Retiring Arizona Prison Watch...


This site was originally started in July 2009 as an independent endeavor to monitor conditions in Arizona's criminal justice system, as well as offer some critical analysis of the prison industrial complex from a prison abolitionist/anarchist's perspective. It was begun in the aftermath of the death of Marcia Powell, a 48 year old AZ state prisoner who was left in an outdoor cage in the desert sun for over four hours while on a 10-minute suicide watch. That was at ASPC-Perryville, in Goodyear, AZ, in May 2009.

Marcia, a seriously mentally ill woman with a meth habit sentenced to the minimum mandatory 27 months in prison for prostitution was already deemed by society as disposable. She was therefore easily ignored by numerous prison officers as she pleaded for water and relief from the sun for four hours. She was ultimately found collapsed in her own feces, with second degree burns on her body, her organs failing, and her body exceeding the 108 degrees the thermometer would record. 16 officers and staff were disciplined for her death, but no one was ever prosecuted for her homicide. Her story is here.

Marcia's death and this blog compelled me to work for the next 5 1/2 years to document and challenge the prison industrial complex in AZ, most specifically as manifested in the Arizona Department of Corrections. I corresponded with over 1,000 prisoners in that time, as well as many of their loved ones, offering all what resources I could find for fighting the AZ DOC themselves - most regarding their health or matters of personal safety.

I also began to work with the survivors of prison violence, as I often heard from the loved ones of the dead, and learned their stories. During that time I memorialized the Ghosts of Jan Brewer - state prisoners under her regime who were lost to neglect, suicide or violence - across the city's sidewalks in large chalk murals. Some of that art is here.

In November 2014 I left Phoenix abruptly to care for my family. By early 2015 I was no longer keeping up this blog site, save occasional posts about a young prisoner in solitary confinement in Arpaio's jail, Jessie B.

I'm deeply grateful to the prisoners who educated, confided in, and encouraged me throughout the years I did this work. My life has been made all the more rich and meaningful by their engagement.

I've linked to some posts about advocating for state prisoner health and safety to the right, as well as other resources for families and friends. If you are in need of additional assistance fighting the prison industrial complex in Arizona - or if you care to offer some aid to the cause - please contact the Phoenix Anarchist Black Cross at PO Box 7241 / Tempe, AZ 85281. collective@phoenixabc.org

until all are free -

MARGARET J PLEWS (June 1, 2015)
arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com



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Thursday, November 10, 2011

Toersbijns: On privilege, diversion and treatment for the mentallly ill.

I don't know how Chuck Ryan continues to remain in office. The governor must be about through with him - his treatment of mentally ill prisoners is calling an awful lot of attention to one of the most colossal failures of her administration: the suicide rate in the state prisons has doubled under those two, and homicides and assaults have skyrocketed.

Anyway, my friend, Carl, is on a roll this week. Here's his latest editorial...


------------from Associated Content-----------

Janice Brewer and Anthony Lester Share Mental Illness Problems

Mental Health Care is Lacking in Arizona Prisons

November 10, 2011
,

 

If anybody should know the issues and problems associated with the complexity of providing mental health care to severely mentally ill (SMI) persons it is Arizona Governor Janice Brewer of Arizona.

 

She has a son that ran afoul of the law and was considered to be eligible to be housed in a state hospital rather than the state owned prisons. This was a definite benefit for her as a mother as she was assured her convicted son was going to receive treatment for his illness that was a factor in his crime. According to public records, he is still there at the state hospital getting his medication and treatment as prescribed by a psychiatrist.


 

Last Friday, November 5, Channel 12 did a story on Tony Lester that was identified by the Arizona Department of Corrections as preventable suicide. The story resulted in mass viewer concerns about the mentally ill as they have no voice in the community and need protection by those who care. To summarize his death, he was given a razor blade to kill himself while sitting in a detention cell isolated from treatment and care when he experienced an episode that resulted in his death. Before he died he wrote the words 'voices" with his own blood to explain his behavior to others.




 

Just another name, another SMI person, Anthony Lester, was convicted of a crime and sent to prison without any considerations for treatment whether inside the state hospital or the state prison. He was discarded, abandoned and left on his own to survive his illness in a most predatory environment and received no help from anyone unlike the governor's son. The difference between the two is one major fact. Tony Lester was not the governor's son. Although Janice Brewer was not the governor at the time of this consideration, she was an influential politician in state government and given preferential treatment in the care of her son. 


Anthony Lester committed suicide within a few months of his incarceration in prison. His needs were ignored by the agency and he was ignored as an SMI person incarcerated and denied care that was recommended by the judge that sentenced him and despite personal pleas from his family to high officials inside the corrections agency to allow him to be put in a mental health setting, it was ignored. Tony Lester was diagnosed to be "manipulative and gamey" by the top doctors and officials inside the Arizona Department of Corrections. He was denied care. Tony Lester earned that title of being "manipulative and gamey" from the behavior of others who are NOT mentally ill but use it as a tool to seek special housing assignments or single cells. He was put in a stereotyped class of manipulators inside prison and denied the opportunity to receive care and treatment already documented in his file.





Since the investigation there is sufficient information that there exists an obvious lack of support within the prison administration and cultural setting that allows the existence and success of prison therapy programs to work and be effectively management without political or cultural interference. The dangers associated with these released SMI persons who have not received care while in prison effects our communities and increases their chances of committing crimes again almost assuring society that they will spend the rest of their lives inside a prison with lengthy and determinate sentences to keep them off the streets in the name of public safety and tough on crime mandates or kill themselves while incarcerated as they lose their ability to cope and function according within this most toxic and harsh environment, even for those who do not suffer from a mental illness. 


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