We received so many emails and letters from Lumley Unit, we’re going to split it up into short, individual, stories.

#1. “I thought this new dude, Deputy Warden Bendel, would make his draconian rules temporary. Rules like being escorted everywhere by a staff member. It will be a year in April, and he hasn’t let up a bit. He cracks down harder and harder. About the only place you can travel unescorted is your own bathroom.”

#2. “I’ve been on every Unit in Perryville, and Lumley, run by Taliban, is the most oppressive Unit there is. This man is brutal in his attitude toward women. There is no Redemptive justice, only Punitive Justice, in his world.”

#3. “I’m worried about my roommate. When she gets anxious she hurts herself. We have been on Lumley for 4 months now, and I can see the razor marks on her arms. While we were on Cruz she had a good counselor and she stopped cutting herself. Here, there are no programs or recreation, so she dives inward into her dark space. She went to a mental health counselor here, and all they gave her was a coloring book. I’m afraid of what she’ll do when I leave the room.”

#4. “I feel totally stripped of any dignity I had before I transferred to Lumley. The atmosphere here is dark and oppressive. The women never smile, they go about their chores in a zombie-like countenance. The officers constantly gripe about their boss, (Bendel) and plot to get another job. Sometimes I think this place is cursed. The man they named this Unit for was stabbed to death by a male inmate. In 2009 a woman was roasted alive in the hot August heat till she died. No water, no shade. There have been many more deaths here than other units….it’s creepy.”

#5. ” I wrote the Governor that I want the lethal injection. Better dead than dying here every day.”

#6. “When was the last time I was told to walk in a single line? Kindergarten? Maybe. When Taliban Bendel tells you to march, you MARCH. No getting out of line ladies. March and escorted to chow, shopping, medical, ” recreation “, property, and all points north and south. And if you get out of line you have to go back to the yard and do it all over again. It gets pretty bad in 112-degree heat. We are done with our medical appointments after 45 minutes, but it can take 3 hours to get back to our rooms. We are so short-staffed that we can wait hours for an officer to march us back to our yard. We are treated like pond scum.”

#7. “I haven’t had any rec time since I got here a year ago. Not because I haven’t been offered. But I’m not a dog, and only dogs rec in kennels. Four ” kennel” cages for your recreational pleasure. I long to walk the track and play softball again on main yard, but alas, no. There’s only so much abuse a person can take.”

I am a prisoner at Perryville. Arizona Department of Corrections is infamous for its nonexistent mental health care. The women live in a dark place, isolated and alone, which is only exacerbated by Covid restrictions.

Recently, I was transferred to the Lumley unit, which is guaranteed to make a sane person go nuts. The Deputy Warden of this unit believes in punitive justice, not restorative justice. As soon as he was installed, he demanded all his women be escorted everywhere they needed to go.

Imagine being through with your medical appointment in 20 minutes, or shopping that takes 5 minutes, and waiting in triple-digit heat 2 HOURS for an ‘escort’ home. Crippling short-staffing makes this draconian rule difficult for inmates and guards alike. It takes away what little sense of autonomy a person has.

We are not allowed to mingle or visit with anyone but the people on our own yard. What if your BF is on ‘D’ yard, and you’re on ‘A’ yard? You are S.O.L. Even if that’s the one person that can talk you off the ledge, you won’t ever see them. So you turn to the DOC ‘mental health professional’. And after pouring your heart out, they pat you on the head and hand you a coloring book. Wouldn’t your dark place get darker?

So for sanity, I watch CNN. These are congenial, intelligent, people you’ve gotten to know during your long confinement. They seem like real friends. At least they talk to you. They seem caring. You know when they’ll laugh or cry at a story. You’ve seen pictures of their kids. And they are always THERE when you need them…..at the press of a button. A real psychologist would have a diagnosis for the poor sap that feels that way. But for the inmate on Lumley, they’ll never see a real psychologist. This is their dark reality.

I had my leg amputated above the knee on 7-30-21. This nightmare starts on Lumley, the most horrible unit on the planet. DW Bendel’s motto is “I don’t care,” in fact he’s quoted as saying that in Townhall meetings.

There is only one ADA shower on the whole unit, and that’s on the max custody yard. They (staff) told me I’d have to be locked down 23 hours just like them if I transfer to an ADA room/shower. I have to wear diapers, and sometimes I don’t make it to the toilet in time, so I need access to a washer/dryer…..which doesn’t exist on this unit. My room is not equipped with a grab bar or riser to help me transfer to the toilet. In fact, my wheelchair doesn’t fit through the door. Imagine trying to get around my room with only one leg! Lumley does not provide wheelchair pushers like other units. They say they do, but I have to pay out of my own pocket to get them to push me.

Medical here is another disaster. I need the dressings on my stump changed regularly, but with Bendel’s escort nonsense, that is an all-day affair. When I have to go to Banner Hospital to see a real doctor, the guards wrap a chain around my belly and handcuff both arms to the wheelchair! It is an hour and a half travel time one way, completely enclosed in the darkness of the van….no light no window. I was crying because I was in so much pain, and the guards told me to shut up or they’d turn around and take me back. All they will give me is Tylenol for pain….and the pain is unrelenting.

I was supposed to be in the SNU (Special Needs Unit/ for post surgeries and Hospice) but there wasn’t any room. How did Central Office plan only 10 SNU beds for 4,000 women??