No More Prisons

PRISONERS AT "SUPER MAX" BEGIN HUNGER STRIKE
Youngstown, March 15. A number of prisoners at the Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP) have begun a hunger strike in an effort to improve conditions there.


The "supermax," as it is colloquially known, houses between 400 and
500 prisoners from all over the State. They are locked alone in their cells for a minimum of 23 hours a day.


Prisoners report that since the filing of a class action law suit on January 9, 2001, some conditions have improved. At least one mentally disturbed prisoner has been transferred out. Some but by no means all of those who urgently require medical care have received long-requested "round trips" to see specialists in Columbus.


Other problems remain, however. Judging from letters received by prisoner advocates outside the walls, the following are major problems:

1. A number of prisoners have been recommended for a decrease in security status and transfer out of OSP. These recommendations by persons at
   the supermax who are familiar with the prisoner and his record at the
   facility are often vetoed by Columbus. Even those who eventually leave may
   have to wait many months before they actually "ride out."
   
2. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction appears to
   have no education and treatment plan for the increasing number of Hepatitis C cases.
   
3. Most supermax prisoners receive state pay of $9 a month. In many
   cases this sum is reduced by medical copayments or deductions for property
   damage and penalties. Little may be left to buy hygiene supplies, postage
   and writing materials, and other needed items. This is a particular
   hardship for pro se litigants who find that they miss court deadlines or are unable to serve required papers because they have so little money.
   
4. Two-thirds of OSP prisoners are black or Hispanic. Yet there is
   currently no imam for Muslim prisoners, and Muslims believe that their
   special needs for diet, books, and prayer apparatus required by their
   religion, are neglected.
   
5. Unlike most supermax prisons in the United States, OSP provides no outdoor recreation. The prison administration calls certain cells "outdoor recreation" because of a grating that lets in outside air, but in approximately half of these cells the grating has recently been covered with plastic.
   
6. Mental health counseling is conducted with the prisoner sitting on a concrete stool in a locked room, handcuffed behind his back and chained to the floor, and yelling to a counselor outside the cell.
   

The extent of the spreading hunger strike is difficult to determine.
Understandably, in a setting where there are so few gratifications, many
prisoners show their solidarity with the fast by joining in just for a day.


Only one man has consistently gone without food since the first of the
month, it seems. Attorney Staughton Lynd of Niles is a lawyer "of counsel" in the class action law suit. He states that the prisoners have asked him to inform the
media of their protest. "I understand their frustration," Lynd says. "A
law suit takes a long time. When a prisoner cannot meet with other prisoners, cannot visit with reporters, cannot in most cases leave the prison to appear in person in court, he may come to feel that the only way he can call attention to his problem is to deprive himself of food. A fast is really a cry for help."



UPDATE AS OF MARCH 21
On March 15, a prisoner wrote us that "twenty-five prisoners so far"
are participating in the fast.


We hear that at least two of the men who are fasting have Hepatitis C, and are planning to go without food for as long as they can despite what
they consider a danger to their health. A third man writes: "HCVs [people with Hepatitis C Virus] cannot safely miss meals without severe bodily havoc."


In one of these cases, the prisoner has for two years in a row been recommended for a reduction in security level and transfer out of OSP only to
have the recommendation denied by Central Office in Columbus.


It would be appreciated if messages could be sent to the Director of
ODRC and the OSP Warden stating:

1. All prisoners with Hepatitis C should be informed, in writing,
   that ODRC (a) will give them the appropriate tests to determine how far the
   disease has progressed, (b) will monitor their condition by a specialist,
   not by the general practitioner in charge of medical services at OSP, and
   (c)
   will communicate to them, in writing, what course of treatment ODRC
   recommends and what ODRC is prepared to do to give immediate attention to
   their needs.
   
2. ODRC should make it known that a prisoner who has been free of
   conduct reports for years, has completed those programs available to him at
   OSP, and has complied with his behavioral management plan, will NOT be
   denied an opportunity to transfer out when the transfer has been recommended
   by the reclassification committee and the OSP warden. In particular, OSP
   should assure prisoners that they will not be denied transfer on the basis
   of conduct in the distant past that they can no longer do anything to change.
   

      The addresses of the Director and Warden are: 

Reginald A. Wilkinson 
Director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction 
1050 Freeway Drive North 
Columbus OH 43229 
Phone:  614-752-1164
Fax:  614-752-1171
 
Todd Ishee 
Warden, Ohio State Penitentiary 
PO Box 1436 
Youngstown OH 44501-1436  
Phone:  330-743-0700
Fax:  330-743-0841

CNN, the Washington Post and the New York Times are all running front page stories
about the rate of incarceration
"slowing" to its slowest in 30 years. That's an interesting slant on things - while reading and discussing with your friends, consider the philosphy behind a country that is locking up a rising percentage of it's population for 30 years consecutively, never mind if that rate goes up or down.