[HCCN] Your Help Needed - End Abuse in Solitary Confinement - Maine State Prison

Sat Feb 20 03:44:01 UTC 2010

Dear Friends in Hancock County,

PLEASE write, call, and email representatives from Maine's Criminal Justice Committee, and/or  the elected officials from your district, to ask for passage of LD 1611 -- An Act to Ensure Humane Treatment for Special Management Unit Prisoners (SMU) at Maine State Prison (SMU = solitary confinement = SuperMax).  

Our legislators need to hear your voice, and in a place like Maine, a handful of calls and handwritten letters truly can make a difference. (See contact info below for your Representatives and Committee Members).  

"Solitary confinement is more than a punishment, it is torture. We are being left in these cells 
not to be taught a lesson but to be taunted, pushed over the edge, to be psychologically and spiritually 
broken down and for some of us to lose our integrity, our dignity, and our minds. . . ." -- Jacob M., Prisoner

Dozens of Maine human rights advocates have been working very thoughtfully on this bill to ensure safety and humane conditions for prison staff and prisoners, as well as our communities.  We know so many prisoners from towns in Hancock County, and elsewhere, who are in solitary confinement or have been -- sometimes for weeks and months -- in the isolated SuperMax units of Maine State Prison. There is presently no outside oversight to the abuse and arbitrary lengths of time in this out-of-sight solitary confinement building.  Thus, there is little hope for change for the 100+ people housed in the SMU, including the mentally ill who make up the largest numbers. (If you would like to read these prisoners' stories, please ask us to send excerpts or read: http://thephoenix.com/Portland/news/97371-screams-from-solitary/ )

"I went through POW training when I was eighteen.  It's the only way I made it through the SMU over the past year. . . .
While I was in they were making me scrub floors and showers on my hands and knees calling me n----- and other demeaning 
language. . . . When I went in they broke six of my ribs and bruised my left hip. They didn't take pictures of me till I was 
in three months.  I have no way to prove injury as the nurses won't testify. I tried. . . ." -- Ed G., Prisoner

LD 1611 makes the following changes. Please include these points in your correspondence or phone calls with legislators.

-- Caps the use of segregation with the exception of certain conditions (an act of violence that results in injury to another or death, attempted escape, or sexual assault)

-- Bans the placement of mentally ill prisoners in segregation, and requires that prisoners who begin to exhibit mental illness while isolated be removed

-- Brings an element of due process with fair and meaningful hearings and reviews

-- Bans the use of the restraint chair and four-point restraints

Prisoners have been found guilty of crimes and received sentences. They are required to "do their time"; not to receive ongoing unsupervised punishment, which many experts call torture.  The present circumstances at the SMU -- for which we all bear the blame -- have created the "dark holes" in Maine's prison system.   It's time to shine a light and establish rules and recourse.

For more information, you are welcome to read these articles or give us a call:

http://www.stanmoody.com/ItemDetail_180_508_Prison_Myth_Number_Five.aspx by Rev. Stan Moody

http://thephoenix.com/Portland/news/97371-screams-from-solitary/ by Lance Tapley, Portland Phoenix

http://thecrimereport.org/2010/02/17/locking-down-the-mentally-ill/  

To contact your elected official:  http://www.Maine.gov/legis/house/townlist.htm

To contact the Criminal Justice Committee: 

1. Senator Stan Gerzofsky
3 Federal Street,
Brunswick, ME 04011
207-373-1328 
http://www.mainesenate.org/gerzofsky/...

2. Senator John Nutting
79 Campbell Rd
Leeds, ME 04263
207-524-3941 
http://www.mainesenate.org/nutting/em...

3. Senator Gerald Davis
15 Hamlin Rd
Falmouth, ME 04105
207-797-5309
gmdavis at maine.rr.com

4. Representative Anne Haskell
31 Higgins Street
Portland, ME 04103
(207) 871-5808
annehask at maine.rr.com

5. Representative Stephen Hanley
67 Lincoln Avenue
Gardiner, ME 04345
(207) 582-9073
lincoln67 at myfairpoint.net

6. Representative Walter Wheeler
46 Rogers Road
Kittery, ME 03904
(207) 439-2693
avongerry at comcast.net

7. Representative Michel Lajoie
279 Old Greene Road
Lewiston, ME 04240
(207) 783-1927
lajoie1 at midmaine.com

8. Representative Veronica Magnun
P. O. Box 37
Sandy Point, ME 04972
(207) 567-6097
veronicamagnan at gmail.com

9. Representative Sykes
P. O. Box 86
Harrison, ME 04040
(207) 583-2958
rksykes at myfairpoint.net

10. Representative Greeley
P. O. Box 353
Levant, ME 04456
(207) 884-6000
cgtc at aol.com

11. Representative Gary Plummer
248 Gray Road
Windham, ME 04062
(207) 892-6088
geplummer at aol.com

12. Representative David Burns
159 Dodge Road
Whiting, ME 04691
(207) 733-8856
RepDavid.Burns at legislature.maine.gov

UPCOMING IMPORTANT EVENTS (please distribute widely):

a.. People of Conscience Day of Action, Tuesday, February 23rd 9 am - 12 pm, Welcome Center, State House, Augusta 
Rich Killmer from NRCAT (National Religious Campaign Against Torture) is coming to Maine to speak to participants and meet with legislators. He will be joined by a number of faith leaders in the state. However you identify, come to the Day of Action to hear Rich speak, get an update about the status of the bill, and lobby your legislators. Showing up to talk to your legislator in person is the greatest action you can take. We've been told by legislators that one in-person visit is worth a dozen phone calls and dozens of emails, so if you can make it out on Tuesday, please do. So we can have your legislator info available for you on Tuesday, please RSVP to btwofoot at mclu.org with your zip code! Call Brianna if you have questions at any time - 807-1830.  If you can't make it to Augusta on Tuesday, please call or write or email your representatives ASAP!

a.. Sign the petition: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1459/t/10429/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=2202. This will be delivered to legislators before a vote, preferably before the work session on February 26th. Circulate this WIDELY. Please send it to as many people as you can.

 "I was devastated in that cold cell! I had a 2" thick foam covered in dirty blue plastic for a mattress 
and no pillow on a cement bed. They left me in there for days with no books or nothing to write with. 
You don't know what time it is or what day it is.  I lost 22 pounds in 3 weeks. You lose all hope after awhile.
The time went by so slowly and I wanted to die at that point.  I even prayed to God to let me go to sleep 
and never wake up. I never knew a man could feel so lonely and feel so low in life. . . ." -- Billy L., Prisoner

In friendship and hope,

Judy and Jim

Judy Garvey and Jim Bergin
Volunteers for Hancock Jail Residents / The Landing Post-Release Project
www.jailvolunteers.org 
and
Maine Coalition Against the Abuse of Solitary Confinement 
www.maineprisonjustice.org 
207-374-3608
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