the General Assembly of Occupy Oakland:

Summary

We are calling for February 20th, 2012 to be a “National Occupy Day in Support of Prisoners.”

In the Bay Area we will “Occupy San Quentin,” to stand in solidarity with the people confined within its walls and to demand the end of the incarceration as a means of containing those dispossessed by unjust social policies.

Reasons


Prisons have become a central institution in American society, integral to our politics, economy and our culture.

Between 1976 and 2000, the United States built on average a new prison each week and the number of imprisoned Americans increased tenfold.

Prison has made the threat of torture part of everyday life for millions of individuals in the United States, especially the 7.3 million people—who are disproportionately people of color—currently incarcerated or under correctional supervision.

Imprisonment itself is a form of torture. The typical American prison, juvenile hall and detainment camp is designed to maximize degradation, brutalization, and dehumanization.

Mass incarceration is the new Jim Crow. Between 1970 and 1995, the incarceration of African Americans increased 7 times. Currently African Americans make up 12 % of the population in the U.S. but 53% of the nation’s prison population. There are more African Americans under correctional control today—in prison or jail, on probation or parole—than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began.

The prison system is the most visible example of policies of punitive containment of the most marginalized and oppressed in our society. Prior to incarceration, 2/3 of all prisoners lived in conditions of economic hardship. While the perpetrators of white-collar crime largely go free.

In addition, the Center for Economic and Policy Research estimated that in 2008 alone there was a loss in economic input associated with people released from prison equal to $57 billion to $65 billion.

We call on Occupies across the country to support:

1. Abolishing unjust sentences, such as the Death Penalty, Life Without the Possibility of Parole, Three Strikes, Juvenile Life Without Parole, and the practice of trying children as adults.

2. Standing in solidarity with movements initiated by prisoners and taking action to support prisoner demands, including the Georgia Prison Strike and the Pelican Bay/California Prisoners Hunger Strikes.

3. Freeing political prisoners, such as Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, Lynne Stewart, Bradley Manning and Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald, a Black Panther Party member incarcerated since 1969.

4. Demanding an end to the repression of activists, specifically the targeting of African Americans and those with histories of incarceration, such as Khali in Occupy Oakland who could now face a life sentence, on trumped-up charges, and many others being falsely charged after only exercising their First Amendment rights.

5. Demanding an end to the brutality of the current system, including the torture of those who have lived for many years in Secured Housing Units (SHUs) or in solitary confinement.

6. Demanding that our tax money spent on isolating, harming and killing prisoners, instead be invested in improving the quality of life for all and be spent on education, housing, health care, mental health care and other human services which contribute to the public good.

Bay Area

On February 20th, 2012 we will organize in front of San Quentin, where male death-row prisoners are housed, where Stanley Tookie Williams was immorally executed by the State of California in 2005, and where Kevin Cooper, an innocent man on death row, is currently imprisoned.

At this demonstration, through prisoners’ writings and other artistic and political expressions, we will express the voices of the people who have been inside the walls. The organizers of this action will reach out to the community for support and participation. We will contact social service organizations, faith institutions, labor organizations, schools, prisoners, former prisoners and their family members.

National and International Outreach

We will reach out to Occupies across the country to have similar demonstrations outside of prisons, jails, juvenile halls and detainment facilities or other actions as such groups deem appropriate. We will also reach out to Occupies outside of the United States and will seek to attract international attention and support.

We have chosen Monday, February 20, 2012 at San Quentin, because it is a non-weekend day. Presidents’ Day avoids the weekend conflict with prisoners’ visitation, which would likely be shut down if we held a demonstration over the weekend.

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The website is at: Occupy4prisoners.org/
Twitter: @Occupy4Prisoner
Facebook Page

Friday, January 13, 2012

Was this man framed for the murder of someone who was still alive?

01/13/2012
 
Thank you for taking the time to read this. NV-CURE received this letter and one of our members was his cell mate and believes that the story is absolutely true. Anyway, it would sure be worth looking into:

My name is Richard Milbourn. I have been in prison for 26 years serving two death sentences for a crime that never occurred.

I am actually innocent and I always have been. This past summer I was notified by Nicole Harvey, an attorney in Reno, NV that t he person I was framed for murdering actually died under a second identity two years ago in 2009.

How can someone die twice?

The prosecutors -- four of them, and the Clark County Public Defender in Las Vegas, Nevada fabricated this guy’s death under the name Michael Rushford (DOB 3-11-57)

They claimed he died on June 2, 1985, and they framed me for his murder and sentenced me to two death sentences and sent this guy on his merry way to continue to traffic tons upon tons of crank (meth) under the identity of Kenneth (Kent) Skagg (DOB 5-12-62)

He died  24 years later in 2009 with not a single member of the jury any wiser.

I possess documentation of the truth that I am and always have been actually innocent as the day I was born. The event for which I was wrongly convicted was fabricated and staged on June 2, 1985.

Will someone please help me and investigate my claims? Everybody wants to cover it up and conceal the event.

Richard Milbourn
#23637

ESP
P.O. Box 1989
Ely, NV 89301

Typed up by: Natalie Smith, NV-CURE Secretary

Nevada-Cure News and Articles

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