tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26666124.post5702241473760462047..comments2024-03-18T03:28:36.581-04:00Comments on Shrink Rap: The High Cost of (No) SuperMaxUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26666124.post-47816707156068570712012-07-04T04:22:11.588-04:002012-07-04T04:22:11.588-04:00Mr. Williams' accusations were first reported ...Mr. Williams' accusations were first reported by the Pittsburgh City Paper.<br /><br />Department of Corrections spokeswoman Susan McNaughton declined comment.<br /><br />In April, news broke that eight guards, including Mr. Nicoletti, had been suspended. Ms. McNaughton would not comment on their status, and leaders of their union could not be reached.<br /><br />In May, four top SCI Pittsburgh officials were replaced. Ms. McNaughton said they are no longer employed by the department.<br />---<br /><br />Whatever was going on in SCI Pittsburgh, it was really f*cked up and I can guarantee we're going to hear a lot more about this in the coming months. The fact that corrections officers have been suspended for this length of time WITHOUT PAY is highly unusual. We have COs on here, I'm sure they would vouch for that if they wanted to.<br /><br />That article is dated in regards to criminal charges<br />---<br />http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_761991.html<br /><br />The three former officials also claim that the sexual assault investigation began with Niemiec notifying a security captain that an unusually high number of new inmates were asking for the protection of solitary confinement, the lawsuit says.<br /><br />They spent hours gathering information for investigators and Lockett readily agreed to suspend the eight guards that state investigators identified as participating in or abetting the assaults, the lawsuit says.<br /><br />"They did everything they could," said Farnan.<br /><br />The investigation that has led to nearly 100 charges against guard Harry F. Nicoletti, 59, of Coraopolis, including assault, indecent assault, solicitation and terroristic threats related to attacks on more than 20 inmates over the past two years. Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said charges against other guards for either sexually assaulting and torturing inmates or failing to intervene in such incidents are likely.<br /><br />---<br /><br />Again, not a surprise to me, and it shouldn't be to any of you, but instead, lots of people want to stick their heads in the sand and pretend that this sort of thing is an isolated incident and is totally not reflective of the attitude towards trans people by the legal system / corrections / police.<br /><br />----Zoe Brainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13712045376060102538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26666124.post-1957646632811547552012-07-04T04:21:36.161-04:002012-07-04T04:21:36.161-04:00From someone on my network:
I wrote this a while ...From someone on my network:<br /><br />I wrote this a while ago. The media didn't give a f*ck and buried it, but it involves systemic sexual assault by prison guards of queer people in US prisons...<br /><br />---<br /><br />http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/December/11-crt-1560.html<br /><br />WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced today that it is opening civil investigations into two state correctional institutions (SCI) in Western Pennsylvania. In accordance with the pattern or practice provision of the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), the department will investigate allegations that SCI Pittsburgh failed to adequately protect prisoners from harm, including from prisoner-on-prisoner and officer-on-prisoner violence and sexual violence, in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In addition, the department will look into whether SCI Pittsburgh officers systematically targeted prisoners for violence and other abuse based on the prisoners’ race, sexual orientation, gender identity or other status, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.<br /><br />The department will also investigate allegations that SCI Cresson provided inadequate mental health care to prisoners who have mental illness, failed to adequately protect such prisoners from harm, and subjected them to excessively prolonged periods of isolation, in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.<br />---<br />This fairly unusual federal intervention is related to this,<br /><br />---<br />http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11265/1176794-100-0.stm<br /><br />The complaint also laid out a "conspiracy to sexually abuse, physically abuse and mentally abuse inmates who were homosexual ... transgender ... [or] who were convicted of sexual crimes."<br />...<br />Another former SCI Pittsburgh inmate, Rodger E. Williams, filed a pro se complaint two months ago, making a slew of complaints about the treatment of transgender inmates like himself at both the Woods Run prison and SCI Greene. Among them: that Mr. Nicoletti raped him, and "doled [him] out to other corrections officers and a [prison] inmate into forcibly committing sexual acts."<br /><br />In a recent addendum to the complaint Mr. Williams, 32, wrote that he suffered "oral and anal rape" conducted by state corrections officers.Zoe Brainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13712045376060102538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26666124.post-26102457558480536902012-06-28T13:14:22.927-04:002012-06-28T13:14:22.927-04:00Currently in this facility there are both maximum ...Currently in this facility there are both maximum security inmates (about 150) and a greater number of minimum security inmates. The maximum security inmates will go to other maximum security facilities and the minimum security in will go to other minimum security facilities. I'm not sure I see the cause for concern.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26666124.post-66254372657051342322012-06-26T05:14:23.934-04:002012-06-26T05:14:23.934-04:00Anon #1: I'm not sure why you'd take this ...Anon #1: I'm not sure why you'd take this post to mean that I'm not concerned about safety in community treatment settings. I am. I've talked about it on the blog <a href="http://psychiatrist-blog.blogspot.com/2011/04/can-i-hit-back.html" rel="nofollow">here</a> and <a href="http://psychiatrist-blog.blogspot.com/2012/02/violent-patient.html" rel="nofollow">here</a> and <a href="http://psychiatrist-blog.blogspot.com/2011/01/year-in-homicide.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>. I think people should be as concerned about security in free society treatment settings as they are concerned about the quality of treatment in corrections.<br /><br />Anon #2: I agree control unit beds should be reserved for the worst of the worst. I don't think this equates to a need to shut down a facility, though.ClinkShrinkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13316134491751195651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26666124.post-53428436943157783932012-06-25T15:38:28.163-04:002012-06-25T15:38:28.163-04:00I have worked as a psychiatrist in a supermax (rat...I have worked as a psychiatrist in a supermax (rather not say where) when it first opened. All the psychiatrists employed in the prison system were concerned that it would be used inappropriately, so we were invited to the state capital to hear from someone high up in the Dept of Corrections. S/he assured us that inmates with Axis I diagnoses would not be sent there. S/he lied. Inmates with chronic paranoid schizophrenia were sent there; inmates who had involved corrupt guards in various rule infractions (not involving violence or threat of violence or theft or sexual assault, etc) were sent there. Inmates who had in some way embarrassed DOC were sent there. After publicizing the supermax as a place for the worst of the worst, they employed officers who were fresh off the street from totally unrelated occupations rather than making the jobs attractive enough to attract experienced officers. <br /><br />There were certainly some bad people there, but DOC had beds to fill, and they filled them with inmates who, by previous practices, would have gone to medium security (or less) in order to keep the folly of the enterprise from coming out. This is the side of supermax prisons that appalls people.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26666124.post-19331260202897679232012-06-25T13:58:15.876-04:002012-06-25T13:58:15.876-04:00Had this conversation back in February after Dr Mi...Had this conversation back in February after Dr Miller had her post she just wrote about in this month's Clinical psychiatry News, and that was why are people getting psych diagnoses in correctional facilities and then dumped in the community mental health system for us to have to be victimized.<br /><br />And now you worry about these people getting put in less secure prisons? Who are you invested in, your system, or, your community?<br /><br />Correctional work, and I have done it, briefly mind you as I found it completely pathetic in how devoid of any individuality it considered people's needs and interventions, is almost solely about income first and treatment second.<br /><br />Frankly, I am appalled you would write the above concern and just basically write off your colleagues in the trenches without secure settings!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26666124.post-4921392336119035802012-06-25T08:39:36.968-04:002012-06-25T08:39:36.968-04:00Capital PunishmentCapital Punishmentrob lindemanhttp://natickpediatrics.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26666124.post-66269101101605694002012-06-23T09:31:19.771-04:002012-06-23T09:31:19.771-04:00Zoe: Yeah, I saw that and I watched the video of t...Zoe: Yeah, I saw that and I watched the video of the testimony. I agree with your point: control unit prisons are necessary but they should be adequately staffed. I think that holds true for any correctional facility. If society wants to lock people up, they need to assume the burden of care for their prisoners.<br /><br />The answer isn't to abolish the facility, the answer is to make the facilty better. That is possible.<br /><br />Unfortunatately, the only way to do this in the United States is through class action DOJ suits since no taxpayer is going to vote in favor of increased taxes for correctional health care.<br /><br />The situation is better in the UK where prison health services are all funded through the NHS. The Brit correctional psychiatrists I've talked to are always amazed about how much money we waste on litigation, when it could all go to providing services.ClinkShrinkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13316134491751195651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26666124.post-70887670163143355202012-06-23T03:49:30.138-04:002012-06-23T03:49:30.138-04:00What happens though when there's a SuperMax (a...What happens though when there's a SuperMax (and it's obvious they're needed, it's not a "nice to have"), but the total number of qualified mental health professionals available for the entire prison system is 9?<br /><br />None of whom are assigned there. They have two guards with "some mental health training", that's it.<br /><br />See <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2012/6/22/torture_in_us_prisons_historic_senate" rel="nofollow">this link</a>.Zoe Brainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13712045376060102538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26666124.post-44725618664116128072012-06-22T20:14:22.893-04:002012-06-22T20:14:22.893-04:00I'm gonna post this just because I feel so bad...I'm gonna post this just because I feel so bad for Brandon. He was not cutting the cat's tail off. In fact, no evidence was ever presented that he has ever physically harmed an animal or a person. I take that back. It was reported that he does physically harm himself. <br /><br />That kid is most likely not going to end up in SuperMax. He hasn't even been threatened with Juvie.<br /><br />The real psychopathic kids, who were not shown in the NYT article, may very well end up there.<br /><br />Ever since reading that article, I have still randomly felt bad for Brandon, so I feel I need to stick up for him.Janehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06030949818467743750noreply@blogger.com