More Jails for the Navajo Nation

This is a very sad commentary - I thought they'd be using the money for re-entry programs or something...they're trying to pack more into jails instead. 

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LA Times
By Kate Linthicum
October 31, 2009

Navajo hope stimulus cash closes a revolving prison door

Limited jail space is keeping criminals on the street, but a Justice Department grant is set aside to help.

Criminals at Navajo holding facilities like this one in Kayenta, Ariz., are usually released within a day of being booked. Kayenta and two other towns will get new jails next year, thanks to a grant from the Justice Department. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times / October 26, 2009)

Reporting from Tuba City, Ariz. - More than 50,000 people are arrested across the Navajo reservation each year -- yet there are only 59 jail beds here.

Officials say the lack of jail space has led to a revolving door for criminals, most of whom are released within a day of being booked, and few of whom serve out an entire sentence.

"It's been a horrendous situation," said Hope MacDonald-Lonetree, a Navajo council delegate. "You can't assure the safety of the police and judges and the prosecutors when you have the perpetrators running around. And it affects the courts because people aren't willing to be witnesses."

Tribal leaders are hoping that may change soon, thanks to a $224-million Justice Department stimulus grant that has been set aside to build and repair jails on Indian land. The Navajo Nation, the country's largest tribe, received the biggest share of the money -- more than $74 million for the construction of three new jails.

The jails will add 144 beds to the Navajo reservation and will house alcohol counseling programs to help curb the high rate of repeat alcohol-related arrests, which corrections officials say is the main cause of overcrowding.

The money comes after years of unsuccessful Navajo lobbying for more federal help with law and order.

The federal government is required to fund jails on reservations as part of its trust responsibility to the nation's tribes. The Bureau of Indian Affairs pays to run jails on Indian land, and the Justice Department pays to build them.

But the BIA has a bad track record with tribal jails -- a 2004 Interior Department Inspector General report of Indian detention facilities found that some "were egregiously unsafe, unsanitary, and a hazard to both inmates and staff alike."

The Justice Department has for the last several years had an annual budget of less than $10 million to construct facilities and fund repairs for the 80 or so existing jails on reservations across the country.

Indian advocates say overcrowded and underfunded tribal jails have contributed to disproportionately high rates of crime in Indian country. According to a Justice Department survey, Indians experience almost twice as much violence as the rest of America.

On the Navajo reservation, which straddles 27,000 square miles of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, tribal officials say gang activity is at an all-time high, and chronic alcoholism and substance abuse have helped make domestic violence and drunk driving common. (these can be treated with things other than prison)

There have been no jail facilities constructed here since a juvenile facility was built in the 1980s.

Two years ago, two of the tribe's main jails were condemned and closed, leaving just three jails, in the towns of Shiprock, Window Rock and Crownpoint. Those facilities -- cinder-block structures built in the 1950s and 1960s -- are barely habitable, corrections officials say, and are so overcrowded that jail workers are frequently forced to release prisoners early to make room for new ones.

"We're always playing musical chairs -- or musical jail beds," said Delores Greyeyes, who heads the Navajo Nation Department of Corrections. "We just pump [prisoners] through."

Navajo courts are responsible for prosecuting only misdemeanor crimes -- such as burglary, battery and drunk driving -- and the maximum punishment for a conviction is one year in jail and a $5,000 fine. Inmates accused of committing felonies are transferred to prisons off the reservation and are prosecuted federally.

Peterson Wilson, the prosecutor for the Tuba City District, one of nine judicial districts on the Navajo Nation, said, "A lot of crimes go unreported because there's an impression that we won't hold the criminal." And prosecutors and judges are disinclined to push for harsh sentences when they know there's no place to house criminals, he said.

He hopes the new jails, which will be built next year in Tuba City; Kayenta, Ariz.; and Ramah, N.M., will help fix that.

Tuba City, the biggest town on the reservation, received the largest single Justice Department grant -- $38 million for a 62-bed jail. It will offer inmates mental health and alcohol rehabilitation counseling.

Although alcohol is illegal on the Navajo Nation, alcoholism is widespread, and the vast majority of inmates are booked for public intoxication. Jails have become a catch-all for people who need help, McDonald-Lonetree said. She hopes the rehab programs will help stop that.

"We don't want to have to build another 100-bed facility in the future. We don't want to go into the business of warehousing individuals like the rest of America does," she said. "We want to rehabilitate people."

kate.linthicum@latimes.com

Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times

AZ Taking Risk -w- Privatization

Las Vegas Sun editorial:

No to private prisons

Arizona taking a risk with its plan to privatize nearly the entire state prison system

Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.

Arizona officials, trying to save money, are on the verge of seeking bids from private prison companies, which would share the job of managing the state’s 40,000 inmates.

The state will likely come to regret passing this critical function on to the private sector.

It is a government responsibility to arrest, charge, try and sentence those who are found guilty of crimes. It follows that it should be the government’s responsibility to oversee those persons sentenced to jail or prison.

Trying to dodge accountability to the public for such responsibilities as jail and prison conditions, security, the training of corrections officers and the treatment of prisoners could end up costing the state more money in the long run.

Hiring a less-accountable private company — on the provision that it spend far less money on all of those jobs than the government is spending — incurs high risk. And it does not, in the end, save money, as has been proven.

In 2001, for example, the Justice Department studied the trend toward private prisons, which began in the early 1980s. It discovered that projected savings never materialized.

Additionally, Nevada’s eight-year experiment with allowing a private company to run the women’s prison in North Las Vegas ended miserably. There were security problems — as there are at a lot of private prisons — and the company failed to meet even minimum standards for inmate health care. The state was forced to take over the facility in 2004.

Arizona has several private prisons that take in felons from other states. A state official told The New York Times that “we are very happy” with their performance. Yet The Arizona Republic last year wrote that the private prisons were virtually unregulated and that an escape by two killers had raised security concerns.

The concerns will surely escalate if private prison companies take over the state prison system, including the buildings housing death-row prisoners. That’s not a job for companies that have a mandate to cut costs.

Beware the Scary Criminals who make the laws...

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

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


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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

Free Marcia at Blogspot!

Thanks to Nevada Prison Watch, Free Marcia Powell is back up and can be found at http://freemarciapowell.blogspot.com. Please spread the new address via list serves, email, etc. ASAP.

SOS Friends of Marcia!

Just a little cross-posting today from the Prison Abolitionist because the Free Marcia Powell website appears to no longer exist. So, move on if you already read this today. Otherwise, here's what's on my mind:

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Hey All -

do me a favor and try to hit www.freemarciapowell.org today. I'm not able to pull it up - my screen keeps telling me it doesn 't exist, except when I sneak in the back door to my dashborad - but I still can reach the site from there.

So, wherever you are, whoever you are, it would help to know if it's the site, browser, etc. Just send me word at prisonabolitionist@gmail.com with what you come up with - and introduce yourself - my name's Peggy..

In the meantime, if can retrieve any of the more recent stuff from Free Marcia Powell, I'll just re-post them here.

You don't think planning to see the Governor at the Homecoming Parade is too provocative, is it?

I wasn't planning any kind of coordinated protest or anything - I just want to make sure the Governor's crew keeps Marcia Powell and the rest of the prisoners of this state in the forefront of their minds as they raise campaign funds at high price events, and cut away at the budgets that feed, house, clothe, school, and - in disturbingly rapidly growing numbers - incarcerate the people of this state.

Women are being sexually exploited in the prisons; that knowledge is commonplace. Men are murdered, raped by other men, and suicide on a regular basis. People sent up for a few years on a relatively minor offense find themselves diagnosed with things like colon cancer, and never get to feel the touch of a loved one again. Is that how we want to punish people who just lost their homes and are desperately trying to stay afloat?  Or self-medicating their way back from three tours of duty?

We can't trust the judges or prosecutors in this state. They appear to have very little humanity, and their egos are far too delicate for them to admit their mistakes. Go visit the prisons yourselves, if you can get in. Look who we've got locked away. Talk to their family members, check out their stories. The innocence claims are credible, but will get buried by men like Andrew Thomas if we turn our backs from those prisoners now.

As for the brutalizing, dehumanizing effects of mass incarceration in this state, I don't know how anyone in this community can honestly suggest that what happened to Marcia that day was just a case of bad guards and violations of department policy, something that the Good Old Boys at the ADC can take care of if we just leave them to their work.

In fact, Ryan and his gang are doing their work exactly as we've trained them to do: render the people we hate and those we fear powerless, invisible, and silent - no matter how high the price in economic or human potential. "Justified" or not by a person's alleged guilt or admitted crime, incarceration is how we do violence to each other the most with the least amount of responsibility - we leave it to the cops and the courts under the unbelievably naive idea that because this is America the state can be trusted to let us know what really is and isn't "justice".

That's about all the stamina I have now. I'm sure I'll be back to rant and rave more later. In the meantime, don't forget to check out what's happening with www.freemarciapowell.org, and get back with me. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just read a few of the posts about Marcia below.

Peace.

Children of Incarcerated Parents resource

"Children of Incarcerated Parents: An Action Plan for Federal Policymakers" 
by The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center (October 26,2009) 

The plan outlines promising practices and 70-plus recommendations for improving outcomes for the more than 1.7 million children of incarcerated parents.  The publication reflects the work of an advisory board of criminal justice and child welfare experts, representatives of community-based organizations, and a bipartisan group of state and local government officials.

Among the federal action plan's recommendations are those that urge policymakers to

* create federal interagency task forces and develop cross-system collaborations that address the risk factors of children of incarcerated parents and better link them to services;

* support new policies and practices in the criminal justice system that address trauma associated with a parent's arrest and their incarceration, which is often many miles from where a child is living;

* encourage measures that facilitate visitation when in the best interests of the child and promote permanence that takes into account siblings and other important relationships;

* address federal and state measures that make it more difficult for caregivers to obtain benefits and support for these children.

http://www.reentrypolicy.org/jc_publications/federa_action_plan_/Children_Incarcerated_Parents_v8.pdf

This and other research focusing on alternatives to mass incarceration and women and their children can be found at www.realcostofprisons.org

Selling the states' living dead for the best deal

What will privatizing super maximum prisons in Arizona mean for it's inmates, can they expect fair treatment?

Seattle Times 

One of the newest residents on Arizona's death row, serial killer Dale Hausner, poked his head up from his television to look at several visitors strolling by, each of whom wore face masks and vests to protect against the sharp homemade objects that often are propelled from the cells of the condemned.

It is a dangerous place to patrol, and Arizona spends $4.7 million each year to house inmates such as Hausner in a super-maximum-security prison. But in a first in the criminal-justice world, the state's death-row inmates could become the responsibility of a private company.

State officials soon will seek bids from private companies for nine of the state's 10 prison complexes that house roughly 40,000 inmates, including the 127 on death row. It is the first attempt by a state to put its entire prison system under private control.

The privatization effort, in its breadth and aggressive financial goals, demonstrates what states — broke, desperate and often overburdened with prisoners and their associated costs — are willing to do to balance the books. Arizona officials hope the effort will put a $100 million dent in the state's roughly $2 billion budget shortfall.

The privatization move has raised questions about the ability of the private sector to handle the state's most hardened criminals. While executions would be performed by the state, officials said, the Department of Corrections would relinquish all other day-to-day operations to the private operator and pay a per-diem fee for each prisoner.

Link:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2010127223_prison24.html#

Private Prison Watch: Arizona Seeks Bids for Death Row to Reduce Deficit

Another resource on the privatization scene - the author is Andrew Strong, here's his site Private Prison Watch
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Arizona Seeks Bids for Death Row to Reduce Deficit

Guards escort an inmate in a privately-run Arizona facility. (JENNIFER STEINHAUER/New York Times)

Arizona is currently in the midst of a $2 billion budget deficit, up from $1.5 billion in midyear; roughly a fifth of the budget (AP). This increase in deficit is due to drops in tax collections, social safety-net spending (food stamps, subsidized transportation, etc.) and vetoed measures to reduce the budget gap by the Arizona governor. Because of the condition of the Arizona economy, many state officials are calling for budget cuts. Arizona House Appropriations Chairman John Kavanagh says, "I don't see how you get out of a $2 billion hole without using every resource you have" (AP). One of the resources that Arizona plans to use to reduce the deficit is to privatize 9 of their 10 remaining public facilities. CCA already operates six facilities in the state, and ten are privatized in total, holding a total of 30% of their inmates (NYT). "We're going to have to cut government big time," Kavanagh says (AP).

One of the largest costs to any government is the housing of prisoners. Because the public sector sees no return on the money spent on criminal detention, it is usually a large piece of the deficit pie in a mismanaged budget like Arizona's. Because of this, it is not unusual that a state would first plan to cut detention funding in times of deficit. One proposal calls for the early release of a quarter of the felon inmates who are close to the end of their sentence as well as cutting healthcare for children (DD). But would privatization really help in the long-run?

The New York Times reports that, "[A] 2001 study found that private prisons save most states very little money. Indeed, many states, struggling to keep up with the cost of corrections, have closed prisons when possible and sought changes in sentencing to reduce crowding in the past two years" (RS). This might not be a bad idea for Arizona, either. Given that Arizona's recidivism rate is one of the lowest in the county, at 24.5%, it might be wise to close some of their prisons outright and let their inmate education programs pay off in the community (LVS). But in an act of desperation, the Arizona government has decided to put their prisons up for privatization in hopes of receiving $100 million upfront upon signing the contract -- a band-aid solution where a cast is needed (NYT). 

This call to privatize death row is the first in American history. Because of the enormous costs of housing the highest-risk inmates and the high transparency it is doubtful to some that a private company would even agree to take on a death row venture. Death row facilities are "very visible...and if something bad happens there, you will have a pretty big news story for the Legislature and governor to explain," says James Austin, a co-author of a 2001 Department of Corrections report on prison privatization (NYT). Despite the facilities being owned by a private company, the New York Times reports that the executions of the inmates would still be delegated by the State of Arizona, reducing some, but not all, of the liability in operating a death row detention center.

I am very interested to see if CCA or another company picks up the deal for a the death row facility. It is likely that the other facilities up for privatization will go under contract, but a death row facility just seems too high risk for a private company to want to take control of. However, I never cease to be surprised by the outcomes and decisions of the private prison industry. Check back here for the latest news in Arizona's widespread prison bid-off.

Keep paroled inmates out of prison MI

Just to put out some ideas that have been floating around in less confused states:
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Last Updated: October 23. 2009 1:00AM

50 ideas to fix Michigan

Keep paroled inmates out of prison

The Detroit News is highlighting ideas from various groups to promote discussion on reform, restructuring government and the economy.

Keep paroled inmates out of prison

Idea: Adequately fund the Michigan Prisoner Re-entry Initiative and limit prison terms for parolees who are recommitted for technical violations to one year.

Why: Prison spending represents a fifth of Michigan's General Fund budget, up from a twentieth in 1983. Employees within the Department of Corrections count for one in three state employees. Michigan is one of four states that spends more on prisons than higher education. The Michigan Prisoner Re-entry Initiative has proved to decrease recidivism by parolees and should be fully implemented to generate better savings. And technical violations of parole -- compared with committing new felonies -- unnecessarily refill Michigan's prisons with inmates for long periods of time.


Benefits: Fully implementing the prisoner re-entry initiative would cut recidivism 10 percent and save $40 million annually. Limiting felons to a one-year return to prison for technical violations of parole before being re-paroled would save an estimated $14 million a year.

How: Continued budget support for Michigan Prisoner Re-entry Initiative. To this point, limited resources have required that MPRI focus on those inmates who are closest to being paroled. The most successful model for re-entry would include preparing an inmate for release the minute he arrives in custody. Inmates would also benefit from increased access to educational programs including GED and career prep classes. And amend the Code of Criminal Procedure, Public Act 175 of 1927 to limit returns for technical parole violators.


Obstacle: Victims rights and other groups prefer offenders spend more time behind bars than rehabilitating themselves outside of prison. Some question the cost of funding parole services when other items of the budget, like education, are getting cut.


Source: Detroit Regional Chamber

AZ Prison Privatization: NY Times

Starting to dig out of my email box. Here's something on AZ prison privatization from the NY Times, thanks to Lois for passing it on from The Real Cost of Prisons Project Blog.

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Arizona May Put State Prisons in Private Hands
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
Published: October 23, 2009
The New York Times

FLORENCE, Ariz. — One of the newest residents on Arizona’s death row, a convicted serial killer named Dale Hausner, poked his head up from his television to look at several visitors strolling by, each of whom wore face masks and vests to protect against the sharp homemade objects that often are propelled from the cells of the condemned.

It is a dangerous place to patrol, and Arizona spends $4.7 million each year to house inmates like Mr. Hausner in a super-maximum-security prison. But in a first in the criminal justice world, the state’s death row inmates could become the responsibility of a private company.

State officials will soon seek bids from private companies for 9 of the state’s 10 prison complexes that house roughly 40,000 inmates, including the 127 here on death row. It is the first effort by a state to put its entire prison system under private control.

The privatization effort, both in its breadth and its financial goals, demonstrates what states around the country — broke, desperate and often overburdened with prisoners and their associated costs — are willing to do to balance the books. Arizona officials hope the effort will put a $100 million dent in the state’s roughly $2 billion budget shortfall.

“Let’s not kid ourselves,” said State Representative Andy Biggs, a Republican who supports private prisons. “If we were not in this economic environment, I don’t think we’d be talking about this with the same sense of urgency.”

Private prison companies generally build facilities for a state, then charge them per prisoner to run them. But under the Arizona legislation, a vendor would pay $100 million up front to operate one or more prison complexes. Assuming the company could operate the prisons more cheaply or efficiently than the state, any savings would be equally divided between the state and the private firm.

The privatization move has raised questions — including among some people who work for private prison companies — about the private sector’s ability to handle the state’s most hardened criminals. While executions would still be performed by the state, officials said, the Department of Corrections would relinquish all other day-to-day operations to the private operator and pay a per-diem fee for each prisoner.

“I would not want to be the warden of death row,” said Todd Thomas, the warden of a prison in Eloy, Ariz., run by the Corrections Corporation of America. The company, the country’s largest private prison operator, has six prisons in Arizona with inmates from other states.

“That’s not to say we couldn’t,” Mr. Thomas said. “But the liability is too great. I don’t think any private entity would ever want to do that.”

James Austin, a co-author of a Department of Justice study in 2001 on prison privatization and president of the JFA Institute, a corrections consulting firm, said private companies tended to oversee minimum- and medium-security inmates and had little experience with the most dangerous prisoners.

“As for death row,” Mr. Austin said, “it is a very visible entity, and if something bad happens there, you will have a pretty big news story for the Legislature and governor to explain.”

Arizona is no stranger to private prisons or, for that matter, aggressive privatization efforts (recently, the state put up for sale several government buildings housing executive branch offices in Phoenix). Nearly 30 percent of the state’s prisoners are being held in prisons operated by private companies outside the state’s 10 complexes.

In addition, other states, including Alaska and Hawaii, have contracts with private companies like Corrections Corporation of America to house their prisoners in Arizona.

For advocates of prison privatization, the push here breathes a bit of life into a movement that has been on the decline across the country as cost savings from prison privatizations have often failed to materialize, corrections officers unions have resisted the efforts and high-profile problems in privately run facilities have drawn unwanted publicity

“We have private prisons in Arizona already, and we are very happy with the performance and the savings we get from them,” said Representative John Kavanagh, a Republican who is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and an architect of the new legislation authorizing the privatization. “I think that they are the future of corrections in Arizona.”

Under the legislation, any bidder would have to take an entire complex — many of them mazes of multiple levels of security risks and complexity — and would not be permitted to pick off the cheapest or easiest buildings and inmates. The state also wants to privatize prisoners’ medical care.

Louise Grant, a spokeswoman for Corrections Corporation of America, said the high-security prisoners would be well within the company’s management capabilities. “We expect we will be there to make a proposal to the state” for at least some of its complexes up for bid, Ms. Grant said.

In pure financial terms, it is not clear how well the state would make out with the privatization. The 2001 study for the Department of Justice found that private prisons saved most states little money (there has been no equivalent study since). Indeed, many states, struggling to keep up with the cost of corrections, have closed prisons when possible, and sought changes in sentencing to reduce crowding in the last two years.

As tough sentencing laws and the ensuing increase in prisoners began to press on state resources in the 1980s, private prison companies attracted some states with promises of lower costs. The private prison boom lasted into the 1990s. Throughout the years, there have been high-profile riots, escapes and other violent incidents. The companies also do not generally provide the same wages and benefits as states, which has resulted in resistance from unions and concerns that the private prisons attract less-qualified workers.

Then the federal government stepped in, with a surge of new immigrant prisoners, and began to contract with the private companies. The number of federal prisoners in private prisons in the United States has more than doubled, to 32,712 in 2008 from 15,524 in 2000. The number of state prisoners in privately run prisons has increased to 93,500 from 75,000 in that time.

With bad economic times again driving many decisions about state resources, other states are sure to watch Arizona’s experiment closely.

“There simply isn’t the money to keep these people incarcerated, and the alternative is to free many of them or lower cost,” said Ron Utt, a senior research fellow for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative group whose work for privatization was cited by one Arizona lawmaker.

A version of this article appeared in print on October 24, 2009, on page A1 of the New York edition.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/24/us/24prison.html?_r=1&hpw

This and other news about the financing and siting of prisons can be found at www.realcostofprisons.org/blog/

Free Marcia Powell Update

Hey Friends and Comrades (and whoever is out there in Kansas),

I've been under the weather pretty much since getting back from Nevada ten days ago, and a few of you have contacted me since I'm a week behind now in blogging and getting to most of my 200 emails. I was last seen publicly, I believe, trying to maintain consciousness at a MAG meeting Wednesday. Sorry to bail on everyone. It took me 30 minutes once I made it to the car to get myself together enough to drive home. Needless to say, I missed Police Brutality resistance actions around town the following day. If anyone blogged on them or has some photos to post, let me know.

Anyway, to those of you who dropped me a line or noticed I'd been idle, thanks for your concern. I'm catching up on some sleep and putting a few pounds back on, and should be back on Hayden lawn to Free Marcia Powell soon.

In the meantime, I see that quite a few folks have passed through here to Marcia's site from all over the world - Marcia has friends in Amsterdam who have come through with some photos already - where's the UK? Where's Germany? Where's Caracas? Manuel - I need you.

Where's the rest of Arizona for that matter? You guys all have plenty of chalk, you know the story, you get the strategy. There's a whole class full of students studying prisons at ASU right now - what are you guys up to? I know you're doing something - you can't have listened to three hours of what's happening at Perryville and not do something. Fill me in.

We need some artists to put together a set of picture postcards to haunt all our public officials with - we're heading into an election year. I know there's already a few good ideas ready to go - don't wait for me to show up. I need a couple more days to recuperate.

Just send me the photos as soon as you can - and if they're really good - like you manage to make Marcia and those women at Perryville somehow visible in the background of a shot of Goddard or Thomas (signs, signs, everywhere are signs...), send them to the media too.

So, please stay on it, folks. I haven't retired or anything - I'm just getting back into shape for what's going to be a sustained campaign. We still have a lot of work to do.

See you soon.

Peg

Greetings ADC From Amsterdam

 

www.freemarciapowell.org

AZ Joint Select Committee on Corrections

The Arizona Memory Project has tons of State documents on-line and seems relatively easy to navigate.
Here is the link to reports issued by the AZ Legislature's Joint Select Committee on Corrections. Reports are only from 1997-2002, but the projections and plans laid out then are somewhat telling - as is what's missing in the reports.

AFSC Suggestions for AZ Prison Reforms

In case anyone plans to write thoughtful letters to policy-makers, here are a few concrete ideas to raise, from the American Friends Service Committee in Tucson. This list has more to do with the community than the prisons, so does not address the issue of abuse and neglect, sexual exploitation, or poor health care services in AZ prisons, but it sees a future with fewer - not more - people in Arizona prisons, and addresses some critical reforms that could help reduce over-crowding and many of its attendant consequences for both prisoners and corrections officers.
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Suggested Reforms for Arizona

1. Declare a moratorium on new prison construction.
Once a prison is built, the state must keep it full. This is particularly true of privately operated prisons, whose contracts explicitly stipulate 90% occupancy. New prison construction reduces our opportunities to have a meaningful discussion on sentencing reform. We need fewer prisons and more treatment and diversion programs.

2. Eliminate so-called truth in sentencing laws or reduce the percentage of time inmates must serve.
During the tough-on-crime '90's, many states passed truth in sentencing laws that eliminated the use of parole. In Arizona, prisoners sentenced under these laws must serve 85% of their sentence, regardless of their efforts toward rehabilitation or their real risk to the public. Many other states are now revisiting these laws and lowering the minimum percentage that prisoners must serve.

3. Amend mandatory minimums for drug and other low-level offenses.
Many drug offenders are sentenced under mandatory minimum sentences, which remove discretion from judges by mandating the terms people must serve. Most drug offenders are non-violent and would be better served in treatment programs, which are cheaper and more effective.

4. Re-think harsh DUI sentences.
While no one would argue against keeping drunken drivers off the road, prison sentences without meaningful treatment do virtually nothing to address the problem of DUI. Instead of spending $21,000 per person per year on incarceration, these offenders would be better served in community-based alcohol treatment to address the issues that led to their alcohol dependency.

5. Establish alternative sentencing programs and expand use of diversion programs that work.
There are hundreds of effective alternative sentencing models in other states. Plus, there are programs already in place in some cities in Arizona, such as Drug and DUI Courts, and programs that are on the books but are underused, such as work release programs. These programs have proven to be successful at reducing recidivism and are far less costly than incarceration.

6. Reduce the number of probation revocations due to technical violations.
About 20% of all admissions to the Department of Corrections are people who committed technical violations of the terms of their probation. These are not people who commit new crimes. These are people who missed an appointment with their probation officer or tested positive on a drug test. Probation departments can develop new programs to hold violators accountable for their actions without having to return them to prison. Another option is "shock incarceration," where violators are returned to prison for a short period (120 days), but then put back on probation in the community.

7. Improve the treatment and educational services provided to prisoners while they are incarcerated.
Our recidivism numbers would be significantly lowered if prisoners were provided with the skills and services they need to become productive citizens. Simple warehousing that ignores the root causes of crime commits us to a never-ending cycle of incarceration and wastes millions of tax dollars every year.

8. Provide well-funded re-entry services to released inmates.
Most prisoners are sent out the prison gates with no more than a check for $50 that they have no means of cashing. Widespread discrimination against people with felony convictions makes it very difficult for former prisoners to find stable housing and decent jobs. People with drug convictions are barred from receiving public assistance or Section 8 housing. As mentioned above, many of them did not have an opportunity to effectively address their addictions, abuse histories, or lack of education while incarcerated. Is it any surprise that so many of them return to prison?

Telephone Justice: NY Courts Tommorrow

from the Center for Constitutional Rights: "Telephone Justice for Families with Incarcerated Loved Ones," via the UNSHACKLE list-serve:
-------------------
Dear Friend:

Tomorrow, October 13, will be a critically important day in the struggle to seek accountability and compensation for the years of hardship and sacrifices made by the families of prisoners in New York. The Court of Appeals of the State of New York, the highest court in the state, will hear oral arguments in the case of Walton v. New York State Department of Correctional Services (NYSDOCS), a final opportunity to argue that the kickback New York State received from the commissions from collect call charges were an unlegislated tax on families and unconstitutional.

This case is an important one because it could result in the return of millions of dollars to families who were overcharged over the long course of the MCI/Verizon monopoly contract with NYSDOCS. You can show your support for this groundbreaking case by attending the argument if you're in the Albany, New York area. If you can't make it to court, you can view the oral argument live on the web at http://www.nycourts.gov/ctapps/ .

Despite the fact that we successfully defeated the contract in 2007, resulting in rate reductions of more than 50 percent, many, many family members continue to feel the impact of a decade of paying hundreds of dollars a month to maintain contact with their loved ones and find themselves unable to save money or make plans for financial security. The New York Campaign for Telephone Justice, a CCR project in partnership with many allies, has collected testimonials that paint a powerful portrait of these experiences. We have included these anecdotal results in an impact summary that you can find on our website.

It has been a long and hard struggle to reach this point. Your continued support of this case by showing up and remaining committed to justice for the families of prisoners is vital and appreciated.

Sincerely,
Annette Dickerson
Director of Education and Outreach

Juvenile Justice & Teen Substance Abuse

From Reclaiming futures.org, passed on by Lois at Real Cost of Prisons Project:

Reclaiming Futures Launches Blog Dedicated to Substance Abuse and Teens in the Juvenile Justice System

Reclaiming Futures Every Day is a professionally-staffed blog that aims to keep people informed of the latest happenings in juvenile justice and substance abuse treatment. Launched by Reclaiming Futures, an initiative
of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, it can be found at http://blog.reclaimingfutures.org, and is designed to help readers:

   * Discuss the national challenge of helping teens break the cycle of drugs, alcohol and crime.
   * Comment on new developments in teen alcohol and drug treatment and juvenile justice reform.
   * Stay in touch with what's going on in the 23 communities using the proven Reclaiming Futures approach.
   * Receive expert opinions and commentary from regular contributors who are leaders in the field.

Reclaiming Futures is an initiative created by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) that offers a new approach to helping teenagers caught in the cycle of drugs, alcohol and crime. Now in 23 communities across
the nation, the program has received additional investments to spread its model from RWJF, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment and the Kate B.
Reynolds Charitable Trust. The national office of Reclaiming Futures is housed in the Regional Research Institute of the Graduate School of Social Work at Portland State University. For a list of our 23 locations
and more information, please visit www.reclaimingfutures.org.

Prisoner Rape in the News

Via the UNSHACKLE List-serve, from www.justdetention.org:

Dear Friends,

Throughout the past three decades, Just Detention International has been committed to speaking the truth about prisoner rape - highlighting the facts that sexual abuse in detention is devastating to its victims and almost wholly preventable. As part of this effort, we continue to write op-ed pieces and letters-to-the-editor, and to offer interviews for news stories about incidents of prisoner rape. If you click on the links below, you will find some of our recent media coverage.

Many thanks for you support of the effort to end prisoner rape.

Sincerely, 

Lovisa Stannow
Executive Director

Local Rape Case Spotlights Need for Jail Safety Standards, The Salem News, October 7, 2009
Women's Prisons: Sex Trade, The Topeka Capital-Journal, October 3, 2009
Abuse of Prisoners, Santa Barbara Independent, September 24, 2009
Otter Creek is Not Unique: Sex Abuse Common in Prison, Lexington Herald-Leader, September 14, 2009

Arizona Prisons and Politics, 2010

This is the Governor of the State of Arizona, Jan Brewer, on her front page, speaking to her main constituency out here, the National Rifle Association - the mainstay of "American Values." 

 

Don't know where that leaves the rest of us who are looking for leadership from someplace other than the NRA.

 

Just so the rest of the world understands something: Jan Brewer, Russ Pearce, Joe Arpaio, Andrew Thomas, and the NRA do not represent all of us here in Arizona. Increasingly, those of us who disagree with them will no doubt end up behind bars. That's reason for encouragement, though: it means they're losing. Look for this to get worse before it gets better.

Those folks have a lot to do with the mess we're in today - dishing out the old "law and order" election year rhetoric that has us spending more on warehousing and killing prisoners than we're willing to spend on educating our youth: that's shameful for both Democrats and Republicans (who, I'll remind folks, are not the only two options out there).

This year we need to set the campaign agenda ourselves. They've already begun with their public appearances and comments - all we need is for a few people to turn up at each event - Republican and Democrats' events alike -and make the AZ prison industrial complex The Issue for every single one of them.

Haunt them at every campaign stop with the ghost of Marcia Powell. It can be totally legal; even low key. Just be visible and frank, take a picture or video, and send it in.

Are they building more prisons? Why not let the elderly and dying go?

Is the prison population going to grow in their vision for Arizona - or will it shrink, along with the number of uninsured and hungry seniors, veterans, and kids?

Do they support privatization of corrections or correctional health services? Will they auction off our family members to the lowest bidder?

Where are their investments in Arizona's future going to be made: education, or incarceration?

Hey Thomas: why do you ignore evidence of innocence and leave people in prison you know perfectly well don't belong there? We don't need more people in power in this state who can't admit a mistake.

Letters to legislators, the gov, and the media need to go out now too. Unless you need or assure confidentiality, copies of such correspondence should generally be posted on some publicly accessible website or it gets buried - send your letter to me, and I'll put it up and let whomever you sent it to know it's on the net for viewing. Then it'll be read even if it's lost in the mail.

Some of you can start up blogs too, you know. Or go to Arizona Indymedia and post an article or picture of your own. Check out what this blogger in Delaware is doing to bring the Department of Corrections front and center in the 2010 campaigns.

Don't settle for the heads of a few prison guards. Now is the time to deconstruct Arizona's carceral regime. Force an intelligent public dialogue before the primaries - we need to set the agenda for change.

Prisoner suicide

Arizona prison inmate dies after suicide attempt

Associated Press - October 10, 2009 6:14 PM ET
PHOENIX (AP) - The Arizona Department of Corrections says an inmate who apparently tried to commit suicide last month at the state prison in Phoenix has died after being taken off life support.

A statement issued by the Corrections Department says 18-year-old Hernan Cuevas died Saturday after his family authorized medical staff at Maricopa Medical Center to take him off life support.

Cuevas was serving a 2 1/2 year sentence for a Maricopa County burglary. He had been hospitalized since the apparent suicide attempt on Sept. 22.

The incident is under investigation.

Chilling Appelate decison limits protection for whistleblowing

Couple's retaliation claims fail to gain traction with 2nd Circuit

By David L. Hudson Jr.
First Amendment scholar
10.09.09 

 

A former New York prison guard, who alleged retaliation for reporting abuse of inmates by guards to his superiors, has lost his First Amendment case in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

On Oct. 2, an appeals panel also affirmed the dismissal of a claim brought by the officer’s wife, who had alleged she was not hired for a clerk position because of his report.

Paul Wesolowski made a report of inmate abuse in October 2004 while he was a guard at the Ulster County Jail. Wesolowski gave his report to his immediate supervising sergeant. His sergeant told Wesolowski to take the report to another sergeant, who then told him to deliver it to a lieutenant. Wesolowski did so.

In December 2004, Wesolowski was accused of leaving his post on an unspecified matter without obtaining a replacement and for insubordination. He was suspended for 30 days without pay. Wesolowski contended that the charges were a form of retaliation for his protected speech in making the report. Wesolowski admitted that the report was part of his job duties but claimed that he went outside the chain of command in that he eventually delivered the report to someone other than his direct supervisor.

Meanwhile, his wife, Laura Wesolowski, had applied for a position as stock clerk with the county sheriff’s department. Even though she attained a high score on the civil service exam, she was not hired; the person who was hired scored 10 points lower than Laura Wesolowski. She alleged that the failure to hire her was in retaliation for her husband’s report and for her association with her husband. 

The Wesolowskis sued in federal court in March 2005. In August 2007, U.S. District Judge Lawrence E. Kahn dismissed the plaintiffs’ lawsuit because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Garcetti v. Ceballos (2006). In Garcetti, the Court ruled that public employees do not have First Amendment rights for speech made in accordance with their “official job duties.”

“Plaintiff’s own description of the chain of events makes clear that he was acting at the direction of his superior when he reported the inmate complaint to the other officers,” Kahn wrote. “Because this speech is not protected under the first amendment, Plaintiff’s employer is not prohibited by the first amendment from disciplining him because of the report.”

Kahn reasoned that Laura Wesolowski’s claim based on her husband’s report must fail for the same reason: “Since it has been determined that the speech at issue, her husband’s report of the inmate complaint, was not protected and there was no constitutional violation, no claims derived from that alleged violation can succeed,” Kahn wrote.

Regarding her intimate-association claim, Kahn found that she had “not pointed to any evidence of a nexus” between the failure to hire and her association with her husband.

The Wesolowskis appealed to the 2nd Circuit, and on Oct. 2, a three-judge panel unanimously affirmed the lower court in a summary order in Wesolowski v. Bockelmann, rejecting the Wesolowskis’ claims. 

On appeal, Paul Wesolowski argued again that what he characterized as ultimately going outside his chain of command was protected private speech — rather than unprotected employee speech under Garcetti — because the lieutenant asked him why he had written a report that was not expected of him. However, the 2nd Circuit was not persuaded by this contention, and called the report “job-related” speech.

“Since he was following the orders of his direct superiors in bringing the report to [the lieutenant’s] attention and the lieutenant himself pursued the complaint, his actions were consistent with the duties these superiors expected him to perform, even if various statements they made at the time showed they were displeased by the report itself,” the 2nd Circuit wrote.

The 2nd Circuit also upheld the dismissal of Laura Wesolowski’s claim, finding that she failed to show that she was not hired because of her marriage to her husband. 

Last year the 5th Circuit in Williams v. Riley reinstated several Mississippi jailers’ First Amendment retaliation claims on the basis of similar reporting of inmate abuse.

Related

5th Circuit reinstates Miss. jailers' job-retaliation lawsuit
By David L. Hudson Jr. Decision could affect other cases involving when employee speech is made as part of official job duties, how such determinations are made. 05.14.08

Garcetti & its aftermath: case analyses

Life, health care, prisons and cutting costs

By Sundiata Acoli 
SF Bay View

Health care costs are soaring and have become unaffordable for many families. It is no different for the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC), except they’re required by law to provide medical care to their wards.

Although much of prison health care is inadequate, many of its youthful captives can at least squeak by on what’s presently provided. Not so for those over 50 years of age, most of whom are beset by the common old age infirmities: high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes, clogged arteries, heart disease, cancer and the need for body part replacements.

California has the largest prison population in the U.S. plus the highest health care costs and spends $98,000 to $138,000 per year for each prisoner over 50. (See “Study Finds Record Numbers of Inmates Serving Life” by Solomon Moore, New York Times, July 2009, page A20.) An Aug. 11, 2009, New York Times editorial noted that just days before a Chino, California, prison riot, a three-judge panel ordered the state to reduce its 150,000-plus prison population by about 40,000 in the next two years as the only way to bring its prison health care system up to constitutional standards.

The editorial concluded: “The riot at Chino and the federal court’s ruling contain the same message for states everywhere: They must come up with a smart way to reduce prison populations and they must do it quickly.”

More prisoners today are serving life sentences than ever before. They are called “Lifers,” their numbers have quadrupled since 1984 to over 140,000 and they’ve become a major driving force behind the explosion of health care costs in prisons. Many Lifers are over 50 and most are parole eligible, while the remainder are doing life without parole (LWOP.)

One reason for the ballooning of life sentences is the Three Strikes You’re Out mandatory minimums, 100 to 1 ratio of crack to powder cocaine sentences, children sentenced to LWOP – in clear violation of international law – and other harsh edicts of the law and order climate of the last several decades.

The other reason for the balloon is the unrectified racial residue that has accompanied America’s justice system since antebellum days. Two thirds of prisoners serving life sentences are Latino and Black and nearly half of those serving life are Black. In 13 states Blacks make up 60 percent of the Lifers. In New York state, only 17 percent of prisoners serving life are White.

Many Lifers over 50 have already done 20, even 30 years or more and some are 60, even 70 years old and more. Crime has been decreasing for the last decade or two and ALL indicators show that elderly prisoners, once released, rarely commit another crime and are least likely to return to prison.

So it is self-evident that the smartest and quickest way to begin reducing prison health care costs and prison overcrowding is to release aged and infirmed Lifers and LWOPs whose age plus years served equal a fixed number – say 70 years, for example – which could be further reduced in proportion to the seriousness of the Lifer’s illness.

Such a release process would not only be smart but ethical and prisoners’ families, loved ones and the public would be even wiser to urge their Congress member to put such a prison cost cutting bill into effect immediately.

More info on Sundiata at: www.sundiataacoli.org

Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org

Questions and comments may be sent to claude@freedomarchives.org

Pinellas Co. drops prisoner co-pay for MD care

Finding a lot of info lately about the burden that these co-pays puts on prisoners, which I'd been hearing about all summer because the ADC had announced plans to increase medical visit co-pays, while at the same time decreasing hourly wages for some inmate jobs. The saving by increasing the co-pays isn't so  much because they collect extra revenue from prisoners, I don't think - it seems to be because it discourages people from seeking help when they need it and could most benefit from treatment. The cost f denying health care to a chronically - some terminally - ill population exceeds any possible savings, though. This is why so many jails and prisons are beginning to drop co-pays. 


This is why the ADC should as well.

_____________

 By Drew Harwell, 
Times Staff Writer 
In Print:, September 20, 2009 

LARGO — The Pinellas County Jail will no longer charge an $8 co-payment to inmates seeking medical care, forfeiting an estimated $50,000 in annual revenue from a policy that jail officials said created more problems than profit. The jail used co-pays to help offset millions of dollars in medical bills and discourage requests for unnecessary treatments or bogus ailments. Most medical insurance does the same thing.

In 1995, when the co-pays began, jail officials told the Times that the charges had cut demand for care in half, an early sign that they were clearing waiting rooms of all but those with real medical need.

But in the years since, said Pinellas County Sheriff Jim Coats, the co-pays have bred hostility among inmates and bogged down staff with paperwork, making the tens of thousands in lost cash "not even worth it."

"The administrative reviewing and tracking of all that cost us more than we make," said Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Bob Gualtieri. "The bang wasn't worth the buck."

Where Pinellas jail officials see a barrier to streamlining, other correctional institutions have found an opportunity for profit. From county jails near Tampa Bay to federal penitentiaries across the country, every facility charges a co-pay, returning tens of thousands of dollars annually to general funds.

Jails in Hillsborough, Hernando, Pasco and Polk charge between $5 to $15 for medical visits, higher than the Federal Bureau of Prisons' rate of $2. In 2005, when the co-pay system was instituted at all federal facilities, the bureau wrote it would encourage inmates "to be more responsible for their own health care."

A spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Corrections says the state feels the same way. Florida prisons earned $640,000 last year off a $4 co-pay, and in July state legislators increased the rate by a dollar.

"The money obviously is a big part … but the other side of it is there are some inmates who would go to the doctor every day," said department spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger. "And if they have a medical need, they need to go, we want them to go. But this minimizes inmates who might be trying to game the system."

None of the county, jail or federal officials interviewed said they knew of plans to change their co-pay system, adding that the benefits of the charges made the collection process worth the trouble.

Not so in Pinellas, Gualtieri said. Jail employees, including more than 100 floor nurses and doctors working in the jail's $35 million health care building, said they felt weighed down by the often futile search for co-pays.

The inmates didn't like it either, filing more than 1,100 grievances complaining of medical care access, quality and cost last year. Inmate Eugene Betts, convicted of attempted murder, filed three lawsuits against the jail and two employees, claiming they charged him for treatment he didn't request after he was beaten by other inmates.

In each case, he asks for his $8 co-pay, $2 in interest and hundreds of dollars in court fees.

For a jail population that saw more than 350,000 medical visits last year, the invoices and complaints added up. With the co-pay policy gone, officials said, medical staff will be freed to deal with more hands-on care.

"The nurses should be seeing inmates and treating them," said Lt. Sean McGillen, "not filling out paperwork for co-pays."

Still, the decision to abolish the co-pays comes at a tough financial time for the Sheriff's Office, which runs one of the state's most populated jails. In the past 18 months, the office's budget has been reduced by a quarter, meaning a loss of more than $67 million and 363 positions.

Coats said the Pinellas jail will continue to accrue revenue from other sources, like a recently increased $20 booking fee, to help pay for what amounted to $19 million in medical operation costs last year.

The money inmates once spent on co-pays, taken out of commissary funds filled by donations from friends and family, will stay in the accounts allowing them to buy items like cookies and deodorant.

Inmates at booking will no longer be informed of the co-pay, which was levied on inmates who requested treatment unrelated to mental health, pregnancy, infectious diseases or emergency care. During the co-pay period, inmates without money in their accounts were not denied medical attention, officials said.

Dr. Allen Beck, a Kansas City criminal justice planner who studied the Pinellas jail, said co-pays have grown popular because of the expensive costs of health care. Considering that the ratio of health problems like drug and alcohol abuse is higher among inmates, prison medical costs "chew up a budget in a hurry."

He added that there are valid arguments against collecting co-pays, including the amount of additional effort they demand.

"It just doesn't make good business sense," Coats said. "You can only squeeze so much juice from an onion. Sometimes it gets to the point where it's counterproductive."

fast facts

Co-payments for inmate medical requests

Pinellas: Free (was $8 per visit)

Hillsborough: $12 per doctor visit; $5 per pharmacy visit; $10 per X-ray; $20 per dental visit

Hernando: $5 per nurse visit; $7 per doctor visit; $3 per pharmacy visit; $10 per X-ray; $4 per laboratory blood work

Pasco: $5 per nurse visit; $7 per doctor visit; $5 per pharmacy visit; $10 per dentist visit; $4 per laboratory blood work

Polk County: $10 per nurse visit; $15 per doctor visit; $10 per pharmacy visit

State prison: $5 per visit

Federal prison: $2 per visit

Women's Health Care in Prison

From the National Commission on Correctional Health Care:

Position Statements

Women's Health Care in Correctional Settings

Introduction

Women are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. incarcerated population, increasing an average of 5% each year between 1995 and 2003. Incarcerated women report histories of alcohol and drug abuse, sexually transmitted disease, and mental illness. They are more likely than men to have been under the influence of drugs at the time of their crime; moreover, they may have committed the offense to raise money to buy drugs (CASA, 1996). High rates of gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomoniasis also have been found among incarcerated women (Hammett, Harmon, & Rhodes, 2000; Shuter, 2000). Further, incarcerated women have higher rates of depression than incarcerated men or the general community (Gunter, 2004). As a result, incarcerated women utilize health care services much more than men, creating unique challenges for health services management. This position statement is intended to guide the correctional administrator in the management of women’s health care.


Background


Gynecological. Research on the provision of gynecological services for women in prison settings has consistently indicated that current services are inadequate (Weatherhead, 2003). Gynecological exams are not performed upon admission to prison, nor are they routinely provided on an annual basis. Appropriate initial screening questions about a woman’s gynecologic history often are not asked. Further, many jails and prisons lack health providers who are trained in obstetrics and gynecology, which leads to inadequate and inappropriate gynecologic care. As a result, women in prison are at risk for having some diseases, such as breast and ovarian cancer, or abnormal Pap smears go undetected.

Pregnancy. Owing to their past medical histories, incarcerated women tend to have complicated and high-risk pregnancies. At the time of their arrest and incarceration, many pregnant inmates lack prenatal care and need considerable support to improve the clinical outcomes of their pregnancies. For example, fetal alcohol syndrome disorder (FASD) creates psychological, neurological, and physical impairments (CASA, 1996). Pregnant inmates have high levels of psychological distress, yet often do not receive counseling and support services. Likewise, screenings for postpartum physical and psychiatric complications often are not performed.

Parenting Services. Female inmates do not receive appropriate parenting and child custody services. Entering a correctional facility is very stressful, but for women with children it is even more intense because of the separation from their children. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (2000) found high rates of incarcerated women with young children, ranging from 59% in federal prisons to 70% in local jails. It has been reported that more than two-thirds of women in prison had at least one child under the age of 18 years (BJS, 2000). Additionally, in 1997, 5% of the women entering prison were pregnant (BJS, 2000).

Sexual and Physical Abuse. It has been estimated that from 43% to 57% of state and federal women prisoners have been physically or sexually abused at some time (Harlow, 1999; Greenfeld & Snell, 1999; Snell & Morton, 1994). Such abuse can lead to lifelong psychological problems such as depressive disorders, stress disorders, anxiety disorders, learning problems, substance abuse (with its attendant physical health problems), and behavioral disorders of violence and impulsivity. Further, being victimized can have serious consequences. One-third of all female inmates serving time for a violent crime had victimized a relative or intimate, and of these inmates, two-thirds had victimized either their spouse or a family member such as a sibling or even their own child (Snell & Morton). Women incarcerated for a violent offense were the most likely to report having experienced physical or sexual abuse; and among women incarcerated for a violent crime, those who reported having been abused were more likely than other inmates to have victimized a relative or intimate (Greenfeld & Minor-Harper, 1990).

Alcohol and Drug Abuse. A history of problems with alcohol and/or other drugs is another common complaint of women entering prison. A U.S. Department of Justice (1999) study revealed that over 40% of female prisoners were under the influence of drugs at the time of their offense. Because of this abuse, many women prisoners are at much greater risk of becoming HIV positive from having had unprotected sex or having used dirty needles. Drug counseling, by itself, is not enough: The track record shows that addicts almost always relapse.

Sexually Transmitted Disease. Owing to their risky behaviors with alcohol, drug abuse, and unprotected sex, women entering correctional facilities have high rates of sexually transmitted disease (STD). Rich and his colleagues (2001) found that 49% of Rhode Island women with infectious syphilis had been incarcerated at some point between 1992 and 1998. High rates of gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomoniasis also have been found among incarcerated women (Hammett, Harmon, & Rhodes, 2000; Shuter, 2000).

Mental Health. Studies on male offenders with mental illness in Western nation prisons have consistently demonstrated high prevalence of personality disorders (about 65%), major depression (on average 10%), and psychosis (about 4%). The prevalence of women offenders with mental illness parallels that of males. However, women offenders are more likely to have histories of dual diagnoses (Abram, Teplin, McClelland, & Dulcan, 2003; Abram, Teplin, & McClelland, 2003; Hartwell, 2004).

Aging. Many prisons housing relatively large percentages of older prisoners have not implemented sufficient programming for the elderly (Reviere & Young, 2004). In fact, many prisons may be failing to recognize and prepare for the specialized physical, social, and psychological needs of the older female inmate (Reviere & Young).

Nutrition and Diet. Correctional institutions should ensure that women between the ages of 23 and 50 consume 2,200 calories a day to maintain weight (Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council). The average women’s diet should contain no more than 300 milligrams of cholesterol per day to keep cholesterol levels in the “good” range (National Cholesterol Education Program of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute). Women’s diets should include 20 to 30 grams of fiber per day (National Cancer Institute). Since women lose 15 to 20 milligrams of iron each month during menstruation, they should take 15 milligrams of iron supplements a day. Without sufficient iron replacement, symptoms of pallor, fatigue, and headaches could arise.


Standards

NCCHC recognizes the need to view women as a special population and to provide appropriate treatment. The Standards for Health Services (the basis of NCCHC’s accreditation program for jails, prisons, and juvenile detention and confinement facilities) contain several standards that impact women’s health care, including the following:

• Receiving Screening (J/P/Y-E-02) suggests inquiry into current gynecological problems and pregnancy for women and female adolescents;

• Health Assessment (J/P/Y-E-04) recommends that pelvic examinations and Pap smears be considered but they are not mandated, except in prisons;

• Nutrition and Medical Diets (J/P/Y-F-02) addresses the issue of nutritional intake, as does Appendix H Medical Diets; and

• Pregnancy Counseling (J/P/Y-G-10) specifies that comprehensive counseling and assistance are given to pregnant inmates in keeping with their express desires in planning for their unborn children, whether they desire abortion, adoptive service, or to keep the child.




Position Statement

NCCHC recognizes that the number of female inmates is large and growing annually, presenting unique and increasing problems for health services in correctional facilities. Therefore, NCCHC recommends the following:


1. Correctional institutions should be required to meet recognized community standards for women’s services as promoted by standards set by NCCHC.

2. Correctional health services and women’s advocacy groups should collaborate to provide leadership for the development of policies and procedures that address women’s special health care needs in corrections.

3. Correctional institutions should implement intake procedures that include histories on menstrual cycle, pregnancies, gynecologic problems, and nutritional intake (by conducting a nutritional assessment) (Anno, 2001).

4. Comprehensive services for women’s unique health problems should be provided in prisons, jails, and juvenile detention and confinement facilities:

A. Considering women’s special reproductive health needs, the frequency of repeating certain tests, exams, and procedures (e.g., Pap smears, mammograms) should be based on guidelines established by professional groups such as the American Cancer Society and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and should take into account age and risk factors of the female correctional population (Anno, 2001).

B. Considering the high levels of victimization (sexual and physical) among the female inmate population, and considering the circumstances of incarceration of violent female offenders (i.e., many have committed interpersonal altercation violence against a family member or intimate), counseling to resolve issues of victimization and perpetration of violence against intimates (such as conflict resolution skills or parenting skills) should be available.

C. Considering the large number of incarcerated women who have dependent children, counseling on parenting and child custody issues should be available.

D. Considering the high rates of depression women report upon incarceration, counseling should be available to address this issue.

E. Considering the high rates of alcohol and/or drug problems women report upon incarceration, counseling should be available to address this issue.

F. Correctional institutions should provide intake examinations that include a breast exam and, depending on the female’s age, sexual history, and past medical history, also a pelvic exam, Pap smear, and baseline mammogram (Anno, 2001).

G. Correctional institutions should provide laboratory tests to detect sexually transmitted diseases including gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia for all females, especially since many are asymptomatic for STDs. Females also should receive a pregnancy test on admission to correctional facilities (Anno, 2001). Further, since new research indicates that pregnant women who are infected with HIV are less likely to transmit the virus to their newborn if they are treated with AZT during pregnancy, women should be educated about this finding and encouraged to be tested for HIV if they are pregnant.

H. Considering that many female adolescents who enter the juvenile justice system have unique educational needs, special attention should be given to counseling and habilitation in this area.

5. Correctional institutions should provide pre- and postrelease services for women reentering the community. Strong partnerships are encouraged between public health, community, public assistance, and correctional agencies. Programming such as employment and vocational training, health education, and parenting education also should be available.

Adopted by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care Board of Directors
September 25, 1994
Revised: October 9, 2005

References

Abram, K. M., Teplin, L. A., & McClelland, G. M. (2003). Comorbidity of severe psychiatric disorders and substance use disorders among women in jail. American Journal of Psychiatry,
160(5),1007-1010.

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