Coyote
2nd June 2011, 23:12
Hello all,
I'm posting this to get your opinions on the article and see if you think that there is anything that could be done to stop these terrible acts, other than call the prison office and complain. This is the first time I've actually heard about this happening. Even though this place is only twenty minutes from my home none of the local newspapers have covered it.
In this edition: Danger to prisoners in SCI Cresson's solitary units intensifies as reports come in of guards encouraging a recent suicide and continuing to target the mentally ill for harassment, a whistleblower in one unit is suddenly transferred to another prison, the Angola 3 mark their 39th year in solitary confinment, and more..
Action Alert- SCI Cresson Suicide Cells
Mentally ill prisoner held as 'suicide risk' in punishment cell without counseling or therapy: HRC received reports last week that Tracey Pietrovito, a forty-three year old man in state prison in Cresson, PA, is being confined in a hard cell after he withheld his meal tray in protest of his food being served to him smelling of urine and chewing tobacco. He has been held in the cell under punishment conditions for over a week. Though the official reason for Pietrovito's confinement are prison staff's claims that he is suicidal, he currently has no meaningful access to mental health counseling and he has been deprived of a mattress, toilet paper, and access to his legal work. According to reports, staff at Cresson have previously subjected Pietrovito to similar conditions on multiple occasions for weeks at a time, in one instance confining him during the winter to a hard cell with an open window, with only a single blanket and smock to keep him warm.
HRC is calling upon supporters of human rights to take action: call SCI Cresson (http://hrcoalition.org/node/140#Call_SCI_Cresson) and demand that the harassment of Pietrovito cease immediately and that he is given access to mental health therapy, hygiene supplies, and his legal property.
Pietrovito is housed in Cresson's Secure Special Needs Unit, a solitary confinement unit originally intended to provide prisoners who have significant mental health issues with a safe environment in which they can receive mental health therapy and counseling. According to multiple reports received by HRC over the past three years from prisoners housed in the unit, it has become little more than a warehousing facility used by DOC administration to isolate 'problem prisoners'. Discipline among staff members at the prison has deteriorated, with guards serving on the unit freely participating in a culture of bullying and abuse.
Prisoners assaulted and threatened as prison staff scrambles to cover-up circumstances of suicide: Damont Hagan, a prisoner who was recently confined in the Restricted Housing Unit at SCI Cresson, became the fourth prisoner to report to HRC that prison staff ignored John McClellan’s attempts to seek mental health treatment and encouraged him to commit suicide shortly before he hung himself in his solitary confinement cell (http://www.hrcoalition.org/node/138) on the night of May 6. The other three prisoners to report these details remain anonymous out of fear for their safety.
Hagan reports that Sergeant (Sgt.) Bejmovicz, one of the two guards who encouraged McClellan’s suicide, had assaulted McClellan in April of this year, cutting his eye. Hagan reported this incident to security Captain (Cpt.) Pirozzola, also warning him that guards were encouraging McClellan to kill himself even though he showed obvious signs of psychiatric illness and was at risk to actually commit suicide. When Hagan was later asked to give a statement on the suicide, Cpt. Pirozzola threatened him not to include information about this prior warning. Soon after the suicide, Hagan himself was encouraged to commit suicide by Sgt. Bejmovicz and Lt. McCoullough. At this time he was confined in a psychiatric observation cell.
On Friday, May 13, Damont Hagan was suddenly transferred to SCI Huntingdon and immediately placed in the solitary confinement unit there. At Cresson, Hagan was supposed to be in a treatment unit.
These incidents were the culmination of months of human rights violations reported by Hagan. On April 18, Hagan reports being punched five times by Cpt. Pirozzola while Lt. Hoffman held the prisoner in the security office. The assault occurred after Hagan insisted on documentation regarding the confiscation of his personal and legal property. The assault left him with a swollen right eye and mouth. Investigator Kertes from the Department’s Office of Special Investigations and Intelligence (OSII) took a statement from Hagan about the assault, but failed to intervene when Cpt. Pirozzola told Hagan that he would not receive any of his property unless he withdrew the complaint. The Office of Special Investigations and Intelligence, formerly the Office of Professional Responsibility, has a reputation throughout the DOC as a cover-up agency that is more interested in shielding staff from liability than investigating abuse.
Hagan’s reports along with others from Cresson show a pattern of punishment in place of treatment for the mentally ill, “psychiatric observation cells” in reality being hard cells where guards encourage prisoners to take their own lives or continue to suffer the abuse and retaliation that is rampant in the solitary confinement unit.
Call SCI Cresson prison and DOC Central Office to demand that:
- the targeting of Tracey Pietrovito for harassment and punishment be stopped immediately,
-he is given access to toiletries, cleaning supplies, and a mattress
-his legal property is returned to him
-he is given meaningful access to mental health therapy
-that Cresson staff reported as participants in human rights violations be investigated by outside law enforcement agencies and removed from all contact with prisoners.
DOC officials to call:
Unit Manager Michelle Houser
SCI Cresson Superintendent Kenneth Cameron
(814) 886-8181
Secretary of Corrections John Wetzel
(717) 975-4918
http://hrcoalition.org/node/140
I'm posting this to get your opinions on the article and see if you think that there is anything that could be done to stop these terrible acts, other than call the prison office and complain. This is the first time I've actually heard about this happening. Even though this place is only twenty minutes from my home none of the local newspapers have covered it.
In this edition: Danger to prisoners in SCI Cresson's solitary units intensifies as reports come in of guards encouraging a recent suicide and continuing to target the mentally ill for harassment, a whistleblower in one unit is suddenly transferred to another prison, the Angola 3 mark their 39th year in solitary confinment, and more..
Action Alert- SCI Cresson Suicide Cells
Mentally ill prisoner held as 'suicide risk' in punishment cell without counseling or therapy: HRC received reports last week that Tracey Pietrovito, a forty-three year old man in state prison in Cresson, PA, is being confined in a hard cell after he withheld his meal tray in protest of his food being served to him smelling of urine and chewing tobacco. He has been held in the cell under punishment conditions for over a week. Though the official reason for Pietrovito's confinement are prison staff's claims that he is suicidal, he currently has no meaningful access to mental health counseling and he has been deprived of a mattress, toilet paper, and access to his legal work. According to reports, staff at Cresson have previously subjected Pietrovito to similar conditions on multiple occasions for weeks at a time, in one instance confining him during the winter to a hard cell with an open window, with only a single blanket and smock to keep him warm.
HRC is calling upon supporters of human rights to take action: call SCI Cresson (http://hrcoalition.org/node/140#Call_SCI_Cresson) and demand that the harassment of Pietrovito cease immediately and that he is given access to mental health therapy, hygiene supplies, and his legal property.
Pietrovito is housed in Cresson's Secure Special Needs Unit, a solitary confinement unit originally intended to provide prisoners who have significant mental health issues with a safe environment in which they can receive mental health therapy and counseling. According to multiple reports received by HRC over the past three years from prisoners housed in the unit, it has become little more than a warehousing facility used by DOC administration to isolate 'problem prisoners'. Discipline among staff members at the prison has deteriorated, with guards serving on the unit freely participating in a culture of bullying and abuse.
Prisoners assaulted and threatened as prison staff scrambles to cover-up circumstances of suicide: Damont Hagan, a prisoner who was recently confined in the Restricted Housing Unit at SCI Cresson, became the fourth prisoner to report to HRC that prison staff ignored John McClellan’s attempts to seek mental health treatment and encouraged him to commit suicide shortly before he hung himself in his solitary confinement cell (http://www.hrcoalition.org/node/138) on the night of May 6. The other three prisoners to report these details remain anonymous out of fear for their safety.
Hagan reports that Sergeant (Sgt.) Bejmovicz, one of the two guards who encouraged McClellan’s suicide, had assaulted McClellan in April of this year, cutting his eye. Hagan reported this incident to security Captain (Cpt.) Pirozzola, also warning him that guards were encouraging McClellan to kill himself even though he showed obvious signs of psychiatric illness and was at risk to actually commit suicide. When Hagan was later asked to give a statement on the suicide, Cpt. Pirozzola threatened him not to include information about this prior warning. Soon after the suicide, Hagan himself was encouraged to commit suicide by Sgt. Bejmovicz and Lt. McCoullough. At this time he was confined in a psychiatric observation cell.
On Friday, May 13, Damont Hagan was suddenly transferred to SCI Huntingdon and immediately placed in the solitary confinement unit there. At Cresson, Hagan was supposed to be in a treatment unit.
These incidents were the culmination of months of human rights violations reported by Hagan. On April 18, Hagan reports being punched five times by Cpt. Pirozzola while Lt. Hoffman held the prisoner in the security office. The assault occurred after Hagan insisted on documentation regarding the confiscation of his personal and legal property. The assault left him with a swollen right eye and mouth. Investigator Kertes from the Department’s Office of Special Investigations and Intelligence (OSII) took a statement from Hagan about the assault, but failed to intervene when Cpt. Pirozzola told Hagan that he would not receive any of his property unless he withdrew the complaint. The Office of Special Investigations and Intelligence, formerly the Office of Professional Responsibility, has a reputation throughout the DOC as a cover-up agency that is more interested in shielding staff from liability than investigating abuse.
Hagan’s reports along with others from Cresson show a pattern of punishment in place of treatment for the mentally ill, “psychiatric observation cells” in reality being hard cells where guards encourage prisoners to take their own lives or continue to suffer the abuse and retaliation that is rampant in the solitary confinement unit.
Call SCI Cresson prison and DOC Central Office to demand that:
- the targeting of Tracey Pietrovito for harassment and punishment be stopped immediately,
-he is given access to toiletries, cleaning supplies, and a mattress
-his legal property is returned to him
-he is given meaningful access to mental health therapy
-that Cresson staff reported as participants in human rights violations be investigated by outside law enforcement agencies and removed from all contact with prisoners.
DOC officials to call:
Unit Manager Michelle Houser
SCI Cresson Superintendent Kenneth Cameron
(814) 886-8181
Secretary of Corrections John Wetzel
(717) 975-4918
http://hrcoalition.org/node/140