Wisconisn WCI Seg inmates win Lawsuit
"stuck in the new bedlam" is a new blog that specifically tries to help the mentally ill.
This next blog features prisoners in segregation or without family and friends"
our stranded friends
people willing to mentor by mail
Money Donations for books
Help with strategy/planning
FFUP and seg prisoners at CCI in Wisconsin are working to get adequate reading materials into the seg units and a mail mentoring program started. Negotiations are underway with the administration to establish cooperation get donated books onto a special seg cart .(see back and forth letters to administration here:
FFUP REPORT ON MENTALLY ILL IN SEGREGATION
if interested email: swansol@mwt.net
news articles:
study of mental health in US
minortites and mental health care
Blog of writings and poems by prisoners on the subject of solitary torture:
some here:
call for help from seg
working in isolation-guards view
PTSD and prisons
psychological death row
3 poems
seg prisoner tells of time in seg
about ten years ago , in a lawsuit against the supermax prison in WIsconsin, the judge rules that severly mentally il prisoners could not be housed in the supermax. We were all happy. These prisoners , however , were simply transferred to other prisons and ended up in seg hell there, where there is no monitoring and conditions are arguably worse because the former supermax gets closer scrutiny.
Here is part of a lawsuit complaint from a prisoner in CCI , who was one of these transfered from WSPF , the former Supermax, because of severe mental illness. IT is hard to read as it graphically describes conditions and impells us as a society to do change the way we do criminal justce in this society. This man has filed his suit andis looking for a lawyer.
Artist Darren Morris is a survivor of these horrors. View more of his art, His story here
He and many other prisoners have donated art for FFUP fundraising: see it here.
Well, I have been in the hole now for a little over a month and let me tell you it's a "hell" of an experience. I've never thought that I'd see so much pain, anguish and despair. It's really hard for some of these men to come to grips with the possibility that they will never go home. And the crazy part is that a lot of the pain the inmates have caused on their "victims", the inmates suffer or share that same pain. It has been my experience by closely observing other inmates behavior and conversations, that their pasts have been filled with the same hurts and abuse as was carried out on "victims". And inmates too, try to deal wit this internal pain by physically harming themselves. I"ve "seen" inmates literally cut their Face with scissors (gash themselves literally) swallow razors, swallow glass, swallow screws, slice their wrists, attempt suicide by strangulation etc. The list goes on and on. These poor men can't deal with the mental trauma so they try to deaden the mental pain by exchanging it for physical pain. I've heard men scream for hours!! Trying to wrap their minds around the fact that they may have a life sentence w/no parole and couple with the mental pain they have to live with that was caused from neglect and sexual abuse and physical abuse as a child. I don't even think a trine psychologist could fully understand the weight or depths of their pain unless you're able to experience this first hand like I am. It's really sad and though my heart goes out to each and every victim that has ever been wronged in this world my heart goes out to these men too. It's strange how the mind works and how the mind, body and soul thirst for affection and love. I've witnessed situations where men would go against their own moral , religious and ethical code just to receive love and affection from others because family has abandoned them. I thank God every day that He has given me strength and blessed me with a friend like you. I never judge people with regard to the sexual preference but I am glad I've never been in a situation where I was so weak at such a point of despair where my moral, ethical and religious belief was compromised due to lack of affection to the point of "me" resorting to homosexuality, and as I said before I don't judge I just observe with compassion because the environment is unnatural to everyone who is subjected to it.
Shannon Griffith #165268
Marquette Branch Prison(MBP);1960 US Highway 41 South; Marquette, MI 49855
(left)He is manic depressive and in prison for multiple misdeameaners. He is in the most isolated condition and trying to make his way our to ewhere he can have property. Included here is news article about his plight, court transcripts
Good news: as of January Brian has been transferred to the " transitional unit-" a little more property.-we hope he can make his way to general population and out. .
I've been buried alive in a stone tomb
I’m trying to find a ray of light seeking illumination from the moon
Every night I’m chipping at the walls, but only in my mind
I can’t sleep because I hear sounds echoing from past crimes
Nothing but distant images penetrate my eyes
Like Galileo with no telescope to see the stars in the sky
At times I just lay down with my head beneath the blanket
A frustrated way to escape because I hate it
My thoughts are of the world but me it never mentions
All it does is spin and witnesses the tension
Every night when the sun hides from the beauty of the stars
I relax to meditate and my mind drifts through the bars
Every night I leave my cell and enter into the unknown
It’s a bit of a relief but it’s no place like home.
How long until I’m not alone?
WSPF Prisoner
Steven Stewart #148599
WSPF, PO BOX 9900; Boscobel, WI 53805
Click to view his blog
Read about settlement on Shawn lawsuit improvements to come to WCI
The place usually smells of urine, and I do not mean the gas station bathroom kind, this is the kind that when I first smelled it, I got sick, partly because it is usually fused with other smells, body odor from guys that have not washed in a while, and at times fecal matter. There is an endless attack of noise, banging and yelling, but if I take out my hearing aides to escape the noise, then I do not get fed. There are no real programs to deal with the needs of the mentally ill, the staff do not know how to deal with us and often times they do things to intentionally make it worse and sometimes it seems unintentional.
They cannot make an accurate diagnosis of what is really wrong, because they see so many people they just give you pills and send you on your way, and they will change that diagnosis to suit their needs. I had been in a single cell for nearly 14 years. When I got here as a way to get even with me and punish me, they took my single cell status and doubled me up.
I was fortunate, I was blessed to meet people that helped me brake the cycle. I have been stable for about 3 years on medication.
Darren Morris, Artist:
"While placin us in this cell some inmate upstairs was bangin on his sink and toilet real hard soley to harass other prisoners. It sounded like he was in our cell poundin our sink and toilet (both metal) with a hammer. About minutes later they cleaned out cell 4 ( we're in cell 3), and moved an inmate from upstairs in cell 4. As it turned out, the inmates in cells 2 and 4 spend all day-every day bangin on their neighbor's walls ( ours included), their sinks , toilets, and doors and yellin' out their doors 4- the- sole purpose of keeping us prisoners awake, to annoy prisoners, and to prevent prisoners from having conversations. The tripped out part about this is that the pigs encourage these cranks to do it. Every dude they've put in cell 4 has been suicidal. The last dude was eatin' his feces at the sgt's urgin. He attempted suicide then the pigs ran run in on him and moved him. The bro they have in here now has a history of suicide.
We believe the pigs moved us to this cell to thwart our endeavors to litigate effectively. It's been extremely rough on us to focus on said endeavors vi a forced lack of sleep and incessant noise from said prisoners. God willin, we shall overcome!"