OPEN PDF FILE OF THIS BOOK:John Egerson: INTRO to Solitary Confinement abuse and torture :https://ffupstuff.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/john-egerson-prison-book-all.pdf
 |
| John Egerson 372012 WSPF, PO Box 1000 Boscobel, WI 53805 |
Solitary
Confinement Abuse and Torture
A
discussion on the abuse of solitary confinement in the American Prison System
by
Atiba Kweli Kamali (AKA John E Egerson II)
INTRODUCTION
"Stays of
longer than 15 days in solitary confinement can amount
to torture and
should be prohibited."
— Juan E. Mendez, United Nations
Special Rapporteur, August 5, 2011
This is Book One of a Three Book series I am authoring on behalf of an
initiative I've named: Speak Truth 2 Power Coalition (ST2PC). ST2PC mission is
to raise awareness on the issue of the mass incarceration of Black people as
the Civil Rights' issue of this generation and to present solutions to the
problems that continue to perpetuate the mass incarceration of Black people. I
will like to say to all people of all races that the mass incarceration of
Black people in America's prisons is not solely a problem for Black people to
fix, it is an American problem that America as a whole needs to fix. I hope and
I pray that people of all races will join ST2PC efforts to right the wrong of
the mass incarceration of Black people in America's prisons.
I am a Black man in Wisconsin, the most racist state in America.
Wisconsin's racial disparities in regards to economic inequality, educational
opportunity, incarceration rates and healthcare are worst for Black people than
in any other state in America. Racial disparities and discrimination against
Black people is worse in Wisconsin than in Mississippi or any other Southern
State of the former Confederacy.¹ So when I speak about the Wisconsin Prison
System I am speaking about a prison system that locks up more Black people per
capita than any other state in America. When I speak about Solitary confinement
abuse and torture in the Wisconsin Prison System I am speaking about a prison
system that inflicts solitary confinement abuse and torture on Black prisoners
at a higher rate than any other state in America. Black prisoners in solitary
confinement in Wisconsin prisons serve longer stints in solitary than in any
other state in America. I want to raise awareness in the American public about
what's been going on in Wisconsin against Black people for generations.
For those of you who are listening to the audio recording of this book
allow me to apologize ahead of time. I am in prison conducting the audio
recording of this book over the phone in 15 minute increments. Each call is 15
minutes long, sometimes you will hear an automated message prompt voicing that
I am on a prison phone system. Whenever that happens I will pause. Also
wherever I am at at the end of a 15 minute call I will pick back up at that
spot on the following call. There may be times when I flub a line, please bear
with me and my circumstance of incarceration, it is my aim to provide you with
the best audio book experience possible considering my condition of
imprisonment.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________¹
See WKOW News Station in Madison, WI (Channel 27-1) Freedom and Justice For
All; Moderated by Greg Jeschske; August 2016.
_________________________________________________________________________________
I dedicate this book to all prisoners who
have suffered solitary
confinement abuse and torture. It's been
a long time coming
but I know change gon' come.
_________________________________________________________________________________Contents
Introduction
Preface — Solitary Confinement Abuse Is A Public Safety Issue
Chapter One — Living In Solitary Confinement
Chapter Two — Living In Solitary Confinement (Part 2)
Chapter Three — Darkness and Despair
Chapter Four — Suicidal Ideation
Chapter Five — Trying To Get Out Of Solitary Confinement
Chapter Six — Conditions Of Solitary Confinement
Chapter Seven — My History With Solitary Confinement Abuse
Chapter Eight — Psychiatric Effects Of Solitary Confinement
Chapter Nine — The Complicity Of Prison Psychological Staff
Chapter Ten — Racial Bias And Black Mental Health
Chapter Eleven — The Abolition Of Solitary Confinement Abuse And
Torture
Chapter Twelve — Speak Truth 2 Power Coalition
_________________________________________________________________________________
Synopsis
Many Black people are sent to American prisons outside the view of the
public and are subjected to the abuses and torture of solitary confinement on a
disproportionate level. Instead of receiving educational and treatment
programming we are disproportionately subjected to solitary confinement abuse
which causes the deterioration of our psychological and behavioral health.
After solitary confinement abuse damages our psychological and behavioral
health we are returned back to society with our mental and emotional health in
worse shape than it was when we entered prison. When we return to society with
our mental and emotional health damaged by solitary confinement abuse we are
more prone to reoffend, commit crimes and return to prison.
The public doesn't understand how widespread solitary confinement abuse
is in America's prisons and how disproportionately it is used against Black
prisoners. The public doesn't understand how our psychological and behavioral
health is damaged by solitary confinement abuse and how we are returned to
society in worse shape mentally and emotionally than when we entered prison.
Prisoners going back and forth, back and forth to prison can often be traced to
their poor mental and emotional health caused by solitary confinement abuse. If
the mass incarceration of Black people is to be stopped, ending the
disproportionate use of solitary confinement abuse against Black prisoners must
be an instrumental part of it.
beginning
Solitary Confinement Abuse And Torture
A discussion on the abuse of solitary confinement in the American
Prison System
Preface — Solitary Confinement Is A Public Safety Issue
I am Atiba Kweli Kamali (AKA John E Egerson II) I am currently
incarcerated in the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility (Formerly Known As
Supermax). I have been incarcerated for 14½ years and I have been in solitary
confinement for the last 10 years. I have been able to follow the media
coverage of solitary confinement abuse in America's prisons over the years. I
have heard other prisoners, ex convicts, prison staff, activist groups, etc
speak on this issue. And because solitary confinement abuse has dominated my
life from an adolescent to an adult I feel obligated to contribute to the
discussion and cause to bring an end to solitary confinement abuse and torture
in America's prisons.
The first thing I want to address is the meaning and definition of
solitary confinement. Solitary Confinement is used to confine prisoners to a
cell the size of a small bathroom in solitude for 22-24 hours a day. People
often discuss how they suffer from claustrophobia which is defined as an
abnormal dread of being in closed or narrow spaces.¹ I think all humans dread
being confined to closed or narrow spaces because humans are social creatures
of mobility — we like to move around and travel. So all humans dread
claustrophobia to a degree. The proposition of solitary confinement tries to
condition humans to accept claustrophobia as a normal mode of existence which
goes against human nature and that's why humans have such a difficult time
adjusting to existence in solitary confinement.
Society has to determine what it wants to achieve with its prisons.
Prisoners are citizens who were in society and who for one reason or another
turned to antisocial criminal deviant behavior and were sentenced to prison for
said conditions. The objective of prison should be to teach prisoners how to
socially function in society in a healthy and productive way, prisoners should
be taught the importance of the rule of law and what the collective goals of
society are and how they can contribute to society's collective efforts to
achieve said goals. Most prisoners come from impoverishment, low income
families, ghettos, etc and they feel socially alienated from society. They feel
like outcasts of society. They feel rejected by society and so they reject
society. So prison must strive to teach prisoners how to socially function in
society in a healthy and productive way.
In order to teach prisoners how to socially function in society in a
healthy and productive way you have to first teach them how to socially
function in a healthy way. Whether a person is socially functional or
dysfunctional depends solely on their mental and emotional health. So the first
goal of prison ought to be to do no harm to the prisoners' mental and emotional
health. The prison should do all it can to help prisoners improve their mental
and emotional health so as to help them become more socially healthy and
functional. Most prisoners are going to return to society, so society needs to
ask itself do it want prisoners to return to society socially healthy and
functional or socially unhealthy and dysfunctional?
Confining prisoners to a cell the size of a small bathroom for 22-24
hours a day for months and years at a time asks prisoners to become conditioned
to existing in a claustrophobic state of being. It's impossible for humans to
become conditioned to existing in a claustrophobic state of being as such a
state of being goes against human nature which is why humans have such a
difficult time adjusting to existence in solitary confinement. Most humans have
a negative psychological and behavioral response to solitary confinement.
Solitary confinement abuse causes the deterioration of one's psychological and
behavioral health this is a fact bared out by exhaustive research and study on
the topic of the psychiatric effects of solitary confinement. One effect of
solitary confinement I want to address right now is how it causes prisoners to
become more antisocial and less pro social.
When you confine a person to a cell the size of a small bathroom in
solitude for 22-24 hours a day for months and years, after a while his ability
to socialize with large groups of people start to diminish. He starts to become
more socially hostile and antagonistic towards the idea of socializing with
large groups of people. He starts becoming more and more socially dysfunctional
in large group social settings. This is simply a natural consequence of
existing in a claustrophobic cell the size of a small bathroom for 22-24 hours
a day for months and years at a time in solitude in which you interact with a
very small group of people. Prisoners need to have pro social behaviors
instilled into them in which they can learn how to socially function in a
healthy way in large group settings such as the workplace, school, religious
gatherings, etc if they are ever going to thrive in society. What prisoners
don't need is harmful antisocial behaviors instilled into them to the point
where they are unable to socially function in a healthy and productive way in
society and this is what solitary confinement abuse does to the prisoner.
Racial Bias
I am a Black man in America and one of the painful legacies of this
country is racism weaponized by the White power structure against Blacks and
other minorities. Racism has been weaponized by the White power structure
against Blacks and other minorities in a myriad of ways but the one in question
I wish to discuss herein is how the White power structure has weaponized their
criminal justice system as a tool that has been utilized to bring about the
mass incarceration of Black people. The White American police state has always
been hostile towards Black people since the inception of this country. If Black
people are subjected to racial profiling, harassment and police brutality in
society in the public square, one can only imagine what we are subjected to in
the prisons of the White American police state outside the view of society. The
prison officers racially profile, harass and brutalize us even more so but
there is something else they have in their tool kit to torture us with and it's
known as solitary confinement. First and foremost it is a fact that solitary
confinement is used on Black prisoners on a disproportionate level when
compared with our White counterparts.²
The mass incarceration of Black people is an issue I want to help bring
to an end but in order for the Black community to bring an end to the mass
incarceration of Black people the Black community must have an understanding of
how solitary confinement abuse is the foundation upon which the mass
incarceration of Black people stands. The Prison Industrial Complex is big
business there are corporations that make billions from prison phone call
rates, supplying clothing, food, toiletries, etc to prisons, there are an
innumerable amount of people in America who have made careers off the prison
industrial complex, e.g. Correctional Officers, Administrative Staff,
Healthcare Staff, Maintenance Workers, Food Preparation Staff, and so on.
Recidivism is defined as when someone tends to or is liable to backslide or
relapse to a former condition or habit.³ Recidivism is what makes prison a
revolving door for most prisoners and when you have prisoners that get out,
come back, get out, come back that ensures the continual growth and expansion
of the prison industrial complex.
In order for the prison industrial complex to thrive it needs prisoners
to recidivate meaning it needs prisoners to backslide or relapse to their
former condition or habit of criminality, drug abuse, illiteracy, etc and one
way the prison industrial complex has historically achieved that is through
solitary confinement abuse. When a prisoner is sent to prison in Wisconsin they
are assessed and evaluated by educational and treatment staff so they can
determine what the prisoner educational and treatment needs are. Once a
prisoner's educational and treatment needs are known the prisoner can
participate in educational and treatment programming that addresses his needs.
However if you receive a behavior infraction and are placed in solitary
confinement you are prohibited from participating in any educational and
treatment programming. There are a few exceptions here and there but for the
most part when a prisoner is housed in solitary confinement he is taken out of
his educational and treatment programs of which he can only hope to restart
once he gets released from solitary.
So how it works is — if you are a prisoner in general population, you
can participate in educational and vocational programming and you can
participate in the treatment programs to address your needs. Due to prison
overcrowding, most times you have to be put on a waiting list for programming
and if you are placed in solitary confinement you are taken out of programming
and once you are released from solitary you are placed back on the waiting list
for programming. However when you have prison guards that harass prisoners for
any and everything so as to place them in solitary confinement the guards are
in essence making it exceedingly difficult for prisoners to have consistent
access to educational and treatment programming. If prisoners can't get
consistent access to educational and treatment programming their chances of
addressing their educational and treatment needs are very low and if they
return to society without adequately addressing their educational and treatment
needs their chances of recidivating are very high and if they recidivate,
backslide or relapse to their former condition or habit of criminality, drug
abuse, illiteracy, etc their chances of returning to prison is very high.
Prison guards who are mostly White more often than not profile and
harass Black prisoners and put them in solitary confinement at a higher rate
than White prisoners. Solitary confinement units in America's prisons are
filled mostly with Black prisoners which means that many Blacks are sentence to
prison and don't receive the educational and treatment programming they need
because their access to such programming is restricted by their placement in
solitary confinement. So many Black prisoners return to society without
adequately addressing their educational and treatment needs that they pretty
much have no choice but to recidivate or return to their former condition or
habit of criminality, drug abuse, illiteracy, etc for it is the only lifestyle
they are accustomed to. To make it worse, not only does solitary confinement
prohibits prisoners from maintaining consistent access to educational and treatment
programming it also causes the deterioration of prisoners' psychological and
behavioral health. So you have Black prisoners returning to society without
adequately addressing their educational and treatment needs and they are in
worse psychological and behavioral health than they were before they entered
prison.
So if the Black community wants to bring an end to the mass
incarceration of Black people, we must first lower the recidivism rate of Black
prisoners which leads to prison becoming a revolving door for them. Bringing an
end to solitary confinement abuse and torture will ensure that prisoners
maintain access to educational and treatment programming and it will bring an
end to the deterioration of prisoners' psychological and behavioral health
stemming from solitary confinement abuse and torture which will result in Black
prisoners returning to society with their educational and treatment needs
adequately addressed and their psychological and behavioral health in better
shape which will translate into lower recidivism rates for Black prisoners and
strike a fatal blow to the prison industrial complex efforts to continue the
mass incarceration of Black people. Solitary confinement abuse is a public
safety issue because it is dangerous to have prisoners returning to society
with their educational and treatment needs unmet and in a state of deteriorated
psychological and behavioral health caused by solitary confinement abuse.
_________________________________________________________________________________
¹ The Merriam-Webster Dictionary
² Next America: Criminal Justice Project, Article by Juleyka
Lantigua-Williams, Dec 5, 2016
³ The Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Chapter One — Living In Solitary
Confinement
Chapter 1
It was November 2009, I was housed at Green Bay Correctional
Institution (a maximum security prison) when I was placed in solitary
confinement for having some writings that the prison described as "gang
related". Because this was my fourth time being placed in solitary
confinement within 2½ years the prison classified me as a high risk prisoner to
institutional safety and security. Whenever a prisoner in the Wisconsin Prison
System was classified as a high security risk they were transferred to the
Wisconsin Secure Program Facility (Formerly Known As Supermax). Supermax
Correctional Institution was built in 1999 for the "so-called" worst
of the worst in the Wisconsin Prison System. This prison was utilized to impose
the harshest form of solitary confinement on high security risk prisoners in
the Wisconsin Prison System. Supermax Correctional Institution changed its name
to the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility in 2007 when it converted 2 of its
solitary confinement units into general population units it still continued to
run its remaining three solitary confinement units under supermax conditions.
I was transferred to the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility (WSPF) in
February 2010 and it was being ran under this format. 2 units were ran as
general population units while the remaining three solitary confinement units
were ran under supermax conditions. The Wisconsin Prison System still sent its
so-called worst of the worst to WSPF/Supermax. Vincent Nathan was a consultant
to the United States Department of Justice in developing jail and detention
facility standards for the United States Marshals Service and the Immigration
and Naturalization Service. He toured WSPF/Supermax in July 2001 and he
considered the conditions at the institution as among the most restrictive he
has ever seen. In his view they "bordered on barbarism."¹
Up until I arrived at WSPF/Supermax I had never been aware of prisoners
serving 5-10 years plus in solitary confinement. However when I arrived at
WSPF/Supermax it became normal for me to see prisoners serving 5-10 years plus
in solitary confinement. This prison was like that of a black hole, once it
sucked you in it was nearly impossible to get out of it. The most bizarre thing
I feel I have witnessed in WSPF/Supermax is prisoners who arrived here from
other prisons seemingly in good psychological and behavioral health and then I
see them 2-3 years later and their psychological and behavioral health would be
deteriorated beyond repair. It's one thing to hear about it, it's an entirely
different thing when you see someone's psychological and behavioral health
deteriorate right before your eyes and it's even more daunting when you see
your own psychological and behavioral health deteriorate right before your
eyes.
Long Term Solitary Confinement Abuse
When I first arrived at WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units in
February 2010 most guys who were serving time here were serving 360 days DSEP
time. There are 2 statuses prisoners can be on in solitary, either you are
serving Disciplinary Separation time (DSEP time) or Administrative Confinement
time (AC time). DSEP time can't be longer than 360 days, however when you
complete your 360 days if the prison still feels you are a high security risk
prisoner they can put you on AC for an indefinite period of time. When I
arrived at this prison most guys were serving 360 days DSEP time after which
they were expected to be placed on AC status. If a prisoner wasn't serving 360
days DSEP time as he awaited placement on AC status then he was already on AC
status. So either you were serving 360 days DSEP time waiting to be placed on
AC status or you were already on AC status.
If you were placed on AC status you had to participate in the High Risk
Offender Program (HROP) in order to work your way back to general population
(gp). Once you complete your 360 days DSEP time the prison Security Department
would make guys wait 3-6 months before putting guys into HROP. Once a prisoner
got admitted into HROP he had to progress through three phases: Red, Yellow and
Green phases. Red phase took about 4 months to complete, Yellow phase took
about 4 months to complete and Green phase took about 8-10 months to complete.
So if you entered WSPF/Supermax and you served 360 days DSEP time then you got
placed on AC status and waited 3-6 months to be placed in HROP then
participated in HROP for 16-18 months, if you were lucky enough to put together
a perfect behavioral conduct record for three years maybe you would make it
back to gp. So with perfect conduct it took on average three years for
prisoners to make it out of WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units back to
gp.
The issue with this is most prisoners in WSPF/Supermax solitary
confinement units were incapable of putting together a three year long perfect
conduct record, so it was rare for a prisoner to make it back to gp in three
years. First you had to get through your 360 days DSEP time with perfect
conduct, if you received a conduct report (ticket) for a behavior infraction
while serving your 360 days, you could be resentenced to another 360 days for
the new ticket. So if you were serving 360 days and you had 240 days served, if
you received a ticket on your 240th day you could be resentenced to another 360
days DSEP time which will cause the 240 days you served on the old ticket to
not count, you would have to start serving the 360 days you received on the new
ticket. We call this being restarted or starting over because if I was serving
360 days and I got 240 days served and the guard gives me a new ticket he is in
essence making me start over and serve a new 360 days all over again. From 2010
to 2013 I received four 360 day sentences, so my DSEP time was restarted four
times and it took me from November 2009 to June 2013 just to make it off DSEP
status so as to be placed on AC status.
On AC status the prospect of being restarted was even worse because if
you finally succeeded in serving your 360 days DSEP time with perfect conduct
and you made it to AC status, you could have 360 days DSEP time served with
perfect conduct and then you could be on AC status participating in HROP and
have a year of perfect conduct but if you receive a ticket and get sentenced to
a new 360 days DSEP time, you would be taken off of AC status and restarted
back on DSEP status and made to serve 360 days of perfect conduct before being
placed back on AC status. When you make it back to AC status you had to wait
3-6 months all over again to be placed back in HROP and you had to start HROP
all over again. Going through this process was so unjust and unfair if you were
restarted 2 or 3 times you could easily find yourself in WSPF/Supermax solitary
confinement units for 5 years. This is why WSPF/Supermax has had so many
prisoners serve 5-10 years plus in its solitary confinement units.
Psychological and Behavioral Deterioration
When I entered WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units it was the most
bizarre place I had ever been to because of how many prisoners were serving
5-10 years plus in solitary. WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units are
divided into four ranges and each range has 24-26 cells on average. When I
first got housed on a range with 24 other guys and most of them had been on
that range for 6 to 12 months plus in solitary it was hard for me to grasp. Up
until I arrived at WSPF/Supermax all the other solitary confinement units I had
served time in, in other Correctional Institutions I was in from a juvenile to
an adult seemed like more of a temporary placement. The longest I seen
prisoners do in a solitary confinement unit before I arrived at WSPF/Supermax
was 6 months and it was rare to see someone serve 6 months most guys served 2-3
months on average. 2-3 months seemed like a long time in solitary confinement
to me before I arrived at WSPF/Supermax.
The first thing that makes solitary confinement so difficult to bear is
the circumstance of not having any direct human physical contact. Trying to
socially interact with others without having direct physical contact has a way
of making one feel detached from reality after a while. For example when people
interact on social media it is called cyberspace and it somewhat implies that
it is not reality. When people interact on social media e.g. Facebook, Twitter,
etc they tend to be a bit more nasty, rude, inconsiderate and just outright
disrespectful. People can say some of the most nasty things on social media.
That's how it is in solitary confinement when you try to interact with guys you
have no physical contact with. Guys in solitary confinement can be real nasty,
rude and disrespectful towards each other.
When you are in physical contact with someone you tend to be somewhat
more hesitant in being nasty, rude and disrespectful towards them because a
verbal confrontation can escalate to a physical confrontation or the offended
person can walk off and leave. When you are not in physical contact with
someone and you have a disagreement with them you tend to be somewhat quicker
to say something nasty, rude and disrespectful towards them because you don't
have to worry about a verbal confrontation escalating into a physical
confrontation in any imminent sense. For instance, if a person was on Facebook
and they lived in Florida and they had a disagreement with someone in Georgia
they would be quicker to say something nasty, rude and disrespectful towards
them because they wouldn't have to worry about a verbal confrontation
escalating into a physical confrontation in any imminent sense and sometimes
they hide behind false identities on social media which can result in people
becoming even more nasty, rude and disrespectful.
In solitary confinement guys can be interacting with each other about
nothing e.g. sports, girls, families, anything and they can have a disagreement
over something, that disagreement would grow into an argument and the argument
would turn into a shouting match where you have two guys calling each other
bitches, hoes, punks and any other disrespectful insults they can think of. We
call this "cranking out" on each other. In solitary confinement a guy
will be nasty, rude and disrespectful to you for no reason, they will call you
bitches, hoes, punks, etc just because they are bored. When you have guys who
are confined in cells the size of a small bathroom 22-24 hours a day and they
are around each other day after day for 6 months to a year plus guys become
sick and tired of being around each other and they start bumping heads and
cursing each other out for no reason. On a 25 cell range sometimes you can have
over 10 different guys shouting profane insults at each other.
When guys crank out on each other the goal is to cause as much non
physical pain as you can since you can't harm them physically. You yell profane
insults about them, their family, you bang on the walls, doors, toilets and
sinks, to keep them awoke so they can't sleep, we call cranking out —
psychological warfare. Imagine living in solitary confinement having to live in
an environment where everybody is yelling profane insults at each other and are
banging on doors, walls, sinks and toilets, day in and day out. It will drive the
most sane person crazy. I have witnessed guys enter WSPF/Supermax solitary
confinement units in good psychological and behavioral health and then a few
years later I would see them and their psychological and behavioral health
would be seriously deteriorated. I experienced this myself. I have witnessed
guys who were in good psychological and behavioral health upon entering
WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units deteriorate to the point where they
were talking to voices that weren't even there, smearing feces on their cell
walls, cutting their wrists, banging their heads on doors, etc.
_________________________________________________________________________________
¹ Jones 'El v Berge, 164 F. Supp. 2d 1096; 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16360
Chapter Two — Living In Solitary
Confinement (Part 2)
There have been times when I became lost in periods of cranking out on
others, it would be times when I was interacting with someone and he and I
would have a disagreement over something and it would escalate into an argument
and the argument would turn into a shouting match where he and I would hurl
profane insults at each other for hours and sometimes days and if it was really
bad blood between me and the other guy it would go on for weeks and even
months. Imagine living in an environment where you engage in shouting matches
for hours at a time, several days a week for months, such a lifestyle would
drive you crazy. I couldn't accept anyone disrespecting me in any way so when
someone would say something nasty, rude and disrespectful to me behind a locked
cell door I would explode in anger and rage because I would want to physically
destroy the guy but I couldn't get to him. Most times we would want to
physically destroy each other but we couldn't get to each other so we would
both explode in bouts of uncontrolled anger and rage and shout threats to each
other about what we would do to each other when we ever got physical access to
each other. We would go back and forth about how we were going to physically
destroy each other to death and so on when we ever got physical access to each
other. So for hours a day, several days a week for months, my anger and rage
would be exploding uncontrollably. After a while such a mode of existence
becomes normal, you start snapping out in anger and rage on any and everybody
for the smallest of reasons.
The first time I became aware of any reforms being made to solitary
confinement abuse was 2015. The Wisconsin Department of Corrections put
restrictions in place to limit the practice of sentencing prisoners beyond 120
days DSEP time in solitary confinement. If a hearing officer wants to sentence
a prisoner beyond 120 days DSEP time the warden has to sign off on it. So once
that policy reform was put in place in 2015 the practice of sentencing
prisoners to 360 days DSEP time in solitary confinement pretty much came to an
end, but up to that point prisoners were receiving 360 day sentences at a high
rate. In all I received eight 360 day sentences of DSEP time in solitary
confinement. Once this new policy reform was put in place in 2015 restricting
DSEP time in solitary confinement to 120 days for the most part, 120 days DSEP
time became the new 360 days. Prisoners receive 120 days DSEP time at a high
rate now, like we use to receive 360 days DSEP time at a high rate.
In July 2015 I had been in solitary confinement 5½ years, from 2013 to
2015, I had received 3-4 tickets for behavior infractions that revolved around
me working to set up an urban ministry program as a nonprofit organization and
the prison cited me for a rule violation saying I was prohibited from starting
a business from prison whether it was for profit or not for profit. So I was
cited for enterprising (trying to start a nonprofit organization). The 3-4 tickets
I received for this between the years 2013 to 2015 I received 120 days DSEP
time for, which means that I was taken off of AC status 3-4 times during those
years and had to start over and serve the 120 days DSEP time and then restart
my AC time. In July 2015 the Warden felt it was unjust to have me in solitary
confinement for 5½ years when for the past 2 years leading up to that time I
had only been cited for nonviolent behavior infractions (trying to set up an
urban ministry program). So he released me from solitary confinement back to
general population.
However the Warden's decision to release me from solitary confinement
was opposed by the Administrative Captain (Cpt Gardner) and the Security Threat
Group Coordinator AKA Gang Coordinator Cpt Brown. Cpt Gardner and Cpt Brown
pretty much headed WSPF/Supermax Security Department and they were by and large
the chief architects behind why so many prisoners were serving 5-10 years plus
in WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units. If they profile you as a high
ranking gang member or any other type of high security risk prisoner they would
place you under the highest level of scrutiny possible. Their specialty was to
monitor your communications through your outgoing mail and if they were able to
take your words and twist them into sounding as though they were gang related
they could cite you for engaging in gang activity and if you were found guilty
of engaging in gang activity it was for the most part an automatic 360 days
DSEP time in solitary.
The Wisconsin Prison System's gang policy is ridiculous! At first it
use to be if you were engaging in violence or criminal activity on behalf of a
gang then you were cited for engaging in gang activity. Then it became if you
just wrote a letter or possessed writings that seemed gang related you were
cited for engaging in gang activity even if the writings or letters were not
promoting violence or criminal activity on behalf of a gang. The writings or
letters could be about encouraging gang members to stay out of trouble and make
a positive change and the prison would still cite you for engaging in gang
activity for the simple fact that you are mentioning a gang at all. This level
of overzealousness has led to many guys having their mail scrutinized and their
innocent words and expressions twisted into something sinister in which they
are accused of engaging in nonviolent and noncriminal gang activity of which
they are given 360 days DSEP time in solitary for.
This is how Cpt Gardner and Cpt Brown were able to keep so many
prisoners in WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units for 5-10 years plus. Now
if they couldn't twist up your words to make them appear to be gang related
they would harass you for other things. They had me labeled as a high ranking
gang member but from 2013-2015 I made sure I was very careful not to write
letters that could be misconstrued as gang related. When Cpt Gardner and Cpt
Brown realized they couldn't get me for writing gang related letters they
started harassing me for my efforts to set up an urban ministry program. The
3-4 tickets I received during those years came from Cpt Gardner and Cpt Brown
writing them or instructing their subordinates to write them. They didn't
really care about my efforts to set up an urban ministry program they just used
it as a pretext to harass me and keep me in the hole because they had me
classified as a high ranking gang member.
Even if it were true that I was a high ranking gang member (I do
dispute such a characterization of myself) but it were true that still wouldn't
justify condemning me to solitary confinement for 5-10 years plus. Now if I was
promoting violence or criminal activity on behalf of a gang then that's one
thing but if I am not doing these things you can't just keep me in the hole
just because you have me classified as a high ranking gang member. The Warden
agreed with this sentiment and released me from solitary confinement back to
general population. After serving 5½ years in solitary confinement when I was
placed back in gp I felt like a fish out of water. I found it difficult to
socially function around all the guys in gp, I was easily irritated and
agitated I only lasted in gp 2½ months from July 15, 2015 to October 6, 2015.
On October 6, 2015 I was eating breakfast in the day room and I sneezed and a
guy who I found to be irritating scolded me for not sneezing into the sleeve of
my sweat shirt. I didn't like the way he scolded me so I angrily snapped on him
and told him to mind his fuckin business, he responded in kind and next thing
you know it escalated into a physical confrontation initiated by me (I started
pummeling the guy).
Now it was observed that I was having some difficulty socially
adjusting to life in gp after serving 5½ years in solitary confinement where I
was conditioned to angrily snapping out over some of the smallest of reasons.
The difference was that in solitary confinement I couldn't get to the guy
triggering my anger and in gp I could. I snapped over a sneeze for godsake.
Instead of trying to help me get treatment to help me better adjust to life in
gp after serving 5½ years in the hole, Cpt Gardner and Cpt Brown went to the
Warden and said, "see I told you so, you should have never let him out the
hole." I was given 120 days DSEP time in solitary confinement after which
I was placed back on AC status in February 2016. I was so angry that after 2½
months in gp I made one mistake and they put me back in the hole and made me
serve the DSEP time and returned me to AC status which meant long term solitary
confinement all over again after I just served 5½ years of it. I was hoping
that they would make me serve the 120 days DSEP time in solitary and then let
me go back to gp to keep working on trying to adjust but no they put me back on
AC status after only 2½ months of being in gp.
One bright spot I had to look forward to was that the Wisconsin
Department of Corrections in Madison was forcing WSPF/Supermax to reform how it
ran its solitary confinement units. In January 2016 it was down to 2 solitary
confinement units, so Madison was forcing WSPF/Supermax to release guys out of
the hole which is how I got released in July 2015. In January 2016, Madison
made WSPF/Supermax decrease the length of time it takes to complete the High
Risk Offender Program (HROP) from 16-18 months to 12 months. And it made
WSPF/Supermax start giving out half time for its Disciplinary Separation (DSEP)
sentences. So if you received 120 days DSEP time and if you maintained good
behavioral conduct you could be released back to gp in 60 days. So now the most
guys were serving was 60 days DSEP time in solitary confinement. And the HROP
program was only 12 months, so if you maintained good behavioral conduct for
about 18 months you could serve your DSEP and AC time and work your way back to
gp versus it taking at a minimum 3-4 years.
So things were looking okay, in February 2016 I completed my 120 days
DSEP time (I served 60 days because I maintained good behavioral conduct) I was
placed on AC status and admitted into HROP in March 2016. It took 2 months to
complete Red phase, 3 months to complete Yellow phase and 7 months to complete
Green phase. I completed red phase in May 2016 and I was set to complete yellow
phase in August 2016 but something drastic took place. In 2015 WSPF/Supermax
solitary confinement units were placed under the control and management of Cpt
Primmer who was an easy going guy for the most part. He worked hard to help
prisoners get out of solitary, he didn't make guys wait forever on AC to be
placed in HROP and he didn't stagnate your progress through HROP, he sped you
along as best he could to get you out of solitary. Well this went against what
Cpt Gardner and Cpt Brown wanted. Cpt Gardner and Cpt Brown were against all
these reforms meant to let prisoners out of solitary confinement, you must
remember that they are the architects behind why so many prisoners in
WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units have served 5-10 years plus. So the
fact that Cpt Primmer was just throwing open the doors and letting guys up out
of solitary didn't sit too well with Cpt Gardner and Cpt Brown, Cpt Primmer was
a big reason why I was let out the hole in July 2015.
In the Summer of 2016 around July the Security Department headed by Cpt
Gardner and Cpt Brown managed to get Cpt Primmer out of the post of heading WSPF/Supermax
solitary confinement units. When the post was taken from Cpt Primmer it was
given to – guess who? Cpt Brown. Cpt Brown became the head of WSPF/Supermax
solitary confinement units and if Cpt Primmer opened up the doors of solitary
confinement to let guys out, Cpt Brown just as soon shut the doors and locked
the solitary confinement units back down and stop letting guys out.
Chapter Three — Darkness And
Despair
When Cpt Brown took over WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units in
July 2016, my progress through HROP was stopped and I was served a ticket for
enterprising (trying to set up an urban ministry program). It was déjà vu all
over again in which I served 60 days DSEP time and 6 months of AC time. I was
on pace to get my green phase in HROP, I was progressing and doing good and in
August 2016 I was stopped in my tracks and served a ticket for trying to set up
an urban ministry program, I was about to be taken off of AC status and given
120 days DSEP time which meant I had to restart all the way over at DSEP status
and then start back over on AC status and go through HROP all over again. I was
pissed! I was going on 7 years of solitary confinement (minus the 2½ months I
spent in gp).
A lot of issues were coming to a head in my life at that time, I had
been in prison for 11½ years at that time on a 50 year sentence and my efforts
to attain some measure of appellate relief were failing miserably. I was
frustrated and tired of being in solitary confinement, the prospect of me
getting out of solitary confinement seemed hopeless. The level of family
support I was receiving at the time was at an all time low, I just felt
consumed and overwhelmed with a deep sense of Darkness and Despair. One night a
guy by the name of DJ snapped out against the guards and his cell had to be
sprayed with tear gas. The gas ended up causing my close brother Deontaye to
have an asthma attack. Deontaye tried pressing his medical emergency call
button but the unit sergeant failed to answer so I along with about 10 other guys
started banging on our cell doors to get the guard's attention to come get
Deontaye some medical attention. After about 10 minutes we were able to get an
officer to come check on Deontaye but by the time the officer arrived at
Deontaye's cell he was passed out on the floor laying in a puddle of blood that
he vomited.
Deontaye was taken to get medical attention after which he was angry
that the unit sergeant failed to answer his medical emergency call button in a
prompt manner. Deontaye could have snapped out in anger and beat the unit
sergeant's ass for not getting him prompt medical attention but Deontaye showed
restraint and tried to address the issue the right way, he filed a complaint
against the sergeant. About a week later the sergeant came into work seemingly
upset about the complaint Deontaye filed against him so he pulled Deontaye out
of his cell and conducted a shake down on his cell (searched and ransacked it).
After about 30 minutes of not being able to find anything to pin on Deontaye, he
decided to write Deontaye a ticket for Damage to State Property, he found some
writing on back of Deontaye's cell door and blamed Deontaye for it. Deontaye
swore he wasn't the person responsible for the writings, those writings could
have been on back of that door for years before he moved into that cell. The
sergeant was just pissed at Deontaye for filing that complaint on him and so he
retaliated by putting a false charge of damage to state property on Deontaye.
What made this act so egregious is that Deontaye was charged nearly $200
restitution for something he didn't do.
I watched the injustice of this entire situation play out, Deontaye was
a very close brother of mine and he was celled up next door to me so I was able
to witness everything. When the sergeant put the false charge on Deontaye and
tried to force him to pay $200 restitution for something he didn't do, it
really pissed me off because I knew Deontaye was in a bad place financially and
he couldn't afford to pay such a high amount of restitution. I was so angry
because it was the most corrupt act I had bared witness to since I had been in
prison up to that time. All the anger and frustration I had pent up in me from
my failed appellate efforts, the hopelessness I felt regarding me ever getting
out of solitary confinement and my low level of family support, it was this
situation of the sergeant corrupt retaliation against Deontaye for filing that
complaint against him that sent me over the edge. I snapped out in anger and
attacked the sergeant.
This happened on October 2, 2016, after I attacked the sergeant I was
sent to Alpha unit. At this time there were 2 solitary confinement units: Alpha
and Foxtrot units. Alpha unit was for prisoners serving DSEP time and Foxtrot
unit was for prisoners serving AC time. Alpha unit was more restrictive than
Foxtrot unit, I was isolated and placed in a cell at the back of the range in
close proximity to virtually no one and I was placed on Back of Cell
restriction which meant that a metal box had to be affixed to my cell's trap
door. Every cell door has a trap door that opens where your food trays can be
slid to you along with books, mail, medication, etc. Normally you can grab your
food tray, mail, books, etc directly from the guard through the trap door but on
Back of Cell restriction a metal box had to be affixed to my cell's trap door
so I could have no direct contact with the guards for fear that I might attack
them. My food tray, books, mail, etc were deposited into the metal box affixed
to my cell's trap door and when the guards locked it I could grab my things out
of the metal locked box without physical interaction with the guards.
The most difficult thing about being Back of Cell restriction was that
I was not allowed any out door recreation. I was on this restriction from
October 2016 all the way to May 2017 which means that for nearly 8 months I
received no fresh air or direct sunlight. I was pretty much just buried in a
cage for the most part.
Chapter Four — Suicidal Ideation
"Studies have
found that suicide among prisoners
in solitary
confinement, who make up 3 to 8% of the
nation's prison
population, account for about 50% of
prison
suicides."¹
When I was sentenced to 50 years in prison at age 22 for committing a
home invasion I had no relationship with God at all. When I was sentenced to
such a lengthy period of time in prison there were a few loved ones who reached
out to me and encouraged me to let God into my life, I picked up the Bible in
hopes that God would give me the strength I needed to simply make it through
the day. Day after day I kept running to God and the Bible for strength and
refuge and after a while I started building and developing a relationship with
God. I started studying the Bible faithfully like every other day, I read all
66 books of the Bible twice. I signed up for about 7 different Bible Study
Correspondence Courses. I also initiated an effort to author my first book of
which I titled: God Is My Helper. This book was my testimony of what kind of
impact God has had on my life. I went on to start working on an urban ministry
program called God Is My Helper Ministries. GIMH Ministries' mission was to
reach out to individuals lost in the street life of gangs, drugs and crime and
help them overcome such a lifestyle by ministering God's word to them.
From 2009 to 2016 I worked arduously to get GIMH Ministries going
however it was like everything that could have went wrong — did. My grandfather
(pops) helped me hire a typist/graphic designer to type and format the book and
website for the ministry, we paid her about a grand but she proved to be
unprofessional and did a half ass job. There were 2 additional instances where
money was put up in good faith only to have the contracts go unfulfilled, but I
would rather not get in to it right now. In addition to these financial
letdowns with the ministry, I was unable to attain any support from any
churches or ministries out in the community.
From 2009 to 2016 I must have reached out to easily over a hundred
different churches and ministries in an effort to gain their support for the
GIMH Ministries initiative. Fundamentally as a prisoner who was striving to
build a relationship with God and walk with Christ I just wanted to build
relationships with Christian brothers and sisters out in the community who
could have supported and encouraged me in my walk with Christ. However, it
seemed like I was rejected by the church at every turn because I was a
prisoner. My experience is not unique, you would think that the church would
have an aggressive prison outreach apparatus but truthfully it does not. For
the most part majority of the prison outreach ministries consist of some Bible
Study lessons that are mailed to prisoners and prisoners have to mail their
answers back in. The ministries that reach out to prisoners would give us false
names or just a first name (no last) so we won't be able to identify them (I
assume for safety reasons).
If prisoners try to build personal relationships with individuals who
work in these prison outreach ministries we are often rejected. It's like we
prisoners were treated like social lepers and outcasts by the church. By 2016 I
had been reaching out to different churches and ministries for 7 years and I
grew tired of being rejected by the church. At the end of 2016 after 7 years of
trying to get GIMH Ministries going I simply gave up on it, I gave up on God
and I most definitely gave up on his church. So at this time, my efforts to
attain some sort of appellate relief seemed hopeless, my efforts to get up out
of solitary confinement seemed hopeless, I had given up on God, I was on Back
of Cell restriction receiving no fresh air or direct sunlight for nearly 8
months, my family support was very low — it was the cocktail of these different
realities mixed together that gave birth to my suicidal thoughts.
Hello 4 part 2
The Movie
Following is an excerpt from a report on the Psychiatric Effects of
Solitary Confinement that was prepared
by Dr. Stuart Grassian:
"Most individuals [in
solitary confinement] have at one time or another
experienced, at least
briefly, the effects of intense monotony and
inadequate environmental
stimulation. After even a relatively brief
period of time in such a
situation an individual is likely to descend
into a mental torpor or
"fog," in which alertness, attention, and
concentration all become
impaired. In such a state, after a time, the
individual becomes increasingly
incapable of processing external
stimuli, and often becomes
'hyperresponsive' to such stimulation.
For example, s sudden
noise or the flashing of a light jars the
individual from his stupor
and becomes intensely unpleasant. Over
time the very absence of
stimulation causes whatever stimulation
is available to become
noxious and irritating. Individuals in such a
stupor tend to avoid any
stimulation, and withdraw progressively
into themselves and their
own mental fog.
"An adequate state of
responsiveness to the environment requires
both the ability to
achieve and maintain an attentional set and the
ability to shift
attention. The impairment of alertness and
concentration in solitary
confinement leads to two related
abnormalities: the
inability to focus, and the inability to shift attention.
The inability to focus (to
achieve and maintain attention) is
experienced as a kind of
dissociative stupor — a mental 'fog' in which
the individual cannot
focus attention, and cannot, for example, grasp
or recall when he attempts
to read or to think.
"The inability to
shift attention results in a kind of 'tunnel vision' in
which the individual's
attention becomes stuck, almost always on
something intensely
unpleasant, and in which he cannot stop thinking
about that matter;
instead, he becomes obsessively fixated upon it.
These obsessional
preoccupations are especially troubling.
Individuals in solitary
confinement easily become preoccupied with
some thought, some
perceived slight or irritation, some sound or
smell coming from a
neighboring cell, or, perhaps most commonly,
by some bodily
sensation. Tortured by it, such individuals are unable
to stop dwelling on it.
In solitary confinement ordinary stimuli
become intensely
unpleasant and small irritations become
maddening. Individuals
in such confinement brood upon normally
unimportant stimuli and
minor irritations become the focus
of increasing agitation
and paranoia. I have examined countless
individuals in solitary
confinement who have become obsessively
preoccupied with some
minor, almost imperceptible bodily
sensation, a sensation
which grows over time into a worry, and
finally into an all
consuming, life threatening illness."²
I provided this excerpt from Dr. Grassian's report because it laid out
in scientific detail how prisoners in solitary confinement tend to obsess over
some of the smallest things until the obsession becomes an all consuming mental
preoccupation and this was my experience with my suicidal thoughts.
It started with this movie I was watching one night called "The
Inferno" that is based on the Dan Brown novel or characters that he
created. Anyway it was about this guy who felt that humans were like a cancer
to Earth, he felt we were destroying Earth and its plant and animal life slowly
but surely. He felt that human based greenhouse gas carbon emissions, humans'
pollution of Earth's water and air, urbanization and the widespread destruction
of forests eradicating the natural habitat of countless different animal
species would irreversibly destroy the Earth's ecosystem, atmosphere and hence
the planet. This guy felt like the only way to save Earth was to remove the
human species from Earth since humans were the one's responsible for the
destruction of the Earth. He was a scientist for the Center for Disease Control
and he had created a modern day plague like virus that he was going to unleash
on the world's great metropolises from Europe to Asia, Africa to the Americas
and so on in his quest to eradicate the human species. Anyway one of his
coconspirators tipped off authorities and the authorities were trying to chase
the mad scientist down to find out where he had hid the virus but while on a
foot chase from authorities the mad scientist jumped off the rooftop of a 10
story building to his death. He would rather die before he confessed to the
authorities where the virus was hidden.
That movie triggered within me a sequence of thoughts and ruminations.
First I thought about the act of the mad scientist jumping off the building to
his death. I asked myself how could a person not be afraid of jumping off a
building to their death? How could a person not be scared of the pain they
would feel upon making impact with the ground? I was somewhat amazed at how he
seemed to have no fear of death whatsoever. In a world and culture where it
seems like we as humans are taught to fear death, to run from death, this guy
had the courage to look death in the eye and not run from it, no he ran to it. I
inquired to myself if I was afraid of death, I asked myself did I have the
courage to look death in the eye and not run from it but run to it? I told
myself that I wasn't afraid of death, I just didn't want to die yet because
there were still things I wanted to achieve in this life and world. When I told
myself that I still had things I wanted to achieve in this life and world it
seemed like I was trying to hold on to this world. I felt conflicted because it
seems like everyone who lives in this world wants to achieve greatness so their
name can live on forever and be venerated and revered by future generations to
come.
Fundamentally this is what most humans want and I thought to myself how
egotistical, arrogant and vain is that? You are holding on to this life and
world so you can achieve greatness so your name can live on forever and be
venerated and revered by future generations to come. How admirable is it that
the individual who committed suicide is in essence saying that they don't care
about this life and world, they don't care if their name lives on forever and
is venerated and revered by future generations to come. It was admirable
because it was an act of humility, an act of humbleness, it was an act that
said I don't care about achieving a great name in this world, I am willing to
walk away from it all. For a man like myself who struggles with issues of
pride, ego and vanity it's virtually impossible for me not to endeavor to
achieve greatness which pushes me to participate in the rat race we regard as
life. So when I see someone who doesn't care about succeeding in the rat race,
who doesn't even want to participate in it, who outright rejects the notion of
participating in the rat race of life, it baffles me because doesn't everyone
want to be great in life? Maybe greatness is the act of having enough humility
not to seek it. In Matthew 23:12 Jesus stated, "for whoever exalts himself
will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
The stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius has a great perspective on one's
pursuit of greatness in the rat race of life, one's effort to have their name
live on forever and be venerated and revered by future generations to come, he
wrote:
"But will you let
mere fame distract you? Turn your gaze to the quick
forgetfulness of all
things, the abyss of the ages on either side of
this present moment,
and the empty echo of praise, the transitory
quality and lack of
judgment on the part of those who praise, and
the tiny area in
which all this is confined. For the entire Earth is only
a mere point in the
universe, and what a small corner of the Earth
is our dwelling
place; and in that place, see how few and of what
sort are the people who celebrate
you!"³
Aurelius' point is that the pursuit of eternal veneration and reverence
is a futile and hollow endeavor.
_________________________________________________________________________________
² Washington University Journal of Law and Policy; Prison Reform:
Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons; Psychiatric Effects of
Solitary Confinement; Stuart Grassian; Page 4
³ The Essential Marcus Aurelius; Jacob Needleman and John P Piazza;
Page 18, Book 3 (3.4)¹ An article written by Erica Goode on Aug. 3, 2015 —
Solitary Confinement: Punished for Life
Hello Chapt 4 part 3
This Fucked Up World
I went on to contemplate all the apocalyptic endings many
prognosticators have predicted will bring about the catastrophic destruction of
Earth. They say the the world will be destroyed by a World War III nuclear bomb
holocaust. They say the world be destroyed by global warming (climate change).
They say the world will be destroyed by some virus or plague super bug that's
resistant to antibiotic vaccines. They say the world will be destroyed by human
overpopulation. There seems to be a number of different apocalyptic endings the
world must confront. I then contemplated all the wars, murders, disease,
hunger, poverty that plague the world and I asked myself why do I want to hold
on to such a fucked up world? I then asked myself how did this world become so
fucked up?
Christian theology presents a creation story that says in the beginning
God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden which was a paradise that
contained no death, disease, hunger, etc. God placed two trees in the center of
the garden: the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
God forbade Adam to eat any fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and
Evil. We know how the rest of the story goes, the serpent persuaded Eve to eat
the fruit of the accursed tree and Eve persuaded Adam to eat of it as well.
Christians are taught that this was the original sin of mankind. When Adam and
Eve ate the fruit of the accursed tree, sin, death, sickness and disease was
unleashed upon the world and that's how this world became so fucked up. The
more I thought about this the more angrier I became with God. I believe that
God should not have brought life to this world if he knew that there was a
chance that this world could become so fucked up, if he knew that death,
sickness and disease could be unleashed upon the world to ravage and destroy it
he shouldn't have brought life to this world in the first place. Even if there
was a chance that Adam and Eve would have obeyed him and not ate the fruit of
the accursed tree, he still shouldn't have chanced the possibility of them not
obeying him. He knew how ugly this world would get if Adam and Eve didn't obey
him.
Moreover, he never really gave Adam and Eve a fair chance. He took two
naïve humans who were just newly created and he allowed Satan to have
unfettered access to them. There is no way a newly created human such as Adam
or Eve would have had the necessary wits and wherewithal to stand up to Satan
and prevail. God had to know that it was a near certainty that Satan would
outwit Adam and Eve and persuade them to eat the fruit of the accursed tree. So
yeah I became angry at the idea of God bringing life into this world under a
set of such unfair circumstances but I became even more angry when I thought
about me being brought to this fucked up world. First I am convinced that if I
was given the choice to come to this fucked up world or remain in unconscious
nonexistence, I would have chose to remain in unconscious nonexistence. I would
have rejected the proposition of coming to this fucked up world. So here it is
I am brought to this world without any say so in the matter, and as soon as I
enter this world I am confronted with wars, murders, disease, hunger, poverty
all around me. And then there is a God telling me that if I want to be saved
from this shit I have to obey his every command and if I do he'll welcome me
into his heavenly kingdom (paradise) and if I don't obey his every command
he'll condemn me to eternal hellfire. My response to God was why the fuck you
didn't just leave me where I was at before you brought me into this world? Why
didn't you just leave me in unconscious nonexistence? I don't want your world,
I don't want your heaven, I don't want your hell, I don't want shit from you, I
wish you would have just left me the fuck alone and not brought me to this
fucked up world period! This was the angry conversation I was having with God.
I thought about the baby gazelle that gets born into this world on the
African Saharan Plain and as soon as it is born into this world within a few
hours it is chased down by a lion, if it is lucky enough to escape the pursuit
of the lion it will have to view this world as a terrifying place. I mean as
soon as it enters this world it is faced with being murdered, it is faced with
death. Which led me to ask myself what is death? Is death just unconscious
nonexistence or is there an afterlife of some sort? I can only hope that death
is unconscious nonexistence for that really sounds like paradise to me —
peaceful and tranquil unconscious nonexistence. 2pac use to say his only fear
of death was reincarnation meaning his only fear of death was being brought
back to this fucked up world. One thing I did come to realize is that death
brings truth, it answers all questions. Is there a God? Is there an afterlife?
These are questions that can only be answered in death. If I die and there is a
God my only question will be why would you bring life to such a fucked up world
and universe?
Love and Happiness
Once I explored these thoughts and realized that I didn't really care
about holding on to this life and world, I asked myself is there anything good
in this fucked up world worth living for? People say that this world is not all
bad that there is some good in the world. They say that life's purpose is to
experience love and happiness. So I asked myself is love a real thing? I
thought about human nature and it seems like it is nearly impossible for humans
to maintain healthy social relationships. Humans are flawed beings and
relationships with family and friends most often lead to heartache,
disappointment and betrayal rather than love. Love it seems is elusive, we
chase it, we fight for it, we desire it, but do we really ever attain love? And
is love worth the pain, hardship and difficulty you must endure to get to it?
Meaning is love worth you living in this fucked up world surrounded by wars,
murder, disease, hunger and poverty, is the promise of love worth you having to
deal with this fucked up world?
Is happiness real? What is happiness? They say there are only two real
emotions in this world: pleasure and pain. Humans are for the most part
hardwired to pursue pleasure and avoid pain. What I have learned though is that
the satisfaction of a desired pleasure is transitory, it is a temporary
satisfaction. Something remains pleasurable for only so long. If happiness is
the satisfaction of your life's pleasures and if things are only pleasurable
for so long does that mean that happiness can only be attained for so long?
Must we travel through life forever in search of new pleasures to replace our
old pleasures in order to maintain some measure of happiness with life? And if
the satisfaction of our pleasures only brings a temporary moment of happiness,
can we truly say that we have attained happiness, if it goes as quickly as it
comes? Happiness seems to be elusive also, maybe that's why they say "the
pursuit of happiness" maybe happiness is something that must always be
pursued and never really attained. And again I ask, is the pursuit of happiness
worth dealing with the wars, murders, disease, hunger, poverty that plagues
this fucked up world? How can one truly be happy in a world filled with wars,
murder, disease, hunger and poverty?
I told myself that the promise of love and happiness was not worth me
staying in this fucked up world. So I started confronting the question of if I
feared death? I told myself I didn't fear death because I believed death to be
a peaceful and tranquil paradise of unconscious nonexistence. So I didn't fear
death per se. When I told myself I didn't fear death, I asked myself if I had a
fear of killing myself? At first I told myself that I did have a fear of the
pain that killing myself would inflict upon me. So then I started obsessing
over my fear of pain, I contemplated a painless suicide like a pill overdose or
something. But then I started thinking about the people who shot themselves in
the head, hung themselves, set themselves on fire, jumped off of buildings, and
I asked myself why didn't they have any fear of the pain? I told myself that
pain is a small price to pay to get up out of this fucked up world and go to
the peaceful and tranquil paradise of unconscious nonexistence — no pain, no
gain is what I told myself. Also I told myself to become a monster and
victimize myself, kill myself, treat myself like a victim I had no sympathy or
remorse for. It was at this time I started planning my death by hanging, I
learned that when you hung yourself it takes about 7 minutes before you go
unconscious, so I was conditioning myself to endure 7 minutes of pain to get to
the paradise of unconscious nonexistence.
I was tired of cowering before death, I was tired of being afraid of
death. I was ready to look death in the eye and hold my head high and not run
from it. I thought about the concept of dying on your own terms. The soldiers
who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, they knew they were headed to
certain death but they stormed the beaches anyway, not because they had no fear
of death but in spite of their fear. The terminally ill cancer patient who
chooses to quit chemotherapy and face death without blinking. The husband that
jumps in front of a bullet to protect his wife or child. Just the act of not
being afraid of death is admirable to me.
( part4)
Chapter Five — Trying To Get Out
Of Solitary Confinement
When my suicidal thoughts stopped being just mere thoughts and started
becoming something I was seriously contemplating acting on, I sought help. I
sought help because I started becoming afraid of myself, it felt like I was at
war with myself and I was determined to murder myself (destroy myself). I was
providing myself with the most powerful rationalizations I could intellectually
construct to convince myself that death was a better option than life. I tried
arguing with myself on behalf of life but the rebuttals against life I advanced
were stronger. So I realized that if I was left to my own devices and thoughts
I wouldn't have made it out alive. So I told myself, if you are so certain that
you are right that death is better than life let's present your thoughts to a
mental health professional and if their rationale for life can't withstand the
strength of your rebuttal against life then you will have an objective and
empirical basis upon which to stand regarding your finding and conclusion that
death is indeed better than life. I subsequently proceeded to request a talk
with a mental health professional.
I started discussing my suicidal thoughts with a psychologist and I
can't really say that they advanced strong arguments in defense of life but I
can say that they gave me a reason to pause. One thing I know for certain is
that if I killed myself it was going to cause a lot of pain for my loved ones
and I had to ask myself if I really wanted to put them through such a harsh
dose of pain of that nature? There was a part of me that wished I could do or
say something that would have made my loved ones understand my point of view of
death being better than life but I reckoned that they just wouldn't have
understood the dynamics of my argument. They, like the majority of other humans
accept life as the only option, meaning they don't see death as an option and
if life was hard in this fucked up world the least I could do is help my loved
ones overcome the struggles of life.
The most important thing in life is survival, so I figured if my loved
ones wanted life I ought to help them in their quest to survive. So me living
wasn't something I chose to do for myself, it was something I chose to do for
my loved ones. I used to watch this series on the History channel called
Vikings and on that show King Ragnog was a very powerful man, he was the ruler
of his people and his name and reputation were feared by all and yet that still
wasn't enough to make him want to stay in this fucked up world. King Ragnog
became fatally ill and he was on his death bed in a coma-like-sleep for months.
While asleep a vision came to him in which he saw heaven's doors open in front
of him, so he began to run towards heaven's doors in hopes of getting in, but
as he got closer and closer to the doors they began to close and by the time he
arrived at the doors they had shut completely. When King Ragnog realized that
it wasn't his time to enter heaven's doors but that he had to return to life in
this world he snapped! King Ragnog yelled, he banged on heaven's doors
demanding to be let in, he pounded the ground infuriated that he had to return
to life in this world. When King Ragnog awoke shortly thereafter out of his
coma he returned to his life in this world with a measure of resentment he
worked hard to mask.
In one scene, King Ragnog was talking to his son and he asked his son,
"what do you think life's purpose is?" King Ragnog's son replied,
"to be happy." King Ragnog replied, "who told you, you have a
right to be happy?" King Ragnog then went on to explain how most of his
childhood friends he grew up with had been killed in the many wars and battles
they fought with other nation-states and how such a truth has made happiness in
this world a virtual impossibility for him. It seemed like he was living
because he felt an obligation to look after and protect his people and help
them in their struggle for survival, he cared nothing for his own life or his
own happiness, he only cared about the life and happiness of his loved ones.
What is a man to do when you have all that life has to offer in this world, you
are ruler of a powerful kingdom, you have riches and power beyond limit and
even that isn't enough to make this fucked up world bearable?
That brings to mind my favorite rapper 2pac, he was the most famous and
talented rap star of his generation, he had millions of dollars, a wardrobe
worthy of the highest expression of envy, countless women all throughout the
world fawning over him and he still rapped the following lyrics:
"Now I'm lost
and I'm weary so many tears I'm suicidal so don't
stand near me my
every move is a calculated step to bring me
closer to a
destined early death now there's nothing left." At the
end of the verse
he raps, "I'm falling to the floor begging for the
Lord to let me in
to heaven's doors." He also rapped, "I see death
around the corner
any day gotta keep it together, no one lives
forever anyway
struggle and striving my destiny's to die keep my
finger on the
trigger no mercy in my eyes in a ball of confusion
I'm thinking bout
my daddy mad than a muthafucka they never
should've had
me."¹
Again 2pac had all the material things all humans think are necessary
for happiness but he was a perfect example of a case when material wealth, fame
and fortune wasn't enough to make this fucked up world bearable. So I
understand as a man that my life isn't about me and my happiness because I
don't really care about my life and happiness. It's about doing what I can to
help my loved ones overcome the struggles of life. It's like Christmas, most
adults no longer believe in Santa Claus but we keep up the masquerade so the
kids can believe in the fairytale as long as possible because the truth might
crush their little hearts. I may not believe in life but I have decided to keep
up the masquerade so my loved ones can believe in the fairytale of life as long
as possible because the truth that death is better than life might crush their
hearts. If survival is the most important thing in life then I must do my best
to contribute to the survival of my loved ones' lives, I mean isn't that the
responsibility of all men? What does it mean to contribute to the survival of
my loved ones? In order to ensure the survival of their lives they must keep a
reasonable amount of food, clothing, shelter and transportation. So I will
dedicate my life to helping them secure such things while we endeavor to gain a
deeper understanding of life's meaning and purpose.
My Relationship With God
Although I spoke blasphemy against God and his grand design of
creation, I can't act as though I have the right to question God, I mean isn't
that the height of arrogance? In John 3:12 Jesus said, "I have spoken to
you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I
speak of heavenly things?" This statement in essence is saying if you are
incapable of understanding and grasping earthly things how will you be able to
understand and grasp heavenly things? I also think about the story of Job and
how Job questioned God's motive for permitting Satan's wrath to be unleashed
upon his life. And God answered Job by asking him who are you to feel that you
are someone I have to answer or explain myself to? Then God asked Job where
were you when I created the universe?
So I am a man who fully appreciates the folly of feeling I am entitled
to blaspheme or question God. But don't we all question and blaspheme God at
least once in our lives if not more? The premise of my argument that we live in
a fucked up world is based on the fact that the world has been since the
beginning of time consumed in wars, murder, disease, hunger and poverty. Now my
position suggests that wars, murder, disease, hunger and poverty are bad
things, but what if I am wrong? Now we as humans believe that whatever is
associated with pleasure is good and whatever is associated with pain is bad.
So because wars, murder, disease, hunger and poverty are associated with pain
we feel that these things are inherently bad but what if God has a benevolent
reason for creating and manifesting these things into existence? The first
thing that comes to mind is how would we be able to appreciate peace if there
was no war, life if there was no death, health if there were no sickness and disease,
wealth if there were no hunger and poverty? How would we be able to appreciate
pleasure if there was no pain?
Doesn't everything in God's creation serve a purpose? Doesn't too much
pleasure make us soft and mushy as people? Isn't it necessary for us to
experience some "pain" so as to toughen us up a lil bit? I don't
know, I am simply venturing a guess. My overall point is I don't know for
certain if my anger at God is justified because I don't know for certain if
this world is fucked up. Again I ask, what if I am wrong? What if wars, murder,
disease, hunger and poverty are not bad things, what if we humans are just
taught that these things are bad but don't really know for certain? It is my
uncertainty on this question that moves me to continue to maintain a
relationship with God no matter how difficult it may be. I must have faith that
God will provide an answer to humans in regards to what life's purpose and
meaning truly is.
So after I reached out to and started working with a mental health professional,
I went on to rehabilitate my relationship with God, once I rehabilitated my
relationship with God, a few other things transpired that gave me hope — 1) my
family started reaching out to me in a more robust way than they had been and
2) a new reform was put in place to bring an end to long term solitary
confinement.
My Family Support
My period of darkness and despair lasted for about the entire year of
2017. Throughout my entire stint in prison up to that time the only family
support that was constant came from my grandpops and grandmother, my mother,
siblings and other family members reached out to me sparingly. In December 2017
my grandmother sent me a money order for $100 along with a note that read:
"this is from Vonte so say thank you." Devonte is my baby brother who
was 13 years old when I got locked up and now he was 25 years old (all grown
up). He started reaching out to me, he turned his phone on and extended some
financial assistance to me, but most importantly he put me back in contact with
my son who was 17 years old at the time. Being put back in contact with my son
affected me in a way I was emotionally unprepared for. When I got back in
contact with my son I also got back in contact with his mother and she and I
were able to reestablish our emotional connection and bond with each other.
Vonte put me back in contact with my mother and sisters and it seemed like out
of nowhere in the year 2018 my level of family support exploded exponentially!
Long Term Solitary Confinement Reform
One injustice of Administrative Confinement (AC) status is that when
you finished serving your Disciplinary Separation (DSEP) time and you were
placed on AC status you had to wait 3-6 months to be placed into the High Risk
Offender Program (HROP). However placement in HROP was not guaranteed for
everyone, there were some prisoners who were classified as too high of a risk
to be placed in HROP and I happened to be classified as one of those prisoners
after I attacked the guard in the Deontaye situation. If the Security
Department doesn't approve you for placement in HROP your chances of ever
working your way up out of solitary confinement were pretty much nonexistent.
You had to complete HROP to work your way up off AC status so as to get back in
general population. If you couldn't get placed in HROP you weren't even
provided the opportunity or chance to work your way up off of AC status so as
to get back in gp. So when the Security Department refused to place me in HROP
one can see why I felt hopeless about ever getting out of solitary confinement.
However in May 2018 HROP was discontinued and replaced with a new
program for AC prisoners called Progressing through Administrative Confinement
Effectively (PACE). What made PACE so much better than HROP was that you didn't
have to wait to be placed in PACE like you had to with HROP once you were
placed on AC status. With PACE you were automatically placed in its program as
soon as you were placed on AC status. PACE is made up of 4 phases: Phase 1
takes 1 month to complete; Phase 2 takes 2 months to complete; Phase 3 takes 3
months to complete; and Phase 4 takes 6 months to complete. So in 2018 it
seemed like everything was heading in a positive direction, I started working
with a mental health professional to address the struggles I was having with
suicidal thoughts, I started rehabilitating my relationship with God, my family
support strengthened beyond expectation and I had a new found hope of getting
out of solitary confinement through the PACE program. Yeah things started
looking better for me.
My Obsessional Studies of Death
I didn't know when I would do it but I was becoming more committed by
the day. It was like I was obsessing over death, I was studying and researching
death, I thought about death during the day and night. Death dominated my
mind's thoughts day in and day out for at least 6 months during this time. One
individual I recall studying extensively during this time was Sigmund Freud and
his views on death. Freud took death and divided it into three distinct sets of
phenomena. First he suggested that the activity of all organisms and also of
the human mind was directed at getting rid of tensions and attaining inactivity
— this is biologically termed "homeostasis". This perspective of
Freud is known as the Nirvana-principle which aims at inactivity, rest, or
sleep, which in a sense is related to death. Second, Freud suggested within his
death instinct a compulsion to repeat, which relates to the conservative
characteristics of the instincts; I will not be discussing this herein. Lastly,
Freud invoked the psychoanalysis of the sadomasochistic complex. He posited
that there was a primitive masochism directed against the self and that
sadomasochism was an extroversion of this primitive masochism, which he identified
with the death instinct. I will discuss more in depth Freud's Nirvana-principle
and sadomasochistic complex.
Freud stated that man's discontent is based on the disruption of the
balanced equilibrium between tension and the release of tension which governs
the activity of humans. Homeostasis (Nirvana) can only exist under conditions
of instinctual satisfaction (pleasure). Freud deduces that it is the search for
instinctual satisfaction under conditions of instinctual repression that
produces in man the restless quest for the pleasure from a quality of
experience denied to him under conditions of instinctual repression. Freud
states that if man could put an end to repression and obtain instinctual
satisfaction, he would return to Nirvana, which is a balanced equilibrium
between tension and tension release. The peace and equilibrium of Nirvana is
something Freud equates with the peace and equilibrium of death, so he is in
essence saying that because humans are hardwired to seek the peace and
equilibrium of Nirvana, they are equally hardwired to seek the peace and
equilibrium of death.
Now I will discuss Freud's sadomasochistic complex. His theory of the
sadomasochistic complex is based on an observation of which he deemed man to
have a peculiar ambivalent capacity for love and hate, a capacity to love and
destroy others, a capacity to love and destroy himself. Traditionally, love is
identified with good and hate with evil, Freud's fundamental perspective is
that the evil in man does not come from a superficial outgrowth derived from a
basically good human nature, but that evil is rooted in a deep conflict in
human nature itself. Freud initially suggested that man is basically a loving
animal, forced by a harsh reality into unloving behavior, however Freud went on
to reject this position that man is inherently good and peaceful and that his
aggressive behavior is simply the result of environmental frustration or
ignorance and poor education.
According to Freud, mankind's destiny is a departure from, and an effort
to regain tranquillity (Nirvana); but in between these two terms man is at war
with himself, driven by two loves, true love on the one hand and the lust for
power on the other. In psychoanalytical terms, the conflict inside human nature
is at the instinctual level. Freud speaks of humans' innate instinctual
tendency towards aggression; with an innate tendency towards aggression,
mankind's only alternative is to turn it outward and destroy others (sadism) or
turn it inward and destroy himself (masochism). Freud's idea is that death is
no external accident; death is an intrinsic part of life. In Freud's words,
"the goal of all life is death." And this is the premise upon which
Freud's sadomasochistic complex is based. Psychoanalysis has shown the interchangeability
of aggression turned outward and aggression turned inward. Aggression turned
inward (masochism) on the self in the form of self destruction is Freud's death
instinct which is an instinct within humans that drives us towards death.
Conversely Freud has a life instinct that drives humans toward life. Freud
deduces that extroverted aggression (sadism) in human beings is derived from a
"primary masochism," the death instinct. Freud interpreted life and
death as an eternal conflict of two distinct and completely opposed forces, one
seeking to preserve and extend life, the other seeking to reduce life to the
inorganic state out of which it arose. Freud states that the extroversion
outward of aggression or the death instinct takes on the form of a human’s
drive to mastery or will to power. Freud held that much of man's activity is
stimulated by a flight from death, man
aggressively builds immortal cultures in order to fight death, hence there are
no social groups without a religion of their own immortality. According to
Freud, aggression represents a fusion of the life instinct with the death
instinct, a fusion which saves humans from the innate self destructive tendency
of the death instinct by extroverting it. Freud suggests that the aggression in
human nature — the drive to master nature as well as the drive to master man —
is the result of an extroversion of the death instinct or aggression, the
desire to die being transferred into the desire to kill, destroy, or dominate.
Freud concluded that at the biological level, living and dying, that is
to say growing older, is an inseparable unity. At the human level the
instinctual unity of living and dying is disrupted, and both the life and death
instincts are forced into repression. At the biological level, the death
instinct, in affirming the road to death, affirms at the same time the road of
life. Freud stated that perfection is unrepressed life (joy), however all that
is perfect wants to die. Freud states that it takes the greatest strength to
accept death, for in facing death you are actually serving the cause of life.
He posits that whoever rightly understands and celebrates death, at the same
time magnifies life.⁴
Conclusion
As you can see I was obsessing over death during this period of my life
and I believe my obsessive thinking and behavior was fueled by the psychiatric
effects of solitary confinement. I became so afraid for myself that I was going
to kill myself that I sought help from psychological staff to help me sort
through my suicidal thoughts because if left to my own devices and thoughts
there is no doubt that I was ready and willing to take my life. I don't know
why the suicide rate is so high for prisoners in solitary confinement but I
assume that it is because once we focus in on something we start obsessing over
it. We become obsessively preoccupied with something minor (in my case a
movie), it grows into a worry, and finally it becomes all consuming. I obsessed
over death for 6-7 months, every day, it's a miracle I didn't kill myself,
however there are many others just like me in solitary confinement who didn't
make it.
_________________________________________________________________________________
⁴ All my Sigmund Freud references can be found in the following works:
An Outline of Psychoanalysis, tr. J. Strachey; General Introduction to
Psychoanalysis, tr. J. Riviere; The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud, tr. &
ed. A. A. Brill; Civilization and its Discontents, tr. J. Riviere
Chapter Six – Conditions Of
Solitary Confinement
When WSPF/Supermax first opened in 1999 the entire prison was ran and
operated as a Supermax solitary confinement institution but because of prison
overcrowding they had to open up two of its solitary confinement units and use
them for general population units. This happened in 2007, then in 2014
WSPF/Supermax turned another one of its solitary confinement units into a
general population unit because of prison overcrowding and then in 2018 another
of its solitary confinement units was turned into a general population unit.
Now WSPF/Supermax only has one solitary confinement unit. Because this prison
has been compelled to open up its solitary confinement units into general
population units they have had to release a lot of prisoners up out of solitary
confinement however there are still a few of us who are still being held in
long term solitary confinement. It's about 10 of us who have been in solitary
confinement for 5-10 years plus.
Disciplinary Separation (DSEP)
As I stated earlier, DSEP is the status prisoners are put on when they
are found guilty of committing a behavior infraction. Behavior infractions are
categorized as major or minor rule violations. If a prisoner is accused of
committing a minor rule violation he receives a minor ticket and if he is
accused of committing a major rule violation he receives a major ticket.
Prisoners are placed in solitary confinement for committing major rule
violations not minor rule violations. On DSEP status prisoners in solitary
confinement receive recreation four days a week we get two days of indoor
recreation and two days of outdoor recreation. Each recreation period last for
an hour and fifteen minutes. Outdoor recreation consists of us going outside to
a cage like kennel the size of a parking space by ourselves and we pretty much
just walk around and exercise and talk to each other. There are about 7 outdoor
recreation cages. Indoor recreation consists of a small room about the size of
1½ cells and there is a pull up bar in there so we can walk around and
exercise. So for four days a week a prisoner on DSEP status gets out of his
cell for an hour and fifteen minutes but for three days a week they don't get
out of their cell at all. So for three days a week a DSEP status prisoner stays
in his cell 24 hours a day period and the other four days out of the week a
DSEP status prisoner is in his cell 22 hours and 45 minutes a day.
DSEP status is divided into 3 steps, Steps 1 and 2 are not allowed to
receive any electronics. Step 3 can receive electronics i.e. a TV or radio
which does wonders in helping us cope with the monotony and boredom of solitary
confinement however after a while the television or radio can become monotonous
and trite as well. Step 1 prisoners are allowed 1 phone call a month, Step 2
prisoners are allowed 2 calls a month, and Step 3 prisoners are allowed 3 calls
a month.
Administrative Confinement (AC)
As I stated earlier AC is a status prisoners are put on when they
finish serving their DSEP time. AC status is supposed to be non punitive
meaning it's not suppose to be used as punishment. DSEP status is punitive it
is used to punish prisoners for committing rule violations, you can only be
punished up to 360 days in solitary confinement for committing a rule
violation. So when we complete our DSEP time our punishment is suppose to be
over and AC status is supposed to be non punitive (not punishment). But any
prisoner who has ever served AC time will tell you it is punitive, it is
punishment. When I first arrived at WSPF/Supermax in 2010 there really wasn't
any difference from STEP 3 DSEP status and AC status. If you were on AC status
waiting to get into HROP you received the same amount of recreation as a Step 3
DSEP prisoner. Actually even when you got into HROP on Red Phase you received
the same amount of recreation as a Step 3 DSEP prisoner. Remember HROP
consisted of 3 phases: Red, Yellow and Green phases. The only difference
between DSEP status and AC status was that AC prisoners were allowed to order
food commissary items while DSEP prisoners were not. In HROP when you got
Yellow Phase you received an extra hour of recreation a week so instead of
receiving five hours a week like DSEP and Red Phase prisoners they got six
hours a week.
Green Phase prisoners were allowed eight hours of recreation a week and
they were allowed to attend recreation with up to three other prisoners and
they were allowed to come out of their cell without handcuffs or shackles on.
Red Phase prisoners were allowed to make 4 phone calls a month, Yellow Phase
were allowed 5 calls a month and Green Phase were allowed 6 calls a month.
Claustrophobia and Human Contact
The conditions of solitary confinement that have the worst
psychological and behavioral effect on prisoners are: 1)prisoners being confined
to the claustrophobic conditions of cells the size of a small bathroom for
22-24 hours a day for months and years at a time; and 2)lack of human contact.
If the goal is to help prisoners socially interact with others in a more
healthy and functional way in group social settings such as the workplace,
school, religious gatherings, extracurricular activities, etc, you can't keep
prisoners confined to the claustrophobic conditions of cells the size of a
small bathroom for 22-24 hours a day for months and years at a time. The goal
should be to get prisoners as much out of cell time as possible because the
more you keep prisoners in small cramped cells the more it has an antisocial
effect on them. And the aim of prison ought to be to instill in prisoners the highest
level of pro social behaviors possible. If prisoners are going to socially
function in a healthy and productive way in society those skills have to be
taught to them in prison prior to them being released back into society. I have
already discussed the importance of physical human social interaction, when you
don't have physical human social interaction it diminishes your perspective of
reality in regards to how you socially interact with others. (See Chapter One).
Progressing through Administrative Confinement Effectively (PACE)
As I stated in the previous
chapter HROP was replaced with the PACE program in May 2018 for prisoners on AC
status. One thing PACE did differently from HROP is address the lack of
physical human social contact. There are 4 phases: Phase 1 prisoners attend
recreation alone, Phase 2 prisoners attend recreation with one other prisoner,
Phase 3 prisoners attend recreation with two other prisoners and Phase 4
prisoners attend recreation with three other prisoners. Under HROP only Green
Phase were allowed to attend recreation with other prisoners but under PACE all
AC prisoners except Phase1 are allowed to attend recreation with other
prisoners. AC prisoners have been given more privileges under the PACE program
in an effort to make AC less punitive. In addition to AC prisoners being
allowed a TV or radio we are also allowed to have a tablet as well. We can send
and receive emails, download music, movies, books, and games on the tablet.
Also we are allowed more phone calls. Phase 1 is allowed 10 calls a month,
Phase 2 is allowed 20 calls a month, Phase 3 is allowed 30 calls a month, and
Phase 4 is allowed unlimited calls a month. The ability to email and make more
phone calls are important privileges for prisoners on AC status because having
strong contact with our families helps us cope with the conditions of solitary
confinement a bit better.
Although the PACE program has ushered in some productive changes for
prisoners on AC status there are still more reforms that must be made. There
are three reforms I would like to discuss which are: 1) long term solitary
confinement; 2) the continuity of educational and treatment programming; and 3)
out of cell time.
Long Term Solitary Confinement
The PACE program is suppose to help prisoners progress and make it off
AC at a faster pace than HROP. The issue that PACE is suppose to be addressing
is the reduction of prisoners being subjected to long term solitary
confinement. The only way long term solitary confinement is going to come to an
end is for WSPF/Supermax to curtail its restart practice. If a prisoner is
serving DSEP time and receives a major ticket and is given additional DSEP time
all the DSEP time the prisoner served in the hole from the previous ticket
doesn't count. The prisoner is restarted with a new ticket and new hole time.
You can be in solitary serving 120 days DSEP time, you can have 100 days served
and receive another ticket and another 120 days and while serving that you can
receive another ticket and another 120 days and so on and so forth. This is how
prisoners are subjected to long term solitary confinement. If a prisoner is
serving DSEP time and receives an additional ticket he should not be restarted
with more hole time unless the ticket is for committing an act of violence. The
science is in the findings are clear, the more time prisoners serve in the hole
the more their psychological health deteriorates. So if a prisoner is serving
time in solitary the goal should be to get them out of solitary as soon as
possible, not pile on more and more hole time in perpetuity.
If a prisoner is serving DSEP time and receives an additional ticket
for a nonviolent offense they should not be given additional hole time as a
first resort. Other disciplinary sanctions should be exhausted first such as:
loss of recreation, cell confinement, loss of electronics, phone calls,
canteen, etc. Additional hole time should be employed as a last resort when all
else has failed. When a prisoner is found guilty of committing a behavior
infraction the hearing officer doesn’t have to sentence a prisoner to solitary
confinement, there are other alternative punishments the prisoner can be
subjected to. A prisoner can receive a punishment of loss of recreation for a
set number of days or weeks, a prisoner can receive a punishment of cell
confinement which consists of them being confined to their cell in general
population for a set number of days or weeks, a prisoner can receive a
punishment of loss of electronics (TV, radio, tablet) for a set number of days
or weeks, a prisoner can receive a punishment of loss of phone privileges for a
set number of days or weeks, and a prisoner can receive a punishment of loss of
canteen privileges for a set number of days or weeks. So there are alternative
punishments other than solitary confinement that can be employed.
As for prisoners serving AC time the prospect of being restarted is
even more daunting. A prisoner can serve 100 to 200 plus days of DSEP time and
then be placed on AC status where a prisoner must complete the PACE program
which takes 9 to 12 months. An AC prisoner can have 6 months completed in the
PACE program and receive a ticket for a nonviolent offense and receive 100 to
200 plus days DSEP time. The AC prisoner will be taken off of AC status and out
of the PACE program, he'll be restarted and have to serve the 100 to 200 plus
days of DSEP time and then restart AC and the PACE program all over again. AC
prisoners can receive additional hole time without even receiving a ticket. If
you are on AC status and you are in the PACE program you must progress through
4 phases to get back in gp. Phase 1 takes 1 month to complete, Phase 2 takes 2
months, Phase 3, 3 months and Phase 4, 6 months. Behavior log entries are
written notices of negative behavior they are not tickets, also there are minor
and major rule violations, major rule violations often lead to placement in
solitary confinement while minor rule violations do not. If you are on Phase 3
and you receive some behavior log entries or commit a minor rule violation,
that can be used as a basis to demote you to a lower phase or to non promote
you to a higher phase. If you are demoted to a lower phase or not promoted to a
higher phase that can amount to about 2-3 months of additional hole time you
must serve.
If you are on AC status and you receive a ticket, the only way you
should be taken out of the AC program PACE to be restarted with new DSEP time
is if you commit an act of violence. If you are on AC status and you receive a
ticket for a nonviolent offense, or you commit a minor rule violation or
receive some behavior log entries, you should not be given additional hole time
by way of phase demotion or non promotion. Other disciplinary sanctions outside
of additional hole time, such as: loss of recreation, cell confinement, loss of
electronics, phone calls, canteen, etc should be employed to address minor rule
violations or behavior log entries. If we want to put an end to long term
solitary confinement we have to put an end to this practice of piling on more
and more hole time in perpetuity on prisoners in solitary confinement.
Chapter 6 part 2
The Continuity of Educational
and Treatment Programming
As I stated before, in the Wisconsin Prison System all prisoners were
assessed and evaluated so as to determine what sort of educational and
treatment programming they were in need of. Once prisoners educational and
treatment programming needs are better understood they are shipped to a prison
that provides the programming they need. When a prisoner arrives in their
assigned prison they can partake in the educational and treatment programs they
need as long as they remain in general population. If they are placed in
solitary confinement for whatever amount of time they are removed from their
educational and treatment programs. When you get out of solitary confinement
you must stay out for at least 6 months before you can sign back up for any
educational and treatment programs.
The way the treatment programs are ran is about every 3-4 months
treatment staff organize groups of prisoners to take a program. The program may
take 120 days to complete, so the group will start on April 1st and finish
August 1st. Now if you are participating in a program and you are half way done
with it (meaning you have 60 days completed) if you are sent to solitary
confinement you are took out of the program. The rationale behind this is that
once you are in solitary confinement you are unable to attend the program which
is held like once or twice a week and if you can't attend the program for 3-4
weeks because you are in solitary then you will fall behind, therefore
treatment staff feel like it's best to take you out of that programming group
and have you start over with a new group once you get back out of solitary. I
understand this logic that if you can't keep up with your group because you're
in solitary confinement then you have to be took out of that group and placed
in a new group once you get back out of solitary. But if programming is as
important as society says it is then prisoners should never be removed from
programming whether you're in gp or solitary. In fact if you are in solitary
confinement you may need programming even more.
I feel like educational and treatment programming are so important that
prisoners should have to do it no matter if they are in gp or solitary. Under
the current policy if officers want to make a systematic effort to disrupt
prisoners efforts to attain educational and treatment programming all the
officers have to do is mount a harassment campaign and they can send you to
solitary for damn near anything. And the more prisoners that return to society
without receiving adequate educational and treatment programming the higher the
recidivism rate will be. The higher the recidivism rate is the higher the
prison industrial complex generation of revenue will be. So if a prisoner is
taking a program and is sent to solitary confinement midway through that
shouldn't matter. Solitary confinement units ought to have educational and
treatment programming staff that can keep prisoners caught up in their
programming while their in solitary. If this reform is put in place the amount
of prisoners that return to society with adequate educational and treatment
programming will greatly increase and this will reduce the recidivism rate. We
must fight for the continuity of educational and treatment programming whether
you're in solitary confinement or not!
More Out Of Cell Time
Prisoners on AC status receive the same amount of out of cell time
under the PACE program as we did under HROP. We are still confined to
claustrophobic conditions in cells the size of a small bathroom for 22-24 hours
a day for months and years at a time. Into this change we prisoners will
continue to suffer negative psychological and behavioral health deterioration
from solitary confinement. We prisoners will continue to suffer the antisocial
effect of being confined to claustrophobic conditions for months and years at a
time. So we must fight for more out of cell time in the form of recreation and
educational and treatment programming. In Colorado they developed a 10 in 10
program for their solitary confinement units this program allows prisoners to
be out of their cells 10 hours a week for therapy and 10 hours a week for
extracurricular activities. If Wisconsin offered this much out of cell time for
its solitary confinement units the negative psychological and behavioral effect
of being confined to claustrophobic conditions for 22-24 hours a day for months
and years at a time would be greatly mitigated.
Chapter Seven – My History With
Solitary Confinement Abuse
I was sent to Juvenile Corrections at age 15 in June 1999 at that time
Wisconsin had two correctional facilities that housed juvenile prisoners. There
was Lincoln Hills School and Ethan Allen School they called these facilities
boy's schools but in reality they were juvenile prisons. These facilities
housed the worst juveniles in the state, most of us came from the ghettos of
Milwaukee but there were other juveniles from Racine, Kenosha, Madison, Green
Bay, Beloit, etc. To be sent to Lincoln Hills or Ethan Allen as a juvenile you
had to have done something really bad because juvenile courts for the most part
tried to avoid sending juveniles to Lincoln Hills or Ethan Allen, you were sent
there when all other alternatives had failed. Alternatives such as treatment
programs, group homes, among other things. Lincoln Hills and Ethan Allen housed
the wildest and most troubled juveniles in the state. Many of us had rebelled
against our parents and took to the streets to live as runaways and many of us
didn't even have parents. So when you house hundreds of wild, troubled and
rebellious juveniles in the same facility it is going to be a very chaotic and
tumultuous place and that's how it was.
Solitary confinement units in Juvenile Corrections were more worse than
Adult prisons. Adult prisoners file lawsuits, riot and other things to improve
conditions of confinement however when I was a juvenile we didn't know anything
about how to file lawsuits. The abuses we suffered in solitary confinement as
juveniles we had no clue we were being abused. We thought being beaten, gassed
and tasered in the hole was normal because it happened so much. The living
conditions of solitary confinement were barbaric, we slept on plastic covered
sponge like mattress (about 4 inches thick) that laid atop a concrete slab that
rose about six inches off the ground. We were not provided any sheets, were
given 2 suicide blankets (both about 3ft long) one covered the top half of your
body and the other blanket covered your bottom half. We were given no hygiene
items, no soap, shampoo, deodorant, toothbrush or toothpaste. Every morning we
were given a 4 inch long tooth pick like stick with a sponge about the size of
a quarter affixed to one end of the stick and we brushed our teeth with that.
We were not allowed any writing supplies. This was the maximum security
solitary confinement unit at Ethan Allen.
These conditions drove us juveniles crazy. We would yell, scream, and
cuss each other out, cuss out the guards, kick and bang on doors, walls and
sinks, flood our cells by stuffing up our toilets and flushing continuously
until the toilet overflowed for 30 minutes to an hour, we would get our cells
sprayed with tear gas, we would get tasered. There was no civility, decorum or
etiquette in the hole, it was a place that bred anger, hostility and aggression
in us. Prisons (Juvenile and Adult) thrive on punishing prisoners and making us
suffer and its number one tool of punishment is the hole. Many of us juveniles
built up a lot of anger and resentment while serving time in the hole because
we felt like the prison was torturing us with the hole. We fought hard in our
efforts to not let the hole break us while the prison guards abused the use of
the hole against us in an effort to break us. Many of us would snap out under
the pressure and scream “torture, torture, torture me bitch I don't give a
fuck, I can take whatever punishment you got bitch.” Then when we would return
to general population we would carry this mentality with us, ready to snap, not
caring about being punished or tortured with the hole, it's like we had become
immune to the abuse and torture of the hole, we didn't care about going to the
hole. This mentality kept us on edge ready to snap and often we did snap which
made it difficult for us to function in general population so we would return
to the hole time and time again. Many of us did most our time in the hole being
tortured and then most of us were released back into society and we went on to
snap out in society and reoffend.
Many of us juveniles became so psychologically messed up that we had to
be sent to Mendota Mental Health Institute. I was transferred there from Ethan
Allen when I was 16 years old because of the negative psychiatric effects of
solitary confinement upon me. Over the past 5 years an abundance of information
has been released to the public detailing the neuroscientific findings of the
psychiatric effects of solitary confinement on the underdeveloped brain of a
juvenile adolescent. Neuroscientific findings have concluded that solitary
confinement has a damaging impact on the underdeveloped brain of a juvenile
adolescent, so much so that over the past 5 years the use of solitary
confinement on juvenile adolescents has become banned in a plurality of
correctional systems.
These neuroscientific findings were unknown when I was a juvenile
adolescent. I was subjected to the damaging impact of solitary confinement
abuse as a juvenile. The question now is – in light of the scientific data we
have today about how damaging solitary confinement is to the underdeveloped
brain of juveniles; how damaging was solitary confinement to my underdeveloped
brain as a juvenile. Also at age 13, I was hospitalized at Milwaukee
Psychiatric Hospital and diagnosed as having a Cannabis-Induced Psychosis. So I
had a history of preexisting mental illness and being vulnerable to mental
illness before I entered Juvenile Corrections. It has been established through
psychiatric research and study that solitary confinement abuse causes mental
illness in prisoners who have no history of mental illness and that it
exacerbates mental illness in prisoners with a history of preexisting mental
illness. So considering that I already struggled with a history of mental
illness, solitary confinement had a more damaging impact on me as a juvenile.
When I was transferred from Ethan Allen to Mendota Mental Health
Institute at age 16 after my first stay in its maximum security solitary
confinement unit, I was given a psychiatric evaluation. In my psychiatric
evaluation while in Mendota it stated on page 5: “John has very little history
of aggressive behavior, especially since placement at Ethan Allen.”¹ It wasn't
until I had my first stay in the hole as a juvenile that I started becoming
more aggressive and violent. Since age 16 I have had difficulty functioning in
prison general populations and I've served most of my time in the hole as a
juvenile and adult. My experience in solitary confinement in solitary
confinement as a juvenile exacerbated the mental health vulnerabilities I
already struggled with. My psychological condition was worsened as a result. I
believe that the damaging psychological effect of solitary confinement on me as
a juvenile still impacts me to this very day.
Adult Corrections
Since 16 I've had this violent and savage monster raging within me
committing violent acts time and time again. Every institution I've served time
in since age 16 I've always snapped out in violence and attacked other
prisoners and guards. When I got released from solitary confinement in Ethan
Allen in March 2000 I was transferred to Lincoln Hills (the other juvenile
prison in Wisconsin). I was in Lincoln Hills from March 2001 to December 2001,
in July 2001 I was sent to solitary for a battery, in September 2001 I was sent
to solitary for snapping out on a guard. I was released from Lincoln Hills back
into the community in December 2001. I got locked up in April 2002 in the
Milwaukee County Jail and within a few days I snapped out on some guards and
got threw in solitary for a few weeks. When I was released from the hole I was
placed in general population where I lasted for a few weeks until I had an
altercation with another prisoner and I beat his ass and was sent back to the
hole. I served a few weeks in solitary got back out to gp and bailed out and
got released back into the community.
john eggerson 372012/ 10 2 19
chapters 7 and 8
I got locked back up in October 2002, I was sent to the House of
Corrections and around November 2002 I got into an altercation with another
prisoner and I beat his ass and was sent to solitary for a few weeks. I got
released from the House of Corrections in December 2002 and returned to the
community. I got locked back up in March 2003 I was sent to Dodge Corr. Inst.
to be processed and in July 2003 I was transferred to RYOCF prison and around
September 2003 I had an altercation with some guards in which I ended up being
charged with assaulting a guard, I was placed in solitary for that obviously.
In November 2003 I was transferred back to the Milwaukee County Jail in which I
ended up bumping heads with this one guy and beating his ass and got placed in
solitary. In April 2004 I was in the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility and I
had a verbal confrontation with a guard which led to me snapping out and
flipping over all the tables and shelves, etc in the dayroom, I went on a
rampage and pretty much destroyed the dayroom. I was placed in the hole for
that. In January 2005 I was back in the Milwaukee County Jail and I had a fight
and was placed in the hole. I was in Marinette County Jail from May 2005 til
September 2006 and I had four fights which landed me in solitary a number of
times. I arrived in prison September 2006, from September 2006 til November
2009 (which is when I was placed in solitary confinement and shipped to
WSPF/Supermax to serve ten years in solitary) I had five fights of which I was
placed in solitary for some while others I didn't get caught for.
The point I am making is that it wasn't until I was placed in solitary
confinement at age 16 that I really started exhibiting this hyper violent and
aggressive behavior. That's why I ask what kind of impact did solitary
confinement abuse have on my underdeveloped brain as a teenage adolescent? The
negative psychiatric effects of solitary confinement I incurred as a teenage
adolescent I still struggle with to this very day and I am a 35 year old adult
now. And what's crazy is that most of the teenage adolescents who struggled
with the psychiatric effects of solitary confinement in Juvenile Corrections we
still struggle with it in Adult Corrections as well. One thing I think about
often is that since age 16, after I was subjected to solitary confinement
abuse, every time I was released into society I ended up exhibiting some type
of hyper violent and aggressive behavior, e.g. the crime I am currently in
prison for. When I was sentenced in November 2006 the courts were unaware of
the damaging psychiatric effect solitary confinement abuse has on the
underdeveloped brain of teenage adolescents. The courts need to look into the
damaging psychiatric effect solitary confinement abuse had on my underdeveloped
brain as a teenage adolescent and they need to factor in the impact it had on
my commissioning of the crime I am currently incarcerated for. Also it is not
enough to ban solitary confinement abuse for juvenile prisoners now, there
needs to be treatment resources allocated to individuals like myself who
suffered solitary confinement abuse as a juvenile predating the ban.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I forgot to add the footnote for Chapter Five so here it is:
¹ 2pac songs: Shed So Many Tears and I See Death Around The Corner
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Chapter Seven footnote:
¹ Mendota Mental Health Institute Admission Psychiatric Evaluation
dated September 5, 2000
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Chapter Eight — Psychiatric Effects Of Solitary Confinement
In 2006, Prison Reform: Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's
Prisons conducted a study on the Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement.
This study was led by Dr. Stuart Grassian, a Board Certified Psychiatrist who
was on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School for over twenty-five years.
Following are excerpts from this study:
[Note this is not a continuous excerpt, it's a listing of excerpts from
the report I felt were worth citing]
Dr. Grassian stated: "Solitary confinement – that is the
confinement of a prisoner alone in a cell for all, or nearly all, of the day
with minimal environmental stimulation and minimal opportunity for social
interaction – can cause severe psychiatric harm. It has indeed long been known
that severe restriction of environmental and social stimulation has a
profoundly deleterious effect on mental functioning; this issue has been a
major concern for many groups of patients including, for example, patients in
intensive care units, spinal patients immobilized by the need for prolonged
traction, and patients with impairment of their sensory apparatus (such as
eye-patched or hearing impaired patients). This issue has also been a very
significant concern in military situations, polar and submarine expeditions,
and in preparations for space travel.
"The United States was actually the world leader in introducing
prolonged incarceration, and solitary confinement, as a means of dealing with
criminal behavior. The 'penitentiary system' began in the United States, first
in Philadelphia, in the early nineteenth century, a product of a spirit of
great social optimism about the possibility of rehabilitation of individuals
with socially deviant behavior. The Americans were quite proud of their
'penitentiary system' and they invited and encouraged important visitors from
abroad to observe them. This system, originally labeled as the 'Philadelphia
System,' involved almost an exclusive reliance upon solitary confinement as a
means of incarceration and also became the predominant mode of incarceration,
both for post conviction and for pretrial detainees, and in the several
European prison systems which emulated the American model.
"The results were, in fact, catastrophic. The incidence of mental
disturbances among prisoners so detained, and the severity of such
disturbances, was so great that the system fell into disfavor and was
ultimately abandoned. During this process a major body of clinical literature
developed which documented the psychiatric disturbances created by such stringent
conditions of confinement.
"The paradigmatic psychiatric disturbance was an agitated
confusional state which, in more severe cases, had the characteristics of a
florid delirium, characterized by severe confusional, paranoid, and
hallucinatory features, and also by intense agitation and random, impulsive,
often self directed violence. Such disturbances were often observed in
individuals who had no prior history of any mental illness. In addition,
solitary confinement often resulted in severe exacerbation of a previously
existing mental condition. Even among inmates who did not develop overt
psychiatric illness as a result of solitary confinement, such confinement
almost inevitably imposed significant psychological pain during the period of
isolated confinement and often significantly impaired the inmate's capacity to
adapt successfully to the broader prison environment.
"It is both tragic and highly disturbing that the lessons of the
nineteenth century experience with solitary confinement are today being so
completely ignored by those responsible for addressing the housing and the
mental health needs in the prison setting. For, indeed, the psychiatric harm
caused by solitary confinement had become exceedingly apparent well over one
hundred years ago. Indeed, by 1890, with In re Medley, the United States
Supreme Court explicitly recognized the massive psychiatric harm caused by
solitary confinement:
This matter of
solitary confinement is not... a mere unimportant
regulation as to the
safekeeping of the prisoner....
"....Experience [with the penitentiary system of solitary
confinement] demonstrated that there were serious objections to it. A
considerable number of prisoners fell, after even a short confinement, into a
semi-fatuous condition, from which it was next to impossible to arouse them,
and others became violently insane; others, still, committed suicide; while
those who stood the ordeal better were not generally reformed, and in most
cases did not recover sufficient mental activity to be of any subsequent
service to the community.
"Moreover, although many of the acute symptoms suffered by these
inmates are likely to subside upon termination of solitary confinement, many –
including some who did not become overtly psychiatrically ill during their
confinement in solitary – will likely suffer permanent harm as a result of such
confinement. This harm is most commonly manifested by a continued intolerance
of social interaction, a handicap which often prevents the inmate from
successfully readjusting to the broader social environment of general
population in prison and, perhaps more significantly, often severely impairs
the inmate's capacity to reintegrate into the broader community upon release
from imprisonment.
"Many inmates housed in such stringent conditions are extremely
fearful of acknowledging the psychological harm or stress they are experiencing
as a result of such confinement. This reluctance of inmates in solitary
confinement is a response to the perception that such confinement is an overt
attempt by authorities to 'break them down' psychologically, and in my
experience, tends to be more severe when the inmate experiences the
stringencies of his confinement as being the product of an arbitrary exercise
of power, rather than the fair result of an inherently reasonable process.
"When I initially agreed to evaluate the Walpole prisoners I had
not yet reviewed the literature on the psychiatric effects of solitary
confinement and I was somewhat skeptical; I expected that inmates would feign
illness and exaggerate whatever psychiatric symptomatology they suffered. I
discovered, however, something very different. Contrary to my expectations, the
prisoners appeared to be extremely defensive about the psychiatric problems
they were suffering in solitary confinement; they tended to rationalize away
their symptoms, avoid talking about them, or deny or distort their existence
all in an apparent effort to minimize the significance of their reactions to
isolation. Numerous interviews began with statements such as 'solitary doesn't
bother me' or 'some of the guys can't take it – not me,' or even with the
mention of a symptom and a simultaneous denial of its significance: 'As soon as
I got in I started cutting my wrists. I figured it was the only way to get out
of here.'
Dr. Grassian's study set forth the findings that solitary confinement
can cause severe psychiatric harm and that solitary confinement can cause a
specific psychiatric syndrome. The specific psychiatric syndrome associated
with solitary confinement is made up of the following 7 characteristics: a.
Hyperresponsivity to External Stimuli; b. Perceptual Distortions, Illusions,
and Hallucinations; c. Panic attacks; d. Difficulties with Thinking,
Concentration, and Memory; e. Intrusive Obsessional thoughts: Emergence of
Primitive Aggressive Ruminations; f. Overt Paranoia; g. Problems with Impulse
Control.
(a) Hyperresponsivity
to External Stimuli. Many prisoners in solitary confinement who serve long
stints tend to have bad nerves and snap over the smallest things and its
difficult for them to function around too many people i.e. general population.
confinement who serve
long stints tend to have bad nerves and snap over the smallest things and its difficult
for them to function around too many people i.e. general population.
(b) Perceptual
Distortions, Illusions, and Hallucinations. Grassian's study shows that we
prisoners tend to feel like something is going on behind our backs.
(e) Intrusive
Obsessional Thoughts: Emergence of Primitive Aggressive Ruminations: Almost
half the prisoners reported the emergence of primitive aggressive fantasies of
revenge, torture, and mutilation of the prison guards. In each case the
fantasies were described as entirely unwelcome, frightening and uncontrollable.
For example, one prisoner recounted:
I try to sleep sixteen
hours a day, block out my thoughts; muscles
tense, think of
torturing and killing the guards; lasts a couple of
hours. I can't stop
it. Bothers me. Have to keep control. This makes
me think I'm flipping
my mind...I get panicky, thoughts come back –
pictured throwing a
guard in lime – eats away at his skin, his flesh –
torture him – try to
block it out, but I can't.
(f) Overt Paranoia: Almost half the prisoners interviewed reported
paranoid and persecutory fears. Some of these persecutory fears were short of
overt psychiatric disorganization. For example, one prisoner recalled
'sometimes I get paranoid – think they meant something else. Like a remark
about Italians. I dwell on it for hours. Get frantic. Like when they push
buttons on the sink. Think they did it just to annoy me.' In other cases this
paranoia deteriorated into overt psychosis:
Spaced out. Hear
singing, people's voices, 'Cut your wrists and go to
to Bridgewater and the
Celtics are playing tonight.' I doubt myself. Is
it real?....I suspect
they are putting drugs in my food, they are
putting drugs in my
cell....The Reverend, the priest, even you, you're
all in cahoots in the
Scared Straight Program.
(g) Problems with
Impulse Control: Slightly less than half of the prisoners reported episodes of
loss of impulse control with random violence: 'I snap off the handle over
absolutely nothing. Have torn up mail and pictures, throw things around. Try to
control it. Know it only hurts myself.' Several of these prisoners reported
impulsive self-mutilation; 'I cut my wrists many times in isolation. Now it
seems crazy. But every time I did it, I wasn't thinking – lost control – cut
myself without knowing what I was doing.'
Dr. Grassian states that this syndrome has the characteristics of an
acute organic brain syndrome – A Delirium. Delirium is a syndrome which is
known to result from the type of conditions, including restricted environmental
stimulation, which are characteristic of solitary confinement. Even the
electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities characteristic of delirium have been
observed in individuals exposed to conditions of sensory deprivation. Grassian
also detailed America's historical experience with solitary confinement in the
19th century. Statistical comparisons began to generate evidence that 'it was
unnatural... to leave men in solitary, day after day, year after year; indeed,
it was so unnatural that it bred insanity.' As statistical evidence accumulated
during the 19th century that solitary confinement produced a very disturbing
incidence of insanity, physical disease, and death the system fell into
disrepute and, with this, it had changed from an open, optimistic experiment in
social reform into a hidden, secretive place of punishment and control.
Dr. Grassian's Findings at Pelican Bay State Prison (Excerpts):
"These findings received further corroboration in my observations
of inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison, California. In 1991-92, as part of my
participation in Madrid v Gomez – a class action lawsuit challenging conditions
at Pelican Bay State Prison, a new 'supermax' facility in California. I
evaluated 49 inmates housed in the Segregation Housing Unit (SHU) at the
institution and prepared a lengthy report to the federal court of my findings.
Many of the inmates I evaluated there suffered severe psychiatric disturbances
while housed in Pelican Bay's SHU, either springing up de novo (anew) while so
incarcerated or representing a recurrence or severe exacerbation of preexisting
illness. Of the 49 inmates I evaluated, at least 17 were actively
psychotic and/or acutely suicidal and
urgently in need of acute hospital treatment, and 23 others suffered serious
psychopathological reactions to solitary confinement, including (in several cases)
periods of psychotic disorganization.
"The clinical data at Pelican Bay also added striking
corroboration to the conclusion that the severe and prolonged restriction of
environmental stimulation in solitary confinement is toxic to brain
functioning. The data demonstrated that most severe, florid psychiatric
illnesses resulting from solitary confinement tend to be suffered by those
individuals with preexisting brain dysfunction. As noted before, I have
observed a high incidence of preexisting central nervous system dysfunction
among the inmates I evaluated in solitary confinement settings. This was also
the case at Pelican Bay, and statistical analysis of the Pelican Bay data quite
dramatically demonstrated that inmates with such preexisting vulnerability were
the most likely to develop overt confusional, agitated, hallucinatory psychosis
as a result of SHU confinement.
Attention Deficit and Antisocial Personality Disorders
"In addition, research regarding Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder and Antisocial Personality Disorder demonstrated that these conditions
are similarly associated with a particular inability to tolerate restricted
environmental stimulation. There is increasing evidence that childhood
impulsivity and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder bear some relationship
to Antisocial Personality Disorder, in that both are characterized by
impulsivity and stimulation-seeking behavior, and both involve biologically
based abnormalities in central nervous system functioning. Moreover, the
clinical literature demonstrates that individuals with Antisocial Personality
Disorder are especially intolerant of restricted environmental stimulation. For
example, the psychopathic individual has been characterized as pathologically
'stimulation seeking,' 'impulsive,' and 'unable to tolerate routine and
boredom.'
"Given the exigencies of conducting clinical observations of
inmates in solitary confinement it is not surprising that little systematic
attempt has been made to elucidate the underlying psychological characteristics
of those most at risk for developing severe psychopathological reactions to
such isolation. However, among the clinical reports on Ganser's Syndrome, a
related condition, in non-prison populations are several studies of patients in
psychiatric hospitals. These patients were, of course, available for extensive
psychological assessment and observation, and these reports described the
majority of these patients as suffering long-standing hysterical character
disorders, having problems with severe impulsivity, childhood truancy, and
antisocial behavior patterns.
"The medical literature demonstrates that individuals whose
internal emotional life is chaotic and impulse-ridden and individuals with
central nervous system dysfunction may be especially prone to
psychopathological reactions to restricted environmental stimulation in a
variety settings. Yet, among the prison population, it is quite likely that
these are the very individuals who are especially prone to committing
infractions that result in stricter incarceration, including severe isolation
and solitary confinement."
Long Term Effects of Solitary Confinement and Small Group Confinement
"Long term studies of veterans of prisoner of war camps, and of
kidnapping and hostage situations have demonstrated that while many of the
acute symptoms I outlined above tend to subside after release from confinement,
there are also long-term effects which may persist for decades. These not only
include persistent symptoms of post traumatic stress (such as flashbacks,
chronic hypervigilance, and a pervasive sense of hopelessness), but also
lasting personality changes – especially including a continuing pattern of
intolerance of social interaction, leaving the individual socially impoverished
and withdrawn, subtly angry and fearful when forced into social interaction.
"In addition, from time to time I have had the opportunity to
evaluate individuals who had been incarcerated in solitary confinement several
years previously. I have found the same pattern of personality change described
above; these individuals had become strikingly socially impoverished and
experienced intense irritation with social interaction, patterns dramatically
different from their functioning prior to solitary confinement."
Conclusions
"The restriction of environmental stimulation and social isolation
associated with confinement in solitary are strikingly toxic to mental
functioning, producing a stuporous condition associated with perceptual and
cognitive impairment and affective disturbances. In more severe cases, inmates
so confined have developed florid delirium – a confusional psychosis with
intense agitation, fearfulness, and disorganization. But even those inmates who
are more psychologically resilient inevitably suffer severe psychological pain
as a result of such confinement, especially when the confinement is prolonged,
and especially when the individual experiences this confinement as being the
product of an arbitrary exercise of power and intimidation. Moreover, the harm
caused by such confinement may result in prolonged or permanent psychiatric
disability, including impairments which may seriously reduce the inmate's
capacity to reintegrate into the broader community upon release from prison.
"Many of the prisoners who are housed in long-term solitary
confinement are undoubtedly a danger to the community and a danger to the
corrections officers charged with their custody. But for many they are a danger
not because they are coldly ruthless, but because they are volatile,
impulse-ridden, and internally disorganized.
"As noted earlier in this statement, modern societies made a
fundamental moral division between socially deviant behavior that was seen as a
product of evil intent, and such behavior that was seen as a product of
illness. Yet this bifurcation has never been as simple as might at first glance
appear. Socially deviant behavior can in fact be described along a spectrum of
intent. At one end are those whose behavior is entirely 'instrumental' –
ruthless, carefully planned, and rational; at the other are individuals whose
socially deviant behavior is the product of unchecked emotional impulse,
internal chaos, and often of psychiatric or neurological illness.
"It is a great irony that as one passes through the levels of
incarceration – from the minimum to the moderate to the maximum security
institutions, and then to the solitary confinement section of these
institutions – one does not pass deeper and deeper into a subpopulation of the
most ruthlessly calculating criminals. Instead, ironically and tragically, one
comes full circle back to those who are emotionally fragile and, often,
severely mentally ill. The laws and practices that have established and
perpetuated this tragedy deeply offend any sense of common human decency."
Animal Studies
"One study produced agitation in mice and rats after a few days of
isolation, a report which corroborated previous studies with rats. Others have
also found isolation induced aggressive behavior in mice (such as biting
attacks). Further, social isolation has been demonstrated to produce profound
and lasting psychological effects in primates. Researchers have noted that over
four hundred published investigations of the effects of social isolation on
primates show such deleterious effects as self-mutilation and disturbances in
perception and learning. They found that in adult rhesus monkeys even brief
periods of social isolation produce compromised cognitive processing. Others
have produced symptoms of depression in rhesus monkeys by confining them for
thirty days. They concluded that solitary 'confinement produced greater
destructive behavioral effects in less time and with fewer individual
differences among subjects than did total social isolation, previously
[demonstrated to be] the most powerful technique for producing
psychopathological behavior among monkey subjects.' Induced depression through
confinement has been reported in both young and mature monkeys."
Appendix B: The Nineteenth Century German Experience with Solitary
Confinement
"In 1863 Gutsch reported on 84 cases of psychosis stemming from
solitary confinement and described vivid hallucinations and persecutory
delusions, apprehensiveness, psychomotor excitation, sudden onset of the
syndrome, and rapid recovery upon termination of solitary confinement. Many of
these individuals developed 'suicidal and maniacal outbreaks.'
"In 1871, in a report on 15 cases of acute reactive psychoses,
some of which apparently occurred within hours of incarceration in solitary,
Reich described hallucinosis and persecutory delusions in addition to severe
anxiety leading to motor excitement – 'the patient becomes noisy, screams, runs
aimlessly about, destroys and ruins everything that comes in his way.' He also
described an acute confusional state accompanying these symptoms, sudden
cessation of symptoms, recovery, and subsequent amnesia for the events of the
psychosis.
John Eggerson (372012) hello 9
Due to WSPF/Supermax being prohibited from housing mentally ill
prisoners in their solitary confinement units, WSPF/Supermax's Psychological
staff are reluctant to acknowledge mental illnesses in prisoners. If
WSPF/Supermax's Psychological staff acknowledge mental illnesses in prisoners
in solitary it'll cause a hassle for the Security Dept. WSPF/Supermax Security
Dept has a history of being too overzealous in its effort to keep so-called
problematic prisoners in solitary for 5-10 years at a time; the last thing
WSPF/Supermax Security Dept wants to hear is they must release problematic
prisoners from its solitary because of a mental illness they suffer as a
consequence of solitary confinement abuse. Moreover, if WSPF/Supermax's
Psychological staff acknowledge mental illnesses in prisoners housed in
solitary such acknowledgement can open the prison up to lawsuits because
mentally ill prisoners are not suppose to be housed in WSPF/Supermax solitary
confinement units. So in order to provide cover for WSPF/Supermax Security
Dept's abuse of solitary confinement, its Psychological staff down plays, under
diagnose, and/or simply ignores mental illnesses in prisoners in solitary.
These are the reasons why WSPF/Supermax's Psychological staff are so reluctant
to acknowledge mental illnesses in prisoners in its solitary confinement units.
To avoid acknowledging mental illnesses in prisoners housed in
solitary, WSPF/Supermax's Psychological staff simply downplay and ignore mental
illnesses in prisoners by accusing us of malingering or trying to manipulate
staff. But as Dr. Terry Kupers testified to as an expert witness in a lawsuit
addressing mental illness in WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units; inmates
can malinger and have a serious mental illness at the same time. In settings
with insufficient staff, prisoners may discover that they have to manipulate
staff to a certain extent in order to get the attention they need, according to
Dr. Kupers.¹ In all fairness to WSPF/Supermax's Psychological staff, for the 10
years I've served in WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units I've witnessed
countless psychologists and mental health staff come and leave this prison in
frustration over how it operates. However there is one psychologist who has
been a mainstay of WSPF/Supermax Psychological Services Dept since I've been in
this prison – Dr. Stacey Hoem. I am aware of countless prisoners in
WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units who point their finger at Dr. Hoem as
being the influential force behind WSPF/Supermax Psychological Services Dept
systematic practice of downplaying, under diagnosing, and/or ignoring the
mental illnesses of prisoners in solitary.
At age 13, I was hospitalized at Milwaukee Psychiatric Hospital and
diagnosed as having a Cannabis-Induced Psychosis, I was treated with
Risperidone. During my stay, my mood stabilized, I had a rapid clearing of
thought disorder and I experienced no further hallucinations. I was discharged
after 6 days of being admitted (February 1998). I took the medication for a few
days after I was released from the hospital and then I quit taking the
medication. I slipped into a deep depression and in May 1998, I snapped out and
ran away from home and started self medicating on high levels of marijuana and
alcohol. I was engaging in criminal based thrill seeking behavior e.g. stealing
cars, drug dealing, gang violence. I was in and out of juvenile lock up and in
January 1999 the court ordered me to undergo a psychiatric evaluation at which
time I was determined to have a differential diagnosis of Cannabis Dependence,
Alcohol Abuse, Conduct Disorder, Adolescent Onset, and Rule Out Schizoaffective
Disorder. Again I refused any treatment and I returned to the street life of
gangs, drugs and crime.
At age 16, I was admitted into Mendota Mental Health Institute I was
given the following Axis I DSM - IV Diagnosis: Conduct Disorder, Adolescent
Onset, Bipolar Disorder versus Schizoaffective Disorder, Cannabis Dependence,
Alcohol Abuse. I was subjected to a battery of psychological and psychiatric
tests and I was again treated with Risperidone. I was released from Mendota six
weeks later and I again stopped taking the medication. Studies show according
to the National Alliance on Mental Illness that when the underdeveloped brain
of a teenager suffers a psychosis or serious mental illness it takes about 10
years to recover their mental health if properly treated. I suffered two
documented psychoses as a teenager and I was never properly treated – I refused
treatment.
I've been serving time in solitary confinement since a juvenile.
Solitary confinement messed me up so bad psychologically that I had to be sent
to Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center. It's ironic that now all of these studies
are coming out showing that solitary confinement impacts juveniles in a
psychologically damaging way because their brains are not fully developed.
Where were these studies when I was a juvenile? Solitary confinement is so
damaging to juvenile brain development that it has been banned for juveniles in
Federal Corrections and a growing number of State Corrections. Before I entered
Juvenile Corrections at age 15 I was admitted into Milwaukee Psychiatric
Hospital at age 13. While in Juvenile Corrections I was admitted into Mendota
Mental Health Institute at age 16 after my first stay in maximum security
solitary confinement. In my psychiatric evaluation from my stay in Mendota I
was cited as having little history of aggressive behavior up to that point. It
wasn't until I had my first stay in the hole as a juvenile that I started
becoming more aggressive and violent. Since age 16 I have had difficulty
functioning in prison general populations and I've served most of my time in
the hole as a juvenile and adult. My experience in solitary confinement as a
juvenile exacerbated the mental health vulnerabilities I already struggled
with. My psychological condition worsened as a result. I believe that the
damaging psychological effect of solitary confinement on me as a juvenile still
impacts me to this very day.
Since 16 I've had this violent and savage monster raging within me
committing violent acts time and time again. Every institution I've served time
in since age 16 I've always snapped out in violence and attacked other prisoners and guards, my
conduct record confirms this. I have no control over the monster when it snaps
it snaps, it was the monster that snapped in me and committed the violent home
invasion that I am incarcerated for. When I was given a psychiatric evaluation
in Mendota at age 16 I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder of which I was never
treated for. I rejected treatment and medication which worsened the disorder. I
went on to live a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde like life, being calm and cool one
minute and snapping out and becoming a vicious violent monster another minute.
I've been trying to get treatment and help for the monster but WSPF/Supermax's
Psychological staff refuses to acknowledge my mental illness for reasons I
already expressed.
On October 2, 2016 I assaulted an officer. I snapped and the monster
lashed out. Since I came to prison at age 22 (September 2006) I've been working
with Psychological staff in an effort to get a better understanding of my
mental health. Time and again Psychological staff in Green Bay Correctional
Inst. and WSPF/Supermax told me that I was okay. However, I knew about my
psychotic breakdowns so I knew I wasn't okay. I was aware of my mood swings
i.e. my Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde complex. Either my mood is upbeat and positive
or dejected and negative there is no in between. November 2008 I was referred
to WSPF/Supermax by Green Bay Correctional Inst. Security Dept but the
Psychological staff blocked my transfer to WSPF/Supermax because of my history
of mental illness. However, in January 2010, Green Bay Correctional Inst.
Security Dept put pressure on the Psychological staff to clear me
psychologically for transfer to WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units. Green
Bay Correctional Inst. Psychological staff reduced my mental health status from
MH-2 to MH-1.
Once I arrived at WSPF/Supermax in February 2010 I immediately wrote
the psychologist Dr. Becker about the monster. I still have a copy of what I
wrote. In 2011 I was classified as MH-0 and taken off the Psychological staff's
caseload because of my vocal protests denouncing the inadequacy of the mental
health care treatment provided by WSPF/Supermax's Psychological Services Dept.
I was taken off the Psychological staff's caseload by Dr. Hoem. I reached out
to the Psychological Services Dept so as to get an understanding of how to address
my mental health vulnerabilities and they continued to tell me that there was
nothing wrong with me. This frustrated me because no one on the Psychological
staff had ever taken a serious look into my mental health background, none of
them could explain why I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder at age 16, why I
was prescribed Risperidone medication, how my psychotic breakdowns as a
teenager affected the healthy development of my brain, how my refusal to comply
with treatment and medication exacerbated my mental illness, how the solitary
confinement abuse I've suffered as a juvenile and adult exacerbated my mental
health vulnerabilities, my Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde complex, my history of
snapping out in violence. WSPF/Supermax Psychological staff continued to be
reluctant to acknowledge the mental illness I suffer from, they continued to
refuse to acknowledge and seriously treat my mental health vulnerabilities.
The only way WSPF/Supermax could have sustained such a long run of
solitary confinement abuse and torture was if its Psychological staff signed
off on it and the only way the Psychological staff could have sustained its
approval of the solitary confinement abuse was by downplaying, under
diagnosing, and/or ignoring the mental illnesses of prisoners in solitary. It
took a lot of pressure and protest from prisoners, support from loved ones,
media attention and political pressure to compel WSPF/Supermax's Psychological
staff to stop rubber stamping the Security Dept's solitary confinement abuse
efforts. For the past 2 years the Psychological staff have been making
improvements on this front but there is still a lot to improve upon.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
¹ Jones 'El v. Berge, 164 F. Supp. 2d 1096; 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16360
Chapters 8 and 9
"In a statistical summary, Knecht reported in 1891 on the
diagnostic assessment of 186 inmates at the 'insane department' of the prison
at Waldheim and concluded that over half of the total inmates in this
department were there due to reactive manifestations to solitary confinement.
The majority of these inmates became insane within 2 years of confinement in
solitary.
"In 1884 Sommer reported on 111 cases describing an acute, reactive,
hallucinatory, anxious, confusional state associated with solitary confinement,
emphasizing the 'excited outbursts' and 'vicious assaults' of these patients.
His patients' illness began with difficulty in concentration and
hyperresponsivity to minor 'inexplicable' external stimuli. These 'elementary
disturbances of the sensorium (i.e., the five senses)' were seen as leading to
'elementary hallucinations' which became more numerous, eventually including
auditory, visual, and olfactory hallucinations and eventually becoming
incorporated with fearful persecutory delusions.
"In 1889 Kirn described 129 cases of psychosis among the inmates
at the county jail at Freiburg, concluding that in fifty of those cases,
'solitary confinement can be definitely considered as the etiological factor,
(and these) show a certain characteristic stamp' including persecutory
delusions and hallucinations in multiple spheres (auditory, visual olfactory,
tactile)."
Aversive Conditioning
"Individuals with psychopathic personality disorder are probably
among the least tolerant of sensory deprivation. One researcher has described
the essential core of psychopathic pathology as a pathological inability to
tolerate restricted environmental stimulation:
The psychopath is almost
universally characterized as [pathologically
stimulus seeking and]
highly impulsive... He is unable to tolerate
routine and boredom....
His outbursts frequently appear to be
motivated by little more than
a need for thrills and excitement...
"It is the impulsivity and lack of even minimal tolerance for
sameness which appear to be the primary and distinctive features of the
disorder.
"He goes on to argue that psychopathic individuals may chronically
exist in a state of relative stimulus deprivation: 'Highly impulsive,
psychopathic behavior [may be seen] in terms of stimulation seeking pathology.
If decreased reactivity and/or rapid adaptation [to environmental stimuli] do
produce in these persons an affective state of unpleasantness close to that
produced by severe sensory deprivation or monotony in the normal individual...
"He argues that behavioral impulsivity in such individuals may be
an effort at coping with this condition of relative sensory deprivation which
they experience: 'It may be possible... to view much of the impulsivity of the
psychopath, his need to create excitement and adventure, his thrill-seeking
behavior, and his inability to tolerate routine and boredom as a manifestation
of an inordinate need for increases or changes in the pattern of stimulation.
"A later study, directly comparing psychopathic inmates with
non-psychopathic controls, corroborated these findings. The psychopathic
inmates scored significantly higher on measures of boredom susceptibility and
of impulsivity. The authors concluded that psychopaths are pathologically
stimulation seeking and incapable of tolerating isolation conditions.
"Others, in a large scale study of criminal offenders suffering
from mental illness, noted that the prevalence of severe mental illness is
higher among incarcerated offenders than among the general population; and
that, compared with non-mentally ill inmates, the mentally ill inmates were
more likely to be housed in solitary. Moreover many of these mentally ill
inmates suffered from a combination of psychiatric disorders predisposing them
to both psychotic breakdown and to extreme impulsivity (often including
substance abuse). Such individuals tended to be highly impulsive, lacking in internal
controls, and tended to engage in self abusive and self destructive behavior in
the prison setting, and especially so when housed in solitary.
"Many of the inmates placed in solitary confinement are thus
likely to be among the least capable of tolerating the experience, among the
most likely to suffer behavioral deterioration as a consequence of such
confinement. Solitary confinement has at times been rationalized as being a
form of 'aversive conditioning,' intended to extinguish negative inmate behaviors.
Yet this assertion ignores many of the most basic tenets of any behavior
modification treatment, and would in any case clearly violate the ethical
guidelines governing the use of aversive conditioning:
a. Ethical Considerations
"First of all, since aversive conditioning – the use of punishment
as a means of inducing behavior change – is inherently suspect ethically and
creates an inherent risk of harm, very clear outcome variables have to be
articulated and systematically measured over time. As a result of these serial
measurements, there must be clear evidence that the undesirable behavior is in
fact lessening in frequency and intensity. Such measurement will also identify
those patients for whom such aversive conditioning is actually harmful, allowing
these individuals to be removed from the aversive treatment protocol. Were such
measurements done in the prison setting, staff would inevitably be required to
acknowledge the behavioral deterioration which many inmates were suffering as a
result of placement in solitary, and in such cases, ethical considerations
would have required transferring the inmate out of such confinement."
b. SHU Incarceration (solitary confinement) is not Aversive
Conditioning
"SHU incarceration (solitary confinement) does not meet criteria
for aversive conditioning. Indeed, any behavior modification scheme must define
and describe very explicitly two variables:
(i) The behavior being
changed:
"Behavior researchers have learned that in order for a subject to
benefit from aversive (or any other form of) conditioning, the behavior at
issue must be a single, very clearly defined behavior. When multiple behaviors
are responded to by the same reinforcer or punishment, learning and behavior
change does not occur. Thus, placement in SHU (solitary), which is 'punishment'
for a host of different behaviors, is simply not being used in a manner
consistent with an intent of behavior modification; there is inadequate linkage
of any specific behavior to this 'punishment.'
(ii) The
"punishment":
"Moreover, SHU (solitary) confinement is quite clearly not
'punishment.' To be effective, a 'punishment' must be very closely linked in
time to the targeted behavior, and for learning to occur, there must be
repeated opportunities to experience this close link between the target
behavior and the punishment. Thus, the 'punishment' must be brief and
immediate. For example, a mild but painful electric shock or a sudden very loud
noise would be ideal punishments in aversive conditioning.
"Occasionally 'time outs,' the brief use of a seclusion room to
quickly control disruptive behavior, are used as part of an aversive
conditioning program. But when this technique is employed, it is used very
quickly and for a very brief period of time – in order for the 'time out' to
work as a behavior modifier, there must be very clear alternative behaviors
which, when manifested, will immediately end the 'time out.'
"For any behavior modification scheme to work then, there must
always be an exquisitely close relationship between behavior and response.
Indeterminate or prolonged sentencing to solitary simply has nothing to do with
aversive conditioning."
***********************************************************************************
I've provided voluminous excerpts from Dr. Grassian's report on the
Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement and as you can see by any and all
measures solitary confinement has a negative psychological impact on prisoners.
The most profound question is: if the psychiatric harm caused by solitary
confinement had become exceedingly apparent well over one hundred years ago,
why is the psychiatric harm of solitary confinement being ignored for the most
part in today's prisons?
Chapter Nine – The Complicity of
Prison Psychological Staff
As I explained, I am housed in WSPF/Supermax which has a legacy and
history of solitary confinement abuse. Solitary confinement abuse is the over
use of it. This prison has a legacy of housing prisoners in solitary
confinement for 5-10 years at a time. If you compare WSPF/Supermax and other
Wisconsin Maximum Security Prisons with other State prison systems around the
country from the year 2000 to 2019, you'll find that more prisoners have served
5-10 years in solitary confinement than most (if not all) other prisons around
the country. Other states are more restrained in how they use solitary
confinement while the Wisconsin Prison System has a history of having little to
no restraint in how it uses solitary confinement. For example, in Minnesota
killing another inmate can earn a prisoner the maximum solitary sentence of 2
years. A violent knife assault gets you 45 days in solitary. In Wisconsin,
prisoners are serving 5-10 years in the hole for writing letters and other low
level rule violations.
WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units were so harsh and austere that
it was deemed unfit for housing mentally ill prisoners. A mental health
screening policy was put in place prohibiting the placement of severe mentally
ill prisoners in WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units. The Wisconsin Dept
of Corrections has a category for prisoners' mental health status. Prisoners
are categorized as MH-0, MH-1, MH-2, MH-2B. MH-2 prisoners are deemed to be severely
mentally ill; MH-1 prisoners are not deemed to be mentally ill but are on PSU
(Psychological Services Unit) caseload; MH-0 prisoners are deemed to have no
mental health issues. MH-2 prisoners are prohibited from being placed in
WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units.
This policy is a hassle for security departments in prisons throughout
the state because the most troubled and problematic prisoners have a history of
severe mental illness. If a prisoner becomes too troublesome and problematic
there have been instances when security and PSU staff have come together in
cahoots to lower MH-2 prisoners to MH-1 so they could be placed in
WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units. In WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement
units, prisoners who have a history of serious mental illness often experience
a recurrence or severe exacerbation of a previously existing mental condition.
It is established science that solitary confinement often results in severe
exacerbation of preexisting mental illnesses for prisoners. The data
demonstrated that the most severe, florid psychiatric illnesses resulting from
solitary confinement tend to be suffered by those individuals with preexisting
brain dysfunction. It is also established that prisoners who have no history of
mental illness tend to suffer psychiatric harm from prolonged stays in solitary
confinement.
Since WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units opened in 1999 this
prison established a legacy of solitary confinement abuse (the over use of it).
This prison has a legacy of keeping prisoners in solitary for 5-10 years at a
time. WSPF/Supermax's Security Dept is able to continue its abuse of solitary
confinement because WSPF/Supermax's Psychological staff signs off on it. The
psychiatric harm caused by solitary confinement has been exceedingly apparent
well over one hundred years ago. There are volumes of psychiatric literature
detailing the psychiatric harm suffered by prisoners from prolonged stays in
solitary. Yet and still WSPF/Supermax's Psychological staff have a legacy of
providing cover for WSPF/Supermax Security Dept to keep prisoners in solitary
for 5-10 years at a time.
Chapter Ten — Racial Bias and
Black Mental Health
What is the mind? Is a question that humanity has been striving to
answer since the beginning of time. It seems like we as humans define the mind
as the psyche. So what is the psyche? The psyche is defined as our soul and
personality – our mind. A question I have is do our psyche encompass our mental
and emotional attributes? Is there a true distinction between our so-called
mental and emotional health? Or is our mental health and emotional health one
and the same? I will say that our mental health governs our thoughts while our
emotional health governs our feelings and our thoughts and feelings manifest
into the behavioral conduct we exhibit. It seems that everything starts with
our mental health though, it is our mental health that tells us how to feel
about a certain life experience and however we feel about something will be
exhibited through our behavioral conduct. So our mental health is the ultimate
influencer of our emotional health.
Your mental health is measured and assessed in terms of your
sociability. If you are a person that displays pro social behaviors you are
deemed to be in good mental health, if you are a person that displays
antisocial behaviors you are deemed to be in poor mental health. So to be in
poor mental health means to be in poor social health, to have a mental sickness
means to have a social sickness. Whether you can socially function in a healthy
way or not is judged by how well you can socially function in overall society.
Can you acclimate, assimilate and adapt to society? If you can then you are
said to be socially adaptive to society, if you can't then you are said to be
socially maladaptive to society. If you are socially adaptive to society then
you are deemed to be mentally healthy, if you are socially maladaptive to
society then you are deemed to be mentally unhealthy. To socially function in a
healthy way in society is not an easy thing to do. To maintain pro social
behaviors is a challenging thing to do. Most humans have to be taught how to
socially function in society in a healthy way. Most humans have to be taught
how to become socially adaptive to society. To become socially adaptive to
society, people have to first be taught what the hell society is and how it's
suppose to function. For example, people have to be taught the purpose of why
society exist and what society is striving to achieve, etc. Then people have to
be taught what pro social behaviors are and what antisocial behaviors are. Then
people must be taught how to nurture and cultivate pro social behaviors and how
to suppress antisocial behaviors within themselves.
Society's Purpose
What is society and how is it suppose to function? Over 7 billion
people inhabit this planet and we reside in geographical territories called
nations or countries. There are nearly 200 countries in the world and each
country is subdivided into states, provinces, cantons, etc and each of these
subdivisions are made up of cities, towns and villages. These cities, towns and
villages are made up of communities. A society is a body of communities.
Communities of people organize themselves into societies on a city, state,
national and global scale to achieve things such as: 1) public safety through
police forces, firefighters, ambulances, military, etc; 2) public cleanliness,
i.e. garbage collection, keeping the water, soil, air and food clean of toxic
chemicals; 3) maintaining economic order through financial banking institutions
and other related facilities. There are other purposes behind why communities
of people organize themselves into societies but I won't cover them all right
now. The most important purpose for the societal organization of people is so
people can collectively confront some of the most difficult challenges facing
humankind.
The most difficult challenge facing humankind is for humans to figure
out what existence is. Trying to figure out what existence is consists of
humans figuring out what life is and what Earth and the Universe is? To figure
out what life is humans have to study all life organisms and all biological
systems needed for life. To figure out what Earth is humans have to study every
elemental aspect of Earth's make up and every elemental aspect of its location
in the Universe. To figure out what the Universe is humans again have to study
every elemental aspect of the Universe. In order to figure these things out
humans must use the scientific method. The Scientific Method is defined as the
rules and methods for the pursuit of knowledge involving the finding and
stating of a problem, the collection of facts through observation and
experiment, and the making and testing of ideas that need to be proven right or
wrong.¹ Hence we will figure out what existence is through science. Societal
organization enables humans to organize resources and efforts on a global scale
so as to concentrate them on helping humankind figure out what existence is.
So society's most important goal is to figure out what existence is
through scientific efforts, in order for humans to achieve this a standard and
quality of life must be established in which adequate food, clothing, shelter
and transportation are readily available. Adequate healthcare must be readily
available as well. So society's second most important goal is to establish a
standard and quality of life for its inhabitants in which adequate food,
clothing, shelter, transportation and healthcare is readily available. In order
to achieve this humans must learn how to manufacture and produce the highest
quality and quantity of food, shelter, clothing, transportation and healthcare
possible. Thirdly, society must maintain public safety so its inhabitants can
feel safe to participate in society's efforts to confront some of the most
difficult challenges facing humankind. Every society has laws, policies and
procedures for how its inhabitants must conduct themselves if the society is to
function at its highest potential and capacity in its effort to confront some
of the most difficult challenges facing humankind. If you socially function in
a healthy way in society and help it achieve its goals you are deemed a
mentally, socially and behaviorally healthy person. If you are socially
dysfunctional and unhealthy in society and you hurt its effort to achieve its
goals you are deemed a mentally, socially and behaviorally unhealthy person.
Pro Social and Antisocial
Behaviors
What are pro social and antisocial behaviors? Pro social behaviors are
regarded as behaviors that enable one to socially function in a healthy way in
society and help society achieve its goals. To socially function in a healthy
way one must be capable of socializing with others while keeping conflicts,
disputes and antagonisms to a minimum. If conflicts, disputes and antagonisms
arise one must be capable of engaging in effective dispute resolution free of
violent and assaultive behavior. Don't lie, cheat or steal from others. Be
honest, trustworthy, kind, respectful and loyal to others. These behavioral
guidelines can be deemed as pro social behaviors. Antisocial behaviors are
regarded as behaviors that lead to one being socially dysfunctional and
unhealthy in society and hurting society's effort to achieve its goals. Being
socially dysfunctional means that one is unable to socialize with others
without getting caught up in chronic conflicts, disputes and antagonisms. When
conflicts, disputes and antagonisms arise one resorts to violent and assaultive
behavior as a means of dispute resolution. Lying, cheating and stealing from
others. Being dishonest, untrustworthy, unkind, disrespectful and disloyal to
others. These behavioral guidelines can be deemed as antisocial behaviors. To
have a mental illness is to have an antisocial behavioral disorder of some sort
that prohibits one from socially functioning in society in a healthy and
productive way. To socially function in society in a healthy way people must be
taught how to nurture and cultivate pro social behaviors and how to suppress
antisocial behaviors within themselves.
Black Mental Health Crisis
When I was 18 years old, I was locked up in the Milwaukee County Jail
and I was housed with numerous guys who were members of my neighborhood street
gang and most of us were in jail for gang or drug related violent crimes and we
would sit around and brag about gang shootings, robberies, etc. as if such
activities were normal. That was an "aha" moment for me, because it
was that moment that opened my eyes to a profound TRUTH, which is that most
individuals who are subjected to the ravages of the street life of gang
violence become mentally and emotionally unstable, by default. It is like we
became so desensitized to violence that we lost our sense of humanity, we grew
callous and apathetic to fighting and shooting rival gang members. Inflicting
pain or injury on to someone has little to no impact on us. It is this
realization that ignited within me an insatiable inquisitiveness – a need to
further understand the effect the chaotic and savage milieu of intense
perennial street gang violence, has on the psyche – mental and emotional health
and stability of a person.
Another discovery I made happened while I was locked up in Marinette
County Jail which is located in a small white suburban town. Most of the White
suburbanites I met in the Marinette County Jail could enlighten you on their
mental health status, they could recite their diagnosis among other aspects of
information. The reason they were able to do this is because of the easy
accessibility White suburbia has to mental health care facilities. Then I noted
that I've never heard anyone in the ghettos and slums be able to communicate
their mental health status, diagnosis, etc. The reason why was because most of
us in the ghettos and slums don't have adequate access to mental health care
facilities, which in turn results in us being unaware or oblivious to our true
mental health status. Many of us in the Black ghetto suffer from mental
illnesses and don't know it. I personally know from first hand experience and
observation that there is a mental health crisis in the Black ghetto that has
been grossly ignored by mainstream society.
Although many of us in the Black ghetto suffer from mental illnesses of
some sort, we like the rest of society are ashamed to talk about this issue in
an open and honest way. Mental illness has historically had a negative stigma
attached to it. When you are diagnosed with a mental illness, you are viewed as
being crazy, maniacal and cognitively deficient. You are viewed as being
mentally and cognitively inferior (or less than) as a person. So at first when
I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and Impulse Control Disorder as a
teenager I was ashamed of the diagnosis. I didn't want to admit to myself that
something was wrong with my mental health, I didn't want to admit to myself
that I suffered from a mental illness. I told myself that nothing was wrong
with me, I refused to acknowledge the diagnosis, I refused to take the medication,
I refused treatment because to do so would have been an acknowledgment of the
diagnosis.
In 2012 I was in the hole in WSPF/Supermax solitary confinement units
and I was having a conversation with a guy out my hood name T Mac. T Mac was a
wild savage animal in the streets, who had no fear of killing or being killed,
T Mac just didn't give a fuck. In prison T Mac stayed in and out the hole for
violent assaults against other prisoners and guards. When he would come to the
hole he would snap out, get his cell sprayed with tear gas, get tased, get
placed on suicide watch, all type of shit. And he would do it so often that it
became the norm for him. So one day he and I were having a conversation and he
told me he had been meeting with the prison psychologists and he discussed the
mental illnesses he was diagnosed with. Like me T Mac had been in Juvenile and
Adult Corrections and because of that we had been meeting with prison
psychologists since we were juveniles so we had a decent understanding of the mental
illnesses we were diagnosed with. The difference between T Mac and me was that
he was willing to discuss it in an open and honest way and I wasn't.
Furthermore in 2015, again I was in the hole and I was having a
conversation with another guy out my hood name Tone Tone. Tone Tone and I had
been in Juvenile Corrections together back when we were 16 years old. Tone Tone
was another guy who was a wild savage animal in the streets, who had no fear of
killing or being killed, Tone Tone didn't give a fuck either. While in prison
he also stayed in and out of the hole for violent assaults against other
prisoners and guards. While in the hole he would also snap out and get his cell
sprayed with tear gas, get tased, get placed on suicide watch, etc. I would
have talks with him and he also would be very open and honest with me about his
history of meeting with prison psychologists and the mental illnesses he was
diagnosed with. To hear T Mac and Tone Tone discuss their diagnosis so openly
and honestly gave me the courage to discuss my diagnosis. It wasn't until I
assaulted the guard in 2016 at age 32 that I took a hard look at my life and
realized that since age 16 I had been
engaging in nonstop acts of anger and violence, I had a monster raging in me
that I simply couldn't control. I admitted to myself that after 16 years of
denial maybe I need to start taking my diagnosis seriously and acknowledge it
in an honest and truthful way and seek help. Instead of continuing to refuse
treatment I needed to seek treatment if I was sincere in wanting to bring an
end to the nonstop acts of anger and violence I've been caught up in since age
16.
One thing I learned from T Mac and Tone Tone
was that our minds and intellects were not inferior or less than when compared
to others, all three of us have first rate minds and intellects that seem
superior when compared to our peers, however we do struggle with antisocial
behavioral disorders like anger issues, violent inclinations, mental and
emotional instability, etc. and these issues are characterized as mental
illnesses but in truth mental illnesses are in essence social and behavioral
illnesses. Now that I am older and I have a deeper understanding of what mental
illnesses are I am more open and willing to discuss my mental illness
diagnosis. I want to express my appreciation to T Mac and Tone Tone for being
so open and honest with me about their mental health diagnosis because they
gave me the courage to be open and honest about mine. I hope me being open and
honest about my mental illness diagnosis will give others the courage they need
to discuss their mental health issues in an open and honest way. The Black
ghetto will not overcome the mental health crisis sabotaging our community
until we overcome our fears of the negative stigma and shame associated with
mental illness and acknowledge it in an open and honest way.
10 part 2
Underlying Causes of the Black
Mental Health Crisis
Some of the leading causes responsible for the Black mental health
crisis are: Violence, Anger, Drugs, Poverty, Lawlessness, Prison and Solitary
Confinement. I will discuss each of these in a more in depth manner.
Violence
Why is the Black ghetto such a violent place? The culture of violence
in the Black ghetto can be traced back to gangsterism. Gangsterism wasn't
created by Black people in America, gangsterism has been a part of America
since its inception. The American Dream is one that is promised to America's
poor from America's rich. America's rich promises the poor that they can
possibly make it big one day and become rich too if they work hard, follow the
rules and laws of society, and make meaningful contributions to the advancement
of society. However only a tiny fraction of America's poor ever ascends into
the socioeconomic class of the aristocracy (the rich). Majority of America's
poor never achieve the American Dream for a multiplicity of reasons. In
American society there are socioeconomic winners and losers, there are those
who have reached the American Dream and those who have not (the haves and have
nots). There are those who are the socioeconomic losers, the poor, the have
nots of American society who feel like the economic system is rigged against
the poor and favors the rich. Many of the have nots feel like the economic
system is rigged to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.
So some of the have nots rejected society's rules and laws and banded
together in outlaw gangs and started robbing trains and banks in the 1800's.
The Wild Wild Western outlaw gangs were America's first exposure to the
subcultural phenomenon of gangsterism. There were times when rival outlaw gangs
would shoot it out and kill each other to gain power and dominance over a
particular territory. But the notion of rival gangs shooting each other to gain
power and dominance over territory really exploded in urban cities in which
outlaw gangs brought that Wild Wild West mentality to the city streets of New
York, Chicago, etc. in the early 1900s. The gang wars in New York and Chicago
during the 1920s and 30s between the Italians, Jews, Irish, etc were
sensationally violent and savage. Al Capone, Frank Nitty, Lucky Luciano, etc
are still talked about in mass media to this day. Rival gangs in cities seemed
to cause more bloodshed more frequently than the rival outlaw gangs of the Wild
Wild West, although the Wild Wild West gang wars caused an abundance of
bloodshed also.
When Black people migrated from Southern plantations to Northern cities
they were exposed to gangsterism. Gangsterism in the Black ghetto took on a
life and style of its on. The gangsterism of the Black ghetto produces a lot of
bloodshed just like the gangsterism of the Wild West or the early gang wars of
the Italians, Jews and Irish in New York and Chicago. Gangs are like armed band
militias fighting civil wars throughout the streets of the urban concrete
jungle. The Black ghetto is war torn. Exposure to ceaseless violence, murders
of your loved ones and the death of complete strangers, just being around death
nonstop for your entire life, after a while it becomes a normal mode of
existence. When ceaseless violence, murders and death become a normal mode of
existence for you, you become antisocial by default. I don't care if you are
fighting a war in the United States military or gang wars in the inner city ghettos,
if you are around ceaseless violence, murders and death nonstop to the point
where it becomes a normal mode of existence for you, you will become
antisocial. If being violent and murderous are normal behaviors for you then
you are highly antisocial. So the ceaseless violence, murders and death nonstop
is a leading cause that has contributed to the mental health crisis in the
Black ghetto.
Anger
Anger gives us the adrenaline rush we need to run into the fires of
gang wars without the fear of death, injury or harm. When guys in the hood are
getting killed day in and day out, it makes you feel like you are next, like
you can be killed any day at any time. Because this is our reality in the Black
ghetto we have to decide if we are going to face such a reality with courage
and bravery or run from it in fear and cowardice. Most gangs in the Black
ghetto are based off some particular neighborhood or area and most of us align
ourselves with the gang that represents our neighborhood. Our neighborhood gang
will fight and go to war with other neighborhood gangs we don't like. All
soldiers want to ascend to the status of being a fearless warrior in battle,
again whether you are fighting a war in the United States military or gang wars
in the inner city ghettos, all soldiers want to ascend to the status of being a
fearless warrior in battle. It is those who have a reputation for being
fearless warriors in battle that get the respect and admiration. To ascend to
the status of being a fearless warrior in battle, you must be willing to run
into the fires of war without fearing death, injury or harm. And it is anger
that gives us the adrenaline rush we need to do it.
You have to stay ready to snap out in anger and rage at any time
because you never know when a conflict is going to kick off. It can be a minor
or major conflict it doesn't matter, you have to be the predator and not the
prey, at all times. To be the predator and not the prey, you have to be a
fearless warrior in battle, you must be willing to run into the fires of war
without fearing death, injury or harm. When you snap out in anger and rage and
get your adrenaline going it's like you don't fear shit, not even death. So
anger can be addictive in a way because it explodes your adrenaline and gives
you an immeasurable sense of power and fearlessness. However when you find
yourself having to always snap out in anger and rage it becomes a normal mode
of existence for you. When anger and rage becomes a normal mode of existence
for you, you become antisocial by default. Always snapping out in anger and
rage is an antisocial behavior that contributes to the mental health crisis in
the Black ghetto.
Drugs
Pain is real and when people get high on drugs, they disrupt your
neurological and physical equilibrium which generate pleasurable sensations.
It's like trying to walk when you're dizzy, it feels so funny and weird that it
triggers laughter some times. So disrupting your chemical balance and your
neurological and physical equilibrium makes you feel funny, weird and even
pleasurable. Feeling funny and weird is better than feeling pain. Feeling funny
and weird can trigger laughter and laughter can be a pleasurable experience.
Scientific studies say that pleasurable experiences releases dopamine into your
body, dopamine is a biochemical compound neurologically released from the brain
into the body that generates pleasurable sensations. Eating a delicious meal
releases dopamine into the body, a sexual orgasm releases dopamine into the
body, a cool breeze on a hot day, any pleasurable experience releases dopamine
into the body. Having dopamine released into the body is addictive, humans
chase dopamine releases day in and day out. We are addicted to pleasurable
experiences.
There are some people who are addicted to the pleasurable experience
good food brings and so they eat and eat until they become overweight and
obese. Some people are addicted to the pleasurable experience a sexual orgasm
brings so they have sex, sex and more sex. We chase pleasurable experiences
(dopamine releases) from wherever we can get them. Drugs is just another way to
get a dopamine release through the pleasurable experience they give you by
disrupting your chemical balance and your neurological and physical
equilibrium. People seem to prefer some forms of pleasure over others, again
some people prefer food, some prefer sex, some prefer drugs. If you abuse any
pleasure too much it can have a negative impact on the productivity of your
life. When your addiction and pleasurable experience of preference is drugs,
you will chase dopamine releases day in and day out through the use of drugs.
When drugs disrupt your chemical balance and your neurological and
physical equilibrium they amplify your emotions. Whatever emotion you're
feeling while high you feel an amplified version of that emotion. So if you are
feeling angry or upset, the anger that you feel is amplified and therefore you
will find a lot of people who lash out into destructive episodes of anger and
violence while under the influence of drugs. Also because people are so
addicted to the dopamine releases drugs give you they become neurologically
dependent on it just to function in a normal way. Some people chase the
dopamine releases drugs give them so much that the pleasurable experience
dopamine releases gives their body is the only way they want to feel. So they
chase it and chase it and chase it, day in and day out. It becomes an all
consuming desire to the point where if people don't get the dopamine release
they become desperate for it. They become so desperate for the dopamine release
that they will compromise their morals for it e.g. they will lie, cheat and
steal to get it.
Because drugs disrupt your chemical balance and your neurological and
physical equilibrium they tend to diminish your mental cognition over time. The
diminishing of your mental cognition is the natural consequence of disrupting
your neurological equilibrium. Your mental cognition is your mind's functioning
and faculties, when your mind's functioning and faculties are diminished, the
sharpness of your mind and the quality of your decision making diminishes. Also
the emotional amplification of drugs and the disruption of your chemical and
neurological balance drugs cause leads to mental and emotional instability over
time. So if you become neurologically dependent on dopamine releases drugs give
you to the point where you will lie, cheat and steal to get it, if you are
lashing out into destructive episodes of anger and violence while under the
influence of drugs, if your mental cognition is diminishing because of drugs,
if you are mentally and emotionally unstable because of drugs, and this is your
normal mode of existence, it is virtually impossible for you to contribute to
society in a productive way. Lying, cheating and stealing to get drugs, lashing
out into destructive episodes of anger and violence while under the influence
of drugs, the diminishing of your mental cognition, mental and emotional
instability are all antisocial behaviors that contribute to the mental health
crisis in the Black ghetto.
Poverty
To live in poverty means living in a state and condition of having
inadequate food, clothing and shelter. When you are facing starvation from
inadequate food, when you are wearing rags for clothes, and when you are facing
homelessness it puts you in a state of desperation. You become so desperate for
food, clothing and shelter that many people compromise their morals for it i.e.
they lie, cheat and steal to get it because they feel like that's their only
hope of getting adequate food, clothing and shelter. Living in endless poverty
keeps people in desperation, despair and hopelessness to the point where people
will compromise their morals to get out of poverty. The negative mental and
emotional toll poverty inflicts on people contributes to the mental health
crisis in the Black ghetto.
Lawlessness
The Black ghetto has historically felt like White America uses its
laws, courts, jails and prisons as tools of oppression to oppress Black people
and mass incarcerate us. White America's police force has a legacy of engaging
in police brutality and murder in the Black ghetto which has caused the Black
ghetto to rebel against White America's society and laws and develop a fuck the
police attitude. Obviously, rebelling against society's laws and police are
antisocial behaviors.
Prison
The mass incarceration of Black people has caused us to view prison as
a place of punishment, persecution, torture and abuse. Punishment, persecution,
torture and abuse breeds mental and emotional despair, anguish, pain,
hopelessness, anger and depression which has caused generations of mass
incarcerated Black prisoners to become mentally and emotionally broken, wounded
and injured people. Which also contributes to the mental health crisis in the Black
ghetto.
Solitary Confinement
Solitary confinement is an amplification of the campaign of physical
and psychological destruction, torture and abuse inflicted upon an already
mentally, emotionally, wounded and injured people. Which also contributes to the
mental health crisis in the Black ghetto.
Chapter 10 part 3
Psychology For The Ghetto Mind
Ghettos are neglected by the powers that be in America, problems in
ghettos are often ignored by mainstream society and one can point to the social
forces of racism and classism as aspects constituting the cause of this
neglect. Ghettos are inhabited mostly by minorities who live in poverty. The
White power brokers who dominate government and other socially vital
institutions simply don't regard problems in ghettos as important. For example,
poor ghetto children get abducted or come up missing all the time, however
mainstream media hardly ever give these cases wall-to-wall coverage like they
would for an affluent White child. Hurricane Katrina crystallized the unfair
and unjust treatment by which ghettos are treated by governmental institutions.
My point is that right now there is a mental health crisis raging in America's
ghettos that is being unjustifiably ignored by mainstream society.
The ultimate goal I would like to achieve is to contribute to a
legitimate and credible effort to prevail over the mental health crisis in the
Black ghetto and leave an improved mental health condition overall for
individuals in the Black ghetto. The most important task one can take on in
life is to learn how to live a fully functional and healthy life mentally and
emotionally. The core problem for many individuals in the Black ghetto is that
they are mentally and emotionally unhealthy and dysfunctional. And if that
simple dilemma can be fully appreciated then a sufficient effort can be mounted
to help individuals in ghettos become mentally and emotionally healthy and
functional.
I don't portray to know the extent and nature of all the issues and
problems that plague the ghetto, herein I've chosen to focus on a few
fundamental social ills that detrimentally impact the ghetto. I've studied some
of the most pioneering psychological theories known to the discipline of
psychology and I made an effort to apply those theories to the ghetto
condition. Throughout my 14 years in prison the Psychological Services Dept.
has always been under-staffed and under-resourced and as a consequence it is
often only able to triage from mental health crisis to crisis. For individuals
who need actual therapy i.e. life coaching, we are pretty much on our own. I've
become conditioned to prison treatment and educational staff making as minimal
an investment into prisoners as possible. When it came to me developing my
capacity of education in prison I didn't look to prison educational staff for
help – most of them don't give a fuck if I'm educated or not, to most of them I
am simply another number — if I make it, I make it — if I don't, I don't, they
won't lose any sleep one way or another. This predicament compelled me to
become an autodidact (a self educated person).
My perception of the prison educational staff is the same for the
prison treatment staff, most of them don't give a fuck if I get treatment or
not, prisoners come and go, if we get treatment, we do — if we don't, we don't,
they won't lose any sleep one way or another. Again, this predicament compelled
me to educate myself on my psychological condition and various theories of
treatment. I studied and researched Freud, Jung and Frankl hence you can see
the effort I've been making in my quest to find some answers to the questions I
have concerning my psychological health. I fused aspects of all three schools
of thought (Freudianism, Jungianism and Logotherapy) along with a few other
theories of treatment to develop a treatment plan for myself and others who
hail from the Ghetto. The treatment plan consists of 6 parts but I will only
discuss the part dealing with Freudianism in this book. I am writing another
book titled: End Recidivism Now; in which I discuss the treatment plan in its
entirety.
The Application of Freudianism to the Black Ghetto
Sigmund Freud advances the notion that humans are "just"
another species of animal, governed by our animal-base-primitive instinctual
nature (the id). The id is defined as the part of the psyche in psychoanalytic
theory that is completely unconscious and concerned with instinctual drives.¹
The ego which is defined as the part of the psyche in psychoanalytic theory
that is the organized conscious mediator between the person and reality,¹ the
ego represses the id or our animal-base-primitive instincts by imposing the
superego thereon. The superego is defined as the part of the psyche in
psychoanalytic theory that functions to reward and punish through a system of moral
attitudes, conscience, and a sense of guilt.¹ The superego can be simply
explained as the moral code and standard of society. Now Freud stated that if
the ego is dominated by the superego a neurosis results, and if the ego is
dominated by the id a psychosis results.
Most individuals raised in the ghetto street culture of gang and drug
violence have the capacity to inflict pain and violence on others and be coldly
apathetic about it. This capacity is caused by being raised in a culture
dominated by street gang and drug violence. This capacity stems from a
psychological or behavioral disorder of some sort. In the street gang culture
of the ghetto you are taught how to use violence as a tool of intimidation,
from simple assaults to inflicting bullet wounds from guns to murder. In the
street gang culture of the ghetto we don't care about the moral code, standard
and laws of society. Our ego is not dominated by the superego (the moral code,
standard and laws of society) our ego is dominated by the id (our animal base
primitive instinctual nature). According to Freud, the street gang culture of
the ghetto is a culture of people that allow our animal base primitive
instinctual nature to dominate our ego, which results in us having the capacity
to become savage, wild, violent monsters, i.e. psychotic. In the absence of
adequate schooling and nurture, individuals in the ghetto, animal base
primitive instinctual nature rages uncontrollably, intensifying and worsening
as time passes. Individuals lost in street gang violence attack each other like
ravenous animals. This reality can be
explained through the rationale that an uncontrolled and unregulated id
manifests into an undisciplined violent life for many individuals in the ghetto.
Now it seems that Freud's cure or remedy that would permit one to
attain a healthy psychological and behavioral condition is found in his theory
of sublimation, where he tells one to not ignore the moral code, standard and
laws of society (the superego) but liberate your repressed animal base
primitive instincts (id) by sublimating them through forms more socially or
culturally acceptable, forms such as exemplified in higher mental work, such as
science or art, or manual labor for those ill-equipped to perform higher mental
work. So in order for one to overcome one's savage and wild animal like
behavior that causes one to have a capacity to act as a monster and inflict
pain and violence on others in a cold and apathetic manner; one has to learn to
impose the moral code, standard and laws (superego) on one's ego and repress
your animal base primitive instincts (id) and then sublimate your repressed
animal base primitive instinctual energy through forms more socially or
culturally acceptable.²
Psychoanalytic theory has some fundamental common similarities with
other renowned schools of thought such as Socratic-Platonic philosophy and
Christian theology. Freud often spoke in the scientific abstract when he
expounded on his psychoanalytic theory and he didn't quite create a definitive
list of certain behaviors that can be observed to demonstrate that the id is
being transferred through sublimation. However, Socratic-Platonic philosophy
posits three parts of the human soul, the first part Socrates called the
rational part, he described this part as that with which the soul reasons; the
second part he called the irrational part, he described this part as that with
which the soul loves, hungers, thirsts and desires various indulgences and
pleasures; the third part Socrates called the spirit, he described this part as
that by which we feel indignant. Socrates stated that the rational part should
rule, inasmuch as it is wise and has foresight for the whole soul, and that the
spirited part should be its subject and ally. He went on to state that these two
parts will rule over the desiring part which is by nature insatiably covetous.
Socrates created an image of the three part soul wherein the rational part was
represented by the image of a man, the irrational-desirous part was represented
by the image of a many-headed beast, the spirited part was represented by the
image of a lion. He says that the man should be in control of the whole soul
with the help of the lion to tame the many headed beast and keep it under
control. Socrates says that if the man with the aid of the lion is able to tame
the beast the soul would display the four important virtues of wisdom, courage,
temperance and justice. However if the man is weakened and the beast is untamed
it will devour the lion and the soul would display the intensity of the desires
concerned with food and drink and sex, greed and lust and all other vices.³
So as you can see, Freudian psychoanalytic theory has some common
similarities with Socratic-Platonic philosophy, for Freud's id is Socrates'
many-headed beast, Freud's superego is Socrates' lion, and Freud's ego is
Socrates' man image. Christianity also views the human condition in a manner
similar to Freudianism, for Christianity feels that humans have a flesh nature
which is equivalent to Freud's id. Christianity also says that humans need the
assistance of the Holy Spirit to assert control over the primitive instinctual
flesh nature. Christianity's Holy Spirit is tantamount to Freud's superego.
Christianity provides a list of certain behaviors that make up human’s flesh
nature or id – they are: licentiousness (sexual vulgarity), hatred, jealousy,
outbursts of fury, selfishness, arrogance, lying, greed, drug/alcohol
addiction, thievery, and so on. Christianity's list of certain behaviors that
make up the Holy Spirit or superego are as follows: love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, humility,
temperance and being considerate.⁴
Conclusion
America's prisons have been used to mass incarcerate Black people. America's
prisons are places of punishment, persecution, torture and abuse that have
caused many Black prisoners to become mentally and emotionally broken, wounded
and injured people and solitary confinement abuse and torture — mentally and
emotionally breaks, wounds and injures us even more. If American society wants
to adequately and effectively address the mental health crisis in the Black
ghetto it should start with the reforming of its prison system since Black
people have been mass incarcerated and sent to America's prisons en masse.
American society must revolutionize its prisons from being instruments of
destruction, abuse and torture upon Black people to becoming instruments of
healing, treatment and rehabilitation for Black people. Prison must cease being
a place that exacerbates and aggravates the Black mental health crisis and
become a place that helps the Black ghetto overcome its mental health crisis.
Furthermore, American society must spearhead a more robust outreach
effort into the Black ghetto and provide mental health care facilities and
other resources that will allow the Black ghetto to address the mental health
issues it struggles with such as: violence, anger and drug addiction. Also
American society must spearhead a more robust effort of economic investment
into the Black ghetto so as to help it overcome the intergenerational state and
condition of poverty it has been mired in. Lastly, American society must
spearhead an outreach effort in which its lawmakers and law enforcement
officials reach out to the Black ghetto as an act of contrition to apologize
for weaponizing its laws, courts, jails and prisons as tools of oppression to
oppress and mass incarcerate Black people. This will go along way in helping
the Black ghetto overcome its rebellious attitude against society and its laws
and the police. The Black ghetto must be empowered to police its own community
nevertheless.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________¹
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
² All my Sigmund Freud references can be found in the following works:
An Outline of Psychoanalysis, tr. J. Strachey; General Introduction to
Psychoanalysis, tr. J. Riviere; The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud, tr. &
ed. A. A. Brill; Civilization and its Discontents, tr. J. Riviere
³ The Republic, by Plato
⁴ Galatians 5:19-23
Chapters
11 and 12
Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven — The Abolition
Of Solitary Confinement Abuse And Torture
Reforms
Following are excerpts from two articles: 1) More Prisons Are Phasing
Out the 'Box' By: Juleka Lantigua-Williams December 1, 2016 and 2) Stepping
Down From Solitary Confinement By: Maurice Chammah January 7, 2016. The
excerpts are as follows:
"Ironically, Colorado, the same state that houses the federal supermax
prison in Florence, is also home to a state prison agency that is consistently
cited by reformers as one of the most progressive in the country in its effort
to abolish solitary. Rick Raemisch, who runs the Colorado Department of
Corrections, initially tried a 'levels' program like the one at Alger to move
men out of solitary, but he eventually ended it after finding that too many
prisoners were not advancing through the system quickly enough. 'We decided
that when someone goes in, they should know when they're coming out,"
Raemisch said recently at a Vera Institute of Justice conference in Washington
D.C. Now, anyone placed in solitary will, by policy, spend no more than a year
there.
"Some psychologists are critical of giving staff full control over
how fast prisoners move through the stages – this is the case at Alger – as
opposed to setting unambiguous standards the prisoners have to meet (such as
taking a substance abuse class, for example, or going to counseling). James
Austin, a corrections consultant and former director of the Institute on Crime,
Justice, and Justice, and Corrections at George Washington University, said,
'it's like a college saying after four years, you may graduate based on how we
feel about you.'
Lantigua-Williams: "Are there any options for therapeutic services
offered, now that you're working based on the recognition that solitary can
actually be more damaging?"
Raemisch: "Yes. In fact, we have two institutions that are
dedicated to those that have mental health issues. Solitary has been banned at
both facilities. We also have policies that if a person is involved in a
disciplinary incident, a team looks at the incident, and if it was determined
that a mental health problem caused that incident, they're taken out of the disciplinary
process and put into treatment programs. We started what's called residential
treatment programs, which are becoming a national model. I tell people that
when we started these reforms not only did we not have a map, we had no road –
because none of this has been done before, so we had to invent things based on
the experience of our clinicians. Some things would work, some wouldn't. But we
developed what's called a 10 in 10 program, which is starting out of their
cells (sic) for 10 hours of therapy per week and then 10 hours of
extracurricular activities. The purpose, of course, is to get them back into
general population. We also had to develop step down programs for those that
had been in solitary for periods of time. You just can't simply open the door
and say 'you're going back to general population, have a good day.' That's not
going to work.
"The first step
down program is really just more of a socialization period when they're out
with other inmates a minimum of four hours per day. Once clinicians feel that
they're ready to move on, they go into another step down program where there's
actual therapy programming: anti-anger, cognitive programming, things of that
nature. We looked at it systemwide and saw that (violent) incidences were down.
"The next question
is if you don't use solitary, what do you use? What we developed were what we
called de-escalation rooms in these facilities, and they've been so successful
we're going to put them in probably all our facilities. They are basically time
out rooms (that inmates can request to use). There's music being piped in, and
there's stress relieving instruments in there such as stress balls, a
chalkboard if they want to write their thoughts out. They've been very
successful."
In the Star Tribune, Andy Mannix on December 4, 2016 did a story on
Solitary Confinement Abuse, following are excerpts from the article:
"California consented last year to a court settlement that will
drastically overhaul its use of solitary. Under the historic agreement,
California can send only the most serious offenders to solitary and the state
will build a new unit that allows more socialization, group activities and time
out of cell for inmates deemed too dangerous for the general prison population.
"North Dakota's Department of Corrections made a similar and
perhaps even more dramatic overhaul it flipped its solitary confinement unit
into a rehabilitation hub that offers group services like activities and
psychological treatment.
In the New Yorker, Atul Gawande did an article titled: Is Long-Term
Solitary Confinement Torture? Dated March 30, 2009. Following is an excerpt:
"Is there an alternative? Consider what other countries do.
Britain, for example, has had its share of serial killers, homicidal rapists,
and prisoners who have taken hostages and repeatedly assaulted staff. The
British also fought a seemingly unending war in Northern Ireland, which brought
them hundreds of Irish Republican Army prisoners committed to violent
resistance. The authorities resorted to a harshly punitive approach to control,
including, in the mid 1970s, extensive use of solitary confinement. But the
violence in prisons remained unchanged, the costs were phenomenal (in the
United States, they reach more than fifty thousand dollars a year per inmate),
and the public outcry became intolerable. British authorities therefore looked
for another approach.
"Beginning in the 1980s, they gradually adopted a strategy that
focused on preventing prison violence rather than on delivering an ever more
brutal series of punishments for it. The approach starts with the simple
observation that prisoners who are unmanageable in one setting often behave
perfectly reasonably in another. This suggested that violence might, to a
critical extent, be a function of the conditions of incarceration. The British
noticed that problem prisoners were usually people for whom avoiding
humiliation and saving face were fundamental and instinctive. When conditions
maximized humiliation and confrontation, every interaction escalated into a
trial of strength. Violence became a predictable consequence.
"So the British decided to give their most dangerous prisoners
more control, rather than less. They reduced isolation and offered them
opportunities for work, education, and special programming to increase social
ties and skills. The prisoners were housed in small stable units of fewer than
ten people in individual cells, to avoid conditions of social chaos and
unpredictability. In these reformed 'Close Supervision Centers,' prisoners
could receive mental health treatment and earn rights for more exercise, more
phone calls, contact visits, and even access to cooking facilities. They were
allowed to air grievances. And the government set up an independent body of
inspectors to track the results and enable adjustments based on the data.
"The results have been impressive. The use of long term isolation
in England is now negligible. In all of England, there are now fewer prisoners
in 'extreme custody' than there are in the state of Maine. And the other
countries of Europe have, with a similar focus on small units and violence
prevention, achieved a similar outcome.
"In this country, in June 2006, a bipartisan national task force,
the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's prisons, released its
recommendations after a year long investigation. It called for ending long term
isolation of prisoners. Beyond about 10 days, the report noted, practically no
benefits can be found and the harm is clear – not just for inmates but for the
public as well. Most prisoners in long term isolation are returned to society,
after all. And evidence from a number of studies has shown that supermax
conditions – in which prisoners have virtually no social interactions and are
given no programmatic support – make it highly likely that they will commit
more crimes when they are released instead, the report said, we should follow
the preventive approaches used in European countries."
This report also documents the Langley v Coughlin case. This lawsuit
was settled by consent decree. The settlement provided injunctive relief which
required the prison to begin to reframe the meaning it gave to behavioral
disturbances which they had previously responded to by further solitary time.
Under the settlement the prison began to actively consider whether such
disturbances were the result of organic personality disturbances, affective or
impulse disorders, or even of schizophreniform illness. The result of these
changes was apparently quite dramatic. Many of the prisoners who had been in
solitary began to be treated in a residential psychiatric unit within the
prison. This unit had previously refused to treat such inmates, claiming that
their security needs were greater than could be handled. When pressed to provide
services as a result of the settlement not only did they did the unit discover
that it was possible to provide these services, but moreover discovered that
the custodial and security needs of these inmates dramatically decreased when
their behavioral disturbances were framed as psychiatric problems rather than
as a security issue. Thus, as a result of the settlement of the lawsuit, all
parties to the suit benefitted – prisoners and the officers of the correctional
facility alike.
*****************************************************************************
As you can see there are many states that are reforming their solitary
units' policies and practices. When a prisoner goes into solitary we should know
when we are getting out. When we are serving hole time and the prison restarts
us time and time again with additional hole time we never know when we are
getting out of solitary. I call it going down the rabbit hole. We go down the
rabbit hole not knowing if or when we will ever get out. It's a defeating
feeling of hopelessness which leads to many of us snapping out in anger and
frustration at the prospect of indefinite solitary confinement. When I snapped
and assaulted the officer in the Deontaye situation, I had just received a
ticket and was about to be restarted with additional hole time after being in
solitary for nearly 7 years straight. The way this form of solitary confinement
abuse can be ended is by instituting the following reforms:
★ If prisoners are already serving solitary or administrative
confinement and we receive a warning or ticket for nonviolent behavior we shouldn't
be given additional hole time, other sanctions should be employed to address
such disciplinary infractions i.e. loss of recreation, cell confinement, loss
of electronics, phone calls, canteen, etc.
★ Making prisoners serve 5-10 years in solitary confinement
subjects us to a process of desocialization. Our psychological health and
condition declines so much from long term solitary confinement abuse that we
become desocialized. The desocialization effect of solitary exacerbates our
antisocial proclivities i.e. being aggressive, hostile and combative with other
people. Solitary needs to be a place that resocializes us not desocialize us.
Solitary units need to become rehabilitation hubs, residential treatment units
that take into account prisoners' organic personality disturbances, affective
or impulse disorders. The 10 in 10 program pioneered in Colorado should be
adopted (10 hours of therapy per week and then 10 hours of extracurricular
activities). Give us more socialization periods (4 hours per day) with other
prisoners. Provide therapy programming, use de-escalation rooms and set up
Close Supervision Units where prisoners receive mental health treatment and
earn rights for more privileges. The point of each reform is to socialize
prisoners as much as possible versus desocializing prisoners causing us to
exhibit more antisocial behaviors.
In every state that has achieved meaningful solitary confinement reform
it has been the psychological staff who have led the way. The WSPF/Supermax
psychological staff needs to do the following:
(a) If a prisoner
is serving time in solitary and has a history of serious mental illness,
WSPF/Supermax psychological staff should put in place safeguards to assure that
prisoners with a history of serious mental illness are not subjected to
solitary confinement abuse. Solitary confinement abuse is the over use of
solitary. WSPF/Supermax psychological staff must determine what constitutes an
over use of solitary i.e. what is too much solitary? The prevailing opinion is
that if a prisoner is in solitary in excess of a year that's too much solitary.
If a prisoner is subjected to too much solitary that constitutes solitary
confinement abuse. Solitary confinement abuse causes mental illness in
prisoners with no history of mental illness and it exacerbates mental illness
in prisoners who have a history of mental illness. WSPF/Supermax psychological
staff must recognize this truth and start protecting prisoners from mental
illness and/or the exacerbation thereof caused by solitary confinement abuse.
If a prisoner is deemed too dangerous for general population they
should be engaged with intense therapy and programming aimed at getting to the
root cause of their anger and violence. They should be given individual therapy
and programming for a set period of time and then they should receive group
therapy and programming for a set period of time with restraints. After they
complete this time period they should be able to receive group therapy and
programming without restraints. The group can be 4 to 6 individuals monitored
by psychological staff to assure that individuals in the group don't have
problems or conflicts with each other. A secure treatment unit or range to
accommodate these prisoners should be set up. If WSPF/Supermax can't set up a
secure treatment unit or range to accommodate these prisoners and their
treatment and programming then these prisoners ought to be transferred to a
facility that can accommodate this capacity of treatment.
Therapy is important because it helps prisoners change self-defeating
patterns of behavior. Colorado provides 10 hours of therapy a week for its
prisoners in solitary, in WSPF/Supermax you're lucky if you can get one hour a
week of therapy. You are lucky if you can get one hour a month. Why is this?
Because WSPF/Supermax psychological services lack the personnel and resources
to provide such capacity of treatment and programming for its solitary unit.
(b) When prisoners
enter solitary they should know when they will be released. WSPF/Supermax
Security Dept has been able to keep prisoners in solitary for 5-10 years plus because
they add on additional hole time for nearly any and all infractions prisoners
receive. When prisoners are trying to complete the PACE step down program they
can be held back for nearly any and all infractions they receive. This must
stop! If a prisoner is in the step down (phase) program for AC, if a phase is 2
months, no additional time should be added for a prisoner to complete that
phase so long as he completes the programming. The only infraction a prisoner
should receive additional hole time for is violence or the threat thereof.
Putting an end to these practices is the only way solitary confinement abuse
will come to an end in WSPF/Supermax. WSPF/Supermax psychological staff have to
acknowledge the solitary confinement abuse that prisoners in WSPF/Supermax have
been subjected to. The psychological staff have to acknowledge the
psychological damage solitary confinement abuse has inflicted on many prisoners
in WSPF/Supermax and they must stop downplaying and/or ignoring the
psychological damage solitary confinement abuse has inflicted on us prisoners.
WSPF/Supermax psychological staff must demand an end to solitary confinement
abuse.
★ The Continuity of Educational and Treatment Programming
As I stated before, in the Wisconsin Prison System all prisoners were
assessed and evaluated so as to determine what sort of educational and
treatment programming they were in need of. Once prisoners educational and
treatment programming needs are better understood they are shipped to a prison
that provides the programming they need. When a prisoner arrives in their
assigned prison they can partake in the educational and treatment programs they
need as long as they remain in general population. If they are placed in
solitary confinement for whatever amount of time they are removed from their
educational and treatment programs. When you get out of solitary confinement
you must stay out for at least 6 months before you can sign back up for any
educational and treatment programs.
The way the treatment programs are ran is about every 3-4 months
treatment staff organize groups of prisoners to take a program. The program may
take 120 days to complete, so the group will start on April 1st and finish
August 1st. Now if you are participating in a program and you are half way done
with it (meaning you have 60 days completed) if you are sent to solitary
confinement you are took out of the program. The rationale behind this is that
once you are in solitary confinement you are unable to attend the program which
is held like once or twice a week and if you can't attend the program for 3-4
weeks because you are in solitary then you will fall behind, therefore
treatment staff feel like it's best to take you out of that programming group
and have you start over with a new group once you get back out of solitary. I
understand this logic that if you can't keep up with your group because you're
in solitary confinement then you have to be took out of that group and placed
in a new group once you get back out of solitary. But if programming is as
important as society says it is then prisoners should never be removed from
programming whether you're in gp or solitary. In fact if you are in solitary
confinement you may need programming even more.
I feel like educational and treatment programming are so important that
prisoners should have to do it no matter if they are in gp or solitary. Under
the current policy if officers want to make a systematic effort to disrupt
prisoners efforts to attain educational and treatment programming all the
officers have to do is mount a harassment campaign and they can send you to
solitary for damn near anything. And the more prisoners that return to society
without receiving adequate educational and treatment programming the higher the
recidivism rate will be. The higher the recidivism rate is the higher the
prison industrial complex generation of revenue will be. So if a prisoner is
taking a program and is sent to solitary confinement midway through that
shouldn't matter. Solitary confinement units ought to have educational and
treatment programming staff that can keep prisoners caught up in their
programming while their in solitary. If this reform is put in place the amount
of prisoners that return to society with adequate educational and treatment
programming will greatly increase and this will reduce the recidivism rate. We
must fight for the continuity of educational and treatment programming whether
you're in solitary confinement or not!
★ More Out
Of Cell Time
Prisoners on AC status receive the same amount of out of cell time
under the PACE program as we did under HROP. We are still confined to
claustrophobic conditions in cells the size of a small bathroom for 22-24 hours
a day for months and years at a time. Into this change we prisoners will
continue to suffer negative psychological and behavioral health deterioration
from solitary confinement. We prisoners will continue to suffer the antisocial
effect of being confined to claustrophobic conditions for months and years at a
time. So we must fight for more out of cell time in the form of recreation and
educational and treatment programming. In Colorado they developed a 10 in 10
program for their solitary confinement units this program allows prisoners to
be out of their cells 10 hours a week for therapy and 10 hours a week for
extracurricular activities. If Wisconsin offered this much out of cell time for
its solitary confinement units the negative psychological and behavioral effect
of being confined to claustrophobic conditions for 22-24 hours a day for months
and years at a time would be greatly mitigated.
Conclusion
WSPF/Supermax has one solitary confinement unit now that houses up to
about 85 prisoners and about 65 to 70 of the prisoners in this solitary
confinement unit are Black. There are 25 prisoners on this one solitary
confinement unit alone who have been in solitary for over 5 years. There are
about 50 prisoners on this solitary confinement unit who have been in solitary for
over a year or two. So even with the PACE program prisoners are still being
subjected to long term solitary confinement abuse. WSPF/Supermax is able to
continue their legacy of solitary confinement abuse because the courts and
policymakers are convinced by the prison administration that Administrative
Confinement is non-punitive. How is Administrative Confinement non-punitive if
you are locked in a cell 22 to 24 hours a day for years at a time? In general
population you can work a job, go to school, among other activities that get
prisoners more out of cell time. Administrative Confinement (Phase 1&2)
prisoners get 1½ hours of rec four days a week, so for three days of the week
we are in our cell 24 hours a day. Phase 3 prisoners get 1½ hours of rec five days
a week, so for two days a week we are in our cell 24 hours a day on this
status. Phase 4 prisoners get 2 hours of rec five days a week, so for two days
a week we are in our cell 24 hours a day on this status. Being confined to a
cell 22-24 hours a day for years at a time is highly punitive.
WSPF/Supermax psychological staff still haven't put forth an adequate
effort demanding that prisoners with histories of being vulnerable to mental
illness not be subjected to solitary confinement abuse. Most of us who have
been in solitary for over 5 years have histories of being vulnerable to mental
illness. And the psychological staff still refuse to stand up to the Security
Dept and demand change.
If you agree that these reforms should be adopted so as to bring an end
to solitary confinement abuse and torture, an online petition will be set up
for you to sign. The hope is to bring an end to solitary confinement abuse and
torture in the Wisconsin Prison System and all of America's prisons.
Chapter Twelve — Speak Truth 2
Power Coalition
Speak Truth 2 Power Coalition (ST2PC) mission is to raise awareness on
the issue of the mass incarceration of Black people as the Civil Rights' issue
of this generation and to present solutions to the problems that continue to
perpetuate the mass incarceration of Black people.
There are three areas of concern ST2PC will address so as to halt the
plague of the mass incarceration of Black people. The three areas of concern
are: 1) Solitary Confinement Abuse; 2) Criminal Justice and Prison Reform; 3)
Recidivism.
Solitary Confinement Abuse
Many Black people are sent to American prisons outside the view of the
public and are subjected to the abuses and torture of solitary confinement on a
disproportionate level. Instead of receiving educational and treatment
programming we are disproportionately subjected to solitary confinement abuse
which causes the deterioration of our psychological and behavioral health.
After solitary confinement abuse damages our psychological and behavioral health
we are returned back to society with our mental and emotional health in worse
shape than it was when we entered prison. When we return to society with our
mental and emotional health damaged by solitary confinement abuse we are more
prone to reoffend, commit crimes and return to prison.
The public doesn't understand how widespread solitary confinement abuse
is in America's prisons and how disproportionately it is used against Black
prisoners. The public doesn't understand how our psychological and behavioral
health is damaged by solitary confinement abuse and how we are returned to
society in worse shape mentally and emotionally than when we entered prison.
Prisoners going back and forth, back and forth to prison can often be traced to
their poor mental and emotional health caused by solitary confinement abuse. If
the mass incarceration of Black people is to be stopped, ending the
disproportionate use of solitary confinement abuse against Black prisoners must
be an instrumental part of it.
CHAPTER 12
Criminal Justice and Prison Reform
The American Criminal Justice and Prison System is broken. A new model
must be adopted for how to deal with crime in America. First, all crimes should
be divided into violent and nonviolent crimes. Violent crimes are: murder,
attempt murder, assault with a deadly weapon, rape, battery, assault.
Nonviolent crimes are: Drug dealing/substance abuse, property crimes (theft).
Violent criminals should be kept separate from nonviolent criminals, so as to
keep violent criminals from influencing nonviolent criminals into becoming
violent. Higher level violent criminals should be kept separate from lower
level violent criminals, so as to keep high level violent criminals from
influencing lower level violent criminals into high level violence.
Correctional institutions (prisons) should be established as
institutions of learning one's civic duty. Criminals should be taught how
society is suppose to function and its purpose and goal for existing. Whatever
law(s) a criminal has violated he should be taught why such laws were created
and how they contribute to the healthy functioning of society. Criminals should
be made to earn their way back into society through community development
projects aimed at helping society fulfill its purpose and achieve its goals. I
am authoring a book on overall Criminal Justice and Prison Reform.
Recidivism
The mass incarceration of Black people is a perpetual cycle because
when many Black prisoners are released back into society we often fail in our
efforts to effectively transition back into society. ST2PC wants to set up a
reentry program called: End Recidivism Now. The End Recidivism Now reentry
program will help prisoners transition back into society by teaching them job
search skills and effective financial planning skills. When ST2PC help
prisoners transition back into society through the End Recidivism Now reentry
program we have to help them maintain their freedom. ST2PC will set up an Urban
Therapeutic Clinic Outreach Center that'll provide a treatment program focused
on helping individuals in the Black
ghetto avoid the pitfalls caused by the lifestyle of gangs, drugs and crime,
this will go a long way in helping guys maintain their freedom. I am authoring
a book titled: End Recidivism Now. This book will present my perspective on how
to reduce recidivism rates for Black prisoners. This book will also present my
perspective on how the Black ghetto can rise above the gang, drug and crime
problem.
Solitary Confinement, Criminal Justice and Prison Reform
To achieve Solitary Confinement, Criminal Justice and Prison Reform
ST2PC will post an online petition so as to gather public support behind the
Solitary Confinement, Criminal Justice and Prison Reforms ST2PC is advocating.
ST2PC wants to organize public demonstrations at the State Capitol building and
various prisons around the state. ST2PC will organize public demonstrations so
as to raise public awareness for the need for Solitary Confinement, Criminal
Justice and Prison Reform. ST2PC will also set up a legal defense fund to help
prisoners who have been subjected to solitary confinement abuse finance
lawsuits. ST2PC will also organize a grassroots campaign of having supporters
in the community contact public officials to advocate for reforms.
ST2PC will be operated as a nonprofit organization, it'll have a robust
website and social media platform. If ST2PC succeeds in Wisconsin other ST2PC
Chapters will be set up in other states to help them fight for Solitary
Confinement, Criminal Justice and Prison Reform as well.
https://meetyourprisoners.blogspot.com/2019/12/julio-soto.html
