US Penitentiary Hazelton - Federal

I am a 32 year old, white male doing a 4 year sentence in the federal bureau of prisons for illegal possession of a firearm. Since I have been in, for the 29 months, I have been severely medically neglected. At FMC Lexington KY low prison, I once had a abscess in my arm that went untreated for over 4 days. I had to break my hand against a door in front of a CO in order to get to a hospital. While there the doctors told me that the abscess had become so bad, that if it went on for 2-3 more days, that they would have had to amputate my left arm, and if it went on for 7-10 more days untreated it would have spread to my heart and sorely killed me.

On another instance in FMC Lexington KY low prison, I had an allergic reaction to a medication called anproxon that inmates can buy on commissary, the reaction was severe! The allergic reaction started on December 27, 2018. I was not taken to the hospital until December 31, 2018, 4 days later. By that time, the allergic reaction had taken its toll causing “Stevens Johnson Syndrom” to set in, causing my skin to rot away. My skin had turned black. I was wheezing for air, as my throat had become swollen making it hard to breath. My skin was rotting away, black and bleeding. The doctors at the hospital told me that cellulitis had set in due to non-treatment and it was possible it might turn into gangrene and kill me. I was in the hospital for 8 days.

I want inmates to be aware of what is going on in our prisons we’re in. Stand up and demand fair and equal medical treatment that we deserve. Not doing it may cost you your life.

Prisoners here are forced to expose their genitals and buttocks for staff pleasure, for periods of time of not less than 72 hours. If the prisoner refuses he may be shot with some unspecified projectile, sprayed with a respiratory irritant (chemical weapon) after the ventilation system is turned off, beaten by 6, 8, 10 or 12 staff in full riot gear, or have a destructive device (that’s right, a grenade) detonated on the prisoner in a 12x10 concrete cell that is locked. All of this for petty offenses like refusing an order or having a clothesline in the cell. One prisoner had his foot shot off on the compound this summer.

I ask all who may read this to stand in solidarity with us at USP Hazelton, and use whatever resources are at your disposal to help us tell this story to the world in an effort to stamp out this repression.

MIM(Prisons) responds: Federal prisoners are often even more isolated than those in State prisons, further from family and less connected to community and resources. These abuses, which happen in prisons across the United $tates, are important to expose. Under Lock & Key demonstrates a pattern of this inhumane treatment. But we don’t expect this alone to change things. We know that the criminal injustice system is a critical tool of Amerikan imperialism, and we can’t hope to reform these problems away. We might help improve conditions for a few people by replacing the bad staff, or changing a few rules, and we do fight these battles, but only within the context of the larger anti-imperialist fight, because it is only with the overthrow of imperialism that we will be able to eliminate the injustice system and replace it with a system of justice for the oppressed.