I’m at Prairie Correction Institution in South Carolina. Been here since May the1st. They transferred me in the storm of the articles that were going out about the conditions in the Virginia prison; the Red Onion stuff. The backlash. The follow up to the guys setting themselves on fire and the publicity of that. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been through nothing but a series of just retaliation, abuse, harassment. They have not given me any of my property, withholding all of my property in Virginia. I’ve gone through being thrown in solitary numerous times; several hunger strikes here in this solitary, basically barbaric. They do not allow prisoners any personal property. They don’t allow them any purchase of any type of canteen items. They can’t even purchase hygiene items. They can’t have their own clothes. They give you only these — really nothing. They have you pretty much sitting in a cell idle all day, and that’s how the long term solitary confinement is as well.
I’ve just initiated a federal lawsuit about a lot of what I have been dealing with since I’ve been here and the conditions. I’ve been refused medical treatment, dental treatment. I had to end up going out for elective treatment with a private dentist to be treated for an abscess that I had, that I kept for three months because they refused to treat it, and they basically were going to try to let it kill me. I just went for the last treatment about a week ago for the abscess. Yeah, now, right now, they’re refusing to allow me to use their law library while I have several court deadlines. They just pretty much doing everything in a passive aggressive context to try to frustrate, agitate, aggravate, irritate, and just make the living conditions here as aggravating as possible.
So. I’ve been trying to get removed from these conditions since I’ve been here with no, to no avail. They’ve denied correspondence. They’ve interfered with attorney communications. They’ve denied most of my mail. I’m aware that you all tried to send me books several times. They refused them. I never received any of the mail you all sent me. I was notified numerous times that you all tried to send me correspondence and books. They just simply rejected them out of hand. Several times they rejected them on the claims that they were publications, or material from publications, when I was in lock up because they don’t allow prisoners any type of published material in their solitary confinement. They can’t have books, magazines, newspapers, anything printed off the internet. They can’t have newspaper clippings, nothing.
So, they denied attempts that you all made numerous times to correspond, to communicate with me. Can’t have personal books. You can’t have personal magazines. You can’t have newspapers. You can have no publications at all. You can’t have any anything. The only thing they give them in solitary confinement paper wise [pause] — the only thing they allow them to have in the solitary confinement is legal papers. That’s it. They can’t have any personal clothes, again. They can’t have personal hygiene, nothing.
The conditions in their solitaries are literally barbaric; conditions that have been outlawed for over 50 years. And you know, they have had a couple of class actions in Virginia about the conditions of solitary confinement there. So, they have television. They have personal property. They have canteen, etc. And the solitary in Virginia has been ruled cruel and unusual. So, you know what the conditions here in South Carolina must be, where they have them locked in a cell 24 hours. They don’t even get to go outside for recreation. They stay in the cell 24 hours a day every day, period. They don’t get to go outside or anything.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.
