Shocking Public Comments to the Board of Prisons in Nevada
Posted By Rita on April 13, 2009 
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NOTE: These are various public comments submitted to the Board of Prisons meeting on April 14, 2009. There are five listed, each one of them different, but at the same time saying the exact same thing: The lack of medical care is deplorable in the Nevada Department of Corrections and civil rights are being violated daily. Not only are basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution being trampled, all this occurs at a huge unnecessary expense to Nevada tax payers. All of the comments were sent to us via email.
Denial of medical care, other civil rights violations and NDOC’s use of the federal courts as a grievance process…
“If we handle grievances and discipline in a balanced and fair manner, that eliminates lawsuits, which are expensive and time-consuming…as an inmate, you know you’re going to get a fair shot…” —Howard Skolnik
In late 2006, my husband was forced to file a federal civil rights lawsuit for denial of care for his serious medical needs, needs which had been diagnosed by NDOC’s own doctors. Magistrate Judge McQuaid in a Report and Recommendation to the court wrote:
… Defendants failed to act despite having knowledge of a substantial risk of serious harm. “Deliberate indifference to serious medical needs of prisoners constitutes the ‘unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain,” proscribed by the Eighth Amendment.” …Defendants have denied and delayed Plaintiff’s access to medical care by refusing to follow the suggested course of treatment for Plaintiff’s condition and, instead, merely providing Plaintiff with pain medication (although that is in dispute as well).
In spite of Judge McQuaid’s strongly worded opinion and an unequivocal diagnosis by NDOC’s own doctors, my husband continues to suffer. The violation of his civil rights is worse than ever. As part of a campaign of retaliation, in fact, my entire family’s civil rights have been violated.
I sought help in resolving the withdrawal of my family’s visitation privileges several times. In addition, I submitted a public comment to the April 2008 BOP meeting; but, because no one at NDOC was willing to mediate the visitation issue, we were forced to file yet another civil rights lawsuit. The court allowed the case to proceed in March of this year. We are happy with the judge’s order, but we would prefer to just visit my husband; we haven’t seen him since 2005 and he has two new grandchildren born since that time.
Neither the medical case nor the visitation case ever needed to go to federal court. With oversight, arbitration or mediation, these issues should have been resolved quickly and easily.
Also, please consider that the following civil rights violations are ongoing and recurring. Administrative remedies have been exhausted on each one of them and each one of them, if not resolved, may end up being litigated in federal court. Not only is this immensely hard on my family, it is not fair to the hard working people of Nevada whose state and federal resources are being drained to pay for the complete lack of oversight of NDOC and the arbitrary decisions made by certain officials.
DENIAL OF USE OF MEDICALLY PRESCRIBED WALKER AND/OR CANE – NDOC doctors prescribed a walker and/or cane, yet wardens have summarily rescinded that medical order
STOPPING OF PRESCRIBED MEDICATION BY A NURSE –NDOC had my husband on pain medication for over a year. On his return to ESP from NSP, a nurse summarily discontinued his pain medication, causing further excruciating pain as well as “cold turkey” withdrawal from narcotic pain medication without even medical monitoring, in spite of the fact that the patient suffers from severe hypertension and blocked coronary arteries.
CONFISCATION OF PRESCRIBED EYE GLASSES –Patient’s eyeglasses were confiscated and all requests to see an eye doctor have been denied. This has caused excruciating headaches and eye pain.
A NURSE’S RESCINDING OF NO-KNEEL ORDER PRESRIBED FOR SEVERE DEGENERATIVE DISC DISORDER –A nurse summarily discontinued a no-kneel order that had been prescribed by NDOC doctors. The nurse claims that he discontinued the order because patient had “assaulted staff,” even though that never happened and the disciplinary charges for this event were dismissed.
UNAUTHORIZED TAKING OF MONEY FROM INMATE’S ACCOUNT even after a restitution sanction has been lifted. Family services and my husband’s case worker refuse to discuss this issue; therefore NDOC is taking half of my husband’s money as restitution, even though the restitution sanction has been rescinded by Warden Greg Smith.
CONFISCATION OF SAGE, THE HERB USED BY NATIVE AMERICANS FOR SPIRITUAL PURPOSES It is the first time in almost 25 years that his religious rights have been violated in such a way.
It is outrageous to the reasonable person not only that these gross civil rights violations continue unabated, but that the only recourse for inmates and their families is the over-burdened federal court system. Such unnecessary litigation places a financial strain on state and federal resources. We do not enjoy litigation. In fact, it is ruining our lives. We just want the violation of our rights to cease.
This pattern of retaliation and abuse must stop. My husband has been in the system for almost 25 years. He and his father were convicted of killing the man who raped their sister and daughter respectively. My father in law served 18 years and was released. His son, however, will pay with his life since his sentence was life without parole. But his sentence should be the punishment: He should not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment in the form of denial of medical care, summary denial of the use of prescribed medical devices or the basics of a civilized life for a disabled person. And the people of Nevada should not be punished by having to spend their hard-earned dollars to pay for litigation for issues that should and could be easily resolved by professionals acting as adults instead of as tantrum-throwing babies seeking retaliation.
I have made a good faith effort to attempt to mediate each of the above-mentioned issues with prison officials. Additionally, my husband has filed grievances, all to no avail. No one will resolve or even discuss these issues, leaving us, in the end, no alternative but to go to federal court yet again.
WE DO NOT WANT LITIGATION; WE DO NOT WANT MONEY FROM THE STATE: WE SIMPLY WANT THE VIOLATIONS OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS TO CEASE.
I recently read an article where Mr. Skolnik says, “If we handle grievances and discipline in a balanced and fair manner, that eliminates lawsuits, which are expensive and time-consuming…As an inmate, you know you’re going to get a fair shot, which diminishes the likelihood of something boiling over.”
The administrative regulations are in place, federal law is in place, and Mr. Skolnik’s words express the right sentiment. It is my hope that the BOP commissioners will be able to assist my family in resolving these issues, so that my husband’s physical suffering can end and he can finally meet the grandchildren born since the imposition of this unconstitutional visiting sanction. It is also my hope that we can avoid further expensive and time-consuming litigation.
I am able and willing to provide documentation of every issue discussed herein.
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Letter to the members and those present at the Meeting on April 14th of the Prison Commission.
Concerning: Incarcerated people in Nevada not receiving (adequate) medical care.
March 30th, 2009
Dear Commission members and people present,
My name is Annabelle Parker, I live in The Netherlands, and I am a friend of an inmate in Nevada, Marritte Funches (#37050, Ely State Prison). Mr Funches has serious health problems (chronic disuria, an enlarged prostate, severe kidney pain), and he has been having these health problems since 2004 or earlier, left untreated they developed into severe kidney pains and possible cancer. In Dr Noel´s report for the ACLU, Mr Funches is mentioned on page 18, with these symptoms and these dated from 2004 already.
Mr Funches is being kept on “High Risk Potential” in Ely State Prison, being locked up 23 to 24 hours a day. He receives no diagnosis for his ailments, and no treatment. This HRP-status is not justified by any logic or backed up by any facts. Mr Funches has as little points as needed to qualify for Medium level security. Therefore, the HRP-status he is under is illegal and is used to make him suffer more. Cruel and unusual punishment is what I as a European and world citizen would call this. I am sure that the medical care Mr Funches needs, was, when treated when it started, not very expensive or even life threatening. But since nothing has been done to adequately diagnose what he is suffering from and what he needs to cure this, his ailments have become severe, with excruciating pains and potential kidney failure in view. And this, in 2009, in a time when we have so much medical care to treat the disease that Mr Funches is suffering from.
Due to Mr Funches´ HRP status, doctors are not allowed to order certain tests, and currently he is not being seen by any outside doctors or specialists. There is only a nurse who sometimes gives a painkiller. Without the approval of the warden of ESP, who has continuously denied doctor recommendations, either directly or by simply refusing to remove Mr Funches from HRP, there is no end in sight of the suffering of Mr Funches.
Only upon an investigation of the medical care at ESP, was Mr Funches, along with a few other inmates, sent to High Desert State Prison some time ago, to be medically evaluated and treated. But his HRP status, and specific notes written into his file by warden E.K. McDaniel hindered access to medical care. On numerous occasions Mr Funches´ medical appointments were cancelled simply due to his HRP status. Recommendations from Dr Henff for Mr Funches to be seen by an outside specialist were denied, now by warden Dwight Neven, under the direction of E.K. McDaniel.
From January 17th to October 2nd 2008, Mr Funches was forced to languish and continue suffering from excruciating pain, as his symptoms got worse and worse. Warden Neven had the power to override E.K. McDaniel´s classification, so did Director of Prisons Howard Skolnik. Both whom Mr Funches appealed to in this regard, on several occasions. At one point, in June 2008, Dwight Neven was going to remove him from HRP, after numerous prison staff at HDSP, and assistant warden of programs Jim Henson, spoke up on his behalf, which would have allowed him to receive medical care, and to program. But again, under E.K. McDaniel´s urging, Mr Neven decided not to take Mr Funches off HRP. And so for another 9 ½ months he was forced to languish in pain and misery. Numerous pleas to all of those above mentioned went ignored.
Finally after calls and emails from friends and family on the outside, demanding answers, Mr Funches was transferred to Carson City on October 2nd 2008, to be diagnosed and treated by a specialist. But due to his HRP status, rather than being housed at the Regional Medical Facility at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center, as would normally take place, because this is where the specialist was at, he was housed at the Nevada State Prison nearby. At NSP there was even more harassment. He was even given the psychotropic Elavil, even though it is known that this psychotropic makes disease of urinary way and prostate worse. And in his situation, the last thing he needed was a psychotropic. Mr Funches was taken back to ESP in January of this year, still suffering excruciating pain from a potentially life-threatening illness if left untreated. And although Mr Funches meets all the requirements of a medium security prison, warden E.K. McDaniel refuses to take him off HRP. And with no legitimate explanation whatsoever.
I read the Noel report, and the order of the judge not to dismiss the case of the family of Mr Patrick Cavanaugh, who was denied insulin as an insulin-dependent diabetic patient (and who died from the results of this). I know, that as long as this warden at ESP is in charge of prisoners, of human lives, there will be people held in his prison, under his charge, dying of treatable diseases and chronic diseases by denying them their vital medication. And this is the same for the wardens and nurses, doctors (or so-called doctors) who also do not act upon the facts when an ill inmate is housed in their prisons. As the judge in the recent order of the case of Mr Cavanaugh stated: “…as a matter of common sense, prisoners, as human beings, have the same bodies and suffer from the same medical conditions as the general population.”
Now, ladies and gentlemen of the Commission, and people present, this is what I read on the Nevada DOC website (http://www.doc.nv.gov/medical/index.php, accessed March 29th, 2009):
The mission of the Medical Division of the Nevada Department of Corrections is:
To provide quality, constitutionally mandated health care, using an efficient system of managed care, that is professional, humane and appropriate, and in support of the mission of the Nevada Department of Corrections.
How, I ask you, is it humane to keep someone suffering in severe pains, and not diagnose him and treat his disease? Is it appropriate? I think not. Does it support the mission of the NDOC? See: http://www.doc.nv.gov/about/mission.php?idnum=0 (accessed March 29th, 2009):
Protect the public by confining convicted felons according to the law, while keeping staff and inmates safe.
So how is an ill inmate being kept safe from medical abuse and misuse of medicaments, and absence of any diagnosis?
Let´s see the Vision of NDOC:
A Nevada with no more victims.
So, no more victims, but what about the victims NDOC itself makes? Or, those who work for NDOC?
What about the Philosophy of NDOC?
We will pursue our mission with integrity, act in a professional and ethical manner, be responsible for our actions, and raise the department to the highest standards.
So, if NDOC is responsible for their actions, why do those in charge let sick inmates die, or left to suffer? How can we, the public, keep them to their responsibilities? Clearly the highest standards have by far not yet been reached. Integrity? Professional? Ethical? This is the opposite of what I see is happening in Nevada´s prisons.
I myself wrote letters to the Office of the Inspector General on January 23rd 2009, for Mr Funches and also a letter for Mr R. Egberto (#20632), which I will add hereby. I only received a reply from the Office about my letter for Mr Egberto, which made me not convinced that they would pursue the issues with the vision and philosophy of NDOC in their hearts. When people who support Mr Funches call the warden, or his secretary, or Dr Bannister, they always get the same reply, that there is nothing wrong with him (implying our friend is lying to his friends!) or that he gets adequate care (Tylenol against the pain, but the pain does not go away, and the symptoms surely will not go away!).
The wardens and head of prisons may be proud of their budget in cutting costs for medical care, but the costs of medical care will definitely go up when the NDOC keeps treating those who are ill this way. It is inhumane, it costs human lives, it is unprofessional, unethical, and does not keep the inmates safe. It also costs money. This way of dealing with people has to change. Is it not a shame to be seen by society as inadequate and unprofessional? Or do the wardens and head of prisons know no shame?
Hoping that this Prison Commission has the courage to change the things mentioned above for the better of all, and requesting an independent overview of the prison system in Nevada, so that these missteps in medical care do not happen again, I remain,
Yours sincerely,
Annabelle Parker,
The Netherlands
Literature:
ACLU Class Action Complaint (2008):
(viewed on 29th March 2009)
Dr Noel Report: (viewed on 29th March 2009)
Order by the Judge in the civil lawsuit of Patrick Cavanaugh´s administratrix et al.
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From Sister of an Inmate
My brother was an inmate at the Stewart Conservatory. He was injured on the job in June of 2008. He was sent back to work and not properly checked out. In August because of his previous injury and continuing to work his back was more severely injured. He had Spina Equinus, a smashed spine he also had some crushed nerves in his back. All he was given for pain was aspirin after he left the hospital. He developed sepsis from poor care, which turned to MRSA the flesh eating disease. He was put in isolation for a month with no books magazines or anything.
His continued pain has been ignored. He also has blood in his urine and he defecates blood. For this, he was told he would need another surgery. After an MRI and many letters written by his family to prison and state officials, a date for his surgery was set.
On April 9 2009, he went for surgery, but after waking from the anesthesia, he was told he “did not need surgery,” that instead he needed another treatment. He was told there is only one place in Reno that gives this specific treatment and that Workers’ Compensation refused to pay for the treatment! He is told he will just continue to suffer. Spina Equinus, if left untreated, will leave him unable to walk or have any semblance of a normal life.
Because he was injured and no longer able to work he has lost good time- work time credits, which has set his release date back from Nov,10 2009 to March 10 2010. Because of his deteriorating health his family is terrified for him and believe if he does not get the proper attention he will not make it home. I understand that he committed a crime and he is in prison, but this is very cruel and unusual punishment. Please remember that these are people also not animals.
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Inmates of Ely State Prison address the Nevada Board of State Prison Commissioners
Esteemed board members, Mrs Masto, Mr Gibbons, Mr Miller.
My name is Marritte Funches. I make this statement to you in severe pain, and possibly from my own death bed, after years of suffering needlessly, from kidney and prostate problems, all the while enduring a long list of harassments, but all I´ve experienced and observed over the past 19 years here, compels me to speak on behalf of everyone.
Immediately upon his arrival, E.K. McDaniel began implementing his lockdown-supermax ideology. He closed the school building, shut down the gym, locked down all but one of the general population units, and cut most every positive program we had, the few remaining are now nothing more than a single workbook, which only call for you to answer a few questions alone in your cell in order to complete and receive a certificate. ESP was not constructed to be a supermax prison, or even a lockdown prison. In order to implement this ideology, Warden McDaniel has had to manipulate conflicts and create policies which violate our human/civil rights on a daily basis.
Because it is impossible under these lockdown conditions for us all to receive the federally mandated five (5) hours of fresh air and sunshine per week, warden McDaniel has instituted an entire system of humiliations and punishments, which serve no other purpose than to dehumanize and discourage us from going outside. Going outside, fresh air, sunshine, and exercise, has been recognized by every court in the land to be vitally important, to the good mental and physical health of a person. Although we go outside alone with no other inmates, and the enclosure is searched between each exercise period, we are forced to endure the humiliation of no less than three (3) naked strip searches, two of which include anal cavity checks. In the cold weather months, when temperatures reach below freezing, we´re not allowed to wear gloves or any other extra clothing and there´s no inside area in which we can to exercise. We´re often forced to choose between going outside late at night, 1 or 2 A.M., or not at all, and to further discourage us, while we are outside, our cells are subject to being trashed for no reason.
We´re only allowed two (2) showers per week, two weeks a month, and three (3) per week the other two. Just going to the shower is made to be as humiliating as possible. We are forced to get down on our knees, and to crawl backwards out the door while handcuffed, where leg irons are then applied. Once in the tiny shower stall, we´re forced to get down on our knees again, this time in whatever puddles of filth are left from all the men who showered before you that day. Some of them are mentally ill, or vindictive, so they have no restraint, or they intentionally urinate, etc. for who comes after them to kneel in. Some of these men have HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitus, and staph infections. Suffice it to say, many of us refuse this humiliation, and simply do not shower. But then we are not allowed to receive soap in our cell. Soap is only given during showers, at which time we´re allowed to bring a single small piece of soap (1 ½ x 1 inch) back to our cell, enough to wash your hands once or twice. This is all intentionally designed to keep us from wanting our five (5) hours of fresh air and sunshine each week.
Early on in the McDaniel regime, in order to justify locking down the prison, he created hostile environments intentionally to cause violent conflicts, removing the convicts he knew could keep the peace, and then mixing various gang members, known informants, pedophiles, mentally ill inmates: a sure recipe for conflict and one that that any person with common sense could see.
It is common now to see known enemies being forced to live in the same cell together. When cellmates can´t get along, requests for a cell change are often denied. Men who should not be living in a cell with anyone, are threatened with harsh punishments if they don´t. Warden McDaniel has instituted a policy among the inmates that punishes those who refuse to inform on each other, or to participate in their own humiliation. And he rewards so called snitching, which is really just a tactic used by less scrupulous inmates to manipulate the system by fabricating lies to avoid punishment for their own infractions, obtain extra privileges, and to remove other inmates they don´t like. Men are regularly removed from the general population, and found guilty of write ups based solely on the word of an unknown informant. This leads to many of these men doing more time in prison, due to loss of good time credits, loss of jobs, and parole denials. And as can be expected, it creates a lot of conflicts, including assaults, rapes, and even murder. Warden McDaniel knows this, yet allows it to continue.
The horrors revealed in the declarations of state employees Barbara Walker and Lorraine Memory regarding the interference of warden McDaniel, in the medical care of ESP inmates, is especially telling. Warden McDaniel has likewise encouraged a policy that rewards depravity and prejudice among his staff. Corrections officers are allowed to harass and even brutalize us with impunity, our complaints regularly dismissed or denied outright. The few policies in place to protect what rights we do have are ignored. I myself have suffered many attacks, both physical and psychological, to this day, for speaking out on behalf of our rights, and seeking to expose the cruelties I´ve witnessed such as the murder of a mentally ill man in 1999, known only as Edmonds at the hands of both corrections officers and medical staff. He was a young man in 2006 crying out for help as he revealed thoughts of suicide, only to be taunted by corrections officers as he was moved to the infirmary, and he somehow ended up dead the next day while on suicide watch. Even our efforts to educate and keep ourselves sane under these conditions are criminalized. Simply sharing a book or a bowl of soup is illegal here. In fact any c/o with racist views or religious prejudice can take what ever books or literature they want from us under the guise of “gang activities.” Just recently literature on the Civil Rights Movement, Barack Obama, and pro people politics by authors such as Alex Haly and Howard Zinn were held up by warden McDaniel himself as gang materials, and disposed of.
Esteemed board members, we realize there is an underbelly to this business and an appreciation among some, for Warden McDaniel´s willingness to sacrifice our civil rights, and even our lives, to cut costs, but we wonder at the real cost. Has the board calculated the numerous monies it has, and will continue to cost the state in legal fees, settlements and damage awards, along with the cost to “your” moral authority and standing in the community as families are destroyed by the loss of loved ones who have died needlessly due to lack of access to proper medical car, mental illness and suicides that could have been prevented. These are men who took their own lives rather than endure these conditions. Then there is the cost of young men dehumanized and humiliated to the point there is only hate and frustration in their hearts. Then they are expected to re-enter society well-adjusted and be able to function as productive citizens.
I submit to this board that many of us here want to change our lives, but this will never be allowed to under the regime of E.K. McDaniel. Ely State Prison needs a new administration, one that will respect our rights as human beings, and citizens of this country, rather than treat us as enemy combatants and criminalizing even our efforts to educate and improve ourselves as men.
In closing, I´d like the board to imagine for a moment that there is a great ship on the Pacific. The name of this ship is the Promise and Hope of America, a great ship indeed. But every so often during troubled waters, people fall from the ship and are swept out to sea. Now you have a chance to throw these people a life jacket or you can stand there apathetic and do nothing. The fact is ESP is not a supermax prison. The majority of inmates here do not fall within the standard that calls for them to be locked down this way indefinitely. And as the majority of these men will return to society, it is our assertion here that to allow business to continue as usual, would be a great disservice to the public interest.
We ask that ESP be run as it was built to be run as an open yard with regular access to the gym, school building, chapel, and law library for all general population inmates with inmates in the segregation units receiving 8-12 man yard time, so everyone can get the necessary fresh air, sunshine, and exercise to promote good mental and physical health.
We ask that mentally ill and protective custody inmates be sent to a facility better equipped to deal with their special needs or that in the least they be housed in a separate units to keep the peace and order within the prison.
We ask that two full-time medical doctors be employed to ensure all 1000 plus inmates will have access to competent, quality, and professional medical care that meets the national standard of care.
We ask that corrections officers undergo better training and that the training include a communications course that encourages humane and respectful treatment of the convicts.
And we ask that all rules, policies, etc, already in place, to ensure the fair and professional treatment of convicts be strictly enforced, including the discipline of staff misconduct, abuse of authority, etc.
Marritte Funches
#37050
P.O. Box 1989
Ely, NV 89301
(received via email and typed on April 11th 2009 by a friend)
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TO: Nevada Prison Commissioners:
Attorney General Masto
Secretary of State Miller
Governor Gibbons
FROM:
Mercedes Maharis MA MS MA, Hereford, AZ === For the Record.
Lifetime Member CURE, Washington, DC
Past Director Nevada CURE
Co-founder Spartacus Project
Co-Author Spartacus Project Report
Good Afternoon,
We have become a nation of prisons, but how are we going to take care of our prisoners? We cannot.
What is the true cost of continued Nevada prisoner warehousing?
It cannot be calculated.
Can a Nevada prison sentence become a death sentence?
Yes, it can, and in many cases, it has.
In the summer of 1971, the classic psychological Stanford Prison Experiment asked important questions.
What happens when we put good people in an evil place?
And, does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph?
The planned two-week investigation into the psychology of prison life had to be ended prematurely after only six days because of what the situation was doing to the college students who participated.
Guards became sadistic. Prisoners became withdrawn, depressed and showed signs of extreme stress and began behaving in pathological ways.
Here are four examples of sadistic, excessive force inside Nevada prisons that you may not have seen… worse by far than Abu Ghraib.
1. Defenseless, beaten, still in prison, now with hepatitis C, suspecting reused needles in the medical department, since he was locked in a single cell for nearly two decades;
2. Defenseless, but shot in the back, unable to get prison medical employees to remove the buckshot causing severe migraine headaches. He currently has an open warrant in Florida. Would we be functional after such treatment?
3. A victim. His only choice to relieve excruciating pain was dental extraction in a Nevada prison, but, he was expected to reenter society with no front teeth and get a job. His fate? Unknown.
4. Unarmed, but clubbed mercilessly, out now, his fate also unknown.
On the other side of the equation, there is the issue of the older prisoners devouring the younger ones through domination by fear and sexual assault.
Of the 50 or more outsiders who saw the Stanford prison, only one participant, a PhD brought in to do interviews, ever questioned its morality. The link of this ignored social research is on Nevada Prisoner Voice for your review.
Yet, Nevada prisons continue, defying logic and common sense.
The system is broken, as Asm. Segerblom stated April 2, 2009, at the Nevada corrections committee meeting.
UNLV criminologist, author Randall G. Shelden has thrown in the towel. He wrote last week that he has come to believe that change will never come from inside the Nevada prison system.
December 5, 2000, I appeared before the Nevada Prison Commission to address lack of prisoner medical treatment, excessive use of force and late parole release. But, these issues continue today with no relief in sight.
After reviewing thousands of Nevada prisoner letters and legal documents over the years, we think that the current administration policy and operations are preventing the positive changes that can alter prisoners’ lives, officers’ lives, the family’s lives of both and community progress.
This is why new leadership today in the director’s office and at Ely State Prison immediately. Tomorrow may be too late. Buildings instead of drug programs: ineffective and unacceptable.
The enclosed April 13, 2009 New York Times editorial states, “The most effective programs provide inmates with high-quality treatment in prison and continue treatment when prisoners return to their communities.
Such programs have been shown to reduce both drug use and recidivism. But, good programs are rare, according to a report earlier this year in The Journal of the American Medical Association.”
We ask you to provide critical drug treatment and education to every Nevada prisoner who needs it for the benefit of all. If you will not, send prisoners home under house arrest to get treatment and education.
226 NV prisoners died Jan 1, 2000 to June 4, 2007. Up to date death information? We can’t get it. NDOC does not make it a priority. Mr. Reed, NDOC statistician, wrote me January 22, 2009, “As for the death statistics, I don’t have a projected date. We are very busy with other projects.” Not recording or revealing current prisoner deaths in prisons is unacceptable morally and reveals insensitivity to human life. Five more deaths have occurred at Ely alone since June 4, 2007. See Nevada Prisoner Voice for death information. www.nvpv.us
There were 545 Nevada prisoner lawsuits in federal courts 19 Feb 2009. The bulk of the work for the federal court in Reno is from NV prison inmates at Ely State Prison.
These 20 positive changes will avoid future litigation and create a safer, productive environment for the benefit of all:
* Humane Nevada Prison Conditions
* Effective Medical, Dental and Mental Health Care in Nevada prisons
* Immediate Food, Clothing, Shelter and Exercise Relief
The recent reported food and milk reduction… two packets of dried milk down to one at Ely, for example, is unacceptable. Withholding food is inhumane. We also brought this up to the Governor’s Committee on Corrections about a decade ago, but, still, there is no relief.
Accreditation to Professional Standards, that we also requested at legislature a decade ago. No standards for facilities is disastrous for prisoners and staff.
* National Commission on Correctional Healthcare (NCCHC) Accreditation
* American Correctional Association Accreditation
Concerning prisoner jobs:
* Expansion of Nevada Prison Industries and Agriculture
* Termination of Discriminatory Practices in the Nevada Prison Industries’ Classification Process
* Minimum Wages for Prison Workers
Concerning confinement:
* Closure of All Nevada Prison Control Units
* Termination of Perpetual Lockdown status for Ely State Prison, Ely, Nevada, with no due process re classification
NOTE: Administrative Segregation is solitary confinement, and highly destructive to the human psyche per expert psychiatrist Dr. Stuart Grassian’s 59 page report: http://law.wustl.edu/Journal/22/p325Grassian.pdf This report is also linked on the Nevada Prisoner Voice website.
* Removal of the civil justice system for Ely State Prison from White Pine County to Clark County, Nevada
* Termination of Mixed Classifications Policy and Practice to stop future Sexual Assault and Rape
* Access to Nevada Department of Corrections’ Official Reports and Statistics
* Termination of Nevada Prison Censorship, including mail, and Retaliation for Political Activism
* Reinstatement of Hardback Books, Typewriters, and Regular Pens for Fair Access to Education and Communications
* Introduction of personal netbooks as personal learning tools and to enable computer literacy
* Termination of mailroom personnel interference with US mail
* The Appointment of Volunteer Ombudsmen for Each Nevada Prison Facility
* A Prison Monitor Corps of Retired Educators and Business Professionals whose duties include audit and oversight of the prison budget, time keeping, the grievance system.
And lastly,
* Termination of prisoner family money confiscation without due process.
After reviewing Nevada Prison Commission minutes 1996 to the present day, we can find no record of Nevada commission members Board of Prison Commissioner ever discussing or carrying out this duty that NRS 209.382 mandates:
The board shall take appropriate action to remedy any deficiencies that the State Health Officer reports after examination of medical, dental services, diet of offenders, sanitation and safety in institutions and facilities. NRS 209.382.
You must also reinstate the semi-annual health inspections, all but discontinued though they are still mandated by law.
Otherwise, you will have failed to fulfill your jobs to protect the health and welfare of Nevada prisoner, wards of the State of Nevada.
If you will not do this, then you must send prisoners home today under house arrest and let their families find the health care that so many desperately need.
Prisoners are people, human beings with gifts and talents that can be uncovered with proper guidance under your wise supervision.
No==to preventable suffering and deaths. No==to prison officials’ medical malpractice. No==to homicidal neglect. Yes==to immediate positive change!
In closing, Commissioners, you have the power to see that Nevada prison officials and employees do no harm and that our prisoners return to society better than when they entered prison.
It is possible that the three of you could win the Nobel Peace Prize if you decide to empower our Nevada prisoners to succeed.
Thank you,
Mercedes Maharis MA MS MA
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