Prepare the prey for prison profiteers: New 5,000-prisoner RFP Released.

Via the good folks at KTAR.com. What a bizarre headline.

Funny they don't mention the Christmas Eve escape attempt at ASPC-Tucson/Manzanita. Think that still hasn't hit the mainstream press? No one ever talks about it...

More on all this another time. Here's just the news, for now.

----------------

Prison break prompts call for more prison beds

KTAR.com
AP - January 27, 2011

PHOENIX -- State officials have released a revised request for 5,000 additional private prison beds following a months-long review prompted by three inmates' escape from a privately operated state prison near Kingman last summer.

Corrections Director Charles Ryan canceled the original request for proposals last September, saying it needed stronger requirements on security and operations to avoid repeats of the July 30 escape.

The three violent offenders who broke out have been apprehended. Two face charges of murdering an Oklahoma couple in New Mexico while on the loose.

Ryan has said the Kingman prison was riddled with security flaws that the department's oversight failed to detect.

The department released the new 186-page request for proposals for providing beds for minimum- and medium-security male inmates on Monday. A 14-page amendment was released Wednesday.

The new request includes detailed provisions on security, including ones requiring both random and scheduled perimeter checks of prisons. The original, now-canceled version didn't have those specifics.

The Kingman escapees were able to avoid the prison's scheduled perimeter patrol by timing its movements, enabling them to cut through fencing. They had made getaway arrangements with an alleged accomplice by using a telephone tossed into the prison yard, authorities said.

Also, the department said the revision include new requirements for reporting of problems, expanded evaluation criteria for proposals additional sanctions for violations, including those that pose a risk to public safety.

Under the state's request, proposals can be for the entire 5,000 beds or submitted in increments of 500. It said the state wants 2,000 beds available by April 2013 and an additional 3,000 by April 2015.

The request said the state could provide state-owned land at existing prison complexes in Florence, Buckeye, Litchfield Park and Yuma available for use.

The deadline to submit proposals is Feb. 24.

The Kingman escape became an issue in last year's gubernatorial race, with Democratic nominee Terry Goddard running a television spot attacking incumbent Gov. Jan Brewer in connection with the Kingman prison break.

Two of the three escapees and an alleged accomplice are charged with murdering Gary and Linda Haas of Tecumseh, Okla., in eastern New Mexico's Guadalupe County, and the Goddard ad questioned whether Arizonans should feel safe with Brewer as governor.

Brewer, a Republican, was elected to a full term on Nov. 2.

The 5,000-bed expansion program was authorized under a 2009 law.

Arizona's prison system houses approximately 40,000 inmates, including nearly 5,300 in private facilities. Those include 2,200 at the Kingman prison. The state's public prisons house approximately 34,700 inmates, above the design capacity of just over 31,000.

Sex Workers Outreach Project Protest: Solidarity with Prison Abolitionist

Anyone who was here last night after my "Poor JD" post may notice things are moved around a little today. I wanted this to be the first post people saw in the morning, not his whining - so here it is again...
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International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers


I've been dying to talk about this, and the official notice just came from SWOP today. I think the protest was originally going to be out at the prison, but I'm sure there were logistical and security issues, so it'll be at Director Ryan's door, instead. Just as good. We need to be there in Tucson Thursday, Dec 17 supporting the actions there, and turn out in force with these women in Phoenix on Friday, Dec 18. 

I need an early count of who's on board with this, folks, so email me and let me know how many people you think you'll bring to which events, if you have room and time to help drive folks to or from Tucson, or if you need a place to crash there - let me know, or contact the Tucson SWOP directly. In the meantime, I'll find out more about what we can do to support these actions.

 ------------------- 


Sex Worker’s Outreach Project - Tucson www.swop-tucson.org
Please Join Us December 17, 2009 for the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers Event in Tucson, Arizona!
November 11, 2009
Dear Friends & Supporters of Sex Worker’s Rights:

In 2009, sex workers from around the globe met gruesome deaths and endured unspeakable violence. Some died at the hands of a solitary perpetrator; others were victims of serialprostitute killers. While some of these horrific stories received international media attention ( Boston, Grand Rapids, Albuquerque, Tijuana , Hong Kong , Moscow , Great Britain ,Cape Town , New Zealand ), other cases received little more than a perfunctory investigation. Many cases remain unresolved, sometimes forever.

In fact, most violent crimes against sex workers remain unreported. Stigma and decriminalization facilitate this violence; when sex work is criminalized, prostitutes can't turn to the police for protection without risking prosecution themselves. Sex workers remain one of the largest marginalized populations in existence without the benefit of the basic civil rights that everyone else takes for granted.

Each year, December 17th marks the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Last year’s event in Washington, D.C. was a big success and this year, sex workers and their allies from across the U.S. will gather together in Tucson, Arizona to remember and honor sex workers who have been victimized by virtue of their chosen profession - including rape, assault and murder.

You are invited to join us on December 17, 2009 in Tucson, Arizona to honor the memories of the fallen. (A schedule of events is at the end of this letter). This year is especially poignant for us in Arizona because in May, 2009, Marcia Powell, an inmate at the Perryville women’s prison outside of Phoenix who was serving 27 months for prostitution, died when she was left outside in a holding cage in 107 degree heat without shade, food or water. Marcia Powell’s death is not only a travesty of justice and a failure of the prison system, but of the unjust laws which continue to oppress sex workers everywhere. We are outraged and saddened by both the loss of freedom and of lives, and we ask for your participation in putting an end to the violence.
To learn more about the IDEVASW, please click here .

Here’s How You Can Help

Please join us in honoring sex workers who have fallen victim to the travesties of violence and injustice. You can:

Attend the IDEVASW event in Tucson, Arizona on December 17th; we have plenty of resources for free housing and transportation.

If you can’t join us in Tucson, organize your own IDEVASW event in your hometown.

If you’re a business who’d like to help the Tucson event by sponsorship, please contact info@swop-tucson.org. We need both money and volunteers.

Circulate this letter to your own listservs and use social media to get the word out - blog about this, add this letter to your website, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, etc.

Donate to the Sex Workers Outreach Project. Visit http://swop-usa.org to find out more.

If silence is the voice of complicity, then your presence in Arizona on December 17th would be a powerful message for justice to be heard across the world. Thank you.

In Solidarity,
Sex Workers Outreach Project - USA Sex Workers Outreach Project -Tucson
For more event information, please visit: http://swop-tucson.org

_________________________@@@_____________________
IDEVASW Event Schedule - Tucson, Arizona
Volunteers are still needed – please contact info@swop-tucson.org !

December 17, 2009

5:00 – 6:00 p.m. “No Human Involved” Event El Presidio Park, 160 West Alameda Street, Tucson, AZ. Performance art/art installation with the theme, “No Human Involved.” The central image will be a physical representation of the Perryville Prison which will honor Marcia Powell and sex workers everywhere who have been victims of violence; a performance piece/die-in and live music.

6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. “Remembrance Memorial” El Tiradito Shrine, 354 South Main Avenue, Tucson, AZ. Join us in remembering and honoring sex worker who have been victims of violence. Live music, performance poetry, ritual, candlelight vigil and refreshments. El Tiradito is a national historic shrine dedicated to the “castaway sinner” and holds a special place in the hearts of Tucson sex workers.

December 18, 2009

Political Rally at the downtown Phoenix offices of the Director of the Arizona Department of Corrections to protest current anti-prostitution laws and prison conditions. Did you know that in Arizona, a fourth conviction is a mandatory Class 5 felony with 180 days of prison for consensual sex between a client and a sex worker? Please visit http://swop-tucson.org for more details. Volunteers are needed to organize this day!

Beware the Scary Criminals who Make the Laws...

Gearing up already with the "scary criminals -v- the law-abiding citizens" talk for the 2010 campaigns, I see. If judges are putting prostitutes in prison for 27 months for blow jobs, I think there are probably a few prisoners in this state who could be released without posing a huge threat to society. In fact, it seems to me we'd all be better off swapping out some of them for the real criminals who drove us into this recession. 

I don't think the politicians in this state quite get it yet: people have been losing their jobs, homes, families, and lives - many or the first time needing a safety net that Arizona's been swiftly decimating. How many citizens are going to keep believing that it's worth $26,000 a year to brutalize women like Marcia Powell, while at the same time the governor cuts funds to the services that might have helped her safely stay off the street?We're just going to keep putting our people in cages?


It's long since time, by the way, to rewrite the criminal codes of this state - the prisons are already bulging at the seams with people whose most grievous crime is being poor. And as for Perryville, we should be storming the gates rescuing the women from that place.



Anyway, this is the article from the Eastern Arizona Courier that set me off today: note how important it is to keep the prisons open to support the local economies in these troubled times.
-------------------
ADOC cuts would close Fort Grant prison
By Diane Saunders
Staff Writer

Budget cut options submitted to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer by Arizona Department of Corrections Director Charles L. Ryan include closure of the Fort Grant Unit of the Arizona State Prison-Safford and an admonition that deep budget cuts at ADOC would require rewriting the state’s criminal code.

“The rewriting of the criminal code and releasing thousands of prisoners is neither realistic nor in the best interest of public safety,” Ryan wrote. “Releasing thousands of prisoners because of the budget deficit will place the public at risk and is akin to turning our backs on the law-abiding citizens of Arizona.”

If the Arizona Legislature and Brewer proceed with deep budget cuts to the state’s prison system, a savings of $153,368,700 would result, according to Ryan’s estimates. This a fraction of the nearly $4 billion shortfall the state anticipates over the next two years.

Barron Marson, ADOC spokesman, emphasized that the budget cuts submitted by Ryan are not a proposal. Instead, they are a response to Brewer’s request of all state agencies for budget reductions that could trim 15 percent from their spending plans.

ADOC’s reduction options included closing state prisons or several units within state prisons, including the Fort Grant Unit.

“The closures of 15 prison units will economically devastate the Arizona communities (where they are located),” Ryan said in his response to Brewer’s request.

 

Other budget-cutting measures would include releasing more than 13,000 inmates, a reduction in force of more than 1,500 prison employees and cuts to prison programs.

A 15-percent budget reduction would also include moving prison inmates who are serving sentences of one year or less to county jails. This would require legislative action to change the state’s criminal code, Ryan said.

New legislation would also be needed to release inmates with a felony class of 4, 5 or 6 after they serve 25 percent of their sentences. The current law allows felons to be released after serving 85 percent of their sentences.

“The impact of this change would jeopardize public safety, and ADC cannot support it,” Ryan wrote.

As state officials contemplate cuts throughout state agencies, the ADOC has vacancies that it cannot fill due to budget constraints. These include 199 corrections officers, 65.5 health-care personnel and 392 “other” corrections workers, according to Ryan’s report.

Dispatch from ADC Men's Prison

Came across an interesting letter tonight on a friend's blog - he received it from one of the men in Arizona state prisons. I'm not re-posting it or linking to it in order to protect the guy. He had a pretty mixed bag of things to say about the ADC.

It was my understanding from Ryan's assertions that they are or intend to be using the cages that have shade and misters, if those enhancements were ever made - at least at Perryville. I think the relative overcrowding there is worse than at most of the men's prisons, and they don't have as much indoor space so they relied on the cages for just about everything before Marcia died.

But the author of this letter says they haven't used the cages at all anywhere since that day (he made no mention of them being equipped with misters and shade). He also said they've been constantly broadcasting information about heat-related illnesses on the prison tv.


So, I think it's appropriate to commend Director Ryan - or that particular warden - for being sharp enough to make sure that employees and prisoners alike know the risks and signs of heat stroke, and take adequate precautions. I would have expected that every CO working in a prison is required to have current first and and CPR certification - even group homes require that.

California learned their lesson about overheating prisoners a few years ago when a woman in their custody died from the heat while taking medications that made her especially vulnerable. I would think that any administrator in corrections across the country would have heard about that, and changed policies and practices accordingly at the time. Is the profession not keeping people up on litigation and liability issues? The lives of prisoners and mental patients are far too often compromised for the sake of their keeper's convenience, or need to dispense punishment as a show of power.

Schriro and her predecessor, Stewart - and clearly Ryan - must have somehow missed what happened to that woman in California. Surely most people living in the Southwest understand that the heat can kill you, though. People aren't drowning in the desert as they make their way to America each year - the heat kills. If it was her child, Dora wouldn't have put her in a cage for even one hour with no shade or water on a day like that - whether she was punishing her or just leaving her to wait to see a nurse. And if someone else decided to treat her child that way - like a classroom teacher - I bet there'd be hell to pay for a long, long time. Same as if it was Ryan's kid. So why treat someone else's child - or mother or sister, or father or brother - that way?

Anyway, the other thing the author brought up is that the same day that Marcia died they had rounded up about 20-30 guys in his prison, gave them an 8 ox. cup of water to drink and caged them in the sun for two hours, after which they were all expected to drop urine. He says one guy had to be taken in because of the heat (some ADC employees are no doubt decent, competent people - pretty much every prisoner says that, even if the good just number a few), and that none of the rest of the men were able to drop. So they all got charged with refusing to comply.

Now, this is small stuff compared to what Marcia went through, but those kinds of things pile up on people and steal more days and weeks of their lives away - and every day in prison is a risky proposition at best. Someone higher up in the system should look into all the tickets given out for not dropping after sweating it all out that day - not to find out who's blowing the whistle, but to make sure that - if this account is accurate - the charges are dismissed. This would be a good time for ADC administrators to show their prisoners (and families) that they listen and can be fair. It was, after all, the failure to listen to prisoners or take their suffering seriously that killed Marcia. The example that changes some of that should be set at the top.

Accidental State-Assisted Suicide in AZ

Thanks again to Stephen Lemons for digging  a lttile deeper than the AZ Republic is ever willing to go (unless they're kissing someone's ass, in which case they have no limits). This is the first part of the article - you'll have to hit their site to continue. I guess I would have read the statute they refer to as giving the director the authority to CONTINUE medical care - since there was a minimal chance of recovery - not DISCONTINUE medical care.

The indication that Marcia was put in the cage as a sort of suicide watch is disturbing, since that's not policy, and clearly no one was watching. Since she was begging for water and relief from the sun, I can only assume she had changed her mind about wanting to die.

There have been so many cases of abuse, neglect and sexual exploitation throughout the department - the more I hear the more certain I am that we can't be satisfied that the Arizona Department of Corrections will suddenly transform themselves into a gentler, kinder institution. We must get transparency and close citizen oversight there, a strong prisoner rights presence, some kind of support for corrections officers and prisoners who go public, and legislative reforms.

-----------

Arizona’s Shameless About the Cage Death of Marcia Powell

Phoenix New Times
September 29, 2009

"Many of Powell's guards say she was given water, though inmates observing Powell in the cage say she was not and that her cries for water were mocked. Why she remained in the cage for so long is not adequately explained. Nor are the actions of a prison psychologist who supposedly ordered Powell "placed in a recreation enclosure" because Powell had threatened suicide if she remained in her cell."

CAGE TIME

After wading through the Arizona Department of Corrections' recently released doorstop report on the cage death of Marcia Powell, I'm not sure whom I'd rather see get a taste of Powell's open-air sunbake: acting ADC director Charles Ryan, his pathetic excuse for a boss, Governor Jan Brewer, or the simpering keyboard-tapper at the Arizona Republic who just penned an anonymous bravo for Ryan titled, "Corrections boss' candor laudable."

Powell, of course, is the 48-year-old who was locked in a shadeless human cage at Goodyear's Perryville Prison on May 19 and endured 107-degree heat for four or more hours (depending on what part of the report you want to believe), was forced to defecate in her cage and on herself like a dog, and was denied adequate, or any, water (more likely the latter) until she collapsed, apparently of heatstroke.

She did not die at Perryville. Rather, Ryan ordered the plug pulled on her at West Valley Medical Center when doctors there found her case to be hopeless.

Ryan, known to his detractors as "Darth Ryan," told doctors, according to the report, that he would be acting as Marcia Powell's guardian, in lieu of family members. Thing is, Powell already had a court-appointed guardian, Maricopa County's Office of the Public Fiduciary, which labored after Powell's death to find a family member who could take custody of her remains. An adoptive mom wanted nothing to do with the disposition of Powell's body, a representative of the Fiduciary's Office later told a judge looking into the matter.

The ADC's report states that "information regarding the guardianship of [inmate] Powell was not available," but, in fact, there was a record of Powell's guardianship; it's just that Ryan did not have the information. Indeed, the report states that a representative from the Fiduciary's Office had visited Powell in ADC custody in March — less than two months before her death. So ADC should have been aware of Powell's guardian.
The report suggests that Ryan acted within the parameters of the law, citing Arizona Revised Statute 41-1604.01, which states that when any person "under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections, other than employees," needs emergency medical care, and there's no next of kin or legal guardian available, the ADC director "may authorize the performance of such necessary medical, surgical, or dental service."

However, when an ADC investigator questioned Deputy Maricopa County Attorney Gary Strickland, counsel for the Fiduciary's Office, about the statute, Strickland had a very different interpretation of it.
"Mr. Strickland stated Title 41 did not entitle the director of the Department of Corrections to make the decision to discontinue life-saving measures on Powell," reads the report, "and that his office, the guardian of Marcia Powell, should have been contacted."

Just a niggling detail — all this stuff about a guardian, right? After all, West Valley Medical Center's Dr. Mae Dumlao told an ADC investigator that Powell was "clinically dead" and there was only "an extremely minimal chance" that Powell could have somehow survived her heat-related injuries. Powell was actually having a heart attack as she entered the hospital, which was in "direct relation to heatstroke and hypobulemic [sic] shock."

Particularly chilling is the description by Dr. Kevin Hiselhorse, who treated Powell upon her arrival to the hospital. Hiselhorse confirmed that "Powell's eyes were dilated and fixed, which indicated brain damage due to her body temperature exceeding 108 degrees." Hiselhorse explained that he could only get a temp of 108 degrees "because thermometers in healthcare only go as high as 108."

Hiselhorse also informed the ADC investigator that he had never seen a patient recover from a 108-degree temperature and that "at that temperature, the body's organs began to melt and the brain begins to coagulate."

(finish article at the New Times' site)

ADC: Safety is Job One.

This is what I found so disturbing: it's all about paying the guards to protect the public - only passing reference to inmate safety, despite this 3000-page report detailing how systematically, carelessly prisoners get neglected and abused.And all Ryan and Brewer are talking about is how brave and hard-working they are, and how they're keeping us "safe". Yes, short-staffing is a problem. But the prisoners are dying at a much faster rate than the guards. Who protects the prisoners from the conditions of their confinement?


And does the governor herself have nothing to say about the horrendous details on the death of Marcia Powell? No reassurances to the families of 40,000 prisoners that their loved ones are safe tonight, and will survive their prison sentences? No word to the women in that pit themselves that none of them will be next, left dying in their own feces begging for help as guards just mock them, passing them by? No acknowledgment to the officers that their ability to do their jobs has long been compromised by over-crowding, short-staffing, excess overtime, and burn-out? Look at the employee suicides out there.

Finally, Ryan et al: you need to be more concerned with protecting your prisoners than the "public" right now; the police are heavily militarized out here and seem quite capable of arresting whomever they want; all you need to do to keep the public safe is to not leave the keys lying around. Your bigger duty - especially now - is to keep your prisoners safe from each other, despair, and their guards. 

 Here's the Governor's happy announcement that the ADC can keep on keeping us all safe (as long as we aren't in their care). Good idea to hold off on releasing that report, Ryan, until after this news cycle passed.

------------------

State of Arizona
Janice K. Brewer Office of the Governor
Main Phone: 602-542-4331
Governor 1700 West Washington Street

Phoenix, AZ 85007 Facsimile: 602-542-7601
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Tasya Peterson

September 18, 2009
(602) 542-3464
tpeterson@az.gov


Governor Brewer Announces first distribution of Government Services Funds


$50 million awarded to Department of Corrections for salary expenses of 1,305 officers

PHOENIX – Governor Jan Brewer today announced the first distribution of the State Fiscal Stabilization Funds (SFSF) Government Services Fund (GSF) monies to the Arizona Department of Corrections through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). A total of $50 million will be given to the Department to pay officer’s salary expenses incurred during the first five (5) pay periods of FY2010 in order to support officers needed to staff required security posts throughout the state’s prison system to ensure the safety of the public, staff and inmates.

“I have long emphasized that I will do everything in my power to see that public safety in the State of Arizona is not compromised,” said Governor Jan Brewer. “By choosing to award the Arizona Department of Corrections $50 million from the Government Services Fund, I have made good on my commitment to mitigate funding cuts to such vital services as public safety and support our dedicated correctional officers.”

“The $50 million will go to ensure our Department operates with a full complement of officers to protect Arizonans," said ADC Director Charles L. Ryan. "The money released by Governor Brewer pays the salaries of our brave and hard-working correctional officers in this difficult economic time."

“I am extremely pleased, and so will my officers be, to know that Governor Brewer and the Arizona Office of Economic Recovery care enough about our safety and well being to fund such an important public safety agency,” said Michael Duran, State Executive President of the Arizona Correctional Peace Officers Association. “This stretches further than just safety for my officers - this helps us do our first and foremost job of protecting the public everyday.”

The Government Services Funds are one portion of the SFSF, aimed at helping states to provide maximum flexibility in addressing budget shortfalls. Funds are to be allocated at the Governor’s discretion as designed by federal law.

For more information, please visit the State of Arizona’s Recovery Act website at www.azrecovery.gov.
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Montini: The Psychiatric Hospitals of the New Millenium

Prisons as mental institutions

Blog Entry, September 25, 2009

E.J. Montini

The Arizona Republic.

No state-wide problem exists in isolation. The horrific death of Marcia Powell not only illustrates the problems within Arizona's prison system, it's an example of how the prison system in Arizona is being asked to be asked to do something it is not designed to do: Treat mentally ill people.

The reason that our prisons (and jails) have become de facto mental institutions is that Arizona’s mental health system isn't able to adequately treat those who need to be helped.

Some of those who suffer from mental illness that is left untreated -- or not treated vigorously enough -- wind up committing crimes. With Marcia Powell, the lack of a structured environment led her not to take prescribed medications and instead try to self-medicate through illegal drugs. The inability to hold down a job that would pay for the money needed for the drugs led her into prostitution. The drugs and the prostitution led to arrests, which led to prison, which is where she and many other mentally ill individuals wind up.

And she died there.

Corrections officers are not mental health professionals.

There are some of those professionals on hand at Arizona's prisons, but not enough to deal with the number of Marcia Powell types we have behind bars.

Just last week an 18-year-old inmate with a long history of mental illness issues tried to kill himself. He came close, but now is in Maricopa Medical Center where taxpayers will be spending a lot more money to keep him alive on machines than we might have spent earlier in his life treating his mental health problems.

Decades ago, we decided that mental health was not a crime, which is true. And we did away with what used to be called (in a good way, first, then a bad way) asylums.

Now, in what seems like a strategy that is much more cruel, we wait until a mentally ill person gets into trouble with the law, then treat them as criminals rather than ill people.

It's not an easy problem to solve, particularly in tough economic times. But one way or another we pay to care for these individuals.

I can't believe that the best way is through our very expensive prisons, or the even more expensive hospital intensive care units.

Or a graveyard.

Friday, September 25, 2009 at 11:27 AM

Standard Operating Procedure: Cage Them

Outdoor confinements common

Inquiry: Officers regularly left unruly inmates in sun-exposed cages beyond 2-hour limit

by Casey Newton - Sept. 25, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

 

Before Marcia Powell, there was Vanessa Griego.



Powell died from heat-related causes on May 20, a day after she spent nearly four hours exposed to the sun in an outdoor cage at Arizona State Prison Complex-Perryville prison in Goodyear.

Just three days earlier, Griego was confined to a similar cage at Perryville for 20 hours, an incident that alarmed staff members and fellow inmates but was not investigated until after Powell's death.

Griego, 24, endured her stay in the outdoor cage without needing medical attention.

But a Department of Corrections investigation showed that lengthy confinements in outdoor cages had become a common practice over the past two years as officers tried to "wait out" prisoners who, like Griego, were agitated or refusing to return to their cells.

"Waiting out" prisoners meant corrections officers did not have to use force to return inmates to their cells. But it also meant inmates were regularly left outdoors for longer than the two-hour maximum dictated by prison policy.

The practice has since been discontinued as part of a raft of reforms initiated in the wake of Powell's death. (Unlike Griego, Powell was awaiting transfer to a psychiatric unit when she collapsed; earlier, she had actually asked to be returned to her cell.)

A criminal investigation by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office is ongoing in the Powell case.

But friends and family members of Perryville inmates say they continue to worry about the safety of their loved ones, particularly in the wake of charges that corrections officers there have denied food, water and bathroom privileges to inmates confined outdoors.

"The bottom line is, they just don't care," said Michael Beam, whose fiancee is an inmate at Perryville.

"They're supposed to be professionals, but they're not."

Beam said the death of Powell - who would have turned 49 today - devastated many of the inmates at the prison.

"There but for the grace of God, one of them could been in that situation," he said.

Angelina Goodman regularly visits a close friend at Perryville. Some corrections officers there are very cordial and professional, she said. But others act like bullies and brag about how tough they are, she said.

"It's very unnerving to leave my loved one there, knowing that these are the people who are supposed to keep control, when their mentality is such a perverse type of bullying," she said. "We just pray a lot.

Griego was placed in an outdoor cell May 16 after blocking her window with a mattress. After searching her cell, corrections officers told Griego they wanted to return her to the cellblock, but she refused.

After initial attempts to get her to return, corrections officers appeared to give up. She was granted one bathroom break at 2 a.m. There is no record of officers asking Griego to return to her cell between sunrise and 8 p.m., when she was finally returned to her cell.

She had not been able to use the restroom for 18 hours.

The office of Gov. Jan Brewer did not respond to a request for comment on revelations in the Department of Corrections' investigations into the Powell and Griego incidents.

Middle Ground, a prison-reform group based in Tempe, called for an end to the use of outdoor cages nearly two years ago after inmates said they had been left in the cages for 12 hours at a time at Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis.

Donna Leone Hamm, the group's director, said prison officials should take greater action to ensure that department policies are followed.

"Staff and administrators don't have any compunction to follow the rules," Hamm said. "They're completely absent any sense of responsibility. That has to be resolved."

Prison officials said policy changes instituted after Powell's death would ensure that inmates are no longer left outdoors for long periods of time.

Reach the reporter at casey .newton@arizonarepublic.com.

New Times: Ryan Resign

Marcia Powell Cage Death: Gov. Jan Brewer Backs Charles Ryan at ADC, Despite Ryan's Ordering Plug Pulled on Powell

By Stephen Lemons in Feathered Bastard

Wednesday, Sep. 23 2009 @ 11:15PM

Charles Ryan, known to detractors as "Darth Ryan," has the full confidence of Arizona's lame -- if not yet lame-duck -- Governor Jan Brewer

Charles Ryan may have pulled the plug on Macia Powell too soon. He may have overseen an ADC staff that denied her water for hours in a shadeless wire cage, a staff that allowed the severely mentally ill Powell to defecate on herself in captivity, that allowed her to perish in 107-plus degree heat while under the influence of psychiatric drugs, making her even more vulnerable to the heat. But he still has the support of Arizona's Governor-for-the-moment Jan Brewer.

According to Brewer's top flack, Ryan -- who is currently ADC's Interim Director, despite describing himself as ADC's official "Director" on ADC's Web site -- remains Brewer's pick to be ADC's top administrator. Never mind him stepping over a dead inmate to grab the brass ring.

"He was not submitted or confirmed in the last session," wrote Brewer flack Paul Senseman in e-mail Wednesday. "It is expected that he will be submitted to the legislature and likely confirmed in the next legislative session."

(How Ryan's current bureaucratric supremacy will play with the possible sale/leaseback of the state's prisons is unknown.)

Asked whether Ryan should resign his interim position because of the way he's mishandled Powell's grotesque demise in state custody, Senseman was positively blithe.

"I'm not aware of any independent person or organization who is suggesting otherwise," tut-tutted Senseman.
Senseman did not reply to follow up questions inquiring if the Governor was in any way remorseful over Powell's death, why she remained confident in Ryan's abilities in spite of his obvious bungling, and if she supported Ryan ending Powell's life support without consulting with Powell's court-appointed guardian, Maricopa County's Public Fiduciary.

An extensive search by the fiduciary's office after Powell's death found a living relative -- Powell's adoptive mother, and the possibility of other relatives yet to be located. Though Powell's adoptive mom did not wish to take custody of Powell's remains, one wonders what her response would have been if she had known earlier that her estranged daughter was on life support.

The Arizona Republic has apparently snagged a copy of the 3,000 page ADC report on Powell, describing the morbid details of Powell's last hours on this earth. The persistent neglect of some ADC employees for Powell's welfare is evident. But are those fired and disciplined by Ryan simply the fall-guys?

According to what the Rep is reporting, there's plenty of blame to go around. An ADC sergeant failed to report the fact that Powell had collapsed. Powell's fellow inmates said she was denied water while in the human cage. Powell's request to be taken back to her indoor cell was ignored. And so on.

One person definitely not taking responsibility for Powell's death is Ryan.


Here's a novel idea for the former Bush administration flunky, used to overseeing Iraqi prisons for the U.S. State Department: Do the honorable thing and resign.

Otherwise, may the ghost of Marcia Powell forever haunt you...

Powell tortured to death in AZ prison.

I'm glad this is finally out there.

Needless to say, Director Ryan, given the news, the cease-fire is off. Sorry it was so short-lasted. I now have a better idea why you no longer wanted to speak to me. You don’t really care what I say – you just need to be careful not to incriminate yourselves. Even if I did hit a few nerves, I think I gave you a break, all things considered. I hope you’re all under a federal civil rights investigation, and can expect Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch at your door.

This may be about as far as I can go as an abolitionist. Set free the check-bouncers, shop-lifters, drug addicts, and other petty criminals. I even want to set free a few old "terrorists" and Black Panthers. But these people I want to put in prison for a good long time. In Arizona, where we can be fairly sure their lives will be made as difficult as possible, and that they will be neglected, abused, and brutalized for their crimes - whatever their degree of complicity or criminality.

But it's not just about them. These ADC employees were bred by the Arizona Department of Corrections' culture. They aren't aberrations we can dismiss; they're a troubling but pervasive and natural manifestation of an institution that systematically dehumanizes people in order to justify the circumstances and conditions of their confinement. What we do to prisoners day in and day out all across this country is inhumane.

As for Ryan - the ultimate responsibility is his. He has precious little time to bring about substantial institutional change. His saving grace is that he's not the one who's been running this show for so long. Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano has a huge chunk of responsibility for this, too, as does her sidekick, Dora Schriro. All she ultimately did to reform state prisons during her stint appears to have been cosmetic surgery.

But Ryan hasn't exactly been a minor player all this time. Nor is he new to the scene. For this to come as such a shock to him - if it does - suggests that perhaps he needs to listen a little more attentively to what former employees and prisoners have to say about his institutions, because I've heard a lot of it before, myself, and I don't have anything like the kind of access he does to his people. 

This could have been prevented.

Abuse. Neglect. Cruelty. Punishment cages. 

Torture. 

No one wanted to believe it could happen here.

Too bad there weren't any investigative journalists really on top of this from the beginning. They were all over it for a few days, then before Marcia’s ashes were even put away, the story, as it were, was dead. 

For those who missed it, in the wake of Marcia's homicide last spring, an officer killed himself out at the complex, and 3 women in maximum security set their mattresses on fire (from prison, that's usually an SOS). Every sign of disturbance at Perryville was quickly repressed; the investigation was all the more reason to restrict access to information.

Women living there had no reason to believe they were safe in the hands of their keepers. Families who could get news to the outside were afraid their loved ones might be identified and retaliated against. The department knows of these concerns. I'd like to know how they intend to go about addressing them. 

The institutional culture at the ADC that allowed this to happen - and far more occasions of neglect and abuse we'll never hear about (it’s damn near impossible for prisoners to get rights protections in court anymore) won't be changed by tweaking the policies, putting shade on the cages, and hanging the bad apples out to dry. I'm not sure it can be changed at all - that's why I'd vote to smash the state apparatus and start over, myself, without prisons and a system entrenched in retributive justice.

Except, perhaps, for people like those responsible for Marcia's death. Them I would condemn to a long, slow death by incarceration and slavery.

Call me a hypocrite, but this is a barrier I can't seem to get around just now. I just don’t know what restorative justice would look like for people like them.

-------------

Details emerge in inmate's heat-related death

Report describes mis-communications, policy violations

by Casey Newton - Sept. 24, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Disturbing new details emerged Wednesday in the death of Marcia Powell, an Arizona state prison inmate who died of heat-related causes after being left in an outdoor cage for hours.


The Arizona Department of Corrections' internal investigation of Powell's death on May 20 runs about 3,000 pages. The department announced this week that it has disciplined 16 people in connection with the incident, with five employees fired or forced to resign. A criminal investigation is ongoing.

Interviews with prison staff members, inmates and medical personnel illustrate how a series of policy violations and miscommunications led to Powell's collapse at Arizona State Prison Complex-Perryville in Good- year. She later died at West Valley Hospital.

Among the report's findings:

• Powell passed out in her cell on the morning of May 19. A few minutes before, she had announced she was suicidal. She was taken to an outdoor cage to await transfer to a psychiatric unit. But the sergeant who saw Powell lose consciousness never reported the incident to supervisors, despite the fact that Powell said she was having trouble breathing.

• At least 20 inmates told investigators that Powell was denied water for most or all of the time she was in her cage, despite regular requests. Corrections officers said Powell was given water.

• Powell was taking psychotropic medications that made her particularly sensitive to the heat, but medical personnel did not convey that fact to corrections officers.

• After more than two hours in the sun, Powell requested to be taken back to her indoor cell. Her request was denied.

• Powell was apparently denied a request to use the restroom and defecated in the cage. A corrections officer discovered that Powell had soiled herself but left her where she was. Medical personnel would later discover feces underneath her fingernails and all over her back.

• The psychiatric unit to which Powell was awaiting transport should have accepted her hours before she died, the report found, but a series of miscommunications prevented her from being taken in.

Powell, who was serving a sentence for prostitution, said she felt suicidal at 11 a.m. on May 19 and was escorted to the outdoor cage to await transportation for psychiatric care at the prison complex detention unit.
Officers seeking to move Powell to the unit were first told that it did not have available beds. Later, another inmate in the unit refused to put handcuffs on to be taken back to her cell, causing the staff to trigger its incident command system. The incident took more than 90 minutes to resolve, during which time no other inmates were brought into the unit.

Officers monitoring Powell were wary of asking psychiatric-unit staffers to accept another inmate during the standoff, even though three beds had become available. But investigators said it would have been possible to transfer Powell, since the uncooperative inmate was locked in a secure cell.

Prison policy calls for inmates to be kept in outdoor cells for a maximum of two hours. The cells had no shade, and on the day Powell died, temperatures hit 107.5 degrees.

Officers did not properly log Powell's time in the outdoor cell or when they checked on her. When she collapsed, no one could say for certain how long she had been there.

Doctors on the scene said Powell's body temperature was at least 108 degrees but may have been higher, since their thermometers topped out at 108.

Charles Ryan, corrections department director, called Powell's death "unconscionable" and "an absolute failure."

The most bitterly disputed aspect of the case concerns whether Powell was denied water.
Nearly all of the inmates interviewed by investigators reported that Powell screamed out for water regularly but was repeatedly denied. Others said she was granted water only once or twice in nearly four hours.

"I need some water - just a drop," one inmate overheard Powell tell a corrections officer, who reportedly ignored her.

Another inmate reported that a corrections officer mockingly repeated Powell's requests for water back to her, without giving her any.

All of the corrections officers interviewed for the report said Powell had been given water throughout her outdoor confinement.

Both inmates and staff members said Powell's history of mental illness and frequent erratic behavior meant that some of her requests were not taken seriously. She did not get the staff's undivided attention until she collapsed at 2:40 p.m.

Timothy Johnson, a physician's assistant who attempted to revive Powell, swore repeatedly at investigators when asked about Powell's death.


"This should not have happened," he said.

Should Director Ryan Resign?

This would be the coverage to follow, and posits some of the questions I'd ask: 

-------------

Marcia Powell Cage Death: Charles Ryan Fires Three, Disciplines Others, but When Will He Resign?

By Stephen Lemons in Feathered Bastard

Phoenix New Times

Tuesday, Sep. 22 2009 @ 7:13PM

Less than a month after the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office ruled Arizona Department of Corrections inmate Marcia Powell's May 20 human cage death an "accident," ADC honcho Charles Ryan has fired three employees, forced the resignations of two others, and disciplined 11 more. This according to an ADC news release issued today.

Specifically, the release states that Ryan "dismissed five employees, two of whom resigned in lieu of dismissal, demoted a captain to an officer and suspended another 10 employees" because of Powell's death from being left in a shadeless, waterless outdoor cage at Goodyear's Perryville Prison. Powell collapsed May 19 after at least four hours in the blazing Arizona sun. Ryan later made the decision to suspend her life support, even though Powell, 48, had been assigned a guardian by the court  -- Maricopa County's Public Fiduciary.

None of the names of those fired and disciplined have been released. In addition to news of the firings, ADC also announced that it had "completed a criminal investigation into the matter," which had been reviewed by the Department of Public Safety, then submitted to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office on August 20.

Ryan's quoted in the release as saying of those disciplined, "These supervisors and officers to varying degrees failed to properly perform their duties." Left unsaid is any mention of the fact that Ryan ordered Powell's plug pulled before consultation with her guardian. Ryan has stated that he did not know Powell had a guardian at the time.

Should Ryan fall on his sword in this matter? After all, couldn't it be argued that Ryan failed to do his duty by not ensuring that Marcia Powell was treated safely and humanely during her 27-month stint in prison for prostitution?

Donna Hamm of the advocacy group Middle Ground Prison Reform said she wasn't ready to demand Ryan's resignation. Hamm said she first wanted to see the results of ADC's internal investigation, which is not yet public.

"The critical thing for us is whether there are going to be criminal charges brought," Hamm told me this evening. "Everything we know about this incident seems to point to the elements for negligent homicide. It's very hard to imagine how Michael Jackson's death is ruled a homicide and this one is ruled an accident. I don't really understand the difference, except in politics and coroners."

Powell's cremains were eventually turned over to Middle Ground after an investigation by the fidiciary's office could not locate next-of-kin willing to take custody of them. (Powell's adoptive mother is alive, but she told the fiduciary's office she did not wish to get involved.) Powell's cremains were committed June 28 at Shadow Rock United Church of Christ in Phoenix.

ADC Changes for Prisoners with Medical Needs

Wilmot prison to be for inmates with health problems
By Jamar Younger
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Published: 08.10.2009

The state prison on South Wilmot Road is being converted into a health facility for inmates throughout the state in an effort to reduce costs for the Department of Corrections, authorities said.

The conversion will require the transfer of thousands of inmates from the prison to other prisons around the state to make room for inmates with health issues.

The change to a medical facility for prisoners was accelerated after two fights resulted in lockdowns at the prison in June, Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan said.

At least 400 inmates from the facility's Rincon Unit already have been transferred to other prisons in the state in anticipation of the conversion, Ryan said.

Those inmates will be replaced with prisoners who have mental health and medical issues, Ryan said.

Officials had developed a plan within the last four months to move inmates with medical and mental health problems to the prison, he said.

Prison officials are still calculating how much money will be saved, he said.

However, Ryan said he expects the conversion to save money because prison officials will not have to transport inmates from multiple prison sites around the state to get them to doctors or hospitals.

Inmates usually receive basic medical care at their prisons, but they're sent to specialized clinics and hospitals for emergencies, specialty care and injuries, he said. Most of those hospitals and clinics are in bigger cities such as Tucson and Phoenix.

Having the prisoners in one facility will make it easier to provide care for inmates and transport them to a specialist if needed, Ryan said. The department will monitor the cost to see how much money has been saved.

Donna Leone Hamm, executive director of Middle Ground Prison Reform, a prisoner-advocacy group, said moving ill prisoners to one location should improve medical care for inmates.

"It seems to me the Department of Corrections is constitutionally required to take care of inmates, no matter how ill they are," Hamm said. "Our hope is this would improve response times to emergency access."

Inmates who require more than just basic medical care will not have to endure traveling from their prison to another part of the state when they have an emergency, she said.
The traveling can take a toll on sick prisoners, she said.

"It's very difficult for the well-being of the patient," she said.

The Arizona Department of Corrections will add 1,000 new beds to the Wilmot facility, bringing the total to 5,756, Ryan said. The facility will keep 270 minimum-security inmates to meet labor force requirements, he said. These prisoners will perform maintenance duties, such as cooking and cleaning.

The department has been authorized to fill 115 clinical positions for its medical staff, he said. More than 80 positions have been filled.

The complete conversion may take several months, but prison officials anticipate having 1,000 new inmates by February 2010, Ryan said.

The complex currently has 4,756 beds and 4,276 general-population inmates.

Prison officials decided to begin the conversion after two fights within the same week in June injured numerous inmates and prison staff members.

The first fight occurred on June 23, when three prisoners and nine corrections officers were injured in a fight between Mexican-American and Mexican national inmates.

That fight took place in the prison's Rincon Unit, one of nine units at the prison.
Another fight between Mexican-Americans and Mexican nationals broke out in a different unit on June 26, injuring 20 inmates, including five who were hospitalized.

Ryan said the inmates were not moved because of their race.

"The general population, regardless of race, have been moved," he said.

The conversion will not cause a hardship for healthy prisoners because it is not uncommon for inmates to be transferred to different facilities during their prison terms, Hamm said.

"There is no constitutional right for prisoners to be at the location of their choosing," she said.

By the numbers
• 4,276 inmates currently at the state prison on South Wilmot Road.
• 1,000 beds will be added to the prison to accommodate inmates with medical and mental health issues from throughout the state.
• 5,756 beds for prisoners with medical and mental health issues once the conversion is completed.
• 270 minimum-security prisoners will stay at the facility and perform maintenance duties.
Contact reporter Jamar Younger at 573-4115 or jyounger@azstarnet.com

Meeting Director Ryan (Part II)

I should clarify from my last entry that at no time did Director Ryan and I discuss the testing and treatment of prisoners with Hepatitis C or HIV - I honestly don't know Arizona's policies in that regard because we had no discussion to speak of on health care services, except for how stellar they are and how likely it is that they will be contracted out to a private provider in a process that will take the next several months.

I wasn't sure how alarmed to be about that, and am not informed enough about private medical providers in prisons to issue an impromptu judgment on it. I think a lot has to do with how the state establishes performance standards and monitors quality of care, but I'm generally opposed to privatization of services for vulnerable populations because it's almost always done for someone else's savings or profit at the poor's expense. A shining example of Arizona's privatization tendencies was putting the care of the vast majority of the state's seriously mentally ill in the hands of Value Options, which managed (until recently) community mental health care in Maricopa County. Rather, they mismanaged it. Tens of millions of dollars in corporate profits were realized and we were still left with a system of "care" which has failed tens of thousands of people like Marcia Powell - people who judges have come to feel prison is the only hope for because they have nothing else out here.

So, I think it will be important for the community to pay attention over the course of the next month or two to feelers being put out by the state for private health care providers to bid on the prison system. It will be incumbent upon us to investigate those who submit bids, to inquire of the state how they plan to evaluate and monitor the quality of health care being offered, and so on. In an effort to avoid this route the Director had sought legislation (SB 1028) that allowed the ADC to pay only the AHCCCS rate to health care providers (ADC is presently billed at 200% the AHCCCS rates), but he opposed the plan written into the same bill that would have allowed the privatization of all of Arizona's prisons, so the Governor vetoed it. Therefore he needs to find another way to save what that bill would have, which is about $26 million.

Other than the possible savings that could be realized by privatizing correctional health care services, Director Ryan thinks savings can be found in moving all prisoners with serious or chronic medical and mental health problems to facilities that are closer to major hospitals and health care providers, reserving the more rural/outlying prisons for the healthier prison population.

Whether or not savings are realized by such a move, it seems to make considerable sense in terms of improving access to health care for those most in need - and perhaps even adapting facilities to better accommodate people with chronic medical and mental health issues. I'm disturbed about what I've heard and read about the environmental conditions in the prisons. Not only are there complaints that cleaning supplies are inadequate to assure containment of communicable disease (because prisoners are responsible for the cleaning, and bleach and other cleaners are considered hazardous - thus tightly controlled), but the swamp coolers and other climate controllers seldom work.

From the reports of family members and ex-prisoners, the cooling systems in the prisons are substandard (except, apparently, for the guard towers), and the only way some prisoners have to cool their cells are with personal fans. When a block or unit is on lockdown, apparently even the fans are pulled, leaving prisoners confined to sweltering cells in overcrowded conditions, and at risk of heat-related illness. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to address either of these two concerns with Director Ryan, but may do so with Ms. Cassiano or Deputy Director Flanagan on Monday.

I did briefly raise the question of compassionate release for critically and terminally ill prisoners and geriatrics who pose no real threat to the public. I know that not all such prisoners have homes to return to - their loved ones have died or dwindled over time, and the kind of care they need is at the level of a nursing home or hospice - which few prisoners have the resources for. This would be one important area for abolitionists to work on - the decarceration of this population by building a network of placement options for them, and by assuring that the legislative and administrative pieces are in place to allow their release as soon as possible.

There is presently a provision for home arrest of prisoners who meet certain criteria, who would have to be granted such by the Board of Executive Clemency. Home arrest for the normal, healthy prisoner would cost the state approximately $14/day compared to the $55-60/day that imprisonment averages. I don't think most octogenarian or cancer-ridden prisoners would need to be monitored with an ankle-bracelet, though - there should be clemency or community-supervision provisions for them that don't take the rest of their short lives to have approved or result in them being tethered to their deathbed.

Finally, one of the things I was most interested in as far as Director Ryan's role in reducing incarceration rates goes was not only whether or not he believed in the value of "rehabilitation" efforts in the prisons, but also whether or not he took a proactive role with the legislature or the governor when it came to addressing mandatory minimums, determinate sentencing, diversion of the mentally ill from the criminal justice system, incarceration of the elderly, the expense of maintaining the disabled and seriously ill in prison when they pose no public threat, etc.

I didn't ask him for his opinions on those things - just on whether or not he provides his opinions to lawmakers and policymakers. He seemed to hesitate on that - maybe not knowing just what I was getting at - but responded the way a good soldier does: when he's asked for information, he gives the best information he can provide; it's up to those in the legislature to decide what to do with it. His job is to implement the law, not make it.

At that, he smiled and pointed me towards the capitol building, suggesting that I should really be talking to them about some of these issues. I affirmed that much of the work involved in abolishing prisons will have little to do with him at all, and a great deal more to do with our legislators and communities. He just happens to have responded more promptly to my request to meet than any of our legislators did.

On my way out, Counselor Klausner reminded me again of the resource that Betty Cassiano can be to families who feel they aren't otherwise getting a satisfactory response from the department about their concerns; they don't need to hire anyone to access her for assistance.

I think I have been thorough; I hope I have been accurate and fair; I trust the ADC to correct me if I haven't. I was unable to get to a number of things I'd hoped to address, but I don't think they were necessary to bring up with Director Ryan anyway - I think his staff will be of much greater assistance on those issues. I actually walked away with far more questions than I had in the first place; I just now have a better sense of who to direct them to.

I do still have serious concerns about the continuing use of outdoor cages, and hope to have an opportunity to see exactly how they're used now at Perryville under the new policies. If equipped with misters and water and benches and fresh air, they could well be a welcome relief from the conditions inside the cells; we'll see what prisoners and families have to say. If that's the case, then the conditions within the prison walls may be even more worthy of protest than the cages.

Meeting Director Ryan (Part I)

On the Investigation into Marcia Powell's Death, the Continued use of Outdoor Cages, and "Constitutionally Mandated" Prison Health Care.

I met with the Arizona Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan as planned yesterday morning, as well as Deputy Director Charles Flanagan and the ADC General Counsel Karyn Klausner. We covered a number of issues, and while I ended up feeling better informed about the director's positions on them, I certainly didn't move him much on anything. Not that I expected to: he was accommodating me into his schedule to set me straight, not the other way around. He already knew well what I thought from the five page letter I'd sent him, and had summed up my numerous concerns as "misperceptions", which he hoped a meeting might clarify for me.

I broke the ice as our meeting began by apologizing for the tenor of that particular letter. The terms "perpetrator of injustice" and "sadistic character" came to mind - along with my question about what would compel someone to make their career out of imprisoning tens of thousands of people, too many of whom are probably either innocent or no danger to society. Such references were raised not as accusations, however, but as speculation. I honestly didn't know what to make of the man. Still, I did feel an apology was in order for my antagonism, and was perhaps even necessary for us to move on; the director had not been unaffected by the tone of my letter and was frank in his response that I was in no position to pass judgment on his department, which I knew little about, or on him, about whom I knew even less.

I didn't argue that point with him. I wanted to establish dialogue, not alienate him further. Besides, I don't necessarily think that he's just another heartless bureaucrat; I do believe he was deeply troubled by what happened to Marcia Powell. We just don't seem to agree on why it may have happened and how to prevent it from happening again. But, there are things about the case I just don't know.

Anyway, once I apologized and explained what I meant by prison abolition, we got into some of the main issues I covered in the letter I referenced. I questioned the status of the investigation into Marcia's death, raised concerns about the quality of health care services, challenged the continued use of outdoor cages (albeit under a modified policy), and explored his relationship with the legislature in light of the effects of overcrowding and budget issues.

Beyond those matters I found his discussion of privatization, department reorganization, and the effects on the prison system of determinate sentencing fascinating. I suppose you could say we had an interesting dialogue - tempered by his staff's presence and efforts to defuse conflict. Although I certainly learned a few things, I think we parted shaking hands in a stalemate, with him inviting me to email again - albeit, I suspect, with a silent hope that I won't. That, in fact, is why I think I ended up with the business cards of three of his top staff.

The most positive thing to come out of the meeting, I believe, was to have connected with Counselor Klausner and Deputy Director Flanagan, who urged me to contact one of them with any other concerns, and who gave me the card for Betty Cassiano, the Constituent Services Officer, who handles issues that prisoners' friends and families have which aren't satisfactorily addressed at the unit or prison complex level.

This was in response to my expressed concern that many families and prisoners don't come forward with allegations of mistreatment or complaints about the environment for fear of guard or administrative retaliation. Without denying or acknowledging the legitimacy of that concern, Counselor Klausner advised that contacting Betty Cassiano directly in such cases might be best, as an inquiry into a specific case or prison conditions from the Director's office is likely to be handled, well, differently than if it went through the standard grievance process. Ms. Cassiano's number is (602- 364-3945). The office email address is IFFLiaison@azcorrections.gov ; if you email instead of call, make it to her attention.

Director Ryan was unable to discuss much about the investigation into Marcia's death, except to repeat what he has publicly stated: that it was a tragedy and a failure on the part of the ADC, and he is determined to prevent it from happening again. He believes that modifying the cages (water, shade, benches, misters) and instituting new procedures for monitoring the prisoners being kept in them are adequate policy changes, and expects that the individuals directly involved in Marcia's death will be held accountable. The Department of Public Safety is reviewing the ADC's internal investigation, which the director feels is sufficient for assuring that the investigation is thorough and fair. He does not believe additional outside investigations of the incident are necessary.

Somewhere early on in our conversation Director Ryan made it clear that certain discussions involving privileged inmate information would be off limits - an allusion, I suspected, to the fate of the three women who set their mattresses on fire at Lumley. I decided that I might try to bring the conversation back to them later, but never got there. Nor did I discuss mechanisms to improve department transparency, which I felt were in the same general category. I am, as I write, slowly building a list of things left uncovered which I may soon address with Deputy Director Flanagan. Perhaps he will even arrange the visit to a prison that Director Ryan proposed.

When I questioned the use of the cages again, Director Ryan remained adamant that his new departmental policies and procedures regarding the outdoor cages are sufficient to protect prisoners from heat-related illness or other temperature extremes. I suggested that the staff's reliance on these cages as temporary holding pens despite extreme temperatures were symptomatic of overcrowding, and that despite policy they were often used precisely for "punishment".

While Ryan conceded that the prisons are indeed over-crowded, he saw that as completely unrelated to the use of outdoor enclosures, or "sallyports", which are considered as necessary holding cells when prisoners are being transferred from one location to another. These are in common use "everywhere", he assured me. Having read how Arizona is the only state in the country that still uses such cages (which I kept to myself), I wondered why they couldn't do without them if space could be made available indoors - especially for things like treatment waiting areas - by relieving overcrowding. I again expressed concern that particularly those prisoners who are already ill remain at risk under his new policy, but he would not bend on it; that issue we just couldn't find common ground on.

The director had a visceral response to my negative characterization of prison health services (I used the term "atrocious", which I mistakenly believed was a common sentiment, having heard it so often among family and ex-prisoners). Director Ryan, Deputy Director Flanagan and General Counsel Karyn Klausner all responded in defense of prisoner health services, asserting that they meet or exceed federal standards, they've been fully accredited by national bodies, and that the Department of Justice even gave them high marks for their compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The director was rather insistent that health care in Arizona's prisons is better than a lot of prisoners get on the outside (where many have no insurance coverage and/ or are so into their addictions that they lack concern about getting medical care when they need it). He also noted that the prison population is already high-risk medically because so many have histories of alcoholism, addiction, and poor self-care. This I was well-aware of, and is one reason why I believe that health care needs to be even better for the chronically ill in prison than what they may have access to on the outside. I believe we agreed that because prisoners often arrive in such poor health their life spans tend to be shorter than the general population's. I would have also argued that their life spans are considerably shortened by the poor medical care and the general conditions of prison life, but was not prepared enough with evidence to do so.

The term I repeatedly heard describing the quality of medical care received by Arizona's prisoners was that it meets "constitutionally mandated" standards. I should have asked for more clarification on what exactly that constitutes in Arizona, but from what I've read, a number of prisoner lawsuits over the years have resulted in a court-ordered standard of care - failing which a prisoner is considered to be subjected to "cruel and unusual punishment", as defined by the 8th Amendment. The 14th Amendment affords "equal protection" under the law, which would mean a certain national minimum standard states must adhere to.

As far as I know, prisoners are the only people in America today with a constitutionally guaranteed right to health care. Hopefully that will soon change to cover us all, and hopefully it will mean something more than what most prisoners get now.

Proving that a medical provider or prison has fallen short of the "constitutionally mandated" standard of care appears to be a difficult task - I believe the prisoner has to prove "deliberate indifference" to a prisoner's illness or suffering on the part of the health care provider, and that the prisoner experienced lasting physical harm as a result of the lack or inadequacy of health care. Proving all that is nearly impossible when seeking relief from negligent or harmful mental health treatment.

So, despite the resounding defense of the ADC's health care services, I'm not convinced that offering "constitutionally mandated" care for prisoners is the same as offering adequate or necessary or timely care, or meets the standards of "usual and customary care", which is a standard applied to non-prison health care settings.

This could explain why a prisoner at Perryville received chemotherapy for her colon cancer - which I would expect to be "constitutionally mandated" - but not the expensive post-chemo blood-building treatment that the "usual and customary" standard would dictate.

It also avoids the question of why treatment for prisoners with HIV/AIDS is constitutionally mandated while screening for HIV among this population is not. Routine life-saving tests for women (pap smears, mammograms) weren't constitutionally mandated until an aggressive legal and PR campaign made it so. And even though it was the women's litigation that resulted in the determination that prisoners have a constitutional right to health care in the first place, prison health care for women across the country is notoriously lacking compared to that available to men.

This discussion (or lack thereof) in the director's office about the real problems with health care accessibility and quality in Arizona's prisons may shed light on this year's legislative attempt to write a caveat into the budget bill which would prohibit any medical provider working or contracting for the ADC from providing a standard of care to an inmate that is higher than the minimum standards required by the federal government. I don't know whose idea that was, but it was clearly in the interest of the state, not health care for prisoners. Such a provision would seem to derail any grievances or state-level lawsuits arguing for medical treatment - potentially even life-saving - that simply hasn't yet been proscribed as constitutionally mandated by the feds.

This concerns me particularly in light of care for neglected populations like women, people of color, older adults, and prisoners with illnesses like Hepatitis C for which there are more affordable, less toxic medical breakthroughs in treatment all the time. Hepatitis C - which is prevalent in prison populations and can actually be treated before it causes life-threatening organ damage, is not only not routinely screened for, but is often left untreated until symptoms of liver failure emerge, by which time many patients are too ill to handle the treatment that may have actually destroyed the virus' ability to damage the body further.

Although our discussion about quality of and access to medical treatment was quickly shut down by the insistence that it met "constitutional mandates" and that the ADC's medical services were fully-accredited, Karyn Klausner and Deputy Director Flanagan did invite me to give them details about the specific cases I was referencing or that might come to my attention in the future, offering that they would follow up on them. I took that opportunity to pass on the name and info for Leanne's friend for Counselor Klausner to look into. She is the woman who had to wait seven months from the time she reported her symptoms to the prison medical staff to get a colonoscopy done (by which time she had stage III colon cancer) - the same woman I mention earlier whose diagnosis and treatment were inexplicably delayed.

I'll finish up my account and subjective impressions of the visit in my next blog entry. In the meantime, I'm open to hearing if my information or perceptions are wrong - or if I've left out a crucial case reference or point. I'm only just beginning to learn about the state of health care in prison - especially for women - and find it mind-blowing, for lack of a better term. You can post a correction or critique at the end of this entry, or email me privately, and if you convince me that I'm mistaken I'll be sure to correct myself. At the very least it will compel me to better research and substantiate with documentation my own claims.

Finally, for those of you actually following this blog, you'll notice that I've edited and posted it numerous times now, trying to decide what belongs here - where I'd like to focus on this meeting - and what I should hold for an entry specifically about women's health care in prison. I think this is the final, final version of this post. Thanks for bearing with me.

Director Ryan Replies

Director Ryan sent me a very polite, sincere reply to my letter this evening, inviting me to make an appointment next week to discuss my concerns with him, and to perhaps tour one of the prisons. I must say I received this with considerable relief; I would much rather establish a relationship with dialogue, and appreciate that he was able to look past my antagonizing tone to attempt a connection. I wasn't sure if he would bother to do so. In fact, a part of me expected two shady looking fellows in suits and sunglasses to show up at my door accusing me of stalking the man and conspiring to do all sorts of benign things that have been criminalized since, well, actually since Clinton's reign.

So, for his willingness to first meet and talk, I am grateful.

I don't think I have any illusions that I might turn Director Ryan into an abolitionist, nor do I think he expects to change my fundamental orientation towards the mechanisms of crime and punishment in today's society. But there are things I don't understand about how prisons operate - and how prison administrators see their role - which could be useful insight to have, since my ignorance certainly doesn't help me. And it may be reassuring to him that for the most part he - personally - is not my target, per se. He may represent the department and be responsible for certain kinds of reforms, but I do not expect him to transform society in such a way as to make incarceration less and less necessary. That's really the job of the rest of us.

Still, I do have a wish list, which I outlined in my letter to him below. Even abolitionists sometimes support reforms - so long as they don't just serve to strengthen the prison industrial complex. Only some of it involves policies which I believe he may be in a position to implement, or at least influence. And I would be quite curious to know what his wish list is. If there is a place in which they overlap, then we will have the benefit of common ground.

Anyone with concerns you'd like me to give voice to, please email me, and I will try to raise them. Most of my attention has been directed on the women's prison, of course, but it has not escaped me that some of the men have been brawling and killing themselves of late, which I know has been terribly troubling to families and loved ones.

The full range of (non-violent) direct actions I've been considering and discussing with friends to bring attention to the number of deaths in custody and the continued - albeit modified - use of those cages are still on the table. I'm sure Director Ryan has a few options at his disposal as well, if we get too obnoxious to ignore. Still - as much as I truly enjoy good guerilla theater and clever protest - demonstrations are but one tactic, appropriate to a given time and place. I believe it will be most important to engage the community - non-confrontationally - in the kinds of tasks that can lead to changes in the way we run our schools, in how we define and respond to "crime", in the changing roles we want our police to play, and in how restorative justice and reconciliation looks at the local level - especially when it comes to the difficult issue of violence. There is so much work to be done, and if Marcia's death has accomplished nothing else, it has introduced people to each other who are willing to do it.

I don't expect that we will put Director Ryan out of a job anytime soon. I do hope he will take up the cause of expanding compassionate release for the critically ill, elderly and dying prisoners who pose no risk to society, so they might take their last breaths as free beings able to hold family in their arms. That would be assuming that Arizona is willing to make the investment in their care in the community instead of behind bars. I would also hope he'd use his influence and knowledge to dispel legislative and judicial delusions that long sentences in hell actually produce better citizens. Some good people emerge from prison not because of prison but despite it. Fundamentally it is a traumatic, oppressive, disturbing experience for most.

I also hope he will create more indoor space for prisoners to wait and recreate by working on the legislature to depopulate the prisons - not build more or just ship some folks out. Those cages are really unacceptable. And I would like to see an environment of greater transparency, one in which an independent evaluation team - like researchers with the university or advocates with the American Friends Service Committee - can go in and talk confidentially with prisoners and staff about concerns they may have.

In the meantime, perhaps this fall would be a good time for a big prison abolition conference at ASU's School of Justice and Social Inquiry (or whatever it's called by then). Anyone, near or far, who is interested in participating in or organizing that can shoot me an email - we'll need to get to work on it pretty soon.

Thanks again, Director Ryan, for extending your time and energy to offer to meet with me, knowing I may yet have more difficult questions to ask, and that there will likely be plenty of places we disagree. I hope you end up feeling that extending yourself it was worth it.

Dear Director Ryan;

My name is Peggy Plews. We met briefly at Marcia Powell's service last night at Shadow Rock; I believe I may have interrupted you as you were contemplating a prayer. My apologies if that was the case.

I appreciate that you took a minute to speak with me about the status of the investigation into Marcia's death, and current polices on the use of outdoor desert cages for containing human beings. You didn't have to do so. I realize that you have been in frequent communication with Donna Hamm of Middle Ground Prison Reform, and that her organization has some standing in the state as a voice for prisoner rights. I claim no such standing. I'm just a concerned citizen who believes that what happens in your prisons is as much our collective responsibility as it is yours.

I should preface the rest of this letter with an explanation that I am not a prison reformer wanting a seat at the table. I am a prison abolitionist. It is my explicit goal to help expose and dismantle the prison industrial complex that you have invested your career in. That is, of course, an extremely complex and ambitious undertaking; I am not so naive as to think that such a task can be accomplished simply by unlocking jailhouse doors, decriminalizing drugs, or gaining a better understanding of how our society produces so many sociopaths. There are indeed vicious people among us, and we will have to find some way to prevent them from hurting others. Too many are allowed to run amok as it is, occupying positions of considerable power and prestige - some, I would argue, in law enforcement and the State House. In any event, prison abolition requires creative problem-solving and massive social change, but there is sound scholarship and theory underlying the movement, and I believe the effort is worth it.

Still, I remain deeply troubled by what happened to Marcia, and by some of the things I've learned about Arizona's prisons since then - particularly Perryville. I cannot just turn and walk away, content to work on the bigger picture while so many people continue to suffer day to day. Besides, I could just as easily be behind bars as some of them. Hence my attempt to engage in dialogue with you.

You would have every reason not to communicate further with me. I am pointed and can be antagonistic, though I am hardly threatening. I have no political power and am of no consequence to this legislature, particularly as long as I live in a district represented by Democrats. I don't write on behalf of a group, constituency, or organization. Still, I do vote and pay taxes, and theoretically when the government makes the laws, prioritizes state funding, and employs professionals such as yourself to administer institutions in accordance with our community's values, it does so as a representative of the people. I am one of the people. Since no one seems to be representing my voice - not even those I voted for - I feel obliged to exercise it myself. Whether you bother to listen or not is entirely your prerogative.

I, myself, anticipate that we will have to contend with each other somehow through the years, so long as we both remain here - and I'd rather have a dialogue with words than a battle involving direct actions and reactions that could escalate and result in my own incarceration. That may well be awaiting me further down the road, as this legislature continues to pass laws that I believe are unconscionable, such as those which call for the prosecution and lengthy imprisonment of humanitarians. Those in power today are small, desperate people who must know they are slowly losing control. It is not the illegal immigrants so much as it's the citizens like me who frighten them most. I expect that it will get worse for some of us before it gets any better.

I would imagine that a prison full of "criminals" poses enough of a challenge. Fill it up with community organizers, though, and you'll be in for real trouble. It is not my desire to be one of those progressive prisoners, however. I'm deeply concerned about the safety and welfare of the people you incarcerate - and even that of their keepers, such as the two Perryville COs who recently suicided - but the focus of my activism will be much more on the electorate than on you. I want to depopulate the prisons, not make them nice places for more people to be packed into.

I suspect that some of the things on our wish lists may overlap: like reducing recidivism, alleviating pressure on overcrowded facilities, not privatizing Death Row, and allowing for the compassionate release of seriously, chronically, or terminally ill non-violent offenders whose incarceration and care must consume a good portion of your budget. I'll let Middle Ground have the lead on those issues, however. My role, for the most part, will be to seek greater transparency in your department's operations, leverage funding for community-based alternatives to incarceration, educate the electorate on the toxic effect that the carceral regime has on our economy, our social structures and our humanity, and stand by those who challenge the authority of draconian laws and their enforcers.

My methods are non-violent and generally not even criminal, but I realize that has not protected peace and justice activists from infiltration, entrapment, and prosecution under questionable laws before. So, on the outside chance that I should ever end up in the custody of your department, I wanted to clarify a few lingering concerns I have.

Like the use of those cages.

I read the policy you referred me to - and am posting the link to it on my website for others to evaluate themselves. I remain disturbed by the appearance that these cages simply function to compensate for inadequate staffing to provide supervision, and for overcrowded conditions which have robbed the women in particular of indoor space.

Shade, misters, and a continuous water supply are all improvements, but speaking as a woman on medications which predispose me to heatstroke, I would be nonetheless concerned that as a prisoner I might end up in dire jeopardy - not so much due to the criminal negligence of individual guards as due to the risks inherent in institutional policies that assume staff can remain attentive to those they place in potentially life-threatening settings throughout the course of the day. I have seen too many institutionalized people die that way. I would think that over the course of your career you have as well.

Furthermore, it is extensively articulated throughout the prisoner and family/friends community that despite policy prohibiting the use of these cages as punishment, they have long been used precisely for that purpose, which is extremely difficult for a prisoner to prove or obtain remedy for. Who, in fact, is the prisoner supposed to trust to address their grievances fairly to if their access to the outside world is so limited, and if the practices which are brutalizing them are couched in terms of official policy?

These cages have been complained about on numerous occasions in the past, and it took a severely impaired woman's highly publicized death - and Governor Brewer's embarrassment - for anyone to respond. You could attribute that to the failings of previous administrations and chart a new course from here. My expectation, however, is that rather than facilitating an atmosphere of greater transparency and prisoner/community interaction in the future around the problems Marcia's death made visible, you will work to assure that the release of information is much better controlled than it was in this instance. That possibility troubles me.

Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Ever since Marcia's death red flags have been flying at Perryville. What has the department done to the women who set their mattresses on fire in organized protest? It is my understanding that they are in administrative segregation now (commonly referred to as being put into the hole), and may only receive legal assistance if charged in criminal court; they are on their own defending themselves in internal disciplinary proceedings, even though the outcome could seriously affect the kind and length of time they end up doing in the long run.

What were they so distressed or agitated about that they would risk arson charges or worse in order to get outside attention directed at your prison? Would you allow a journalist in to speak with them? Would you allow someone in to interview them who researches women's resistance in prisons? Is Perryville an institution that needs to be shrouded in secrecy in order to continue to function? Or is it a place where human rights and needs are respected enough that you would have no hesitation about allowing prisoners to air their grievances openly and without fear of retaliation?

Yes, retaliation. That's part of the culture you are now responsible for too. Administrative and guard retaliation even scares their parents into silence. Guards who blow the whistle are also at considerable risk, or at least perceive they are. I may even be setting myself up for trouble; I just probably won't get hurt as badly as anyone else if I get pushed off this particular limb, as I don't have far to fall.

I'm sure that the reliance on the prison system as the default place to contain the mentally ill and drug addicted among us presents you with some concerns that I share. As the president of the Alliance for the Mentally Ill back in Ann Arbor I worked on the local level to divert non-violent offenders with mental illness from the criminal justice system into community-based settings, like supported housing. The county sheriff, the D.A., district judges, human service providers, and even left-wing radicals worked together to make this possible. This could have worked for Marcia had this state prioritized its spending in such a way. I do not think that you are so cold as to have been untouched by how she died, and therefore suspect that you might endorse a program which could have saved her life.

As the head of the Department of Corrections, you are in a uniquely authoritative position to speak to the human and economic costs of warehousing the mentally ill in prison versus the investment necessary to keep them safe in the community. Is there something that prevents you from embarking on an aggressive campaign to educate the public and the legislature on this matter?

That question applies equally to the elderly and critically ill population of prisoners. Your department will never be funded to adequately care for them in prison - which is where criminals go, and this state is divided on whether or not they even deserve adequate nutrition, much less essential health care. But you could help make it possible for the community to take responsibility for their care out here.

Additionally, as a woman whose life trajectory nearly paralleled Marcia's for a time, I'd like to know - should I ever end up in your custody - how you would know whether or not I was safe under your policies and in the hands of your employees. Would you ever come ask me or other prisoners about our treatment? Or would you simply monitor facilities through quarterly reports delivered to your office? Would you recognize that in your care, because of my disability, the chances that I would suffer neglect, abuse or death are higher than those of other women there? Would you allow as a matter of policy an outside entity - such as the American Friends Service Committee - to come into the prison to see me regularly, to review my treatment, to hear my grievances, to check on my health?

Or would I - as Marcia was - essentially be at the mercy of whomever happened to be on duty, writing me up on violations for the symptoms of my illness, and drawing out my sentence if I questioned their treatment of myself or my fellow prisoners? As one of 40,000 prisoners across this state, I don't imagine I would even show up on your radar unless it hit the papers that you killed me. And even then, it appears, all you would know about me is what is written in my criminal record. There are lifers out at Perryville who knew far more about Marcia's essential nature than you or your staff did.

I would appreciate an opportunity to discuss these concerns with you in person, or at least to receive a written reply that I can then share with the rest of those who - like me - lack the necessary status to rub elbows with you or the governor or our legislators. That means, you should know, that unless I explicitly tell you otherwise, I would be posting any written reply to this letter on my website, just as I am posting this letter to you.

Regardless of your response (or a lack thereof) I will proceed to take a more active role in educating and organizing the community to dismantle your regime. I just want to give you a reasonable chance to articulate your own position on these issues, lest I paint you and the department in an unfair light, as you may feel I have done already and would continue to do regardless.

No matter how fair I am, frankly, I don't think the light I paint the ADC in will be ever be flattering. Perhaps you have overwhelming evidence that would persuade me otherwise, but based on what I know I'm fairly convinced that the prison industrial complex in its totality functions as a tool of social repression used to divide the classes while employing racism, sexism, and a whole range of prejudices in order to perpetuate the status quo - protecting the positions of those already in power, themselves alone able to define what constitutes "crime", and what constitutes "justice". So long as the law is made by the few and punishment is arbitrarily doled out to the many, even those who think they are free among us live in chains.

I do realize I may be making a mistake by writing to you, especially when I am this deeply moved; my wiser friends would tell me not to make myself known - and certainly not to be offensive - because you are a potentially dangerous man. I have been unable to discern, as of yet (from rumor and limited observation), whether you are more a servant of the public or a knowing perpetrator of injustice, however; you are a particularly hard fellow to read. Perhaps you do what you do in the best interests of humanity. But it is this choice of professions - the violent control and confinement of tens of thousands of people - a number of whom you must know are either harmless or innocent - that gives me pause. I have a dear friend who devoted her life to corrections administration, however, so I haven't completely condemned you as a sadistic character. If I had, I wouldn't bother with writing to you now. I am holding out hope that you could actually be an ally on some matters, or that at the least we don't have to be adversaries.

But that is a very small hope.

Thank you for your time, if you have read this far. I may be provocative, I confess, but my aim is to be emphatic about the scope and gravity of the situation I believe that you - and I - are responsible for. Perhaps no one knows that better than you, except for your prisoners and their loved ones. If you don't speak with me, then I hope you are at least listening to them.

Sincerely,

Margaret J. Plews