Dear Comrades,
The reason for this letter is to inform you of the ongoing
conspiratorial practices of both correctional staff and members of the
administration that violate prisoners’ constitutional rights, state and
federal law and the Nevada Department of Corrections claimed Ethics and
Codes of Conduct. This practice involves (among other actions and
inactions) retaliation, and deliberate disregard of the law, court
orders, rule and regulations which are designed to sufficiently curtail
official discretion by their use of mandatory language and confer a
statutory duty upon staff to act or not act in a prescribed way.
For example: Administrative Regulation (hereafter “AR”) 339.01 (Code
of Ethics) states at 339.01(1),(A),(4):“Employees shall be firm, fair
and consistent in their performance of their duties. Employees should
treat others with dignity, respect and compassion and provide humane
custody and care, void of all retribution, harassment or abuse.” Further
at (5) of the same section it states: “Employees shall uphold the tenets
of the United States Constitution, its amendments, the Nevada
Constitution, federal and state laws, rules and regulations and policies
of the department.” This Code of Ethics is binding upon officials’
conduct and creates a statutory obligation.
AR801.05(2) states in relevant part that “close custody inmates will
receive a minimum of five hours per day of out of cell time…” This AR is
also binding upon officials’ conduct and creates a statutory obligation
by its use of the mandatory term “will.”
High Desert State Prison(HDSP) fails to abide by the AR801.05 and
over the past three years has never allowed me to have the mandated
minimum five hours of out of cell time per day and in spite of many
attempts to resolve this issue through the grievance process have gained
no relief.
The American Correctional Association (hereafter “ACA”) standards for
humane and decent confinement requires that each prisoner have a minimum
of sixty(60) square feet of space unless more than ten(10) hours per day
are spent in their cells, in which case eighty(80) square feet per
prisoner is required. The current cells at the High Desert State Prison
afford each prisoner a total of forty-two(42) square feet (if you count
the space that the beds, sink, toilet and desk take up) if you count the
space that can be used that is open floor it is more like thirty
five(35) square feet(and that can only be used by one prisoner at a time
without bumping into each other). This lack of proper square footage per
prisoner combined with excessive amounts of time prisoners are required
to spend locked in their cells creates an atmosphere of fear, anger,
frustration, trepidation, foreboding and helplessness that has been
shown to cause psychological deterioration, risk of injury due to
sedentary state, and higher rates of violence against both staff and
other prisoners.
There exists a pattern and practice of brutality and harassment by
staff upon prisoners. Peer pressure among guards encourage this
brutality and harassment towards prisoners and is further facilitated by
indifference on part of the administration. Guard brutality includes
arbitrary cell searches, theft or destruction of prisoner property,
threats of violence, actual violence, and general day-to-day harassment
via stare downs, comments and offensive gestures meant to incite
prisoners to respond in a negative manner.
Prison staff as a whole are insufficiently trained, lack any ethics,
professionalism, or fear of any real remedial actions for their
violations of prisoners’ rights and open misconduct in violation of the
NDOC’s claimed Code of Ethics. Now add to that the fact that HDSP lacks
an adequate grievance mechanism for prisoners to legitimately redress
issues and gain any relief and you can start to understand why I am
sending this letter to you.
I have personally experienced the following unethical behaviors
- Denial of the minimum mandated five hours of out of cell time per
day as outlined in AR801.05(2)
- Denial of the minimum mandated eight hours of outdoor exercise per
week as outlined by Craig v. Hocker and Adams v. Wolf (and others)
- Retaliatory cell searches on the 26th day of November 2019, and
again on the 22nd day of April 2019 (see grievance #2006-30-74343 and
#2006-30-82177)
- Theft of personal property on the day of 26th November Correctional
Officers Paryga and Atherton.
- Discrimination; based on my Religion(Muslim) by Correctional
Officer(s) Willie Clayton, Bryant Vaughn, Mark Andrews, Chaplain
Calderin, AwMonique Hubbard-Pickett from the 17th day of April 2018 unit
10B cell 18B.
- Destruction of my religious books by correctional officers Paryga
and Atherton on the 26th day of November 2018
- Failure of Staff to report misconduct to their superiors on multiple
occasions (see grievance #’s 2006-30-74343, 2006-30-71833,
2006-30-76928, 2996-30-76745, 2006-30-76481, 2006-30-73176 (Case#
A-19-798011-C), 2006-30-82177, 2006-30-82858, 2006-30-82487,
2006-40-86894, 2006-30-90863, 2006-30-92151(and many more).
- Failure of superiors to investigate reports of misconduct via
grievance, DOC-3012 and in person. See above grievance numbers as well
as #’s 2006-30-98699, 2006-30-85861, 2006-30-92760, 2006-30-95375,
2006-30-96682, 2006-30-93407, 2006-30-89683, 2006-30-95705,
2006-31-00610, 2006-30-98706, 2006-30-00286.
- False or trumped up Notice of charges being used as a way to cover
up for staff misconduct or in an attempt to chill or silence my attempts
for redress/intimidate me into silence on 22 April 2019.
- Inhumanity to prisoners in the form of verbal harassment,
intimidation, violence, and psychological games in violation of NRS
212.020
- Oppression under color of law in violation of NRS 197.200
- Unauthorized injury to a prisoner in violation of NRS 217.010
- Conspiracy to intimidate a witness in violation of 42
U.S.C.§1985
- Punitive, harassing and retaliatory frisks, cell/bed moves and
reclassification
Overview
These and similar acts are typical. They are deliberate and concerted
acts predicated upon evil intent and violate title 42 U.S.C. §1983,
1985(3) and 1986, these actions also violate state law and
Constitutional protections.
Conclusion
This set of problems are deliberate and meant as a campaign of
oppression intended to create a hostile atmosphere and to frustrate any
attempt to secure peaceful and judicious remedies. This pervasive
condition of confinement permeates every recess of the Department. It is
condoned, permitted, encouraged and defended. The above mentioned
Administrative Regulations are state regulations and such cannot be
grieved pursuant to AR740.03(3),(B). Ergo, any exhaustion requirement
imposed by title 42 U.S.C. §1997(e) is fulfilled by this correspondence
prior to seeking judicial intervention, as such I am still attempting to
redress through the Nevada Department of Corrections futile grievance
process as way to prove my point further.
The foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and
information pursuant to NRS 209.165 under Penalty of Perjury. This 7th
day of July 2020.
[NAME & NUMBER]