Transcript of a letter to Ryan Thornell, Director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry:
“I am an incarcerated resident of Perryville and advocate for the elderly and disabled living here. In society, we are invisible, forgotten, and sometimes considered expendable. In the state prison system, it is even worse. According to the New York Times and Reuters, people with disabilities account for 40% of the state prison population, 50% for women’s prisons. An astounding 70% of us over 65 report at least one disability. Only you have Perryville’s exact statistics, but I guess ours would be close to that.
I invite you to tour (unannounced) Charley yard on San Carlos to see our “make-shift nursing home”. I used to live in that bay. Off the record, the staff calls it the “morgue” or the “dead and dying”. Discarded individuals lay on their beds sleeping because that’s all they have to do. Wheelchairs, walkers, and canes crowd the aisles. Unpleasant smells fill the air. The despair is palpable. The harsh and draconian sentences of previous administrations are responsible for these egregious conditions of elderly, disabled, and cancer patients. Charley bay is the designated medical bay, but because Perryville is overwhelmed by the severely mentally ill, the elderly and disabled have been farmed out to other bays.
If women take DOT meds then they are denied access to programs on Pie/Rosa across the street. Residents who have limited duty/no duty chronos are not allowed there either. That leaves San Carlos the ONLY minimum unit for the elderly and disabled. Do they not deserve a program? Do they not deserve recreation? There is NO recreation geared for these people! None. San Carlos recreation centers around the baseball field, basketball court, volleyball, and other able-bodied sports. Where does that leave us? It leads to boredom, monotony, depression, and hopelessness.
Even policy is against us. We get tickets for our disabilities! Disciplinaries for “not following a direct order” (we can’t hear you!) for “disrupting count” (we had to go to the bathroom!). This is my own pet peeve because I’ve received 2 of these on Carlos. There used to be a medical chrono that covered this, but for some reason, it was rescinded, according to the OB/GYN I consulted six months ago.
Let me explain why it is so unfair to punish ladies 65 and over for not being able to hold urine for an hour or more until “count clears”. I’m quoting from the Merck manual: ” Older women have to urinate more often because of the decreased volume of the bladder. The bladder muscles contract unpredictably. The bladder sphincter weakens, the urethra shortens and its lining becomes thinner.”
Additionally, our age group receives tickets for “covering the windows” in 2-man cell Units. I remember August 2022 on Cruz when it was 118 degrees outside. Naturally, the so-called cooler had stopped working. You really can’t imagine the intensity of that harsh sun coming through the windows right on your face. In desperation, we covered our windows with paper to mitigate the deadly heat. Sgt. Seymour gave us all tickets….no excuses. Can’t that policy be suspended during the summer?
Again, I quote from the Merck manual: “Older peoples flow of blood to the skin decreases, and can’t cool itself readily. Drugs used by the elderly interfere with sweating. Many disorders affect the body cooling itself. Aging affects thirst and dehydration.”
I read you are a fan of the Arts and promote art departments for the residents. If that’s the case, why doesn’t each Unit have an art department? The elderly would love to use their creative abilities and talent. During the ASU Art show, the geriatrics actually got moving again, and showed a spark in their eye for a change. For the last 14 years on Cruz and Maria, we’ve had an art department with classes and projects.
In conclusion, I’d like you to know how prohibitively expensive it is for the elderly and disabled to live in Perryville. We need caregivers here just like we’d need them on the outside. Able-bodied girls are available for hire to, carry ice and shopping bags, help us in the showers/bathroom, cleaning, cooking, wheelchair pushing, and do other helpful duties. Because there is nothing for us to do, we enrich Securus by purchasing overpriced movies and games. We spend $100/week on commissary, indulge in a $35 salad fundraiser, a $168 Fry’s fundraiser, and anything to avoid the bacteria-laden Trinity “food”. We pay $10 for Senior vitamins that cost $3.99 on the outside.
All we are to the state are cash cows to be milked for every cent we have. Before you and Governor Hobbs arrived, the Arizona Department of Retaliation and Retribution was a cabal….a cartel…run by power-hungry crooks. I commend you both for trying to turn the Titanic around and not just rearranging the deck chairs.”