Report Charges Abuse and Torture at State Prison

The Human Rights Coalition started investigating conditions of prisoners in solitary confinement at the State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania in December, 2009 when an inmate denied mental health treatment committed suicide. Their report is based on written information obtained from prisoners who tell of horrendous living conditions, racial slurs, degradation and physical abuse from the guards, and an unfair misconduct process that keeps adding to their time in solitary confinement.

Investigator Amanda Johnson says prisoners protesting mistreatment in September 2010 were sprayed with excessive amounts of chemicals, then left in their cells for days without showers or medical treatment and the spray burning their skin. One prisoner says he returned his tray and utensils through the food slot after a meal, as rules require, but a guard threw the spoon back into the cell and wrote up a misconduct charge.

Johnson says the misuse of restraint chairs amounts to torture, with prisoners strapped naked into the chairs where they may be left untended for 12 to 15 hours at a time and forced to soil themselves.

Prisoners' grievances are dismissed 98% of the time, according to Johnson, who got the statistics from a "right to know" request, but a group of nine prisoners protesting an assault last week got more more positive results: the victim received medical treatment and the two guards accused of assault were removed from the unit.

Johnson wants the abuse to stop; wants the prison administration to acknowledge what's happening there; wants lawyers to help prisoners file class action lawsuits against their abuse; and she hopes more people will be concerned about human rights.

PA Prison Population Levels, Inmates Coming Back

The 2,121 Pennsylvania inmates being housed in Virginia and Michigan will return to the Commonwealth by the end of the year, according to Governor Tom Corbett’s pick for Corrections Secretary.

Pennsylvania’s prison population leveled off in 2010, after a spike due in part to Governor Rendell’s 2008 parole moratorium. Numbers have dropped enough that acting Corrections Secretary John Wetzel said he plans on bringing those prisoners back to Pennsylvania. He told members of the House Appropriations Committee the move will save $20 million. “And that $20 million is a net. So it includes the increased cost of staffing some of the module units we were talking about earlier, so we can house people now,” he said.

Pennsylvania is paying Michigan and Virginia $62 a day for every exported inmate. That’s more than $131,000 a day total, or $920,000 a week. Wetzel said the total is much more expensive than housing them at Pennsylvania facilities. “For instance, for us to open up a housing unit, there’s a ramp-up cost and there’s an initial cost. When we get that housing unit to about 90 percent, we’re not paying – if we lose ten inmates or gain ten inmates – we’re not paying dollar for dollar for every one of those inmates. Whereas when we send them out of state we pay dollar for dollar, and we also pay dollar for dollar for their medical,” he said.

The commonwealth houses a bit more than 51,000 total prisoners. Governor Corbett wants to increase Corrections funding from $1.7 to $1.9 billion in this year’s budget.

Down Economy, More Inmates Pose Problems for PA

A Franklin County prison warden is poised to take the helm of the state corrections department, pending Senate approval.
John Wetzel says he's looking forward to the challenge of curbing the commonwealth's increasing prison population.
As State Corrections Secretary, Wetzel would oversee operations of all prison facilities and about 52-thousand inmates.
With Governor-elect Tom Corbett's pledge to cut spending and not increase taxes, Wetzel says he'll need to make some tough decisions in order to keep the ever-growing inmate population at bay.

"When we use prison for someone who could be managed in the community or managed at the county level, then we're spending money we don't need to spend. But conversely and one of the key parts of our system, when we put them on too low a level of that continuum, we risk public safety."

Wetzel says moving inmates out of state prison can cut down on costs, but he says public safety also needs to be considered.
"Looking at everyone who's in state prisons. Do they need to be there? Can they be more effectively managed in the community, at the county level or a community corrections setting?"

Wetzel says his work on the county level has prepared him for the role of secretary since he's amassed knowledge from a security and policy standpoint on the front lines.
Like other cabinet appointees, Wetzel will need to be confirmed by the Senate.

Marijuana Discussed

A panel debated the pros and cons of marijuana legalization in Pittsburgh on Friday. The debate, entitled Medical and Recreational Marijuana: Scientific, Legal and Societal Considerations featured several local panelists with opposing views.

The panel was held after California voters Tuesday rejected a proposal to legalize marijuana for recreational use and there is a bill in the Pennsylvania legislature to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. Among the speakers was Lisa Freeland, a federal public defender for the Western District of Pennsylvania. She said the money spent on law enforcement and incarceration for non-violent drug offenders would be better spent on education and drug treatment.

"One of the things we know particularly with non-violent drug offenders is that the majority of offenders that are incarcerated today suffer from drug addiction. So, putting some money into treatment and alternatives to incarceration would not only shift the focus of our policy but also yield substantial savings I believe."

Another speaker Frederick Thieman, former US Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania is opposed to the legalization of marijuana. He said there is not enough research done on marijuana to consider legalizing the drug.

"The subject has not been researched well enough and breaking the status quo so to say of non-legality right now is a dangerous step in terms of the overall costs to society unless the topic is researched to a much greater degree."

State Reps Tour PA Prisons

Members of the House Judiciary Committee are wrapping up a three-day tour of Pennsylvania prisons.

Representative Ronald Waters says he and his colleagues are speaking with wardens, district attorneys, prison guards and inmates to better understand what the state could do to reduce overcrowding and lower the $2 billion Department of Corrections budget.

Waters says Pennsylvania is also planning to build “up to four” more prisons at a cost of $200 million apiece.

“They hold about 2,000 inmates, so that’s a capital investment of about $100,000 per person just to build these things,” says Waters.

Waters says other states have reduced their prisoner counts with no detriment to public safety. He says in Michigan, good policy has reduced the prison population so much that Pennsylvania has sent thousands of its inmates there until the new prisons can be built.

The House is reviewing several Senate bills that would reduce the prison population by easing parole violation sanctions, using alternative sentencing, and reducing the minimum incarceration time before a prisoner can be sent to a prerelease center.

Waters says the tour will help identify “best practice” for Pennsylvania prison policy.

Panel Suggestons Could Save $457 Million

The bipartisan commission created by the Pennsylvania Senate has issued its report identifying cost-saving measures in state government. The Senate Government Management and Cost Study Commission was made up of members of the public and private sectors and held 7 public hearings and reviewed e-mails from Pennsylvanians in completing its review of state departments and expenditures.
The co-chair, State Senator Daylin Leach of Montgomery County, says the report provides more than 40 recommendations with a potential savings of $457 million over 3 years. Leach says the suggestions include changes in the Corrections and Public Welfare Departments, reductions and consolidation of the legislature's caucus staff functions, reviewing the current per diem reimbursement for lawmakers and possibly replace it with a receipts-based system, and an online database of state spending that is accessible by the public.
Leach says they are recommending that a non-partisan office be created to continue to monitor expenditures in order to find where more money can be saved..."It's not just about spending money and not spending money, it's about doing things smartly, doing things more efficiently. If we could spend a little bit of money having an office that is saving hundreds of millions of dollars every year, that would be clearly worth it."

Other recommendations include:

-Savings of over $110 million over three years within the Department of
Corrections after examining areas that include: alternative sentencing
guidelines, parole and re-entry services, pre-release guidelines,
problem-solving courts and graduated sanctioning processes for state
parole violators.
-Reducing the number of state vehicles within the Department of General
Services.
-Further investigation of the Department of Public Welfare’s programs
to build upon a 2009 Auditor General’s audit report at an estimated
cost savings of $380 million or more.
-Consolidate school district administrative functions
-Begin comprehensive reviews of the Pennsylvania Department of
Community and Economic Development’s grants and loan programs.

Chef Speaks About Life Behind Bars and Over A Stove

Chef Jeff Henderson Jeff Henderson, a chef on the Food Channel spoke to local ex-offenders and at-risk youth in Homestead on Thursday.

Eugene Ziegler was among the audience members who asked Chef Jeff Henderson for advice. Ziegler is a 52 year old Marine Veteran and trained cook. He’s also a recovering drug addict and ex-offender. He’s got post-traumatic stress disorder. And he says, low self-esteem. It’s been hard for him to find work.

Like Ziegler, Henderson is a former felon. A former drug-trafficker, he spent ten years in prison where he learned to cook. Upon release, he worked his way up to becoming an executive chef at top restaurants, got a TV show and authored a book.
Although he achieved fame as a chef, Henderson said he’s often asked to speak to ex-felons and at-risk youth about his life.

Makinma Gustave, 35, has been in and out of prison over the last eight years. The Homestead woman said she finds Henderson’s story inspiring.

Ex-offenders have a higher unemployment rate than the general public.

State Prison Reform Legislation in the House

The State Senate has passed prison reform legislation to reduce the prison population, lower the rate of recidivism and reduce spiraling costs. The bill’s sponsor and other supporters are urging passage in the House.

The author--Republican Senator Stewart Greenleaf of Bucks and Montgomery Counties-- says prison expenditures have gone from $110 million in 1980 to $1.8 billion, while the inmate population has ballooned from 8000 to 51,000. State population has only gone up 4- or 5%, which Greenleaf says shows the system isn't working.

The current annual increase of 2000 inmates means Pennsylvania would have to build a new prison every year at a cost of about $200 million and $60 million a year to maintain. Meanwhile, recidivism is 46% and violent crime continues to go up. The state now spends more on prisons than on higher education, says Greenleaf. While it’s important to be tough on crime, he says it’s also important to be smart on crime.

Other states, says Greenleaf, have enacted reforms that reduce crime, rehabilitate offenders, and save money. New York is reducing its prison population by 1000 inmates per year as violent crime goes down. Virginia and Michigan are housing thousands of Pennsylvania inmates because their reforms have freed up space.

Greenleaf’s legislation would reform parole and sentencing policies to reduce the numbers of non-violent offenders in jail.

Democratic Representative Ronald Waters of Philadelphia is chairman of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus. He says African-Americans are about 12- to 13% of the general population but are 45- to 50% of the prison population. Poor people are also over-represented, a category which can cross color lines but includes many people of color. Good attorneys are often out of reach for the poor and minorities. He’s visited inmates who say they were coerced with threats of long sentences if they insisted on their day in court, so they plead for a short sentence, not realizing what an adverse and long-term effect a conviction would have on their lives.

Waters says laws reflecting a “lock them up and throw away the key” philosophy have not made communities safer but have increased prison populations and expenditures disastrously. With 90% of inmates coming out of jail eventually, it makes much more sense, he says, to use resources to help them turn their lives around and become contributing members of society.

Waters says the House will amend Senator Greenleaf’s bills to reflect concerns expressed by district attorneys and hopefully send it back to the Senate. He thinks Governor Rendell will sign the reform legislation.