The Plot Thickens

Remember how Southern Desert’s Adseg unit is used as a hideaway for the legally capable? Recently, near 100 inmates held a letter campaign against their circumstances. And their conditions are even worse than previously reported. Below is a copy of that letter, but let me explain a bit before you read. Dis. Seg. means “disciplinary segregation” or “the hole”. AR’s are “Administrative Regulations” prison staff and officials are required to abide by. This letter shows SDCC in violation of seven of those regulations. AR’s are in place to prevent neglect and abuse, otherwise known as “cruel and unusual punishment”; they are not “no running in the pool area” rules. Here is the letter:

Dear Warden:

It saddens me to say, multiple inmates of my unit have attempted suicide because of their inability to handle the outrageously disgusting and sadistic treatment we are currently under. I am housed in unit 6 at Southern Desert Correctional Center under “Administrative Segregation”. The conditions myself and other inmates face and are subjected to while in this unit are highly unacceptable. This treatment goes well against several Administrative Regulations and falls under the courts’ definitions of the constitutional abolishment of “cruel and unusual punishment”.

Violations of AR’s include:

1. We are denied the allotted 7 hours a week as required by AR 507.01 (4)G: “Administrative segregation inmates will be allowed a minimum of seven (7) hours per week outdoor exercise, absent inclement weather or staff shortage.” We receive 2 morning yard options for one hour each. This correlates to 2 hours of yard per week, far from the requirements. We have been informed yard time is “up to the officer’s discretion whether it is offered or not”. Most officers pick certain people for yard and refuse to do more than one 6 cell group. If you are not picked for that 6 cell group then they shrug their shoulders and say, “Maybe next time”. These are all in direct violation of AR 339.06 (2)B: “Any unauthorized failure to comply with posted Administrative Regulations (ARs), Operating Procedures (OPs), Post Orders, Unit Rules, or other procedures should be reported,” AR 339.01 (1)A(1): “Employees shall maintain high standards of honesty, integrity, and impartiality, free from any considerations, favoritism, or partisan demands,” and AR 339.01 (1)A(4): “Employees shall be firm, fair, and consistent in the performance of their duties. Employees shall treat others with dignity, respect, and compassion and provide humane custody and care, void of all retribution, harassment, or abuse.”
2. Our spending limit at the canteen has been capped at $50 every 2 weeks, a direct contradiction to AR 507.01 (4)H: “Inmates in administrative segregation will be allowed the same canteen purchase amount as general population inmates. However, certain items may be exempt from purchase for security reasons.”
3. CO’s refuse and cut short tier time as they see fit. They take every opportunity possible to not give tier and even go so far as to retaliate against those who try to say something by skipping them for tier and/or tearing up their house. This is in direct violation of AR 339.01 (1)A(1) (see above) and AR 339.01 (1)A(4) (see above). They boast of their “go ahead to run this unit as [they] want and don’t have to give [us] anything”. They call inmates, “PC bitches” and tell others to “Take their crying issues back to GP”. They are constantly yelling and screaming about petty things that seem to irritate them which in turn causes them to threaten inmates with physical abuse and tier and yard loss. Group punishment has become the norm. Multiple inmates have been assaulted in lieu of the COs’ malicious and sadistic attitudes. Assault is in violation of AR 339.01 (1)A(5): “Employees shall uphold the tenets of the United States Constitution, its amendments, the Nevada Constitution, Federal and State laws, rules and regulations, and policies of the Department.” Their “PC bitches” shows their bias and discrimination of those in AdSeg. Since some are in AdSeg of Southern Desert Correctional Center due to a medical requirement, this is in violation of AR 339.01 (1)A(12): “Employees shall not discriminate against any offender, employee, or any member of the public on the bases of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender identity or expression, or national origin.” All of the aforementioned actions violate AR 339.02 (1): “All Department employees are required to conduct themselves at all times in an appropriate manner, with honor, integrity, and impartiality, whether on or off duty, to obey and support the letter and spirit of the law, and to always exercise appropriate self-discipline in the use of the power and authority entrusted to them.”

The staff/officers continue to say they are only following the orders given to them by commanding officials, and that there are no set rules nor proper OPs governing this unit and that all orders and commands to the running of this unit come directly from the Warden and AWP. Either they have not been informed of AR 507, or they are in several violations of AR 339 in these statements.

Many individuals within this unit have written grievances concerning the conditions but cannot find any remedy to resolve the problems. Many kites have been written to try and address the issue but they are never answered … only ignored. These aforementioned AR violations are not our only concerns. It appears unit 6 is a punishment unit. This AdSeg unit is being treated worse than any DisSeg unit. It feels as if the unit is being run and used as a punitive and retaliatory unit under the guise of AdSeg. Many of us were transferred from other yards where we were working and programming for no apparent reason and placed in this unit when the transfer itself served no penological interest whatsoever. The reasons we feel this way are as follows:

1. Our tier time is every 3-4 days for 20 minutes. During this time we must use the phone, take a shower, get supplies, use the kiosk, and clean our cells. This treatment is not equal to that of any other AdSeg or DisSeg unit in the state. All other AdSeg and DisSeg units are allowed out for showers every other day for a minimum of 15 minutes and phone privileges every other day for a minimum of 30 minutes. Supplies are issued to the cell along with cleaning supplies as needed. What’s more, our family, our advocates, and even the news have been blatantly deceived. They are told we are allowed an hour a day. We get a max of 40 minutes a week.
2. Much of the canteen items have been restricted to us. We can’t even purchase bowls to eat the food we have purchased. All seasonings except salt have been denied. All hair products that come in a jar, not a squeeze bottle, have been unauthorized. We understand the aforementioned AR 507.01 (4)H allows for the restriction of certain purchases for security reasons, but this seems extreme, especially since we are already isolated from each other.
3. Most cells are lacking air-conditioning, while others have it.
4. The unit seems to have an infestation of roaches and ants. We battle with them all day trying to keep them out of our cells and our food.
5. Everyone in this unit is classified as AdSeg, but yet we can’t be on the tier with each other. Yet other times, that person I can’t be on tier with is forced to live in my cell. We can live in a cell together, but we can’t be on the tier together? This is illogical and inconsistent.
6. The other big issue we face is the inability, or unwillingness of OMD to move us to our appropriately allocated yards. Most have been approved elsewhere, but no one is leaving. Many of us have been stuck within these deplorable conditions for well over a year. This is causing our prison sentences to become potentially longer due to our denied ability to program or work.

This is my plea as well as the plea from so many others stuck in this unit: Please come speak to us. Please explain exactly why we are being treated worse than those who have committed serious infractions and are currently in Unit 8, Dis. Seg. Why are we being treated as if our rights do not matter? Help us to find some common ground to alleviate these violation and issues. It seems all our grievances, all our kites, for a remedy to all of this is merely falling on deaf ears.

We are asking you to take a moment and look at things as a whole. See the problem as we do. Take the time to work with us and talk to us so we can fix all of this before we can’t. All we are asking is that AdSeg be afforded the opportunity to be treated as declared in the AR’s instead of like a punishment unit. These issues are not new. They have been over-looked and ignored long enough. The time to fix the issues and alleviate these ongoing issues and violations is now. Or do we just ignore it and continue to facilitate an environment of such abuse that it boils over to something worse? Maybe it will actually take the act of an individual taking his own life rather than living in these conditions before changes are made? It’s time to “Help us”. I want to thank you for your time and consideration in these matters.

Sincerely,
Unit 6 Inmates

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