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Hi, my name is Krystal Clark. My inmate number is 435064. I’m in WHV, the Valley of Death. This prison is terrible. Thank God for giving me the strength today to get up on this phone and call. I’ve been trying to call but, like I say, they let our calls go through sometimes when they want, they just play with our phone calls.
Every week, it’s so many people been having the virus, testing with the virus. It’s terrible. They had inmates in here that they ain’t have nowhere to put ’em for hours with the virus, walking around–six hours–walking around us. No mask, no nothing. And plus, like, they staff, like 10 of them, more than that now, have tested positive with the COVID virus.
We still don’t have no bleach. We don’t have – we just using, like, watered-down disinfectant, whatever they wanna call this. This prison has covered a lot of stuff. It’s so many people packed on top of each other with this virus, they had to open up the unit that nobody’s supposed to be in it. [Indiscernible] is so nasty and filthy in there. The ceilings leak and everything gets molded out, but they housing the inmates in there now. As we speaking, I’m not, I’m just, I’m trying to talk fast so I can get everything out. My chest hurt, I’m out of breath a little bit.
It’s so bad. The warden. It’s terrible. I don’t see how he got a job. I don’t see how he’s running this prison. You might as well say we running the prison, the inmates. We trying to help and look out for one another because we don’t have nothing in here to help ourselves. Like I say, some of the officers do what they supposed to do, but they get in trouble because they say they overfamiliar. These people, these officers, can’t help us, can’t do nothing because they get in trouble. They scared to. And on fact of that, if y’all would never stop – they would’ve never stopped testing, should’ve kept on testing the officers in and out, nurses, everybody, in and out. It wouldn’t be like this. Now we can’t see our families? We can’t see our kids? This is sickening. We went two years without seeing our family, over two years. This is sad. We are losing people out there. I could be glad to hug my mama.
I fear for my life every day in here. The medical, they need to be – the whole healthcare need to be fired. This is ridiculous. You got about two people out of the healthcare will help, but they scared now. Like, they just missing everybody together, they don’t even know what the hell to do. But on top of that, we at risk but y’all at risk too. Some of them probably be living with they grandmas, they mother, they kids. And the officers, y’all can bring in that stuff home to them and they might can’t have none and it can kill them so y’all at risk too. Like this is crazy. This is ridiculous.
Like I’m, I’m foughting the warden, and I’m foughting the government, and Heidi Washington. What is going on? I know y’all hear–we call–I know y’all hear, y’all listen to us. A lot of y’all tell us – come on now. We gotta do better than this. It’s time for–not just the inmates to stand up–it’s time for y’all to stand up too ’cause y’all working in this place, y’all going through the same thing we going through just [indiscernible] y’all go home. But y’all can take it home to y’all family. And not only on top of the COVID, we living in feces, mold, we living in a whole bunch of stuff in here that y’all can track and take it home to y’all families. So it’s time for – if you don’t wanna say your name, stand up and say something. So we can get some help.
Like I’m, I’m tired of sitting around here trying to walk and keep my head up. It’s hard. It’s, it’s really hard. And I get so emotional because I still ain’t got the help. I went to the heart specialist I think Friday, they looking at why I haven’t got my ultrasound for my heart so they could see what’s going on. The prison still ain’t sent me since January. Like my heart get up to 170, almost 180. This is not good. Like, this is not good.
I’m just so tired. And I know y’all people are listening to us. I know, I get a lot of letters from y’all. We just want to say thank y’all so much for listening but it gotta get out to here. ‘Cause it just seem like the government, she know everything. You wrote my friend a letter, you talking about you’d help us. What is you doing? This prison is going down. They missing us all together. I fear for my life in here.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.
![Prison Radio is sharing an abbreviated version of a press release covering recent racist incidents at SCI Rockview in PA and the organizing to demand accountability. We are reaching out to people incarcerated at Rockview as well as recently transferred folks, inviting them to call, in hopes of hearing commentaries from them.
Benner Township, PA.-
On November 24th, 2023, imprisoned people at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the CO’s office, displayed visibly for many prisoners to see. When the prisoners asked the staff why the nooses were hung, they were told it was a joke.
By December 4th, prisoners filed a grievance to document what they saw, noting that the hanging of the nooses was “unethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmates" and “unsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.” In the grievance, they demanded that Sgt. Mosser and CO Richard be fired and investigated for a hate crime, and for CO Kirchner to get therapy. Captain Andrews, the head of security, denied the grievance.
The sergeant and COs are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions...
As of March 10th, prisoners have reached out to Pennsylvania officials at the Dept. of Corrections in a letter campaign, sending 100 copies of the grievance. Copies of the letter also were mailed to Governor Shapiro, Senator Fetterman, Senator Street, and various advocacy groups. The demands for relief in the original grievance have now become the platform of demands for this campaign. About 20 of the 100 letters were withheld by the prison.
Activists on the outside are joining forces with prisoners to elevate their demands, flooding the phone lines of DOC offices, assisting with outreach to media, and circulating the stories of prisoners who have found unity in opposition to the facility's virulent institutional racism.
In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, Nicki Paul, the superintendent's assistant and "grievance coordinator" informed the public that they self-investigated their staff and found they did nothing wrong.
Read the full article at i
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