TRUE DEMOCRACY Summer 2002

JTK: Ely State Prison, Ely, Nevada "Then there are the games the officers play on us; these are every day things too. It works this way: they tell prisoners and other officers gossip they have heard inferring you have said detrimental things about other prisoners -- speaking badly of certain prisoners can cause you to be beaten, even killed. And if you become ill in your cell and are unable to call for help, you are a dead man because there is no one who will call medical help for you. "Once I saw a man here who told the guards he would kill himself. They put him in a cell and left him entirely without observation; he hung himself. They could have saved hun, but chose not to. They then stayed at his cell door looking in on him about for ten minutes saying they could not go in because it would be too dangerous; he was the only person in there. So when they finally took him out it was in a black bag. Because he was on death row the guards didn't care whether he did the crime for which he was convicted or not. They just don't care when you get here. "So there are racial games they play with all of us, Black and white alike -- they figure we will fight and maybe kill each other. At one time the white officers used to give the white prisoners knives and get them into the cell of a black man -- possibly even while he was handcuffed. They would then claim they had no idea how the man in the cell was killed. They like to keep us fighting each other so that we are not fighting them; that is the game. There is literally nothing you can do but die."

"lnstruments of restraint, such as handcuffs, chains, irons, and straight-jacket, shall never be applied as a punishment. Furthermore, chains or irons shall not be used as restraints. Other instruments of restraint shall not be used except in the following circumnstancs:

"(a) as a precaution against escape during a transfer, provided that they shall be removed when the prisoner appears before a judicial or administrative authority,

"(b) on medical grounds by direction of the medical officer,

"(c) by order of the director, if other methods of control fail, in order to prevent a prisoner from injuring himself or others or from damaging property; in such instances the director shall at once be medical officer and report to the higher administrative authority.

"... Such instruments of restraint must not be applied for any longer time than is strictly necessary." [MINRULE, Part 1: items 33, 34]

"I was repeatedly a victim of the 'stun belt,' waist chains, leg chains ... [D]eputies of the ... County Sheriff's Department ... secur(ed] two additional chains on me. One was placed around my neck and wrapped twice and the loose ends of the neck chain [were] secured to my waist chains by small padlocks. I was then made to kneel down and a second chain was looped around my ankle chains and secured to my waist chains by small padlocks. All this was done during court dates in holding cell areas."

"In ... 1994 I was maced and chained because I refused to go to court without a hot meal. I would be given a bag meal, something like a cheese sandwich or tunafish at 6 a.m ... I never would leave for court before 8 a.m. so there was no sense in making me eat a cold ... meal. Every day it was the same, I wouldn't go to court without them coming in and getting me, then I was late for sure because they would mace me and have to decontaminate me and it took hours.

"...if you go to court from here you cannot have the handcuffs removed, even when they put you in a secure cell at the court house, so creator help you if you have to use the bathroom. And you are kept there all day sometimes, denied your ability to do your natural function[;] that is torture. I was forced to [urinate] right in their van on a nwnber of occasions.