San Quentin News

Written By Incarcerated - Advancing Social Justice

Vermont prisons to reduce use of solitary confinement

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By Alfred King, Journalism Guild Writer

Vermont is reducing the use of solitary confinement in prisons, striving to use it only “as a last resort,” wcax.com in Burlington reports.

It’s part of a movement across the nation, modifying policies practiced for decades.

The goal is to rehabilitate rather than punish, said Mike Touchette, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections.

“Our focus is to keep people in the most integrated and least-restrictive setting possible but commensurate with the safety needs,” Touchette said. “So, it’s an individual, case-by-case basis, and what we’re able to achieve with that individual, and quite frankly, are they willing to be good partners with us and engage in conversations and therapy,”

Alabama prison failed to identify suicidal inmates

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An investigation has been launched into suicides by Alabama prisoners, NPR reported.

“The Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) has the highest suicide rate in the nation, with most such deaths occurring in solitary confinement and solitary-like units,” according to a case summary in the legal fight.

The lawsuit was filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program.

There have been over 200 suicide attempts requiring hospitalization between the filling of the case and January 2019, NPR reported March 28. Thirty-one were completed suicides.

An investigation was launched by U.S. District Court Judge Myron Thomp- son on whether the state responded adequately to the suicide issue.

“prisoners with serial mental illnesses were routinely housed in solitary confinement and provided with a little to no mental health care”

This is the second investigation in five years for Alabama’s prisons over the constant suicide deaths in its overcrowded and understaffed prison system, the story noted.

The state’s responsibility for the many suicides has been the subject of a legal battle

since June 2014. The lawsuit challenges the conditions and treatment of the mentally ill inmates.

Thompson is hearing testimony in reference to the 15 suicides in 15 months.

The case summary says “prisoners with serial mental illnesses were routinely housed in solitary confinement and provided with little to no mental health care.”

Judge Thompson ruled in June 2017 that Alabama’s prison system violated inmates’ constitutional protections by practicing cruel and unusual punishment.

In his 302-page ruling, Thompson noted that repeated staff absences and lasting inmate overcrowding flooded the system.

Between other complete deficiencies, the judge found that Alabama’s prisons also failed in the following areas:

• Failed to identify prisoners with serious mental health needs and properly classify their needs.

• Failed to set up individualized treatment plans.

• Failed to provide qualified and properly supervised mental health staff.

• Failed to identify and treat inmates at risk of suicide.

• Continuously placed gravely mentally ill inmates in solitude without considering the repercussions of those circumstances.

Thompson concluded, “Simply put, ADOC’s mental health care is horrendously inadequate.”

Prison Commissioner Jefferson Dunn said overcrowding and understaffing retard reform. He added that Alabama will borrow $800 million to build four new prison facilities.

Solitary: Book depicts one man's journey through hell

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Albert Woodfox spent almost 45-years in solitary confinement in Louisiana for a murder he insists he didn’t commit and has written a book detailing the horror of the isolation.

He and one other prisoner were accused of murdering an Angola prison guard. Federal courts threw out two murder convictions, but he decided to plead no contest before a third trial.

“By pleading nolo contendere I wouldn’t be innocent in the eyes of the law,” Woodfox told the Times-Picayune. “But I knew I was innocent.”

The result: he spent 44 years and 10 months in solitary, getting out one hour per day.

“Their desire was to break us—which they failed miserably at—or have us die in a 6×9-foot cell,” Woodfox said. He added that he kept his sanity. He was released in 2016.

He discussed his book, Solitary, at the New Orleans Public Library in March.

Woodfox was serving time for armed robbery at the Louisiana State Penitentiary when he was accused of killing a guard, which resulted in him being placed in a solitary cell. Woodfox was one of three inmates who had been identified as members of the Black Panther Party.

There is no reason to believe that Woodfox or Her- man Wallace killed Angola guard Brent Miller in April 1972, The Times-Picayune reported. The guard’s widow does not even believe it. Nor is there reason to believe that, months later, Robert King killed a fellow inmate, ac- cording to columnist Jarvis DeBerry of The Times-Picayune.

There is reason to believe the Angola 3 were punished for calling out the racism and the brutality bestowed upon them by prison officials and for encouraging inmates to demand better treatment, the newspaper said.

Woodfox quotes a 2008 deposition where Warden Burl Cain said that even if Woodfox had not killed Miller, “I would still keep him in CCR. I still know that he is still trying to practice Black Pantherism, and I still would not want him walking around my prison because he would organize the young new inmates.”

In 2001, King was released from prison. Wallace’s conviction was tossed out in 2013; he was released from prison the day before he died of liver cancer.

Life of crime overturned by positive choices

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Younger brother Tony Douangmalalay, niece Caylen, Mother Pat, nephew C.J. and younger brother Caven

Younger brother Tony Douangmalalay, niece Caylen, Mother Pat, nephew C.J. and younger brother Caven

A variety of rehabilitative programs, including dance, helped Anouthinh Pangthong turn his life around despite a rocky youth and 21 years in prison since the age of 15.

“Life in prison can become tedious, doing the same thing over and over. Sparks of violence would break the monotony. When an opportunity came to do something different through dancing, I jumped at the chance. My life has since been anything but ordinary,” said Pangthong. “Dancing really saved my life.”

Pangthong, known to his friends as Choy, is the latest Kid CAT member to be found suitable for parole.

Like many youth offenders of Asian descent who have been incarcerated since the ‘90s, Choy was an immigrant born in a refugee camp in Thailand, when his single mother fled her home country of Laos during war.

When he and his mother arrived in the United States, Choy was only 7 months old. His mother remarried and gave birth to two younger brothers. She and Choy gained citizenship.

“According to a RAND analysis, every $1 invested in such [inmate] education generates at least $4 in economic return,” reports Fast Company.

“The state typically spends $71,000 a year to house an inmate. It costs about $5,000 total to help put one [incarcerated] student through community college”, reports Fast Company.

“I didn’t have much of a relationship with my father growing up,” said Choy. “He was an alcoholic and gambler.”

As a child, Choy often served as an interpreter for his mother. When he translated incorrectly, his mother would often verbally and physically punish him.

“My whole family has been waiting over 20 years to welcome him back home and now it’s finally here”

“She made me feel worthless, and it really affected how I felt and perceived myself, and I carried this throughout most of my adult life,” said Choy.

Because of the migratory nature of his stepfather’s work, Choy and his family moved around often into crime-ridden neighborhoods.

“Although I lived in a bad neighborhood, it embraced me by giving me the attention and affection that I didn’t have at home,” said Choy.

At 8 years old, Choy began serving as a lookout for neighborhood crack dealers and was paid a dollar each time he notified the dealer of an incoming cop car.

“I would take that dollar and go play video games at the liquor store,” said Choy. “By the age of 11, I started to sell crack cocaine and later joined a gang at 12.”

The only saving grace Choy remembered from his childhood was playing football.

Anouthinh Panthong at age 12

Anouthinh Panthong at age 12

“Playing sports was the best decision I ever made, football taught me about teamwork, responsibility and building camaraderie,” said Choy. “But when my family decided to move away from Willow when I turned 12, everything changed. I stopped playing sports and embraced the streets instead.” 

Choy began to get into fights at schools and was ultimately expelled for bringing a knife.

Three weeks before turning 16, Choy made a horrendous decision that would end a life, and send him to prison.

“On the night of my crime, I led three younger friends to steal a car, and I ended up murdering the man I was trying to rob.”

After two weeks on the lam, the police arrested Choy. He later pled guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years-to-life.

“My mom blamed herself for what I had done. I felt I had to take accountability for my actions and show her that it wasn’t her fault but mine alone, so I pled guilty,” said Choy.

For most of his incarceration, Choy straddled the fence. While working to accumulate vocational skills, he sold methamphetamines, tobacco, and cellular phones.

As a result, Choy accumulated 11 disciplinary write-ups.

“In 2010, I was in solitary confinement for a cellphone possession, when I made a decision to change my life,” said Choy. “Still my change didn’t come easy, it took years.”

Intimate partner violence accounts for 15 percent of all violent crime. One in three women and one in four men in the United States has experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner. Husbands are five times more likely to kill wives than vice versa. A third of female homicide victims are killed by an intimate male partner or ex-partner, according to FBI reports. http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ndv0312.pdf

When Choy arrived at San Quentin in 2012, he renounced his criminal lifestyle and availed himself of many self-help groups and education. He also became a program facilitator for Criminals and Gangmembers Anonymous, Kid CAT’s First Step curriculum, ROOTS (Restoring Our Original True Selves), and mentoring youth through SQUIRES (San Quentin Utilizing Inmate Resources, Experiences and Studies). He especially relished his roles in Artistic Ensemble and Shakespeare plays.

“I really regretted taking so long to change,” said Choy. “It took writing out my crime in detail to understand the magnitude of what I’d done – especially the harm that I caused to my community of Stockton.”

In 2016, Choy spoke about his offense at an event with survivors of crime. In attendance was Michael Tubbs, mayor of Stockton, where he had committed his crime.

After the event, Tubbs told Choy, “We forgive you. Now come back and help us improve; you are part of the solution.”

On Aug. 8, during his first parole board hearing, Choy was found suitable for parole.

At a recent event at San Quentin, Choy’s brother, Tony Douangmalalay, remarked about Choy’s pending release. “I’m so proud of my older brother and the journey he has made to become who he is today. Now all he talks about is his goals of helping kids and doing outreach in our community.

“My whole family has been waiting over 20 years to welcome him back home and now it’s finally here.”

A nightmare for one incarcerated dreamer

Out of prison but not yet free of ICE

Nebraska inmate dies from double bunking in solitary

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The death of a Nebraska inmate in solitary confinement prompted the state to take measures to end double-bunking in its isolation unit.

Terry Berry Jr., 22, was murdered by his cellmate Patrick Schroeder, 40, who was already serving a life sentence for murder at Tecumseh State Prison. Berry was at the end of his sentence and ready to be paroled. He was described as a “very talkative and bothersome” inmate in an article by the World-Herald News Service.  

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Berry was serving a sentence for check fraud and kneeing a guard.

Nebraska Inspector General of Corrections Doug Koebernick called on the state to stop the practice of double-bunking inmates in solitary confinement.

Koebernick pointed to studies that found that punishing pairs of inmates with small cells—like the 7 feet by 12 feet and 7 inch cell that Berry and Schroeder shared—is risky for both inmates and prison staff.

State Corrections Director Scott Frakes disagreed, placing complete blame for Berry’s death on Schroeder.

“Mr. Schroeder had multiple avenues with which to address any concerns about his living situation, and he chose, instead, to kill Mr. Berry” Frakes said.

Frakes rejected the inspector general’s findings and has continued to double-bunk inmates in solitary, with the new addition of daily check-ups on inmates to ensure their complaints are heard. He also claimed that in his experience, double-bunked inmates are “as safe as in general population,” despite a lack of academic studies to support the claim that double-bunking can improve behavior.

Solitary confinement has been shown to exacerbate mental and physical anguish, including illnesses. Schroeder had a reputation of having a temper and spent considerable time in solitary during the last 10 years of his sentence. He has since pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for Berry’s death, claiming that his cellmate was a punk who wouldn’t shut up, according to the article.

Concern for the mental health of inmates pushed state lawmakers to pass a law in 2015 attempting to reduce the practice of solitary confinement by pursuing alternative punishments. In the last fiscal year, the average daily number of inmates in solitary confinement in the state has dropped by 11 percent.

However, Nebraska’s prisons are still the second most over-crowded in the country, with four prisons that double-bunk. The practice has been shown to be risky, yet state and county jails in several states continue it to deal with their budget and overcrowding.

“We haven’t dedicated near the amount of money we need to for the prison system” said State Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus, who introduced the 2015 bill to reduce the use of solitary confinement. Despite the rebranding of the practice as “restrictive housing,” he said the punishment is “alive and well,” according to the article.

Visit www.stopsolitaryforkids.org or #stopsolitaryforkids for more information.

Arizona inmates allowed more privileges

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Many of Arizona’s death-row inmates are no longer spending their days in solitary confinement, reported The Associated Press (AP). The Arizona Department of Corrections moved 93 of its 120 death-row inmates to a Florence, Arizona, prison, where they can be outside and socialize with other death-row inmates in a common area, instead of being isolated in their 9½-by-10-foot cells.

In addition, their cells open and are not sealed by a steel door. They can also shoot hoops, play volleyball, and go on the prison recreational fields for several hours each day.

Experience in other state prison systems has shown that the inmates can benefit psychologically from being able to socialize more. According to Carson McWilliams, the division director for the Arizona Department of Corrections, they have “some way to express themselves rather than being in a cell and angry all the time.”

Death-row inmates can now have face-to-face visits with attorneys or family members. They are also able to walk unshackled to the mess hall instead of waiting for food to be thrust to them through the door. Death-Row inmate Richard Greenway who has been in prison for the murder of a woman and her daughter during a burglary in Tucson, said after two decades he finds the little bit of freedom surreal. “It’s hard to explain the deprivation,” Greenway told the AP. “It weighs on your mind.”

There is debate as to what brought about these new changes. Attorneys with the Arizona Capital Representation Project sued the state agency in 2015, on behalf of inmate Scott Nordstrom, who is on Death-Row for six murders committed during two Tucson robberies in 1996. Their lawsuit alleged the correction department’s treatment of inmates was unconstitutional, violating inmates’ right to due process and an amendment banning cruel and unusual punishment. At that point Death-Row inmates were permitted two hours of exercise three times a week and three showers a week. Physical contact was with guards only and at times they would talk with other inmates by tapping on the wall in code.   

Correction officials counter in court documents that Arizona was already experimenting with allowing more socializing for death-row inmates after seeing positive results in other state prison systems. State officials also disputed the application of the term “solitary confinement.”

According to  United Nations guidelines passed in 2015, solitary confinement is defined as “the confinement of prisoners for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact.”

The lawsuit was eventually settled in March 2017, according to the AP.

Prison reform could free 30,000 inmates says CSJ

Solitary Watch offers inmates photographs beyond a gray wall

KID CAT graduates 43 in its fourth cycle

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