Governor Walker's administration which includes the Department of Law, aka the Department of Lawlessness run by the governor's former law partner, Craig Richards is orchestrating a scenario about the abuses at the Department of Corrections to make the problem seem recent and smaller than it is. Since this is better than the total cover up under Sarah Palin and Sean Parnell most people will find it refreshing. I however find the fact that they are trying to protect those who did the dirty deads and made the horrible decisions of the past which killed and harmed people reprehensible. It was not a mistake, it was not that it went on without anyone in power knowing about it, the Palin and Parnell administrations knew, the Department of Law knew, some legislators knew, the state ombudsman knew, the people who worked in the DOC administration knew, people who read my blog knew and so did the news media. I told the news media over and over, they made excuses, ignored me and lied. You can imagine how outraged I am after writing about what I experienced and observed mainly while wrongfully imprisoned in Alaska. That was a wrongful imprisonment designed to shut me up about injustice out of the court in Nome Alaska which railroads mostly Native people into the prison system, due process is not allowed. Rather than shutting me up they got me writing about the abuses at the prison system all over the Internet.
That writing began with a 50 page letter to Sarah Palin about my injustice and the abuse in the prisons/jails. Palin's staff told me she read the letter, LMAO. I faxed or sent copies to two state senators who are Democrats, one representative who is a Republican and the state Ombudsman at that time. I was totally ignored, gas lighted, called a liar and said to be crazy and mobbed wherever I lived because that is what corrupt governments do. Since then most of the letter was published on this blog.
My perspective on the prisons should have been valuable to all of them as I had worked in two prisons in another state as a nurse, had volunteered at one of them, and worked my way through my last two years of college in a job that was a combination of health care and corrections with mentally ill legal offenders. I had a very good idea of the rights prisoners were supposed to have protected including the right to medical care the SCOTUS has upheld over and over and over and even recently when Justice Kennedy wrote about the prison system in California, a “prison that deprives prisoners of basic sustenance, including adequate medical care, is incompatible with the concept of human dignity and has no place in civilized society.” My experience made my opinion valuable, but any person who reported what I experienced and observed happening to others along with the very sick, immature and abusive behavior of the prison staff which includes corrections officers, nurses, a doctor, social workers and a psychologist should have been seriously listened to and action should have been taken to investigate and fix the problems. Instead I got the Jerky Boys at the DOC administration laughing at me. Instead nothing but lies and cover up happened and more people died or were damaged both physically and psychologically. The state of Alaska is manipulating the public and as usual even though the evidence is in plain sight they believe what is said. They knew, they knew, they knew and they lie.
The information I supplied spanned almost a decade which included not just the writing but massive phone calls. There were days I was on the phone for hours. Then my emails were removed from the Palin email dumps and the reciprocals hacked out of my email account. How many died during that period of time? How many had their health harmed, how many developed mental health problems especially PTSD and how many had their rights violated?
This process began in 2008 with the 50 page letter.
My Letter to Sarah Palin (part 1)
WRONGFULLY IMPRISONED/POLITICAL PRISONER BY MY OWN GOVERNMENT
"You Americans believe you must do something to get arrested." Muhatma Ghandi
From 8/24/2009:
My Letter to Sarah Palin (Part 2)
ALASKA IS AN INSANE CRAZY WORLD WITH NO JUSTICEThis document is about workplace bullying, legal bullying, medical bullying, political bullying and bullying in the department of corrections. This has destroyed my life. I may have managed to recover from the workplace bullying if I had been allowed treatment. Now I never will recover from all the harmful events which followed. The State of Alaska has intentionally and with malice harmed me grievously. I have mailed copies to the ombudsman, Representative Seton and staff, the clemency board, Senator Wieleckowski,Senator French and the ACLU. If I have no response from you one week after you receive this I will start a mailing campaign to the news media and political organizations. Will you then have me wrongfully imprisoned again?
This is the rough copy. I have had problems getting it done due to my health. I am prompted to just go ahead and send this due to the denial of my second appeal being forthcoming and your endorsement of Commissioner Schmidt being so detestable to me.
Where was my America?
Where was my America?
Where were my civil rights?
Where was my America
when I was accused of crimes
I did not commit?
Where was my America
when I was wrongfully arrested?
Where was my America
when they let the real perpetrators
of the crime starve my beloved cat?
Where was my America
when the real perpetrator of the crime
robbed me of my possessions?
Where was the Constitution
when I was wrongfully imprisoned and tortured?
Where was the great American justice system
when the DA in Nome used his position of power
in pure retaliation to harm me?
Where was my America
when Judge Esch signed the warrant
against no evidence?
Where was my America
when I had a besotted public defender and
noone listened or cared, not judge, nor
legislator, nor her supervisor?
Where are you America?
The department of law told the governor’s
office they may not even talk to me.
My America is dying and I am in
deep mourning for her.
By Celia Harrison
ITS A STRANGE STRANGE WORLD WE LIVE IN MASTER JACK
From 8/26/2009
For that charge my reduced sentence was 45 days. The DOC reduces it to 30 days for good behavior. I figured I would piss them off and be there 45 days, if I survived, what with all my grievances and declarations of violations of my 8th amendment rights, violations of the DOC policies and all. From the time I was released from being wrongfully imprisoned I told them that should count for the sentence. The PDs told me three times it was illegal for the DOC to substitute the time I had already spent because it was unrelated to the other charge. I of course was livid. Of course I thought since they were attorneys and understood the law they were telling me the truth. Maya Angelou said, "If, someone shows you who they are, Believe them." I should have listened to her.
(snip)
Arriving at the prison I was taken inside and brought to a desk. Guess
who was there? The crazy vitriolic nurse from last time who made me take
both meds at the same time so I threw up and then said I made myself
threw up. I gave her my meds. This made her angry and she told me I
could not bring them with me. I rattled off the list of the higher ups
who told me to do so. She called me a liar and told me none of those
people knew what they were talking about anyway. One of them was
standing behind her and said she did tell me to bring them. Crazy nurse
then picked up the bottles and saw I had Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen.
"You can't take both of these at the same time, you're a nurse you
should know that." I told her I did not usually take them at the same
time, but they can be taken at the same time and it happens all the
time. Then I said, "You're a nurse you should know that." The woman
behind her smiled. I then explained that I took the antidepressant and
seizure meds for pain as well as other reasons. The reason I took them
for pain was so I did not have to take narcotics. The woman behind her
said, "That is something to be proud of." That infuriated crazy nurse,
interesting response.
Then I was put in a holding cell in which a woman already sat. She said
she had already been there for 6 hours. Now, I have musculoskeletal pain
and can only sit on a hard surface for so long. All this cell had was a
metal bench with no back to sit on and there were no mats on the floor.
We sat there until about 1 AM, I got to the cell around 5 PM. That
means that other woman was there about 14 hours. I was in a lot of pain.
While in the cell we could not wear shoes and there was no bathroom(8th
amendment violation). To use the bathroom we had to wait long periods
for them to let us out to walk to a bathroom in socks. There was no hand
soap(8th amendment). The toilet paper was kept on the floor. The next
day I had a raging infection in a cut on my finger. Later that night I
talked with a nurse who actually knew what she was talking about and her
behavior was normal. I was shocked, I asked her how the heck she got a
job in the prison. There must have been a mistake. I asked her what was
wrong with the other nurse, facetiously. She said, "You know, you're a
nurse." I told her yes, actually I do. She then told me I could have my
Gabapentin, but the Trazadone would have to wait until the next day as a
nurse practitioner had to approve it. I was fine with that, as long as
it was true.
At Wildwood they put a lot of the women in the gymnasium, due to
"overcrowding". The lights are on 24 hours a day and there are no rules
about going to sleep at any particular time. It was nuts. It was like
being at a large junior high slumber party. They do not allow ear plugs
so I went and got a tampon and shoved cotton in my ears. I immediately
began asking for my Gabapentin, which I did not get, so I said. "Let the
grievance writing begin." The CO was quite angry with me because I
asked for one grievance form after another and filled each one with a
valid issue. After I wrote a grievance I wrote another form called a
copout and asked for a copy of each grievance, because they always seem
to get "lost." To my surprise I never got a copy of any of them, :O, a
blatant violation of the DOC policy and 8th amendment rights, I am so
surprised. Finally he opened the door and just threw a huge stack of
them at me. They flew all over the place. I stood there surrounded by
forms and told him, "That will probably be enough, for today."
There was no sleep that night they were having too much fun at the
slumber party. The next morning crazy nurse was on. She told me I could
not have my meds as the name on the bottle was different than my legal
name. Social security uses my former married name even though I sent
them my divorce decree in I think 1989. I had a copy of it, but the
sociopath in Homer destroyed it along with most of my other paperwork. I
told her the Gabapentin was approved and it was overdue. I explained
that I had brought in paperwork to clarify the name difference. I had
also explained it to higher ups before coming in. She told me to be
quiet and leave. I continued to tell her I wanted my Gabapentin and
Ibuprofen. She told me if I had Ibuprofen it would cost me $4 for three
doses and after those doses I would then have to wait a week before I
could have it again. I told her I brought a brand new bottle of them
with me. She then flipped out and told me I would be treated the same as
everyone else. Which meant I would not get my medications if she had
her way. I then asked her if everyone else had trigeminal neuralgia,
CFS, autism, PTSD and interstitial cystitis. I told her it was not her
role to make the decision to withhold it from me(once again a violation
of the 8th amendment and the DOCs own policy, as well as the nurse
practice act). She then called over her radio,“Mrs. Harrison did not
follow a direct order." I waited a couple seconds and said, "I am not
married." Which brought a huge round of laughter from the other inmates
which added to the anger she had for me because she looked like an idiot
the night before when she tried to make me look like an idiot. Then the
sergeant showed up and put handcuffs on me(No, they were not pink),
grabbed me by the arm and clearly trying to hurt me dragged me down the
hall. He put me in the hole, AKA detox cell. It was the same one I was
in three days last time, but this time it was not crawling with spiders.
I was very happy to get away from the slumber party. It was quiet and
cooler in there. The sergeant kept coming to the door to tell me I was
going to stay in that cell until I thought I could behave. To which I
would say things like, "Well that's never gona happen", or "What would I
have to do to stay here permanently?", or "It is a violation of the 8th
amendment, the Doc's policy and the nurse practice act for her to
withhold my meds","The Geneva Convention says all I have to do is give
you is my name, rank, and serial number." He also told me there would be
a hearing. I said, "Good, I would love to tell this story, will the
superintendent be there?" Can my punishment be to go in that room that
has a sign that reads, don't talk to the person in this room? The CO
behind the desk kept cracking up. I sang "Master Jack" for the sarg. I
requested toilet paper and a cup to drink out of several times and was
ignored.(As well as a grievance form and a pen). I tapped on the door,
then knocked, then started kicking. It took me a long time to get to the
point of kicking just like last time. The sergeant then came up and
said, "You just are not a very nice person are you?" I then told him
that I had spent my life in the service of others and was known to be a
very nice person. I started listing all the organizations I had
volunteered for, which is quite long. He put his head down and sighed. I
then said, "What the Hell is wrong with that nurse?" He looked up at me
and took off. The other guy gave me toilet paper and a cup, then I
meditated, did exercises, sang and generally loved being in the hole.
Very shortly the other CO who was still laughing, told me I was going
back. I said, No, I wanted to stay, "No, I think you're too nice to stay
here." He did not put handcuffs on me. I told him he should as I was a
dangerous character and perhaps he should put ankle restraints on too
and rough me up a bit on the way back. He said no, he thought I was too
nice for that. Then I told him that he was not helping me come up with
good material for my book. Don't you people have any Tazers? I asked him
what was wrong with that nurse too and he just smiled.
(snip)
When I got back the other inmates were expecting me to be upset, but I
was smiling. I told them I had fun and hoped I could do it again the
next day. They seemed puzzled. At lunch time I got my meds.
HMMMM...interesting. I also got them that night. When I sat next to my
bunk mate I said something about that nurse being nuts and should not be
practicing nursing. Two young women close to us heard me and one of
them said, "She is on crack." I laughed thinking it was a joke. She
said, "No, she really is, we're both on crack and we know her from the
community." I asked her if she was serious, yes she was. I knew that
nurse was chemically dependent and it was bad, but I never suspected
crack. They told me she had also been having an affair with the sergeant
she called to drag me down the hall and they had just broken up. That
explains a lot. "It's a strange, strange world we live in Master Jack.
No hard feelings if I never come back."
So, here I am imprisoned for taking drugs to kill myself due to PTSD
from the psychological terror from my job and the crazy nurse in the
prison turns out to be nurse crack head. No wonder she had a negative
reaction to me. I represent the trouble she can get into and at the same
time I am everything she can't be because I am in recovery
successfully. Now I know why the woman at the front desk made the
comment about my not using narcs for my pain being something to be proud
of. Someone in the community told me the same story about her and said
it was well known. (This is information from other parties, I have only
observed the behavior and appearance which lead me to suspect she had a
problem. I would normally have been reluctant to write about a person
with a chemical dependency problem, but I am making an exception for a
couple of people who have gleefully tortured others. I also want to
expose the crazy personnel issues at the DOC.)
I got there Friday evening. On Sunday morning a CO called my name and
told me to pack up. I figured I was going somewhere they could keep me
in administrative segregation for using a dangerous weapon against the
staff, words. She said, "You are out of here" which I did not take as
leaving the prison. They had to tell me a couple times before I
understood I was being released. I said, "Oh, you can't take me any
more?" The Sergeant was close by and yelled angrily, "That is not how we
do things." Then when they were doing paperwork they said I was being
discharged for the time I served before and it was "good time." I said,
"No, it wasn't." The Sarg spoke up again and said there had not been a
hearing yet so they couldn't count what had happened the day before. He
repeated, "That is not how we do things." Yea, the DOC does everything
by the book, aha. I told them I only had $70 and had moved out of my
cabin as the PDs had assured me they could not use the wrongful
imprisonment time for this sentence. A female CO who was always very
nice and professional gave me the number of the women's shelter.
As I walked out I said out loud to myself, "I don't even know which way
to turn to walk to town." Apparently they heard me on some device and
sent a guy in a truck to point me in the right direction. Pointing the
direction to walk when you leave prison in Alaska seems to be the bulk
of their rehabilitation program. The first call I made was to Quinlan
Steiner the director of the public defender agency. I could only get his
voice mail as usual. I simply said, very loudly, "YOU F***ED ME AGAIN"
and hung up. Then I managed to call the women's shelter just before they
jammed my cell phone.
About Wildwood prison in Kenai Alaska.
ANIMAL CRUELTY IN ALASKA AND MY LETTER TO SARAH PALIN (PART 3)
From 9/2/2009:
My cat was harmed by the psychopath who actually did the crime they used as an excuse to have me wrongfully imprisoned. Staff at Hiland Mountain laughed at me when I was upset about my cat. This was staff in the mental health unit, nurses who should not even have licenses, vicious creatures. They helped a woman with her dog but would not help me call the animal shelter in Homer, but I also called several agencies for help in Anchorage because that is where the phone would go to and a public pretender in Nome called the perpetrator in Homer, Robin Hume believing what he told her. I had told her he was a sociopath. My cat got liver disease from being starved and caught a virus becoming very ill. She had gastrointestinal bleeds so bad I finally had to have her put to sleep. I will never forgive these people, they don't deserve it.
I was totally ignored by everyone. Why? Were they told to ignore me? I can not imagine that out of all the people I begged to help not one of them had enough humanity to make a three minute call to the animal shelter in Homer. I could not get calls to Homer from the prisons. A lot of these people are the trusted servants we have elected. I was innocent of that charge. Even if I had been a serial killer they should make sure the pets of people who are incarcerated are taken to a safe place or have someone to look after them. The animals are totally helpless in these situations, for so many to have ignored my begging and pleading for help has caused me to actually have the emotion of hate for the first time in my life. What happened to my cat is just part of the story. As far as I am concerned they are all sociopaths of the lowest order. Sarah Palin's staff told me the department of law told them not to talk to me or help me. Palin just never really cared about the people of Alaska and everyone knows how she feels about animals.
******
Corrections officers get only a few weeks of training. They are not licensed medical or nursing professionals, they do not have a clue about healthy conditions. They are making medical decisions on inmates and they certainly do this in Alaska as well. In Alaska I saw a woman whose seizure medication was withheld from her and she had several seizures. The CO told those concerned that if he thought she was going to die he would call for help. I heard him and others say that about several inmates, including me.
******
Kind of like Joe Schmidt in Alaska knowing full well what goes on in the prison system here. If they are anything like the Corrections Officers in Alaska they probably laughed at her when she begged for help.
******
Here is the problem in these situations. Inmates may say to the staff they are too hot. The staff will just tell them it is too bad and keep walking. Unsafe conditions do not register with them. They think an inmate who complains or asks for something is a pain. They think inmates who complain of being sick are faking it or are manipulating. Sometimes inmates are. They do not have the medical expertise to know. The lack of medical and nursing staff in the prisons is almost as bad as the low quality of the staff.
******
The hole makes people mentally ill and makes the mentally ill deteriorate. It is another barbaric practice.
******
DEATH BY HEAT FOR A MENTALLY ILL LEGAL OFFENDER
This is not about an Alaska inmate, but the actions of prison staff that causes deaths is similar. Alaska DOC of course covers everything up so the truth can't be found.
9/24/2009:
The psychological abuse from the prison guards is the worst part. The
maturity level of a lot of them is about junior high level. The worst
thing I saw was a woman in a cell next to me who coded. This was an
observation cell with a camera. The guards ran around yelling that she
was not breathing. I yelled for them to let me out because I was a
critical care nurse and they did not. They did not start CPR either and
when the nurse arrived she just yelled, breathe, breathe over and over.
Finally the paramedics showed up and intubated her. I have no idea what
kind of condition she ended up in. If the staff had not been busy
psychologically torturing me and were doing their job she would have
been found right away. The next day I heard one guard joking with
another by accusing him of trying to kill the woman. At least he did not
think it was funny. There are some corrections officers who are
professional and care about the prisoners, they need to weed out the bad
ones. Some of them are worse than the inmates and a superintendant in a
prison I worked at for a short time in Washington told me it is the
corrections officers who bring most of the drugs into the prisons and
the unions prevent them from searching them before work.
When I was wrongfully imprisoned in August of 2007 they withheld a high
dose of an antidepressant and a seizure medication I was on. This is
very unsafe with just one, let alone two. I went through hell,
especially since I was taking them for chronic pain and the PTSD I had
from some other events in Alaska. I can assure you there are cover ups
that go on in the prisons here. I worry everyday about the inmates in
Alaska and all over the country because I know what is really going on.
The ACLU is writing a report about the conditions of the Alaska prisons.
They tell me they probably will not sue because the people here do not
care about inmates and do not donate money to the ACLU. I have been told
by legislators the reason for the poor conditions in the prisons and
the lack of rehabilitation is people don’t care about inmates here so
not much money is spent on prisons. What kind of society treats the
mentally ill this way? I use to work with prostitutes through a human
rights project. They are almost all from horrible backgrounds and
usually victims of sexual abuse as children. When the home is so bad a
child would rather live on the street there should be a place for them
to go.
This is what was said by someone about this story on a Deutsche message board, translated from German:
(They have a different sentence structure)
"These cages are used in Arizona since the 60s, it certainly has
much earlier. But what it does badly, no less - is reprehensible to me
only that Guantanamo is constantly mentioned and condemned (and rightly
so), but these would have for decades imposed cage stays for inmates not
a word of mention in the media - to only one woman had die (and no one
knows how many have come before in these cages to harm or death to be).
It is terrible to see what people can do to people. What makes us
the reality of today offers a conspiracy against democracy, is
sufficient."
Just to give you an idea of how this looks to countries who consider our
prisons a system of barbaric gulags and what they think of our system
of government.
******
The mentally ill are not given adequate or minimal treatment in prisons.
Well, why would they, no one in prison gets proper treatment. The
doctors and mid-levels (nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants)
are often not the best in their fields, although there are some
altruistic individuals who dedicate their lives to helping inmates who
are excellent. A great deal of medical and nursing decisions are made by
corrections officers who generally have a few weeks of training. Even
if they had more training they are not qualified to make the decisions
about the health of inmates. To put mentally ill inmates who are on
powerfully sedating medications which have severe side effects that
require not only monitoring, but the knowledge level to interpret any
symptoms they have in the hands of those with no medical or nursing
degrees is unconscionable.
Here in Alaska there is not much danger of problems from medications
because they rarely give them in any form and even if they are ordered
there is a nurse at Wildwood who withholds them just to be cruel. They
don't have that problem at Hiland Mountain because they just abruptly
stop everyone's medication when they arrive. If they give the mentally
ill psychotropic medications I would not trust the nurses I came in
contact with in the prison system to have the skill to evaluate an
inmate’s status under any circumstance(except one). Most of them also
could care less about the inmates. Outside of the mental health unit the
corrections officers did most of the decision making about the inmates.
Their responses were usually very inappropriate and abusive.
******
MARCIA POWELL AUTOPSY: GIVEN DRUGS KNOWN TO CAUSE HEATSTROKE +BAKED IN CAGE=DEATH
This is not about AK I used the story to explain what goes on.
From 9/25/2009:
I worked for a short time in two prisons in Washington through a nursing
agency. They treat inmates better than most states even with some of
the juvenile corrections officers they have. I did physicals and drew
lab work on the women as they came into one prison. This is something
Alaska does not do, but if you ask the higher ups they say all the
inmates are seen by a medical professional within a short time of
arriving at the prison. This consist of a nurse asking a few questions
and that is it. I guess the DOC doesn't know the difference between
medical personnel and nursing personnel. I had several of the inmates
tell me they came back to the prison on purpose because it was the
nicest place they had ever lived. At the time I thought that was the
saddest thing I would ever hear. After my experiences with the prison
system in Alaska which caused my research to begin about the American
system of gulags I have found not just sadder stories, but horror
stories.
"If one considers the observation that the worth and dignity of a
civilization is judged by the way it treats its weakest members, we
cannot help but look back in shame at our past." - Social Justice Yesterday - Today - Tomorrow, A Critical Reflection, By Rudolf Rickes
******
BEGGING FOR WATER MARCIA POWELL WAS MOCKED AND IGNORED BY PRISON GUARDS
Again not an AK inmate.
From 9/26/2009:
When wrongfully incarcerated August of 2007 I constantly wrote grievances about not getting my medication(8th amendment violations and DOC policy violations) and not being allowed to see a medical professional. I never got a response to any of them, I believe they were just thrown away. What did happen is a parole officer showed up and told me I was going to have a hearing to see if I should be put in administrative segregation. I did not know what that was so she had to explain it was a segregated area away from open population. I asked why and she said it had been reported I was a trouble maker. I was suppose to have a representative assist me at the hearing which was a corrections officer. He did not show and why I would want a CO for a rep I do not know. She went ahead with the hearing as I am perfectly capable of representing myself. When I told her what had been going on she had tears in her eyes . She made me a level one or least dangerous prisoner and said she recommended open population so I could have more opportunity to try and get the public defender agency to do their job(a useless endeavor). They never let me go to open population. I was sent to an orientation unit where a CO told me I would stay for 83 days when I complained about being prevented from going to the law library.
******
The only concern is for the corrections officers and that public safety
statement of a politician with future ambitions. No money to assure the
safety of the inmates. No money to give the inmates proper medical
treatment. How the hell are you protecting the public from someone like
Marcia Powell? When I was incarcerated in Alaska I was not afraid of the
inmates. I was afraid of the corrections officers. Some of them are
sociopaths. Quite a few had personality disorders. Well, at least she is
concerned about the officers. In Alaska Sarah Palin didn't care about
the inmates or the officers.
After I posted on my blog yesterday I checked and there had been a 3000
page report released from the investigation done into Marcia Powell’s
death. I was stunned at how accurately I had known how she was treated.
Why did I know this? I was treated similarly in Alaska and witnessed
others treated the same way. I have also worked in prisons and saw the
culture and behavior of corrections officers. There has been a lot of
research done on the behavior of prison guards and it is well known they
have to be closely supervised to prevent abuse and neglect. This is not
being done in most of America.
******
We know here in Alaska our former Governor Sarah Quitter Palin used the
criteria of being a classmate to select people for many key positions
including Joe Schmidt our commissioner of the department of corrections.
In Alaska we have had several deaths in the prisons due to abuse and
neglect, almost non-existent health care and horrible treatment of the
mentally ill. They also block people from using the law library and keep
women in horrible conditions in a gymnasium in Kenai. The medical care
is pretty much non-existent. Almost all medications are withheld and
complaints of illness ignored. The corrections officers can be very
abusive (But there were some who were professional and humane). We have
had inmates put in cells with violent inmates on purpose(myself
included, but I was not harmed) and many raped while prison staff looked
the other way. They block inmates from being able to use the legal
system by “loosing” mail and not letting them have access to the outside
through the phone system. The corrections officers claim dangerous
conditions due to short staffing(they seemed to have enough time to
psychologically torture me). MRSA (resistant staph) was another concern
they had. Well I have a suggestion for them, providing soap to the
inmates would have helped the situation. It is supplied in some areas
and not in others and showers are also withheld for some. They had a no
confidence vote of about 480 to only 20 in support of Schmidt.
In response to the complaints of the corrections officers Sarah Palin said “Commissioner
Schmidt has my full support as he and his team continue to bring
remarkable reforms to the Department of Corrections…. Joe has my
unconditional support.” I have seen some of those remarkable
reforms and they belong in a third world country. I also know that one
of his special reform techniques is to lie about the conditions in the
prisons, which they apparently also do in Arizona.
******
My blog posts have discussed the corrections officers here in Alaska ignoring symptoms the inmates have and telling inmates they will call for help if they think they might die.
******
In Alaska they would have treated her complaints and symptoms exactly the same way by ignoring them. I observed a young woman who was a Heroin addict very ill from withdrawl. She had been complaining she thought she would pass out, yet they made her walk around with everyone else. Heroin addicts have low blood pressure and with diarrhea and vomiting of withdrawl they get dehydrated. In the dining hall she stood up and got in line with the rest of us. She then simply passed out. Being a critical care nurse I immediately knew what had happened and why, so I held up her legs to help perfuse her brain and bring her back to consciousness. The CO screamed at me to let go of her and then screamed at the girl, she was about eighteen, to stop faking seizures. There was no seizure activity at all, she simply passed out. He is an idiot. A lot of young skinny girls pass out easily anyway, I would expect one in her condition who is not helped with hydration to definitely loose consciousness with sudden position changes. There are non-narcotic medications which help withdrawl, but they enjoyed watching her and other addicts suffer.
******
Lies and the lying liars who tell them. The staff is not psychologically capable of dealing with mentally ill inmates, so they abuse them. That mocking is one of the types of psychological abuse I have talked about receiving on my blog before. Remember I said they are very immature. In my post on this story on Thursday I said this: Here is the problem in these situations, inmates may say to the staff they are too hot and the staff will just tell them it is too bad and keep walking. Unsafe conditions do not register with them. They think an inmate who complains or asks for something is a pain. They think inmates who complain of being sick are faking it or are manipulating. Sometimes inmates are. They do not have the medical expertise to know. The lack of medical and nursing staff in the prisons is almost as bad as the low quality of the corrections staff.
******
When I complained about a mentally ill "patient" not getting treatment in a prison in Alaska the nurse looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "remember these aren't patients, they are inmates." Translated into prison employee language that means not human.
******
I myself was denied the use of a bathroom more than once. When I did get
to one there was no soap and I was forced to beg for toilet paper and
belittled for asking for it here in Alaska's gulags. I am discussing my
experiences to indicate this is common practice in the prison systems.
******
There are no prison reform organizations in Alaska that I can find. The ACLU in Alaska is researching a paper on the conditions in the prisons. They told me they probably will not be filing a lawsuit as people in Alaska do not care about the inmates and don't donate money to the cause. The ACLU has recently faught for the rights of homeless people who live in camps and I know a lot of those people are on probation or parole. They have a prison rights guide on their website. The problem is the prison system does not allow rights, hell they don't even follow their own policies(Except for the Homer Jail). I knew what my rights were and they disapeared all of my grieveances. I called the ACLU about what was going on from a prison and got no response. Unless someone helps prevent the DOC from blocking grievances and files lawsuits the knowledge of what rights prisoners have doesn't really get them anything. I can tell you 75% of the rights the ACLU list I have personally had violated in the prison system. The ACLU attorney working on prison rights did not know who I was when I called even though I have sent several letters and made several phone calls. They do not seem at all interested in my story and he was very abrupt with me when I called him in July. Check the national prison page of the ACLU, they have done a lot of work in some parts of the country for prisoners.
******
CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION OF DOJ GOES AFTER PRISONER ABUSE
From 11/21/2009:
Here in Alaska they also disapear the grievances filed by inmates about abuse, lack of healthcare, and violations of civil rights. They also will not put out grievance forms, especially if someone like me is around. Now, in those reports about inmates here in Alaska what terminology is used to describe chaining mentally ill inmates to the floor because you abruptly stopped their medication and they could not control their behavior? Oh, what do you call that wooded thingy that you put over the doors of cells of mentally ill inmates who are angry because you would not let them take a shower for several days or lied to them about their court heartings? What do they call these things? Remember that inmate accross from me? When you told her she could not have a shower and said it was not because she was black, even though the white inmates were getting showers. You said it was because your supervisor would not allow it and she said, "Linda, Linda, Linda, let me talk to your supervisor Linda, because the little people, they just can't get anything done." Remember that, she said it over and over for hours? This was a nurse, not a corrections officer who did this.
******
Their abuse also causes psychological damage to inmates which in many cases is permanent. Changing the wording to make situations sound different or to blame inmates to justify abuse is not an unusual practice. They lie to protect themselves. Corrections officers need to be supervised very closely. It is well known that people given power over others can become very abusive, especially if a group is involved. It is especially bad on night shift when less supervisors are around. I have worked in prisons and I know the corrections officers can start acting like a bunch of junior high school kids and when confronted will come up with very illogical reasons for their abuse. I also know many of them think of the inmates as not being human and don't care if they are harmed. I am very outspoken and very familiar with the eighth amendment and when I was wrongfully imprisoned many of them were absolutely unmerciful to not only myself, but the mentally ill inmates. There is no way to communicate to anyone higher up because the grievances go directly to the officer who is on and they disappear. I never had one hearing about a grievance and I was continually writing them. The only response I ever got was that I used the wrong form because they hid the regular ones. When I said none were available they called me a liar. They would threaten me when they read them and tell me they would just say I was lying and their supervisor would believe them over me. They also would step up their harsh treatment and psychological abuse in retaliation to my grievance writing. I once had a corrections officer go get a large stack of grievance forms and throw them at me. It did not stop me, I kept writing them. I realized I was dealing with a heartless and mindless group of unsupervised bullies.
******
From 10/15/2009:
My letter to Sarah Palin (part 5), Libelous Article in the Nome Nugget
From 10/15/2009:
There are many horrors that happen in the prisons in this state. The conditions in the prisons are dangerous. There is also the problem of the phone system that does not go to some places in the state. I feel my creator sent me there because he knew I would be able to communicate the horrible conditions and help change it.
******
While incarcerated I could not get the phones to go anywhere except the
public defender agency offices. I called Nome, Kotzebue, Kenai,
Anchorage, and the director Quinlan Steiner. Each time giving the
message that my cat needed to be rescued by the animal shelter, that
Robin Hume would starve my cat, steal my things, that I was not getting
my medication and I was innocent of the charge. Not one of them even
picked up the phone to call the animal shelter. One of them called Robin
Hume and believed his lies(Kirsten Bey). I told her he was lying and I
told her he is a sociopath. While I was there not one public defender
came to see me. They told me an investigator was coming to see me also.
This never happened. Finally a friend found out about my incarceration
and immediately bailed me out. This took 26 days. The phones in the
jails would not go anywhere. The public defender agency took this long
to finally call her. I was in bad shape I had been psychologically
tortured. I had not had my medication. I was sick. I came back to Homer
homeless. I had the clothes on my back and my backpack. Robin Hume had
stolen anything he thought he could sell or use. He put the rest out in
the rain. It was full of mold. He then put it in a storage unit so he
could say he stored my things. He told the woman at the storage place he
did not know where I was. Robin Hume did the actual deeds, but I hold
the people who had me falsely charged, wrongfully imprisoned, and then
allowed all of it to happen by acts of omission more responsible. I
consider my cat’s death a murder. All they had to do was make a phone
call. It would have taken just a couple minutes.
******
THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT HAS BROUGHT THE CIVIL RIGHTS OF INSTITUTIONALIZED PERSONS ACT BACK FROM DEATH
From 12/10/2009:
How long until they get to Alaska? One of the reasons the conditions are so brutal is because Alaska is so far off the radar. The conditions for the mentally ill here are horrendous, health care is either completely withheld, or delivered by incompetent practitioners. Corrections officers are allowed to make medical decisions on inmates who have their medications completely stopped upon entering the prison. Women can have several seizures a day while prison staff with no medical training say they are faking it. I have witnessed it myself and it is heart breaking. There is substandard and scarce rehabilitation for life changes, maturity, and chemical dependency. There is some brutality from prison staff, including medical, mental health, and nursing staff. I had a psychologist who after I had my medication withheld from me, knew my cat was being starved/tortured, my possesions stolen, several govenment agencies were doing nothing to stop it, and on top of it innocent of the charge I was arrested for tell me I had no mental health problem I was "just nasty and arrogant". Their definition of nasty and arrogant is writing up violations of the 8th amendment, reciting the DSMIV criteria for PTSD, depression and begging for toilet paper.
******
One glaring violation is the pushing of Christianity. Inmates are offered the opportunity to go to Christian activities and nothing else during the orientation phase. When I requested material for a religion other than Christian in the Christian reading room in the gym at Hiland Mountain the women were stunned. Apparently they used to have other materials. Sarah Palin and her mentor Mary Glazier participated in one of their Voodoo like imprecatory prayer campaigns in an attempt to get rid of a Chaplin in the prison system who was not Christian. Of course that is not why the person left. I would imagine she left due to harassment. They then started shoving their brand of Christianity down the throats of inmates, claiming a revival in the prison system. Believe me nothing else is allowed. The commissioner of the prison system in Alaska is Joe Schmidt, appointed by Sarah Palin and one of her high school classmates.
******
THIS IS SOP AT THE DOC
From 12/21/2009:
Department of corrections officials generally don’t respond when they
have yet another violation of their own policies and civil rights of
prisoners, they are kept on a tight leash. The reason for this is they
support these violations as it is their real standard operating
procedure, the published policies of the DOC are just for show.
The opening of privileged mail has been going on for a long time at the
DOC and the officials in Alaska have known about it and have remained
completely silent on the subject, because they support it. Once
again the federal government has to step in for prisoners in the state
of Alaska to get even their basic rights. I am very thankful.
In Alaska inmates will never be able to even file grievances about the
abuses in the prison system without some kind of intervention.
When I was wrongly imprisoned at Hiland Mountain C.C. in Eagle River I
received emails from a public defender over a period of several days
which were held onto by the DOC and not given to me. Inmates can’t send
emails even to their attorneys, but can receive them only from
attorneys. I only received them after I got this attorney on the phone
by chance and she told me about them. Her office is the one that screwed
up and did not tell me about the hearing I did not attend. This
resulted in the judge issuing a warrant to have me arrested. Then I
called several P.D. offices and was not told that office was not
representing me anymore. I spent days calling all over trying to find
out what the hell was going on. She had sent emails most likely because
she was embarrassed as she had already lied to me to get me to take a
plea deal and now her office screwed up and got me wrongfully arrested. I
suspect this has something to do with the private practice position she
was offered in Nome with the husband of one of the public defenders
there. When the DOC finally gave me the emails they said they had
problems with their equipment. I bet they have those "equipment'
problems non-stop. They also should allow a special room for phone calls
to attorneys where there is no recording device, a privilege which I
observed is only allowed for certain people.
Like I have said many times before the DOC is totally out of control.
The policies are not adhered to and many of the corrections officers are
brutal, love to psychologically torture inmates, and their maturity
level is about junior high school age. One of the main concerns I have
is the horrible treatment of mentally ill legal offenders at Hiland
Mountain and the withholding of medical care from all inmates in all
facilities, including refusal to give needed medication. Having a prison
orchestra is lovely, but really should be secondary to basic civil
rights, job training, college education, inmate rights, parenting
training, chemical dependence rehabilitation, mental health counseling,
and medical care. Has anyone seen the orchestra at any concerts other
than Christmas? I’m curious.
They also only allow one religion in the prisons, Christianity, and the
inmates get special privileges who participate in it. There are special
'christian' so called rehabilitation groups which are affiliated with
the Alaska prisons. They are in partnership with the Department of
Corrections. There is no seperation of church and state at the DOC. Joe
Schmidt was appointed by Sarah Palin and allowed to remain even when
the majority of the corrections officers did not want him in charge of
the department. Alaska Correctional Ministries and Kairos Prison Ministry International, Inc are an integral part of the Department of Corrections in Alaska as is the Transformational Living Community(TLC)
which is a faith based prison unit. Yes, it is run in the prison
system. They are training the inmates in the prison system to be
'christians'. This is one of the many reasons they like to have the
prisons full. How much of our taxes are going to fund these programs?
When the process of our justice system is thwarted by those who think
they are the judge and jury it harms all of us. When they tamper with
the rights of the accused they are tampering with the foundation of our
justice system. This can put someone who allegedly committed a horrible
crime on the streets or in some cases put the wrong person behind bars,
destroying their life(including their children, parents, and spouses),
and leaving the real perpetrator to re-offend. When the civil rights of a
person who is imprisoned pending a trial are violated it harms the
civil rights of all of us. Attorney client privilege is such a basic
right in the U.S. system of justice that to have it violated on such a
grand level as has been done in Alaska for so long is a sign of a
government which is based on tyranny. The DOC was never in good shape,
but when Sarah Palin made her buddy Joe Schmidt the commissioner it was
to bring the ‘christian’ right to the prison system. Their beliefs about
prisoners are very radical. Books have been removed from the prison
system about other faiths and the books in the lending library are
censored, using security as an excuse. Schmidt's appointment was to
insure these programs would continue to operate at the DOC.
*****
AK DOC Policies
A. Prisoners have certain rights relative to the conditions of their confinement that have been recognized and are mandated. These rights include:
1. Single or double cell occupancy, and/or supervised dormitories;
2. Clean and orderly surroundings;
This is usually provided because the inmates clean their own surroundings.
3. Adequate toilet, bathing and laundry facilities;
Not provided to the women who are housed in the gym at Wildwood in Kenai
where there is one toilet and one sink for 20 to 30 women. The toilet
is in the same room they eat in. They have to be taken to another area
for showering.
4. Adequate lighting, heating and ventilation;
The mental health unit at Hiland Mountain had very poor ventilation. It
was so hot in there that a night nurse was giving us ice until someone
found out and put a stop to it. No danger of anyone being on
psychotropic medication that could cause death from heat as they don’t
allow medication. In the orientation unit at Hiland Mountain the room
was so hot that my room mate and myself got physically ill. I was yelled
at for asking for the handle to open the window and was given the wrong
one and told it was just not working right. Later I found out they did
have the right handle to open the window and just withheld it. Autistics
do not see well or feel well under florescent lighting.
5. Compliance with state, federal and local fire and life safety laws and regulations;
All prisons are dangerous for inmates if there is a fire due to lack of ability to get away from the fire.
6. A wholesome, properly prepared, nutritionally adequate diet;
Sugar filled, white flour, crappy, and unhealthy food is the usual
situation in prisons. At Hiland Mountain they did have a garden in the
summer with lots of vegetables. The diet at Wildwood was pretty bad.
This is one of the reasons people who come out of prison look so bad,
they can’t get healthy food to eat. Nutritional supplements are banned
in Alaskan prisons unless you buy them from the prison corporation that
sells them to the DOC and they are very limited supplements. There are
unhealthy snacks sold by the prison corporation. They do not allow
coffee or tea in the cafeteria at Hiland Mountain yet dispense soda.
Coffee and Tea have some health benefits and soda does nothing but harm
health. Why are they paying for that crap? If an inmate brings a piece
of fruit to their cell to eat later they get into trouble yet potato
chips and candy bars are allowed.
7. Health care services comparable in quality to those locally available to the general public;
This is completely ignored by the DOC and many people including myself
have been harmed, some have died. They will not allow most inmates to
have their medications. I have watched women have seizures from having
their seizure medication abruptly stopped. Then the corrections officers
laugh at them, mock them, and tell them they are faking. These are
prison staff who have very little training and of course are not health
care professionals. It is very unsafe and quite strange to allow this to
go on. I also had a woman in a cell next to me go into full arrest and
the staff was confused and did not know what to do. They would not let
me out of my cell to start CPR on her. She was finally intubated by
paramedics and removed from Wildwood on a cart.
The so called psychiatrist at Hiland Mountain along with the
psychologist should not be practicing and should immediately be
replaced. They are abusive. The psychiatrist can’t diagnose Aspergers in
a female and abruptly stopped my medications which was very dangerous
on many levels. She also does not treat women who are clearly very
psychotic. The psychologist came to my cell door while I was very
distraught(bordering on suicidal) about being arrested for something I
did not do, knowing my cat was being starved/tortured, and my
possessions stolen and said, “You don’t have a mental illness, you are
just arrogant and nasty”. I have seen six different psychiatrists not
counting some other mental health professionals since then who say I
have PTSD and depression. Of course the reason for this is inmates are
not treated as human, they are seen as subhuman. Little did they know I
would be “arrogant” enough to tell the story and sometimes in my anger
and fear for the inmates still there I can even be “nasty” about it.
8. Access to both indoor and/or outdoor recreational opportunities and equipment;
This happens in some areas. At Wildwood, the women in the gym are rarely
ever permitted to go outside and there are no recreational activities
at all. I am sure this is true in many areas of the prison system, like
segregated prisoners who are often mentally ill. Segregation exacerbates
and causes mental illness, add lack of exercise, poor diet, and it gets
even worse(exercise and healthy diet are the best treatments for mental
or physical illness, also essential in a population with chemical
dependency recovery issues).
9. Access to clergymen, religious advisors, publications and related
services which allow prisoners to adhere to legitimate religious
practices;
What is the DOC’s definition of a “legitimate religious” practice? It is
a Christian religious practice. In fact I specifically asked for other
materials when I realized there was nothing but Christian material.
Those who go to Christian activities get special privileges.
10. Visitation with legal representatives and other visitors in a
visiting area which is limited only by those institutional requirements
necessary to maintain order and security;
I have no first hand information as I never was visited by anyone at the
Public Defender Agency even though their error was the reason I was
wrongfully imprisoned and they promised on two occasions they would
come. At Hiland Mountain there is an outside visiting area.
11. Communication and/or correspondence between prisoners and other
persons and organizations limited only as necessary to maintain order
and security;
They use the excuse of security to limit mail, magazine subscriptions,
books, etc. In fact at Wildwood they tell inmates they can’t have
newspapers which is against the law. I know because I asked three times
and got the same answer every time. They did consent to my bringing ten
books with me and then would not let me have any of them.
12. Institutions shall not place limits upon the volume of a
prisoner's incoming and outgoing mail except that limits may be placed
on mail used by a prisoner to conduct business activities. Institutions
will pay postage for up to five first class letters pertaining to legal
matters per week for prisoners with insufficient funds.
Yet, they do limit the amount of mail.
13. Prisoners shall be permitted to receive paperback books,
newspaper clippings and magazines from any source subject to inspection
for contraband and a determination that the material would not aid in
escape or incite violence;
I was told I could not order newspapers and magazines while at Wildwood
and none of the ones I wanted had information which would have had
anything to do with how to escape or cause riots.
14. Each prisoner, except those in punitive segregation, shall be permitted to complete telephone calls;
They frequently take phone privileges from inmates for ridiculous
reasons and the phones go to very limited places decreasing the ability
to get bailed out or get legal help. Several times I was told they only
had to allow me to make a call every three days. When the staff in the
mental health unit tried to get me put in administrative segregation the
parole officer rated me the least dangerous type of prisoner and told
me she recommended open population for me so I could get on the phone
and get help. They then put me in an orientation unit where they limit
phone calls and a C. O. told me he was going to keep me there eighty
something days when I told him he was violating my constitutional rights
by keeping me from the law library. They have a private company
charging crazy fees for long distance calls. They tried to put me in
segregation for several reasons which had to do with the first amendment
and to keep me from calling outside to report what was going on in the
prison.
15. Pre-trial detainees shall be housed separately from sentenced
felons, except when they waive the right by the exercise of a Prisoner
Housing Waiver (form 20-808.05A) and agree to be intermixed because of
work assignments and/or institutional programming;
This never happens. Just like everyone has seen with Joe Arpaio the
clothing in prisons is used to shame the inmates. At Hiland Mountain the
mentally ill are forced to wear red which many of them are embarrassed
about.
16. Pre-trial detainees, except those in punitive segregation, shall
be eligible for participating in educational programs, religious
services, and counseling;
What counseling would that be? Oh, I see the religious services are your
counseling. That is how it works in a faith based prison system. The
education program is very limited.
17. Pre-trial detainees, except those in punitive segregation or in
administrative segregation pending investigation of a disciplinary
infraction, shall be permitted to wear their personal clothing except
under circumstances where security considerations require a clothing
restriction;
They never allow people to wear their own clothing.
18. Freedom from discrimination is a basic right extended to all
prisoners. Programs, activities, services or assignment shall not be
denied or granted any prisoner based upon discrimination;
They forgot to add, unless you aren’t a 'christian', you have health
problems, are mentally ill, have a communicable disease, are
educated/intelligent, or are familiar with any of the constitutional
amendments which apply to inmates.
19. A safe environment shall be maintained for prisoners;
Huh. They put a violent psychotic woman in a cell with me hoping she
would harm me. I guess they did not know I used to work with mentally
ill legal offenders. I actually worked in Competency Evaluation and
Treatment for a long time where we had to evaluate violent inmates
before treatment for legal reasons. Putting women in a gym and leaving
the lights on 24 hours a day is very harmful to their health. It
decreases the ability to get restorative sleep and weakens the immune
system which is very important to have functioning at optimal levels
when you are crammed in small spaces with lots of people. In fact the
whole system is very harmful to health, physically and mentally. This is
one reason people come back over and over, they are so harmed by the
prison system they can no longer function in society.
20. Personal choice regarding grooming and appearance shall be
limited only by institutional requirements for safety, identification,
hygiene or security;
At Highland Mountain there is a crazy corrections officer who will not
allow women to put their hair back with rubber bands, even though she
has a head full of braids held with rubber bands herself.
21. Each prisoner shall have access to a Prisoner Handbook which sets forth institutional rules, procedures and prisoner conduct;
There was one for about twenty women at Highland Mountain and none at
the other places I was at(I was taken on a tour of the prison system
when I was wrongfully arrested which is a form of psychological
torture). The second time at Hiland Mountain I got some photocopied
material which I used as a resource for writing grievances to their
chagrin.
22. Prisoners shall be permitted access to broadcast media through radio;
The only radios prisoners can have are personal listening devices which
can only come from the prison corporation which supplies the DOC, making
the price higher than many can afford on the small amount of money they
make working in the prison.
23. Prisoners shall be permitted to visit with news media
representatives once media access request procedures have been
completed;
No information about any difficulties with this process. I would imagine
they would block it as twice they tried to put me in administrative
segregation to prevent communication with the outside.
24. Every prisoner confined to an institution is entitled to report
and file a grievance in accordance with established procedures;
I was constantly filing grievances and they would disappear. Even the
medical/nursing staff did this and they were the ones who tried to get
me in administrative segregation for it. That is one of their
"established procedures". At Hiland Mountain the forms became
“unavailable” for a while and at Wildwood the staff would not give them
to me after I gave them the first one. I never had one hearing on all
the grievances I filed.
25. All prisoners shall be permitted access to an institution's law library or contents;
When they found out I wanted to go to the law library they would take my
privileges away so I could not go. They also make it difficult to go by
making people sign up to go the day before. If you forget then you
can’t go. At Wildwood I was not permitted to go to the law library even
one time. Women are treated as second class citizens and have to make an
appointment to go.
26. Each prisoner accused of a violation of institutional rules
shall be afforded an impartial hearing before a disciplinary sanction
may be imposed.
I was not given a hearing in Wildwood after the sergeant dragged me down
a hall after handcuffing me for telling the nurse she needed to give me
my medication as it had been authorized. They realized they had screwed
up big time and they released me. I think the long list of contact
information for legislators, civil rights organizations, people at the
DOJ, news media, etc. that I brought with me had something to do with
that. They also would have had to have a hearing about dragging me down
the hall and realized I was going to tell the true story of what had
happened to their superiors.
******
9TH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS ALLOWS VOTING RIGHTS FOR INMATES
From 1/8/2010:
That includes Alaska which is in the Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals and we have a whole lot of racial bias in our criminal justice system too. We also have economic class injustice and injustice based on gender. Washington state racial bias has nothing on Alaska’s racial bias, especially in the judicial system.
******
Does that mean a lot of those who are incarcerated are political
prisoners? Hell yes it does. Huge numbers of inmates in the
prison-industrial complex are there for political and financial gains of
the elites in this country. Many should have never been arrested to
begin with. Taking low level offenders out of programs which would have
benefited them and society by assisting them to grow forward instead of
backwards and putting them in a system which destroys them at a high
cost to the tax payers proves crime was not the ulterior motive for our
huge prison population. Here in Alaska from 2000 to 2006 the number of women incarcerated increased 82% per
the UAA Justice Center's research. Do you really think crime committed
by women increased that much? They wanted to fill up the prisons so the
private companies could come in and build new ones and sell supplies to
the prison system. Then there is the influence of the religious right
who loves to have a captive audience to proselytize to and in the prison
system in Alaska, they do.
******
88,500 RAPED IN PRISON EVERY YEAR BY STAFF OR INMATES, WELCOME TO THE PRISON INDUSTRY
From 8/27/10
******
I am happy the ADN finally printed a story that shows how deceptive the administrative officials at the Department of Corrections are here in Alaska. In other words, what they say and the reality of what goes on in the prisons do not jive. I am also grateful to the ACLU for continuing to work for the rights of inmates. What is it about that name Joe being associated with Sarah Palin and lying? They do not follow their own policies, they are just written for show.
******
The female overflow inmates are housed in the gym or actually a half-gym
at Wildwood. They have these things called boats which hold a sleeping
mat they line up around the walls in the half-gym.. They can be stored
and stacked or moved around for sleep. There is a little entry room to
the half-gym which has one toilet which just has a screen around it for
a large number of women. This is the same room where they have the
tables for meals. The women have to be taken down the hall to the
regular women's area to shower. So, the women in this setting sleep in
these boats on the floor. The light is kept on twenty-four hours a day
(causes weight gain and immune system dysfunction) and there are no
rules about going to sleep and being quiet so others can sleep. We did
not go outside for recreation. I was not taken to a library, they did
not give me any of the books I brought with me (the books in the Hiland
Mountain library were crap, I assumed Wildwood might be worse) nor could
I have read in that very loud and crazy environment. They do not allow
ear plugs. It was like being at a pajama party for bratty junior high
girls because many of the women were coming off drugs and alcohol
which causes sleep problems.
I was moved four times (each time being told I was going to Nome for a
hearing...never happened) which is a tactic used to prevent inmates from
communicating with media, attorneys, family and friends. It is
frequently employed against detainee's of the INS. It is even more
devastating if used on a person with Aspergers because change causes us
anxiety. At the Anchorage jail there were six of us jammed into a small
cell. We had just enough room to lay mats on the floor if they were all
touching. We got along just fine. I was never in open population except
at Wildwood in the gym and that is not exactly a normal circumstance in a
prison. Between my PTSD and great emotional despair because I could not
get anything done about the safety of my cat or property I was mostly
segregated either in a "mental health" setting or isolation cell during
the wrongful imprisonment. I was never allowed in open population at
Hiland Mountain, the medical and nursing staff tried to have me put in
administrative segregation because I was a "trouble maker." The
definition of a trouble maker is a person who files grievances about bad
conditions, withholding of medical care, and violations of civil
rights, while requesting to go to the law library. A parole officer
decided I should not be put in segregation and recommended that open
population would be beneficial as I could get more access to a phone and
get out on bail to save my cat and property. Instead they put me in an
orientation unit and a corrections officer told me he would hold me
there for a long time after I complained that he kept me from the law
library. I have been told this unit has now been eliminated.
******
As I have said before a lot of inmates are mentally ill or chemically
dependent. Most of them are not violent and are not even bad people. The
overcrowding and low staffing ratios are not the only problems. I
had guards harass me because they found it entertaining. They looked up
the DOC records in Washington to see if I had a clearance to work in
the prison system there and goofed around. That was not what I would
call a busy group. Then in the mental health unit I asked for help, was
denied it and the nurse went and read a book. One of the nurses spent
most of the night shift in what I assume was the break room accross from
their desk at Hiland Mountain. She may have been sleeping.
It should be clear that putting a vulnerable person in a cell with a known predator is
going to result in the vulnerable person being harmed. There is no way
to call for help in many situations and if you do they ignore you. When I
called for help in the mental health unit at Hiland Mountain about the
violent woman in my cell the nurse told me she was not my servant. There
are some staff who find it entertaining when a person who has caused
them frustration is harmed. They also find mentally ill people fun to
torment. The same was true when I worked in prisons in Washington. Some
officers In WA even brought toy guns to work so they could use them to
make noise all night and keep the inmates awake as torture. The
mentality is often very juvenile.
"Mr. Mujahid was put in with a very vulnerable inmate. He was put in
with somebody with a developmental disability, who is of a slight build,
and who was very vulnerable to this type of assault," Stenson said.
"That risk should have been apparent."
It would be interesting to know what "crime" the man with the
developmental disability had been incarcerated for. Should he be in
prison or should he be somewhere else? A man of slight build with no
developmental disability should not have been in a cell with such a
predator. In fact a sexual predator of this kind should have been housed
in segregation until it could be determined if a safe cell placement
could be found for him.
******
Yes this is a problem with multiple causes. It also involves the legislators who passed draconian laws to increase incarceration at the behest of private prison corporations and corrections officers unions. It also includes legislators who do not make sure there is enough money to run the prisons. The Supreme Court has ruled prisons are not at fault for violations of human rights if the legislature does not give them enough money to provide for the basic needs of the prisoners. That means states who want to minimize the cost of locking up large amounts of people just under fund the prisons and no one is held accountable. It also includes a state full of people who turn a blind eye to the truth about the conditions in the prisons and who is placed in the prisons. Then there is the Department of Law that uses truthiness and demonization to get people convicted of crimes innocent or guilty, the incompetent and under funded public defender agency who threaten clients into pleas innocent or guilty, and the incompetent, constitutionally impaired judges.
******
The Department of Corrections' record shows that it has been
successful in its mission to safely incarcerate Alaska inmates,
rehabilitate them, and re-enter them into their communities, state
deputy corrections commissioner Carmen Gutierrez said Tuesday.
OMG! That is just a complete lie! They release inmates onto the streets.
Former inmates become refugees in their own country. In Anchorage they
end up in homeless shelters or live in tents. The rehabilitation is very
limited. There is very little done to facilitate re-entry into
communities. Because of the ignorance, prejudice and lack of
understanding about the excess of criminal charges which are at times
untrue, ignorance about who inmates really are (they are demonized), and
the unnecessary incarceration of so many there is a huge stigma against
a large segment of society. This prevents people from being able to
rent a decent place to live, excludes them from getting housing
vouchers, and makes it near impossible to find a job.
When I was wrongfully incarcerated they just dumped me back into Homer
from Anchorage. There was no planning, no questions about where I was
going to end up or what situation I was going to. Why? They don't give a
rats ass. I had done nothing wrong, in fact I was the victim. Not just
the victim of the two con men, but also a victim of incompetence and
corruption of multiple government agencies in Alaska, including the
court system...I was homeless and my cat was finally at the animal shelter starved,
very ill. When I was released from the ridiculous sentence out of the
Nome court they just sent me out the door. I did not know which way to
even walk to town.
******
Funny how they never mention the "backs" of the inmates who are being hurt. Of course there will be more violence when people are all jammed together. Of course the corrections officers will have more work and more stress. It is obvious, but not all of the problems are due to over crowding, some are due to lack of training, policy issues and the attitude that all inmates are scum. C.O.s work in an us-against-them type of world. They think all inmates are bad people and it’s their job to punish them when some are innocent and most are incarcerated due to drugs and alcohol, they need rehab. Some inmates are mentally ill or developmentally disabled and should not be in prison to begin with. A system like this makes people more violent and mentally ill. Imagine what being locked up with a man who violently raped you over a long period of time while your complaints were ignored or laughed at would do to you. Then you get put on the street with nothing after prison. How much would you like society after that? The most important thing a corrections officer can do is be a role model. One of the traits they need to demonstrate is responsibility to take care with the lives of others.
******
One more question; what happened to Wesley Shandy at the private prison run by buddies of some of the most corrupt politicians in Alaska, the GEO Group formerly known as Wackenhut and Cornell? They have committed many civil rights violations including allowing inmates to die by denying health care. There have been many riots and other issues at their prisons due to bad conditions as well. Geo is also one of the prison corporations that helped write the draconian immigration legislature in Arizona to help fill up private INS "detention centers".
******
Legislators Have Once Again Raised The Private Prison Option After Alaskans Have Rejected It Already
From 3/4/2011:
Just the sentiment we would expect from the Palin appointed Commissioner. Build it and they will come. They can fill it immediately with the 1,000 in Colorado, but they will have to find a way to get 500 more prisoners to fill the other beds. Better notify the DOL and judges. What a surprise this is in the Wasilla area, just tack this bill onto the Wasilla indoor sports complex disaster. With the drug problem in Wasilla they can get that prison over capacity quickly. Round and round we go, where it stops everyone knows, death, mental illness, homelessness and re-incarceration. There will be no money for chemical dependency treatment, job training, education, assistance after release, but they will frequently call those inmates to come to Bible studies.
******
This is like closing the door after the cows get out. Alaska had the
opportunity to see the mistakes other states made in their poor
decisions about their own corrections departments, yet decided to copy
those mistakes for profits for a few at the expense of the people of the
state. Of course stopping the project would be the prudent thing to do,
but those in power will never allow that. Eventually the prison system
will bankrupt the state and that is when changes will be made. The lives
of many will lay in the wake of this decision.
******
That generates overtime for corrections officers and/or more corrections
jobs. They have to have staff transport people, they have to buy
vehicles and fuel. They never think of the children or other family who
will not be able to visit their loved ones very often who are
incarcerated far away from town. The welfare of those who are
incarcerated and their families don’t enter into their plans.
******
They refuse to give inmates medical care in a large number of cases and certainly withhold medication for the majority. They even make inmates pay for visits with health care providers. They have almost no chemical dependency treatment, unhealthy food, little job training, little education, little counseling, poor or nonexistent mental health treatment, some of the maintenance of DOC buildings goes undone, and where is the help transitioning when inmates are released into homelessness. There is however plenty of cash for a money pit prison in Wasilla so some Schweinhunds can make money off the people of Alaska and the souls who will be housed there. The more beds there are the more people they will find to lock up. Did the legislators not have a clue when all the harsh laws were passed what they were up to? Does anyone check to see if the inmates are getting medical care, healthy food, rehabilitation services, etc.? It is clear you can’t believe anything that comes out of the DOC. When asked questions they just play games.
******
U.S. PRISON TORTURE AND UNEVEN JUSTICE
From 4/7/10:
Illegal immigrants are held in horrendous conditions in the United
States. Pre-trial inmates are held in overcrowded conditions in Alaska.
The women in pre-trial conditions are held within small sections of
prisons which were meant for male prisoners. These women are denied
access to rehabilitation.The regular and law libraries have limited
access. There is almost no ability for exercise, including going
outside. They are essentially treated as second class citizens whose
rights do not matter at all. I had one higher up at the DOC tell me all
the women who are sentenced in Alaska are held at Hiland Mountain. This
is not true. There are sentenced women held at Wildwood in Kenai and the
superintendent in2008 told me there had been sentenced women there for
over a year at that time. So when reports are given that only pre-trial
female inmates are in these bad conditions, it is untrue.
Grievances are thrown away and health care is denied. Mentally ill
inmates are put in segregation as well as others. This practice causes
existing mental illness to become worse and can cause mental illness.
They chain women to the floor in the mental health unit at Hiland
Mountain. Yes, it happened while I was there and they did threaten to do
it to me as well. The threats came from a very nasty nurse, who several
times told me these were not patients as I had referred to them, they
were inmates. By standards anywhere these women who were inmates were
without any doubt also patients. Most of them should not have been in
the prison to begin with, they should have been in a psychiatric
setting. They have some crazy door thing that slides up and down a row
of cells that they can affix to a cell door blocking the mentally ill
inmate from being able to communicate with staff or see out of the small
window on the door. This of course only serves to make the person
sicker. They use these barbaric punishments on people who are trying to
get medication, file grievances, get toilet paper, are begging to take a
shower after being denied one for several days, and are banging on the
door because basic requests have been ignored over a long period of time
for rights the supreme court of this country said they are supposed to
have.
******
This is hogwash people are not considered innocent until proven guilty, not by the mainstream media and not by the public. This is because the public believes the myth prosecutors only charge people with crimes when they have evidence they did it. There is no such thing as a fair court anymore. The judicial system has gone right wing. The system is designed to put as many as possible in prison. The legislators sold their souls to the prison corporations and passed harsh laws. The constitution has been ignored. Poor people are not defended by the attorney of their choice. They get public defenders who do not defend them, they are essentially an arm of the attorney general’s office. In fact Sarah Palin’s staff several times indicated to me they thought the public defender agency was located at the department of law, even transferring me to the department of law so I could speak to the public defender agency several times to my amazed frustration. They work in concert. Has anyone even one time heard of a public defender getting a verdict in favor of their client? 95% of all those represented by public defenders in this country are coerced into taking pleas. I was threatened and lied too while saying I wanted a trial. Trials are only allowed for certain crimes like murder.
******
BTW, this sort of thing is done on many levels. Corrections officers put people in punitive segregation for talking back or having an attitude they don’t like, here in Alaska segregation is threatened for having the audacity to ask for health care. Talking back includes telling them that blocking you from going to the law library is a violation of your constitutional rights. Of course in my case I am more outspoken than most people. One corrections officer told me lawyers don't know what they are talking about. My response was, "And you know this because you had several weeks of training for this job." If you file a grievance, make phone calls, or write letters to the outside to try and get help you will be punished. They also illegally read mail, especially if they think the inmate may be writing about the abuses in the prison. I had my emails held intentionally(inmates can only get them from lawyers) which had been sent by a public defender(only to tell me she was no longer my attorney) and then they made up lies to try and cover for what they did. I believe the plan was to throw them away until it was pointed out to them they had been sent. They had also at times prevented me from making phone calls.
******
This is what they want to happen. They love inflicting harm on people, especially if they stand strong and tell them they are in violation of the constitution. I was told by staff in the mental health unit at Hiland Mountain they were going to break me and had requested to put me in administrative segregation. They said it was because I had been writing multiple grievances, which they define as trouble making. It may have also been because I told the psychiatrist she should loose her medical license as she did not know what she was doing. This was stopped at a hearing in which I told a parole officer(no, I have no idea why it was a parole officer) the truth about what had been going on. With tears in her eyes she said she was recommending I go to open population so I could make phone calls to get my cat some help and get out of there. They never allowed me in open population, in fact one really sick corrections officer told me he could keep me in the orientation unit 83 days. When I wrote a grievance about what he said he called me in the office and told me he would tell his supervisor I was a liar to which I replied, “Well then, you’ll be lying to your supervisor about me being a liar then won’t you.” He then played games having me rewrite the forms over and over for bizarre technical reasons which made no sense and was supposed to make me tired of writing them so I would give up. He had not idea how stubborn I can be. I would imagine he threw the last ones in the garbage anyway. That’s SOP at the DOC.
******
There are no human rights in prisons in the United States, especially for the mentally ill. Corrections officers are allowed to prey upon inmates, taunting, humiliating, threatening, and blocking access to help. Being bullied causes PTSD with possible violence or suicide. Medical care is denied leading to suffering, people are harmed due to lack of prevention of future problems such as with diabetes. Inmates die much younger than they would have because once you are convicted of a crime you become a throw away person. In the minds of the staff at the prisons and much of the public you are no longer viewed as human and your suffering is viewed as something you deserve. Throw away people are given very little rehabilitation, in the minds of officials at the DOC what would be the point. An offender may have had less than poor legal counsel and some are innocent or are given harsh sentences way out of line for what they did. No, not all inmates say they are innocent. I asked around because I was innocent and wondered how many others were. I found three of about twenty women in the area I was in who claimed to be innocent, myself included.
******
It is often done as retaliation by sadistic, sick corrections officers who have feelings of inferiority and now have been given power over people who are helpless to find any defense. This is the epitome of the psychological situation that facilitates bullies.
******
CRIMINALIZATION OF THE MENTALLY ILL IN THE U.S.
From 4/11/2010:
In the Alaska prison system they do not consider the mentally ill to be patients, they believe they are just inmates. They tried to correct me several times at Hiland Mountain, "You have to remember these are not patients, they are inmates". Being placed in a isolation cell makes normal people mentally ill. They don't treat the mentally ill in prison, they are mainly just warehousing them, so they put those with behavior issues in isolation. This deteriorates the mentally ill.
******
Private Prison Option After Alaskans Have Rejected It Already
3/4/2011
Here we have more evidence that appointees of Sarah Palin are influenced by those who stand to profit off the appointee’s decisions. It is also more evidence they were not chosen for their expertise nor is their goal to make wise decisions for society as whole. Decisions are made for the powerful elite who are in the background pulling strings. This problem of overincarceration for profit is happening in many states, but Alaskans don’t seem to care about the people harmed by over incarceration, just the money it costs them.
******
My Experiences With The Alaska Department Of Probation: Part One
From 2/22/2011:
I have now been through so many traumatic incidents with them in the 2 years and five months I have been on probation that I would not feel good about myself if I did not speak up. It is my hope to bring to light how people are treated by the probation department so others know they too can have a voice about the abuse and violation of their rights. In Alaska people don’t seem to know what really goes on with the DOC/DOP which makes those who complain about the problems seem like they are lying. The more we tell the stories, the more people will realize they are true. It is also very important for the public to know what really happens to those on probation and parole, so they can understand how the DOC/DOP contribute to recidivism and exacerbate mental health problems. I was hoping to wait the seven more months of my probation before telling this whole story for fear of retaliation, but it just can’t wait. They have shown me they are not going to change.
******
I was discharged from the hospital having been there for a week due to being suicidal to the street and I knew nothing about Anchorage. The nasty P.O. insisted that I come and see her as soon as I was discharged. She refused to let me wait until the next day. I had to use the bus system which I did not know at all while dragging a suitcase and carrying a backpack. I am directionally impaired which is pretty common for Aspies. That adds a lot to the stress. We also don’t tolerate changes like the ones I was going through very well. I had to find Brother Francis Shelter that day, but the P.O. would not wait until the next day to see me. Why? Just to be a bullying ass. I had been suicidal because of all I had been through and the last straw was seeing the judges name, not being able to access a law library and then loosing housing again and now I was homeless again. Rather than be supportive or just treat me like a human being she did everything she could to harm me. She is the most dehumanizing P.O. I have come in contact with. Many of these people should not in any way have any contact with anyone with mental health issues of any kind, no way. They should just deal with their own mental health issues.
******
At that time I was still having a lot of pain and had acetaminophen and
ibuprofen in baggies that were easily accessible so I did not have to
dig through everything to get to them if I had pain. She found the
acetaminophen and began to ask me questions. “Is this prescription
strength Tylenol”,…I told her it was just plain Tylenol. She then asked
me that question several different ways. I kept telling her nothing was
in the pill but acetaminophen and she could send it to a lab if she
questioned it. I was thinking she must think they might be Vicodin
because they were the shape of Vicodin, but then I realized that was not
the case. Again she asked me if they were prescription strength
Tylenol. Finally exasperated with being interrogated by a woman who had
no idea what she was talking about with an attitude like I was some kind
of an idiot in a very abusive way I said, “Look, there is no such thing
as prescription strength Tylenol.” For a while I had been trying to
figure out what she was getting at, then I realized she was not too
bright. Who doesn’t know acetaminophen is an over the counter
medication? I had made it clear to her it was just plain acetaminophen
with no other medication. She then became very threatening and I was
brought to the back. She told me they had to get some information from
me. She asked me a few basic questions which I answered while crying.
Then I asked her why they were asking me questions for basic information
the DOP already had and got no answer. You see I was told to come down
there just so they could be abusive to me, simple and plain.
Then I was told I could leave by this woman who was not my probation
officer, she is a technician. I of course wanted to know why I had to
come to the office if I was not even seeing the probation officer.
Apparently this probation officer was listening and immediately appeared
and became nasty just like on the phone. She threatened to send me back
to jail right then because of my questions. I then told her that she
could not send me to jail unless I violated a condition of my probation
or committed a crime. Apparently at the DOP asking questions and making
comments is considered a crime by many. A crime against their inflated
egos. That would of course make me one of the biggest criminals in the
history of Alaska in their minds due to my propensity for question
asking and comment making. She then told me I had to come in for
orientation the next day and then stay for a meeting with her. Oh, joy.
When I told her I had already done orientation she told me their’s was
different than in Kenai which is not true. It was done in a different
way, but the content was the same, of course it is. They once again told
me all the types of knives I could not have and I still have no idea
what any of them even are.
******
My Experiences With The Alaska Department Of Probation: Part Two
More abusive and crazy crap from the Department of Probation from 2/23/2011:
If just one person at the DOP had any humanity or cared at all about me as a human being I would not have been traumatized that day. The biggest problem at the Kenai Adult Probation office is Ruben Foster the supervisor. Those under him have to do what he says. These people know I have PTSD. The probation officer who said those abusive things to me is supposed to be the mental health officer. Ruben Foster also knows I have PTSD he just decided he would not let me go to my appointment that day because of something I said.
******
I can’t stop the continued abuses from the DOC/DOP. These continued abuses from the start of the workplace bullying, then the corrupt justice system, then the prison system torture, then the allowing of my property to be stolen/cat starved and tortured, then the wrongful imprisonment and then all that has happened with the DOP is beyond unbelievable. There will be permanent psychological scars I will carry the rest of my life. If they had stopped it at several points, made amends and apologized I may have been able to recover and gone back to work even with my other health problems. Now this will never happen.
******
I don’t remember if I called Special Assistant for Communications, Richard Schmitz again or he called me back. First I asked about policies of the DOC and wanted to know what the criteria was for being on three month minimal appointments. I did not get that or any questions answered. Mr. Schmitz is the public information person with a fancy name, aka bullshit artist for the DOC. Instead of answering questions he lied, made snarky remarks and pretended like he did not know things.
******
Mr. Schmitz told me Rebecca Brunger sent
him an email asking him to talk to me. From her gasping on the phone
when I told her that I assumed it was either not true or she was shocked
he was dumb enough to tell me that. However, I think the most probable
scenario is that the secretary at the alternate P.O.
Chief’s office I called contacted him. She told me he was the one I
should talk to because he was taking the place of the DOP director while
she was gone and was an expert on policies because he wrote them. I
don’t think that is true, the part about being an expert on policies
that is. Schmitz said he was not filling in for Donna White. One thing
to know about government agencies in Alaska is no one ever knows what
they are doing, but they think they do.
He said multiple items I discussed about what had gone
on in the past with DOC were not facts because it had not been
adjudicated. Which is a cowards way of calling me a liar. Remember they
do rely heavily on the Department of Law to manipulate laws and facts to
protect them. When I discussed my personal experiences with abuse at
the DOC/DOP he asked me if I had gone to the police and filed a police
report about the abuse I complained about it. Yea, he really did. He
seems to believe that unless a police report is filed about something it
does not exist. Remember how the state troopers would not let me file
police reports and they told me they decided whether a police report
should be filed or not? Of course filing a police report about this
particular issue is not the right action and he knows that. He’s playing
games which is the response I have gotten every time I have contacted
people in administration at the DOC. I have had them call me a liar and
hang up on me in the past which seems to be a frequent response here in
Alaska to citizen complaints of civil rights violations.
Now remember this man who says these ridiculous things is the one who
makes press releases and provides information to the public about the
DOC. He would make these insane statements and then say things like,
“But, I’m not a lawyer,” No, but he is a lie-yer and gets paid well for
it. He also told me that he has never said if my claims about the DOC
are true or not and that he thinks my blog, “is great“. Yea, I believe
him, don’t you? I kept feeling like I was soon going to be knee deep in
fecal material. He thinks he is clever as well and at one point stated
he did not know what was in the eighth amendment and wanted me to tell
him. I was stunned by that strange question, but realized it was an
attempt to try to make me either appear or feel stupid. Nothing this man
could say would change how I feel about myself. I had not slept for two
days at this point, could barely think and was quite weary of his
circular talking games.
What a waste of time and tax payers money to have a
conversation with this man. This conversation was the point at which I
knew I had to write this series of posts about my experience with the
DOP.
I spoke with Rebecca Brunger the Chief P.O. for my district after this
and she said they reviewed my file and I would be getting a call from my
P.O. to tell me that they would be keeping my status of minimal
supervision the same. I got a voice message from him because after not
sleeping for two days I slept all day. I informed Ms. Brunger I was
going to write about what has gone on since I had been put through two
days of hell and this is just the last straw for me anyway. I also told
her I believe my probation officer is actually a nice person who wants
to see everyone do well, but the system he works in is the main problem.
They are essentially trained to be bullies and as we know bullying
people is not helpful in any way, it only causes harm. I also told her
that I am a good person and did not deserve this.
While it is true that both Donna White
and Rebecca Brunger have done what they could to stop the abuses when I
complained to them they continue. Why did I have to go through this?
What the hell will happen next? I most likely will end up homeless and
back in Anchorage, what the hell will the Probation Office there do to
me this time?
******
AUDIE HOLLOWAY SAYS,"I DON’T HAVE AN EXCUSE. IT’S JUST THE WAY IT IS"…AND THEN THE ILLOGICAL EXCUSES START TO FLY.
From 5/18/2010:
I think I can provide some insight into that. First of all they try to
keep incidents in the prisons unreported and this means they are not
dealt with. That is one of the reasons they disappear grievances and
punish those who file them. Those who speak up about any kinds of
problems end up in segregation with their privileges to communicate
decreased. In my case a parole officer kept them from putting me in
administrative segregation, recommending I go to open population, so
they kept me in an orientation unit where they could harass me and limit
my ability to communicate with the outside. The reasons they do this is
the Department of Corrections has no respect whatsoever for the rights
of prisoners. They have a lot of corrections officers who are abusive to
inmates. They violate their own policies. This is all due to poor
leadership.
This lack of investigation into the murder of Carlin was a cover up and
the State Troopers were enlisted to assist them. Think about it, ethics
would dictate filing charges and prosecuting the crime to a person who
is actually dedicated to upholding the law. What happened? Did they need
enough time to get to some of the witnesses, change the paperwork, or
alter any videos? Better take a close look at the DOC if you really want
to understand how this happened, but let's not forget the DOL. Were
they contacted by the DOJ about not investigating this case?
When I was wrongfully imprisoned there were many things done to endanger
me. They put me in a cell with a violent psychotic woman in the mental
health unit. I told them it was a dangerous situation and they simply
told me to shut up. Fortunately I had been a psychiatric nurse in the
past and had some skills to deal with her. The staff was hoping she
would harm me, that is why she was in my cell, and that is why they did
not respond when they clearly heard her yelling while pounding the door
and walls by kicking or hitting them with her fists. It also was not a
coincidence that we were in the last cell on the end while the night
nurse was not even in the unit. She stayed in the room across the hall
where she would not hear me yelling for help, I assume she was sleeping.
This woman who should have been a patient in a psychiatric hospital and
not in a prison was attacking a hallucination that she was angry with,
if she had turned her anger on me there is no telling what would have
happened.
******
MY EMAIL WAS HACKED, YOU’LL NEVER GUESS WHAT THEY REMOVED
9/22/2010
My letter to Sarah Palin, all traces of it, except the titles were
deleted from my email. Not only do I have it somewhere else there are
two senators, a government agency, a representative, psych rights, the
ACLU and others that have had copies sent to them. I am assuming the one
I sent to Sarah Palin never saw the light of day. The most hilarious
thing about sending it to her was having her staff tell me she read it.
The only way that could have happened is if it was written on her hand.
There are other missing emails to and from: senators, Sarah Palin when
she was governor, the public defender agency, the innocence project, the
ombudsman(whose only response was a growling, “What am I supposed to do
with this?”), the department of licensing for nursing, some emails to
or from the state troopers, and other agencies, even an email to
Catherine Lemann about the law libraries had the body of the email
removed. One of the emails was encoded. They also removed the lists of
my damaged and stolen property from the theft by Robin Hume in the Homer
area. I am sure a lot more is missing I just have not had time to
search. This is no surprise to me after having my mail opened in Nome
over a long period of time. Someone went through my emails and removed
very specific ones that apply to Alaska government. It was clearly done
to remove information that could be used to expose corruption and abuse.
******
DOUBLESPEAK FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
From 10/22/2010
Referring to prison guards:
"Cruelty is a kind of cowardice. Cruel laughter is the way cowards
cry when they are not alone, and causing pain is how they grieve."
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.
I am happy the ADN finally printed a story that shows how deceptive the
administrative officials at the Department of Corrections are here in
Alaska. In other words, what they say and the reality of what goes on in
the prisons do not jive. I am also grateful to the ACLU for continuing
to work for the rights of inmates. What is it about that name Joe being
associated with Sarah Palin and lying? They do not follow their own
policies, they are just written for show.
(Snip)
This is certainly not the first episode of multiple rapes in a prison in Alaska. I did not see or hear of sexual assaults while incarcerated, there was no way the women in the prisons would have put up with it. I did have staff put a violent woman in a cell with me. It was not corrections officers who did this, it was staff in the mental health unit, nurses, social workers, psychologist, psychiatrist. I don't know which of them actually makes the decisions about placement of inmates. They were very nasty when I complained that I was in a dangerous situation. I also complained that because of some of her behaviors that inmate was a danger to herself. Nothing was done to protect either of us all night. It was an appropriate and very fast acting corrections officer that just happened to come by who removed her from the cell the next morning. With all of my complaints about the system and the abusive C. O.s there were some who were very professional and even treated the inmates respectfully. Also let me state that I am very pro-union and even worked to help organize unions in the past, but have huge issues with corrections officers unions. I especially dislike them for lobbying with private prison corporations to get draconian laws passed to increase the numbers of people incarcerated and for preventing states from searching the C. O.s for drugs when they come to work. It is mainly the prison guards who bring the drugs into the prisons. If I was a member of their union I would be asking the others why they had a problem with keeping the drugs out of the prisons. They also do a good deal of the raping. Some of them are bigger criminals than the worst inmates.
Note the corrections officers union only speaks out when the C.O.s
themselves are affected. If they have publicly complained that the lack
of staffing and other problems in the prisons are a danger for the
inmates I have not heard about it. At this point in time the axe is most
likely going to fall on whoever made the decisions about placing
vulnerable inmates with a predator. The union seeks to protect them.
There are some nasty people working for the DOC who like to cause pain
for the inmates, this could have even been done on purpose, as in the
incident I experienced. They will deny and lie, and cover up, they
always do. There are some incredibly good people working as corrections
officers, but there are also some evil people who make life hard for
everyone. The kind of people who are bullies with issues that love to
have someone to look down on are ripe for harming people on purpose.
However, we have no evidence this was done on purpose, it may have just
been poor judgment, poor procedures or continuation of the generally
ignoring a lot of the policies.
But the state Department of Corrections denies any overcrowding or understaffing exists in Alaska's prisons and jails.
(snip)
As I have said before a lot of inmates are mentally ill or chemically
dependent. Most of them are not violent and are not even bad people. The
overcrowding and low staffing ratios are not the only problems. I
had guards harass me because they found it entertaining. They looked up
the DOC records in Washington to see if I had a clearance to work in
the prison system there and goofed around. That was not what I would
call a busy group. Then in the mental health unit I asked for help, was
denied it and the nurse went and read a book. One of the nurses spent
most of the night shift in what I assume was the break room accross from
their desk at Hiland Mountain. She may have been sleeping.
It should be clear that putting a vulnerable person in a cell with a known predator is
going to result in the vulnerable person being harmed. There is no way
to call for help in many situations and if you do they ignore you. When I
called for help in the mental health unit at Hiland Mountain about the
violent woman in my cell the nurse told me she was not my servant. There
are some staff who find it entertaining when a person who has caused
them frustration is harmed. They also find mentally ill people fun to torment.
(snip)
From the ADN:
The Department of Corrections' record shows that it has been successful in its mission to safely incarcerate Alaska inmates, rehabilitate them, and re-enter them into their communities, state deputy corrections commissioner Carmen Gutierrez said Tuesday.
LOL
OMG! That is just a complete lie! They release inmates onto the streets. Former inmates become refugees in their own country. In Anchorage they end up in homeless shelters or live in tents. The rehabilitation is very limited. There is very little done to facilitate re-entry into communities. Because of the ignorance, prejudice and lack of understanding about the excess of criminal charges which are at times untrue, ignorance about who inmates really are (they are demonized), and the unnecessary incarceration of so many there is a huge stigma against a large segment of society. This prevents people from being able to rent a decent place to live, excludes them from getting housing vouchers, and makes it near impossible to find a job.
******
WHEN WILL THE U.S. WAKE UP? NO,NO,NO MANNING'S CONDITIONS WHILE HORRENDOUS ARE NOT, I REPEAT NOT UNUSUAL. AHHHHHHH!!!!!
From 12/23/2010
This practice is back and they often will only allow inmates to have a Bible, several inmates at Hiland Mountain told me of this practice in admin. seg. (only Christian propaganda was available, I even asked, they had nothing else). If I had known Palin had them run off the Wicca lady I most likely would have asked for Wicca material even though I am not Wiccan.(snip)
The staff in the mental health unit tried to get me put in administrative segregation after being held in solitary confinement in the mental health unit at Hiland Mountain. I wrote grievances which were disappeared. I wrote a lot of them and none of them ever seemed to surface nor was there a hearing in response. The only hearing was the one with a parole officer to decide if I should go into admin. Seg. When I told her my story and what had gone on she had tears in her eyes and without even asking her I knew she had heard this story one too many times. She made me a level one (least security risk inmate) and recommended I go to open population so I could get phone calls to people and get bailed out to save my cat, save my property and start working on my defense (the public defenders never came to see me). They then held me for two more days in the mental health unit after her recommendation. The last day I was there they made me go to a group. A question was asked of everyone regarding how a situation with a difficult person was handled? I then gave my answer using psychological terms and evaluation of a person who is an abusive, borderline, lifelong alcoholic. I knew it was going to piss them off. This upset them immediately and I got wide eyed glaring from staff. I had also told them I just wanted to stay in my cell and never come out as I enjoyed the solitude, etc. This was very disturbing for them as they could no longer use it as leverage to punish me or attempt to get me to follow along with their program of points for certain behaviors to earn more time out of the cell. My ass was out of there in about two hours. But they did not send me to open population, they put me in the orientation unit where an officer told me he could hold me for months because I complained he prevented me from going to the law library. He did a lot of other unethical things as well. But the officer who was on opposite him is crazy as a bed bug, so most of the inmates like him just because he is not her. I heard they closed that unit two days after I left the prison.
(snip)
When I was first arrested I was taken to Wildwood and placed in the holding area or drunk tank area for about three days. I am very familiar with the appropriate procedures for such a unit having worked in them in a psychiatric facility for mentally ill legal offenders as well as the infirmaries on McNeil Island and Purdy (Washington Women’s Correctional Facility). These corrections officers in Alaska have no idea what really dangerous units are and I worked without the special equipment these pussies use.
I had a mat in that cell about the thickness of a high school gymnasium exercise mat which was placed on the cement floor of a freezing cold cell which was full of spiders which would crawl on me, occasionally biting. No showers, tooth brush, soap or towel were allowed. I did get a blanket. The corrections officers thought the spiders crawling on the inmates was really funny, “They are pretty bad, he he he.” They goofed off, psychologically torturing me mainly due to my insistence that not only was I innocent, but the conditions were illegal. Through the food slot they told me I was a criminal, a scum bag and more. I occasionally got my medications from a very nasty nurse and ignorant nurse during my three day stay there (in less than thirty days I was in four different facilities a tactic used to prevent communication with the outside world) who made me take high doses of Trazadone and Gabapentin at the same time when I told her they would make me throw up if taken together. Then she said I threw up on purpose. She also held them in retaliation at times and I would be willing to bet documented I refused them. This and many other things she did are a violation of the nurse practice act under AAC 44.760 and AAC 44.770.
The person in the cell next to me in Wildwood went into at least a respiratory arrest and they did not notice for a while due to screwing around, junior high school behavior. She was most likely intoxicated and should have been closely watched both by corrections officers and nursing staff, most likely the reason she was in that unit. Then it was the keystone cops when they finally found her. She left Wildwood intubated on a cart with paramedics. I would like to know what happened to her. I was yelling to be let out of my cell as I spent years as a nurse doing CPR on people and experienced CPR providers decrease brain damage and increase survival. Of course they just covered my little cell door window.
(snip)
I slept on a metal bunk at Hiland mountain without a sleeping pad for two nights, had to beg for toilet paper, was refused a towel and soap, and fed a starvation diet of lettuce, carrots and a slice of nitrate filled lunch meat for all three meals (I lost eight pounds in less than a week). They did give me a blanket, but no pillow. They claimed a shortage of pillows, yet gave inmates who came in after me pillows. I am severely allergic to wool and had constant unrelenting itching. The blankets are made of wool and designed so it is not obvious they are. I was mainly concerned about my cat who I knew would be abused, my property that I knew was being stolen and trying to make contact with the incompetent and uncaring public defender agency, as well as not thinking right due to abrupt med withdrawal or I would have realized right away the blanket was wool. The staff knew the blankets were wool and that was why I had itching so severe I was scratching until I bled, yet they let it go on for days until I finally realized what the problem was. What kind of idiot would buy wool blankets anyway when so many are allergic? The obvious solution was to give me a different kind of blanket, but instead they told me the only solution was for me to smear lard all over myself. This was designed to degrade me more.
They had also abruptly and dangerously stopped my medication for the PTSD and Aspergers Syndrome causing me great suffering and mental confusion (BTW, a telephone hearing was held in the Nome Court during this time of confusion).
THE PUBLIC DEFENDER WHO LIED TO GET ME TO TAKE A PLEA IS NOW THE MAGISTRATE IN KOTZEBUE
From 10/1/2010
When I was wrongfully imprisoned the public defender agency did not send
anyone to see me and I in fact contacted many of them and many
officials in the state of Alaska to ask that they file for a writ of
habeas corpus, get my cat to safety, send someone to talk to me, help me
get medical care and have the state troopers inform Robin Hume not to
steal my property or even go in my room. Now that I was imprisoned I
could not agitate for due process and they just ignored me. They did
nothing other than make statements like they did not understand
themselves how I could have been arrested without being charged with the
crime as otherwise there was no proof I violated conditions of release.
They made statements like, “I have never seen this happen before“. My
response was, generally questions about why they were not doing anything
about it then. Then nothing would happen, it was almost as if they had
been told to do nothing, hint, hint, nod, nod, wink, wink.
There was a hearing on the phone from the mental health unit in Hiland
Mountain. I had been held in isolation, poor conditions, abuse and had
my psychiatric medication abruptly stopped causing confusion. They also
put me on a starvation diet which caused me to loose eight pounds in one
week. They do this as punishment to manipulate the inmate into
cooperating so they will be allowed out of the cell to eat with the
other inmates. I was distraught, confused and was not sure exactly why I
was incarcerated having no legal representative or access to the
information about the case. Judge Esch cut me off from speaking after I
made the statement that I was totally innocent of the accusation from
Nome. I had been moved around to four different jails and prisons until I
got to Hiland Mountain being told with each move I was going to Nome
for a hearing. This never happened. Moving people around in the prisons
system is a tactic often used to keep people from communicating with the
outside to get assistance.
I kept calling Brooke Browning from the prisons and
leaving messages. Finally at Hiland Mountain I found out she was no
longer assigned to my case. Inmates are allowed to receive emails from
their attorneys and she had sent me some stating she was not my attorney
that I got about a week late due to the corrupt actions of the
corrections officers. Why those I had managed to get on the phone at the
public defender agency did not tell me this and inform me that this
case was at the public defender agency in Nome I do not know. Most likely
Brooke Browning knew I was going to be extremely pissed and very upset,
so she avoided a phone conversation, I am sure she had been warned by
others. She never apologized to me and at one point left a message on my
voice mail that said she was, “tired of hearing about your frickin
cat“. I am sure that while I was pleading with them to save my cat and
property many of them were simply talking about how I was speaking
delusions. In the end it was an investigator in Nome who finally got
some evidence that Steve Hume had lied when not any of them believed me.
He left the public defender agency in Nome and when he did he brought
most of their ethics with him. I am grateful he was there to take my
calls when none of the people who should have would. Everything I had
told them was true yet they had not investigated.
(snip)
They told me I had no mental illness when it was very clear I was
extremely disturbed and did have a severe case of complex PTSD, yet they
continued to hold me in the same conditions. Those conditions they held
me in while I knew my cat was being harmed, my property was being
stolen, I was innocent, and the inhumane treatment I experienced and
observed have harmed me irreparably. This is not something that can be
fully recovered from.
They also claimed I might be dangerous because I was outspoken and
angry. I was angry and had a right to be. I have a right to be outspoken
about the abuse by DA Earthman and Judge Esch that got me wrongfully
incarcerated, the lies told to them by the serial workplace bullies at
Norton Sound Health Corporation, the lies told to me by the public
defender agency to manipulate me, the lack of response of state senators
and especially the office of half-governor Sarah Palin, the
incompetence and corruption of the Alaska State Troopers, the violations
of my rights that were going on at the prison (as well as the
violations of the rights of very mentally ill inmates). I always will be
angry about it and I should be.
I was denied medical care because the midlevel I finally saw two days
before I was released ignorantly told me Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/
Myalgic Enchephalomyelitis is not a real illness. There were other
inmates who also had it and were told the same thing. The stress I went
through caused a flare up that made me very ill. CFS/ME is very much
like AIDS. The retroviruses which are associated with it are activated
by the stress hormone Cortisol, any stress can do it psychological or
physical. This is a type of willful medical ignorance I find all over
Alaska, but is done in the prisons to deny health care. Just like the
psychiatrist who had no idea what a female Aspie was because she had not
read any further than the limited and deceptive DSM-IV male oriented
description of it.
(snip)
The reasons for my treatment: staff at prisons think all inmates are lying so when I said I was innocent it pissed them off, they were retaliating because I told them what they did was violating civil rights, I demanded medical care, I told the psychiatrist she did not know what she was talking about, I refused to participate in the behavior point system in the mental health unit and I wrote one grievance after another. One of the reasons for these conditions is to purposefully cause psychological harm, often just for revenge of prison staff who have their own psychological issues which are very similar to the workplace bullies I had gotten my original PTSD from.
******
"WE ARE HERE WITHOUT FEAR, FREE OUR SISTERS". JACKSON MS RALLY FOR SCOTT SISTERS
From 9/17/10
THIS HAS GOT TO END! Greedy corporations, crooked politicians, malfeasant prosecutors, incompetent/crooked judges and a population that finds it hard to believe the prison and judicial systems are as bad as they are caused this American shame. In this case a crooked judge was part of the story. The legislators poorly fund the public defenders so they have a huge case load and little money to work with. This results in public defenders being essentially a branch of the attorney general's office(department of law in AK).
******
88,500 RAPED IN PRISON EVERY YEAR BY STAFF OR INMATES, WELCOME TO THE PRISON INDUSTRY
From 8/27/2010
I extensively discussed many problems I observed or experienced while incarcerated in Alaskan prisons I never saw any sexual assault or sexual harassment by staff or inmates. The inmates all took showers alone in the Alaska prisons and I really feel that if there had been any attacks inmates would have stopped it and called the corrections officers. They were protective of each other for the most part, except for a couple of nasty women at Wildwood,. But, aren’t there always a couple of nasty women everywhere? I am sure there must have been problems sometime somewhere, but I saw no sexual assaults or sexual harassment of any kind. There may be more problems in the men’s prisons and certainly we all know about the young native men who were repeatedly raped in one of Alaska’s prisons.******
Are we supposed to buy the dumb guy routine that Holloway just now noticed the ball was dropped on this case. Does the state of Alaska want a leader who has no clue why they do what they do in charge of the state troopers? Of course, the truth is he knows exactly why they dropped the ball. Dropping the ball is SOP at the Alaska State Troopers. This was the third beating of John Carlin. Considering what I know about how corrupt prisons operate, it is entirely possible one or more corrections officers were paid off to allow him to be beaten by simply looking the other way, and they may have thought it was funny. If that is the case we will never be allowed to have that information. The DOC staff knew full well he was in danger and did nothing to protect him. What did Carlin know that someone wanted him dead? One thing that is immensely clear is corrections officers not taking action to prevent someone from being beaten to the point of ignoring his requests for protection and allowing him to be beaten three times is a sign of severe problems at the DOC.
To protect him would have been simple, they love to put people in
segregation in the prison system, why not segregate a guy whose life was
in danger. They certainly tried to put me in segregation due to my
writing multiple grievances about lack of health care and complaining
about being blocked from going to the law library. They also love to
transfer people. They moved me to four different jails and prisons to
torture me, each time telling me I was going to Nome for a hearing. I
guess they just do the opposite of what the inmate needs as another
harming tactic.
******
Give us all a break. There was NO ongoing investigation. They were trying to figure out how to present the case with false evidence to cover the DOC’s ass. The DOJ needs to step in and find out what is going on here, just like they have done in other places such as New Orleans. One of the tactics employed by the DOL is to drag cases out for many reasons, one of them is to give themselves time to construct a fantasy story they think the public will buy into.
******
It’s the excuse that isn’t an excuse. It’s all about lack of emphasis, “for some reason we didn‘t do that as well in this case“. I have a theory you might want to look into Holloway, you didn’t want to do your job and investigate this case just like you have done in other cases. I think Alaskan’s are owed an explanation as to why the state troopers are not doing their job in cases like this murder or my case. Audie Holloway called me a liar when I tried to get them to investigate my case and he hung up on me. That is a pattern that is common I found out among Alaska state officials when confronted with the truth.
******
He is choosing the incompetence excuse, another typical tactic to hide misconduct in Alaskan state agencies.
******
Yes, the fact that he was in jail did have some play. They treat inmates as if they do not matter. Their health concerns and threats against them are ignored. They consider inmates to be less than human. This is why there are so many human rights violations in the prisons in Alaska. Stating this happened because others who should be in jail are not in jail is just an attempt to come up with some kind of explanation when it is clear they simply did not investigate this case because they had some agenda not to.
******
Why are these people who ignored requests of a man whose life was threatened and allowed him to be murdered still working in the prison system? Why…because this behavior is how they normally conduct business. If they fired everyone who participated in unethical behavior there would only be a few officers left.
******
"WE ARE HERE WITHOUT FEAR, FREE OUR SISTERS". JACKSON MS RALLY FOR SCOTT SISTERS
From 9/17/10
THIS HAS GOT TO END! Greedy corporations, crooked politicians, malfeasant prosecutors, incompetent/crooked judges and a population that finds it hard to believe the prison and judicial systems are as bad as they are caused this American shame. In this case a crooked judge was part of the story. The legislators poorly fund the public defenders so they have a huge case load and little money to work with. This results in public defenders being essentially a branch of the attorney general's office(department of law in AK).
******
The DOC was not even the main problem. The people who worked at the DOC were doing exactly what those who ran the state wanted them to do. The governors picked the commissioners based on their own agenda, not selecting the best person the run a safe system of prisons which turned put people in better shape than when they came in. The people of Alaska turned a blind eye to the truth and ignored those of us who were telling he truth. I was made fun of by many people including the administrative staff at the DOC. Then there was the news media, the state ombudsman and the legislators.
******
My Experiences With The Alaska Department Of Probation: Part One
From 2/22/2011
I realize they are not responsible for the injustices from the court system or the abuse from the prison systems and their hands are tied about many things. I just never expected so much abuse over such a long period of time. Several times I had hope that things were going to change for those on probation and parole. That hope is now completely gone. I decided to tell this story about my experiences with the probation department after a recent incident. I have even said some nice things about them in the past and really do not want to do this, but I have no choice. I may also be retaliated against.
******
My Experiences With The Alaska Department Of Probation: Part Two
2/23/212011
I am on probation and can't leave until 9/21/2011 and I have legal stuff that may not be over by then. I have launched complaints about what has been going on with my probation officer. He has been threatening me, "Do you know what we could do to you?" Saying that to a person who has been wrongfully arrested and imprisoned has a clearly known affect. I really did not think he would do such a thing, but I now do not trust him at all. My PTSD has flared up and I can't sleep at night again. It causes the CFIDS/ME to flare up. I cry everyday. I am just fine when I can stay away from these bastards that work for the Department of Corrections.
My Experiences With The Alaska Department Of Probation: Part Three
From 2/25/11
This last meeting I was told my file had been audited. My P.O. said his files had been audited. Who knows what the truth really is. He wanted to check some things to make sure I was in “compliance“. Why after all this time? I have been on probation for two years and five months with seven months to go. He then told me they needed my mental health records or they would be putting me back on monthly visits instead of visits every three months. He said he had to do what his supervisor told him to do, that would be Ruben Foster. I was thinking about what the hell they were up to and trying to figure out what specifically it was they wanted to do with the records. He knows full well the hell I have gone through in this state trying to get counseling and I certainly have not kept it a secret, perhaps he should read my blog.
(snip)
We discussed the fact that I look a lot different than I used to because
I am healthier and have lost weight. He said they should take a new
picture of me and they would need to do a home visit. Last time they did
one it was because I complained to the chief P.O. I thought, Holy Shit!
Is this all they could come up with for harassment and just where is
this coming from?
I tried not to be upset and even told him I would send a copy of one of
the H & Ps from Providence Hospital. I had a bad feeling when I
arrived that day and a fever from a virus. I had also not slept due to
being upset about having the appointment that day. I am never in very
good shape when I go in there due to the stress and lack of sleep. So, I
waited until I got home to think about what all of this meant. When I
got home and read the narrative in the H & P from Providence I
realized I did not want them to have my medical records. My whole story
is so long and so strange that the doctors can never get the story
straight in the narrative, none of them. Whenever I get something from a
doctor I correct all of the errors and replace the false information.
If the DOC has my medical records that would mean the Department of Law
has them too. The DOL could take one of the reports of focus on
something in the narrative that is not even true and perhaps use it
against me. That is how they operate. I don’t want either of these
agencies to have my personal information. Not in this state, no way. Oh,
they will find out about it in the future in another venue.
I tried to call Donna White, the director of DOP and was told she was
out until the end of the month. I called the chief P.O. supervisor for
my area Rebecca Brunger and was told she was traveling at least twice
and that no one was covering for Donna White. Then I called another
chief P.O.’s office who was also reported to be traveling and some
secretary told me Edward Schmidtz at the DOC was covering for Donna
White after she asked me what my call was about. I told her mostly DOP
policies which was true.
Then I decided to call the supervisor Ruben Foster at
the Kenai Probation office. I generally tried to just avoid him after
the dental appointment incident as it was clear he was just a mean jerk
and also my P.O. had told me he had to audit my file because his
supervisor told him to. I certainly did not want to talk with the higher
ups at DOC and they generally did not return phone calls anyway. I
explained why I did not want the DOC or DOL to have my medical records.
Since they know nothing about mental health and it seems their purpose
is to cause more psychological trauma what they hell would they do with
them that was legitimate anyway? They certainly would not be able to
understand in any kind of meaningful way what the doctors explained in
the H & P. It’s none of their damn business anymore, they have
proven to me they are not trustworthy or even humane. I was not allowed
to use it for defense and now they want the information. Their purpose
seems to be to inflict pain. He told me the court ordered me to supply
the records. I explained the court ordered a chemical dependency
evaluation, but not a mental health evaluation. The chemical dependency
evaluation said I did not need that kind of treatment, I needed
counseling for PTSD. I have a court ordered condition for that report
and it has been provided. He told me the “deal” was that I was to give
them the records or they could go to court and get my conditions
amended. Really, after two years and five months of a three year
probation? I described to him that both sides in Nome worked to keep me
from using my mental health status in court and I doubted the court
would order my mental health records be exposed. While I said that I was
thinking now it would be even harder to get that condition because they
would be trying to protect their asses. After I explained why I did not
want them to have my mental health records he said, “I’m all about
kindness and”, I think he said compassion here but don‘t remember, as
soon as he made this snarky comment I was shocked at his gall. I then
said, “Oh, is that why you would not let me go to my dental appointment
that day?” Ruben Foster then stated angrily, “Now you’ve stepped over
the line.” Oh really, was that a threat, again? So, it seems the main
problem in this office is Ruben Foster, he is a bully. That makes him
DOC material.
******
My Experiences With The Alaska Department Of Probation: Part Four
From 2/28/11
Having reported to the Department of Probation with PTSD from all the trauma I have discussed in the past I had hoped the insanity and abuse would stop. Now for years I have continued to be bullied by the DOC’s DOP personnel over and over and over. That is the perfect set up for causing permanent damage to my brain and it has. What happens in PTSD are changes which help the person survive extraordinary stress and trauma. Hypervigilence, one of the symptoms, helps the victim of the trauma identify threats. It is not a mental illness, it is a psychological injury which in my case was inflicted on purpose over several years. It is also a perfect set up to destroy people and cause them to be unable to function in society and end up in prison over and over and over. One of the ways this happens is people with PTSD have a very high risk for chemical dependency. In my case I understand all of this and even know what I need which helps me prevent some of the secondary problems, but I can’t stop the continued abuses from the DOC/DOP. These continued abuses from the start of the workplace bullying, then the corrupt justice system, then the prison system torture, then the allowing of my property to be stolen/cat starved and tortured, then the wrongful imprisonment and then all that has happened with the DOP is beyond unbelievable. There will be permanent psychological scars I will carry the rest of my life. If they had stopped it at several points, made amends and apologized I may have been able to recover and gone back to work even with my other health problems. Now this will never happen. Their tactics essentially turn people into livestock for profit. This system is very harmful to everyone, but exceptionally harmful for those with mental health issues and developmental disabilities.
(snip)
I don’t remember if I called Special Assistant for
Communications, Richard Schmitz again or he called me back. First I
asked about policies of the DOC and wanted to know what the criteria was
for being on three month minimal appointments. I did not get that or
any questions answered. Mr. Schmitz is the public information person
with a fancy name, aka bullshit artist for the DOC. Instead of answering
questions he lied, made snarky remarks and pretended like he did not
know things.
Mr. Schmitz told me Rebecca Brunger sent him an email
asking him to talk to me. From her gasping on the phone when I told her
that I assumed it was either not true or she was shocked he was dumb
enough to tell me that. However, I think the most probable scenario is
that the secretary at the alternate P.O. Chief’s office I called
contacted him. She told me he was the one I should talk to because he
was taking the place of the DOP director while she was gone and was an
expert on policies because he wrote them. I don’t think that is true,
the part about being an expert on policies that is. Schmitz said he was
not filling in for Donna White. One thing to know about government
agencies in Alaska is no one ever knows what they are doing, but they
think they do.
He said multiple items I discussed about what had gone
on in the past with DOC were not facts because it had not been
adjudicated. Which is a cowards way of calling me a liar. Remember they
do rely heavily on the Department of Law to manipulate laws and facts to
protect them. When I discussed my personal experiences with abuse at
the DOC/DOP he asked me if I had gone to the police and filed a police
report about the abuse I complained about it. Yea, he really did. He
seems to believe that unless a police report is filed about something it
does not exist. Remember how the state troopers would not let me file
police reports and they told me they decided whether a police report
should be filed or not? Of course filing a police report about this
particular issue is not the right action and he knows that. He’s playing
games which is the response I have gotten every time I have contacted
people in administration at the DOC. I have had them call me a liar and
hang up on me in the past which seems to be a frequent response here in
Alaska to citizen complaints of civil rights violations.
Now remember this man who says these ridiculous things is the one who
makes press releases and provides information to the public about the
DOC. He would make these insane statements and then say things like,
“But, I’m not a lawyer,” No, but he is a lie-yer and gets paid well for
it. He also told me that he has never said if my claims about the DOC
are true or not and that he thinks my blog, “is great“. Yea, I believe
him, don’t you? I kept feeling like I was soon going to be knee deep in
fecal material. He thinks he is clever as well and at one point stated
he did not know what was in the eighth amendment and wanted me to tell
him. I was stunned by that strange question, but realized it was an
attempt to try to make me either appear or feel stupid. Nothing this man
could say would change how I feel about myself. I had not slept for two
days at this point, could barely think and was quite weary of his
circular talking games.
What a waste of time and tax payers money to have a
conversation with this man. This conversation was the point at which I
knew I had to write this series of posts about my experience with the
DOP.
I spoke with Rebecca Brunger the Chief P.O. for my district after this
and she said they reviewed my file and I would be getting a call from my
P.O. to tell me that they would be keeping my status of minimal
supervision the same. I got a voice message from him because after not
sleeping for two days I slept all day. I informed Ms. Brunger I was
going to write about what has gone on since I had been put through two
days of hell and this is just the last straw for me anyway. I also told
her I believe my probation officer is actually a nice person who wants
to see everyone do well, but the system he works in is the main problem.
They are essentially trained to be bullies and as we know bullying
people is not helpful in any way, it only causes harm. I also told her
that I am a good person and did not deserve this.
While it is true that both Donna White
and Rebecca Brunger have done what they could to stop the abuses when I
complained to them they continue. Why did I have to go through this?
What the hell will happen next? I most likely will end up homeless and
back in Anchorage, what the hell will the Probation Office there do to
me this time? I may have nutritional supplements with me. Will they ask
me several times if they are prescription strength nutritional
supplements and then when I tell them there is no such thing threaten to
throw me in prison? I also drink Greens-plus which is nutritional
powder mixed with water. Will they think the powder is some kind of drug
I have been snorting and harass me about it? Considering past
experiences this is what I would expect them to do. Homeless people have
to carry the things they need around with them in a backpack, so they
will go through everything. There are no changes at the Probation
Department, they still threaten people and think it is their job to find
a way to send people back to prison. Nothing will change until we have
the courage to tell our stories.
******
THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT HAS BROUGHT THE CIVIL RIGHTS OF INSTITUTIONALIZED PERSONS ACT BACK FROM DEATH
From 12/10/2009
Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act -- Statutes
How long until they get to Alaska? One of the reasons the conditions are so brutal is because Alaska is so far off the radar. The conditions for the mentally ill here are horrendous, health care is either completely withheld, or delivered by incompetent practitioners. Corrections officers are allowed to make medical decisions on inmates who have their medications completely stopped upon entering the prison. Women can have several seizures a day while prison staff with no medical training say they are faking it. I have witnessed it myself and it is heart breaking. There is substandard and scarce rehabilitation for life changes, maturity, and chemical dependency. There is some brutality from prison staff, including medical, mental health, and nursing staff. I had a psychologist who after I had my medication withheld from me, knew my cat was being starved/tortured, my possesions stolen, several govenment agencies were doing nothing to stop it, and on top of it innocent of the charge I was arrested for tell me I had no mental health problem I was "just nasty and arrogant". Their definition of nasty and arrogant is writing up violations of the 8th amendment, reciting the DSMIV criteria for PTSD, depression and begging for toilet paper.
One glaring violation is the pushing of Christianity. Inmates are
offered the opportunity to go to Christian activities and nothing else
during the orientation phase. When I requested material for a religion
other than Christian in the Christian reading room in the gym at Hiland
Mountain the women were stunned. Apparently they used to have other
materials. Sarah Palin and her mentor Mary Glazier participated in one
of their Voodoo like imprecatory prayer campaigns in an attempt to get
rid of a Chaplin in the prison system who was not Christian. Of course
that is not why the person left. I would imagine she left due to
harassment. They then started shoving their brand of Christianity down
the throats of inmates, claiming a revival in the prison system. Believe
me nothing else is allowed. The commissioner of the prison system in
Alaska is Joe Schmidt, appointed by Sarah Palin and one of her high
school classmates.
******
DOL Uses Deceit About Due Process Protection in Attack on Tribal Rights
***
From 9/3/2013
If tribal courts are not rendered inept by this type of action at the DOL then how will the DOL railroad hordes of Native people into the prison system and keep them on probation to limit their ability to vote and cause them to have difficulty finding housing/public assistance or a job. How would they use incarceration to damage families and make parenting dysfunctional? Perhaps the state is afraid the tribes will get enough power to fight the laws designed to keep large numbers of Natives incarcerated or force the state to provide money for appropriate interventions for those who have been traumatized or provide treatment including culturally appropriate chemical dependency treatment for use of alcohol and drugs secondary to trauma illnesses. How are they expected to cause trauma in a population that would protest the drilling of oil or mines that would destroy fishing, hunting or simply cause a toxic environment. What the hell will they do if they can‘t stop the tribes from conducting courts based on justice, traditions, culture and compassion for the victims and the defendant? That kind of court might help heal broken people who are acting out due to pain, they can’t have that it could strengthen the whole tribe. What can they do with people who care more for nature, subsistence, the land and their relationship with it than money? What can they do with people who care more about Alaska than those who come here to make money and leave the toxic mess for the real Alaskans to deal with?
******
My experiences with the Department of Probation were crazy, of course
they were. I was treated like I was a serial killer. When I went to
Anchorage to get treatment for PTSD they insisted I report immediately
and threatened to send me to prison for first of all telling them there
is no such thing as “prescription strength Tylenol“ after they harassed
the shit out of me for twenty minutes trying to get me to admit I had
some. I’m sorry, but I am not able to participate in other people’s
delusions, it just isn‘t therapeutic for them. I not only had Tylenol,
but also Ibuprofen, both OTC, you better put me in prison. Then after
insisting I come in to see her the nutty probation officer didn’t even
want to see me. These are the sick games they play. I was threatened
with prison for asking why she was not seeing me. My response was of
course that she could not do this unless I violated my probation or
committed a crime. Civil rights are a mystery to them. I wasn’t even
guilty of the imaginary crime of possessing “Prescription strength
Tylenol” and I‘m pretty sure they would have given me the death penalty
if I was. I was however guilty of thought crimes such as wanting to slap
some sense into those people, but who wouldn’t have. What I want to
know is why the Probation Department didn’t even ask this guy if he had
"Prescription Strength Tylenol".
This is all because:
Department of Law + Public Defender Agency +Department of Corrections = Clusterfuck Justice
I’ve been trying to explain this to people for years. Most of the time they keep the information from the public in these cases, but someone must have done some research they knew would be exposed.
*********
The Redacted/Deleted Palin Emails Don’t Smell Fishy, They Smell Like a Rotting Corpse
From 6/12/2011
I know how they operate, so I knew they
would remove any relevant information before the release of the emails.
It is done here all the time in many ways. You know,
just like how the DOL and APD or the DOC claim that just the piece of
information the public wants to know can’t be divulged due to privacy or
discovery issues when other information just as sensitive has been
released. It is also interesting the information always seems to be
associated with a controversial decision or a screw up.
The DOL told lies about me,
printed false information in their newsletter about me, and told a
newspaper false information. Palin’s office told me the DOL directed
them to not help me or talk to me and Rick Svobodney told me they would
never do anything about the malfeasant ADA Earthman in Nome, then he
hung up on me. The whole system is designed to allow them to practice
law in a consistently malfeasant way without consequences. That is how
they want it. It insures a small number of people will get their way in
this state and those who cooperate with them are rewarded. They also
have a system of obstacles in place to prevent citizens from using the
court system. One of their tactics is to have useless or non-existent
law libraries in much of the rural areas. That allows the attorneys to
retain power and make more money. This means those who can't afford
lawyers have no recourse to fight injustice.
I have dealt with several agencies who
are given advice and back up by the DOL on manipulating the truth and
jerking citizens around. The Department of Corrections disappears
grievances and then they tell you they can’t do anything about an issue
because you didn’t file a grievance. I filed over twenty in forty-eight
hours and none of them were addressed. At one point a corrections
officer was so pissed at me for requesting them he threw a large stack
at me and they landed all around me. I filled out all of them and
attached a document requesting copies to each one, "because grievances
have a tendency to disappear." I was threatened for filing them at other
times, but all of them were disappeared. They tried to place me in
administrative segregation, aka the hole aka isolation for filling them
out and voicing concerns about civil rights violations including lack of
health care. I had one of their staff tell me just a couple weeks ago
that she can't investigate anything because I did not file any
grievances. After years of leaving her messages and being ignored
someone with more authority finally told her to talk to me. She was
quite angry, defensive and lacking in key information about her
department. She was very upset with me for saying, “Oh Jesus Christ” to
her BS. You know because torturing inmates and denying their civil
rights has so much less of a priority than words she thinks are sacred.
When confronted with torturing and denying inmates health care she has
no emotional response other than anger at me for having the audacity to
bring it up, but taking her lord’s name in vain certainly jacked it up.
(snip)
One of the main things Sarah Palin did to get her way as governor was to select a bunch of weak personalities with no moral compass to function as her second layer of bullies. They followed her blindly and she left one of them in place as the governor to protect her and boy did he do that for the quittin-ist governor any state has ever seen. She has used the system to her advantage, but the dysfunction of Palin and those running her administration were all so incompetent it has been exposed. Did the MSM catch on? Of course not. In a state and country where a huge percentage of the population can be convinced a woman with a flat abdomen, sporting a tight belted skirt is seven months pregnant what the hell else would we expect?
******
Sarah Nixon Palin Update
From 6/13/2011
Proof Sarah Palin's emails were manipulated.
From the ADN:
Nearly a month of former Gov. Sarah Palin's emails are
missing from the documents released to media organizations last week, a
gap that raises questions about what other emails might also be missing
from what's being nationally reported as her record as Alaska governor.
******
ANNIVERSARY DATES: RELIVING THE TRAUMA OF INJUSTICE AND CORRUPTION
From 9/11/2012
Every year I re-live a segment of this long nightmare I have been forced to live in August, you know PTSD and all. It starts on the fourth and goes through most of the month. I reflect on all of those days where I was in 2007 and what was happening including the abuse, anguish and pain, not just mine, but also what I witnessed. Particular corrections staff who were very abusive I can picture in my mind and even remember their voices. I also remember the other incarcerated women and how so many tried to help others including trying to get health care for those who were ill, to no avail. I remember being in a solitary cell in the mental health unit very distraught and the women in the wing next to me getting in their window and jumping up and down while waving frantically to try and cheer me up. They did.
(snip)
That night I was in the Homer jail and screamed in terror. I still believed the public defender agency would straighten out the whole mess the next day, I did not realize at that point they were complicit. The next day I called Robin Hume from the jail and told him pictures were taken of my property. With a shaky sounding, slight high pitched voice he said, “Those were taken last night.” I knew he had already taken what he wanted and my cat was probably harmed. I called the state troopers, several agencies, the governor’s office and the public defender agency and asked them to stop him over and over. None of them did a thing. I know now it was probably because they were told not to do anything.
(snip)
The next day I was told I was going to Nome for a hearing, but instead I was left at Wildwood in Kenai with abusive corrections staff for three days. Then I was put on a plane and told I was going to Nome for a hearing with a female trooper who was very professional and a very nice person, refreshing after the abuse at Wildwood. I was taken to the Anchorage jail for a few hours where I thought I was waiting for a plane to Nome because they told me I was going there, but instead was taken to Hiland Mountain in Eagle River where I was tortured by prison staff, denied medical care and my medication was dangerously abruptly stopped. The worst of the abusers there were medical and nursing staff I found out when I ended up in the mental health unit where I witnessed a very sick woman being chained to the floor, discrimination against a black woman, a starvation diet, basic hygiene was withheld, psychological abuse was constant, and I was placed in a cell with a violent psychotic, probably schizophrenic woman which I have no doubt was done with the hope of my being harmed. I told the nurse it was a dangerous situation and she was very nasty. I however have lots of experience with violent schizophrenics and survived unscathed. She said she was supposed to be at API a month ago according to a judge. When she walked by after going to a hearing she said, “The judge is mad they didn’t take me to API.“ I told her to not believe they were going to start doing the right thing now or ever.
(snip)
A
psychologist presented in the little window to my door the second day
and said, I had no mental illness and was just “arrogant and nasty.“
Really? That was his interpretation when I was wrongfully imprisoned,
had an idiot psychiatrist DC my meds dangerously, my civil rights were
being violated and all the things I was upset about including my cat
being harmed, he couldn’t figure out why I was DISTRAUGHT AND PISSED
OFF. What a psychologist. Several psychiatrists have diagnosed me with
PTSD, which is so obvious anyone who is not trained in psych could
diagnose it. Seeing someone for 2 or 3 minutes doesn’t tell you a damn
thing, especially considering the state I was in from their medical
abuse and being so upset. The psychologists on the outside are not any
better on the Kenai Peninsula and are quite indignant as are the social
workers if you point out any problems to them. Then they gossip about
you, this is very common here.
(snip)
In 2008 I posted a letter to Sarah Palin regarding my wrongful arrest story and this anniversary date. There was no response as there never is in Alaska to any problems with government agencies.
******
MY OBJECTION LETTER ABOUT A CANDIDATE FOR POLICE CHIEF IN SOLDOTNA IS DEDICATED TO THE PENINSULA CLARION ONE OF THE MOST CRAPTASTIC NEWSPAPERS IN ALASKA
From 9/20/2012
I was moved to four different jails and prisons much like they do with immigrants to keep them form contacting the press or relatives. Each time I was moved I was told I was going to Nome for a hearing. That never happened. I have a very long list of inappropriate behavior of corrections officers, abuse, medical abuse, abrupt stopping of my meds for the PTSD (very dangerous), abuse directed to me from amazingly ignorant nursing and medical staff, and much much more. I still have flash backs and nightmares from this and huge problems sleeping. At Hiland Mountain I had a second mental health break due to the terror of knowing my cat was being harmed, my property was being stolen and I had been set up by people in the criminal justice system. I ended up in the mental health unit, a type of medieval torture chamber. Part of my horrendous memories include a mentally ill woman who all night screamed the story of how her uncle raped her when she was three including a description of what the pieces of tissue torn from her vagina looked like on his penis. She was chained to the floor because they abruptly stopped her medication and she of course was having problems secondary to that idiotic decision. There are many more memories that haunt me a nurse who had taken care of people who were mentally ill in many settings including corrections. Before she came in the staff announced to the other inmates that she “could be nasty” setting up a negative scenario. Part of the reason she was chained to the floor was the nurse did not like her. There are many more memories that haunt me a nurse who had taken care of people who were mentally ill in many settings including corrections. Considering what I was going through and the treatment of the inappropriate arrogant staff this comment the day after I was taken to the mental health unit by the psychologist really sums up their whole attitude, you don’t have a mental illness, you are just “nasty and arrogant.” They used that word “nasty” frequently to describe many of the mentally ill inmates who should rather than be in prison be in a psychiatric unit. They put me in a cell after I was fed a starvation diet for about a week in solitary isolation with a violent psychotic un-medicated woman. I told the nurse it was a dangerous situation for me as she was boxing a kicking an imaginary woman and clearly hallucinating. She thought someone had stolen her vagina and replaced it with one that smells. That is due to the lack of soap, towels, etc. She was grinding Tylenol in the window sill and snorted it along with eating a tube of toothpaste which I report to the nurse who said, “I am not your servant.” A rather bizarre response, but typical of them. After a night in that situation and corrections officer removed her immediately from the cell when she came on duty. A social worker came over to see what was going on and I told her I reported the problem and they left her in the cell hoping I would be injured. They then tried to have me put in administrative segregation. At the hearing when I told my story the parole officer teared up and said she was recommending I go into general population so I could call attorneys to try and get out to help my cat. They dragged their feet for at least two more days before moving me.
I told everyone including the judge in Homer I was innocent and my property would be stolen and my cat harmed by that psychopath, Robin Hume. I called several government agencies which included the governors office and eight different public defender agency offices, including Quinlan Steiner the director. The prison staff laughed at me when I cried about my cat being harmed. No one would even call the animal shelter in Homer to go get her.
(snip)
There
is a nurse at Wildwood I call nurse crackhead because after I said out
loud there was something seriously wrong with her two inmates told me
she was on crack and that they knew her from their community because
they are on crack. Before that I had no idea there was much crack in
Alaska. It was clear she was on something and totally screwed up. She
was a very nasty piece of work and is probably still working there.
Three of those psychiatrists told me I should be writing a book about
this.
When I was taken to was Hiland Mountain in Eagle River I was totally
terrified for my cat and my property along with my safety and fear of my
future. This was all clearly being engineered. They did not tell me for
a long period of time even who my public defender was at this point. A
story was engineered at the prison that somehow they had lost all
communications that came from the public defender agency. Keep in mind
that anytime I could get a phone I called the public defenders over and
over. If I got someone they lied to me.
(snip)
They never tried to get a writ of habeous corpus or came to see me. On the phone I was told they were sending an investigator, that never happened. I finally got the investigator in Nome to check a few things as I constantly called him. He found I was telling the truth and the prosecutor ADA Earthman had to dismiss the charge. The clerk at the court house told me he signed it angrily. An idiot would have known it was false from the beginning, even he knew. It was not until the evidence was so overwhelming that what he was doing look ridiculous that he dismissed it.
(snip)
******
It’s The Fun Time of the Year, Anniversary Date of Wrongful Imprisonment and Torture
From 8/6/2013
I wrote a fifty page letter to Sarah Palin about my whole story which I also sent to some legislators and got no response. (Part one, part two, part three, part four, part five, part six), along with many emails which DID NOT SHOW UP in the PALIN EMAIL DUMPS.When I sent a copy of the fifty page letter to the ombudsman she angrily wanted to know what she was supposed to do with it. I had a thought, but did not express it.
******
If Anyone Knows Jeremy Hawk Tell Him I Was Screwed Over By Robin Hume Too and I Love to Tell the Truth
From 8/16/13
While incarcerated I could not get the phones to go anywhere except the public defender agency offices. I called Nome, Kotzebue, Kenai, Anchorage, and the director Quinlan Steiner. Each time giving the message that my cat needed to be rescued by the animal shelter, that Robin Hume would starve my cat, steal my things, that I was not getting my medication and I was innocent of the charge. Not one of them even picked up the phone to call the animal shelter. One of them called Robin Hume and believed his lies(Kirsten Bey). I told her he was lying and I told her he is a sociopath. While I was there not one public defender came to see me. They told me an investigator was coming to see me also. This never happened. Finally a friend found out about my incarceration and immediately bailed me out. This took 26 days. The phones in the jails would not go anywhere. The public defender agency took this long to finally call her. I was in bad shape I had been psychologically tortured. I had not had my medication. I was sick. I came back to Homer homeless. I had the clothes on my back and my backpack. Robin Hume had stolen anything he thought he could sell or use. He put the rest out in the rain. It was full of mold. He then put it in a storage unit so he could say he stored my things. He told the woman at the storage place he did not know where I was. Robin Hume did the actual deeds, but I hold the people who had me falsely charged, wrongfully imprisoned, and then allowed all of it to happen by acts of omission more responsible. I consider my cat’s death a murder. All they had to do was make a phone call. It would have taken just a couple minutes.
******
DOL Uses Deceit About Due Process Protection in Attack on Tribal Rights
***
From 9/3/2013
Due process is never the agenda of the Department of Lawlessness.
(snip)
There are no words to describe what I think of these vile sub-humans,
but I will do my best. Perhaps if I add several fucks it might help. I
guess Alaska’s Department of Lawlessness has lost their corrupt
psychopathic minds. Or is this just an example of how desperate they are
to protect their real clients, oil and mining companies? Does it have
anything to do with the more rural areas leaning left politically? Are
those in power becoming frightened of someone a bit more left or
centrist getting voted into power?
They are continuing their “Respect” program, respect for brutality of
women and child endangerment which runs rampant in this state. Here,
look at this word and don’t notice what we are really doing---“Respect“,
grab onto it and believe this is who we really are you ignoramuses.
While we weren’t testing rape kits or even requiring sex offenders to
register who come here from other states until recently we thought we
would just work on passing legislation to control your bodies instead of
actually protecting you. Injustice is justice, illogicality is logic
and prison is freedom. I can’t even begin to express the absurdity,
obvious illogicalness, idiocy and bizarreness of this self-seeking
decision at the DOL. This is a fight against Native rights and those in
power in this banana republic just don’t care who they harm to get their
way. Fucking black hearted bastards.
Let’s not forget this case from the Newsminer which resulted in people in a family being murdered and raped including the brutal rape of a toddler:
(snip)
This happened the day he was released from prison. When he fondled the
child he also assaulted her family who stopped him from possibly raping
her. His history includes burglary, fondling a child, assaults,
providing alcohol to minors, trespassing, fighting. Who couldn’t figure
out he was totally out of control? Who couldn't figure out an
intervention and help was needed a long time ago? Who knows what his
psych status is, if he has a history of child abuse or intellectual
issues.
They turned every rock over to find a way to have me incarcerated and
harmed in any way they could. They demonized me and yet they couldn’t
even check the obvious record of this man and add 2+2. Their primary
directive is not the safety of the public which is why they allowed
rapes, abuse of children and violence against women to get completely
out of hand. Corruption breeds incompetence and the job at hand is not
done, instead the bidding of the overlords is done.
When they say they couldn’t have predicted his future behavior that is
of course bullshit. They have these people who evaluate legal offenders
for risk, make diagnoses and evaluate potential for rehab and
re-offense. I know they have never heard of this, but it is done in
other states that care about public safety. I worked in this area
myself. Did he even have a psych eval? Did they ever send him for any
kind of treatment? Did they assess his level of risk for sexual assault
after he fondled a child? I doubt it. Is Mr. Active a psychopath or does
he need very serious treatment for multiple problems?
My experiences with the Department of Probation were crazy, of course
they were. I was treated like I was a serial killer. When I went to
Anchorage to get treatment for PTSD they insisted I report immediately
and threatened to send me to prison for first of all telling them there
is no such thing as “prescription strength Tylenol“ after they harassed
the shit out of me for twenty minutes trying to get me to admit I had
some. I’m sorry, but I am not able to participate in other people’s
delusions, it just isn‘t therapeutic for them. I not only had Tylenol,
but also Ibuprofen, both OTC, you better put me in prison. Then after
insisting I come in to see her the nutty probation officer didn’t even
want to see me. These are the sick games they play. I was threatened
with prison for asking why she was not seeing me. My response was of
course that she could not do this unless I violated my probation or
committed a crime. Civil rights are a mystery to them. I wasn’t even
guilty of the imaginary crime of possessing “Prescription strength
Tylenol” and I‘m pretty sure they would have given me the death penalty
if I was. I was however guilty of thought crimes such as wanting to slap
some sense into those people, but who wouldn’t have. What I want to
know is why the Probation Department didn’t even ask this guy if he had
"Prescription Strength Tylenol".
This is all because:
Department of Law + Public Defender Agency +Department of Corrections = Clusterfuck Justice
I’ve been trying to explain this to people for years. Most of the time they keep the information from the public in these cases, but someone must have done some research they knew would be exposed.
*********
Public Records Request Shows Palin/Parnell Crimes, Hacking My Email and Deleting Them From the Governor's Account
From 10/31/13
If they were not afraid of it being exposed why would they delete my emails? If I am just a liar or crazy why bother. I believe there was a concerted effort to harm and get rid of me by running me out of the state or incarcerating me, along with retaliation. This is about whistleblowing about Native rights, horrible violations of health care regulations and workplace bullying. They want to be able to manipulate the Native people into prisons/probation for the purposes of manipulate voting along with preventing them from stopping oil exploration and mining operations. That is because Alaska is a very corrupt banana republic controlled by oil companies and psychopathic politicians.
(snip)
Randy Ruaro was Sarah Palin's Chief of Staff. Why is the Policy Director and Special Counsel filling a FOIA request for a person such as myself who has been described as either lying, crazy or both by many in the Alaska government or agencies. Why is a copy of this letter being sent to the governor's Chief of Staff? Why delete my emails if I am lying or crazy? Why bother? Because none of those things they have said about me are true, my story is ALL TRUE and they are GUILTY OF MANY CRIMES. They deleted the emails to prevent the news media from reading them.
(snip)
you supported someone like Schmidt who is
running a dangerous prison system where the corrections officers
psychologically torture inmates, deny them basic hygiene and deny the
most basic of health care. It is truly something I could have never
imagined in my life. My medication was withheld and I am just now
getting over that. The phones go almost nowhere in the jails, making it
impossible to get someone to post bail.
I have not gotten so much as an apology, except from one public defender
who shall remain unnamed to prevent retaliation against this person.
What I do get is several government agencies playing games, putting me
off, accusing me of all kinds of crap when I try to talk with them. Hell
even one of your aids told me the department of law said they could not
talk with me. Sounds more like a dictatorship than a democracy to me.
******
From The You Can't Make This Shit Up It's Alaska File.
From 11/13/13
Below is the letter I received today from Heather Vogel at the Governor's office in response to the letter written on July 24th which just happened to be mentioned in the last post. I'm sure this is just a coincidence just like so many other things that have happened and not staff at the Governor's office fucking with me, oh of course not. I'm just paranoid. They just happened to somehow notice they did not respond to me three months after receiving it...right. I did not expect a response as that is the usual scenario. I sent a fifty page letter detailing a horror story of incompetence, terror and abuse to Sarah Palin and got NOTHING, so why would I be surprised if the people she put in place to cover her ass did the same thing. I did laugh quite loudly when I opened it. Assholes. I suppose the other scenario may be that they are researching what happened and asking why I didn't get any kind of response. Naw, they're fucking with me. Since I sent an email why not respond with an email? It's too much bother for them to just have to delete it later and hack it out of my email account. Loathsome creatures.
******
Community Mobbing: Police Reports Designed to Discredit Me
From 3/7/2014
After I was wrongfully arrested and imprisoned and crimes were committed against me as a result I went to the Homer Police to tell them what had happened. I talked for a long time to several cops and covered lots of the incidents, starting with Nome. There are some things I always mention which some people are familiar with, much of that is not in this police report, instead the report is designed to indicate that I had a case of the crazies, a very common tactic of bullying. Find a short version of the story here.
(snip)
Of course I had been traumatized by all of the psychological terror that
came my way over a period of years, then just a few days earlier I had
been released from being wrongfully imprisoned a few days after an
appeal was filed in my case, abused by prison staff, including medical
and nursing staff. That includes aggregious malpractice against me by
abruptly stopping Trazadone and Gabapentin which is dangerous,
especially to a person with ME and PTSD. It was very sadistic. Then
there was my cat being harmed and my property being stolen and damaged
which I knew was going on the whole time I was wrongfully imprisoned
with no assistance from the public defender agency which helped engineer
it. Robin Hume did those acts and Steve Hume gave a false police
report, I was the victim and already had been even before this. Instead
of charging them with the crimes they committed I was blocked from
getting my property that Robin Hume had stolen by AST, a trooper who was
sent to help me get my things threatened to arrest me for disorderly
conduct for saying I was going to call my lawyer and waving my arms when
I said it, there was a court order. The big question of why the Hume
brothers were not charged remains unanswered by the state troopers. Why
did the troopers also lie all the way up the chain of command and then
destroy pictures a trooper had taken of my property when I told him
Robin Hume would steal it the night I was wrongfully arrested on the
trumped up warrant out of Nome? Keep these questions in mind.
When I tell the story about the prison experience I always mention the
malpractice of the medical and nursing staff, that is how they knew
about the medications. I did not tell them I had a psychosis, it was
PTSD, ME/CFS and autism which I now know is a part of ME.
******
Deaths of Two Young People At the Alaska Department of Corrections, People Knew It Was Unsafe, I Risked My Safety to Tell Them
From 4/15/2014
I was very upset to read about 24 year old, Davon Mosley dying at the Anchorage Jail and I knew the Department of Corrections would orchestrate their usual cover up and lies.
I am sorry this happened to the Mosley family. People don’t know Alaska
is a brutal and cruel place with a very corrupt justice system because
who could imagine such a thing is allowed in the United States, but it
is and not just in Alaska. The Department of Corrections does not follow
standard procedures even though they do write policies and have some
corrections officers who bully inmates, especially those with mental
health issues and they goof off acting like junior high kids. I had them
threaten me and try to put me in administrative segregation for filing
copouts and grievances. The grievances were disappeared. Others in the
state of Alaska have known this for years and have helped the DOC
gaslight me. My story is absolutely all true. There are posts all over
this blog about the DOC and their Department of Probation. It was
horrifying, made my PTSD significantly worse and of course I can forget
even getting counseling in rural Alaska.
Last night when I read the Anchorage Daily News article about 24 year old Amanda Kernak
who died at Hiland Mountain I had to go in the bathroom and throw up.
My PTSD was already triggered by other issues and now is off the scale,
the ME/CFS is flaring up and I am getting really sick. Apparently she
had been arrested for DUI. Hiland Mountain is the women’s prison in
Alaska and most of the women there are transferred from another jail or
prison. She had been at Hiland Mountain for two days. I am assuming she
had been incarcerated somewhere else first which means she could have
been in withdrawal from alcohol for about three days which would put her
in the most dangerous time period for delirium tremens when she died.
D. T. causes heart arythmias and seizures which are especially a problem
if the person is also on other substances. According to the article in
the A.D.N. she had been having a cardiac problem of some kind. I doubt
she did not tell the staff at Hiland Mountain. She should have had a
consult with a cardiologist or internal medicine doctor, a 12 lead EKG
at least and been on continuous cardiac monitoring if this is the case.
She certainly should have been observed either by camera or eyeball
continuously with frequent close checks. This by my own observations
does not occur in the prisons of Alaska. Alcohol withdrawal is a very
common medical problem that has good treatment which includes medication
and close observation for complications. Some people need to be on
cardiac and SAO2 monitoring and some have to be restrained a short time
to keep them from getting hurt. There can also be issues when people are
first incarcerated of alcohol poisoning and drug overdoses which can
cause respiratory arrests and seizures, especially if they have
something secreted on their bodies and ingest all of it to keep the
staff from finding it. That is why observation and monitoring are so
important.
The DOC always claims it will take a month to get the results of the
autopsy and tox screen. By now in both of these cases the medical
examiner knows a great deal, but they help with the cover up. This is a
delay tactic so they can spin the story and let the interest die down
and why wouldn’t they use this tactic as it has worked for them in the
past.
Schroeder
would not say whether Kernak was detoxing from alcohol in the jail. She
said generally the DOC provides medically supervised withdrawal from
alcohol. Inmates are sent to a hospital if they are showing signs of
"severe withdrawal," she said.
I observed women having seizures in a unit that was not general
population, but some kind of orientation unit who were coming off drugs
and alcohol. They allowed them to just have seizures and refused to give
them their usual medications. No one got their meds, they abruptly stop
them and for many medications this is dangerous. They did this to me
and little old ladies who needed their cardiac and blood pressure meds. I
really doubt much has changed, it has probably only gotten worse. As a
former RN who worked both critical care and psych and worked some in
prisons I was horrified beyond belief. While going to college I worked
with mentally ill legal offenders. One could wonder why I was shocked
after having worked at Norton Sound Regional Hospital by the ignorance
and horrible conditions, cover ups and abuse but I still am.
Just like in my case, the Mosley’s know what the DOC has to say is
bullshit. They know because one of them works in health care in a prison
in California. She knows the regulations and the constitutional rights
inmates have to health care. She knows the safety procedures for
mentally ill inmates. She knows that a person in isolation is to be
observed either by eyeball or camera. She knows documentation of those
procedures is to be filled out accurately as they are done, not later or
before they are done as cover or because they actually are not done.
She also knows Davon would most likely not be dead if he had been
observed.
The M.E. office is claiming a G.I. bleed. What would cause a sudden bleed like this in a man of 24
20? The family claims he was physically healthy and even if he did have
a risk factor for G.I. bleed he most likely would have had symptoms
before a crisis of bleeding and he would have complained about it.
Stress can cause G. I. bleeds as well as some medications. Did they
ignore him and tell him he was imagining things when he complained? Did
he ask to fill out a copout over and over and over, was he abused for
asking? If they had put him on Lithium and those who have been at A.P.
I. were about the only inmates that got their meds it can cause some
bleeding issues. He has a long history of taking Lithium, but the extra
stress added on top of the med could cause more of a tendency to bleed.
That is why those on psychiatric meds should have regular evaluations
and staff working with them should be trained to watch for side effects
of their medications as well as look out for overheating and other
issues that can harm them. The attitude at the DOC is everyone is a
scumbag, every inmate is lying, manipulating and seeking attention, so
they just gaslight and ignore all complaints. They also do not want to
pay for basic health care so let corrections officers who have no
training as health care professionals evaluate medical complaints. I
doubt the G. I . bleed story, but don’t have all the information and
never will. Davon according to the ADN article told a family member he
was not getting his Lithium in jail and that is SOP. I am speculating,
but it is speculation born of experience.
(snip)
They don't follow those regulations here in Alaska and I have been
YELLING about it for years. It was clear there was the usual cover up
going on. They always say the same things, it will take a month to get
the autopsy and tox screen back. I called wanting to know why
information in another case had not been released and they said it was
due to privacy issues. Yes they did and then I called the ACLU and they
repeated this using the same exact words of the DOC staff. Autopsies are
not public information in Alaska which I was shocked to find out. The
DOC refused my FOIA request illegally in that case. Yea, everything in
Alaska is corrupt. They also always claim there in no foul play expected
immediately with every death and the uninformed of Alaska buy the
story.
(snip)
So distraught and horrified that nothing was done by the DOJ to make them do what they are supposed to at the DOC. I am just one person with health problems, limited resources and very limited energy that they made worse who spoke up, but nothing changed. The only thing that surprises me is that more people don't die in the prisons here. We know of these two cases because the families have come forward with the stories. Many who have mental illness or are incarcerated have no one to report their death to the news media, so I wonder if there are more unreported deaths.
******
Autopsy Reports in Alaska Need to be Public Information to Make Alaska/DOC Give Inmates Health Care. My Blog is Under Attack, Here it is Again. Update X 2.
From 6/5/2014
This statement makes me think she had some kind of bleed. Unless this
young woman developed esophageal varices and bled out or had some other
life threatening bleed which I doubt because her cellmate would have
said there was blood everywhere the “natural causes” statement is
complete bullshit. Did she blow a blood vessel in her brain from the
hours of retching increasing the intracranial pressure in her head?
The
roommate described vomiting and shaking, which sounds like D.T.s. She
also said the woman was ignored which as I have reported in the past is
SOP at the DOC along with abruptly stopping medication. Acute liver
failure is unlikely in such a young person even with very heavy drinking
unless something other than alcohol is involved like Acetaminophen. Her
liver disease would have been present upon her incarceration and what
could have caused it to get worse while having no access to alcohol or
drugs? The roommate described conversations including a discussion about
needing her cardiac medication, so it does not sound like she had
hepatic encephalopathy due to end stage liver disease. Before death they
are general comatose or hallucinating something like packs of
cigarettes are floating in the air.
The DOC claims she was attended to, but what specifically did they do?
Let’s see the documentation of the vital signs they took, her SAO2, the
notes the staff wrote describing the condition of the inmate, describing
what the vomitus looked like and how much there was and how long she
had thrown up. Did you check her skin turgor? Did you have any concern
about a woman with a history of alcoholic cardiac problems becoming
dehydrated and developing tachycardia. Were you at all concerned that
the vomiting might lower the KCL of a person with a history of cardiac
problems? I know the answer because I have seen the Alaska DOC in
action, none of these things were done. Was she even on a sedative such
as Librium, I doubt it. Did a nurse even come to the cell to check on
her? No, corrections officers make medical decisions at the Alaska DOC
and the result is exactly what you would expect from those who have not
gone to college to learn about medicine or nursing.
Regardless of her medical history any person who throws up for eight
hours is in danger of tearing their esophagus and having a significant
bleed. You certainly don’t let alcoholics who have liver disease that
causes bleeding problems just retch for hours. She should have been
given an antiemetic, but the appropriate thing to do would have been a
trip to the ER. She needed to have a 12 lead EKG and lab work done to
make sure her electrolytes were in a safe range which I doubt they were
considering the length of the retching and her history of drinking. The
labs would have also shown the degree of dehydration. She should have
been given Librium and perhaps some IV fluids and probably KCL. I know
they would like to skirt over the fact that she was in D.T.s and go
straight to the bullshit story about natural causes, but no one and I
mean no one is ever going to believe that. This claim of natural causes
would be like a person going to an ER with chest pain and being left in
the waiting room for eight hours while he clearly had chest pain and
other symptoms, then he collapsed and died after having a myocardial
infarction due to an arrhythmia caused by the irritation of his cardiac
tissue. That is not dying of natural causes because the M.I. could have
been prevented and even if it was not preventable he could have been
given medication to prevent his death.
The DOC did
their usual song and dance about family privacy and medical privacy so
the truth can‘t be found out. Here is the reason they get away with
this, in Alaska autopsy reports are not public information as they are
in most other states. The main reason they are public in other states is
to prevent cover ups of wrongdoing. This needs to change in this state
or the DOC will never stop lying about the deaths of inmates nor will
the state be forced to actually provide inmates healthcare. A democracy
does not allow such things to go on, but an oligarchy based on the oil
business does. They herd large numbers of chemically dependent and/or mentally ill people into a
prison system to keep from paying for the treatment they need. Sean
Parnell likes to say the low income people have these community clinics
they can go to. At two of those clinics I could not get a phone call
returned and had to make a BFD to get them to call me, then there was
medical bullying and incompetence. After being confronted with this a
few times I realized the whole system is screwed up. The only exception
was the state mental health clinic in Anchorage. So people don’t get
treatment in their communities which means eventually they will do
something that brings them to the attention of law enforcement where
they can be shoved into administrative segregation and harassed by
corrections officers until they are completely broken.
The
DOC does not draw blood to run basic tests on inmates. If that had been
done they would have known the degree of liver disease and other issues
this young woman had. That way they would have known she was in a
fragile state so they could take precautions to prevent deterioration.
They don’t do even basic common sense testing of inmates.
These
statements made by DOC staff that she was “attended to”, that they
always take those with serious D.T.s to the hospital etc. are all total
lies, they do not do these things ever and many people have witnessed
it. I have never ever seen such horrendous lies and cover up allowed to
go on for so long without some kind of investigation by the DOJ. What
the hell.
All Delirium Tremens is severe by definition and also a medical
emergency in all cases. The main goal is to prevent the death of the
patient, the secondary goals are to prevent complications and help the
person through the hallucinations, etc. Giving them an IV with vitamins
(Thiamine) is always a good idea as well as getting them to eat healthy
food as soon as they can.
I hope the family releases
the autopsy report to the news media. Amanda Kernak died due to lack of
medical screening and health care. Part of the problem it seems was
Amanda and her cellmate were afraid to say anything for fear of
retaliation.
******
Alaska DOC Coverup: The Story of Wesley Shandy’s Death, an Alaskan Inmate at GEO Group’s Hudson CO Prison
From 7/15/2014
At first when Wesley was found down and they claimed he died in an
ambulance the DOC said they were sending someone to investigate. Then
their next statement was it would take about a month to get the
toxicology report back (it takes two weeks). That was BS for delaying
purposes, they wanted time for the public and news media to forget about
his death which worked, nothing was ever written about his death in the
news media in Alaska again after about two articles, but I never forgot
or stopped caring. I also know to never believe anything anyone at the
DOC says due to their pathological lying. The truth is they knew what
happened from almost the beginning. It was clear to me something was
being covered up.
After making phone calls to ask questions, leaving messages that were
not returned and speaking to administrative personnel who were playing
games I sent a public information request.
(snip)
The
article in the Alaska Dispatch News today about the cost and the hoops
they make people jump through trying to get information about what
happened to an inmate who dies is right on the money. This is an
excellent article and I love that it was published right as I planned to
post this information, good timing. The DOC blocks information with
their stonewalling and then make the costs of getting it huge. It's
their system of public information suppression. The only thing that can
be done in the end is to use the court system, but when one can't afford
an attorney it makes the whole process even more difficult. They are
expert at the DOC with playing twisted games, but much of that is
assisted by the Department of Law. The DOL spends a great deal of time
blocking citizens of this state from finding out the truth about real
operations in Alaskan government, helping them go after those who would
tell the truth and protecting them from litigation because rather than
work for the people, they work for the governor, corporate interests and
the agencies.
After the lies and stonewalling of Alaska my next step was public
records requests in Colorado which were a partial success. At that time I
did not really
understand just how Alaska laws allow the government to cover up
wrongdoing by keeping information secret that other states have made
public to
prevent corruption and identify problems. Banana republics hide
information that allows
the public to understand the truth about their operations. That
information helps citizens work to stop wrongdoing because a democracy
allows citizens access to information to prevent
government corruption.
Even in the states like Alaska that consider
autopsies to be medical information why is there not a committee
separate from the DOC that reviews them and medical records of current
inmates or receives complaints from inmates and their families about
health care issues? WHY? Why can't families communicate their concerns
or provide information about their family member's health needs, why
can't inmates do this themselves? If they did have such a committee
would it just have political appointees who do whatever those in power
want? Would they have some radical religious beliefs with a bit of
crazy?
When the coroner in Colorado asked me why I wanted the autopsy I told
him I was a prison reform activist in Alaska, the only one I knew of
working all by myself with resistance on both sides of the political
spectrum. He told me his office would never participate in any cover up.
Good for them and the people of Colorado for allowing the truth to be
told through their good public information laws. Gee, I wish I lived in a
state where autopsy reports could be obtained by the public and more importantly journalists
so the Department of Corrections/DOL/governor would be forced to stop
killing people through medical neglect/abuse and covering it up with
BS/lies. It's a dream I have because I know how many are being harmed
right now at this very second psychologically, physically and through
medical neglect/malpractice.
(snip)
Shandy was pronounced dead in an ambulance at 1:30 AM, but would have
been found down or passed out not too long before that and was in
someone else's cell. Note the coroner who had access to the police
reports does not say he died in the ambulance, he was found dead in the
cell which is not quite the story the Alaska DOC told. Why is an inmate
in another inmate's cell so late at night? Perhaps he was in a low risk
section of the prison where it is more like a dorm. Those other
individuals who bring drugs into prisons are generally corrections
officers, but can be other staff. All this time I assumed the lack of
information meant that was just what happened.
(snip)
There is no compassion or recognition that inmates are human beings by
the DOC, the government of Alaska and a large percentage of the
population. Many who end up in the prison system have had difficult
childhoods, trauma, mental illnesses or long term addiction issues. It
seems obvious to me that helping them to become the best they can be
rather than destroying them would be the top priority. Instead the
system makes people sicker through different types of torture and
neglect. It could be you imprisoned (as I found out it can happen
wrongfully), your child, your friend would you want them treated this
way or would you like to give them a chance at life. The addicted and
mentally ill should not be in prisons to begin with unless a violent
crime is committed and even then medication can change that behavior.
When we help others we help ourselves.
******
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