Cayenne Bird's Article on Prisoner Abuse
Letters to the Editor
August 11, 2005
I totally agree with Ms. Bird. Our prison system has gotten completely out of control. Inmates are sent to prison to pay for the crimes they commited, not to be beaten, abused and tortured by the system. True, there are those prisoners who violate the rules of society and the rules of incarnation, and they need to be isolated from the general population, but they still do not need to be beaten to death.
A large portion of prison inmates are 'mentally ill', and these need to be treated for their illness' by accredited medical personal who can recognize their illness' and not by guards untrained in anything except brutality. Guards, not mentally ill inmates, cause the major problem, by being allowed to decide if an inmate is ill or not, they are in control of what medication they receive or not. If a guard decided if an inmate doesn't need any meds, they take them away, and later when the inmate begins to demonstrate his illness, these same guards then brutally mistreat them by any lethal method they wish. Guards are not Doctors, and they should not be allowed to treat inmates as if they were.
Then there are the physically ill inmates, those who have disabilities prior to being incarcerated, or developed afterword's. It can take weeks and up to months before an inmate is allowed to see a Doctor. Here again, it is up to guards as to who is allowed to see a Doctor and to decide if the inmate is in fact sick or not. There has been many deaths to inmates due to medical neglect that have just reached the public because these deaths are not reported either by the prison or newspapers because the media has been kept in the dark about anything that goes on inside the prison walls, unless it it to the advantage of the prison or the officials themselves.
When prison abuse is brought to the light of the public, the guards always say that it happened because an inmate threatened them or another inmate, and for the safety of the public at large, the inmate had to be locked away in the "hole" What they don't say is that this inmate was beaten and abused to the degree that he himself lashed out in self defense. Who will be believed, the guards or the inmate? Inmates have no way to get the truth out and the guards can turn any situation into whatever they want it to be.
Abuse, torture, medical neglect has no place in the prison system and it must stop now. The ones who will suffer will be us, the citizens, because someday these very same inmates will be set free. Abuse and torture breeds abuse and torture.
Josie Strode
A large portion of prison inmates are 'mentally ill', and these need to be treated for their illness' by accredited medical personal who can recognize their illness' and not by guards untrained in anything except brutality. Guards, not mentally ill inmates, cause the major problem, by being allowed to decide if an inmate is ill or not, they are in control of what medication they receive or not. If a guard decided if an inmate doesn't need any meds, they take them away, and later when the inmate begins to demonstrate his illness, these same guards then brutally mistreat them by any lethal method they wish. Guards are not Doctors, and they should not be allowed to treat inmates as if they were.
Then there are the physically ill inmates, those who have disabilities prior to being incarcerated, or developed afterword's. It can take weeks and up to months before an inmate is allowed to see a Doctor. Here again, it is up to guards as to who is allowed to see a Doctor and to decide if the inmate is in fact sick or not. There has been many deaths to inmates due to medical neglect that have just reached the public because these deaths are not reported either by the prison or newspapers because the media has been kept in the dark about anything that goes on inside the prison walls, unless it it to the advantage of the prison or the officials themselves.
When prison abuse is brought to the light of the public, the guards always say that it happened because an inmate threatened them or another inmate, and for the safety of the public at large, the inmate had to be locked away in the "hole" What they don't say is that this inmate was beaten and abused to the degree that he himself lashed out in self defense. Who will be believed, the guards or the inmate? Inmates have no way to get the truth out and the guards can turn any situation into whatever they want it to be.
Abuse, torture, medical neglect has no place in the prison system and it must stop now. The ones who will suffer will be us, the citizens, because someday these very same inmates will be set free. Abuse and torture breeds abuse and torture.
Josie Strode
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