JDE, McNeil Island Correction Center, Steilacoom, Washington (describes conditions in Clallam Bay Correction Center Intensive Management Unit [IMU])

"... ln response [to the particularly brutal treatment of a prisoner by guards (see Housing Conditions)] other prisoners destroyed [nine] cells (kicking down concrete cinder block walls; ripping apart metal sinks; breaking break proof windows, etc) I stopped counting: CBCC was quite literally having its cells taken from it.

"Pepper spray was everywhere. It did not matter if you were a participant in the outburst or not - most prisoners weren't - you were suffering constant spraying. During one 72 hour period it seemed there was a constant 'pepper spray' cloud [that stayed] in the air.

"Each cell has its own intake-outtake ventilation system. However, after each spraying the guards would shut off all ventilation and water in the IMU. ... - Also the guards would shoot pepper spray into a cell and run out of the pod laughing, leaving the prisoner inside the cell."

5. DENIAL OF MEDICAL or LEGAL SERVICES

DENIAL OF MEDICAL SERVICES

Prisoners shall have access to health services available in the country without discrimination on the grounds of their legal situation." [UN General Assembly Resolution 45/111 of December 1990]

JRB, Limon Correctional Facility, Limon, Colorado

"Prisoners are denied medical treatment if they cannot afford it; denied dental treatment for months."

RLL, USP Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia

"And the SHU [security housing unit] has been under investigation for months. ... All sorts of rumors as to the focus ... the most credible appears to be medical neglect resulting in prisoners' deaths. While I was in SHU I saw one prisoner who celled near me carried out, reportedly dead. He looked it. Previous to this he had been arguing with a Physician's Assistant over medical treatment."

Y, Rahway Ad Seg, Control Unit

"... [ln] November ... the guards broke my fingers and the seventh and eighth rib on the left side. I didn't see a doctor for five days then X-rays were taken eleven days later. I got this for asking for my medication. The nurse told my wife that nothing was wrong."

LW, Northern State Prison, Newark, New Jersey

"It took me two years to get a hernia operation. I went to St. Francis Medical Center ... to see Dr. Starrett about my hernia not being right. She said the same thing. I ... was in pain all the time. ... I have been going to see Dr Starrett about my heart ... beating erratically ... l asked for an EKG and it [indicated] my heart is beating erratically. She has not referred me to any specialists to determine the cause [and] this [has been going] on for nine weeks. I am very depressed over this." From a letter to the Superintendent of the Northern State Prison on behalf of the above prisoner: