San Quentin News

Written By Incarcerated - Advancing Social Justice

Trump creates committee to address equality in law enforcement

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President Trump

President Donald Trump used another one of his executive orders to create a committee dealing with how to enforce the law equally and without bias, according to Tom Jackman of the Washington Post. With endorsements from organizations like the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and others, the law would deal with equal protection, adding more people of color and females to the police force, and using 21st century techniques to fight crime.

“The thrust of the order,” said Nina J. Ginsberb, a Virginia-based lawyer who is president of the defense lawyers’ association, “begs the question as to how interested this commission will be in solving the deep and structural problems in America’s criminal justice system, as opposed to simply delivering on certain law enforcement requests.”

The U.S. attorney general will have the authority to determine the composition and the procedures for the functioning of the commission.

The measure was signed in October 2019, and those in charge have less than 10 months to complete their work. A similar bill is pending in Congress, the Dec. 23, 2019 story noted.

According to the article, the bill calls for review of policing poor communities, handling of the homeless issue, the needs of the mentally ill, and mass incarceration

Finding a way to make this happen presents a challenge not just for law enforcement, but other government agencies, said Terry Cunningham, deputy executive director for the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

Cunningham said that working groups have to find a bipartisan way in Congress to implement all of these things. “We’ll have their report, but how do you get it funded?”

The story reported finding funds requires a bipartisan panel and when the bill goes before the various committees the concern is that certain elements of the bill be phased-out. Across the aisle participation has been hard to achieve when working to iron-out delicate issues. This bill, however, affects the whole country. Law enforcement, along with the Justice Department, will try to get their way.

Rural prison locations make visiting more difficult

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Families visiting incarcerated loved ones throughout the country have to go through numerous challenges just to see a prisoner, according to the Marshall Project.

Those without transportation, as well as with those who drive, have difficulty getting to the prison sites because of where the prisons are located, usually in remote areas, the Dec. 18, 2019 report noted.

In the 1980s the need for more prisons across the country became apparent as more people were being sent to jail and more remote areas’ economies needing new life.

“The rural prison boom in the United States really coincided with the farm crisis and the loss of manufacturing in rural America,” said Tracy Huling, founder of the Prison Public Memory Project, which studies the history of rural prison towns.

“Siting prisons was an apparent quick fix. The land was cheaper, and people either wanted them because they were so desperate for anything to keep their communities from collapsing, or it was easier to overcome opposition in a small place, with fewer people and fewer connections to power.”

One parent, who goes to see her son as often as she can, stated that visiting him requires a 10-hour trip. The son is in prison in another state, so she has to change her work schedule, drive three hours to an airport, catch a plane for a three-hour trip, then rent a car to drive to a hotel. The next day she drives an additional hour to the prison site.

Once at the prison, if not attired properly, she can be turned away without seeing her son. This happened on her first trip when she wore a dress with black and khaki stripes. One of the prohibited colors at that prison is khaki.

“Most of these prisons are out in the middle of nowhere, so you can’t run out and get a new outfit,” she told The Marshall Project reporters. “You learn really quick to fill your trunk with clothing.”

Having to travel so far to see loved ones and encounter rejection or humiliation before you see them is extremely frustrating for most families. This is why only a small percentage of those incarcerated receive regular visits.

It can be particularly discouraging for Blacks and Latinos visiting their incarcerated relatives, the report said. There is the ordeal of traveling to remote locations, where they may be looked upon with disdain by staff or White residents of the town. This can weaken family ties, the report noted.

Most prisons do not have public transportation nearby, so a lot of families try to rideshare. It is not uncommon for the incarcerated to be as far as 500 miles or more from where they were sentenced.

The Marshal Project reported some advocacy groups are working with public agencies to create low-cost transportation options so that more prisoners can receive visits from their families and friends.

Compañía de cárceles privadas apoya a partidarios de Trump

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Partidarios de extrema derecha, que apoyan a Donald Trump, como el grupo político Mayoría Americana y la Legión Republicana, que venden sombreros MAGA en internet, celebraron su segunda Conferencia Anual de Prioridad Americana el 10 de octubre pasado, en el ‘Trump National Doral Miami Golf Club’ en Florida. En la conferencia se presentaron una variedad de oradores conservadores, dirigidos por Donald Trump Jr., y apoyados, en parte, por la compañía priva- da de prisiones Grupo GEO.

El Grupo GEO es una de las compañías privadas de administración de prisiones más grandes en el país y ha sido objeto de controversia a nivel nacional debido al pobre manejo de las cárceles. Según la publicación Mother Jones y la Fundación Nacional para el Progreso, el Grupo GEO es también uno de los mayores beneficiarios de Donald Trump.

El grupo GEO ha cosechado numerosos beneficios desde que Trump tomó la presidencia, asegurando favores, préstamos y contratos valorados cerca de medio billón de dólares para albergar inmigrantes detenidos, según Mother Jones. ICE ha llegado a ser la mayor fuente de ingresos de la compañía.

Después de varios inciden- tes, demandas e investigaciones relacionadas al grupo GEO, grupos bancarios a través del país empezaron a limitar su asociación con la compañía, retirando sus fondos y apoyo.

Mientras que las acciones de la compañía pierden valor, ésta ha incrementado su apoyo a Trump, contribuyendo a su campaña y al acto inaugural de su presidencia. Además ha tenido juntas anuales en el centro-vacacional de Trump el ‘Doral Resort’ y patrocinado la reciente conferencia conservativa ahí.

Según Mother Jones, ni el groupo GEO ni los organizadores de la Conferencia de Prioridad Americana respondieron a la petición de comentario.

Alex Friedman del Centro de Defensa de los Derechos Humanos no cree que el grupo GEO se preocupe por la mala publicidad; después de todo, él dice, “esta es una compañía que encarcela gente con la intención de generar ganancias… Ellos manejan instituciones donde gente ha sido asesinada. Ellos albergan niños en instituciones que parecen cárceles.”

Friedman concluyó diciendo a Mother Jones, “En esta conferencia, todos los otros locos deberían estar mortificados y avergonzados de estar asociados con el grupo GEO, y no al contrario”.

Feds are seeking recall of more than 3,000 released prisoners

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President Trump

After the release of more than 3,000 federal prisoners, the Justice Department is trying to recall their sentences and lock them back-up, according to a Washington Post article.

Trump, along with the Congress and the Senate, passed a bill back in 2018 signing-off on releasing those prisoners who had possessed minimum amounts of crack cocaine. They qualified for early parole under a new Bill called the First Step Act.

Attorney General Barr and the Justice Department are having second thoughts about the bill which would reduce and restrict severe sentences, even though Trump and those in the White House are applauding the bill so far.

“Department of Justice is pushing against the will of the people, the will of Congress and the will of the President,” said Holly Harris, a conservative activist and leader of the Justice Action Network, who worked with Congress and the White House to pass the law.

Prior to the passing of this bill people were sentenced to the same amount of time as those who had larger amounts of powdered cocaine. For years this disparity in sentencing has created arguments based on race.

The position of the Attorney General and the Justice Department on this bill is that it is letting out too many prisoners too fast and that by letting this many out, it could cause a backlash not only on them but also on Trump and White House staff, who helped author the bill.

“Department of Justice is pushing against the will of the people, the will of Congress and the will of the President,”

Trump and the White House staff do not see it like that. In April of this year the President held a celebration touting the bill’s progress. He invited several recently released prisoners to the function. One of them was Gregory Allen, who spoke.

Allen stated that two months ago he was behind prison walls. “Now I am in the White House.” He had been in prison since 2001 for selling cocaine.

Prior to the passing of the bill, Obama and his administration failed to gain any traction on getting the bill off the Congress floor.

When Trump was elected one of his aims was to reduce the federal prison population. His son-in-law, Jared Kushner, whose father was jailed for tax problems, felt crimes of that nature along with small amounts of crack cocaine should be minimized.

The attorney general’s office and the justice department are challenging the interpretation of the bill. They feel that the length of a prisoner’s sentence should be based on the amount of cocaine they possess.

Those who voted for the passage of the bill, along with federal prosecutors and some attorney generals, see the bill righting wrongs from years past. The majority of people incarcerated under the old law were people of color.

According to a justice spokesman, the government’s position requires the courts to weigh how much crack cocaine was involved at the time of the arrest.

The Washington Post has reviewed a lot of these cases and is finding that cases be- ing recalled or interpreted by the courts and the justice department are not following the letter of the bill as it was written.

SQN EXTRA: WORST POLICY IMAGINABLE

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Arizona state prisoners are being charged for their medical expenses when they’re taken to the hospital for using illegal substances, reported The Appeal.

The Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) enacted this policy back in March of this year. Prior to this policy, the department charged prisoners co-pays for healthcare visits and the full cost of positive urinalysis tests for substance abuse.

“From a public health perspective this is the worst policy imaginable,” said David Fathi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project. “The solution is treatment, not punishment. This policy is just reflexively punitive and entirely counterproductive.”

In a statement about the new restitution policy, Arizona public information officer Bill Lamoreaux said it was designed to hold prisoners accountable for their own actions. “ADC understands that the struggle with addiction is not an easy one,” he wrote. “However, obtaining contraband illegal drugs while incarcerated requires a series of deliberate and extremely poor choices.”

The ADC reports that 78% of those entering Arizona prisons have problems with addiction. Only 3,000 prisoners (out of 42,000) are offered treatment options each year.

Lamoreaux told The Appeal that it’s difficult to find enough substance abuse counselors who want to work in prisons.

Karen Hellman, division director of Inmate Programs & Reentry for the ADC, made a similar point at the state House Judiciary Committee in March. “I could not today treat everyone in the system who needed treatment immediately,” she said. “The need of the inmates is greater than our capacity to deliver.”

Dr. Josiah Rich, director of The Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights at The Miriam Hospital, does not think Arizona’s new policy will be successful. “People don’t decide …‘Oh, I better not overdose today because I might have to pay money from my account for the treatment I’m going to need.’”

Dr. Kimberly Sue, who has hands-on experience working with incarcerated prisoners at Rikers Island, explained that those who use drugs while in jail may be stressed by multiple problems.

She said that incarcerated people, particularly those with underlying mental health or substance abuse issues, will often self-medicate because of the misery of prison,” The Appeal reported.

New York’s Riker’s Island Jail scheduled to close in 2026

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New York Presbyterian Cornell
New York Presbyterian Cornell

After years of debate and discussion, Riker’s Island Jail in New York is scheduled to close in 2026, according to Amanda Ottaway of Courthouse News.

With a reputation as one of the worst facilities to incarcerate human beings, politicians and the community of Queens, New York, felt that it is time to shut Riker’s down.

“Not another person should ever have to suffer through the inhumane conditions and the culture of abuse and violence that Riker’s fosters,” Brandon Holmes, campaign coordinator for #CLOSErikers, said.

Queens and the rest of New York are now faced with finding alternative housing for the current prison population. It is still up in the air whether or not to build new facilities in Queens or move the prisoners elsewhere.

When news of the jail’s future closing got out, some politicians signed-off while others did not. Those who are in favor of closing the facility feel that the jail has a horrible reputation for violence. Many are concerned about overcrowding and poor health conditions.

Others feel that closing the jail would incur the wrath of the public. The five boroughs in New York would have to come up with a plan on where to build another jail facility.

The opposing sides are looking into measures and proposals to slow down the process. Councilman Andy King, who voted not to close the jail, said he would like to see these proposals’ positive impacts before jails are put into neighborhoods.

Those who live in the inner city and suburbs are pushing back and putting up resistance. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who opposed the closure, pointed out that the proposal does not have a codified timeline for closing Riker’s.

Members of the city’s Land Use Committee feel that setting the goal of completion for 2026 gives both sides time to iron out the kinks and come-up with a solution that satisfies everyone.

In the meantime, Riker’s Island will continue to operate and live-up to its legacy as one of the worst jail facilities in the country for the next seven years.

Norways approach to incarceration sets new standard

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Replace

Norway is taking the lead in Europe when in it comes to prison reform and rehabilitation, according to Emma Jane Kirby of the BBC.

The country has moved away from just locking people up and throwing away the key, to an approach of cutting the prison population and finding ways to stop the reoffending rates.

“In Norway, the punishment is just to take away someone’s liberty. The rights stay. Prisoners can vote; they have access to school, to health care; they have the same rights as any Norwegian citizen because inmates are human beings. They’ve done wrong; they must be punished, but they are still human beings,” said Are Hoidal, the prison governor of Norway’s Haiden Prison.

Part of the process of Haiden’s rehabilitation program is daily exercise. Prisoners work out alongside staff, who participate in the same exercises. It is therapeutic for staff and prisoners alike, according to the article.

Bonding and forming a partnership between staff and inmate helps tone down violence, and let the prisoner get used to doing things that he or she did not do while living a criminal lifestyle, explained Hoidal.

The maximum security prison at Halden was built to ease and minimize prisoners’ fears and stress and to put them in natural surroundings. At a cost of 138 million Euros to build, prisoners can enjoy the blueberry woods, silver birch and pine trees surrounding them.

The two-story buildings were built to look more like a college environment than a prison, according to the article.

There are no bars on the windows. Every prisoner has his own cell, which comes with a flat screen TV, a desk, kitchenette with refrigerator and a shower stall and commode.

The prison has state of the art vocational programs, and one can take college exams in math and physics, and some have received diplomas. Inmate Fredrik is working towards his master’s in graphic design while serving a 15-year sentence for murder.

“If you don’t have opportunities, and you are just locked in a cage, you don’t become a good citizen.” Fredrik told reporter Kirby, as he adjusted the colors on one of the photos on his screen. “Here there are good opportunities; you can have a diploma, and when you come out, you can maybe get a stable job, and that’s important.”

Another aspect of prison life in Norway that differs from the U.K., is that it takes correctional officers two years to complete their training. In the U.K., it only takes three months. The Norwegian candidates train at a university college specifically for correctional service. Only 175 trainees out of 1,200 become prison officers, according to Hans-Jorgen Brucker who oversees their training.

“We want to stop reoffending, which means officers need to be well educated,” said Brucker. “My students will study law, ethics, criminology, English, reintegration and social work. Then they will have a year training in a prison, and then they will come back to take final exams.”

The country moved away from the punitive approach more than 20 years ago. There are no life sentences, and the recidivism rate has dropped dramatically over the years, according to the article.

The prison has “daddy” days for those who pass a safeguard test, and then the prisoners can spend a couple of days with their family in a small cottage on prison grounds.

Hoidal said he can’t remember the last time they experienced violence in Haiden Prison.

“In Norway, all will be released—there are no life sentences,” Hoidal reminded the reporter.

“So we are releasing your neighbor. If we treat inmates like animals in prison, then we will release animals on your street.”

Feds consider releasing prisoners

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The Justice Department and Attorney General William Barr are working together to release non-violent criminals following decades in prison, according to Michael Balsamo of The Associated Press.

The Trump administration signed a new bi-partisan law last year called the First Step Act. The Act allows federal courts to release prisoners who are serving time for non-violent felonies.

Mr. Barr recently visited a medium custody facility in North Carolina, where he met with the facility’s staff and prisoners while inspecting the premises. He liked what he saw.

“I’m impressed with how it’s going,” Barr said of the First Step Act’s implementation. “While there are a few things I probably would have done differently, I generally support the thrust of the First Step Act.”

Barr’s tough-on-crime policies seem to be loosening-up. Like many politicians and people throughout the country, Barr feels that prisoners who served maximum time for non-violent crimes should be considered for release.

One such prisoner, Leroy Nolan, was arrested for drugs in the 1990’s. Now 67-years-old, he has served more than 20 years of his sentence and meets the criteria for parole.

Nolan works in a prison factory making T-shirts, backpacks and other goods for government agencies or non-profits.

“I made the mistake of getting into drugs,” Nolan told Barr and Senators Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham, who accompanied him on the tour. “You all are good role models.”

One of the major stumbling blocks for First Step’s success is providing enough vocational, educational, technology programs to help prisoners find work upon release. Early release advocates are pushing the Trump Administration to allocate more funding to them.

Inimai Chettiar of the Justice Action Network worries that Congress could stall early release funding and put proper implementation on hold.

Chettiar’s concerns are valid. When Barr toured he noticed that prisoners completed their work on old computers, and prisoners mentored and facilitated groups rather than outside instructors.

As more prisoners become eligible for parole, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find the money to sustain viable programs and help prisoners gain their freedom to work or engage in a trade. Ultimately, the Justice Department and Barr have to be more than “all-in.” They also need to push for necessary funding.

Maine and Vermont encourage the incarcerated to cast their vote even while in prison

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When most felons go to prison they lose their right to vote in most of the 50 states, the strongest exceptions being Maine and Vermont, reported Mother Jones.

Depending on what you were convicted for, states like Mississippi, Alaska and Alabama let some of their prison population vote.

Volunteers at the Maine and Vermont prisons come into the facilities to register prisoners to vote and give them encouragement, by letting them know that their vote is very important.

Law librarian John Sughrue, who works at one of Vermont’s prisons, thinks that voting is imperative, the only “effective tool” prisoners have. Yet he noted that only a small percent of the population exercise their right to vote.

“It seems the current political climate has rendered us inexorably divided,” he wrote via the prison email system.

Madeline Motta, who volunteers in Vermont’s prisons and helps register prisoners to vote, said of her effort that most of the prisoners are their own worst enemies, according to the article.

“We explained to inmates that elected officials are making decisions about your quality of life both while you are incarcerated and once you are out,” she noted.

More variables need to be looked at as to why those who are incarcerated and can vote, don’t vote. They feel that their votes will not make a difference. A high percentage of the inmates cannot read or write, so filling out a registration ballot becomes an issue. Since they are cut off from the Internet, most can’t get news or form opinions about issues or candidates.

Executive Director of Prison Legal News, Paul Wright, says that lower turnouts among prisoners are to be expected.

“We don’t have much of a democracy when it comes to candidate choice,” he said. “Making the conscious choice in refraining from exercising your rights is just as important as exercising them,” Wright told the Mother Jones reporter.

Just like outside on the streets, inside prison walls you have voter apathy among the incarcerated.

Several states are working on solutions that will allow the incarcerated to vote or get back their voting privileges/rights once out of prison.

Ten states and Washington, D.C., are currently trying to pass legislation to get prisoners the right to vote while in jail, according to Mother Jones.

Allegations of slave labor tarnish drug rehabilitation program’s record

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A well-known drug rehabilitation foundation is using its patients in Texas and Louisiana for what critics call “slave labor.”

The Cenikor Foundation said the workers’ pay goes to offset the cost of their participation in a two-year work-rehabilitation program.

“It’s the closest thing to slavery,” said Logan Tullier, a former Cenikor participant who worked 10 hours a day at oil refineries, and laying steel rebar in 115-degree heat. “We were making them all the money.”

Over the years the foundation has sent its patients to work for over 300 companies. according to the advocate.com in an article written by reporters for the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Working so many hours a day leaves little time for rehabilitative programs, the article noted.

Ethan Ewers said the courts ordered him to complete Cenikor’s program and he worked 43 days straight unloading cargo containers in oppressive heat. After working so many days in a row, he was too tired to go to meetings or groups.

“I said, ‘You need to give me a day off because I can’t do this anymore,’ “Ewers said he told Cenikor brass. “It was absolutely ridiculous.”

Cenikor charges less than temp agencies and its staff members get incentives to work the clients long hours. The more money staff brought in, the bigger their bonuses, the research revealed.

Some of Cenikor’s patients are working up to 80 hours a week, not seeing any of the money and at risk for injury and other health issues, according to the article. One worker died of job injuries in 1995.

Bill Bailey, Cenikor’s chief executive officer, earned more than $400,000 in 2017. theadvocate.com reported he repeatedly declined requests for comment. But in a statement, Cenikor officials said the work provides “a career path for clients to be hired by companies who traditionally do not hire those with felony convictions, allowing them to return to a life of being a responsible, contributing member of society.”

Fewer than eight percent of those who entered Cenikor graduate from the program, and therefore never receive a job that pays, the article noted.

Cenikor insists that they follow all state and federal laws.

However, the Supreme Court ruled in 1985 that work- ing for free in a nonprofit — even one with a rehabilitative purpose — was a violation of federal labor law.

According to theadvocate. com, research has found that many drug rehab programs throughout the country have become “little more than lucrative work camps for private industry.”

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