Ely State Prison: Are Officials the cause for Prison crimes?
Nevada recently passed new “No Smoking” laws, and Ely State Prion (ESP) is using these laws to say that prisoners can’t smoke in their cells. Because of this, they now ignore the classification procedure that does not allow smokers and non-smokers to be placed in the same cell. Before the rule that has abolished smoking in the cells was implemented ESP released a memo listing outrageous sanctions that will be imposed on prisoners who refused to accept obvious enemies as cellmates. Due to fear of the sanctions, prisoner refusing cellmates has ceased in large measure.
I’ve been placed in the hole for staging a protest because they put me in the cell with a smoker. I went to my 1-hour yard and refused to return to my cell until they moved me I was charged with G1: Disobedience of an order of any correctional employee or anyone who has authority to supervise inmates in work or other special assignments; G14: Failure to follow posted rules and regulations; and a MJ28: Organizing, encouraging or participating in a work stoppage or other demonstration or practice. I was sanctioned with five days DD., which means five days in a bare cell It is a psychological attack; an assault on the mind to drive prisoners crazy.
A lot of conflicts between cellmates, many of which result in new criminal cases, are a direct result of negligent classification practices. They are putting Bloods and Crips and other rival gang members in the cell with one another, smoker with non-smokers, etc.
Although they have always put smokers in cells with nonsmokers, now they believe it is legitimate to do so. This new practice once again shifts a heavy burden on prisoners, particularly non-smokers. We all know that a smoker will smoke, and he has a right to do so. Yet, if a non-smoker complains that his cellmate is smoking, then he’s snitching! This is exactly what the Senior C/O told me to get me to call off my protest. Since ESP’s interpretation of the new laws means that it is illegal to smoke in the cell, then non-smokers are snitching if they complain. The law bans smoking in certain public places and areas, and ESP extends it to inmate cells. I beg to differ. A prisoner’s cell is not a public place because he lives there. It is his residence, his home. As such, prisoners have a right to smoke in their cells. Prisoner smokers should maintain this view and protest. ESP is trying to make prisoner smokers sit in their cells for 23-hours a day without smoking. And as EPS prisoners know all too well: there are more 24 hours days than 23 because we don’t always get our 1-hour yard.
In order to stop any Uprising and Protest ESP will employ the same tactics they did to get prisoner to stop refusing unwanted cellmates - suppression. Every time a non-smoker complains, the smoker will receive a Notice of Charges (NOC). since no one wants to be labeled a snitch, non-smoking prisoners will stop complaining But, as with so many other conflicting classifications being forced to live with one another, it will manifest as fights and stabbings between cellmates, which will send a new wave of criminal cases to White Pine County Courthouse and fill its calendar.
Why is ESP so content with forcing mixed classifications to live with one another at the very risk of our lives? Instead of being responsible mediators they implement rules and policies that make them systematic instigators of the blood that is shed by ESP prisoners.
Prisoners being beaten and stabbed and catching new cases are the unspoken affects overcrowding is having on us. Because of the overcrowding population, classification is creating rules and policies that relieve them of responsibility so they can put any prisoner anywhere; otherwise, ESP would be gridlocked. However, ESP’s whole administration is rigid. There are numerous ways through which they can rectify overcrowding. ESP has 8 units. Units 1-4 are lock-down units, and 5-7 are general population units, but with the exception of few “privileges”, units 5-7 are just like the lock-down units. Unit is the only open unit and it is the workers Unit. Simply put, if you are not in Unit 8 you are locked down 23 hours a day.
Caseworkers often tell us that the only way to get transferred is by first going to Unit 8 first. However, since the eligible prisoners from Units 5-7 are trying to get to one Unit, somebody must be left behind. There are too many prisoners trying to get to one Unit. So, discrimination and favoritism ensues. If a prisoner catches a new case while here ESP that puts a five year hold on him, meaning he can not transfer for at least five years, assuming he has five years left on his prison term. If a prisoner has recently arrived and has a life sentence, or more than one life sentence, he must do at least 1-2 years on each life. If you are a Mexican, you are not allowed to go to Unit 8 at all, but must remain locked-up until they decide to transfer you. Some prisoners, like escapees, they say, may never transfer. My list goes on.
The point is that ESP has all these policies, including the acceptance of non-violent, petty theft prisoners into this Maximum Security Prison, to make it seem like they are tough on us. Instead of rearranging how they determine who to accept, what cases to put before the courts, how long prisoners must stay before they are eligible for transfer, etc. They just make up new policies and guidelines and force prisoners to stay with each other, regardless if they are rival enemies, smoker and nonsmokers, etc. Should they abandoned some of the foregoing policies so that the ebb and flow of prisoners through ESP can run more smoothly, it would appear that they are growing soft. So, they neglect classification procedures, throw us in the cell with anybody, and let us kill each other. Then, it appears that we are just being criminals, which the public expects, and they continue to look like the good guys who are tough on crime. Yet, many of the crimes committed at ESP are not due to prisoners willingly engaging in criminal acts, but because of the negligence of a poor administration.
