Prison Conditions

Henry’s Pleas For Help Were Ignored Before His Death

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Henry Stewart was in jail awaiting trial for violating the terms of his early release on a shoplifting conviction when he scrawled the following words on an Emergency Grievance Form.

“I have black out two times in less then 24 hr.  I keep asking to go to the emergency room.  I don’t know what cause the blankouts. I do know that my tororance are low plus I haven’t had a meal that I come eat.  I can’t hold water down or food.  I don’t know many emergency grievance I have written with same reply.  Wait on your (me) appointment.  I know about what my blackouts leading to seizure.”

The paper is then signed, dated and followed by the words:

“I need emergency assistant right away.”

Those words are written more boldly than all the rest, as if Henry wanted them to stand out.

The form was returned to Henry Stewart the next day, August, 4, 2016, after being signed by Sgt. Whitehead.  It read the following:

“Mr. Stewart, not only have you been refusing your […] medication, but while conducting meal pass this morning, you were witnessed walking to the top tier and sitting on walk-way.  You’ve also been further evaluated off-site by specialists.  In addition, you will receive a follow-up by the provider.”

Henry Stewart died in jail on August 6, 2016.

The Hampton Roads Regional Jail made a statement after the death.  In it, the Jail Superintendent David Simmons said, “Typically, the inmates Hampton Roads Regional Jail receives have acute and/or chronic medical issues or significant behavioral issues.  Inmates are transferred here because they have pre-existing medical and mental health issues with little or no treatment prior to incarceration.”

The statement goes on to report on the professionalism and training of its staff, and how the “public should know that Hampton Roads Regional Jail has a huge medical mission and works daily to serve the complex medical needs of its inmate population.”

It was at this same jail that Jamycheal Mitchell died of starvation about a year prior to this death.  In that case, the jail investigated itself and cleared itself of all wrong doing.

The medical examiner in Norfolk reported that Henry died from a perforated gastric ulcer due to chronic lymphocytic gastritis, H. pylori positive – a complicated ulcer that created a hole in his stomach in the Hampton Roads Regional Jail.  The manner of death is listed as ‘natural’.

According to witnesses, the day that Henry died he collapsed and starting foaming at the mouth.  Inmates who saw that happen tried to get help from jail staff, but were told by an officer, “I am busy right now.”  The lawsuit that has been filed claims that Henry asked for help from as early as mid July, and his weight when he was received by the jail was 167 pounds, and it was 132 upon his death.

Henry’s mom was close to him.  She visited him regularly before he was transferred to Hampton Roads, and they wrote each other a couple times a week until a couple weeks before his death when his letters stopped coming.  After his death, she said “Don’t nobody know what a mom go through, honey, when she loses one of her children, and I done lost two.”

REFERENCES

Associated Press and Staff. “Jail Issues Statement about Inmate Who Died Days after Seeking Medical Help.” WVEC. N.p., 01 Sept. 2016. Web. 17 June 2017.

Daugherty, Scott. “60-year-old Died in Hampton Roads Regional Jail Because Staff Ignored Him, Family Suit Says.” Virginian-Pilot. N.p., 05 June 2017. Web. 17 June 2017.

Kleiner, Sarah. “Hampton Roads Regional Jail Inmate Denied Request for Medical Help Two Days before He Died.” Richmond Times-Dispatch. N.p., 31 Aug. 2016. Web. 17 June 2017.

Mechanic, Allison. “Family Files $40 Million Suit after Man Dies at Hampton Roads Regional Jail.” Azfamily.com 3TV CBS 5. N.p., 06 June 2017. Web. 17 June 2017.

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Harsh Sentences

A Mother’s ‘Life’ Sentence

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There is a mom in Florida going to visit her son this week.  His name is Bubba, and he lives in a Florida prison.  He’s spent the last twenty years behind bars.  Bubba had a drug habit as a young man, and he resorted to robbery to get his next fix.  He had a gun, but he never pulled it on anybody.  He was given a life sentence for his crimes.

Life.

I don’t know Bubba’s history.  I have no idea how he found himself with an addiction so powerful, he needed to steal to feed it.  I DO know that so many of us or someone we know is, or has been, just a few circumstances away from that same place.  Let’s face it – most of us have come closer than we would like to admit to some form of trouble, and we just didn’t get caught.   People make mistakes.  People have weak moments and clouded judgment.  Sometimes jail can actually be a place where a person can temporarily be protected from making more bad choices.  But ‘life’?  Really?

Don’t we owe it to each other to show a little more compassion than simply throwing people away?  Life – you stay behind bars until you die.  That’s what it is.  That’s what we have become comfortable with, what we accept.  I don’t want to be a party to this.  Silence is not an option.

These are the words of a mother who’s boy went into prison in his early twenties, has been there for twenty years, and is sentenced to die there.

Talked to Bub late yesterday.  It is amazing how positive he is, living with his life sentence.  He is such an inspiration!  I learn from him all of the time.  He told me about the A.M. worship service – OVER 200 inmates!  He said the music was great, and the sermon was ‘brimstone and fire’.  Bubba likes that kind of preaching, no whitewashing.

I asked him about the food, and he was so happy to have DECENT food!  ‘Mom,’ he said, ‘the biscuits are bigger than your fist.  I had more butter and jelly on my plate than I have had in the ENTIRE last 5 years, SEASONED potatoes and grits that were actually cooked the way they should be cooked.’  He also had eggs AND a banana.  He traded his eggs for a second banana.

This may seem like small stuff, but believe me, it isn’t.  He has gone months without fresh fruit, and had years of eating only for survival, not because the food had any quality, taste, or nutritional value.

We talked again – about him getting transferred to the Faith based program.  I told him about all of the prayers and positive words from everyone.  He said, ‘Mom, it really is a miracle.  You’re not supposed to be considered until you have been DR (disciplinary report) free for a year. I had four months to go.’

Bubba has already witnessed major changes (for the better) in the short time he has been here, not only from the inmates’ respect for one another and each other’s property, but from guards as well.  He was also excited about the walking track.  He said if he walked it three times, he could walk a mile.  That’s major!  He had already walked it once with an elderly inmate, about seventy, who has dementia.  Bub said, ‘Mom, he can remember some things from fifty years ago and then not remember where his cell is.’  I know Bubba’s heart went out to him, and I know Bub will do what he can for him.  That’s just the way he is – always was…

He was also telling me this place has football, basketball, and softball (most places don’t allow any group sports).  He was super excited about that, especially for the softball.  I reminded him that his dad was very good at baseball and was expected to get a baseball scholarship.  Bubba only knew Gordon as his dad, and he cherishes that, but I know in my heart – or at least I feel – that had Bubba not lost his father, he would not have suffered the traumatic things he did as a child.  Billy would have been there to help me protect him, before Gordon came into our lives…

We talked about his current roommate, someone like Bubba who has a heart for God, and we laughed about one of his most recent roommates, someone who had been convicted of cannibalism…  Bubba rode that one out pretty good.  When we talked about that character, he would laugh and say, ‘Yeah, I sleep with one eye open’.  That same inmate was bragging on all of his ‘accomplishments’ when bubba first came into contact with him in their shared cell, showing Bubba newspaper articles about his crimes, etc.  I’ll never forget what Bub said when I asked him how he handled that.  ‘Mom, I just told him MY GOD watches over me.  You have your articles, I’ve got MY BIBLE.’

Bubba has been through more than anyone should ever have to endure for the crimes he committed.  He has paid his debt to society.  Anyone who knows and loves him can agree to that, and I believe with all my heart that my son will one day come home.    But for now, we at least have ‘biscuits bigger than your fist, more jelly and butter than I’ve had in five years and fresh fruit’, fellow inmates who want to do their time serving God and not Satan, a great ministry throughout the entire prison and not just during service, a track to walk, softball teams, and clothing – yes, clothing.  There have actually been times when clothing has not been provided.  And, most of all, a new sense of Hope that comes from the Faith that keeps your spirit alive, trusting God’s grace and mercy to answer prayers.

And, how I hope those prayers are answered.  For Bubba.  For his mom.  For a country that needs a better sense of what’s important.  Throwing people away ISN’T okay.

This mom told me one more thing.  She told me about the ‘sick’ feeling she gets after a visit with her son, when she walks out the prison doors and leaves him behind.   She said that feeling sticks with her, “It never fully goes away…  When you eat, when you sleep, when you’re with someone, when you’re alone.  It’s always there, in the back of your mind, in your heart, in every breath you take.”

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Mental Illness and Prison, Prison Conditions

Man’s Death After Ninety Minutes In A Hot Prison Shower Ruled ‘Accident’

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The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate on the planet.  That’s substantial.  It is ignorant to disregard and not oversee the system that houses that much of our population.  How we treat these people is a reflection of our humanity, and to discount a tenth of our population is going to breed a lot of resentment.

Darren Rainey was one of the incarcerated.  He was schizophrenic and in prison on a drug charge.  His death while in the care of corrections was ruled an ‘accident’.  There were no employees disciplined with regard to the incident.  The investigation found that the evidence, “failed to show that any correctional officer acted in reckless disregard of Rainey’s life.”  Emma Lew, the medical examiner, found that Rainey died due to a combination of his schizophrenia, heart disease and confinement in the small shower space.

Interesting.

The day this man died, he had defecated in his cell and smeared it on himself and his walls.  Mr. Rainey was then placed in a shower that could only be controlled from the outside, in order to prevent him from turning off the water.  The shower doesn’t allow for the water temperature to be adjusted from within the shower.

A Corrections Officer told Rainey that he wasn’t going back to his cell until he cleaned himself.  It is reported that Rainey began to clean himself, but then said, “No, I don’t want to do this,” and leaned against a wall within the shower.

Almost two hours after Rainey was put into the shower, officers found him lying face up on the floor in about three inches of water.  He no longer had a pulse and was not breathing.

After his death, an inmate at the prison, Harold Hempstead, reported that he heard Mr. Rainey screaming for help and banging on the door while he was in the shower.  He quoted Rainey as saying, “I’m sorry. I won’t do it anymore,” and, “I can’t take it no more.”  He also said that the banging seemed to slow down until he heard what sounded like Rainey hitting the wall and falling at 9:30.  His account of the events was discounted.  The Assistant State Attorneys stated that Hempstead, “did not seem to have an opportunity to see and know the things about which he testified; he did not seem to have an accurate memory; he has been convicted of a felony, and lastly, his testimony was not consistent with the other testimony and other reliable and undisputed evidence in the case.”

Of his appearance when he was removed from the shower, one inmate said that Rainey looked like a “boiled lobster”.  Several witnesses said that Rainey’s skin appeared to be peeled back in some areas, and one compared his curling flesh to a fruit rollup.

There was a paramedic called to the scene that night.  He wrote that Rainey, “was found with second- and third-degree burns on 30 percent of his body.”  Not only that, he also reported that the prison staff themselves told him that the, “inmate was found on shower floor with hot water running.”

A day after Rainey’s death, an investigator with the medical examiner’s office wrote that, “visible trauma was noticed throughout the decedent’s body.”

A health and safety inspector recorded the shower’s water temperature at 160 degrees two days after the incident.

The autopsy took three years to complete and another year to be released.  In that autopsy – only one skin sample was taken.  After receiving the autopsy results, the State Attorney decided that there would be no charges filed in this case.  Corrections staff were cleared of all wrong-doing.

REFERENCES

Brownjbrown@miamiherald.com, Julie K. “Graphic Photos Stir Doubts about Darren Rainey’s ‘accidental’ Prison Death.” Miamiherald. N.p., 06 May 2017. Web. 22 May 2017.

CBS/AP. “Prosecutors: No Crime in Death of Inmate Left in Hot Shower for Nearly 2 Hours.”CBS News. CBS Interactive, 20 Mar. 2017. Web. 22 May 2017.

Hawkins, Derek. “An Inmate Died after Being Locked in a Scalding Shower for Two Hours. His Guards Won’t Be Charged.” The Washington Post. WP Company, 20 Mar. 2017. Web. 22 May 2017.

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Mental Illness and Prison, Prison Conditions

Young Man Hangs Himself In Jail Cell

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On October 4, 2014, DeJuan Brison, age 26, hung himself with a sheet in a jail cell.  He didn’t die that day, but was taken to a hospital, where he passed away on October 21, 2014.  He had a mother, Christine Brooks, and a father, Robert Brison.  Christine said her son was ‘sweet and humble’ and a ‘mama’s boy’.  Brison grew up in St. Louis and was the father of four children, ages 4, 5, 6 and 7.

DeJuan Brison was originally being held at the St. Louis Justice Center.  Three days earlier, on October 1, 2014, he was arrested on a domestic violence case, but he was never charged.  Jails are required to release inmates if no charges are filed within 24 hours, but they can be held if they are wanted by another municipality.

Two years earlier, on August 28, 2012, Brison had been accused of stealing five sticks of deodorant, valued at $17.50, at a Family Dollar.  In that case, he posted a $300 bond, but he did not attend a ‘financial responsibility’ class that was ordered by the court.  Because he missed the class, a warrant was issued, and a $500 bail was set.  It was for this reason that the St. Louis Justice Center did not release Brison.  He did not have any new charges, but had missed his class.

It was while Brison was being held by St. Louis that he was placed on ‘full suicide watch’.  That happened on October 2, 2014, one day after he was arrested. On October 3, the following day, another ‘full suicide’ form was filled out.  Later that day he was removed from full suicide watch and placed under ‘close observation’.  After that, he was listed at one point on ‘modified suicide watch’ and ‘close observation’.

He was transported to Jennings jail on the morning of October 4, where he was wanted in relation to the deodorant theft charge from 2012.  He communicated with the jailers that he had already paid his bail for the shoplifting case, but was informed he would have to tell it to the judge.

That morning he requested a call to have someone bring him his inhaler for asthma.  He was physically unable to complete his call, held his hands in the air, and laid on the floor.  Another inmate attempted to place the call for him, but there was no answer.

Right before noon that day, an ambulance was called to attend to Brison, and the emergency worker reported that he was making himself hyperventilate.   At 12:40 a guard walked by his cell.  At 1:21 a guard who was taking out the trash saw Brison hanging.

The Jennings jail was not informed about Brison’s suicide watch when he was transferred.

Brison was somebody’s young son and the father of four children of his own.  There were never any new charges against him, but it appears he was troubled, or he wouldn’t have been placed on suicide watch during his brief stay in St. Louis in the fall of 2014.

Life is valuable.  Jails and prisons often lose sight of that.  People aren’t people anymore there.  That reality is apparent to most people who have been in the system or known someone in it.  The climate in corrections is one of disregard for the humanity that it is their job to house and care for – like it or not.  That is their job.  That has gotten lost somewhere, behind walls that no one can see through.

As I type this, I just found out that a sweet woman I consider a friend was in a motorcycle accident this weekend.  The driver of the motorcycle was killed and my friend, the passenger, is in critical condition.  LIFE IS VALUABLE.  People aren’t just numbers and cases.  This man was loved by people too.

DeJuan Brison was charged with nothing in 2014, but he was held in jail for several days, displayed suicidal tendencies, and was having breathing problems.  Before the week was out, a man who was a friend and loved one to some, a father to four and two people’s son hung himself from a sheet in an empty cell.   He had breathing issues the same day, but rather than have him housed with other inmates who could monitor him, he was placed in a cell by himself.  He had been on suicide watch, but was in a cell by himself, unmonitored and with the material to allow him to hang himself.

REFERENCES

Kohler, Jeremy. “Man Who Hanged Himself in Jennings Had Been On Suicide Watch.” Stltoday.com. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 17 Aug. 2015.

Benchaabane, Nassiom. “Corrections Officers Ignored and Neglected Inmate Who Hanged Himself In Jennings Jail, Suit Says.” Stltoday.com. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 17 Feb. 2017.

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Prison Conditions

Jail Denies Woman Access to Hospital During Labor

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Sheriff Anthony Wickersham stated he is 100 percent satisfied with how his officers handled a recent situation in his jail.  Although he concedes during an interview that a hospital is located about three minutes away, he is also of the opinion that the baby born on a jail cell floor came too fast.  He goes on to talk about how nice it would be to have a medical team on hand, but adds that the taxpayers would have to pay for that.  He also says he is not going to second guess the decisions of his staff.

I am.

Jessica Preston was pulled over for driving on a suspended license.  She was given a court date five days later and ordered to pay a $10,000 cash bond, but she couldn’t afford it, so she was to stay in jail until she could see the judge.   If she had been wealthy, she would not have been in the jail.  But, she wasn’t wealthy, so in the jail she stayed.

Ms. Preston was eight months pregnant at the time she was jailed.  She had delivered her first baby via an emergency C-section and was scheduled to deliver Elijha the same way for health reasons.

It was while she was at the jail that Jessica’s contractions began.   Her baby was coming a month early, she was behind bars, and she was experiencing the pain of labor.

At 7 in the morning, she sought medical attention and made the staff aware she was having her baby.  They didn’t allow her to go to a hospital, but instead sent her back to her cell.

Four and half hours later, at 11:30, she again sought medical assistance, letting staff know she was having a baby.  Again, Jessica was sent back to a jail cell.

At 1:00 in the afternoon she tried again, this time with blood running down her leg.  Rather than call an ambulance, the staff sent her back to her cell.

Elijha was born at 2:45 that day.   Almost two hours after the last attempt Jessica made to get help.

The Sherriff may want to cloud the issues with talk about taxpayers needing to pay for medical staff, budgets, etc, but by doing so, he is just making it all the more apparent how far many of those employed in corrections will go to cover for each other’s poor treatment of inmates.

When a pregnant woman starts to have a baby, you help her.  It’s that simple.  Wickersham said they didn’t have time – they had time.  They had well over seven hours to get that woman to a hospital.  Seven hours.  It takes less than a minute to call an ambulance.

In the spectrum of morally right and wrong – which is worse?  Driving on a suspended license, or not offering assistance to a young woman who is in labor for over seven hours and endangering the life of a premature baby?  Which leads to one more question.  Which is worse – not allowing a woman access to a doctor when she goes into labor a month early, or trying to defend the inexcusable lack of compassion and professionalism that led to a child being born on a jail cell floor?

REFERENCES

Hutchinson, Kevin Dietz Derick. “Macomb County Sheriff Stands by Staff after Woman Forced to Give Birth in Jail Cell.” WDIV. N.p., 10 Feb. 2017. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.

Kevin Dietz, Frank McGeorge, Derick Hutchinson. “Major Health Risks for Woman Who Delivered Baby on Cell Floor at Macomb County Jail.” WDIV. N.p., 07 Feb. 2017. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.

Schladebeck, Jessica. “Pregnant Woman Forced to Deliver Baby on Jail Cell Floor.”NY Daily News. N.p., 07 Feb. 2017. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.

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Harsh Sentences

Write and Help Give Rayvell His Life Back

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The ugly truth is – Rayvell Finch was in possession of some stolen property once.  It was worth over $500.   About a year later – he was charged with possession with intent to distribute 24 rocks of crack cocaine.

Those were his wrongs.  A parent with a troubled child might be familiar with something like that.    For whatever reason – people get sidetracked when they are young, one wrong choice leads to a few more.   They make immature, irresponsible choices that we hope and pray they grow out of.  With so many of our kids  – it might evolve into addiction.  The grip of a drug on your kid so powerful, you can’t beat it the hell back, no matter how hard you try.

That is what happened to Rayvell.  He became an addict.  One day, a few years after the above crimes – he was sitting on a stoop.  He was visiting an aunt, and was sitting with a friend outside.   The police say there was a ‘No Trespassing’ sign, but none of my research ever showed that evidence was presented.

It doesn’t matter – he was arrested for sitting on that stoop and looking like someone the police thought might be up to something.  He had his fix in his sock.  That was his third strike.  That’s it.  That is what he got life in prison without the possibility of parole for.

It’s two decades later.  Yes – two decades.  He’s still in that prison.  But there is a glimmer of hope.  Just a glimmer, but it’s there.

On March 16, 2017, Rayvell is going before a parole board.  Feeling sympathy, sharing stories, crying over the injustice and the death behind bars – we do that.  A lot.   This is one of those times something can be done.  Please join me in writing on behalf of Rayvell.   This is his story if you need to read more.

It’s so easy and it could mean all the difference in the world.  If you need an outline, copy and paste what I have below and add some of your own sentiments.  The below words are meant to give you a place to start.  It’s just a shell to help you compose your own letter, but the information regarding Rayvell’s accomplishments are all accurate.

The address is included in the sample.

State of Louisiana Board of Pardons
Committee of Parole Department of Public Safety and Corrections
P.O. Box 94304
Capital Station
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70804-9304

Re:  Rayvell Finch, 00336346

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing this letter in support of, Rayvell Finch, who is appearing before the parole board on March 16, 2017.  I am writing to request that you send Mr. Finch home to reunite with his family.

Rayvell Finch never committed a violent crime and the third strike he received that resulted in a life sentence was the result of an addiction that he has long since conquered.

While facing life in prison, he chose to better himself.  Where others may have given up, he pushed forward.  He has taken courses in anger management, substance abuse and religious studies.   He also has experience in carpentry, horticulture and in the culinary arts.   He has taken up hobbies while he has been incarcerated, including making jewelry, leather work and woodwork.

He has been incarcerated for two decades and I implore you to release Rayvell at this parole hearing and allow him to spend the rest of his days with his family and loved ones.

Sincerely,

 

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Prison Conditions

Opening the Blinds on Being Female in Prison

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Our reality is a product of what we know and are permitted to know.  If all the events that take place behind prison bars were brought to light, there might be a call to action from normal, everyday America.

There is always the need to preface every story with – bad people go to prison and we need those facilities.  What about the girl who was raised differently than others, faced more struggles, maybe didn’t have parents looking out for her and got caught up is something, or the mentally ill girl, or the harshly sentenced or the falsely accused?  Those people are in there too, all mixed in together.  Even the ‘bad’ ones deserve a fair shot at being rehabilitated.  We are all one mistake or false accusation away.  It’s enough to make you think – it made me think.

The reality of life behind bars for women.  Think about it.  There is an inescapable vision of the vulnerability.  Walls that can’t be seen through.   The people behind those walls have no voice, their phone calls and letters, if they can afford them, are monitored. And, their families don’t often have the means to fight any injustice.  You don’t really want to risk ticking off the man who is your jailer.  What are your options?

If you could have seen through the bars of a prison one particular day, you would have seen a scene something like this.  “He asked me to pull my shirt up.”  She did it for him.  She lifted her shirt because she knew if she did, she could, “get stuff.”

At one prison in 2008, while a female inmate was showering, the officer on duty sent the other prisoners on her tier to lunch.  When the inmate returned to an empty cell, the officer entered and forced her to perform oral sex. The consequence for his actions were six months of low-level probation.

In 2009, a corrections officer blackmailed an inmate into having sex with him three times during the same day by saying that he had the power to send her back to prison at her next hearing if she fought him. Repeatedly, she told him she didn’t want to have sex.  The officer was sentenced to six months in prison.

Ten percent of all women in U.S. jails report being sexually abused by corrections officers. In 2012, an officer offered money for sex to an inmate doing late cleaning duty. After humiliating her in a supply closet, the officer instructed the woman to “clean her mess up”.  His punishment was a year of low-level probation.

At one prison in Alabama it has been reported that a third of prison employees have had sex with female inmates.  After a federal investigation at that prison, it was reported that inmates, “live in a sexualized environment with repeated and open sexual behavior including: abusive sexual contact between staff and prisoners, sexualized activity, and a strip show condoned by staff.”

The thing is – we don’t even know the half of it, because anyone who has lived in a prison environment knows it is in an inmate’s best interest not to report any wrongdoing on the part of corrections staff.  This is the reality we don’t hear about every day.

REFERENCES

Barrish, Cris. “Sex behind Bars: Women Violated in Delaware Prison.” Delawareonline. The News Journal, 31 July 2015. Web. 02 Jan. 2017.

Gates, Verna. “Inmates at Alabama Women’s Prison Face Sexual Abuse: U.S. Justice.”Yahoo! News. Yahoo!, 22 Jan. 2014. Web. 10 Jan. 2017.

 

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Harsh Sentences, Juvenile Justice

If You Believe in Second Chances, Click Below…

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Travion Blount was fifteen years old when he got in trouble.  Described as a ‘shy but happy boy’ by his mother, in middle school he started skipping class and hanging out with the wrong crowd.   At the age of fifteen he went to a party with two older boys, and the three of them robbed the other people there at gunpoint, collecting drugs, cell phones and money.

The two older boys received ten and thirteen year sentences.  Travion, the youngest and the only one not to plead guilty, was sentenced to six life sentences, plus 118 years.   That sentence was later reduced to forty years.  With a forty year sentence, Travion will be fifty-five years old when he gets out, for a crime he committed at the age of fifteen years old.

Due to the length of his sentence, Travion has been kept in high security facilities.  He has continued to take classes and tells me he just ‘tries to stay out of people’s way’.  In the year we have communicated, he has never been anything but respectful.  He asks how my family is in every correspondence.   He asks how I am.

He deserves a second chance.  If you would like to read more about him, there are three articles about him right here on my blog.  But  – it is also easy to find out about him through a simple internet search.  The punishment he received was harsh.  I believe it was too harsh.  If you believe that also, please click here, and write an email to the Governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe.

Your message doesn’t have to be lengthy, it may take only three minutes of your time, but if you feel Travion deserves a second chance, please take those three minutes.  I wrote one that was a little more personalized, but if you need help getting started, feel free to copy and paste the words I have below.   Simply put Travion Blount’s name in the subject line, and start something like this:

Please consider a pardon for Travion Blount.  In 2006, at the age of fifteen, he committed a crime for which he has been in prison for ten years.   He is a young man now.  While incarcerated, he has taken classes to prepare for his future and he has a family that supports and loves him at home.  I respectfully request that you consider a pardon for Travion Blount.

That’s it.  Please take a moment to contact Governor Terry McAuliffe if you feel Travion Blount deserves a second chance.  You can write your own words, or copy mine.  You can copy mine and add some of your own.   But, please, if you believe in second chances speak up for Travion.

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Juvenile Justice, Prison Conditions, Solitary Confinement

The Echoes of Solitary

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When people try to tell me I can find a better ‘cause’ than criminal justice reform, it only punctuates how much need there is for education. This is just one story. This story and the countless like it are why this is my cause.

I have children, and it isn’t a stretch to envision one of them being picked up by the police for something or other. As a matter of fact, I’ve received a phone call or two regarding my children. Their brains aren’t fully developed at the age of sixteen, and it’s fair to say there will be bumps in the road. It’s life. I’m not talking about gang violence or rape or home invasions. I am talking about kid stuff. One of the more concerning calls I ever received was when one of my boys was on top of a Staples office supply store.   Who knows what he was doing up there, because the police who were holding him when I arrived didn’t climb up on the building to find out.

But – what if. What if I didn’t know the officer? I did. What if there had been something on that roof that pointed towards my son. Kalief Browder was sixteen years old when he was arrested for allegedly stealing a backpack. The charge was second degree robbery. The boy was walking home, in his own neighborhood when the arrest took place. Nothing was found on Browder at the time.

Kalief was given a choice. He could take a plea bargain. If he did, he would be released. He refused though, trusting in the fairness of the system. He was confident his innocence would speak for itself.

Browder’s family couldn’t come up with the bail money. So, a boy who was not found guilty of any crime, was sent to Rikers Island to await a trial. The trial never took place though. He was held for three years, at which time the charges were dropped.

Rikers Island has long been thought of as a dangerous and isolated place – with good reason. It is just that – dangerous and isolated. Not only are there walls and fences to keep eyes from seeing what takes place inside, but it is also on an island. That, in itself, fosters feelings of hopelessness.

During his stay at Rikers, Kalief was offered several opportunities to take a plea. He never waivered, maintaining his innocence. He also attempted to take his own life on several occasions while there. Kalief Browder’s stay at Rikers changed him. He reported abuse by inmates and officers and spent nearly two years of his stay in solitary. In an article written by Jennifer Gonnerman, she included a clip of footage that was obtained from inside Rikers. It’s haunting when you see this young man being tossed around like a rag doll, knowing that this is just the footage that we have access to. He had several more stories of abuse to tell, of which we don’t have footage.

Kalief wasn’t able to shake his experiences when the charges against him were finally dropped. He was twenty. He couldn’t fill his old shoes anymore. He’d missed his place in life. He didn’t know where he fit in while the rest of the world had kept moving without him. He was quoted in one article as saying, “…in my mind right now, I feel like I’m still in jail, because I’m still feeling the side effects from what happened in there.”

He reportedly couldn’t sleep at night until he checked all the locks throughout the home. At one point, he was fearful his TV was watching him, so he got rid of it. He wasn’t able to escape his experience. He tried to end his life on numerous occasions and finally succeeded at his parents’ home when he was twenty two years old.

This is what’s happening in the United States of America. This is my cause. The expanse of this problem – from the judges, to the corrections officers, to the prosecutors, to the public defenders – is overwhelming. Saying this is not a ‘just’ cause is so far from the truth. People like Kalief Browder deserve advocates. You can see a sick puppy, you can see an orphan – you can’t see what is happening behind the walls of a prison.

It’s difficult to open ourselves up to the possibility that this could happen to our sixteen year old son. It’s much easier to think it can’t. Kalief’s mom found him after he took his life. She heard banging in the house and couldn’t figure out what the noise was, so she went outside. When she looked up from her backyard, she saw her son dangling from a window by a cord. He’d hung himself.

It wasn’t long after that Venida Browder, Kalief’s mother, also passed away. Some say she died of a broken heart. I say the same when I try to feel what she must have felt during those years when she couldn’t free her son. When I look up and try to envision what she saw from where she stood in her yard, I am certain her heart was broken. It’s time we all cared.

REFERENCES

Gonnerman, Jennifer. “Before the Law.” The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 08 June 2015. Web. 07 Jan. 2017.

Gonnerman, Jennifer. “Kalief Browder, 1993–2015.” The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2016. Web. 07 Jan. 2017.

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Harsh Sentences

State Funded Suffering

1 Comment

Oscar Giles was born in 1949. That would make him almost seventy years old today. I look at his photo, and I see such sadness. There is loneliness in those eyes too. What I don’t see is menace. Just weary defeat.

There are some things that are no brainers. We come across things in life that don’t require any intelligent thought or deciphering to figure out. This is one of those things.

Oscar was incarcerated in February of 1979 in the state of Florida. He had broken into a liquor store at 3:30 a.m. There was no one inside, and he was caught shortly after the incident. There was a gun found in the vicinity that the authorities attributed to Oscar. I am not sure if he ever said it was his or not. No one was harmed or present at the time of the crime.

Oscar was charged with a few things. Among the charges was Armed Burglary. For that offense, he received life in prison.  A punishment of that magnitude is lost on so many. People don’t often think about it longer than the time it takes them to read the news article about someone receiving it. Unless you are seventy years old at the time of your arrest, life in prison may be considered worse than death by some.   There’s no coming back from that. There’s no redeeming yourself. There is no chance of forgiveness. That’s it. No longer will you ever receive love and physical affection of family and friends. There is no picking up the phone when you want. Not even mailing a letter if someone doesn’t pay for your stamp.

In 1979, I was eleven years old. Oscar has been incarcerated since I was eleven. I’ve had four children and a granddaughter in that time. When this man committed his crime, he didn’t have the advantages some of us have. He had a tenth grade education. He worked as a laborer. He wasn’t in that liquor store to hurt anybody. He made a reckless choice in a hard life. Not a hurtful choice. It was a nonviolent crime.

One article I read indicated that Oscar has had one visit since he’s been in. In the state of Florida, you can’t send him an email. I can’t tell him he has not been forgotten. I will slip a note into the mailbox tomorrow and hope it reaches him by Christmas. I don’t know this man. But one look at him tells me he doesn’t need to be in there anymore. That’s all it takes is one look. It’s a no brainer. When are we going to quit destroying people’s souls and calling it justice. This isn’t justice.

I found Oscar Giles on JPay. His DC Number is 067434. From what I have been able to locate, he can be written to at:

Giles, Oscar DC# 067434
Tomoka Correctional Institution
3950 Tiger Bay Road
Daytona Beach, FL 32124
REFERENCES:

“Harsh Justice in America.” Harsh Justice in America. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2016.

“Oscar Giles: 37 Years (and Counting) for Non-violent Offenses – Updated.” Wobbly Warrior’s Blog. N.p., 04 Nov. 2016. Web. 18 Dec. 2016.

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Prison Writing and Expression