Untitled by Jay Goodman

In my last chapter, I talked about how the guards, ranking officers, and even the wardens have abused their positions at the Hazleton penitentiary in the federal correction institution. I know they have a guideline of rules. They are supposed to go by, but it seems to be a completely different set of rules when it comes to health things run here. It’s as if they set their own rules here, and do whatever they want. There are rules put in place for a reason. Just like for us in prison, we are given a book when we arrive, and it is all of the institutions, rules and regulations that we are expected to follow. And if we violate these rules and regulations, there are penalties that come with it.

And these penalties range from anywhere from phone restriction, being put on commissary restriction, to taking away our visiting with her family, taking a good time, so we can stay in prison longer, we’re putting us in isolation for weeks, months, or years.

Now the problem they have here, is, they are allowed to violate all of the rules without any worry whatsoever that they’ll have to answer. And because of that, this institution does whatever they want. I have been talking with a few men that have been to isolation, here, and the stories I’ve been hearing are of so much abuse. It’s hard for me to believe no one has put them in court. Well, I do know one who has, but like most prisoners, it was short-lived. The abuses have range from theft or property, denial of medical attention, refusing to feed the prisoners, they don’t like, not allowing prisoners to have soap, toothpaste, or other hygiene, products, gassing, prisoners for asking questions, not giving them enough toilet paper, beating prisoners. The list of abuses goes on and on.

And what’s concerning is the ranking officers in the wardens are aware of these abuses, but continue to allow it to happen. Like I was saying, every place has a set of rules and regulations they are supposed to follow. It doesn’t matter if you work in a store, hotel, restaurant or prison. Every place of employment has some type of rules everyone has to follow. And when people don’t follow these rules what usually happens? They get a warning, or they get fired. But what’s Been allowed to happen in the Hazleton federal prison system, is there are no rules when it comes to how the staff ask. And that’s why these types of abuses have an allowed to go on unchecked.

Since I’ve been here, the staff will cover for each other from the top down. They don’t seem to care about lying or falsifying a federal document. Even though falsifying state or federal documentation is a felony, they will break this law all the time. When a prisoner violates a rule, and is taken into isolation, the officer who is working, is supposed to take all of his property and inventory it, and then the bag is supposed to be sent to isolation and it’s supposed to be inventoried in front of the prisoner to make sure all of his belongings are there, and he can sign the inventory sheet. That way if something is missing when he leaves, isolation, he can show from his inventory sheet that not all of his property is there. But what’s been happening is, the guard who was working the cell block where the prisoner went to isolation will go through the prisoner stuff, take whatever he wants to eat or keep for himself, I’ve even seen Staff give people’s property to other prisoners. Then the guard will do an inventory slip on what’s left. And instead of sending the prisoners property to isolation, off to be inventoried in front of the prisoner, they will falsify his signature, like it was inventoried in front of them.

Now, this is another thing they do, when it’s time to let the prisoner out of isolation. When they give the inmate his property back, they will not allow him to inventory his belongings. If the prisoner refuses to sign the inventory slept, the guard will say, “you will either sign it, or we will put it back in isolation.”

Now, what happens if the prisoner does sign it, once he sees hundreds of dollars of commissary is missing and tells them? They’ll say, “you signed for your stuff, and since you did, you admit it was all there. It’s not our fault.”

I have seen guards have other prisoners pack up a man’s belongings. The theft of our property happens all the time. There are many other miss treatments that go on in isolation here. One man was telling me, I have seen guards pass out the food trays, and then they will reach a guy’s door that was a sex offender, the guards would say, “oh you don’t want your tray?” Then just passed the inmates door. Like I said, in my last chapter, I understand there are many people who dislike, sex offenders, but as I showed, there are many people in prison that are innocent of their charges. What about them? Also, the people that work here are not being paid to come here and punish the prisoners. And they’re not being paid to judge why we are in prison.

Next, I know, a man who was sent to isolation for being high. Why he did deserve to be sent there, the guards were mad because it was shift change. So, they cut him and put him in a cell with his arms cut behind his back for over 10 hours. And even after that, they wouldn’t feed him for two days. This type of treatment goes on all the time at this institution. And it’s been allowed to happen for so long that it’s become a part of what they do. One man said he asked the guard for some soap, and the guard open the flap on his cell door and toss him and his cellie, and started screaming at them to stop fighting. This is a common thing in isolation here, if you ask a guard, a question, the gas the prisoner.

The guards are not supposed to gas anyone unless it is an emergency, but they do it all of the time. One man refused to stand her in council. The guards beat him so bad he couldn’t even eat for over a week. I understand the prisoner did wrong, but to beat someone, so severely is not only completely out of line, but it’s against the law. But to cover man and beat him, is another common practice here. When something happens here, and they come to get a prisoner, there’s supposed to be someone with a video camera to film what happens. The prisoner is supposed to be taken to the infirmary to be checked by the medical staff to make sure he hasn’t been hurt. Then they are supposed to take him to isolation, and once he is put in his cell, they can turn off the video camera. This is supposed to be a part of the rules and regulations, it’s for the safety of the prisoners, so they don’t get beat or abused. But once again, this prison system never follows. The guidelines put in place. Why do you believe they don’t follow this policy? I believe everyone knows the answer. While inmates are in isolation, they never allow them any incoming books or newspapers. They pass out one book a week, and the prisoner is not allowed to pick a book. They will give him whatever book they decide, even if the book is in Spanish. They will give the Spanish man books in English as well. I understand there is a need for isolation. But isolation is not supposed to be used as a place of physical or mental abuse.

Each day, a prisoner is handed seven squares of toilet paper to clean his ass. It takes more than that to clean a baby’s ass. Again, there is a need for isolation, but there is absolutely no need to abuse the prisoners.