We have known for ten years that a prisoner dies every day but records have been withheld, distorted, destroyed and the corruption and cronyism within the society of the punishers who control our state has even excluded the media.
What we don't know is how many prisoners die in the hospitals, die shortly after release from long-neglected chronic ailments. We do not know how many are maimed and sustain permanent disabilities due to careless double-celling decisions of the mentally-disordered happening more frequently than ever.
The California Department of Corections (no rehab is deserved here in this title), has passed another unlawful underground regulation that gives custody the power to over rule mental health professionals on double-celling issues. The wardens and administrators think that this underground regulation will protect them from coming legal actions and complaints filed with American Disabilities, but it won't hold up in a federal court.
Title 18 of the USC (US Civil Code) Sections 241 and 242, as well as California Penal Code 2652, 2653(a) clearly stipulate that custody does not have legal authority to over rule a mental health professional.
Our jailhouse lawyers have already challenged two of the CDCr underground regulations and won, so it is time to rally together and file another legal action on this outrageous practice.
There are some mental health professionals who have prostituted the ethics of their profession. CDCr will simply transfer an inmate to an institution where the psychologists will declare former recommendations invalid. We have one such prostitute in the form of Dr. Rusty Otto at Sierra Conservation Center who in collaboration with Warden Ivan Clay, is about to put a prisoner who was declared to be in need of single cell status by 30 doctors at five prisons no longer eligible.
This type of deliberate indifference is inexcusable and will be dealt with in every legal manner possible. We cannot take every case due to the lack of funds and clerical workers, but there will be a legal action filed against these two men for 8th amendment constitutional violations, violations of the California penal code and Americans With Disabilities violations, not to mention Coleman, Plata, Gomez and Madrid rulings.-- I will keep you posted every step of the way in my column since the situation affects at least 40,000 prisoners.
This is but one reason why Judge Henderson must step in. The abuse of mentally ill prisoners throughout the system is criminal. Yet there are no criminal charges filed on wardens, administrators, prison guards and even medical workers who participate in blatant violations of the eighth amendment. The only accountability these unethical people ever receive is when one of the family members sue them. These violations should be criminally prosecuted and immunity should not be recognized.
Under the guise of the Supreme Court ruling to integrate the prisoners, this irresponsible double celling in 8' x 10' areas that were designed for one person is taking place. It is not uncommon for the insensitive knuckledraggers to lock the men down for 23 hours a day for months on end with a person who might be mentally ill or terminally ill. It is not uncommon for permanent disabilities and even murders to take place every day.
I am calling everyone out to rally in support of hospitals for the mentally ill. It is not necessary to have these under the administration of two failed agencies, CDCR and DMH. They could be administrated as regular hospitals, which is what Dorothea Dix and the Quakers were able to convince the lawmakers to do in 1850. All of the mentally ill were taken out of prisons and jails where they were being brutalized for- being unable to follow rules in a similar way that we have today.
These hospitals remained until Reagan cut off the funding. The state was supposed to pick up the responsibility to provide services but they never did this adequately. This is why we have so many mentally ill people in prison. About ll% of them are veterans. The veterans have often committed the most violent crimes of all--this is the destruction that war brings upon all of us.
The government creates more crime than it prevents.
I have written many articles on these problems for the past ten years and you can look at my archived articles at these two links.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
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