Infrastructure Nightmares
Introduction to this Topic by the Editor
I need to give you a little background on Perryville so this will be more understandable. This prison was built in the early
Explaining the Shower Picture
This is an accurate sketch of a real shower in “B” yard, Santa Cruz unit. Do you see the loose wires hanging in the lower door jamb? I was told they were “live” because this shower light is still on. I won’t test this theory! I’ve tried to portray all the standing water in front of those wires. All the shower units have standing water because the drains are all plugged.
Standing water = black mold we see everywhere
When inmates complained about the condition of this shower, they just took off the door and left it open. In the shower next to this one (not pictured) is the same filth.
The regulators (hot and cold) will not engage so moving the handle from Hot to Cold does nothing. The temperature the DOC sets is what you get. In the winter the water is cold and in the summer, it’s hot. The water pressure would increase dramatically if they would soak the shower heads in Lime-aWay to remove 50 years of accumulated minerals.
Elderly Diabetic With Sepsis Forced On Her Knees
A woman in her 70s was told to get on her knees and CRAWL FULLY CHAINED into a van to go to the hospital.
This all started with a spider bite on the woman’s stomach. When you have diabetes, any wound can become easily infected. The lady did go to medical when she got the bite, but all they did for her was give her hydrocortisone cream. It became infected and 5 days later. Even medical staff decided she should go to the hospital. It’s how she got there is the problem.
This is how she told us the story: “While I was in the medical building the 2 guards put me in full chains, legs, arms, belly chain…the works. I’m a minimum custody inmate, still within the prison yard, and normally I use a walker. When I got up to the van, I noticed they didn’t have a step (per policy) so I asked for one. The male guard snarled, ” We don’t have it get in now!” There was no way I could raise my leg in shackles so they told me to kneel on the van step. It took both guards to drag me to seat level, then they just shoved me sideways onto the seat. I was in unrelenting pain.”
Woman Left in Agony for Hours at San Carlos
An Air Force veteran we featured before, had another severe injury to her previously broken leg. Her knee and ankle were left hideously swollen just before 11 am count. CO Lara was informed immediately, but she asked the inmate if she could wait until count had cleared.
Unfortunately, during count, San Carlos had 3 ICS’s and our Vet hadn’t been seen by medical yet for, she claims, 2 hours. Finally, Lt. Cole stops by and the Vet is wheeled to medical. Allegedly, Lt. Cole tells her that an ICS is a “life or death situation, and hers doesn’t qualify.”
The Vet is a good soldier but she is crying because of the pain. The Head Nurse makes an assessment looking at the grotesquely swollen knee, and orders her to x-ray at Complex. After waiting in the medical hall for 3 hours, she is informed that no one is available to take her there! The Vet ends up back at the Bay for the night.
The next day our veteran is ordered to the V gate for the trip to Complex. Perryville only has one working wheelchair van, but it’s in use somewhere. The Vet has to refuse because without a wheelchair van, she’d be forced to CRAWL into the regular van. Been there, done that and she won’t do it again. A refusal means no x-ray….she hopes nothing is broken
Clusterflock on Carlos
(Editors note: The DOC censored this once….what didn’t they want you to know?)
At 5am Monday slumbering women were suddenly woken up by screaming male voices. The guards stoically stood, two in each bay, yelling for the residents to wake up but not telling them why. All the lights blazed on making more chaos ensue. Is there a fire? someone asked. Some ladies took their toilet paper and headed for the bathrooms, but were rudely yelled at to get back in their seats. Again, no explanation was given. Finally, they were informed that they would not be allowed to use the restroom until they were stripped out.
As soon as the guards said “stripped out” we knew it was a shake. But wait…..we just had a shake last week! Management apparently can’t count, because initially they only had 2 female guards to strip out 450 women in the Bay. With bladders rapidly filling up, the women said screw it, we’re going to pee go ahead with the tickets. More poor planning: The guards herded the women to the kitchen to wait out the search, not realizing there would be no water or bathroom facilities available. An hour later they discovered their mistake and herded the gals to visitation. All 450 people of one bay and some of another bay, made quite the crowd in Visitation. The sign clearly says, Maximum Occupancy 280 persons. If there had been a fire how many women would have been trampled to death? As it was, there were long lines to the water fountain and even longer lines for the 2 bathrooms. At about 8:30 am the knuckleheads that planned this event said, “Oh shit we forgot to FEED THEM!”
So, one guard announces feeding will start, get in two lines. They could barely move because they were packed so tightly. Those of us lucky enough to have a chair weren’t going to relinquish it, because we knew they’d run out of food. Sure enough!! An hour later the guards announced that the “kitchen ran out of food”. Tough luck girls, you go hungry. We knew things were really going to get crazy when Pill Call time rolled around. Out of 1300 women on Carlos, it seems like 80% go to pill call twice a day. Chaos reigned. The old timers said they’d never seen a shake last this long…..usually it’s only an hour and a half. The women who were woken at 5 am didn’t get back to their cubes until almost NOON!
Is this the Director’s idea of dignity for women? I’m not feeling it. By the DOC’s own statistics, 86% of incarcerated women have endured abuse by men. Why would they scare the living daylights out of ladies with screaming male voices…. out of a sound sleep no less? Why would they deprive (most of them) of breakfast? There are many women that take their medication with food, and they were unable to.
SIX HOURS?!! It took them six hours to search one Bay? The women arrived back to their destroyed cube, dehydrated, hungry, unmedicated, sleep-deprived, and utterly despondent. Arizona is misogynistic. It’s deep and it’s intrinsic.
The DOC put out a press release Oct 6th, about a new Women’s Affairs director named Amber Marshall. We’d love to tell her what Perryville’s women endure on a daily basis, but she’s nowhere to be found.
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