Latest actions in Solitary suit: two orders from Judge Crabb and official version of complaint:
complaint:
Court order 7 31 18:
Court order 7 6 18
https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/judge-crabb-order7-2-18.pdf previous posts
Today, June 25th, our long awaited lawsuit against the over use and abuse of solitary confinement went into the mail- a big effort spanning many years between prisoner litigators and FFUP
Letters to the judge needed-for more information,click here
Below, by scrolling , you can read the complaint on this blogpost, which has links to the exhibits. There is little formatting on this wonderful free blog, but it does the job. To view and print on pdf click here:
https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/1acomplaint-final.pdf
These documents went to the court with the complaint:
1) Cover Letter to Clerk of Court/ https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/cover-letter.pdf
2) Letter to Judge/https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/honorable-judge.pdf
3)copies of plaintiff's forms accepting FFUP as submitter of suit and verifying the accuracy of their individual complaint.
4) Listing of attempts to secure a lawyer/Law Firm/
https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/lawyer-tries-for-suit.pdf3)copies of plaintiff's forms accepting FFUP as submitter of suit and verifying the accuracy of their individual complaint.
5) Exhibits accompanying the complaint:http://www.prisonforum.org/2018/06/exhibits-included-with-our-complaint.html
BELOW IS TEXT OF COMPLAINT FOR CLASS ACTION
AGAINST OVERUSE AND ABUSE
OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
sent to the court on June 25, 2018
 | ||
| Animal in a Cage
United States District Court Western district
Many possible prisoners, on behalf
of themselves and all others similarly situated/
All Plaintiffs are or have been in long term
solitary confinement in WI prisons
Joshua
Scolman; Kamau Damali( Raynell Morgan),
Robert Ward, Dennis Mix, Fredrick
Andrew Morris ,Scott
Brown, Timothy Sidney, Jovan Williams
v. Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin; Jon Litscher, Secretary, Wisconsin Department of Corrections (WDOC); James Greer, Director, WDOC Bureau of Health Services (BHS); David Burnett, M.D., Medical Director, BHS; Kevin Kallas, M.D., Mental Health Director, DAI Administrator; Wardens of CCI , WCI , GBCI and WSPF; Security directors at CCI,WCI,WSPF; PSU Directors at CCI, WCI,GBCI, WSPF; HSU Managers at CCI, WCI,GBCI, WSPF ; unnamed John And Jane Does ,staff of CCI, WCI, WSPF and GBCI
CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT or Joinder action
FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF
NATURE
OF THIS ACTION
1) Plaintiffs are all individuals
who have been or are currently housed in solitary confinement for long periods
of time in Wisconsin’s adult male prisoners. Regardless of its label,(segregation,
administrative confinement, restrictive housing etc,) extensive research shows
that the practice of subjecting individuals to extreme isolation causes pain,
suffering, psychological and emotional trauma, physical injury, and, in extreme
cases, death.
2) Plaintiffs allege that solitary
confinement is imposed arbitrarily as a population control tool and conditions
of confinement in Wisconsin solitary units constitute cruel and unusual
punishment. It also imposes upon those subjected to it atypical and significant
hardships, in violation of the eighth and Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
3) Plaintiffs further allege that
there is a system wide failure to provide the minimum standard of safety,
health care, mental health treatment or programming, food or hygiene to
prisoners in solitary. They further allege that the WDOC’s overuse of solitary
confinement causes and has caused psychological decomposition and has,
generally, been injurious to the well-being of the plaintiffs and others
similarly situated; that the WIDOC is aware of this but has not taken any
serious steps to correct those failures other than window dressing in response
to public, media, and legislative outrage.
4) Plaintiffs
bring this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983; the Eighth and Fourteenth
Amendments to the United States Constitution; Title II of the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 42 U.S.C. § 12132; and Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. § 794. Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive
relief to remedy the gross deprivation of adequate mental health care and
arbitrary use, overuse and abuse of solitary in the WI DOC.
5) Further, Plaintiffs claim Human
Rights Violations under various Supreme Laws of the Land, Treaties, Conventions,
Covenants made in concert with other nations. Both the
Wis. constitution and federal constitution embrace customary principles of law.
(A)
ARTICLE VI sect 2
of U.S.A. Constitution states:” all Treaties made, or which shall be made,
under the Authority of the United
States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State
shall be bound thereby”
6)
Major
among the human rights treaties dealing with prisoners and signed by US are:
a) UDHR: United Nations Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. (UDHR)” signed BY 48 nations including the US in 1948
b) CAT :”The “CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE” AND OTHER CRUEL AND INHUMAN ,OR DEGRADING
TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT” ratified by United
States of America on October 21st,
1994
c) MANDELA RULES: a revised addition of
the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners ,these were adopted
unanimously On December 17, 2015, by the
70th session of the UN general assembly .
d) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights -The ICCPR is a key
international human rights treaty, providing a range of protections for civil
and political rights. The ICCPR, together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic Social
and Cultural Rights, are considered the International Bill of Human Rights.
e) International law of JUS COGENS, which
is a peremptory norm , a fundamental principle of international
law that is accepted by the international community of states as a
norm from which no derogation is permitted.
JURISDICTION
7) This Court has subject matter jurisdiction of this action
pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 because this action arises under the Constitution
and laws of the United States, and pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1343(a)(3) because this action seeks to redress the deprivation,
under color of law,
of Plaintiffs' civil rights.
8).This
Court has jurisdiction to grant declaratory relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C.§§ 2201
and 2202, and Rule 57 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
9).This
Court has jurisdiction to grant injunctive relief pursuant to Rule 65 of the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
VENUE
10).
Venue is proper in this judicial district pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b)
because some Defendants reside in this district and because a substantial part
of the events and omissions giving rise to Plaintiffs' claims occurred in this
district.
Parties
11)(A) Joshua Scolman 422508 WCI ( bd1983,34y.o.)
( Arbitrary placement on AC-
deteriorating mentally)
Mr
Scolman has been incarcerated for 11 years. H e has been placed in solitary
confinement on numerous occasions for from 3 months to a year. In 2016 he
served a year in solitary and then was placed on A/C.
12)
He participated on the 2016 hunger strike that protested solitary confinement
conditions and wrote an affidavit that testified that his mental faculties were
deteriorating due to the psychological torture he was enduring and that after
he was through with the disciplinary side of his solitary, they were going to
place him on AC.
13)
His description at the time: “I’m subject
to psychological torture, which leads to continual deterioration of my mental
faculties. I am denied human contact, which leads me to further anti-social
behavior, which in turn causes me more problems. It is a slippery slope. I am
currently held in a cell with a window facing a brick wall, no view of nature,
the sky, sun or outside life. …. I have contracted many psychological “ticks”
such as OCD, communication problems, and PTSD.
I’m continually stressed out over insignificant things. And it’s only
getting worse. “
14)
He is asking for help in getting a transfer out of WCI as he’s been housed
there for 11 years and feels he is being constantly harassed and retaliated
against and believes a new start would help.
We
ask for injunctive relief to facilitate this exit from WCI.
15)His
original AC status was because he assaulted a staff member. He states the staff
member was shouting obscenities at him, approached his cell door and Scolman
reacted. After being placed on AC he was accused of being a member of the Aryan
Brotherhood which he attests was fabricated.
16)Mr Scolman has gone over 2 yrs without being allowed to worship his religions of Asatru/Odinism due to lack of religious property and religious services at RHU. These issues are a violation of his rights under RLUIPA(Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act ), and seriously harm him spiritually and morally. Odinism is an allowed religion in GP. There are services every other week and all religious property is allowed in cells in GP. This applies to all religions. Mr Scolman contends that the DAI- WDOC policy actually allows these items in RHI but WCI refused to let Joshua Scolman have them even though they are approved and in his property. Long term seg is impeding his worship.
17)Mr
Scolman has gone 2 years without any outside rec as all rec cages are indoors.
This lack of outside exposure creates serious health risks to Mr Scolman ‘s
mind and body. There is no outside rec in RHU/WCI.
18)
Mr Scolman has deteriorated precipitously in solitary, feels he is severely
depressed, overwrought with stress he is unable to bear, and has been
psychologically disabled. He is receiving some treatment and is still at risk
for an imminent psychological breakdown which is not being taken seriously.
19)
He explains the treatment he receives is a “monthly visit with the psych who
only talks about things that MAY help.
But I keep trying to explain that I have no concentration or focus anymore. I
can’t even read or watch tv because my mind wanders and I perpetually daydream
about violence and past actions and future. Basically I am enslaved in a
fantasy. I also explain that everything makes me mad. I can’t be around people
cause I get agitated and sweat profusely and the anxiety stresses me out. I focus on little things that set me off, OCD
things like dirt on my door, people who touch my stuff. I have become harder
because I can’t let things go. Loud noises send me into a rage. But she doesn’t
really care or take it seriously. They won’t even prescribe anything to help. I
wrote the psychiatrist (different lady) but haven’t received any word back.”
20) Kamau TZ Damali,
FKA Raynell Moran 2979380 CCI , (BD 1976, 41yo) (Mental Health compromised
and affected by solitary confinement) Alkebu-larian (Black ) male, Spent 14
years in solitary confinement at Wisconsin’s Supermax, now WSPF.
(The Following is in
his words)”He began to experience crawling sensations( i.e. bugs living as
parasites under his skin) in April 2003, which he believes is caused by a
disease the CIA through HSU staff at Boscobel infected him with. This disease
not only causes the crawling sensations. It causes him to feel dirty all the
time which causes him to wash and bird bath compulsively, and this is how he
developed OCD. He scratches his body, arms until they bleed to get the bugs out
and to stop the crawling. He sweeps his cell floor 10 times a day and this
prevents him from focusing exclusively on other things.
21) When he complained to the
Health Services Staff about these sensations and accused them of being with the
CIA and contaminating him with a disease responsible for said sensations, they
referred him to psychological services at WSPF but he declined and didn’t begin
meeting with them until January 29th, 2007. Psychological services
at WSPF diagnosed him with OCD, Mood disorder, dyssomnia and paranoid
personality disorder.
22) March 10th and 11th
2011 he was evaluated at WSPF by an outside clinician from WRC names Teri Sell
and she diagnosed him with OCD and PTSD with paranoid features. She recommended
he be transferred to WRC for treatment and further evaluation by a
psychiatrist. He was transferred from WSPF to WRC May 31st, 2011. He
was evaluated by Dr Shekar for 4 hrs who diagnosed him with psychotic Disorder,
not otherwise specified and PTSD. Dr Shekar believed that what psychology
believed was OCD was actually part of a psychotic disorder. Kamau wasn’t
compliant with prescribed medications and was sent back to WSPF august 23rd,
2011. Due to him being diagnosed with psychotic Disorder, he was not supposed
to be sent back to WSPF and psychological services at WSPF sent him to GBCI Oct 18th,2011. Since he was in AC seg status he was housed in GBCI’s
notorious seg building.
23) In Dec 2011 PSU AT GBCI referred him back to WRC for a
diagnostic clarification. He was transferred from GBCI to WRC 4-12-12 and
remained there until Oct.11th 2012. Dr. Jose Alba was his assigned
psychiatrist who evaluated him and diagnosed him with delusional disorder,
persecutory and somatic types.
24) He was released from AC seg status at GBCI 4 4 13 (he
was in seg from 1999 to 2013 for prisoner activism) and was placed on its
transition unit for 8 months before being placed in GBCI’s North Cell Hall. It
was difficult and his symptoms became worse. Consequently Dr Zirbel, his then
assigned clinician at GBCI referred him to WRC for anxiety treatment. He was
transferred from GBCI to WRC 3 12 14. He didn’t get along with the psychiatrist
there, who felt his paranoia made it too difficult to work with him and sent
him back to GBCI May 28th,2014. After meeting with his clinician Dr
Zirbel and a new psychiatrist, Dr Stonefeld, who felt Kamau was experiencing an
acute anxiety episode, he was placed back on the transition unit that day (
5-28-14). June 30th, 2014 Dr Zirbel put in a referral for him to be
housed at CCI’s Special Management Unit SMU, a unit for prisoners that suffer
from serious psychiatric issues and have a hard time coping in a regular
general population setting. The referral was accepted 8 8 14 by Dr Stephany A
Trevino and he was transferred from GBCI to CCI SMU 9-2-14.
25) Dr Trevino left in Aug. of 2015 and SMU ( unit 6 and 7)
was assigned to Dr K Strange. On Nov. 25th, 2015, Kamau was
transferred to WRC as an urgent transfer by Dr Strange because she felt his
beliefs, which they diagnosed as delusions, Paranoid delusions, were
compromising his health. He fears the food because he believes its tainted with
diseases and microchips . He was at WRC for 11-25-15 to May 27th,
2016. While there . he was placed on a sealed meal halal diet for paranoia by
Dr Kate Keshena.
EVENTS IN CCI
26)Due to his beliefs that the CIA implanted microchips in
his brain ,he joined class action that began in Feb 2013 while he was still on
AC at GBCI but didn’t come into fruition until December 2015. When he returned
to CCI SMU he was placed on SMU-unit 7. SMU unit 6 was assigned to Dr Maria
Gambaro. He was moved from 7 to 6 (SMU) 8 1 16. He met with her (Gambaro)
-8-8-16 and accused her of being a CIA operative. She told him he was making
trouble for himself and other prisoners. He filed a complaint (ICI) in
September 2016 about the CIA using prison staff to silence him out of
retaliation for the class action that accused them of experimenting on
prisoners , him being chief among victims of said experiment, and Dr Gambaro
then began accusing him of malingering, Kamau believes , to justify getting him
removed from the special management unit.
27) In December of 2016 his MH code was reduced from MH2 to
MH1.
28)Due to traumatic events at Supermax concerning the food
and his beliefs that the CIA through
staff implanted microchips in his brain , through food, which causes him to
hear snap, crackle and pop noises that precipitate migraines, anxiety and
severe sleep deprivation, he does not eat institution food. When he tries to
eat institution food that does not contain microchips such as vegetables and
bread, he becomes violently ill. When he
eats sealed food he does not fall ill. If he runs out of canteen he doesn’t eat
anything and puts his life at risk unintentionally. He has never been on hunger
strike. When his depression gets the best of him, he acts on suicidal
tendencies by way of not eating. (starvation).”
29) Mr Damali continues to believe
that microchips are in his brain, that the CIA is trying to kill him. On 12 6
17 and 4 18 18 he was evaluated by an outside psychiatrist and is waiting for
results. This came about because Dr Gambaro based her opinions and decision to
reduce his MH-Code from 2 to1 on false information, information that she knew
was false. While Mr Damali hopes for an improvement in care , the fact is his
physical and mental health has been and continues to be severely compromised by
the callous indifference of the staff and his long term of solitary
confinement. He is forever plagued by voices and what he calls ”snap , crackle
pop “in his head ,and feels he is crawling with bugs and washes
incessantly. All this causes severe
migraines and sleep deprivation .
30) (C) Robert Ward 515599 WSPF, (1990 27 y.o.) ( AC placement bogus/to
be released 11-26-18 directly from AC /has hard time being around people, was refused
WRC/ )
SELF HARM -DELIBERATE INDIFFERENCE-Before 2014 he
was at CCI where he received no treatment. At CCI he cut himself badly twice
after warning staff that he was suicidal. He has exhausted his remedies on
deliberate indifference as the staff did nothing to help him after he told them
he was afraid he would try to kill himself. He cut a deep gash in his arm. He
has a suit in court on this issue, has asked for counsel and been denied.
31) While at CCI ( 9 17 16)guards
did a random cell search Around 9 17 16
and when Robert returned to his cell his radio was shattered and a lot
of law library notes were taken . ICE complaint was rejected. “They really
trying to break me. It was only the 20 dollar radio, but that’s the only thing
keeping me sane.”
32)
He was transferred to AC at WSPF 10 16, he believes in retaliation, after
having his mental health diagnosis downgraded from MH2 to MH1. Although in the
past he had had conduct reports while in solitary for “disruption” due to self
harm, his only conduct report while in GP was refusal to cell with a
homosexual. For this he was given 120 days disciplinary separation (DS) and
then put on Administrative confinement (AC) in WSPF.
33)
New system of “Warnings” threw him off HROP program ( high risk offender
program) with no due process: He was completing the HROP program which he says
is a paper program to fill out and time- one year. He was given a “warning” and
placed back to start of program – a year more to do. He was accused of yelling
during quiet hours and says he did not do that. With the new program, a
“warning” requires no due process. He had done the “program,” before, which was
paper work and now has a year to go. He will be released November of 2018.
34) His greatest fear is his inability to tolerate
being around people after so long in solitary. He has repeated requested
treatment at WRC before release in 2018 and been denied .He spends his days
pacing his room- walking in a circle. Has developed an acute fear of being with
people, afraid he will snap out when leaving solitary and will not do well
around people when released. Has repeatedly requested treatment as have
advocates and now has only 4 months before release and is afraid his anger will
make it hard for him to succeed.
35)
Robert is now refusing to see WSPF staff while DOC letters to advocate’s inquiries say that
Robert needs to work with them, that WRC does not have a policy of banning AC
prisoners from transferring there but they do not generally accept AC
prisoners. Advocate was told by WRC staff that each prisoner is evaluated
independently before being accepted for treatment and WDOC status is not a
consideration.
36)
As his release date gets closer and closer, the need for real treatment is
desperate. The prison says they will not refer him to treatment at the
Wisconsin Resource Center (WRC) because he is on AC but Nothing in his behavior
justifies AC placement, that he was pushed back to the beginning of the HROP
program with no due process, that he is in AC for no justifiable reason makes
this young man’s rage understandable and staying in his cell is one way for him
to cope. He has completed four prison programs.
37)
After not hearing from him in many weeks, advocate visited Robert Ward on June
21, 2018 and was told that Robert had not received any of the 4 packs of
embossed envelopes ordered for him. Also Robert went into deep depression and
cut himself severely in early May and was sent to the hospital. For this he was
given 180 days disciplinary seg(DS), and charged restitution for the hospital
bill. After his DS he will be returned to AC. Advocate could not take notes and
this is bare bones of the story. Robert asked for a tv or something to help him
better cope with time in solitary ahead. Although PSU has tvs they loan for
that purpose, they told him he could not have a tv because of his “bad
Behavior” This is another example of a prisoner acting out the symptoms of his
mental illness and then being punished for it in such a way as to ensure
worsening of those symptoms.
38)Robert
Ward suffers from severe depression, self harm impulses, anxieties, and other
psychiatric deficits but is receiving no treatment. He is one of many who will
be released in a few months untreated and at risk of an imminent psychological
breakdown. He needs to go to WRC before release and thus has standing to seek
injunctive relief.
39)D)Dennis Mix 499033 CCI, bd1987,
31yo in CCI- hung himself in Solitary- settled his case on deliberate indifference and was put
back in similar situation. FFUP first made contact with him because of a
concerned letter from a neighbor.
His case #2 14–cv-01172 WCG was concluded
in 2017 which was settled because, according to Mr Mix, the DOC tampered with a
key witness “which made me afraid and I settled.”
40) “I was in Waupun in June 26,2017. I was
medium custody. I was waiting for a bus to take me to medium. A big fight broke
out. The Warden in WCI said he was going to give me a fresh start, he felt I
didn’t start the incident and was targeted. I refused to press charges or
debrief officials. I never told or gave statement. They sent me to WSPF where I
filed an inmate complaint about being in Boscobel.
41) Was
given MH1 diagnosis and transferred to WSPF contrary /against Federal Screening
process without being screened after being denied admission in the past and
warned in documents, signed by Doctor Schwartz Oscar, that WSPF would
exacerbate mental illness.
42) I
get to Portage and they place me on AC when I’m done with my 120 DS. I’m bipolar and I have PTSD severe along with
waking up in the middle of the night sweating and cold.”
42a)
Diagnosis of a) mood disorder b) psychosis unspecified, c) Bipolar and
schizoaffective disorder, 4) Post traumatic stress disorder chronic, 5)
polysubstance dependence, in remission, 6) Antisocial personality disorder ,
43) PSU
Supervisor Dr White and Dr Shwinn have downplayed my diagnoses saying “We’ve
been told by Madison not to change MH levels . We can have only so many. You
are not the only one who should be MH2.” Dr White wrote me a letter review
dated 3/13-18 saying MH code denied but
she never saw me until 3 22 18.(ICE report CCI-2018 W-6749). When I complained,
I was denied my psych medication for schizoid disorder and psychosis for over
two weeks. (ICE receipt CCI 2018-8993)
44)
“I have not left segregation since June 26, 2017 and I’ve been incarcerated 11
years with 6 to go and I’ve done 8 years at least in solitary confinement, 24
hour lockdown .”
45) “I have 6 years until my release 2-13-24.
I fear I will kill myself before that. They moved us to unit 7B where upstairs
is housed all AC prisoners when it overflows downstairs where all their MH seg prisoners
are. I don’t know if I should be downstairs or upstairs. They wake up screaming
in middle of the night and it makes my issues worst. It’s rough. If you
complain about this they will write a CR and say you threatened them. This
keeps complaints to a minimum”.
46)
WDOC often places severely mentally ill prisoners in solitary as a control too
though this only worsens their conditions and makes it impossible to get
treatment. This plaintiff is at imminent risk for a psychological breakdown and
another suicide attempt.
”We
are on 24 hour lockdown. I’ve appealed my placement but it’s well known what
happens when I’m in seg long. All it takes is one day I’m paranoid. They say my
history- well, the violent fight was in 2017 and I hadn’t had a fight before
that since 2014 –that’s 3 years.”
( note: Advocate was alerted to this guy’s
situation by a concerned Inmate neighbor)
47)E )Fredrick Andrew
Morris 579941 GBCI; (born 1992 25YO) Background: grew up in Chicago with gangs,
many in his family in prison. Eloquently puts situation: ” I have mental issues but PSU here in GBCI sums my
mental issues up with three words: ‘antisocial personality disorder’ but I
think of people who grew up in Chicago , Minneapolis. Studies show that people
who grew up like I did have mental issues of people in the third world war-
torn countries.
48) I didn’t choose the streets like most people do, I was
born in the streets. That is why I have nightmares, hear voices, see things,
feel things, because I am really unstable. Just because I don’t hack chunks out
of my body GBCI sees my mental health issues as nothing but if do something,
hurt someone everyone says “why did he snap like that?” I need meds for my
mental issues. I need a PSU who will help me, not go tell people of what I tell
them so others look at me some kind of way.”
49)The first is I have been in seg 3 years 3 months . Each
time it is close to time to release me they have either given me a 180 or 120
DS. I have told many people of the problems I am having at GBCI. It has went to
the same security advisor Vanlanen tells me he will transfer me out of GBCI .It
turns out to be a lie each time I have been retaliated against, antagonized,
provoked, set up, and tortured. This is a brief but fact on security.
50)I have hyperthyroidism in which it effects all aspects of
my life- I lose weight faster than people who do not have my disease – I burn
calories very fast, I should be place on some form of double portion or
something to supplement the calories I lose. I have high blood pressure and was
on high blood pressure meds but GBCI said since my blood pressure was in range
they discontinued them. High blood pressure does not go away so I am currently
at risk for stroke, heart attack right now. I should be on some sort or mental
health medicine for PTSD, hearing voices, seeing things , mood swings. But they
refuse me this. –That is Health Service Unit.
51)Asks for change of prison as he thinks it will give him a
new start. He has attempted suicide in solitary many times and is currently
receiving no treatment. He is at
imminent risk for a psychological, breakdown.
52) F. Scott Brown
567501, CCI (bd1990 out 11 2019) Scott Brown is 27 years old and has cut
himself severely numerous times and is trying to get to WRC for been
incarcerated for approximately 11 years,
much of it in solitary. In a 2015 letter he states: “I’ve been trying to get in
touch with law firms or even anyone that can help me receive the proper
treatment for my mental illness. I’ve been struggling to get evaluation done
for my mental illness.”
53) He describes his present solitary time thus: “I’ve been in the hole for two months and a
week, since January 2nd. “ I had a seizure broke my jaw and chin. I
have been going back and forth to UW Madison hospital for checkups on my jaw. I
had surgery on my jaw and a metal plate put in my chin. But anyway they thought
drugs had something to do with it I had to take a test to urinate out the test
came back negative”. Despite the negative test result he was given a ticket and
sent to “the hole”. He has received three more tickets while on observation
which “I was not supposed to get” and now faces 120 days in” the hole.”
54) When on observation status he cut himself three times:
“Once I got 10 stitches, the second time I got 5 stitches and the third time I
got 15 stitches from my biceps to my inner forearm 6 and a half inches long. I
have been stressed out being here at CCI cause everything I do I am punished
and put in the hole for no reason.”
55) In his letter of May 2018, he states he is out of
solitary but teetering between solitary and general population: “I was in the
hole in 2017 in July for a very long time for cutting myself. I wrote the
security director up, and the PSU supervisor and the unit manager too. I just
got out of observation for cutting myself on Saturday the 27th2017 second shift. I have
a medical ice bag and coming back from medication I was told but this officer I
can’t get my ice bag and he wrote me a ticket for refusing to lock in when
actually I was just asking for my ice bag. I locked in and started cutting on
myself .I had to go to the hospital for stitches cause the cut was long and
very wide and I lost a lot of blood but anyways I am back on the unit and I got
a ticket for refusing to lock in and they are trying to give me confinement
where I got to stay in the cell and can’t come out for nothing but my tray and
showering. That will make me feel like I am in the hole again.
56) I go home next year and have been asking to go to WRC
for prerelease and I will get better mental health treatment there. And here in
GP I don’t get to come out of my room like I do in WRC. Being here is no help
for me –I just keep ending up in observation for acts of self – harm and depression.
I go home November 5th 2019 and I am not aware how I am going to be
it’s been 11 years since I been locked up.”
57) He is punished for behavior over which he has no control
and is punished for behavior while on observation status. He begs for real
treatment. Of particular concern is that major conduct reports are for self
harm something over which he has no control.
58) Rather than provide him with any treatment, he is
punished for behavior that is impulsive and compulsive with more time in
conditions which have been internationally recognized as giving rise to such
behavior or the disorders such behavior is systematic of.
59)G.) Timothy Sidney
480018 WCI, (bd1988, 29 y.o.)
out 5 23 19 Letter 5 10 17:” I write in regards to mental health, my mental
health! I been incarcerated a little over 7 years and I’m worst! Long story
short 2011 until 2012 I had not one scar on my body, now my body will tell you 7
years worth of cruel unusual acts in scars! From 2012 until 2015 I was housed
in segregation from Waupun , to Boscobel , to Green Bay, to WRC , back to
Waupun! As I write you this letter I’m currently housed in Waupun seg unit on
strike, Cause I’m subject to all type of cruelty, aged trays, Impartial
Hearing, Excessive force, dirty cell guards, no mental health treatment for my PTSD, So I cut a lot for grounding.
60)COs (correctional officers)here in their seg building, CO
Beahm ,CO Demers, CO Pole are putting razor blades, unprescribed pills in my
cells even in my observation cell before being placed on suicide watch and I’m
sending proof enclosed in this letter
61)some people want a way, some want lawsuits , some want
revenge, but I just want help, treatment because I go home soon and I don’t
want to go home like this, so please reach out because I’m to the point of no
return! ". This plaintiff is being incited
to self- harm by guards known for their history of prisoner abuse. He seeks
an immediate Injunction.
62)Another thing I
think you should know is I was housed in seg from 2012 to 2015 off ticket for
overdosing and cutting and my records speak for they self this is no lie your
reading. The charges was either misuse of medication or disfigurement. All I ask is that you reach, because I need
to be touched.
63)Jovan Williams
575056 WCI (bd1993, 24yo)Jovan Williams was incarcerated at age 19 and has
been in prison in restrictive Status housing for more than 2 years, approximately January 2016 until
now. He believes he was originally put in restrictive housing Status for
disobeying orders and was given 90 days. He is still there. He has not been
giving outside of cell recreation nor allowed to go outside for long periods. Due
to DAI policies and procedures he was given 45, 90 and 105 days of loss of rec.
64)He is diagnosed as MH-1 and is continually put around
prisoners with MH-2-A and 2-B and says there are no psychological treatment given to any of them. “ I never thought I will
have all of these scars on my body and mental, but look at the result of what I
have gone through being incarcerated in these settings . I don’t know if I will
be able to function in the community without help. I have reached out more than
several times for help to get back to reality but get nothing. This setting is
full of boredom, hostile ways from people. This is dangerous-which leads me to
self destructive ways, suicidal thoughts, self harm and suicidal attempts which
only make my psychological state worse than it was at the beginning.
65)His history of self harm is extensive.
a)GBCI: While on Clinical observation at GBCI He attempted to kill
himself by suffocation with a plastic bag, which was given him by staff. He has
a case on court on this:2017-cv-00452-jpd.
b)On February 28 2017, while still
in clinical observation he had a mental breakdown “ due to me not being able to
handle these conditions and not receiving the proper tools to help me mentally.
I began to cry and shiver and beg staff to kill me. It took for staff to strap
me down to a bed to prevent me from further self harm.” ( on video).
c)ON 8 2 17 staff did not report
his cutting himself. C.O. Schroeder was
a witness and he got no medical care.
d)On 12 18 2017 he overdosed on a
lot of medication in front of Dr S. Schwait-Z-Oscar Ph.D. Psychologist. He was
put into clinical observation. Cpt.Van Lanen intervened and Dr S Schwartz-Oscar
had to come to HSU to verify that he did indeed take the overdose.
e)WCI: I was transferred to WCI on December 26, 2017 “where I continued to experience extreme
events in the Disciplinary Separation settings.” He overdosed, hurt himself and
was subjected to cruel and unusual punishment.
66) He asks to be
properly diagnosed at WRC and to be sent to WRC for programs /groups for his diagnosis. He says
there is one word for his environment: “ Unbearable!”
67) H) Group of
inmates mentally ill and unable to communicate well or exhaust remedies.
Most of the time in endless seg, few mental tools to deal with environment and
often get increased charges for acting out. However all allege long term solitary with
lack of treatment for their severe psychiatric difficulties. Thus, they are
added as tentative plaintiffs and should discovery show colorable claims,
Complaint will be amended to add facts.
68) discovery is needed on these inmates and others that
cannot speak for themselves . This is tip of ice berg of who is in long term
solitary in the WI system, unable to communicate or get help:
68)h1)Davin
Rollins 278690 GBCI (BD 1979 38
y.o.) - Davin is manic depressive ( bi Polar) and sends long
illegible letters when manic which belie his true abilities. His condition is
exasperated by his lack of meaningful things to do. His mother is engaged in
helping him knows he is very bright and would do well with a real opportunity.
He is vulnerable to abuse and has no tools to cope with life in this system.
Mother would like him to be part of this.
6 21 18- Advocate recently got a call from his
mother that Davin is not receiving his meds, was taken to a part of the cell
hall with no cameras and was sexually assaulted ; is often not receiving his
food or it is thrown on the floor or foreign substance are put in it.( he says
urine) We ask that he be sent to WRC.
68)h2))Timothy Crowley 243754 GBCI
( BD1976, 42 y.o.) - deaf, going blind/mentally ill/ came to prison with
few years – now has over 20 years in- always in some kind of seg for acting
out- easy target and does strike out getting more charges. FFUP worked hard to
get him Braille lessons which finally came but there was no one to help him
with it and the project failed. Many suicide attempts.
68)h3)Terrance Grissom 193184 CCI( BD 1970, 48 y.o. )- advocate has had letters from
concerned inmates about him. We are told he is either drugged to a stupor or
loud and assaultive. Gets a lot of cases, mother in another state, wants him
there. Both states have refused- no interstate
agreement they say .Needs concerted effort to transfer him out of WI.
68)h4 )William Jones 473038
GBCI, (BD 1990 28yo) / FFUP advocate was alerted to
this man in mid June by a worried neighbor. Our information about him thus far is
incomplete but is enough to include him here:
“I been in segregation since
November 2016 and I’m on AC status. I initially came to seg for enterprising
and fraud and received a predetermined 90-D-seg tine. I completed the entire 90
no issues, then was placed on AC. My AC review meeting had so many violations I
cannot go into detail here. But I am on AC because the administration
‘’said” : “for the safety of others” but
I got no violent tickets, no drug tickets. Since I been in seg I have not received no proper
mental health treatment and I’m a MH2. My diagnosis are major depression. PTD, Anxiety and ADHD .
I was convicted of armed robbery and I am appealing that currently. “
Defendants………………
69 II. Defendants
Defendant
Scott Walker is Governor of the State of
Wisconsin. As such, he has the ultimate state authority over the care and
treatment of the plaintiff class. Governor Walker is obligated under state law
to supervise the official conduct of all executive and ministerial officers and
to appoint and remove the subordinate defendants named herein. He has control
over the monies
allocated to WDOC by virtue of his authority to
present to the legislature WDOC's annual budget and to veto or sign legislation
appropriating funds for prison medical care.
70)Defendant Jon Litscher is Secretary of the WDOC.
As such, he is the legal custodian of all prisoners sentenced by the courts of
Wisconsin for felony offenses, and is responsible for the safe, secure and
humane housing of those prisoners. Litscher is responsible for the
administration and operation of WDOC, including the provision of medical,
dental and mental
health care to Wisconsin prisoners.
71)Defendant James Greer is the Director of the WDOC
Bureau of Health Services (BHS). As such, he is responsible for the
administration and provision of medical, dental and mental health care services
to individuals in WDOC custody, and for developing and ensuring compliance with
policies and procedures related to correctional health services in Wisconsin.
72)Defendant David Burnett, M.D., is the Medical
Director at BHS. As such, he is responsible for the administration and
provision of medical services to individuals in WDOC custody, and for the
quality and adequacy of those services. Burnett supervises and has direct
authority over all medical doctors and nurse practitioners who work for the WIDOC.
73)Defendant Kevin Kallas, M.D. Defendant Kevin Kallas, M.D., is
the Mental Health Director at BHS. As such, he is responsible for the administration and provision
of mental health care services to individuals in WDOC custody, and for the
quality and adequacy of those services. Kallas supervises and has direct
authority over all psychiatrists who work at TCI, and provides technical
assistance to the WIDOC wardens in supervising the prison's psychological
services staff.
74) Wardens of CCI . WCI. GBCI, WSPF are the legal
custodians of all prisoners housed at in
their facilities and they are responsible for the safe, secure and humane
housing of those prisoners.
75) Security directors at
CCI,WCI,WSPF are responsible for
providing security and
protection to all staff , prisoners and visitors at the facility where they
work.
76)PSU Directors at CCI, WCI,GBCI, WSPF are
responsible
for the administration and provision of mental health care services to
individuals in WIDOC custody, and for the quality and adequacy of those
services.
77) HSU Managers at CCI, WCI,GBCI, WSPF
are
responsible for the daily administration and functioning of the HSU.
78) unnamed John
And Jane Does ,staff of CCI, WCI, WSPF and GBCI
79) All Defendants are sued in their official
capacities. At all relevant times, all Defendants were acting under color of
state law; pursuant to their authority as officials, agents, contractors or
employees of the State of Wisconsin; and within the scope of their employment
as representatives of public entities, as defined in 42 U.S.C. § 12131(1).
Background
80).This
legal action concerns the overuse and abuse of solitary confinement in
Wisconsin’s prisons. The Wisconsin case is complicated because the
courts ruled in 2002 that the then Boscobel Supermax could not house mentally
ill inmates and there have been rules put forth by the DOC administration in
Madison that if followed would go a long way toward reform. It is our
information and belief however, that neither the court order nor the solitary
limiting guidelines and rules are followed, and
that with various forms of subterfuge, a reduction in use of solitary
confinement looks good on paper when in actuality the use is expanding daily .
We believe that in order to understand the changes needed , it is important to look at how our system became
so overcrowded and how it lost its mission to rehabilitate and keep the public
safe.
81)The Wisconsin prison system today is the product of a perfect storm
of what many now think were short
sighted laws and executive actions first initiated in our nation’s capital in
the 1990’s. The first of these decisions was the closing of our mental
hospitals without providing viable alternatives. This has left the mentally ill
and their struggling families with no affordable place to go for help and
prison has become for many the final wall to end destructive behavior.
82) Prisons
are our defacto mental hospitals and according to all current monitors, over a
third of the inmates in Wisconsin are mentally ill.
83)The second factor in our perfect storm was the enactment
of the VOTIS act in 1994, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act
of 1994,( H.R 3355 Pub L 103-322)the largest
crime bill in the history of the United States. This bill provided, among other
things 9.7 billion dollars for prisons and launched a prison boom throughout the nation.
For Wisconsin, it meant the ending of meaningful parole in the famous memo by
the then Governor Thompson, which swept
all inmates then and for the future under the draconian Truth in sentencing
laws(TIS)
.
84) Increased penalties under the new law and the ending of
true parole meant that the prison population went from 7000 to 23 thousand in a
short decade. Prisons became THE growth
industry and a perfect job program in a time when manufacturing and farming
jobs were disappearing. In Wisconsin, Spending skyrocketed on prisons while in
states like MN , money was put into community services and crime prevention.
Spending on education took deep cuts .
85)Jump forward to today and we see Wisconsin saddled with
stuffed prisons in which the mission to rehabilitate prisoners and
keep the public safe has been largely lost.
Conditions for staff have deteriorated to the point there is a severe
shortage of staff at all levels from professional health care staff to guards .
86)We contend that to cope with lack of staff and
overcrowding, The Department of Corrections in Wisconsin is using solitary
confinement as its main population control tool. Also Wisconsin continues to
treat prisoners as unredeemable and deserving of punishment only.
87)This is particularly acute in our solitary confinement
units, whatever they are named by the DOC.
Here the harm done is long lasting and devastating .
Public safety Issue
88) Perhaps of greater concern to the public than effects of
our policies on prisoners , however, is that those WI DOC has also abandoned
its mandate to keep the public safe. It releases the truth in sentencing
inmates ( TIS) regularly as the law demands often without treatment or training
and virtually no support upon release.
89)Those who have been in solitary are often released
directly from solitary or with a short interlude. Many TIS inmates beg for
treatment at Wisconsin Resource Center (WRC), the one treatment center
available to the system- before release and are not given a referral. Each
prison’s social workers are tasked with referring disabled prisoners of their choice to an organization that prepares SSI benefits
before release but that does not happen
for most mentally ill prisoners and they are released little hope of
success. A letter from one inmate writing one month before release sums up the
situation: “I get released in a month
back to the same neighborhood where I was before prison . I have had no
treatment and no training and am drug addicted. I have no support and the DOC
offers almost none. What do you think I will end up doing?"
90)In October 2017 FFUP nonprofit included a survey in its
newsletter asking multiple questions intended to give broad look at whole
incarceration experience, particularly asking if the WI DOC is fulfilling its
mission to rehabilitate and keep the public safe. All responses decried lack of
treatment and release help.
91)The realization that
long term solitary confinement actually
causes mentally illness and a diminished capacity for success AFTER release is growing in this
country. For example, in November 2017
Standford University came out with a
report on how prisoners who endured long term solitary were doing after release. It sites the
devastating effects solitary confinement has on anyone- whether they go into
prison mentally ill or not. (“Mental Health Consequences Following Release from Long-Term
Solitary Confinement in California” Consultative Report Prepared for the Center
for Constitutional Rights )
Media spotlight and New Rules Not Followed
92) In Wisconsin, the actions around solitary confinement have taken a
rocky road and the outcome is still uncertain.
A major force was In 2014, when
the Center for Investigative Journalism (CIJ hereafter) did a series of three
articles on the alleged abuses by guards of prisoners at the Waupun
Correctional Institution ( WCI.) segregation unit. Guards were named and the actual complaints
and were made available. This created a firestorm of letters and petitions and
discussion in the public. These alleged
assaults and the general high level of violence in WI seg units are important
because it is the most vunerable, i.e. the mentally ill, who are usually
the victims of assault or lack enough
self control to navigate the difficult hostile environment and are assaultive
themselves.
93)The then DOC Secretary Ed Wall wrote an essay (exhibit #1https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/1wall-essay-2.pdf)(
leaked )questioning the use of Solitary confinement, writing that at times segregation has become “a method to isolate and punish inmates as a
form of internal judge, jury and executioner. Depriving people of outside
contact, personal property, programming, etc., seems to focus on doing
psychological harm rather than achieve desirable goals.” And: “Courts have
repeatedly found that forcing prisoners with mental illness to undergo solitary
confinement constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. How would our placements
be viewed by the courts?”
94) Finally a draft of new guidelines were enacted. In the
guidelines, solitary confinement for
conduct reports were reduced drastically and other reforms were mandated.
Guards in WCI wore cameras, a rotation program for guards was instituted and
the guards named the most times in the assault complaints were removed from the
unit.
95) However only one prison, GBCI ( Green
Bay Correctional Institution), followed the guidelines reducing seg times and
as soon as public attention waned, rotation and camera wearing at WCI was
abandoned as were all efforts at reforming in the other prisons. Also now the
main guards named in the CIJ articles for the most complaints of abuse are
dominating the solitary units in WCI. It
is our belief that Joseph Beahm who was named in most of the inmate assault
complaints, heads the unit at time of this writing and another named in much
ongoing abuse, Monguey, is back on the unit. At present, the prisoners are
largely silent about the physical abuse they endure as there is no safe way to
report. Also we believe that of late some staff wear cameras but it is not
enforced and arbitrary, allowing removal when convenient.
96) The Madison Central office of the Department of
Corrections has enacted several new policies call DAI Policies which are aimed at remedying the violations of the 8th
amendment against cruel and unusual treatment . These new policies, also, are
largely ignored and not enforced.
97)The result is that each prison is its own fiefdom ,
dealing as it can with overcrowding and lack of staff. Whole prisons go on
lockdown regularly to deal with staff shortages and all programs, library use ,
recreation etc are curtailed for the
whole populations.
Conditions in Solitary in WI prisons
Changing diagnoses and double- celling in seg
98)But conditions in solitary rise most obviously to the level of cruel and unusual conditions,
show deliberate indifference and violate the Americans with Disabilities (ADA) Act .
Violations of human decency and constitutional amendments and ADA law
include but are not limited to the following:
99) One of the most
egregious strategies used to deal with the overcrowding and lack of staff
reality is the changing of Diagnoses of the mentally ill from severe (MH2) to
not severe (MH1). Medicines are cut as are other treatments and severely mentally ill people, now labeled as
“not so bad”, sit in long term solitary without recourse to any treatment.(exh
#2 https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/2wi-watch-boivin-article.pdf)
100) Due to the
Courts prohibition on putting mentally ill prisoners in the Boscobel Supermax,
now WSPF, that is the one prison which always has room. The pattern is to
change the diagnoses inmates in an overcrowded prison and move the now “ cured”
inmate to Boscobel.
101) The placement
of Prisoners on AC has also
expanded by placing people with minor infractions into WSPF, a prison with
only solitary cells which always has room when the rest of the system is
critically overpopulated.
102)The review of AC placement
is considered a joke by prisoners and AC is thought to be used to silence litigators.
103) Confidential
informants (CIs)are used to allege gang involvement with CIs there is no
mechanism whereby the accused can refute charges or even know the name of the
informer.
104) In two prisons,
CCI and WCI , prisoners are forced to cell in a single man solitary cell with
one prison on a mattress on the floor.
In CCI the inmates are given the choice of sleeping two in a one man
cell or taking more time in seg .
Subterfuges used to hide extent
of solitary use
105)Inmates are put into solitary for minor infractions despite
new rules to the contrary and lengths of stays in solitary are often much
longer than rules allow through various renamings and subterfuges as well as
plain disregard of rules.
106) One of the
subterfuges used at WSPF (Wisconsin Secure Program Facility, the former
Supermax) which hides the real extent of solitary confinement use, is a so
–called “warning system.” Here a four level, year long program called High Risk
Offender Program (HROP) is sabotaged by a system where a “warning” can be
issued which can send the prisoner back to the beginning of the program but the
gives the prisoner no recourse to question or appeal.
107) Another
camouflage is terminology shifts between AC and DS ( administrative Confinement
and Disciplinary segregation). Most prisons often give conduct reports to
inmates on AC and assign them to “disciplinary segregation” (DS) which further
confuses the activists and public’s attempts to monitor what is really going
on. Generally the conditions are the same with the two kinds of solitary and
the prisoner is seamlessly transitioned back to AC after his DS time is over.
108) There are many
of such confusing labeling and subterfuges we feel are attempting to camouflage
the true extent of use of solitary.
Therapy, Treatment and Programming
109) Throughout the
solitary units, where most of the mentally ill spend most their prison time, therapy
sessions usually rare and tend to be brief and held at cell door, where all on
unit can hear. Most prisoners complain they cannot talk freely in these
circumstances.
110)The
one treatment facility, Wisconsin Resource Center( WRC.) is run by both DOC and
WI Health and Human Services Department and is inadequate to present needs
because the stay is usually short, there is little follow up once the prisoner
returns to the DOC system and because they treat only a small number of the
thousands in need..
111)
further , there is increasing evidence that the DOC is reluctant to refer many
mentally ill prisoners to WRC even though these prisoners beg for treatment
before leaving prison, as many of these
prisoners will be leaving straight from years in solitary. We hope to do
discovery on this issue to determine the extent of refusal to refer prisoners
to WRC and if that is our finding, the reasons.
112)
The women’s prison in Fond du Lac ( TCI ) has a mental health facility,
mandated in the settlement of Flynn Vs Doyle,06-C-0537 in 2010. This
facility is far superior to anything the male prisoners have and we invoke the
14th amendment and demand that a similar facility be build for the
men’s prisons.(Exh #3 https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/3what-doesnt-kill-you-makes-you-stronger.pdf )
113)
There is a critical shortage of all staff , particularly of health care and
psychological staff. Another effort for discovery is to find out the level of
shortage and the number of people who have quit and why they have done so.
114) As
Far as programming , solitary confinement prisoners often face another catch twenty-two
that keeps the parole eligible prisoners forever in prison. It is our belief
that the prisons don’t allow essential programming to prisoners in solitary and
the prisoner is told he is denied parole because he did not do the programming.
Dealing with self harm issues
115) Rules for
dealing with those at risk of suicide are woefully inadequate and even those
are routinely not followed. Increasingly warnings and pleas for help by
prisoners who feel they are at risk of harming themselves are often not heeded
and/or are laughed at .
116)The
remedy for suicide attempts has been to put the inmate naked or near naked in a
cell with no property (observation status)with close monitoring and a visit
from professional staff.
117) In many prisons that ( Observation)status is often dropped and “Control status” is used, which has little monitoring and no professional staff visits. Suicide attempts are often met with more isolation and often with conduct reports.
118) The use of
restraints in suicide prevention is often brutal and involves excessive force.
In some prisons the inmates are kept in full restraints for days and not
allowed up to use the bathroom .
119) Mentally ill
inmates in solitary are often punished with more solitary time for self harm
behaviors. Self-harm, usually cutting, is so pervasive in these segs at all of
the max institutions that it occurs on a daily basis, sometimes multiply times
in one day.
General conditions in Solitary and Outside
Support Discouraged
120) Conditions in solitary units, whatever they are called, are deplorable, property restrictions are
unconscionable, and the therapy that does go on is woefully inadequate. This
leads to a lack of positive motivation and the inability of staff (guards and
professional staff) to actually help has fostered sadistic behaviors in some
and a determined willfully ignorance in others.
121)Plaintiffs in
WCI, GBCI and CCI allege that solitary
cells are often filthy and feces spread,
are not adequately cleaned between uses. Also, temperatures are not regulated and are
extreme in every season.
122)Property
allowances in all solitary units are punitive to the extreme and for many units
there is no canteen allowed and where it is permitted, the inmates tend to be
indigent. For example, the inmate is given a plastic rectangle of liquid soap
about 2” by 1 inch long and is expected to use that for soap for 3 days when it
actually not enough for one good wash up. We will verify these claims through
discovery.
123)Further,
plaintiffs complain that food portions have been steadily declining and
prisoners are always hungry. This leads to lethargy and many have no recourse
but to sleep all day.
124)Plaintiffs
believe that family support is generally
discouraged. WI DOC has made it very difficult for the families and friends to
stay in contact with and help their imprisoned loved one and this is
particularly of concern with those in solitary. For example, property
allowances need to be revisited and rules for incoming books need to be changed
to reflect our internet world and what is done in other more progressive
correctional systems:
125)Family’s and
friend ability to help their loved ones to cope with solitary by sending books
is truncated with receipt rules that require a paper receipt which most
internet outfits cannot do. Likewise, free books to Prisoners groups that give
to Wisconsin prisoners face rules more draconian that other states.( for
example, the books have to be new). Other hindrances to helping prisoners get
through exist.
126) Books available
by the prisons to solitary inmates are woefully inadequate so opportunities for
learning in seg are diminished for people without family and friends with
means.
127)Hygiene is also
very important to many inmates and is important to anyone’s feeling of well
being yet the basics are unavailable to the neediest inmates and families have no
way to help since products like soap and deodorant and shampoo are not
available at the only vendors families can buy from. The family’s ability to
buy through vendors is made more important by the WIDOC’s unique interpretation of Statute 355 passed by WI
legislature in 2015. Often all or most of money earned by inmates or sent in by families is taken by the DOC to pay
for prisoner debts before the prisoner get any.
128) Mentally ill
prisoners are routinely punished for behavior caused by their mental
illness. The most vulnerable mentally
ill inmates are easily goaded to “snap out “and are perpetually given CRs and
sometimes new cases for assaults. Suicidal thoughts are often taunted and in
general all negative emotions are escalated in this environment that encourages
punishment as the only resolution of every problem.
129) Finally. Time
out of cell for many solitary confinement prisoners is the first thing
routinely cancelled with staff shortages. It is
our information and belief that routinely, most prisoners spend 24 /7 in
cell except for those that have showers out of cell.
Medical care to long
term solitary inmates
130) Inmates who have
been in solitary for inordinate lengths of time are not routinely assessed by a
physician. Under WI Statutes, inmates placed in solitary must be under the care
of a physician. However, if an inmate in solitary in WDOC does not request to
see a physician, he is not seen. Despite
WIDOC recognizing the deleterious effects of solitary confinement, inmates in WIDOC
are not routinely assessed for the well-know effects of such an excessively
sedentary life-style on their physical and mental health.
131) LaRon
McKinley-Bey, served 27 years in nonstop solitary confinement, the longest serving
solitary confinement. He was told he would never get off AC and was told his
tests revealed he was an incurable socio/psychopath. In 2016 he took part in a hunger strike that
was well publicized and included public protests. The warden of WCR negotiated
with LaRon and he is now in general population in Colorado, an Instantaneous
cure.
132) LaRon seems to
be the only benefactor of the 2016 hunger strike, for it is our information and
belief that now strikers are not monitored, and the ability of the public to
keep close to conditions of strike or strikers is severely curtailed.
133) Ras Atum- Ra
Uhuru Mutawakkil is now the longest serving administrative confinement prisoner
with 17 years straight solitary His proposal, COMMON GROUND, is a common sense
approach to relieving tensions within the prison while turning the corner
toward healing.(See exh#4
https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/5common-ground-by-uhuru.pdf)
134) As stated in
beginning of this complaint, some states have joined the international
community in acknowledging the destructiveness of solitary confinement and have
replaced the what many see as a “revenge only” corrections policy with a
healthy balance of treatment , training, and punishment coupled with community
programs that help communities deal with its’ problem in healthy ways,
lessening greatly the reliance on incarceration.
135)Colorado’s
transformation is of special interest to WI residents because the head of CO
system, Rick Raemisch, was WI DOC Secretary. A life changing event for him was
a day he spent in solitary ( see exhibit #5 https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/6raemisch-my-night-in-solitary-2014.pdf) The rules and principals now used
in CO are well set out in their website. It is increasingly a system that now stresses
rehabilitation and public safety. Present efforts have culminated in the 2017
ban on solitary longer that 15 days except for in the most extreme cases and
even in those cases humane treatment and concerted efforts to end the
confinement are mandated.(exhibit #6 https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/7colorado-bans-solitary-confinement-for-longer-than-15-days.pdf)
In Sum
136) Plaintiffs seek
relief from Defendants' knowing and deliberately indifferent failure to provide
necessary care for serious mental health needs, it’s arbitrary use of solitary
as a population control tool, and it’s
disregard of prisoner’s basic needs which puts Plaintiffs at substantial and
ongoing risk of physical injury, mental illness and premature death. For the mentally ill and otherwise
handicapped, the Americans with Disabilities act prohibits the very treatment
that the WI DOC most relies on.
137) We believe that
although the whole tapestry of dysfunction is complicated, the details of the
whole system are all rightly brought up here because of their common cause: overcrowding and loss of
mission, evolving from decisions of the 1900’s and first decade of the 21st
century. We believe that the primary bad
actor is the refusal of we, the American public, to accept its responsibility
to its vulnerable citizens. But here we target The WI DOC because they accept
gladly the misguided shortsighted dictums and have abandoned their mission to
rehabilitate and keep the public safe.
138)All efforts to
move the system toward a balance between rehabilitation and punishment have
been met with fake rules and public posturing which is short lived and transits
back “normal” as soon as public attention wanes. Litigation is necessary.
139) Plaintiffs bring
this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983; the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments
to the United States Constitution; Title II of the Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990 (ADA), 42 U.S.C. § 12132; and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act, 29 U.S.C. § 794. Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief to
remedy the gross deprivation of adequate mental health care and arbitrary use
of solitary in the WI DOC.
140) Also, we ask the court to take into account
the growing international and national awareness that long term solitary
confinement IS torture and assert as did
Justice Kennedy (exhibit #7 https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/8justice-kennedy-denounces-solitary-confinment.pdf) that
prolonged solitary confinement is a
violation of human dignity and is unconstitutional, not only when applied to
people who are particularly vulnerable or sympathetic, but to everyone.
Evolving
standards of Jurisprudence in the U.S.
141). On his 2011 interim report , Juan Mendez, Special
Rappoteur of the Human Rights Council on Torture and other Cruel, inhuman or
degrading Treatment (CAT) , called on the International community to, among
other things, impose absolute
prohibition on solitary confinement exceeding 15 consecutive days. He concluded
that even 15 days in solitary constitutes torture or cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment, and that any longer in solitary can cause
irreversible harmful psychological effects.(EXHIBIT 8#
https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/9special-rapporteur-two-reports-on-solitary.pdf )
142) Article 1 of CAT (CONVENTION AGAINST
TORTURE” AND OTHER CRUEL AND INHUMAN ,OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT”)defines
torture as: “any act by which severe
pain or suffering whether physical or mental is intentionally inflicted on a
person for such purpose as obtaining from him or a third person information or
a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is
suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third
person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, When such pain
or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence
of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”
143)European
bodies have taken a particularly progressive view on the use of solitary
confinement, allowing it only after a medical examination certifies the
prisoner fit to sustain the isolation and with daily monitoring of the
prisoner’s psychological state. Additionally, the Council of Europe’s European
Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) stated that solitary confinement
can rise to the level of inhuman and degrading treatment and ―should be as
short as possible.
144)In March 2015,
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy was testifying before the House
Appropriations Subcommittee when he received a question on prison overcrowding.
He responded with a sweeping condemnation of the American prison system and
particularly of solitary confinement which, he said “literally drives men
mad.”(exhibit#7)
145). Until recently, the courts have focused on limiting solitary for
vulnerable groups. For example, courts
have ruled that the 8th Amendment limits the placement of people with serious
mental illness in solitary. Courts have similarly found that putting people
with physical disabilities in solitary can violate federal law.
146)
In his 2015 statement, however, Justice Kennedy invoked solitary
confinement as not just another potentially harmful prison practice but as a violation of human dignity: “[t]he human
toll wrought” “exacts a terrible price”
on all people; and how solitary can bring all people “to the edge of madness,
perhaps to madness itself.” Here he is saying that prolonged solitary
confinement is unconstitutional, not only when applied to people who are
particularly vulnerable or sympathetic, but to everyone.
147) Justice
Kennedy seemed eager to consider whether prolonged solitary confinement is
unconstitutional. If faced According to onlookers, with a lawsuit raising this
issue, he wrote, the courts may have to decide “whether workable alternative
systems for long-term confinement exist, and, if so, whether a correctional
system should be required to adopt them.” In other words, he was saying, bring
us a case.
148) In his October 2016 final report on solitary, Special
Rapporteur Juan Mendez showed optimism about the general trend, though not
without exception, toward reform in the United States. He listed the Federal Government efforts that
chipped away at solitary confinement use including President Obama’s
announcement that juveniles in the federal prison system will no longer be held
in solitary confinement. He also listed state -level reforms, such as Colorado
policy to reserve the use of isolation for “only the most violent and dangerous
offense types,” pending legislation in Colorado
and Pennsylvania to lessen the use of solitary confinement, and further
reform efforts at more local levels—including New York City’s ban on solitary
confinement of those who are under 21 years of age, are seriously mentally ill,
or are physically disabled.
149) in November 2017 , Standford University came out with a report on how
prisoners who endured long term solitary
were doing after release. It sites the devastating effects solitary
confinement has on anyone- whether they go into prison mentally ill or not. The realization that long term
solitary confinement actually causes
mentally illness and a diminished capacity for success AFTER release is also
growing in this country. (“Mental Health Consequences Following Release from Long-Term
Solitary Confinement in California” Consultative Report Prepared for the Center
for Constitutional Rights )
150) In October 2017 Colorado banned
solitary confinement for more than 15 days.:“Long-term isolation costs too
much, does nothing to rehabilitate prisoners, and exacerbates mental illness –
or even causes it in prisoners who were healthy when they entered solitary,”
spokesman John Krieger said. “Since more than 95 percent of prisoners will
return to our communities, the smart approach for public safety is to focus on
rehabilitation.”(exhibit 7#)
151)Demands
A)
IMMEDIATE
A1)Injunction: listing of prisoners
who need immediate relief
A2) changes to be done immediately(specifics
to be worked out)
1)Property
allowances in various seg units
2)Books and reading materials to inmates- rules need
to be changed.
3)Guards
who have history of abuse of inmates must be fired or given assignment with
minimum contact with inmates- give guidelines-
4)Strict
rotation of guards must be instated- no less the 3 months and the incoming
guards must outnumber those left by two to one. No newly hired guard is to work
in solitary units until they have served at least a year.
5)Cameras
will be worn by guards at all times. Camera shall be placed to cover blind
spots on floors ( those will be pointed out by inmates) and cameras shall
record at each site. Also videos shall be made available to inmates who need
them to litigate- the rules surrounding availability and preservation of videos
need to be reviewed.
6)protocols
for dealing with Hunger strikes need to be reviewed and updated and enforced so the prisoners are adequately monitored and
the outside has access to information on the strikers. Excessive force is not
to be used and bottled water is to be given where asked. Hunger strikes are a
constitutional right of prisoners.
B)Short
term plan For Solitary units:
B1. )The
segregation guidelines published in 2015 but only followed by GBCI shall be
reinstated and enforced (SEE exhibit) . These allow a maximum of 90 days in
solitary for any violation .
B2.) Guards training and
discipline:
B2 a)Guards will be rotated out of
segregation at 3 month intervals. There will be enough guards moved at each
rotation so that the incoming guards
are not just learning bad habits from long time guards.
B2 b)There will be mandatory cameras worn on
forehead in all seg , RHU and AC units.
Cameras will be posted and recordings will be kept in all areas
presently consider the main assault areas by prisoners. Videos will be made
available to inmates who request them.
B3)Extensive
training of guards on how to treat difficult prisoners will be undertaken.
Also, The Warren Statement that prison is the punishment- loss of freedom is
the punishment , will be taught and the myth that the guards’ duty is to punish
the prisons will be debunked in training. The mission statement of the DOC will
be taught and discussed- to rehabilitate offenders and to keep the public safe.
B4)
No one should work in seg/ac units( which are innately psychologically abusive
environments )for more than three months consecutively, let alone years. Guards who have worked for years in
segregation and who have an extensive list of complaints alleging harassment,
rapes and beatings and against them will be removed from segregation duty and
will be assigned to general population and closely monitored there. If the
abusive behavior continues as evidenced by complaints, eye witnesses, and/ or
videos etc he, she will be fired.
B5)DOC
must keep accurate records and make available to the public of the data on
quittings and firings of professional staff
and guards and of staff shortages
of guards, Health service units, Psychological services
unit and physicians and all other services. Only with accurate regular
information can the pubic allocate funds to make up for shortages. Also made available to the public are lock downs
and meals served in cell due to understaffing and overcrowding. NO cells
designed for a single occupant are to have two men in them, let alone one on
the floor. Actual out of cell time available to inmates will be logged each
week , what activities were made available and what was closed due to lack of
staff or other problems. Overtime by guards, forced and volunteer will be made
available to the public.
B6)No
new guards will work in solitary units, seg or AC. A guard must have worked at
that institution for at least a year(?) before being assigned to a solitary
unit.
B7)
Very important for any real change is a change in policy which ensures that the
decisions by the psychological staff overrule security unless security can
prove that the psych staff’s decision opens up an immediate and concrete
danger. IF there is a dispute, the
question goes to the warden.
B8)And at no time will a mentally ill inmate be given
a CR or criminal charges for behavior which is cause by his mental illness.
B9) property allowed : Note: AC is slated as non-punitive and its
residents were allowed all property until Supermax opened and rules were
changed in 2000)AC/ RHU prisoners will provide ALL general population
property where a valid security concern cannot be demonstrated .
B10)All restrictions on property will be reviewed with the idea that only a
valid security concern warrants the deprivation. Hygiene will be made available
for the public to buy their loved ones and Books bought off internet shall be
allowed in with an email receipt. The Mandela RULES shall govern a reevaluation
of all property restrictions. (Exh 9:
The 121 Mandela Rules or the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners:
https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/pri_nelson_mandela_rules_short_guide_web-copy.pdf, were revised by the UN in 2015. This is a summation done by the Netherland’s non profit PRI. )
C)
LONG TERM)
C1)The
establishment of one or more mental healthcare treatment centers for male
prisoners modeled and operated like the one for women at the Taychedah
Correctional Institution(TCI).
(see exhibit for view of TCI’s center)
a)Note:
We have had alternate suggestions of converting Sections of WCI to
general population AC transition I units. This can be done in addition but a
well run well lighted treatment facility like the one in the women’s prison is
needed and it is our understanding that it was put into the DOC budget a few
years ago and taken out as other priorities arose.
b)What
we are after is effective treatment and programming for the mentally ill that does not exist in
The WI system for males. There is the Wisconsin Resource Center (WRC) but the
stays are temporary and there is little followup when the prison returns to his
former prison. Treatment
suggestion/prescriptions from WRC are seldom followed and there is virtually no
programming. What happens in NP, or north program is not treatment or effective
programming.
C2)OVERALL Goal
a)Our overall goal is to follow
Colorado’s example and end long term solitary confinement except for the most
extreme cases examples . A few months ago CO banned solitary over 15 days
except in the most extreme case. And in those cases , the prisoners are treated
humanely, have appropriate property and treatment ,are well monitored and leave
solitary as soon as possible.
Rick Raemisch, the
former WI DOC secretary now heads the Colorado system and has visited WI trying
to push reform here. The rules and plans they follow are available on the CO
DOC website.
b) Entwined with the ending of our
draconian solitary practices is the need to population reduction. For
overpopulation is the basic reason for this overuse and abuse of solitary. Overpopulation and the attendant staff
discontent/quittings and the lack of treatment-services, recreation etc that
comes with stuff prisons- must be addressed before any real changes can be
done. So far the DOC has provided window dressing in the form of rules that are
not followed and always, the push to build new prisons. Reinstating parole and ending
reincarceration for non-felonies can be done safely and start a return to
balance.
The Wisconsin department of Corrections has
abandoned its mission. It neither protects the public nor rehabilitates offenders.
This must change. Young prisoners, TIS prisoners, are being returned home with
no support, after receiving no treatment and many after lengthy, debilitating
solitary confinement, while older rehabilitated parole eligible prisoners
remain entombed. The way ahead is treatment, training and community involvement
and we hope the first steps are here.
152) ADA CLAIM
For
prisoners with behavior disorders such as adjustment disorders, explosive
disorders and other mental illnesses which manifest in behavioral problems,
i.e. self harm; or when solitary confinement has give rise to such disorders,
and who are further maintained in solitary because of said behaviors,- that is,
denied access to general population ( “which constitutes a program”)and its
myriad programs, treatment etc:
Plaintiffs-(most fit this criteria)-allege violations of the ADA and
section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
links to exhibits
9 https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/9special-rapporteur-two-reports-on-solitary.pdf
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