‘Sup everybody. This is Antoine calling, better known as “Indy,” calling out SCI [State Correctional Institution] Greene Pennsylvania, Penitentiary in Pennsylvania. I’m just wanting to, you know, kind of follow up. I had some people asking, you know, exactly about what led to me being in solitary confinement for the past seven years. And basically, like, to start, you know, in 2017, September 2017, to be exact, the 26th of September, I got put on restricted release, which is basically another word for indefinite solitary confinement here in Pennsylvania. And it was really the result of me being attacked by a prison guard, C.O. [Correctional Officer] Studlack, who had been harassing me for over a period of time, and when I went to report it, or whenever I filed grievances, or tried to have this issue resolved, it kept being ignored. So, on this day, September 26, 2017, the same C.O. decided that me filing a grievance against him about this continued harassment. I guess he was gonna try to get back at me. And as a result, he ended up attacking me, and all I did in that instance was defend myself. And now I’m sitting, been sitting in solitary confinement for seven years. And this is just like, this is one example of a pattern within this system in here is when you having an issue, and you try to go through the proper channels to address it, you know, the administrative staff, they’re not inclined to do anything about it. The natural response, usually, is to figure out how it can be twisted to be blamed on the prisoner, instead of really trying to resolve whatever the issue is.
And so now, I’m fighting, you know, not just this solitary confinement, personally, but I’ve joined a class action lawsuit filed through Abolitionist Law Center, Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, Dechert [LLP] and out here in Pennsylvania. And the goal is to basically try to do something about this use of indefinite solitary confinement, which is really like a punishment on top of a punishment because when we get sanctioned and sent to the RHU [Restricted Housing Unit], we’ll usually get a, you know, 90 days, 30 days, whatever the sanction is. This placement or restricted release is like an additional punishment after the fact, so we continue to fight against that, and try to expose the negative effects solitary confinement has on people.
But, you know, I’ma wrap this up for today. I def will be back to kind of share more experiences with inside. This is, again, Antoine Walker. If you want to reach out to me directly, my inmate number is KG7791. You can email me through ConnectNetwork.com. You know, I could video visit or speak over the phone, so you want to reach out to me, just let me know how to get in touch and I’ll reach back out. Thanks for listening.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.
