GA Hunger Strike Against Sexual Assaults
I am a prisoner that’s being housed here at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison Special Management Unit (GDCP/SMU). I am here to address the immorality of the conditions that we are facing here on a daily basis.
Below is just a partial list:- pernicious forced beatings
- threats by officials while in handcuffs and leg iron shackles
- sexual harassments by staff
- sexual assaults by staff
- mental torture by staff
- being shot with stun guns and thrown in strip cells for days at a time without being fed
- being denied access to the law library, which is guaranteed by United States law
- being served filthy eating trays that have an extremely obscene smell from the trays being washed by hand and then sprayed down with a water hose
- being served spoiled food and undercooked food, etc.
On 27 July 2015, over 30% of the prisoners took a stand in a peaceful protest on another hunger strike. This has been a regular strategy here in SMU. We had a hunger strike on 9 December 2010, 12 June 2012, 25 January 2014, and on 9 February 2014. But sadly nothing has changed in the officials’ actions or the oppression by the administration. Their oppression strategy is to perplex the minds of the prisoners into thinking like animals.
At least 63% of the prisoners here have been housed at the SMU for over two years without any disciplinary reports on their prison conduct file. Yet the administration is refusing to transfer them back to general population. When prisoners first arrive here at the GDCP/SMU all constitutional rights have been stripped from them, violating due process by law, and equal protection, by not having an institutional hearing to advise the prisoners how long their stay will be at the GDCP/SMU. By law this must be done, otherwise this is as if the Georgia Department of Corrections has kidnapped the prisoners without a proper institutional court hearing. In fact, it’s been almost two years since someone has last been transferred out of here, leaving us mentally lost due to being locked down behind an iron door for 23 to 24 hours daily for years without any rehabilitation program to help reinvent the mind. This, I emphasize, is cruel and unusual punishment and deep dark underhanded torturing of humans.
Not only has this refusal of transfers been an underhanded oppression, but the covering up institutional level grievances, from not responding to grievances, destroying them, denied by the administration staffs then writing up the prisoners in disciplinary reports by saying that the prisoners are lying so that this will destroy their credibility for the rest of their time behind bars.
Over the past 6 years behind the walls of the GDCP/SMU there have been so many ongoing sexual abuses by staffs that have been ignored by the administration or covered up, without any investigation outside of the institution, as due process requires by law. And when, or if, investigated inside of the institution, the investigation always comes back not finding any evidence due to administration covering up for their staff. And as a matter of fact, for the past few months, the administration has covered up the actions of sexual abuse by Mr. Phillip King and Mr. Robert Moore, who have carried out gang rapes, sexual assaults, sexual harassment, racist profiles, and other brutalities on Black prisoners. And after their sexual abusive actions, they threaten that if the prisoners tell anyone, that they will kill them and get away with the murders. Now the prisoners live in fear because of the threats, not knowing if poison will be placed into their food.
On 28 July 2015 a prisoner was sexually harassed by Officer Phillip King, while this prisoner was in his cell, with sexual comments of how he wanted to rape him. After the prisoner reported Officer King’s sexual abuse under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) to officials, the issue was never even taking seriously as the PREA program of no sexual abuse requires in the Georgia Department of Correction. This left an open door for Officer King to return back to work days after and retaliate on the prisoner, and the prisoner was punished by administration.
Consequently on 31 July 2015 another prisoner was sexually abused by Officer Phillip King, and this action was ignored. Then on 5 August 2015, another prisoner was abused by Officer Phillip King. While taking the prisoner to the recreation yard by escort, Officer King physically assaulted the prisoner by body slamming him on his head while in handcuffs and leg shackles for no reason at all. Or should I say by racial profile. And the prisoner was punished after the assault by the depraved administration.
The actions of Officers Robert Moore and Phillip King are truly getting out of hand, along with the underhanded covering up by the administration. And if their actions don’t get attention from the outside then the next step could be someone’s life, or another sexual abuse. And to support the ones that suffer this struggle, we stand in a massive peaceful hunger strike for the outside support by protesters across the nation.
