Precious Releases?
Rosie Maria SanchezMolly Kilgore having served 31 years on a seven-to-life sentence was found suitable for parole on December 30. Her case is now before the governor
whose deadline to release a decision is May 29, 2010.
Cynthia Feagin has spent over 17 years at VSPW for a 15-to-life sentence. The mother of the victim publicly supports Cynthia?s release.
Patricia Joellen Johnson now 66, has been imprisoned since 1991 on an 18-to-life sentence. Jurors in a new trial wrote letters to the Board expressing
their firm belief Ms. Johnson was not a danger and should receive a parole date. Register your opinion with the Gov. by June 3rd, 2010.
Frankie Williams?a 72-year old grandmother who was found suitable for parole on February 4, 2010, has a loving extended family who are eager to
welcome her home. Register your opinion with the Gov. by June 3rd, 2010.
Linda Lee Smith?incarcerated over 30 years, has been found suitable 11 times by the BPH! She works as a peer helper, teacher and minister in the
Mental Health Department for troubled women in the prison. Register your opinion with the Gov. by July 1, 2010.
Ivy Martin has made tremendous contributions to community inside and outside of prison as a volunteer for Literacy Volunteers of America, and as a
valued contributor to Free Battered Women. Register you opinion with the Gov. by July 8th, 2010.
Marisol Garcia is a survivor of abuse. She became fluent in English, is a leader in Convicted Women Against Abuse, volunteers for the community
through Mexican American Resource Association and Sharing our Stitches. Register your opinion with the Gov. by July 9th, 2010.
Norma Cumpian worked as a peer counselor in the mental health department and served as Chairperson of Convicted Women Against Abuse from 2000- 2004. She was found suitable for a second time. Register your opinion with the Gov. by July 11, 2010.
Outrageous Denials?
Linda Rodriguez?in Governor Scwharzenegger?s own words, ?At 60 years old now, after being incarcerated for more than 19 years, Rodriguez has
made some creditable gains in prison . . . Moreover, she has received positive evaluations from mental health and correctional professionals over the years?,
(from Gov.?s decision, March 19, 2010) He, nevertheless, reversed the decision of the BPH to release Linda on parole!
Romarilyn Baker?a domestic violence survivor incarcerated 21 years since age 24, was found suitable for parole in November 2009 after the court ordered the BPH to give her another hearing. The Gov. reversed her parole on April 29th. She has obtained a Ph.D. in Christian Counseling and has not given up faith. All of CIW is rallying behind her. In a recent letter to CCWP she wrote, ?Keep fighting the good fight of faith, remember we WIN!? The reversal will
be appealed and she will have another board hearing in November, 2010.
Category: Issue 42 – Spring 2010
AB 2232 is a cost cutting measure which proposes to double the co-pay for accessing medical services from $5 to $10 as a way of reimbursing CDCR
for medical expenditures. If a prisoner doesn?t have enough money on her/his account for the co-pay, she would incur a ?medical debt? that would have to be
repaid before she was allowed to purchase other goods. Such a terrible increase in the co-pay will further discourage prisoners from accessing care and probably delay treatment until a condition becomes acute and more
expensive to treat. CCWP, LSPC and other sister organizations have sent strong letters opposing this bill to the Assembly Public Safety Committee.
by: Diana Block
In November 2009, California prisoners received notification that many of the daily medicines and vitamins they have relied on to keep themselves healthy and manage routine colds, coughs and stomach problems would no longer
be available through the pharmacy. Cough drops, digestive aids, muscle
rub and vitamins were among the many items that will now have to be paid for and many of these may not even available through canteen or the vendor package system. The notice claimed that there isn?t proof that these items actually help one?s health. The real reason for the change is to cut costs? and
to do it at the expense of prisoners? health!
When a Federal Receiver was first appointed to the California prison system in 2006, prisoners began to get better access to care. After months of sensational media accusations that the current Receiver, Clark Kelso, is seeking ?Cadillac
care? for prisoners, he shifted his focus away from the mission of the Receivership? protecting prisoner health. His new focus is on controlling costs to comply with comply with Gov. Schwarzenegger?s mandate to cut $811 million
from next year?s prison health care budget.
Kelso?s proposals include further restrictions on the use of prescription drugs and outside medical specialists, expansion of telemedicine (where patients only
see doctors via video conferencing), and allowing temporary medical parole for prisoners who are physically incapacitated. While medical parole might be worthwhile, Kelso made it clear that the motivation, ??is a budget issue,
not compassionate release. It?s not ?Oh we feel sorry for these people.?
This is simply the most cost-effective way to provide treatment.? (AP 3/16/2010)
Kelso also created bottlenecks preventing prisoners from gaining compassionate release. He continues to push for building a new multi-million dollar, 1,734-bed prison hospital in Stockton. New prison hospitals are not the answer to the prisoner health care crisis. First and foremost, the prison
population has to be reduced to provide basic medical treatment, as the three-judge panel ruled in August 2009. Preventive medicine, a decent diet, and the elimination of the co-pay system could improve health care now without building new prison hospitals.
Write to the Receiver and tell him that cutting access to vitamins and digestive aids will not save money in the long run and will only make the prison health crisis worse: Clark Kelso, California Prison Health Care Services, PO Box 4038, Sacramento, CA 95812- 4038.
Or call the Inmate Health Care Inquiry Line at 916-324-1403 with your concerns.
by: Wilson Moy and Ashley Moss, CCWP high school interns
In 2006 Women Organized to Respond to Life-Threatening Diseases? (WORLD) highlighted the life of Beverly Henry, who tested co-positive for HIV/HepC in 1994. Ms. Henry was in and out of jail since she was 15 years old. By 18 she was addicted to heroin and cocaine. After she found out her status, she
felt hopeless until she learned more about her disease.
She was released in Oct. 2009 (see The Fire Inside #41, Fall 2009 dedicated to her.) Unfortunately, in America?s Prison Industrial Complex people are denied health care. Prisoners strive for better health care. ?Barriers to Basic Care?
(2006) quotes Stephanie Walters Searight, ?I wait to see the doctor…. They say don?t worry. You will see him soon.? Prison systems claim that the doctors that
they hire are professionals, but they prove to be unfit for the job.
?Correctional Health Care: A Public Health Opportunity,? states that, ?Because of the high yearly turnover, the criminal justice system can play an important
public health role… by controlling communicable diseases in large urban communities.? Health care needs to be more in the prisoners? hands. We must take the initiative of people inside and outside the prisons to improve health care for all.
In the Fall 2009 The Fire Inside we wrote about the outrageous injustice in the Scott sisters case. Jamie and Gladys Scott received two consecutive life sentences for a 1993 armed robbery in which no one was hurt and $11was taken. This is turning into a death sentence for Jamie who suffers from end stage renal disease, relying on dialysis to survive. The medical care Jamie Scott is receiving at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF) in Pearl, MS amounts to criminal malpractice. The portable dialysis machine at the prison breaks down, contributing to multiple complications and infections.
The most recent time Jamie was taken out to a hospital the doctor insisted that she must stay for proper treatment, but the Mississippi Department of Corrections took her back to prison. As Jamie writes, ?The conditions in quickbed area are not fit for any human to live in. I have been incarcerated for 15 years 6 months now and this is the worst I have ever experienced.?I have witnessed many inmates die at the hands of this medical care. I do not want to be one of them.?
Please take action to save Jamie Scott?s life. Let these officials below know that you demand decent medical care and immediate release for Jamie Scott, #19197.
Christopher Epps, Commissioner MDOC
601-359-5600, CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
723 North President Street, Jackson, MS 39202
Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139, Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
For more information on their case see: http://www.freethescottsisters.blogspot.com/ and write to their mother: Mrs. Evelyn Rasco, POB 7100, Pensacola, FL 32534.