Control Unit Prisons in Maryland

Dear prison activists,

As some of you may know, the Baltimore Anarchist Black Cross has been
investigating conditions at Maryland's two control units/super maximum
prisons--the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center (MCAC) and the
Maryland House of Corrections Annex (MHCX)--and working in local
coalitions, as well as with the National Campaign to Stop Control Unit
Prisons, to put an end to them as part of our overall abolitionist work.
The MCAC, opened in 1989, is notorious among prisoners, prisoners' families
and activists, and has been describedby some prisoners--who know--as worse
than the infamous Pelican Bay in California.

Last year we requested that the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) send us a
copy of their letter of findings as soon as they had prepared it for
Maryland's governor, Parris Glendening. They obliged last week. Some of the
findings as stated therein are quite damning for a polite letter from a
federal bureaucracy to a state one.  Excerpts from the 13-page
letter/report follow. I have omitted the litany of statutes and case law
that forms the introduction, as well as some of the general descriptions of
the "facilities" at the MCAC and the list of recommendations (which are
obvious). I have indicated omissions with three asterisks (*       *
*).

For each of the violations of civil liberties cited in the letter the DoJ
has made remedial recommendations.  The Governor has 49 days from the issue
of the letter (May 1) to respond to the recommendations.  After this 49-day
grace period the DoJ  may initiate a law suit, pursuant to the Civil Rights
of Institutionalized Persons Act.

You may request a complete copy o the letter of findings from the Baltimore
ABC, or from the Department of Justice (Civil Rights Division, Main
Building, Washington, D.C. 20530). Our address is

Baltimore ABC
P.O. Box 22203
Baltimore, MD 21203-4203

Internet barrenador@nothingness.org
Worldwide web: http://www.charm.net/~gbarren/abc

*Copies of the Baltimore ABC's investigations and analysis, entitled "Total
Control in the Free State" are available from us. An abbreviated version is
to be found at our web site: http://www.charm.net/~gbarren/abc/cu.html*

If you wish to register a protest or request information on the Governor's
response to the letter of findings, we suggest that you contact

Governor Parris Glendening
Governor's Mansion
Annapolis, MD 21401
Tel. 410.974.3901

Stuart Nathan
Assistant Attorney General
Department of Public Safety
6776 Reisterstown Rd, Suite 312
Baltimore, MD 21215-2341
Tel. 410.764.4070

We hope that you will use this report as a tool to rally people against the
inhumane, racist, classist imprisonment binge in this country.

*Please forward this to other prison abolitionist and prison reform
organizations.*

Power to freedom,

Gusano Barrenador
Baltimore Anarchist Black Cross

==================================================================

U.S. Department of Justice



Civil Rights Division
__________________________________________________________________
Office of the Assistant Attorney General        Washington, D.C. 20530


May 1, 1996

The Honorable Parris N. Glendening
Governor, State of Maryland
State House
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

        Re: Notice of Findings of Investigation:
                _Maryland_Correctional_Adjustment Center_

Dear Governor Glendening,

        I am writing in reference to our investigation into conditions
withing the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center ("Supermax") in
Baltimore, Maryland.  As you  know, we notified your predecessor in
December 1994 of our intent to investigate Supermax pursuant to the Civil
Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act ("CRIPA"), 43 U.S.C. [sect.] 1997
_et seq_, to determine whether there exist any violations of the federal
constitutional rights of inmates housed at this facility.

        Despite intial resistance to our on-site investigation, in May and
June 1995, we finally toured Supermax with consultants in the fields of
medical care, mental health care, and general penological issues.
Unfortunately, our investigation continued to be met with resistance,
causing one of our consultants to note that the tour was unique in terms of
its adversarial and confrontational nature.  *       *       *  Although
our access to certain information was restricted by state officials,
consistent with the statutory requirements of CRIPA, we now write to advise
your of the findings of our investigation.

        Based on our investigation, we believe that certain conditions at
Supermax violate the constitutional rights of the inmates.  The facts and
law supporting our determination of constitutional violations are set forth
below.

*       *       *

II. FACTUAL SUMMARY

        The following factual summary is derived from the reports of our
consultants, inspections of the prison, interviews with inmates, and the
documents provided by the facility.

        A. _General_Conditions_

        Inmates at Supermax are subjected to extreme social isolation.
Inmates are confined to single person cells 24 hours a day, except for a
brief period (less than an hour0 every two to three days when they are
permitted, one at a time, our of their cells to shower and walk around the
dayroom area [fn. Inmates are also allowed out of their cells to see
visitors and, as indicated, to see medical staff.].  Inmates are not
premitted outdoors due to staff shortages.  Inmates eat all of their meals
in their cells.  Food trays are passed through a narrow food port in a cell
door, solid except for a vision window.  Inmates are not allowed to
participate in any prison job opportunities or any other prison
recreational or educational programs.  No recreational equipment is
provided.  Inmates in adjoining cells can hear but not see each other.  The
sole opportunity  for socialization occurs during the out-of-cell time,
when the inmate release from his cell may socialize with other inmates on
his block, who are locked behind their cell doors.

[The use of the third-person, singular masculine pronoun and possessive
above is not sexist language; all the inmatescurrently at the MCAC are
men.--GB]

        Although Supermax has a capacity of 288, in June 1995, the census
was only 205.  In the five month period before the Justice Department was
finally allowed access to the Supermax, the census dropped by 44.

[Prisoners reported to the Baltimore ABC that the prisoners were shipped
out of the MCAC so that it would appear to be in compliance with the
law.--GB]

*       *       *

        Food served to the prisoners at Supermax is prepared at the
penitentiary across the street and brought to Supermax in bulk.  At
Supermax, the food is placed into individual compartmentalized thermal
trays for distribution to the prisoners in their cells.  Food placed in the
trays is not promptly covered; trays brought to the housing units are not
promptly served.  As a result, food is served lukewarm or cold.  Food must
be served at temperatures that conform to accepted health standards.

        B. _Medical_and_Mental_Health_Care_

                1. Medical Care

        Access to meaningful sick call is not adequate.  For routine
medical problems, Supermax inmates obtain sick call requests from
correctional officers, fill them out, and return them to the officers.
Supermax is thus failing to follow Department of Corrections policy that
"submission and collection of sick call request will be conducted by
medical personnel only."  This policy is consistent with the standard in
the field and recognizes the importance of free access to medical care,
without the interposition of custody staff between patient and medical
provider.

        For most medical problems, meaningful sick call includes an
opportunity for a medical provider to make full visual assessment and some
hands-on examination.  Supermax, at the time of the consultant's visit, did
not record where a sick call encounter takes place.  To the extent that
physician assistant encounters are occurring while inmates are behind the
cell doors *       *       *, for most encounters, this is inadequate
access to meaningful sick call.  For msot encounters, the inmate should be
brought at leat to the sergeant's room for the visit by the physician
assistant.

        Since January 1, 1995 (following the Department of Justice's notice
to Maryland that it was initiating an investigation of Supermax), Supermax
policy requires physician assistants to make rounds for sick call seven
days a week on each housing unit.  Medical staff at the facility report
that such sick call only occurs five days a week; a few inmates in the
general housing units report that in person sick call only occurs twice a
week.

        Access to health care at Supermax may also may also be impeded by
the fee system.  Significantly, although Supermax inmates have no
opportunity for prison jobs, they are held responsible for medical
co-payments for each inmate-initiated medical encounter and for each
non-psychiatric prescription resulting from such and encounter unless the
inmate is indigent.  Inmates are being charged for encounters where no real
medical service is rendered.  There was a significant decrease in the
number of visits made by inmates to physicians' assistants and the number
of non-psychiatric prescriptions filled between the fourth quarter of 1994
an dthe first quarter of 1995 at Supermax.  The medical co-payment
requirement became effective January 1, 1995.  Although a payment system is
not illegal _per_se_, it is imperative that all inmates receive adequate
medical treatment, regardless of their ability  to pay.

        The full-time medical staff at Supermax consists of one registered
nurse and one physician assistant.  A physician comes to Supermax as
needed, which may only be every other week.  This is inadequate.  A
physician should work on-site at Supermax at least once a week, at least to
supervise the physician assistant.

        Upon arrival at Supermax, a nurse screens the inmate's medical
record and schedules a medical visit if indicated.  No face-to-face
receiving screening occurs.  This is contrary to the standard in the field,
which requires a face-to-face intake screening.

                2. Mental Health Care

        Maryland has created a prison which, given its mission and
environment, results in extensive demand for mental health services.  The
conditions at Supermax require close psychiatric monitoring and substantial
psychiatric services.  Yet, systematic deficiencies renfer Supermax's
mental health care system incapable of satisfying minimum constitutional
standards.  Given current conditions and lack of treatment services,
inmates with serious mental illnesses will likely experience no improvement
in their condition, or worse, will experience further mental deterioration.
Furthermore, because of the prison's inadequate screening and treatment
services, inmates with mental problems are at risk of developing serious
mental illnesses.

        The mental health services at Supermax are grossly deficient.
First, Supermax is not adequately screening inmates for the presence of
mental illnesses, either upon admission or during incarceration at the
prison.  As shown by a prison-wide screening completed just before the
Justice Department was given access to Supermax, Supermax can reasonably
successfully screen its populationfor the presence of mental illness.
However, the serious fact that the ad hoc screening resulted in 20 inmates
with serious mental illnesses being transferred out to a facility equipped
to provide mental health services and an additional 35 inmate being
identified as needing mental health services is evidence that routine
screenings are inadequate.  In addition, Supermax's special purpose
screening was not completely successful because inmates demonstrating
active psychotic symptoms remained at Supermax during tours by the Justice
Department.

        The problems with Supermax's inadequate screenings are compounded
by two other facts.  One, Supermax fails to provide confidential
psychological evaluations without adequate penological justification.
Because some inmates have masturbated in the presence of Supermax's female
psychologist during evaluations, _all_evaluations are now done in the
presence of correctional officers.  It is inappropriate to generalize in
this specific remedy to all inmates requiring mental health intervention.
Inmates have reported that certain correctional officers have been verbally
provocative concerning issues relevant to their mental illness.  And two,
mental health staff do not make rounds, relying instead on referrals for
mental health services from correctional staff or from the inmates
themselves.  It is critical that mental health staff closely monitorall
inmates to detect the presence of mental illness and effectively identify
those inmate in need of mental health services, both upon their arrival and
during their confinement.  Mentally ill prisoners may not seek mental
health services because of the nature of their mental illness makes them
unable to recognize their illness or ask for assistance.  Further, custody
staff should not be making medical judgments that should be reserved for
clinicians.  Rounds by mental health staff would help identify mental
health problems before they become serious mental illnesses.

        The second major problem with Supermax's grossly deficient mental
health care services, and futher reason why seriously mentally ill
prisoners cannot be treated at Supermax, is that treatment for mental
health is essentially limited to medication management.  Adequate
programming and psychotherapy are not available to inmates with serious
mental illnesses.  The prison is simply not staffed to provide any
inpatient or intensive outpatient treatment.

        Third, although required by facility policies and procedures,
inmates place in isolation are not being routinely evaluated by mental
health staff within 12 hours of their placement in isolation.  Supermax
must ensure that anyone place in isolation receives a psychological
evaluation withing twelve hours of such confinement.

[It is absurd to see "isolation" referred to as a special category in the
context of control units!--GB]

        Fourth, quality assurance is considered standard practice in
virtually every health care facility in the country and is considered a
fundamental part of a health care operation.  Supermax, however, has not
quality assurance system for its mental health services.

        Fifth, the mental health records at Supermax are poorly organized,
fail to contain essential information such as past psychiatric history or
blood test results, and contain significant discrepancies concering
diagnoses.

        Sixth, inmates are receiving lithium with inadquate assessments,
placing them at risk for significant medical problems.

        C. _Exercise_

        By Maryland Divsion of Correction policy, which is consistent with
professional standards, each inmate is entitled to receive one hourof
out-of-cell time daily.  However, due to insufficient staffing, inmates
generally have less than an hour of indoor out-of-cell time every second of
third day.  Futhermore, again due to insufficient staffing, inmates never
go outdoors and never receive exposure to natural light of fresh air.  A
number of inmates have alleged that incidents of inmates throwing feces at
staff has increased substantially when the outdoor yards were closed.
Supermax's failure to provide sufficient out-of-cell time on a daily basis
as wellas its failure to provide any opportunity to fo outdoors is
unconstitutional, especially given the highly restrictice regimen of daily
life at Maryland Supermax.

        D. _Indefinite_Segregation_

        Supermax uses Maryland Division of Correction's objective
classification point system to make decisions regarding transfers out of
Supermax.  However, the system, which may be working well in other penal
institutions in Maryland, is not working at Supermax.  Under Maryland's
point system, an inmate must amass 24 points to qualify for transfer.
However, at most, a Supermax inmate may only amass 21 points thorugh good
behavior.  The remaining three points must be amassed through
classification elements beyond the inmate's control, mainly relating to the
crime committed by the inmate or the sentence imposed.  Because many of the
inmates at Supermax have committed serious crimes, they can only get one
point in this category.  As our consultant pointed out, Supermax inmates
are "quite literally caught in a 'Catch 22' situation, which leaves them
perpetually 2 points short of qualifying for transfer."

        For all practical purposes, there is no objective means for earning
a transfer out of Supermax.  Instead, decisions about who will transfer out
of Supermax turn virtually exclusively on the subjective judgments of
staff.  Staff state that between 90 and 99% of all transfers out of
Supermax have been through such subjective judgments. *       *       *

        Although the average length of time spent at Supermax is 548 days,
a number of inmates have been incarcerated at Supermax virtually from the
facility's opening in January 1989.  Other inmates are being held at
Supermax although they hav been infraction-free for long periods of time.
For instance, our consultant reviewed the record of an inmate who had had
not misconduct reports at Supermax since December 18, 1991.

        E. _Abuse_

        Supermax use its "pink room" for isolation purposes until right
before the Justice Department tours last spring.  When we toured in May and
June, according to Supermax officials, the pink room had just been closed
and would not be used in the future.

        The pink room was an unheated strip cell inappropriately located in
the medical unit where an inmate was held in isolation for punishment.  The
cell was made of concrete and contained no furniture or mattress.  Inmates
remained in the pink room, sometimes as long as four days, wearing only
underwear and a three piece restraint (leg irons, handcuffs, and a waist
chain connected to the handcuffs and holding the hands very close the
body).  Inmates used a hole in the floor as a toilet.  The cell was filthy,
covered with old feces and urine.  Because hands were chained to waists,
inmates were usually forced to urinate or defecate on themselves.  Inmates
in the pink room could not feed themselves with their hands due to the
restraints.  There was no running water in the pink room.

[A. This makes no mention of inmates' tesitmony that the air conditioning
in the pink room was often deliberately turned up to full blast, often
leaving the inmate naked and freezing for days. B. We have only the DoC
word that the pink room will not be used again, when and if the DoJ lays
off their investigation.  We need to keep the pressure up.--GB]

        The pink room has been replaced by cadre cells, which are normal
cells in an isolated area, for disciplinary purposes.  The doors to the
cadre rooms have large metal closers on the inside of the doors which
present a suicide risk.

        Our consultant was unable to find evidence of a pattern of physical
abuse by Supermax staff against inmates.  However, we feel an obligation to
bring to your attentions that we have received and continue to receive a
substantial number of inmate allegations that staff at Supermax are using
excessive force against the inmates out of the range of Supermax cameras.

*       *       *

[END]






