Washington Post

Judge rules against unnecessary sleep intrusions

June 25, 2019 by lloyd payne

A federal judge has ordered Santa Rita jailers to stop unnecessarily disrupting the sleep of female prisoner for “pill call” at 2:30 a.m. and breakfast at 4 a.m.

“No one can argue with the proposition that detainees with medical needs should get their prescription, but why 2:30 a.m.?” U.S. District Judge James Donato commented. He added that the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office offered no justification for breakfast at 4 a.m.

He ordered the Santa Rita jail to stop waking up fe- male prisoners needlessly because it deprives them of a basic human need, according to the Washington Post.

Donato noted sleep deprivation has been found to be cruel and unusual punishment for those duly convicted of crimes, and stressed that these women have not ever been to trial.

Pretrial detainee Tikisha Upshaw said, “There are days when I can barely stay awake during the day time…I cannot problem solve. I can’t remember things people have told me.”

After lights go out at 11 p.m., sheriff deputies check on detainees’ welfare every 30 minutes to see if they’re alive.

Deputies have been accused of shining flashlights directly in the faces of the prisoners during this half- hour welfare check The Post reported.

The women said that “if they try… covering their head with a blanket or covering the (night) light, the deputies either bang on their cells so they remove the blanket or will write them up…”

Donato acknowledged the welfare checks are legitimate, and found that the sheriff’s office tries to minimize disruptions, but the plaintiffs dispute this.

There are also disturbances from cleaning, ongoing maintenance, intercom announcements, and doors opening and shutting.

Upshaw said all she was asking for in the suit was “the opportunity to get enough sleep to be alert for my trial.”

“When the state takes a person into custody for any reason, the Constitution imposes a duty to provide for the detainee’s basic human needs,” Donato wrote. “Conditions of confinement that deprive detainees of those needs…violate the Constitution.”

Virginia disputes ACLU charges of harsh solitary

August 8, 2018 by Charles Stanley Longley

The solitary confinement program in Virginia’s prisons is chastised in a new ACLU report for its inhumane conditions, according to the Washington Post.

Disciplinary segregation, special housing and administrative segregation are also considered to be solitary confinement by the ACLU.

“It simply doesn’t matter what you call it. The impact of the practice on people is exactly the same,” said Claire Gastanaga, ACLU executive director.

During solitary confinement, prisoners are housed in small cells for 22 to 24 hours a day with reduced or no natural light and little human contract. They have restrictions on reading material, visits, TV and radio as well, according to the report.

Putting inmates in isolationary confinement is “allowing people to be treated worse than zoo animals,” said David Smith, a former inmate.

Smith said he was confined in a windowless 12-foot by 6-foot cell for more than 16 months in the Norfolk City Jail. He was allowed to exercise every two weeks in the prison’s in-door gym, said the article.

“It’s a place of fear and isolation,” said Smith.

Virginia’s Department of Corrections disputed ACLU’s findings. Lisa Kinney, the department’s spokesperson, said the state has a long-term restrictive housing program without the use of solitary confinement.

Kinney also said the inmates have reading materials, out-of-cell recreation and classes.

“The Virginia Department of Corrections serves as a national model for the limited use of restrictive housing,” she said.

In Virginia, Kinney added, seriously mentally ill inmates cannot spend more than 30 days in restrictive housing. It is rare for offenders to be released from long-term restrictive housing back into the community, she said.

In 2011, the Virginia Department of Corrections implemented a “step down” program, meaning that inmates can get out of solitary confinement through good behavior. This was a part of reforms at Red Onion and Wallens Ridge State Prisons, meant to reduce the number of people held in “administrative segregation.”

Additionally, a DOJ recommendation for a program that diverts those with serious mental illness from restrictive housing was implemented in 2016.

www.stopsolitaryforkids.org
http://sanquentinnews.com/nys-solitary-confinement-of-youth-persists-under-different-name/
https://sanquentinnews.com/virtual-reality-and-the-solitary-prison-experience/

$200 For Parolees Doesn’t Make It

https://sanquentinnews.com/alabama-fails-fix-housing-mentally-ill-inmates-solitary/

Immigration assistance

February 15, 2018 by William Tolbert

Vera Institute of Justice program offers free legal advice to immigrants facing deportation in 11 cities and counties, Mother Jones reports.

The program provides funding and resources to help train legal service providers.

Great Seal of the United States

“It’s inhumane for people to go to court with no lawyer,” said Omar Siagha, a green card holder who was able to win his case through the program. “Everyone deserves a chance to explain their case to a judge.”

“Unlike in criminal court cases, immigrants generally do not have the right to a free court-appointed attorney during removal proceedings and often have to bear the cost on their own,” the Mother Jones story reported. It added that studies have shown that access to legal representation can drastically improve an immigrant’s chances of winning relief from deportation or release from detention.

Though deportations have slowed, immigration agents have made 43 percent more arrests since Donald Trump became president, compared to the same time last year, the magazine reported, referring to a Washington Post story.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has also attempted to speed up deportation and reduce immigration court backlogs, reported Mother Jones.

Vera has started soliciting competitive applications for the network from Oakland and Alameda counties, Sacramento and Santa Ana in California, as well as Atlanta, Ga.; Austin, Texas; Baltimore and Prince George’s County in Maryland; Chicago, Ill.; Columbus, Ohio, and Dane County, Wisconsin.

With 343 homicides in 2017, Baltimore “had the highest murder rate in its history, and by far the highest among the nation’s 30 largest cities,” according to The New York Times 1-17-18

Other cities have taken on their own efforts to provide funds for legal defense, the magazine reported. Seattle’s city council unanimously passed a resolution to allocate $1 million to a defense fund for immigrants and refugees, and increased that fund to $1.5 million in August with the inclusion of King County.

Earlier this summer, city and county officials in Los Angeles also approved an L.A. Justice Fund that, with help from outside donors, would provide up to $10 million for legal defense to immigrants.

“Immigrants are our friends, neighbors and co-workers, but new enforcement tactics are breaking up families and weakening our neighborhoods and our city,” wrote Elizabeth Brown, Columbus City Council member, in a press release.

Deportation Crimes Explained