‘I have rights too’
By Miley Selena Fletcher
The following letter is from a transgender incarcerated worker at SCI Forest in Pennsylvania.
When I write for Workers World about the wrongs going on here and the unprofessional abuse of authority by correctional officers or staff, I am called down to a security office. I am told: “We’re only concerned about your safety.” Or they will say, “Why don’t you write us first?” even when I have written them first.
When I write them, nothing is ever done or the correctional officer or staff alike are still around you, so the individual can retaliate against you by filing false misconducts or try to intimidate you. Or as a prisoner, you are moved to another block or transferred for speaking up.
Pa. prisoner on COVID crisis – Guards were the transmitters
Since Workers World received this letter, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has confirmed nearly 7,000 cases of COVID-19 among prisoners and over 2,500 among staff, who are not subject to mandatory testing. Many prisoners who report COVID-19 symptoms have been placed in restricted housing units, reviled as “the hole.” Prisoners faced with the psychological torture of solitary confinement are less likely to report when they are sick, allowing for further spread of COVID-19.
Reports of deaths from COVID in Pennsylvania prisons vary widely
from 49 to over 65. It is difficult to verify since the PA DOC will only release the name of the first incarcerated person to die in each prison. In many cases, family members are not even being notified.