In a message dated 00-09-05 20:47:12 EDT, you write:
<<
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - SEPTEMBER 4, 2000
Contact: Ken McGill - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
(662)280-9097, (901)336-6932
Contact: Betsy Wolfenden, Esq.- [EMAIL PROTECTED]
(919)932-7680
**************************************************
INTERNATIONAL GROUP PROTESTS INHUMANE
CONDITIONS AT MISSISSIPPI STATE PRISON
**************************************************
PARCHMAN, MS. - An international group of individuals
from six different countries, including Germany and the U.K.,
have formed an organization to protest the inhumane conditions
at the state penitentiary in Parchman, Mississippi. The group
calls itself ICHIP, or, International Citizens for Humane
Incarceration at Parchman.
Though some members of ICHIP have friends or loved ones within
Parchman, others joined after hearing of shocking human rights
abuses within the prison.
The group recently expressed its concerns to Mississippi Department
of Correction Commissioner Robert Johnson in a letter that described
such deplorable conditions as insect and rodent infested cells, lack of
proper medical and dental care, persistent flooding of feces and urine
in cells and hallways, and lack of exercise - many inmates in Parchman
have had no outside recreation in nearly a year. ICHIP members are
now waiting to hear from Johnson whether they may tour the prison
with members of the local press and Amnesty International.
�The most recent abuse,� says ICHIP member Betsy Wolfenden,
an attorney from North Carolina, �is that the prison is systematically
removing all electrical outlets from the cells on Unit 32 of the prison
which houses approximately 1,000 inmates.� Previously the prisoners
were allowed to purchase fans from the prison commissary. Without
outlets to plug in the fans, the prisoners are left to swelter in 6 x 9
cells for 24 hours a day without any relief from the 100 degree
temperatures. �We are hearing frightening reports on a daily basis
from prisoners who are unable to tolerate the extreme heat.�
(see excepts from prisoners� letters below).
To protest the unbearable temperatures within the cells, a number of
prisoners on Unit 32-C at Parchman resorted to a hunger strike until
Warden W.L. Holman responded to their concerns. When Holman
refused to meet with the prisoners, some of the inmates flooded their
cells by allowing their toilets to overflow. One of the non-violent
protestors was removed from his cell, pepper sprayed and beaten,
and then thrown into �the hole� for eight days, according to
first-hand reports coming out of the prison.
The American Correctional Association suggests summertime
temperatures inside prisons should range from 66 to 80 degrees F.
This summer, inmates at Florida�s Union Correctional Institution
that houses the state�s death row commenced a class action suit
protesting the heat that frequently exceeds 100 degrees inside the
cells. ICHIP is also considering a legal remedy for the inmates
in Parchman.
�The citizens of Mississippi should be ashamed that their tax
dollars are supporting a facility where a stray dog wouldn�t be
housed overnight, let alone human beings serving lengthy prison
sentences. Being removed from society is the punishment.
Enduring degradation and human rights abuses on a daily basis
that violate the Eighth Amendment is not supposed to be the
punishment,� states Wolfenden.
**************************************************
The following excerpts are from letters written by prisoners
housed at Parchman State Prison in Parchman, Mississippi:
��it has been so hot, I can only lay on the floor. I have asthma
and take medication. It�s hard to get to the clinic to see a doctor.
I know people who have diabetes and X has lung problems.
Man, it�s so hot, I can�t see straight�.Parchman is insane.�
*****
�I am currently being housed in a Maximum Security Unit,
which is Unit 32-C Building, Parchman MS. The unit itself sits
out in the open, which means, the entire unit gets baked by the sun
all day, making the building we live in like "hot boxes.�
Temperatures here reach 100 degrees a lot of days, so you can just
imagine how hot it gets inside.
The only thing prisoners have to escape the brutal heat is a fan
which we can buy from canteen. Other then that, there is virtually
no ventilation. Even with a small fan it's hard to breathe because
of the intense heat. This is cruel and unusual punishment on all
who are subjected to these elements.
Recently they came through our building and stripped our power from
each cell, leaving us with no way to run our fans. This was all we had
left to try getting away from the heat.
They have taken cruel and unusual punishment to it's fullest extent.
It's unbearable to live this way and I'm truly afraid prisoners are
going to die from the heat and lack of ventilation. Contrary to what
people on the outside think, we prisoners here have nothing, no TV's,
no radios, no air conditioning and all the other things that people think
we have. Do not be deceived by such thoughts, I assure you this is not
so, the only things we prisoners here in 32 have are what they give us
which isn't much at all.�
*****
"�remember me telling you that we were being removed from our cells,
taken to the holding tank and they installed screens on the windows?
Well, X and others were having their power removed as well. After
today (Aug.3), that entire zone will be power free. Before that, X
and others planned to protest. Last Friday they came to X and told
him to pack up so they could take him to the holding tank. He told
them he wasn't going and others were supposed to do the same thing.
Lt. Maxwell came and ordered him out of his cell and he refused so
Maxwell ordered several guards to mace X. They all refused to do it.
After no one would do it, Lt. Maxwell called up front and got permission
to do it personally. So he maced X. After that, X allowed them to
restrain him. His property was taken and he was taken to the clinic.
While there, the lights were removed and the power was taken. They
put him back in the same cell but this time he had no property or clothes.
X and others decided over the weekend to start protesting. Some went
on hunger strike; others were flooding the tier with their toilets. On
the 31st, X set off a sprinkler in the hall. Him and others were standing
and protesting. When Maxwell came, the others fell weak and X was
the only one who stood strong. He allowed Maxwell to restrain him with
leg irons and waist chains. He was moved to a cell with a steel door on
it. As he was being brought over here where the steel doors are,
Maxwell pulled him into the laundry room area, punched him a few
times, and when he went down, he kicked him a few times. When he
got on this zone, he yelled and let us know that Maxwell had jumped
on him."
END
___ >>
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