A-Infos (en) `The Greene Experience' - Life on SCI-Greene's Death Row

[Tom Burghardt <tburghardt@igc.apc.org>]

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                 - Wednesday, 21 January 1998 -
 
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                    `THE GREENE EXPERIENCE'
_________________________________________________________________
 
                         By Roger Buehl
                        28 December 1997
 
                                *
 
     The death row at the State Correctional Institution-Greene
(SCI-Greene) has been described as a "bright, shining hell" by
Mumia Abu-Jamal. Indeed, it is that, as I can attest from
personal experience. On death row here, I've adjusted to the
arbitrary cruelties and inane, mean-spirited policies designated
to create misery. But recently, I embarked on a new adventure
within SCI-Greene -- to "the hole." The hole here is SCI-Greene's
modern theatre of pure punishment. As is all too often the case,
everything started with one of SCI-Greene's abuse policies...
 
 
HANDS-ON ESCORT POLICY
 
     SCI-Greene's "hands-on-escort policy" requires that guards
escorting any death row prisoner grab such prisoner by the arms
or restraints at all times during the escort. (It should be
noted, each death row prisoner is handcuffed behind the back and
always escorted whenever he exits his cell.) The hands-on
requirement is applicable to all escorts, irrregardless of
destination, circumstance or actual need for support or control
of the prisoner. As implemented, the hands-on-escort policy is a
de facto use-of-force authorization for guards to drag or pull on
the prisoner at any time, for any reason, or for no reason at
all. This use-of-force component of the policy has been approved
in rejections of prisoners' appeals by SCI-Greene management. 
Moreover, at SCI-Greene, any innocuous twitch or flinch by a
prisoner in contact with a guard can result in an assault-
misconduct charge and substantial disciplinary hole-time.
Consequently, the hands-on-escort policy encourages capricious
and abusive uses of force and unfounded misconduct charges by the
guards. Meanwhile, the prisoner is often uncertain of a guard's
expectations or intentions during any particular hands-on-escort.
 
     As such, SCI-Greene's hands-on-escort policy is inherently
provocative in requiring regular physical contact and/or use of
force without specific cause.
 
 
ABUSIVE USE-OF-FORCE BY GUARD
 
     On November 26, 1997, a guard named C.O.I Tony was posted on
death row. At about 0815 hours, Tony and another guard, C.O.I
Pennington were assigned to run showers in my section of death
row. Pennington escorted me to the shower without incident. Upon
completion of my shower, Tony came to escort me from the shower
to my cell; I was handcuffed behind the back in the shower. Tony
opened the shower door, and as I exited, he immediately grabbed
me very tight on my left arm and started to force me forward, at
a rapid pace, across the floor. (Note, I was wet, in shower-
slippers, handcuffed, and the C-pod floor is highly waxed.) When
I did not meet the pace set by Tony, he increased force and
started dragging me along. At the same time, Tony ordered me to
"step it up," and I attempted to comply. However, Tony continued
to drag me along, ever faster, until his pulling on my arm
started me slipping, at which time he let go, causing me to be
thrown onto the floor. As I was on the floor, Tony once again
grabbed my left arm, with both hands and attempted to haul me up
by brute force. At that point, I yelled that Tony assaulted me,
and that he should let go and allow me to get up on my own. Tony
then let go of me, and I got up and returned to my cell on my
own.
 
 
FALSE MISCONDUCT CHARGES
 
     At about 0840 hours I informed the death row sergeant about
Tony's use of excessive force upon me; the sergeant told me it
had been reported by Tony as an "accident." At about 0930 hours a
nurse questioned me about the incident, in the presence of the
death row sergeant and another guard. Several hours later, I was
served with a misconduct report wherein Tony falsely charged me
with disobeying an order, engaging in group activity, and yelling
at him before I was thrown to the floor. Such falsified
misconduct charges are common at SCI-Greene, especially in
abusive use-of-force situations; the reports provide guards with
official ratification of any lies they wish to fabricate.
 
 
KANGAROO COURT
 
     The misconduct hearing was conducted in two parts, beginning
on November 28, 1997 and concluding on December 3, 1997. The
result: guilty of disobeying an order (irrelevant that compliance
was impossible) and sanctioned with forty-five (45) days in the
disciplinary unit, otherwise known as the "hole" in prison lingo.
It's all a sham: the Hearing Examiner always credits the guard's
version over the prisoner's irregardless of the real facts and
the truth.
 
 
GOING TO THE HOLE
 
     After the hearing, the guards put me in a holding cell,
handcuffed behind my back, for over an hour. Eventually, two
guards and a lieutenant (Lt. Plavi) come to take me to the hole. 
The guards grab me and hustle me off of death row and over to the
hole (short walk) where I was taken down a long corridor. At the
end of the corridor, five or six guards were waiting, holding
night-sticks up and in battle position. They formed up around me
at the end of the corridor, in a corner: there was a blanket on
the floor and a red mat attached to the wall. One of the guards
begins screaming out orders, "step onto the blanket, face the
wall!" He screamed at top volume, like a drill sergeant in the
marines.  Then all the guards closed in around me, still with the
night-sticks up; one of them was beating his palm with his
night-stick. A guard stepped close behind me and screamed at the
back of my head: "Don't move! Don't touch the wall! We will
remove the left handcuff, and when we do, put your left hand
directly on top of your head; do not move your hand out to the
side! Faster!!" Same for the right side, after which the guard
ordered me to turn to face him. He put his face up to mine, and
screamed, "Now you will be stripped! Keep your hands to your
body! Keep your body squared with mine at all times! Do you
UNDERSTAND?!! Get your eyes off me!" Then he put me through the
strip-search routine: "Open mouth! Tongue up! Turn your head to
the right! Left hand, fold back your left ear!" Right hand, fold
back your right ear! Lift up your dick! Now, your balls!  Turn
around and bend forward at the waist! With your hands, spread
your ass! Wider! Now lift your feet! Wiggle your toes! etc.,
etc." The guard was screaming these orders all the while, and the
rest of them were there, night-sticks up and ready. The slightest
twitch or hesitation from me would serve as "justification" for
the guards to club me into submission. Many prisoners do, in
fact, get attacked during the strip-search party, for no
legitimate reason.
 
 
LIFE IN THE HOLE
 
     After the strip-search, the guards gave me a funky striped
jump-suit and some ratty slippers to put on. No socks or
underclothes. Then two of the guards took me to a cell -- made me
wait while they stripped out the former occupant's bedding -- and
locked me in. The cell has a toilet/sink, small desk, bunk with a
bare mattress, and plenty of dirt and dustballs. Nothing else. I
was not permitted to clean the cell until the next "cleaning
day," four days hence. The only thing I was given in the cell
that day was a set of sheets in the evening. No blanket.  Nothing
else. And it was cold! The next afternoon, a guard gave me a bar
of soap and a roll of toilet paper. That evening, I was given a
toothbrush (bristles only, no handle), toothpaste, a few of my
papers and my Bible. Oh, and the guards gave me this special
ink-pen, designed for the hole: a pen filler inside a short
length of a soft rubber tubing, also known as a "flex pen" in
prison lingo. Finally I was also allowed to have two changes of
underclothes, but still no blanket. That's the extent of what
prisoners are allowed to have in the hole at SCI-Greene. Over the
next few days, I got to know better the vicious, mean-spirited
attitudes of the guards and supervisors in the hole. Applicable
rules are ignored while the guards implement their own agendas
and private policies. This is implicitly approved by SCI-Greene's
superintendent. As a result, guards' latent racism and
hostilities get free reign. Racial epithets are common,
especially during strip-search parties and beatings. Unofficial,
summary "punishments" (retaliations) and daily privations are the
norm: guards regularly deprive selected prisoners of outside
exercise, showers, essentials and sometimes even meals. Even when
the guards do what is required, it's always with an attitude.
Take outside exercise, for example. It means 50 minutes (at most)
in a cage outside; even though it is (as I write) mid-winter,
with sub-freezing temperatures daily, prisoners may wear only a
thin jump-suit (usually torn, with gaping holes, and no buttons)
outside. No type of thermal underwear or longjohns are permitted;
only a hat. Once outside in the cage, the prisoner will find a
small, foul-smelling coat on the ground. Sometimes there is also
a pair of canvas gloves. Each prisoner is expected to wear the
coat, and then leave it in the cage for the next occupant. This
is only if the guards don't "burn" that day's outside exercise!
Whenever I leave my cell for outside exercise or a shower, the
guards come in and search through my few belongings and papers. 
This is common practice. 
 
     When a prisoner returns to his cell, he usually finds a few
of his belongings thrown out on the floor of the section -- items
the guards decide are "contraband," to be disgarded. (There is no
receipt, no appeal; the prisoner who dares to protest or object
gets charged with misconducts falsified by the guards.) Items
often confiscated are books, newspapers, magazines and styrofoam
cups (saved from meal trays). No "excess" publications, and no
cups allowed in the hole. Some guards are worse than others: 
they will throw out anything, including personal letters and
legal materials. Last week, when I returned to my cell from the
yard, a guard had dumped some liquid, like tobacco juice or
coffee, on my bunk, ruining my bedding for that week (until
sheet-change day). Later that day, when I returned from the
shower, another guard had thrown out my grapefruit, saved from
the breakfast tray. That's how it goes in the hole. Getting
essentials, like toilet paper or soap, is very tricky; the guards
give such items out only three times in a week, but they don't
say when. Often a guard will quietly walk around with a
pillowcase full of toilet paper -- no warning, no announcement. A
few days ago, the guard got by my cell before I saw him: no
toilet paper or soap for me! Naturally, the guards make a game of
it, trying to sneak the essentials by at different times, on
various days. But some prisoners, no matter what, will not get
toilet paper or soap -- guards withhold them as a form of
retaliation, summary punishment. Three weeks before my arrival in
the hole, a small but vociferous protest took place because the
guards refused to feed a couple of the prisoners. That, in turn,
prompted the beating of the "ringleader," and a campaign of
retaliatory harassment, which is still going on. In just my first
week here, the guards' goon squad came four times tearing through
prisoners' cells, reading private and legal papers, throwing
items out and generally making a mess of what few belongings are
permitted. One prisoner had his toilet paper confiscated, after
which the guards posted a "NO TOILET PAPER" sign on his door, so
as to impose on indefinite toilet paper ban.
 
     Another prisoner was taunted by a guard about a beating
administered by the guards a month before. Just good ol' boys,
working hard at retaliation, intimidation and oppression -- all
to degrade and crush the human spirit of prisoners in the hole.
The guards here violate the law and human rights with impunity
because they also carefully censor prisoners' complaints. All
outgoing grievances are closely monitored; grievances and certain
letters are screened, misrouted and disappear (trashed). Thus the
supervisors and the superintendent can feign ignorance of
conditions in the hole, while the guards continue their vicious
regime under the "We can do whatever we wanna do!" motto. The
hole is rough, but also fascinating and certainly never boring. 
Despite the guards' best efforts, the human spirit survives here
in most prisoners. Many of the men work out together, doing the
same exercises -- even though separated by cages (outside) or
cell walls. Some make paper chess sets and play long-distance
games. Others play "hangman," a word-guessing game. And a few
prisoners even manage to slip a grievance or two past the guards'
blockade: human ingenuity also survives here. The prisoners in
the hole have even developed a system to pass newspapers and
magazines back and forth -- through the quarter-inch crack under
cell doors. (No bars on these cells; just four walls and a solid
sliding door.) I've learned how to shoot a string out under the
door at any other cell, and fish in anything that will fit
through that quarter-inch crack. It's amazing what fits!  Reading
materials do get around here! Sometimes, however, the hole
grind-up gets to be too much. Just the other day, a prisoner in
an adjacent cell started begging the guards for medication, i.e.,
psychotropics.  Then he twisted a towel around his neck, and
threatened suicide.  When the guard didn't take him seriously,
the prisoner did a handstand on his toilet, dunked his head into
the water and started blowing bubbles. Swore he'd change to a
fish and swim away. After about ten minutes, a bunch of guards
came to take him away, to a medical observation cell. What a
place! 
 
     Copyright 1997 Roger Buehl. All Rights Reserved.
 
                              * * *
 
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        to subscribe e-mail Tom Burghardt <tburghardt@igc.org>
 
          ++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++
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