Kitchen coordinators at CCCF announced to us last night that they don’t want to hear about our injuries and health problems. “Do that in your off time. It’s not my problem.”
One lady at CCCF was 16 years old when she was brought here. A lot of ladies suffer from depression and they say there’s not a lot of support or even counseling here. In fact, they tell us we’re not allowed to talk about our cases or problems here. One thing they do offer and even seem to push on us is medication. One lady says she was given Lithium at Washington County Jail and at CCCF she’s visibly under the influence of a very strong medication. She says she’s afraid of getting in trouble if she doesn’t take it. Another lady that works in the kitchen at CCCF is on Thorazine. Both of these ladies move very slowly and when they under-staff us, it’s really hard for us to keep up. We get punished when they are under-staffed with officers by not letting us go outside.
The young lady that was sexually assaulted at Washington County Jail has found a lawyer to conduct an investigation, but the person that did it to her is still here at this facility and free to sexually assault another lady. Under the Prison Rape Elimination Act, staff is supposed to be keeping her safe and separating her from the person that sexually assaulted her. Another lady was sexually assaulted by another prisoner. They were separated by being moved to different units but we see them both in the meal line getting food at around the same time.
An officer said she watched a lady at CCCF sit for 10 minutes without her mask on and wrote a disciplinary report without even talking to her first. The lady said she did have her mask on and the officer should check the cameras. The officer replied that she would give the lady another one for calling her a liar. At this point, the officer is not concerned about safety, only control.
We had another lady placed in the segregation unit for a week, then they decided to drop her charges. She has had all of her things taken away from her and she doesn’t even have a cup to drink out of. This is harassment and we are doing our best to help her.
In the kitchen today at CCCF, a lady banged her finger so bad she wasn’t sure if she broke it. It swelled up to twice its size. The kitchen coordinator she told said she wasn’t allowed to go to medical to have it examined.
In an area of CCCF where the officers came in and out, there is a giant mural of soldiers with machine guns. This is not an image we want to portray in a place we live. It sends a subliminal message that prisoners are enemies. Under the Prison Rape Elimination act, we deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. You be the judge of that.
A major university did a psychological study on the incarceration situation by taking 20 people to participate. 10 were designated as prisoners and 10 were designated as officers. They had to stop the experiment because some of the people designated as officers started getting abusive with the prisoners. We think there needs to be a psychological evaluation done on officers here at CCCF and other prisons in America. Evaluations also need to be done on the staff at jails as well.
Under the PREA, staff at this facility must be respectful when conducting searches. One officer was seen going into a lady’s cell when she was at work and not told they were conducting a search. Also under the PREA, staff at this facility are required to act professionally. They should not be picking favorites, which we have seen and documented quite a bit here. Under the act, we have the right to medical and mental health care after we have been sexually abused. Both of the ladies we have mentioned here were not offered that at either facility. Facilities must have a plan to keep us safe from sexual about and sexual harassment and respond supportively if someone needs help. This didn’t happen with either facility and they should be help accountable