Special Edition Newsletter on Hep C lawsuits out now!

Here is our Special Edition Informational Bulletin nr 21A (Feb. 2017) on Hep C lawsuits that went out to all NV prisoners in contact with NV-CURE regarding representation in a class action lawsuit.  It was not sent to all our Members. You may download, print and send to other prisoners.

Front part of our extra IB 21A (Feb. 2017) about a Hep C class action.

After Orange Halfway Home for women

By Cassandra Marie
In: NV-CURE Informational Bulletin (IB) Nr 21 (January 2017)

Cassandra and Jamie, sisters, come from loving parents and a loving home. Jamie was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 10-25 years in prison. That was the beginning of our experience with the prison system. We obtained approval to visit and discussed the things we could do to make a difference.  Jamie has been incarcerated for nearly 10 years now.

With 2.3 million people incarcerated in our country and a 68% recidivism rate, we came up with a concept to follow people as they left prison. Where would they go, what would they do, and who would they hang out with? I started documenting women leaving FMWCC more than 3 years ago. I called the project After Orange. I have witnessed a variety of behaviors from the women I’ve interviewed and followed. From reconnecting with friends and family, going to Hope For Prisoners, turning to prostitution, and dipping back into old behaviors. We have learned of the many problems and issues in and around the NDOC.

One of these issues is the unanswered demand for housing when women are released. On November 1st, 2016, I opened “After Orange: Halfway Home”, a nonprofit transitional home for women being released from prison. We also documented a series about the women’s journey through and after their incarceration. We had a desire to help women who are ready to change their lives, partnering with community organizations like Hope For Prisoners, LV Urban League, FIT, Larson’s Training Center, NV CURE, God Behind Bars, LV Public Defenders, The Metropolitan Police Department, Private Practicing Lawyers, Department of Parole and Probation, and The District Attorney’s office. We bring trauma healing experts into our home and we’ve cultivated a healthy daily program with a set curfew, daily house meetings, house maintenance, substance abuse meetings, spiritual avenues, and structured life mapping to help women live their absolute best lives while giving back to their community. There is accountability in our home, primarily driven by our residents keeping each other in check.

After Orange: Halfway Home is only for women who want to live their absolute best lives. Our vision of helping female ex-offenders is taking shape. My sister and I are committed to bringing positive change to the prison culture in our country. Jamie goes to the parole board this March 2017, and upon release, she will be assisting to move this project forward from the outside.

The women from After Orange Halfway Home have been volunteering for NV CURE, helping with office duties and are very happy to give back to their community. If you are a woman inmate interested in living at our home, please write a 250 word statement about your story and why you’re ready to live your absolute best life and send it to NV CURE, Attn: After Orange Halfway House, 540 E. St. Louis Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89104. We will send you an application and look forward to hearing from you. Please spread the word.

Nevada Cure asks for financial help in pursuing the case to get prisoners with Hepatitis C treated

NV-CURE, a non-profit prisoner advocacy organization, is requesting financial assistance to prosecute a class action civil rights/ADA lawsuit to require Nevada prison officials to provide all prisoners infected with the Hepatitis C Virus with the cure for the disease.

Unfortunately, we are without the financial resources to pursue the case. We have several small legal firm attorneys willing to pursue the case, however, these firms are also without the financial resources to pursue the case through the class certification and preliminary injunction stage of the case. We need help.

Similar class action cases are being pursued in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Delaware, Minnesota, and Tennessee and should be pursued in every other state. Prisons are a breeding ground for this virus. It is estimated that less than 1% of the general population in the USA is infected with this virus and 17% of the prison population in the USA is infected with this virus. The eradication of this virus in the prison population would reduce the rate of infection in the community, as at least 95% of prisoners are returned to our communities.

NV-CURE is seeking $150,000.00 to finance this litigation through the class certification and preliminary injunction stage of the proceedings. Will you help finance this litigation? If you are able to help, know of a person or organization that may be willing to help, or know of a source of funding for this project, please communicate with me regarding the matter.

As recently recognized in an opinion and order granting a preliminary injunction to Mumia Abu-Jamal in his Hepatitis C case:

"Here, the only conceivable injury Defendants will suffer is monetary. As a result of the grant of this injunction, Defendants will be required to treat Plaintiff with expensive medication. While the Court is sensitive to the realities of budgetary constraints and the difficult decisions prison officials must make, the economics of providing this medication cannot outweigh the Eighth Amendment's constitutional guarantee of adequate medical care. See Monmouth City Corr. Inst. Inmates, 834 F.2d 326, 336-37 (3rd Cir. 1987)"

All prisoners infected with the hepatitis c virus must be provided with the cure for this disease. Please help in this movement to eradicate this disease from the prison system. Your assistance  would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Nevada Cure Agenda for our November Monthly Meeting

MONTHLY MEETING AGENDA

For November 30th, 2016, at 6:30 PM 

Law Office of Gallian, Welker & Beckstrom, LC

Meeting Location:

Conference Room
540 E. St. Louis Ave.
Las Vegas, NV 89104

Tel.: 702.347.1731
Email: [email protected]
Web: Nevadacure.org

Conference Call Number and Code:

712-432-0926
Code: 493815#

The following is the Agenda for the NV-CURE Monthly Meeting:

You can download the Agenda here.

Nevada Cure to the ACAJ: Revise the entire Nevada criminal sentencing system

As presented to the Advisory Committee on the Administration of Justice (ACAJ), August 31st, 2016 (postponed to Sept. 12th)

Nevada Cure Position on the NV Criminal Sentencing System, part 2 (8-31-2016)

Nevada Cure presentation to ACAJ 8-31-2016 Sources

Nevada Cure Position on the NV Criminal Sentencing System, part 1 (05-06-2016)

To NDOC: STOP RETALIATION against prisoner for filing grievances and lawsuits

The grievance process in prisons was ESTABLISHED TO GIVE PRISONERS A LEGITIMATE MEANS OR AIRING THEIR COMPLAINTS - as a direct result of the Attica Rebellion (1971). The Attica Rebellion occurred because prisoner had a no legitimate means of having their grievances and complaints heard by the prison administration.

NV-CURE would like to see the NDOC STOP RETALIATION against prisoner for filing grievances and lawsuits.

NV-CURE has been trying to stop this retaliation for a very long period to time.  Nothing has been done to stop it.  The retaliation has not stopped and has, in fact, increased. Something must be done.

We want the retaliation in Nevada prisons to stop and we would sincerely appreciate the Director taking action to stop it. 

Below is a letter from a prisoner at Ely State Prison (ESP) about retaliation by guards to prisoners who speak up on the conditions inside:

Retaliation is running rampant within NDOC.

7-29-2016

Because I wrote grievances and letters to the Director regarding the conditions in Unit 8 at S.D.C.C., when Assistant Warden (AW) Adams received a copy of the letters I had written to Director Dzurenga, I was put on a special trans[port] to Ely State Prison (ESP) within a week and when I arrived at ESP, I was confronted by Sgt. Manning [whom] I had sued in 2008, and [I was] verbally threatened, then he told all the officers in the area:

"This one likes to take you to court, make sure he gets special treatment,"

and when I received my property two days later, many items were missing, including such things as my CD-player, AC/DC adaptor, beard trimmers and other small items like bowls, watch, etc.

All of the appliances were on my property card and were inventoried prior to transfer, but they have now vanished.

Property officers also removed my heart- and bloodpressure medication from my property and now I have gone eleven (11) days so far without any medication even after filing an Emergency Grievance and kites to Medical.

Now let me tell you about the food that is being served here at ESP now.

Meals are now served on small styrofoam trays (very small), the portions have been cut down to maybe a quarter of regular, and now we are served only items like hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken patties every day.

Tonight's dinner was one chicken patty, eight french fries and a bun, no desserts or anything. Lunch was two slices of bologna, four slices of bread, and two crackers period. Breakfast was one fried egg, five  tater tots, two table spoons of oatmeal and the same of fruit cocktail. This is no way nutritionally adequate compared to a 2000 calorie diet standard set by federal guidelines for dietary standards. 

I have begun the grievance process on both of these issues and fully intend to file a lawsuit regarding this and other issues like my disciplinary hearing where I was denied witnesses after I filed grievances regarding conditions,...

John Witherow's grievance on prisoners with HIV being housed separately (AR610)

THis is a grievance filed in 2007, by John Witherow (now Director of Nevada-Cure) about discrimination against him and persons infected with HIV, His text is posted below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B07-M217YPaXUm9OOHVKc2pGWTdwYjNsUzZkeGVFYVZjWVEw/view?usp=sharing

Nevada Department of Corrections
Informal Grievance

By: John Witherow, #29313
Nevada State Prison, unit 11c11
Date: 1-6-2007

Lognr: GR 2007-4-655

Grievant's Statement:
The NDOC unconstitutionally discriminates against me and persons infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

AR610, HIV Status & A.I.D. Syndrome (8/25/03), discriminates against persons infected with the HIV by requiring that person to live in a cell only with another person infected with HIV.

AR 610.01.1.4.2.4, pg. 4. The regulation contains no provisions allowing a person infected with HIV to live in a cell with a person not infected with HIV when the non-infected person is aware of the HOV-status of the other person and those persons voluntarily request/consent to live together in the same cell. That is housing discrimination.

There is no legitimate or reasonable penological purpose of goal served by requiring a person infected with HIV to live only with another person infected with HIV. HIV is transmitted from one person to another by the same methods Hepatitis C is transmitted from person to person.
Both are potentially harmful viral infections.

The NDOC does not have a regulation requiring persons infected with hepatitis C to live in a cell with only another person infected with hepatitis C and, in fact, regularly assigns persons infected with hepatitis C to live in the same cell as a person not infected with hepatitis C, without advising the non-infected person of the hepatitis C-status of the infected person and without obtaining te consent of the non-infected person. This reflects the discrimination of the NDOC against persons infeced with HIV, as opposed to persns with hepatitis C, and the unequal treatment provided by the NDOC in the handling of various viral infections transmitted by the same methods. The same procedures should be followed in both cases.

There is no legitimate reason for refusing to permit an HIV-infected person from living with a non-HIV-infected person in the same cell when both persons are aware of the methods of transmission of the virus and have requested/consented to live together in the same cell. This would also apply to other viral infections. Knowledge of the infection and the methods of transmission are essential to an informed decision by non-infected and infected persons to live in the same cell.

Based upon the foregoing, I respectfully request that AR 610 be immediately revised to eliminate the housing discrimination and the unequal treatment of harmful viral infections. Those revisions should address all of the matters referenced herein and provide for an educational program for all prisoners on these and other viral infections and their methods of transmission.

I further request any and all declaratory, injunctive and monetary relief which may be available to remedy any and all unlawful discrimination or unequal treatment which may have been perpetrated against me by the NDOC in my housing assignments or requests for housing assignments during my confinement by the NDOC.

I am willing to discuss the required revisions to AR 610 to eliminate the discrimination and unequal treatment referenced herein and to provide constructive imput on the revisions required.
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