AMERICANS ABUSED

“The people of God cannot be changed for the good until the outcasts, the prisoners are restored to its body,” Umberto Eco, an Italian author and philosopher.

One need not look to Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison to be shocked and horrified at how guards treat prisoners, or how the bigger system condones that abusive behavior and supports an atmosphere conducive to human rights violations. Abuse, neglect and lack of love or concern, a total and humiliating disrespect for God-created human life is found here in the USA at local, state and federal prisons. This is NOT a liberal-leaning attempt to attack the system based on some isolated or confined incidents by a “few bad apples” or solely based on clinical data and research – this for me became a reality, as I spent three months at Waseca Federal Correctional Institute in Waseca, Minnesota or as I prefer to call it, “HELL”.

In our society, we tend to shun anyone who isn’t like ourselves, who has not succeeded in our system, like people incarcerated in our ever-growing prisons. In addition, for the most part we believe these prisoners did some really bad action or must be bad people to get themselves thrown into the slammer. This is not true! I committed no violent or harmful offense towards another human or living creature on earth. A matter of fact, I was speaking up in defense of all human life through my non-violent witness to close the immoral School of Americas. But, for most inmates it’s not just society or their very own mistakes that tell them they are bad, it is the very system and structure of their reality that also condemns them.

“By necessity much of the system is based on the self-interest of the dominant class,” Richard Rohr, Franciscan writer and speaker in New Mexico. Rohr continues, “The examples I love to use are the Fifth and Sixth Commandments. A theologian once asked, why were there no exceptions to the Sixth Commandment, “Thou shall not commit adultery,” while we find ways around the Fifth Commandment, “Thou shall not kill”? I said in response, because the governments, the powers that be always wanted to have their excuses for why they could kill. And, we gave them their justifications for capital punishment and just war. I call it institutionalized darkness…the system is driving us toward evil, and I too once thought mistakenly that prisoners were the bad people,” says Fr. Rohr.

American prisoners are condemned to miserable lives of dominance, corruption, evil systems of abuse through the lack of needed services or being treated as sub-human, less than yesterday’s trash. Case in point, Army Spc. Charles Graner Jr., who is a Pennsylvania prison guard in civilian life said, “The Christian in me says it’s wrong, but the corrections officer in me says, I love to make a grown man piss himself.” While I was being abused and denied proper medical treatment at Waseca, I had asked my Education guard, Bruce Lindner, if he thought what we endured was ok by him? He said yes! Then, I asked him, are you a Christian? Once again, his response was a rousing yes! By the way, prior to his evil prison training, he was in the military. Another guard on the Education staff commented, “: if I didn’t like my treatment here, I could get the hell out of this country.” Almost no one cares about the prisoner, so health care is not a priority, not something to which the U.S. government gives large amounts of tax dollars to start with during economically strapped times, especially when fighting a war, and while lowering taxes for the wealthiest Americans and Corporations.

“Just because a prisoner has been deprived of their freedom and liberty does not mean they can be humiliated, abused, or treated inhumanely,” says a 1999 Amnesty International report on the human rights of U.S. prisoners. “Prisoners have just as much right as everyone else to be treated humanely. But in the USA, inmates are often the victims of prison regimes whose practices flout human dignity and international human rights standards.” The lack of decent and humanely proper health care at Waseca FCI is a human rights abuse of enormous proportions. There is no accountability due to staff covering one another’s behinds and following rules and procedures which blatantly allows such disregard for human life in the name of budget constraints. Medical neglect is an unintended part of the sentence for many incarcerated people in the U.S.

“While you are in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, every effort will be made to provide you with medical care of a similar level and quality that you would receive from the same type of clinic in the community,” this according to the FCI, Waseca, Minnesota Admissions and Orientation Handbook given to all inmates upon arrival to this hell. On the preceding pages, I’ll testify to the ordeal I encountered while incarcerated at Waseca, which is in stark contrast to the above-referenced handbook.

Day One: April 6^th, 2004

Journal entry; “I was stripped naked in front of male and female guards and humiliated for an immoral government that abuses and kills life routinely in the name of freedom and democracy. I could not sleep, nor was I given my prescriptions that I’ve taken for over 20 years for my severe muscle condition of Fibromyalgia, Sleep Disorder, Chronic Fatigue and Pain, as well as mild anxiety and depression. GOD HELP ME! I lay here in my upper bunk with a bad back from my previous lower-back surgery, which is hurting me intensely. My feet and left leg throbbing in pain. I need my drugs! This very same night, I jump up with a severe muscle spasm or “Charley Horse” in my calf of my left leg.”

Day Two: April 7^th

Journal entry; “I’ve limped all day, because of that damn Charley Horse. Its 9:00pm, my eyes are extremely tired and sore, but I just can’t fall asleep no matter what I do without my medications again. What agony and frustration this is for me, but does anyone care the least bit? Absolutely not, because I did complain loudly. But, I am only a prisoner.”

Day Three: April 8^th

Journal entry; “It seems to me God, that I always have to leave someone behind that I cherish to do your work, like Zachary, Charity, Kim, Black Jack, my parents and my friends. I only want to do your will God, not that of mine. Please, help me to listen to your command. I have this bright fluorescent light right above my eyes and head that stays on all day and evening until 11:00pm – this doesn’t help my physical or mental state of being. STILL NO MEDICATIONS! I did see the Physician Assistant (PA) today to go over my health concerns. My condition worsens no sleep for three days now. I feel like a Zombie.”

Day Four: April 9^th

Journal entry; “Finally, I am receiving some medications, not all of my required medications that I usually received on the outside, only a few. I am only receiving three of my six medications; Neurontin 400mg., Trazadone 150mg., and Paxil CR 25mg. They help only minimally without my other three medications of Hydrocodone, Clonazepam, and Cyclobenzaprine. I can’t take this abuse, nor can my poor body! My excruciating pain hurts like hell!”

“Pain management is often nonexistent because prison officials tend to believe inmates want the drugs to feed their addictions. When prisoners do get their medications, they often get the wrong dosage or the wrong medication entirely,” Leah Thayer, who wrote, “Hidden Hell: Women in Prison”.

Fact or Fiction? You be the judge…

On April 28^th, Mr. Mead in the pill line gave me all the wrong medications that were never prescribed for me. Lawsuit in the real world? Barely an apology in prison! Mr. Mead gave me three wrong medications, including Quetiapine (anti-psychotic), Ziprasidone (anti-psychotic), and Venlafaxine HCL XR. All Wrong, not prescribed medications for me. It could have had harmful or fatal consequences for me. Luckily, they didn’t hurt me, yet the fact remains, it was human error that could have had huge negative effects. How many times does the prison make medical errors? The Bureau of Prisons medical staff make four times as many errors than that of the medical staff in society at your local hospital or clinic. The Bureau of Prisons Pharmacy makes up near four times the errors than that of your local drugstore. I was a Pharmacy Technician in my pre-college days of youth at Hall Drugs in Utica, Michigan for nearly four years. In those four years, we caught every drug error prior to giving them to the customer! Not one single case of costly human error in four years. Yet, this Waseca Federal Prison Pharmacy made three errors with me alone in only three months! Something is dreadfully wrong! But, who cares? Do you? Does Congress? I know GOD cares!!!

On May 8^th, 2004, nurse Alford in the pill line gave me two unfamiliar red pills, that I was never again given. There was no new prescription for me or medication changes. Once again, human error or the lack of care on the part of the prison medical staff made another error. Funny thing is, if the staff doesn’t document the error, then it doesn’t exist according to the Warden. Interesting isn’t it? How a large system like a prison has absolutely no checks or balances, just a so-called honor system among staff. You’ll never find a Whistleblower among the prison staff, like you would definitely find in a major pharmacy or hospital in the outside world, beyond these razor wire fences of a low, non-violent prison, such as Waseca in Minnesota. The normal order of things continues where the privileged, the powerful oppress the underprivileged. The social structure of this prison and the make-up of all it’s departments, including Health and even Recreation is based solely on this human faulty law of immorality, NOT our Great Spirit’s, Higher Power or God’s law of love for all.

One evening in the pill line, another in a short line of flunky, so-called medical staff did not give me my Trazadone, which is used to help put me to sleep at night due to my Fibromyalgia. Due to this third error, I never slept that night making the following day unbearable to go to work or concentrate on anything due to my “Zombie” state. The pain too was unconscionable! But, it doesn’t end here…

The fear and humiliation instilled into the hearts and minds of these totally non-violent prisoners is unthinkable in our modern era of so-called enlightened, intelligent, and highly educated society. The medical, recreational, educational and religious staffs are here to help heal the wounds of the past, present and future, NOT to be another in a very long line of “mean & nasty S.O.B” staff degrading and humiliating non-violent human male creatures of GOD. Gandhi of India also once asked the question, “How can men feel themselves honored by the humiliation of their fellow human beings?” Let us take a look at this phenomena running rampant in U.S. prisons today by so-called “professional” prison staff.

Over the course of my 41 years in and out of hospitals for various reasons, I’ve come across lets roughly and conservatively estimate around 60 or 70 doctors, a multitude of Physician Assistants and nurses. Well, at Waseca with only one 15-minute, heavy-handed, lopsided conversation with the “venerable,” “good” Dr. Grey, a doctor with a 30-year career in prison healthcare, he states unequivocally that “every doctor you’ve (I’ve) had has practiced bad medicine”. All this “good” medicine, while I stand naked and he is staring at my penis for at least 10 minutes. Maybe, he enjoyed the view too much! I don’t know, but I do know a doctor with a huger-than-life god-complex when I see one. This doctor, who labeled me argumentative because I dared to ask a few questions about my healthcare, while putting my boxers back on, barked back at me that he knew best what was good for me. In addition to this incident being humiliating and degrading, it was a total lack of respect for others, including and especially myself. I walked out of Dr. Grey’s office feeling empty, violated and angry. What does one prisoner do to attempt to redress these healthcare concerns? Well, he writes an Informal Resolution, then a request for Administrative Remedy, then an appeal; all of which come back in favor of the “good” Dr. Grey, an incompetent fool. As I write this now, some seven months later I can still feel the anger bellowing up from my gut. The pain continues today, it did not end upon release from prison. Being treated disrespectfully as sub-human is an on-going rape upon my soul, heart and mind daily! They (the Waseca prison staff) left an indelible, lasting black mark etched upon my soul that can never be erased or forgotten.

On May 13^th, further evidence of healthcare humiliation occurred when I attempted to turn in a sick call form at noon to Ms. Petersen, another P.A. on staff. Unbeknownst to me, I had not recollected the guideline in the Admissions and Orientation Handbook that firmly stated that all sick call forms must only be turned in between 6:30 and 7:00 am. The irony to this story is that I had read that manual at least four times prior to this and still innocently forgot. Instead of nicely reminding me of the rule and allowing it just this one time, she went ballistic on me. Ms. Petersen started yelling at me like a little child who spilt milk once too many times. My two health issues I thought needed to be addressed immediately. I hand hundreds of red, small pustules all over my hands that were peeling and itching badly. In addition, between my legs, my groin area was infected with some type of fungi acquired from the prison showers, which I never before had in my entire lifetime. Yet, she didn’t care and sent me away like a puppy with his tail between his legs for wetting the carpet. I pleaded for some compassion, some remote sign of being human and caring for one another. She asked for my name and I gave it to her, while she looked at me with wild and castrating eyes furious beyond control.

All of these accounts are testimony to the failing marks our U.S. prison system gets from our God for the unyielding and resounding loss of respect, dignity, care or love for ALL human life. We just don’t cut the muster anymore here in the USA! Why point fingers at other countries and cultures when our very own is having a “meltdown” in the department of love and morality. We have forgotten how to treat people. I now proudly work for Great River Medical Center in West Burlington, Iowa, where customer service is priority number one, and they stand behind that cliché. Prisons and/or hospitals are big business. The care of the patient, like the prisoner should be the utmost of concern. At GRMC the employees abide by the EXCEL values for the care and love of the patients. The first letter “E” in EXCEL stands for enthusiastically friendly, unlike prison where 99.9% of the staff is mean and extremely unfriendly. Next, X-ceed x-pectations, where “Patients, visitors, co-workers and other customers are treated the way we would want our relatives or friends to be treated”. At Waseca, the prisoner (customer) is treated like trash, like scum in a dirty, old toilet. Whatever happened to the Golden Rule of treating others as we would want to be treated? I can’t imagine the Warden wanting to stand naked and being stared at. Of course who knows, many of the prison staff seem eager to be sadistic and evil! The “C” in EXCEL, imagine this, is for caring and compassion. You won’t see much of that in prison, unless you believe theft, rape, sodomy, inadequate and borderline deadly healthcare, horrible, unprofessional prison staff is compassionate. Then, to round out the EXCEL values is energetic teamwork, and leadership. EXCEL values are based on what is right with people and empowering those people with those valuable assets, rather than rewarding as in the prison, the bad cop scenario every moment of the day.

The problem remains that there are hundreds of thousands of stories just like these facts that I laid out before you. They are all different, all personal, and all insanely tragic and could have been avoided altogether, if but one person at a time says ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I care! I love! Force Congress to walk one day in the shoes of the less fortunate, such as prisoners. The laws would change quickly if the rich and powerful loved ones were in prison, rather than the poor. Jesus said, “Take care of the least among you”. Who could be least than the poor? Absolutely, NO ONE!!! Respect for human laws that allow these injustices to continue are NEVER more important than obedience to the higher law of our universal being, the voice of conscience, the voice of love, the voice of God.

The conviction that all life has a good purpose is rooted in every fiber of human flesh; it is a property of the human substance of matter and energy. Women and men give many names to this purpose, and think and talk a lot about its nature. But, for us imprisoned the question is much simpler. Today, in Waseca or any other warehousing of human life, our only purpose is to sit or stand at our assigned work stations, to be bored out of our minds and waste away our lives in endless and pointless time – lots of time! Behind this humiliating and degrading aim there is not at this moment in history any other aim, so much for restorative justice and rehabilitation. In the evening, we wait endlessly herded in through the chow line, like hogs in Iowa to the feeding trough. Spring comes and goes daily here in Minnesota. Today is a little earlier than yesterday, today a little warmer than yesterday, in one month or two months the cold will call a truce and we will have one enemy less. We hate the crazy dream of grandeur of the prison rules and those nasty enough who force it upon us, their contempt for morality and love, God and for us poor men.

We prisoners are dead to society. Only God hears our voices now. “It is commendable if a person bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he or she is conscious of God,” 1 Peter, 2:19. Prisoners are aware of God. Are the rich and powerful? What we citizens of this greatest country in the history of mankind allow to happen to poor prisoners is a sin against the Creator of all life!

This reminds me of the Hopi Indian term; KOYAANISQATSI…translation;

LIFE OUT OF BALANCE!!!

God Bless The World