Mentally Ill Private Prison Prey

The relevant topic that I deal with continually is the private prison industry in America. People with mental health disabilities are preserved untreated until their mental conditions lead them to break some law -- from vagrancy to murder -- to excuse their incarceration. Once they are behind bars, they can be imprisoned FOREVER, because they are too sick to obey prison rules and continually get time added. This is a game that prison investors used to incarcerate 1.25 million mentally challenged Americans, and it is continuous.

I am director of Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill. We plan to take the USA before International Court this year with up to 100 cases of mentally challenged people being neglected, then brutalized by police or even killed for sport behind bars, with no accountability being demanded. My mentally, physically disabled brother was kidnapped and murdered in 2003, and I became aware over time about the problems facing families in mental health crisis.
http://WrongfulDeathofLarryNeal.com/main.html. Many people are tortured and murdered. Sometimes, mentally ill prisoners are made to fight each other while corrections officers bet on the winner -- a type of human dog fighting. Sick inmates are occasionally made to fight to the death. This is horrible, and we need the international community to help rescue mentally ill Americans.

Over half of this nation's prisoners are mentally ill people who were denied treatment, and over half of the police victims are, too. Freddie Gray (who police beat to death in Baltimore) was mentally challenged. So was Malissa Williams, whose car was shot 137 times in Cleveland. MOST POLICE MURDER VICTIMS ARE MENTALLY ILL PEOPLE. There is a genocide happening. We, the families of mentally ill Americans, need help, +United Nations.  Censorship is used to prevent our advocacy. The private prison industry is rich and extremely cruel.

I am convinced that government technology is used to prevent disclosure about individual torture and murders of mentally ill people, and that media companies have been induced to ignore certain reports. +Reason reports, "Outrage over private prisons is largely a distraction from the wider issues of the prison-industrial complex."

Are For-Profit Prisons, or Public Unions, the Biggest Lobby No One’s Talking About?
https://reason.com/blog/2015/06/02/are-for-profit-prisons-or-public-unions
"The prison-industrial complex is big business not just for the private prison companies dabbling in it but for the governments, federal, state, and local [governments], and their employees, that use prisons as a source of revenue, jobs, and even political capital."

The Post reports: "The two largest for-profit prison companies in the United States – GEO and Corrections Corporation of America – and their associates have funneled more than $10 million to candidates since 1989 and have spent nearly $25 million on lobbying efforts. Meanwhile, these private companies have seen their revenue and market share soar. They now rake in a combined $3.3billion in annual revenue and the private federal prison population more than doubled between 2000 and 2010, according to a report by the Justice Policy Institute."

Very few media companies will explore why America's mentally challenged people comprise half of the country's estimated 2.3 million inmates rather than being treated for their chronic mental health problems like people with other medical conditions. It is wrong to use our most vulnerable citizens for prison commodities to further enrich the wealthy.

Assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) programs provide subsistence assistance and mandated psychiatric treatment. AOT programs reduce future incidences of homelessness, imprisonment, and hospitalizations by over 85 percent. That is exactly why AOT programs are not instituted and funded. Our decision makers, including elected and appointed officials, are themselves allowed to indulge in conflicts of interest as prison investors. They benefit directly by mass incarceration, and the mentally ill are their easy prey.

We thank the +Miami Herald for helping to shine a light on the torture and deaths that mentally ill inmates endure in Florida correctional facilities, and we urge other media companies to help expose and oppose the wrongful incarcerations, brutality, and deaths of mentally ill Americans. 

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Thank you for giving Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill.

It would be illegal to keep a dog in a tight space 23 hours a day and gas or Taser him for barking. It would be illegal to put a dog in deadly restraint for control. That happens to mentally ill people routinely in the nation's correctional facilities. What happened to Larry Neal? Why are we still asking that question after nearly 12 years? Cover-ups regarding the wrongful deaths of mentally challenged inmates and free people in the USA are common and vile.

Mentally Ill People Deserve Dog Justice!

http://DogJusticeforMentallyIll.blogspot.com

Mentally Ill Americans Need Dog Justice. Treat mental illness medically, not legally. Support the H.R. 3717 "Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act." The U.S. congressional bill provides for crisis intervention team (CIT) training for police and corrections officers, assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) programs (subsistence assistance plus mandated treatment) to stop recidivism, resumption of Medicaid insurance for certain facilities, and other needed changes. Support "AIMI vs. USA" to compensate mentally ill people and their families for health discrimination.

UN CAT Reviews USA: Webcast Nov 12 and 13

By: UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR)

GENEVA, Nov. 6, 2014 - The UN Committee against Torture is due to review the USA on 12 and 13 November in sessions that will be webcast live.

The USA is one of the 156 States parties to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and is required to undergo regular examinations of its record before the Committee of 10 independent experts. The Committee will engage in a dialogue with the US government delegation and also hear from NGOs.

The USA CAT examination of U.S. officials (webcasts) is archived at the link below:
http://www.treatybodywebcast.org/category/webcast-archives/

The United Nations Committee Against Torture Concluding observations on the USA:
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CAT/Shared%20Documents/USA/INT_CAT_COC_USA_18893_E.pdf

Among the possible issues to be discussed: extraterritorial application of the Convention; CIA’s secret detention, extraordinary rendition and interrogation programme; Guantanamo Bay detainees held indefinitely without charge or trial; investigation and prosecution of those responsible for torture or ill-treatment of detainees; immigration enforcement abuses; death penalty, alleged administration of untested lethal drugs; police brutality; prolonged solitary confinement; protection of prisoners against violence; sexual violence in US military.

Further information and the USA’s report are available at:

http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=930&Lang=en

The Committee will publish its concluding observations here on Friday 28 November.

A news conference is scheduled for Friday 28 November at 14:00 at Palais des Nations in Geneva when the Committee will discuss its concluding observations on the USA and the other countries being reviewed – Sweden, Ukraine, Venezuela, Australia, Burundi, Croatia, and Kazakhstan.

To learn more about the Committee against Torture, please visit: 

http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/cat/pages/catindex.aspx

Members of Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill ("AIMI") are asked to watch the webcast. You are invited to discuss it during broadcasts on "Human Rights Demand" channel on Blogtalkradio on Nov. 13 at 9pm EST. 

AIMI plans an action in International Court in 2015 involving up to 100 claimants of (i) persons with mental illness and/or drug/alcohol addictions, and (ii) people who were victimized by mentally ill people and/or drug/alcohol addicts who were denied timely, appropriate treatment. We seek restitution for and/or relief from police brutality, prison torture, long-term homelessness, and other discrimination against mentally disabled people in the USA. Visit AIMI-HumanRights for more information at
http://AIMI-HumanRights.blogspot.com

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Thank you for giving Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill.

It would be illegal to keep a dog in a tight space 23 hours a day and gas or Taser him for barking. It would be illegal to put a dog in deadly restraint for control. That happens to mentally ill people routinely in the nation's correctional facilities. What happened to Larry Neal?

Mentally Ill Americans Need Dog Justice. Treat mental illness medically, not legally. Support H.R. 3717 "Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act."

AIMI vs. USA - B. Anderson, Claimant

Brenda Anderson, a former female inmate wrote:

MY FEELINGS WERE DEEP AND PERSONAL. FOR I AM MENTALLY ILL. AND I WAS IN TDC ALL MY YOUNG LIFE. BEEN OUT EIGHT YEARS NOW. THEY WILL LIE TO COVER UP THEIR OWN DIRT. BUT I PRAYED FOR THIS DAY TO COME THAT WOULD PUT THEM UNDER INVESTIGATION. I CAN'T WAIT FOR 2015. I WILL KEEP YOU INFORMED AND ALL THE PEOPLE WHO ARE TRYING TO SEEK JUSTICE FOR THE MENTALLY ILL.

WHILE SERVING TIME, THEY TORTURED ME BY PLACING ME IN A CELL FOR YEARS WITH NO WINDOWS AND NO TOILET. I USED THE REST ROOM IN A BIG BUCKET (WITH NO TOILET PAPER). NO BED, A SINK AND MATTRESS ON THE FLOOR. SLEPT ON A BLANKET WITH HOLES IN IT.

I WAS LOCKED BEHIND TWO DOORS, A STEEL DOOR AND BAR CELL DOORS. THEY WOULD USE SHOWING TO PUNISH ME, MEANING THEY WOULD COME GET ME TO SHOWER EVERY THREE DAYS. SOMETIMES FOR WEEKS I ATE OFF THE FLOOR LIKE AN ANIMAL WHENEVER A OFFICER CAME TO WORK IN A BAD MOOD.

IF IT WAS WINTER, I FROZE. IF IT WAS SUMMER, MY CELL FELT LIKE A OVEN. I WOULD HAVE SEIZURES, AND NO ONE CAME TO SEE ABOUT ME. NO TOOTHBRUSH, SOAP, COMB, NOTHING. SURE I COULD HAVE MY BIBLE AND WRITING BOOKS, BUT THE PROBLEM WAS THERE WAS NO LIGHT. THEY SAID IT WAS BROKE.

THEY LET MY MAIL GO OUT BUT NONE CAME IN TO ME. WHENEVER MY FATHER AND FAMILY WOULD COME TO SEE ME, THEY WERE TOLD I HAD GOTTEN INTO SOME TROUBLE AND COULD NOT HAVE VISITORS. THEY WOULD COME AND JUMP ON ME. ONCE, THEY PUT A HOLE IN MY HEAD. IN FACT THEY KNOCKED ME OUT WITH A STEEL SHIELD, AND WHEN I CAME TO, I HAD BLOOD EVERYWHERE ON ME.

I WAS TORTURED PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY UNTIL I FELT LIKE I NO LONGER WANTED TO LIVE SO I WOULDN'T HAVE TO ENDURE THE SUFFERING. BUT SOMETHING INSIDE OF ME WOULDN'T LET ME DIE. THE FEDS CAME AND TOOK ME OUT OF THAT DARK CELL AND DEMANDED THAT THEY PUT ME UP FRONT WITH THE OTHER INMATES.

I WILL STOP NOW 'CAUSE IT OPENS UP WOUNDS OF PAIN IN MY MIND AND SOUL. I STILL WAKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT SWEATING AND GRASPING; FOR THE DREAMS FEEL SO REAL. I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.

I PRAY THEY BE STOPPED AT ALL COST -- EVEN THEIR LIVES. I LOVE YOU, MARY NEAL. MY ONLY WISH IS I WISH THERE HAD BEEN A MARY NEAL WHEN I WAS IN PRISON. THERE'S A LOT MORE, BUT I WILL GET A CHANCE TO TELL THE WHOLE STORY ONE DAY. MAY GOD BE WITH YOU AND OTHERS LIKE YOU.

IN FAITH,
Brenda Anderson

RESPONSE:

My dear friend, I am so sorry you endured such hardships. We look forward to presenting your pain and suffering to the International Court, where we will apply for restorative justice for you. We will also ask the United Nations to issue directives for the USA to stop torturing and killing its mentally ill citizens. Thank you so much for having the courage to LIVE and make it to this day when we will seek justice for you and everyone who is similarly situated. So many others never made it out of the hole, Brenda. We must continue to fight for their sake and for every mentally challenged American who lies naked in dark, cold cells tonight, including some who are dying right now in restraint or by Taser -- or by their own hand. We will continue to victory, Brenda, because we must. 

According to Solitary Watch, the U.S. State Department plans to deny systemic use of solitary confinement in its report to the United Nations and claim that American citizens are protected by the U.S. Constitution from such cruel and unusual punishment. The report says in part:

"The United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) forbids any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person” for the purposes of intimidation, coercion, forced confession, or punishment, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. The United States asserts that it is in all cases in alignment with CAT."

Without reports like ours, Brenda, there will be no Change, because the USA will not willingly acknowledge that there are violations of CAT happening. That is why AIMI is gathering testimony from up to 100 victims and families about torture and wrongful deaths of mentally challenged people to present to the U.N. See our website at http://AIMI-HumanRights.blogspot.com . Thank you for being the courageous advocate for human rights that you are and for sharing your story with us. See the full report about the U.S. response to the U.N. at the link below. Many blessings to you and all our claimants in "AIMI vs. USA".

U.S. Government Tells UN Committee on Torture: “There Is No Systematic Use of Solitary Confinement in the United States”
http://solitarywatch.com/2014/10/14/u-s-government-tells-un-committee-on-torture-there-is-no-systematic-use-of-solitary-confinement-in-the-united-states/

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Thank you for giving Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill.

It would be illegal to keep a dog in a tight space 23 hours a day and gas or Taser him for barking. It would be illegal to put a dog in deadly restraint for control. That happens to mentally ill people routinely in the nation's correctional facilities. What happened to Larry Neal?

Mentally Ill Americans Need Dog Justice. Treat mental illness medically, not legally. Please advocate for your congresspersons to pass H.R.3717 - The "Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act." Try to elect people who support human rights and justice for all.

U.N. Investigates USA re Systemic Prison Torture

Families of mentally ill American inmates were astounded to read the headline below in Solitary Watch.com: U.S. Government Tells UN Committee on Torture: “There Is No Systematic Use of Solitary Confinement in the United States” 

I published the following comment at the article: 
With so many super max prisons and solitary jail/prison cells in the USA, it is surprising that the USA would deny its systemic use of solitary confinement. It is estimated that roughly 80,000 inmates are in solitary confinement, some for decades. Over 60 percent of the isolated inmates are mentally ill people who should be treated as psychiatric inpatients or outpatients, not punished for offenses that arose from their health disabilities. Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill (AIMI) plans to file an action in International Court against the USA for long-term homelessness, brutality and wrongful deaths of mentally ill Americans, especially mentally ill inmates who were denied timely psychiatric treatment to prevent offenses that led to harsh punishment. Google “AIMI vs. USA,” which will be filed in 2015. Listen to our Blogtalkradio shows on Wednesdays at 8pm Pacific Time to hear from families in mental health crises. Torturous solitary confinement and denial of visits are two of the most common complaints among family members of mentally ill inmates. [This news was discussed during our regular Wednesday radio episode of Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill at 8pm Pacific on October 15, 2015, which is archived at Blogtalkradio at
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nnia1/2014/10/16/assistance-to-the-incarcerated-mentally-ill ]

According to Solitary Watch, the USA plans to deny systemic use of solitary confinement in its report to the United Nations and claim that American citizens are protected by the U.S. Constitution from such cruel and unusual punishment. The report says in part:

The United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) forbids “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person” for the purposes of intimidation, coercion, forced confession, or punishment, “when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.” The United States asserts that it is in all cases in alignment with CAT. See the "protections" that Americans allegedly have:

The U.S. Constitution, along with federal and state laws, establishes standards of care to which all inmates are entitled…U.S. courts have interpreted the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution as prohibiting the use of solitary confinement under certain circumstances, especially with regard to inmates with serious mental illness or for juvenile detainees. (Specifically, under the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishments,” correctional facility administrators may not subject inmates to solitary confinement with deliberate indifference to the resulting serious harms, including suicides, suicide attempts, and serious self-injury. See Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 843 (1970); see also, e.g., Madrid v. Gomez, 889 F. Supp. 1146, 1265 (N.D. Cal. 1995) (using prolonged solitary confinement on prisoners with serious mental illness can be “the mental equivalent of putting an asthmatic in a place with little air to breathe”) …

People with mental, physical, and psychological disabilities are not punished with solitary confinement, the U.S. report asserts:

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Rehabilitation Act) restrict and regulate the use of solitary confinement for persons with disabilities. Title II of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. 12132, applies to state actors, while the Rehabilitation Act applies to federal correctional facilities and correctional facilities receiving funds from the federal government. Both statutes prohibit the use of solitary confinement in a manner that discriminates on the basis of disability instead of making reasonable modifications to provide persons with disabilities access to services, programs, and activities, including mental health services. See Pa. Dep’t of Corr. v. Yeskey, 524 U.S. 206, 210 (1998).

THE UGLY TRUTH:  In addition to solitary confinement being systemically used to contain mentally ill inmates, juveniles, and many other prisoners (including those who refuse to work free or nearly free), it is further used to force potentially innocent defendants into plea bargains with trials denied. This typically happens to African Americans. Black people, especially men, are sometimes denied their Sixth Amendment right to fair, speedy, public trials, represented by adequate defense counsel, i.e., Shannon Nyamodi of North Carolina (two years), Terrell Scott of Pennsylvania (five years), and Kalief Browder of New York (three years). Black mental patients regularly experience indefinite detention without trials, which is cruel and unusal punishment. Two unfortunate examples are Mississippi inmates Marktain Kilpatrick Simmons (eight years) and Lee Vernel Knight (seven years).

Numerous commentators at the Solitary Watch article are incredulous over the prospect of the U.S. State Department denying the “systematic use of solitary confinement” in American prisons. Eileen Siple wrote,"In many counties in the US, including Harford County, MD, juveniles charged as adults are automatically placed in solitary within adult jails and prisons “for their own protection”. This can go on for months or years – until they are bailed out, waived down (unlikely), turn 18, or their cases go to trial. Isn’t that systematic?"

How can the State Department deny systemic use of solitary confinement and other torture against American prisoners with evidence and witnesses to the contrary? For example, "Dog Justice for Mentally Ill" blog carries numerous reports and videos documenting brutality and deaths of mentally ill victims in custody, which were also published on mainstream news broadcasts.The denial of systemic prison torture may be possible because a minute percentage of human rights complaints the United Nations receives originate in the United States. In "AIMI vs. the USA," the International Court will be presented with evidence that police and correction officers' often torture, brutalize and sometimes kill mentally ill Americans without incurring criminal charges. Cover-ups are more likely to follow such abuses and deaths. In addition, cruel and degrading treatment against prisoners frequently extends to family members and advocates who demand justice. Following the secret arrest and wrongful death of Larry Neal, this writer's disabled brother who was a lifelong schizophrenic heart patient, his family endured censorship, surveillance, and financial persecution for requesting an explanation about his kidnapping and murder in Memphis Shelby County Jail in 2003. Retaliation for exposing crimes against humanity in America's justice system is common, but human rights advocates must not be deterred. "Silence is the deadliest weapon of mass destruction." ~ Cynthia Mckinney

FIVE REFERENCES:

U.S. Government Tells UN Committee on Torture: “There Is No Systematic Use of Solitary Confinement in the United States” 

http://solitarywatch.com/2014/10/14/u-s-government-tells-un-committee-on-torture-there-is-no-systematic-use-of-solitary-confinement-in-the-united-states/

Two Mississippi Inmates Are Still Awaiting Trial After 7 and 8 Years
http://breakingbrown.com/2014/04/two-mississippi-inmates-are-still-awaiting-trial-after-7-and-8-years/

Catch a Nigga by His Toe (the Kalief Browder story)

http://freespeakblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/catch-nigga-by-his-toe.html

Terrell Scott and Shannon Nyamodi: Forcing a Plea
http://dogjusticeformentallyill.blogspot.com/2013/12/terrell-scott-and-shannon-nyamodi.html

American Prisons - Worst in the World,? by Mari Maxwell, Uloop writer

http://www.uloop.com/news/view.php/117547/American-Prisons-Worst-in-the-World
A poll that was taken showed that out of 10 of the worst prisons in the world, five of them existed within the confines of the United States of America.

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Thank you for giving Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill.

It would be illegal to keep a dog in a tight space 23 hours a day and gas or Taser him for barking. It would be illegal to put a dog in deadly restraint for control. That happens to mentally ill people routinely in the nation's correctional facilities. What happened to Larry Neal?

Mentally Ill Americans Need Dog Justice. Treat mental illness medically, not legally. Please advocate for your congresspersons to pass H.R.3717 - The "Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act." Try to elect people who support human rights and justice for all.