January 18 - Prejudice Inside and Out

Wednesday, January 18, 2016

Prejudice is something difficult to escape in daily life.  Most of us are prejudiced in one way or another, often without realizing it ourselves.  We see our own prejudice as truth or reality.  When that reality is challenged, we have a tendency to fight tooth-and-nail to prevent a perspective change that could be frightening and even painful.
 

Many prejudices in our daily lives are either accepted or shamed.  For example, much of our society has progressed to recognize that prejudice against people due to race, color, national origin, sex, and other factors is inappropriate.  However, demonstrated prejudices against people due to things like personal wealth/poverty, level of education, and criminal history are often justified in the minds of not only the prejudiced person, but many around them.  This raises the critical question – why would these categories be considered prejudice?  It is the very fact that they are categories at all. 

As human beings, we have a love of categorization.  It is one of the ways we study, and work to understand the world around us.  However, despite its usefulness in developing understanding, the second that we define the entirety of a human being by the limited boundaries of any particular category, we have the potential to demonstrate prejudice. 

When judging someone based on the fact that they are wealthy, do we naturally assume that they have no experience with poverty and therefore no perspective?  When judging someone for poverty, do we assume that they have chosen not to seize opportunity, or have simply not tried hard enough to escape its terrible grip?  When judging someone for their lack of education, do we assume they are less intelligent or less driven to succeed?  In reality, an unfathomable number of events could have occurred in that person’s life to put them in that category, no matter what their level of intelligence, wisdom, or desire to succeed may be. 

Prejudice Against Inmates and Family/Friends

Inmates and their families endure a shocking level of prejudice from much of society, which is often cheered and celebrated more often than challenged or shamed. 

For example, in the comments after a news article on the suspect of a burglary, it is not uncommon for someone to start posting things like, “It’s about time we start lining these people up and shooting them!” or “Lock ‘em up and throw away the key!” 

When family members of the innocently accused/convicted attempt to show support and expose the reality of their situation, they often become targets of the same hatred.  I myself have had individuals, in the safe anonymity of the internet, literally state that I should be raped and killed for standing in support of my innocent husband.  The irony is, that the very people who seem to be outraged that our daughter died and who believe him to be at fault simply because they read an accusation on a computer screen, have called for not only murder but grotesque sexual violation of another human being and somehow feel justified. 

These threats and dangers are not limited to the online world either; although the internet seems to heighten the level of boldness and depravity.  Indeed, my vehicle has been tampered with and I have family members who have even had guns pulled on them out in the general public; simply because we we’re recognized as a family in support.  Even official businesses regularly demonstrate prejudice with no apparent fear of accountability, or even basic understanding that their actions are inappropriate.  When I was being evaluated for insurance by a company I have used for many years, and had to explain the situation of my husband’s incarceration due to other life changes, the company called me back three separate times to ask the same singular question.  “I’m sorry mam, but I need to clarify… do you intend to divorce your husband?”  What relevance does divorce have on my insurance when my husband’s sentence is 40 years?

Prejudice against inmates, and formerly incarcerated individuals, is nothing new.  It is rarely thought of as prejudice and simply labeled as common sense.  But this form of categorization is one of the most flawed in our society today. 

As a basic example, any individual being held in our prison system in Alaska is assigned an identifying number called an Offender Number.  This basic terminology assumes that all incarcerated individuals are offenders.  In truth, at least a quarter of Alaska’s prison population is held for days, months, or often years in a pretrial status; therefore, their guilt has not even been determined. They are supposed to be presumed innocent.  In a recent case, a 19 year old man was acquitted of rape in Palmer after spending nearly two years in prison awaiting trial.  In some felony cases, it is not uncommon for someone to wait five years or more for their day in court.  For my husband, Clayton Allison, the wait was more than six years. 

Then you have the other complication of wrongful conviction; which by definition labels an innocent as an offender.  The National Registry of Exonerations has already gathered data on more than 1,900 proven cases of exoneration since 1989.  They have only been gathering this information for a couple of years, and their scope is limited to official court actions.  Clayton’s wrongful conviction will not appear on this list until he is officially exonerated by the courts.  An unknown number of individuals across the country are wrongfully convicted, sometimes without hope of exoneration because they can gather no evidence that the crime they are accused of may not have even occurred, or have actually been a crime.

More and more people across our country are waking up to the fact that just because someone is accused of a crime does not make them guilty.  Just because they are convicted does not mean there is proof beyond a reasonable doubt.  Most importantly, just because someone is being confined within the walls of a prison, does not mean they have actually done anything wrong.  Even professionals in the field acknowledge this simple truth.  U.S. 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski, in his article Criminal Law 2.0, reflected that, “much of the so-called wisdom that has been handed down to us about the workings of the legal system, and the criminal process in particular, has been undermined by experience, legal scholarship and common sense (2015).” 

Spreading the word of this important truth is a daunting task, but challenging the resulting prejudice will be much harder. 

Prejudice Against Specific Types of Inmates

Now, you might be tempted to think that society is prejudiced towards all inmates in the same way, but you would be sorely mistaken.  Even among those experiencing the prejudice, there are further levels to our drive for categorization.  I have an African-American friend who was once told by another African-American friend that she was “not really black” because one of her parents was white; therefore, she couldn’t truly understand the suffering of black people.  Obviously this was an inaccurate and laughable accusation.  Similarly, however, individuals have a tendency to categorize inmates based on the crime they are accused or convicted of.  This includes policy makers, lawyers, corrections staff, other inmates, and the general public. 

For example, it is not uncommon for policies to be written for justice reform with a seemingly automatic rubber stamp for the exclusion of sex offenders and/or violent crimes.  There is a tendency to speak about both “sex offenses” and “violent crimes” as if they are simplified classifications which we would all consider equivalent in their level of offense.  However, these broad generalizations fall woefully short of providing real context in our decision-making processes.
 

Imagine you have four men standing in front of you, and I told you they were all sex offenders.  Most people would have the tendency to treat them all similarly.  Then imagine that I clarified that: one man was convicted of having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old when he was 19; one man was convicted of forcibly raping and beating six women as a serial rapist; one man was convicted at 17 of sexual exploitation of a minor because he sexted naked photos of himself to a girl at his high school; and the fourth is a 70-year-old mentally ill man who experiences delusions and was convicted of exposing himself in public.  The facts have not changed, but do you still see all four men in exactly the same light?  Would you make the same opportunities available to them, and place them under identical restrictions? 

Even inmates exercise these prejudices as a way to justify causing harm to others within their limited reach.  Racial tensions and gangs affiliations already provide excuses for violence and the creation of a pecking order.  However, there is usually a complicated set of rules or a specific person for granting permission to inflict harm without fear of retaliation.  Categorizations and assumptions about someone’s offense can make them an easy, unprotected target for this aggression.  Therefore, many inmates are forced to enter what the Department of Corrections calls Protective Custody (PC), or an Ad Seg status, to keep themselves safe. 

Prejudice From Correctional Staff Against PC

What has been most shocking to me in recent months, is the blatant prejudice demonstrated by the corrections staff assigned to watching over these individuals.  In fact, corrections staff frequently use their Ad Seg status as an excuse to declare that they can house the individuals in any conditions they wish – even unconstitutional ones. 

In one example, my husband had an unpleasant encounter with a correctional officer who was lashing out at him, and failing at his duties in the process, for being in protective custody.  The man worked in property at the time (they rotate assignments often), and was supposed to be assisting my husband in reclaiming his property when returning from court.  Instead, the man was shouting vicious things at him, swearing, and flat out refusing to help him locate the property in question.  The man, who likely didn’t know who Clayton was or any of the details of his case, was screaming that he was a “Chester” (prison slang for child molester) simply because he was in protective custody.  Chester seems to be the default accusation against this population by both inmates and some staff; when it often clearly has no bearing on their actual cases.  Ultimately, another corrections officer intervened in removing Clayton from the verbal assault, and brought him the property personally later; apologizing for his co-workers behavior. 

In another example, Goose Creek Correctional Center administrators have demonstrated incredible levels of prejudice against this population in their decision-making for the entire facility.  On September 16, 2015, all men in PC status were moved from a housing unit, previously called K Mod, which allowed them the same general lifestyle afforded to general population (GP) inmates.  They were transferred into an area of the prison called the Special Management Unit (SMU) and forced into solitary-confinement-like conditions with no hope of being released into a less mentally traumatizing environment.  We have written extensively about the events that transpired on this blog, and encourage you to read the accounts from September 16, 17, 18, and 28, of 2015, if you have not done so already.
 

Since that time, these men have suffered under unconstitutional housing conditions for well over a year.  They are being permanently denied access to outdoor recreation, through the excuse of an indoor gym.  The inmates have attempted to fight this cruelty through official DOC paperwork, but have received no relief.  Unbelievably, Alaska DOC is maintaining the argument that the grate in the side of the wall of the indoor gym, which points at nothing but the sky, qualifies as outdoor recreation.  What is the problem with that argument?  Other than basic logic, it has already been found invalid by the U.S. 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals.  It's literally an argument they have already lost before, and are just ignoring.
  

In one 9^th Circuit case it states that, "Exercise comprising a room with a roof and one wall of perforated steel, admitting sunlight only, during the top 1/3 did not meet the courts requirement for outdoor recreation." [Keenan v. Hall, 83 F.3d 1083, 1090 (9th Cir. 1996)]  

Further, the court has clarified that, "Long-term deprivation of outdoor exercise is unconstitutional" in Hearns v. Terhune, 413 F.3d 1036, 1042-43 (9th Cir. 2005). 

Lastly, DOC is maintaining their authority to do this to the inmates because they are classified as protective custody status.  However, the third case - Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1133 (9th Cir. 2000) - discusses two important issues. It clarifies that specific demonstrated harm is not necessary to cite in long-term cases which it measures in days, not weeks, months or years; because in long-term cases the harm is assumed.  It also clarifies that, "The courts held that it was not enough for officials to say that they kept a prisoner from the yard for his own protection.  They must justify why they did not provide some other opportunity for outdoor recreation."
  

It is also important to note that these men were forced into these conditions after the disbandment of their protective-custody-dedicated general-population-like housing unit; formerly known as K Mod.  In a recent California case, their courts determined that confining someone to indefinite solitary-like housing with an indoor gym like the current Goose Creek SMU was inappropriate, and a settlement was reached.  You can find the settlement documentation through the Huffington Post article.  I would note that section III.D. of the settlement outlines the requirement for the facility to establish the very form of housing unit Goose Creek recently abolished. 

Life Without the Outdoors

Since this issue was covered in more detail in a recent Alaska Public Media story, some have asked the question, “What is so cruel and unusual about the conditions?” 

First, I encourage you to read through some of the inmate letters on this blog and additional entries about life in the SMU.  Secondly, I encourage you to watch the video on the experience of solitary confinement from the perspective of Supermax inmates in the lower 48.  Most importantly, I ask you to consider the facts at play.

The gym available to the Goose Creek SMU inmates is completely enclosed except for the grate on the wall.  This grate points at the sky, so the inmates have not seen grass, trees, weather, accumulated snow, or any aspect of the outdoors for more than a year; an environment well-documented around the world to cause mental illness and distress.  Clayton commented to Alaska Public Media about attending his mother’s funeral last summer, and said, “I unashamedly admit that I was weeping on the ride there, not because of my mom’s death, but because of the car ride and being able to be outside,” he recalled. “I was able to see the many colors of the green on the trees and the flowers. It had been so long it was overwhelming for me.”

Additionally, this type of gym is inappropriate for use in arctic conditions.  The grate lets in not only the outdoor air, but sometimes the precipitation like rain or snow.  It’s not enough to really touch, but to affect the floors inside and make its way to the drain.  It also means that the gym temperature is a match to the temperature outside without the benefits of a view.  On days like today, when it is 20 below zero, their gym is also well below zero.  They are not afforded coats or other winter gear to use for exercise.  On days like today, GP inmates are given the option to use an indoor heated gym for exercise, because outdoor recreation would be a risk to health.  SMU inmates are not afforded this option because they “have their own gym.”  Which means, during periods of extreme cold (much of the winter here in Alaska) they have no options for recreation at all without inviting illness.  They are not allowed to exercise in the mod itself. 

Most shocking of all, Superintendent John Conant from Goose Creek freely admitted his own prejudice on the subject to the press. 

“There’s other units these guys can be in if they just have a little more courage, I guess you’d say, and just try it,” he said in the article, referring to other specialized GP mods.

This statement is not only prejudiced, but inaccurate.  First of all, his claim that there are other specialized mods they can transfer into is far from universally true.  Recent changes within the religious mod Clayton once considered have rendered him ineligible for transfer there.  The new program requires them to admit guilt for their crimes, which Clayton and anyone who is innocent and in active appeal cannot do.  There are also mods being designed for things like mental health support, but you have to need that support in the first place to qualify.  The only other option we are currently aware of, is the standard GP mods.
 

Secondly, he claims that their confinement to the SMU is related to their level of courage.  This implies that they have not “tried it” to begin with.  Most of the inmates in the SMU are there because they already have tried it, and found the conditions impossible to manage.  In GP, these inmates face not only extortion, but the constant risk of physical violence and potential death.  The risk does not only affect the inmate.  When Clayton was first placed in GP at Goose Creek, desperate to avoid PC status and potential solitary confinement, he had three groups of men threaten to knife him to death in the first 20 minutes he was placed there.  Eventually, the entire mod started to break out in riotous behavior – shouting threats, screaming, and banging their cups and other objects – and multiple guards were forced to put themselves at abnormal risk to surround him and remove him from the environment into safety.
 

Also, let’s say an inmate does “try it out” and meets with failure.  Sure, they could have a period of success, but as soon as another inmate decides they are an easy target they face injury, potential permanent disability, and even death for the sake of giving it a try.  At the least, they would end up with write-ups and potential punishment for being involved in an altercation they had no means of controlling.  Surely, the Superintendent of our largest institution realizes this.  Yet, he still allows his own prejudice about their courage to taint his decision-making. 

Extreme Prejudice From the Public

The Alaska Public Media article, while exposing the ongoing cruelty and potentially illegal nature of it, has also shed some light on the prejudice among the public against this population.  Some have stated that the SMU is full of “rapists and murderers” who have no right to humane treatment anyway. 

“Rapists and murderers” is an interesting colloquialism with no real relevance to the facts.  On one hand, yes many of the individuals that end up in PC status are there because they are sex offenders and GP inmates consider those crimes more heinous than whatever crime they have committed personally.  However, the murderers half of that flippant statement is blatantly untrue.  Yes, some of the men in the SMU, like Clayton, are convicted on murder charges.  However, many more convicted murderers walk around in GP without any need of protective custody.  It is not a crime that automatically causes the need for a PC status.
 

Secondly, use of this colloquialism is completely ignorant to the numerous other reasons an inmate might need a PC status.  Men may be in a PC status for numerous reasons, including, but not limited to:

• Being elderly, which makes an easy target for aggression and exploitation;
• Recovering from severe injury, illness, or medical treatment;
• Being mentally ill, and unsafe to themselves or others, or at risk from others; 
• Being homosexual, bisexual, or transgender and at risk for sexual and non-sexual violence; 
• Being considered a “rat” or a “snitch” for cooperating with authorities in the investigation and prosecution of their case, and winding up at risk from their co-defendants and everyone else for the simple title; 
• Attempting to leave a gang within the prison, which can result in a ‘contract’ going out to promise a reward to anyone who injures or kills that specific person; and 
• Being accused or convicted of a crime that is sexual in nature, or against women and children.       

This begs the most basic of questions to the general public.  Do we believe that someone should risk their life and health because they are homosexual?  Do we believe that they should be left unprotected because they cooperated with investigators and prosecutors?  Do we believe that we should leave the elderly and mentally ill defenseless?  Some of these people are literally in PC status for other reasons, after being convicted of things like check forgery.  Yet, the administrators at Goose Creek seem to believe that these are valid reasons to confine men within unconstitutional, cruel, and unusual living conditions indefinitely, with no hope for relief. 

Please Take Action

If you believe this to be unacceptable, please spread the word and demand justice from your state.  Contact your legislators and congressmen to demand corrective actions.  Contact the Lieutenant Governor and Governor’s offices to file a complaint.  Spread the word about these conditions, and educate members of the public on this form of prejudice, in your own communities.  Stand Up and Speak Out for those who cannot speak out for themselves.  We thank you all for your support.  

Clayton's Letter on Experiencing Alaska Prisons

Sunday, August 28, 2016

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Clayton Allison.  I give my name at the risk of retaliation from the staff and guards here at Goose Creek Correctional Center.  This is my story.

To understand my current circumstances, some backstory and information is needed.  I was charged with manslaughter, negligent homicide, and eventually murder in the second degree in 2009.  The accusation was that I killed my 15-month-old daughter.  I am innocent.  My wife, family, friends, coworkers and fellow church members all knew this.  Anyone that had known me for any length of time did not believe the charges against me.  I have overwhelming support and love from the community.  

I spent 10 days at Mat-Su Pretrial before I made bail.  This was my first time in jail.  This was my first brush with the legal system.  I have always been a “nerd” or a “geek.”  I have never tried any illegal drug.  I have never smoked a cigarette.  Asthma and a love for Star Trek have kept me from the “Party Scene.”  I spent the next 3 years on Third Party bail restrictions.  This meant that I had to stay within sight and sound of either my wife, or my father-in-law when my wife was at work.  I was effectively made unemployable.  

Third Party restrictions made it impossible for me to work a job.  Having to stay within sight and sound of my father-in-law, for the next 3 years while my wife was at work, did greatly improve our relationship.  We played a lot of Halo on the Xbox.  In 2012 the charges against me were dropped.  I was a free man.  I could start working again.  No more Third Party!  

Shortly thereafter, the charges against me were re-done through the Grand Jury.  The court decided no more Third Party was needed.  My bail stood.  I spent no extra days in jail.  More years went by.  New lawyers.  New continuances.  Eventually, I finally got close to trial.  I was offered a 2-year plea deal for negligent homicide.  I turned it down.  I am innocent.  My trial was in January and February of 2015.  A total of 6 years had gone by since my original charges.  Three of those on Third Party.  I broke no laws; caused no trouble. I didn’t even leave the state when I could have.  

I found a job driving limos once I was off Third Party and could work.  I lost my trial.  I was found guilty of Murder 2.  A few months later, in July, I was sentenced to 40 years with 10 suspended.  I was remanded from my trial into custody when I lost.  That was the start of my true incarceration.  My previous 10 days experience could not prepare me for what was ahead.  

I was in for a shock.

Forget what you have seen on TV.  Real life prison is very different.  Upon remand, I was taken to Mat-Su Pretrial.  I was housed in E or “Echo” Mod, then put into A or “Alpha” Mod.  Echo Mod was the intake mod that everyone went through.  Alpha Mod was for more long term placement. Alpha Mod at Mat-Su Pretrial was my eye-opening experience to prison.  Believe it or not, before this point, I actually believed that there were no gangs in Alaska.  How wrong I was.  

This was a GP, or General Population, mod.  It was small; maybe 30-40 men could fit.  My case had some media attention.  I was recognized.  I immediately started having problems.  The white gang members and leaders did not want me there.  Apparently, discipline comes from the leaders of your race.  The others won’t touch you; unless they get permission from the white gang leaders.  I was told to “roll up” or “PC up.” Words like “baby raper” and “Chester” were used.  I learned that “Chester” means child molester.  It didn’t matter that there was nothing sexual in my charges.  These were labels of hatred for my “supposed” crimes.  

Someone explained to me that to “PC up” meant to ask the guards for protective custody.  I was told that in PC you cannot get visits.  This was a lie.  I didn’t learn that until much later.  To be able to visit my wife in visitation meant the world to me.  So I refused to “PC up” or “roll up.”  This caused more problems.  

Twice I was cornered in my cell and told to fight.  I could earn respect by “boxing.”  I refused.  I was hit a few times, called a “punk” or “bitch,” which are two dangerous “fight” words in prison.  I did not report this because I did not want to add “rat” or “snitch” to my apparent list of offenses.  They tried to extort money from me; saying that if I paid them “taxes” that I would be “protected.”  This was done by purchasing items off the commissary list and giving it to them.  I refused.  The main gang leader at this point asked me if I would help smuggle drugs into the prison using my visitors.  This could “pay my taxes.”  He wanted my help because I had lots of visitors coming in to see me.  I refused.  

At this point they were confused, and didn’t know what to do with me.  I had refused to PC up, fight, pay taxes or smuggle drugs.  I had also refused paying taxes by giving them my food trays.  At meal times, I ate fast and in front of the guard.  After a few days, they finally decided to do a “group beat down.”  After a large group of them had beat me up they said I would be “cool” with them.  Before this could happen, I was transferred; probably saving me hospital bills!

This was life in general population.  

I was transferred to Goose Creek Correctional Center (GCCC) in Wasilla.  Put in general population in E or “Echo” Mod.  It was still February.  My first day in GCCC was a nightmare. My media coverage meant I was recognized within my first hour.  I had not even made my bed in my new cell yet.  Echo Mod was much bigger than I was used to.  Maybe 150 inmates were walking around compared to the 30-40 I was used to.  This was the big leagues.  I was approached by 3 white men covered in tattoos.  Most looked like they had been done in prison.  They told me that if I did not “PC up” that second, they were going to “medivac” me out.  There was a group of men watching 20-30 strong.  These men were obviously with the ones talking to me.  I learned later that this was one of many gangs called 1488 or The Dirty White Boys.  

I had had enough. After multiple threats, I went to talk to a guard about this PC stuff.  Learned that I could get visits from my wife.  Decided it had to be better than this.  I was tired of staying out of trouble and knew if I didn’t “PC up” I was likely to get into a fight defending myself from adult-sized school-yard bullies.  So, I joined protective custody.  I was taken from E Mod in handcuffs while 150 inmates screamed my name.  

It was not a good feeling.  

I spent the next two months in the “Hole,” or Administrative Segregation.  Segregation, PC status known as AS-5, meant that I was locked down in my cell 23 hours a day.  I was let out for one hour to shower or go to “Rec.”  “Rec,” or recreation, was a small chicken-wire cage outside that you could walk circles in.  Chain link fence walls to let fresh air in.  

In segregation the cells are built for two.  You have a cell mate or “cellie” that shares the room with you.  There is a toilet in the room.  Everything is metal and bolted to the floor.  At night, and during the day, it can sound like the howls of the damned in there.  Anyone that gets into a fight, or gets a write-up for disciplinary actions, ends up in the “hole.”  They hand your meal trays through a slot in your cell door.  You make phone calls through that same door slot while sitting on your cell floor.  I can still hear the screaming.  

Whenever you leave your cell, they handcuff you to a belly chain around your waist.  The men scream at you “PC!” or “Chester!”  They can keep you up at night.  Protective custody inmates in cells with gang members in for fighting in cells nearby.  I was so grateful to get out of there.  The Parole Officer (PO) offered me a transfer to K or “Kilo” Mod here.  It was known as a “PC” mod here at GCCC.  

A whole mod for PC.  Heaven!

I stayed in Kilo Mod from April to September of 2015.  It was like a dream.  We were let out almost all hours of the day except maybe 6 or 8 hours out of every 24.  There was every perk of a GP, or general population, mod, but everyone there was PC!  Outdoor Rec in the ball fields, the indoor gym with equipment, contact visits every night but Saturdays.  You could purchase musical instruments like a guitar or keyboard!  

It was very different from what I was used to.  Nobody wanted to beat me up or tax me.  There was so much more freedom than the Hole.  There was no toilet in your cell.  Everyone was issued coats and hats to wear.  We had our own laundry room and library.  You could watch TV or make phone calls for hours.  We didn’t know what we had until it was gone.  

On September 16, 2015, the day before my 10th anniversary with my wife, Kilo Mod was closed.  No explanation was given.  All K Mod inmates were given a choice: remain PC (AS-5) status and go to the “Hole” or “SMU,” or change status and go to GP.  I had been to the Hole and GP.  What was SMU?  I knew GP was a nightmare waiting to happen, so I remained on PC status.  I did not want to fight gang members or pay taxes for GP freedoms.  I was the last inmate in the last group to leave K Mod.  Many inmates conned into going to GP regretted it.  The staff had to know they were sending them to be beat up and taxed.  

They didn’t care.  The release of liability was signed.  

SMU was almost like being in the Hole again.  The differences were slight.  All inmates in the SMU were now PC status.  No gang members present to yell at us.  There is an attached gym to the SMU.  The indoor gym has a metal grate over a large square hole to the outside.  Fresh air.  The gym is the same temperature as outside.  Half-court size with one basketball hoop and two basketballs.  No equipment.  No pull-up bar.  No exercise bike.  No weights.  Unlike the Hole, SMU has: two TVs, two microwaves, tables and chairs to sit on, and a dayroom we can walk around in on Rec time.  

This was a serious step up from the Hole, but a serious step down from Kilo Mod.  Eventually, after many months of fighting the conditions here in SMU there were improvements.  They gave us more time out of our cells, and many property and commissary rights that they had taken away.  Personally, I was ecstatic over getting my MP3 player, personal shoes and a real toothbrush.  Allowing us real pens and pencils to write with was a real bonus too.  

The PC community tries hard to get in no fights, no write-ups, and stay out of trouble.  We don’t present the threat to staff that GP does.  No taxing.  No gang fighting.  No improvised weapons cutting men in the shower.  We are the geeks, nerds, rejects, sexual offenders (SO’s), snitches (rats), ex-gang members and homosexuals that GP hates.  We are happy to read Manga, play D&D, watch TV, read sci-fi books and fold origami.  PC inmates are no threat.  

I am a minority in the PC world.  I am not a sexual offender, homosexual, bisexual, snitch or rat, ex-gang member (or current one), gambler, or someone that has a “death contract” out on them in GP.  For being a nerdy guy that likes to read books, in PC I pay a price.  

We are locked in our cells 20+ hours a day.  We are not allowed Rec outside.  The grate in the indoor gym doesn’t count.  We have no gym equipment.  My contact visitation with my wife is restricted to once per week.  If I went to GP, I could see her everyday.  GP gets outdoor recreation.  GP is not locked down in an 11 ft. by 8 ft. cell 20+ hours everyday.  

September 16, 2016, will be my one year mark living in SMU.  One year since I’ve been outside or seen a tree (except for the recent trip to my mother’s funeral).  One year since I walked on dirt and grass.  I miss the sun.  The color green.  The outdoors.  

I had some pictures of trees and mountains.  It helped a little bit.  The guards came, ripped them down and told me pictures weren’t allowed.  I must stare at white brick walls.  I can’t even have a picture of a tree.  Hanging pictures on the walls is against the rules.  

This is the price I pay to be safe.  This is how I must live if I don’t want to fight or be taxed.  

I am appealing my unjust conviction.  I am still looking at several years for that to go through.  Many more if it doesn’t.  GCCC has started packing us in here now, 3 men to an 88 square foot cell.  Locked down 20+ hours a day.  No outdoor recreation.  No gym equipment.  In winter time the gym is too cold to even use; being open to the outside.  The basketballs freeze solid, and won’t bounce.  We can go months without being able to work out in the gym at all.  GP gets to use their indoor gym that is heated and full of workout equipment.  

Some days I wonder why the men that cause the least problems are treated so badly.  I think maybe it would be worth it to fight gangs if I could visit my wife everyday in a contact visit.  I miss her so much, and live for my once a week hug with her.  Then I remember the gangs run the GP mods.  Drugs, money, weapons.  They do it all.  The guards don’t stop them.  They do what they want to.  I guess getting beat up and stabbed isn’t worth it.  

Funny thing is, all the staff can say if you complain is, “Go to GP if you don’t like it!”

……..

“Just sign this waiver form first……”

Clayton Allison

Goose Creek Correctional Center

Plea For Help - Inmate Letter

Since the latest decision by the administration of Goose Creek Correctional Center to place boats within the SMU where Clayton is held, Clayton's family received a letter from an inmate there with a request to publish his words to the broader public. What follows are the directly penned words of that inmate.

Letter From SMU Inmate, September 2016

Nearly a year ago I was awoken by an officer and told to “roll your shit up.”  This is usually what you hear when you’ve earned some kind of punitive action.  What was my infraction?  Nothing but the fact that I was a protective custody inmate, and the powers that be had decided to give our mod to another group of prisoners.  I’ve never been able to get a straight answer about why those prisoners were more deserving of the mod than we were, but I suspect it’s related to the underlying culture of penalizing PC inmates in Alaska DOC.

Please keep in mind that our class of inmate receives the fewest write-ups, is not interested in fighting, and typically tries to stay “off the radar.”  Our housing needs also generate a minimal amount of extra work for the administration, which is where the culture of penalty comes from.  After all, if we are assaulted, robbed, even raped… this is our problem, and business can continue as normal.  When we wish to avoid those situations, it becomes the administration’s problem.

Since that day, I have spent an astonishing 87% of my time locked in a box with another inmate, in a cell barely large enough for both of us to be moving at the same time.  To top this experience off, the majority of our meager privileges has been reduced to almost nothing.  In short, we have more time to pass, but fewer ways to pass it.  

In nearly a year, I have not seen a tree, or the grass, or an unobstructed blue sky.  Our “outdoor” recreation consists of an attached building with a grate on one wall about 15 feet up, but is otherwise totally enclosed.  Administration has deemed this “outside” (though the 9th circuit disagrees), but ask yourself a basic question: If you went outside in a monsoon, wouldn’t you expect to get wet?  At least a little? I’ve gone into our little gym area to listen to the rain, but I didn’t feel a single drop no matter how much I wanted to.  It was so close.

This sort of deprivation is the basest of negligent human cruelty, and death would come as a welcome relief from it.  

Again, please bear in mind that none of this is part of the judgement I received in that courtroom.  My infraction was not wanting to be assaulted, or raped, or “taxed” by the gangs for flimsy “protection” that was only good until someone else decided they deserved what I had because I stood in court and told the truth about my co-defendants, labeling me a “rat.”

Not only does the administration know about this dynamic, they are indifferent to it.  Those of us that complain are invited to sign a waiver, to sign our very rights away, and then return to the general population to have our skulls caved in.  Their concern is the lawsuit, not the violence.

Is this what rehabilitation looks like?  To reward violence and rule-breaking while punishing those that wish to avoid those situations?  Is it any wonder that recidivism rates are so high?

My story is one of many.  There are 64 2-man cells in this miserable cave, with a few already housing a third person on the floor and more expected soon.  This is our daily reality, with no end in sight, no assistance from administration, and no reason to hope.

Make no mistake, this is a scream for help.  They won’t listen to us.  I hope you will.

(Name withheld for fear of retaliation)

August 25 - Inhuman Conditions

Thursday, August 25, 2016

"They've finally done it," Clayton said to me yesterday while venting his frustration. "It's finally happened, and now people are freaking out."

The "it" Clayton was referring to is the placement of "boats" within the Special Management Unit (SMU) cells; something the family had previously believed was beyond possibility, even with the calloused Goose Creek administration.  Boats are a portable bed used by Alaska DOC in overcrowded prisons to change cells that were designed for double occupancy, or even original single occupancy, to sleep three inmates instead.  Clayton describes the boats being used at Goose Creek as hard plastic units that serve as a shelf which an inmate can place their thin mattress upon to hold them up a few inches above the ground.  Although inmates use the term "roll up" to indicate being moved from a cell or a bed being moved out of the way, they are in no way a flimsy or flexible plastic construction, or they would not be able to serve their intended purpose.  

Inhumane Conditions in the SMU Not Recent News

The inhumane conditions within the SMU have existed long before yesterday's latest blow to morale.  When GCCC staff retaliated against inmates in September of 2015, disbanding the protective custody (PC) housing unit and throwing all the PC inmates into the SMU to begin with, they were faced with immediate inhumane conditions.  As was reported then: cells were being maintained at freezing temperatures while personally owned warm clothing was confiscated; inmates were being told they would never again be permitted contact visitation with family members and friends; inmates were being denied access to vitamins and non-punitive commissary lists; and for the first couple of days inmates were being "locked down," or confined within their cells, for 23 or more hours per day.   

Clayton and his wife later learned that the response was, at least in part, a direct retaliation against them personally, and they were threatened with further retaliation if Clayton's wife did not "back off."  Family members and friends of the affected inmates, and Clayton's own family, fought back against the retaliatory actions, and attempted to raise awareness with statewide authorities about the ongoing abuse.  Clayton eventually became the "Advocate" for his tier of inmates (a position he was elected to), to advocate with staff for improved living conditions for the inmates housed within the SMU.  The Advocate positions throughout the prison proved to be a failed effort outside of the SMU, and were eventually disbanded when Clayton was the last remaining individual in the position working successfully to bring change. 

Small victories have been won over time.  GCCC was forced to concede that a minimum of one contact hour of visitation was required to be accessible to all inmates statewide who were not being actively punished for bad behavior.  After statewide authorities intervened, the prison has provided that hour every week, but continues to restrict it to a single day that inmate families must choose from while maintaining the staffing to allow it multiple days per week; an obviously spiteful and punitive policy which requires more work for staff.  Vitamins were added to the commissary list, but are still inaccessible to indigent inmates who cannot afford them and are being denied access through medical.  The hours of confinement have changed many times, and currently SMU inmates are allowed 3.75 hours per day (broken up in smaller segments) out of their cells instead of the 1 hour or less they started with.  Inmates have also gained access to things like art supplies and minimal game pieces over time, to give them options for keeping themselves occupied during the 20+ hours of confinement each day.  

Despite these small victories, the conditions within the SMU remain far from humane, and basic rights afforded to prisoners across the state are still being staunchly denied.  One example is access to outdoor recreation.  Current DOC Policy #815.01.E.3 states, "A prisoner in administrative segregation has the same right to outdoor recreation as the general population for at least one hour per day, seven days per week, unless an individualized determination [is] made that the prisoner is a security risk as in section 1 above."

However, despite this seemingly obvious requirement, this access has not been afforded to SMU inmates since K Mod was disbanded on September 16, 2015.  Instead, SMU inmates have access to an enclosed concrete gymnasium.  Inmates have filed grievances, but the facility has maintained that the small grate, serving as a window to allow in outside air which does not display any visual other than the sky, qualifies as meeting the "outdoor" requirement.  Therefore, there are an untold number of inmates within the SMU who have not seen a tree, plant, blade of grass, or pile of snow for nearly a full year.  

Clayton's first exposure to the outdoors came in January when he entered the visitation building in the middle of the day for his first Advocate meeting with staff.  He and the other two advocates from the SMU who were present froze up, and held back tears, because they could see trees through the window in the large room; even if they couldn't see the ground.  They hadn't seen trees in 4 months!  Staff at the meeting seemed completely oblivious to the nearly religious experience they were having, and hurried them into their seats.  Clayton's last exposure to the outdoors came on July 3, 2016, as he was escorted to his mother's funeral.  The kind-hearted guards who served as his escorts talked him through the experience as he wept the whole way to the funeral home.  It wasn't his mother's passing alone that overwhelmed him, but the utter shock of being surrounded by so much green; so much life.  He explained to them that he had not been outside in nearly 9 months.  

The conditions within the SMU have been reported to numerous statewide authorities including: the Ombudsman's office, state legislators, Alaska's U.S. Representative and Senators, Governor Walker's administration, and statewide Department of Corrections.  More than one authority has expressed that, "Reasons for the disbanding of K Mod were provided.  We will not claim to agree with, or understand, those reasons; but they have been provided."  

Yet, in nearly a year of inhumane treatment, no action has been taken to remedy the situation at Goose Creek, and yesterday the situation escalated back to dire.  

Boats in the SMU Are A Health and Safety Violation

The image at the top of this post is a photo of an actual cell in Goose Creek Correctional Center; made available to the press shortly before the facility opened.  It shows the general layout of cells within the facility as they were originally designed, for dual occupancy.  The metal bunks attached to the wall provide sleeping space for 2 inmates, and the plastic tubs beneath them provide a space for storage of personal items.  The small metal desk, and 2 fixed metal stools, provide a place for the inmates to work and eat.  It is not known whether this photo was taken within the SMU, but it is likely.  Cells within the general population (GP) housing units (mods) do not have toilets inside of them, but there are larger bathroom facilities out in the common area instead.  

Imagine yourself locked within this space for 20+ hours every day of your life.  Now imagine that a second person is locked in there with you.  That person may be a "cell warrior;" someone who stands at the door of their cell and screams all hours of the day and night.  That person might be a thief; requiring you to monitor your belongings closely.  Or, more often than not, that person may be physically or mentally disabled.  In a GP mod, you would be allowed to eat your meals in the common area.  In the SMU, you have to do so locked within your cell.  

It is important to note that the SMU was not designed for long-term housing and confinement.  It's original design was intended to facilitate "transitional" housing for inmates who were waiting to be reintroduced to the GP mods after punishment or recovery from injury and illness.  The indoor gym was an option for temporary accomodation during these periods, and not meant to replace outdoor access entirely.  In fact, staff on the ground at Goose Creek have confirmed that the SMU was not run anything like it has been run since the men from the former PC mod known as "K" or "Kilo mod" were placed there. The changes were all implemented as a direct result of the PC inmates now being housed there. 

Placing a boat within the available floor space of the cell, takes the conditions from damaging to torturous.  For 20+ hours a day the three men will have nowhere to stand without standing on the boat or in the small inches of space around it.  Therefore, all three men will have little choice but to lay in bed nearly the entire time; leading to countless health problems.  For every meal, the third inmate will have nowhere to sit his meal tray to eat without placing it in his lap or on his bedding.  Due to the way meal trays are served, the bottoms of the trays are often covered in food from the tray below them, and leave a significant mess behind on any surface they touch.  Bedding and clothing are only exchanged once a week.  

The third inmate will have nowhere to store his personal belongings, without it being offered by the 2 inmates already in the cell.  The third inmate will have no hook to hang his towel to dry to prevent it from mildewing during the week he must use it.  None of the inmates have the ability to use the bathroom without being practically on top of the third occupant; completely eliminating the former illusion of privacy which could be achieved.  Throwing in the complication of physically or mentally handicapped inmates who have difficulty using the bathroom without making a mess... and the situation has the potential to become downright gross.  

It doesn't take a human rights activist to outline the severity of the situation.  According to a  
2010 report from the ACLU titled Rethinking Alaska's Corrections Policy: Avoiding an Everyday Crisis, it was found that:

"The American Corrections Association (ACA), the organization which prescribes correctional industry standards, produces a list of standards on running correctional institutions. They provide that each inmate should have 25 square feet of “unencumbered space” for each single cell occupant; “unencumbered” meaning that the space occupied by furnishings like the bunks and the toilet/sink unit must be discounted from the total. However, where prisoners spend at least 10 hours a day [emphasis added] in a cell, each prisoner must have at least 80 square feet of floor space per occupant. These standards do post-date the construction of most of the in-state facilities, so the Department has enacted procedures requiring that double cells be 80 square feet in size and 90 square feet if the prisoners spend 10 hours or more in the cell.  However, even the Department’s own standards would require 140 square feet or more for a cell housing three prisoners. The ACA further prohibits the use of such “boats” outright – saying that each inmate must have “a sleeping surface and mattress at least 12 inches off the floor; storage for personal items; and adequate storage space for clothes and personal belongings.” The ACA is not an inmate-rights organization. It is a reputable national correctional standards organization, whose standards are recognized by the Department as authoritative within the industry."

The boats are being used all over Goose Creek, but prior to yesterday inmate families could not imagine them being placed within the SMU.  One of the major differences is the presence of the toilet within the cell, and the problems it presents.  The other major issue is the prolonged confinement.  In the GP mods where these boats are used often, as they were in Kilo before, inmates can escape the confinement of the crowded cell for most of the day they are not sleeping.  SMU does not afford anyone this option, and in recent weeks circumstances have resulted in numerous "rec times," or times out of the cell, being outright cancelled for staff convenience.  

This issue is a potential powder keg waiting to go off in the face of both inmates and staff.  Many of the men confined to these cells already have personal issues like anger management and explosive disorders.  Some of them are mentally ill, and most of them are suffering enduring mental anguish caused by the already poor conditions without relief.  After only a single day of the implementation of this choice, many inmates are feeling panicky, and starting to file grievances through paperwork.  

Clayton's Current Condition

Clayton currently has not been assigned a third cellmate, which he is expressly thankful about.  So far, only a few inmates have been placed into cells but the presence of more boats being stacked beneath the stairs implies that many more are on their way.  Clayton's wife was disgusted to learn the news after hearing a guard comment that the prison was "far from" overcrowded, and it was only the SMU and administrative segregation (Ad Seg - The Hole) which were experiencing the problem.  

This aligns with the family's belief that it was inappropriate to disband Kilo Mod for protective custody, and force the men into SMU and Ad Seg when there were even less beds to work with.  Kilo Mod (when it was PC) had already experience constant overcrowding for the entire time Clayton was placed there.  Now that Palmer Correctional is closing down, many of the formerly minimum security offenders who could get by in GP in that facility are "PC'ing up" because they cannot survive the harsh abuse of the gangs which operate in Goose Creek's GP mods.  

Clayton's current, and fairly recent, cellmate presents a plethora of problems which he is struggling to adapt to, and should be the content of an entirely separate post on mental illness and insufficient care.  The man is frequently mentally disoriented and struggles with memory issues, hallucinations, sleep talking/shouting, not wearing clothing as required, and physical clumsiness which leaves constant messes ranging from bathroom to food cleanups.  

"I can deal with that," Clay explained with a sigh, "I can adapt and learn to manage it.  He's a nice old guy, he just has issues.  But this... I can't imagine a third guy."

Action Taken

In addition to the writing of this post, the Allison's have attempted to draw attention to the severity of the problem in the minimal ways that they can.  Clayton's wife was informed by statewide DOC staff that the "proper procedure" was for her to speak with the prison, and Clayton to file grievance paperwork.  Clayton was surprised by this because, although he intends to file, he expects to be screened out automatically for complaining about something that has not yet affected him personally.  His wife was even more surprised, after having been communicated to by prison staff on multiple occasions that "advocacy by family members" and indeed communication with the prison at all was "against policy."  

Even when properly adhered to, the grievance process can take weeks if not months to extend beyond the awareness of the prison's own staff.  Paper trails and documentation can be a very good thing, but when they are used as justification to ignore the concerned calls of the public - or send them right back to the potential source of the problem - the entire purpose of having them is defeated.  The Allison's can only hope that someone hears their plea and takes action before the powder kegs begin exploding.