What's Cruel and Unusual? The View From Behind Prison Bars - SF Chronicle

Friday, June 24, 2011

Chronicle Sunday recently asked former and current prisoners to address the question: "Do conditions in our nation's prisons violate the Constitution's guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment?" Here are excerpts from their letters.

I can't speak for the conditions of the nation's prisons; only for those I was in. Each one was its own little house of horrors. The smell, noise and fear that permeate from these holes of inhumanity still linger in my system after two and a half years of freedom.

All those holier-than-thou people who pass every single crime bill should take note of what I say: It only takes three drunk-driving arrests in a six-month period and you're right in the mix with your worst nightmare. But then, if you have money, (like) Jim Mitchell, Charles Keating or O.J., don't worry; our prisons are just for those poor folk who can't afford proper defense.

Vacaville State Prison was my first stop. In the summer of 1984, the temperature at midnight was 80 degrees. My cellmate and I were both on heat-sensitive medications, and with the daytime temps at 110, the cell temperature was nearly 120. Four years later three men died in the same cell block under the same conditions. Cruel and unusual?

August of the same year in Vacaville, two men were fighting without weapons. The guard in the tower decided to blow one of the inmates' heads off. End of fight. I still had 13 years and 10 months ahead of me. Cruel and unusual?

Next stop, San Luis Obispo. Late one night I heard a soft pounding down the tier. An inmate was in severe pain. The guard on duty said that if they called the ambulance, the inmate would be charged $125. The next morning, my friend went to check on him. He was dead. Cause of death -- a ruptured appendix. Cruel and unusual?

On to the eyesore of Marin -- San Quentin. The general conditions and overall programs at this joint were and still are atrocious. Inmates are forced to stand for an hour in horrible wind nightly to eat dinner. The two-bunk cells are so poorly designed that a locker covers a quarter of the bed on the top bunk. I finally decided to sleep on the floor, where at least I could stretch out.

The suicides at San Quentin are amazing. I never knew doing time would subject me to watching guys do swan dives off the fifth tier. One guy ripped his jugular out with a can opener. How about the inmate who was shot to death while dangling from the fence? They left his body there for four hours as a lesson to us all.

But the most cruel and unusual punishment is delivered by the Board of Prison Terms. I believe that the worst case of cruelty happened last year to my old cellmate, Eddy Z. Eddie was told by a parole panel of three men that he was suitable for parole. They told him as soon as his papers were filed through Sacramento he would be freed. He celebrated the good news and was gleefully anticipating his return to his family after 15 years when the governor decided to invoke a new law and rescind his parole. It was like unstrapping a guy from the electric chair and then, minutes later, shooting him.

It is very sick what has happened to our society. I know plenty of beasts that wander the prison halls and no, they should never get out. But people can change. I really believe that. I did.

No name please -- still on parole.

NAME WITHHELD

I was convicted for possession of stolen mail material and dealing in a controlled substance (Xanax). I served time in both state and federal institutions, including several hellish county jails. In several jails we were forced to sleep in shifts to keep the cockroaches from crawling in our mouths. Jails are crammed, it is miserable, and the noise and 24- hour lighting is enough to drive you mad. I was in intake for three weeks. Intake is a big wing of tiny rooms with no bathroom, and you and another person are in a 7-by-5-foot space. You spend 22 hours a day in this room, only going out for meals and showers at 5 a.m.

At the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Ky., we had a six-day water outage where 300 women had to use the same stinking toilet because they would only wash the waste down when it got full. There were over 2,500 women at the facility during this outage, so you can imagine the stench.

I also witnessed extreme acts of violence. I saw a woman have her throat cut from ear to ear over a 25-cent cup of instant coffee.

I have been out of prison since 1994. I still have nightmares. I am terribly afraid of the dark. I can't stand any amount of noise. I do most of my business like shopping and such during the night because I can't stand crowds of people. I am going to school and consider myself extremely lucky to be going somewhere in my life. I was only 21 when I went to jail. I am 29 now and know that I could never go back.

P. L. HORAK

Bloomington, Ind.

A month and a half after my 20th (birthday), I was arrested on a charge of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and use of a firearm. I'm going on my sixth year in prison. I'm thousands of miles away from my family and every time I ask to move closer, I get the same old line: "It's too crowded." It's not like I'm not aware of that; I live with the overcrowding every day.

Another shame of prison life is lack of rehabilitation. Education has been practically eliminated, and except for the menial jobs that you perform, like food service and grounds keeping, there isn't a chance for a man to learn a viable trade anymore. With the mandatory sentences that are being handed out, many people are doing long sentences, and by the time they get out, they will be unprepared to obtain gainful employment, which is a major reason recidivism is so high.

Those who are fortunate enough to have loved ones left on the outside that will help ease the transition will have a better chance than those who don't.

Society needs to think toward the future. Lawmakers have not thought of the consequences of these long sentences. They have pacified the various self-serving associations such as prosecutors and correctional and law enforcement political action committees. The public sector needs to take a good long look at these laws and how they will affect us and our children's children.

RICHARD DANIEL PERRINE

Federal Correctional Institution, Greenville, Ill.

I just finished three years of parole after three years of prison for growing pot. I spent time in prisons in Ecuador, Miami, San Luis Obispo, Wasco State Prison and Avenal State Prison. Soledad State Prison is where I paroled from. I feel I am in a very good position to tell you about the California prison system.

I am by no means a strong liberal -- I believe that if you hurt someone, you have to pay the price. The problem with the system today is that we are locking up kids for minor drug crimes in the name of profit for the prison system. Maybe I deserved to be in prison, as I was growing over $3 million worth of pot, but to see the kids in there for minor drug crimes is a crime in itself. Lock up violent criminals -- and believe me, I saw plenty -- but over 60 percent of the people inside are just kids, and we are just making them anti-society, anti-good.

Someday we will wake up and understand that locking up drug offenders was so off-base. We as a people will end up paying a dear price for our terrible mistakes. We need to open our eyes and realize that, yes, there is a need for prisons, but the nonviolent drug offenders need to be dealt with in a different way than the violent element.

STEPHEN P. BOHRER

San Luis Obispo

In 1965 I was sentenced to Angola for sales of simulated narcotics for 61/4 years with no parole eligibility. The first week I was there, I was beat up by the prison guards and dragged to the "hole," where I and thousands of other men were fed only two thin slices of bread and water per day. I spent 30 days one time.

The worst of it all, things like this happen right here in the USA. I hate our penal system, and I am glad there are people who want to change things.

I have three sons, and now I worry that maybe one day, one of my boys will be tortured like I was. I bet my poor mom really suffered, seeing her only son lose so much weight. Often when she would come visit me, I would be all beat up and mom would just sit there and cry like a little baby.

WILLIAM RHODES

New Orleans, La.

Two appointees of ex-Governors Deukmejian and Wilson declared (in reply to this San Quentin prisoner's demand for restoration of winter clothing) that the balmy weather caused by global warming ended any need for warmer clothes once considered necessary at the bayside prison.

Prisoners are marched outdoors and back in underwear in sub-freezing wind and rain. Others shiver in thin, one-ply denim as 30-degree wind blasts them, awaiting entry to the chow hall or canteen.

No staff venture out into this weather without many layers of winter clothing.

The only thing balmy about this fiasco is the neo-Nazi mind-set of the prison-jail industrial complex, where semi literate guards commonly make $60,000 a year, while teachers make half that.

DOUGLAS CLARK

San Quentin

The California Department of Corrections loses, delays or blocks inmates that appeal cruel or indifferent conditions. We're not all complaining of broken cookies or chunky peanut butter. We're talking humane issues -- medical care, programs to occupy our time for some benefit to society, or even the decency to be able to shower every day.

JOEL BROWN

High Desert State Prison, Susanville

There are many avenues to safeguard some federal prisoners against physical abuse, although many prisoners, women especially, are subjected to overt sexual harassment. However, there are very, very few safeguards in place against emotional abuse, which can be equally devastating to one's general well-being. This is especially true in the case of inmates who demonstrate any intellect at a level over plant life.

The one hope many inmates have inside those confines is being able to reach out to a fellow inmate who has the education and knowledge to help them out. But those of us who exercise the initiative and do that are subjected too much harassment from the administration, which is threatened by someone who can actually wade through B.S. written in policy and then use it to exact some real prison justice. But caveat emptor: Don't you dare show you have a brain cell. When those in charge of the system use your children and sick parents as leverage to silence you and keep you under their "mind control," I'd say that constitutes a blatant example of cruel and unusual punishment.

SANDRA SHOCK

New Port Richey, Fla.

For the people who are criminals, taking into full consideration these last 1,000 years of prison and penology, conditions are not too awful. No lions versus prisoners, no whips, daily beatings, manacles on the walls, only a few isolated beatings and deaths. Let's be frank: How well should rapists, robbers and killers be treated?

There is a situation today that is cruel and unusual, however, and that is Security Housing Unit prisons, such as Pelican Bay. It's the "treatment" of the person while s/he's there that I don't condone.

The corruption caused by the drug laws of this nation have created the mess in which we find ourselves today. The more correct question would have been: "How will the legalization and regulation (of drugs) either by government or by natural free market controls improve the cruel and unusual conditions found in our prisons and jails today?"

ROBERT JAMES RILEY

Federal Correctional Institution, Lompoc

At the time of this writing, I am in the hole/Security Housing Unit because I wrote an article regarding the High Desert State Prison uprising on Nov. 22, 1999. Because of that article I was assaulted. I was found "outside" in a secure perimeter, unconscious with two black eyes, a broken nose, two cut lips, hematomas on my face and head, and my front teeth are due to come out any day.

When I requested that photos be taken of my injuries, I was denied. When I requested to have X-rays taken of my ribs and to have my lip sutured, I was denied again. The next day, when I was told that I would be placed in the hole pending an investigation, I requested once more that the Investigative Services Unit take photos, as they should in conducting any real investigation. I was denied that request.

At one point, I thought I had a seizure, as I do suffer seizures. However, the prison guards and officials were happy to tell me that I was assaulted. No suspects were discovered. They informed me that they will try to find out why I was assaulted. They believe that the African Americans are upset with me. I have been in prison for seven years and the only blacks that are upset with me are the ones that work for them.

L. J. GUILLORY

High Desert State Prison, Susanville

I had a stroke in March 1999, and I was placed here in the treatment center. At that time I could not do anything for myself. I would lay in bed, wet, dirty and unbathed. The staff did very little for me. The only help I could rely on was a porter (janitor) who helped me. She would keep my room clean, as well as my body. She also would get me out of bed so I did not just lay there all the time. This porter is not a staff member; she is an inmate like I am. The staff here would bring me food that I could not eat because I could not cut it or open the packages.

There's so many women here who won't stand up for fear of losing their "out" date, but for myself, I have no date and even if I did, right is right and wrong is wrong.

SALLY WHITHAM

Central California Women's Facility, Chowchilla

As an ex-convict still on parole for marijuana trafficking, having served time in four states in 25 different institutions or facilities, just being locked up is "cruel and unusual punishment." If you haven't been to prison, you won't understand -- everyone should go to prison once.

Prisoners are not different from anyone else, except a little more broken than most. It is OK to incarcerate, but while you have the "menace" contained, please help heal the brokenness with the time available.

Treatment is a workable option for punishment. Ask me. I finally received treatment in my last stay and it honestly changed my life from the inside out.

While you're considering life-positive ideas, think about changing the war against drugs. The blatant hypocrisy is poison to our society.

Remember that if how we handle our people isn't working, change. If that doesn't work, change again.

We consider ourselves an advanced society. Perhaps technically we are, but socially, humanely, we are as primitive and ignorant as a caveman.

JON FRANKLIN

La Honda

http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/What-s-Cruel-and-Unusual-The-View-From-Behind-2765141.php