NDOC: Forty Five (45) Prisoner Deaths in One (1) Year

On Tuesday, July 7 at 9 am. NV-CURE President John Witherow will be interviewed on Nevada Public Radio 88.9 FM on this subject. 

This comes from our Informational Bulletin nr 12, 2015:

Forty five people have died in custody in Nevada’s prison facilities since August, 2014. Four committed suicide.

One was shot by a prison guard. One died of cardiovascular disease and the rest are either deaths caused, according to NDOC, by “medical condition”, unknown”, “natural”, or “prolonged illness”. We want to know the causes of death and whether any of these deaths are attributable to the Hepatitis C virus.

This information was provided to NV-CURE by an NPR Senior Producer Joe Schoenmann and former Correctional Officer Mark Clarke, whom we thank for their time and efforts regarding this matter.  We hope that further investigation will reveal the facts regarding each of these
deaths.

Not one noted death is from hepatitis C, even though we know that the prevalence of that disease is much higher than in the population at large and we know that NDOC gives very little treatment for this very treatable disease. Allegedly, many of these deaths are “under investigation”, and NV-CURE finally has volunteers willing to keep track of each death, order the coroner’s report, which is a matter of public record, if necessary, and log the deaths on a spreadsheet, making sure that the media, legislators and the US DOJ are made aware of the high number of deaths due to disease. It is estimated that 12-35% of prisoners nationwide are infected with the Hep C virus. We will never know exactly how many prisoners are infected with the disease, until we have testing, which the Nevada legislature and the NDOC refuse to provide.

NDOC claims that they are investigating the potential of providing hospice care, but we have seen no action yet on that claim.

On Tuesday, July 7 at 9 am. NV-CURE President John Witherow will be interviewed on Nevada Public Radio 88.9 FM on this subject. A recording of the program will be posted on our website, Nevaacure.org.  Thank you for your attention to this problem.

Suicide at HDSP because of Lack of Medical Care for Chronic Pain

We received this letter anonymously, which shows an alarming issue: 

Truman Walker asphyxiated himself by hanging, on Friday November 8th 2013, in High Desert State Prison (HDSP), Nevada, because he was afforded no proper medical care, that is supposed to be necessitated by the State of Nevada (Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC).

According to a written noteleft behind explaining his medical situation and supposedly now in State's evidence, Truman Walker was in such physical pain that he was forced to take his own life.

The most common response inmates receive from medical doctors, nurses and staff is that there is no treatment offered for chronic pain. Furthermore, HDSP does not even diagnose the cause and/or source of the pain.

In the past ten years this complete indifference to medical attention has been ignored year after year, death after death, with no accountability.

Anything you could do to assist Truman Walker's family in knowing the truth of his situation would be greatly appreciated. 

See here for the original letter.