MORE PRISON REFORM!

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #363

Two things happened this past week that I must share with you about the need for prison reform, and then I will give us both a rest:

The first comes from a letter received from a Dr. Tad W. Taylor, MD, PhD and Yale Medical Graduate who is presently incarcerated at the Federal “Correctional” Institution in Seagoville, Texas.  He tells me he was confined after being convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for over-prescribing opiates to some of his patients.  He further said that he was offered a one-year prison sentence if he would have pleaded Guilty.  But since he adamantly told me he was not guilty of the charges he went to trial.  (So I ask that if he was such a threat to us all, why offer him a one-year sentence?)  At any rate, and as you can see from his letter to me which is attached to this message – with his express permission — Dr. Taylor provides us with a list of elderly non-violent inmates who were denied a compassionate release and thereafter suffered some Medical Horror Stories.  His list includes inmates who died of an untreated or not properly treated ruptured aneurysm, pneumonia, cancer and COVID.  Furthermore, Dr. Taylor says he only has information about the building where he is housed, but there are a total of nine such buildings!

The second comes from a story written by two Associated Press reporters entitled “Federal Women’s Prison Dubbed ‘Rape Club’ Masked Several Crises,” which was published on page A13 of the May 6, 2022 edition of the Orange County Register.  This story, which shows what media access to our prisons and jails can do, discusses allegations of sexual abuse and cover-ups at the all-female Federal “Correctional” Institution at Dublin, California, which is about 21 miles east of Oakland.  Because of the AP reporting, the warden and two associate wardens have resigned and, since last June, five employees including a former warden have been charged with sexually abusing inmates, of which two so far have pleaded Guilty.  In addition, the AP found that “(prison) officials moved inmates out of the special housing unit so it wouldn’t look as full, and they lied to (an investigator) about COVID-19 contamination so inmates in one unit couldn’t speak to him about abuse.”  Finally, AP reporters recounted that when one female tearfully confronted a reporter about the abuse she suffered, she was “taken out of the room and offered immediate release to a half-way house.  She objected.  She wanted to wait so she could tell her story publicly to congressional leaders expected at the prison.”  (Good for her!)

So, once again, do these stories upset you?  They are occurring in our names because, like we have said before, it is our government and if it isn’t working we have no one to blame but ourselves!  For my part, I am deeply upset, and will continue to advocate for more transparency in all of our nation’s jails and prisons.  And a great way to accomplish that goal would be to make this a big political campaign issue!

Five Reasons Why English is Weird:

•  The bandage was wound around the wound.
• The farm was used to produce produce.
• The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
• We must polish the Polish furniture.
• He could lead if he would get the lead out.