Graphic of Bear

American Friends Service Committee letterhead

Response to Dr. Robert Huckabee's
"An Inquiry into the Allegation that Indiana's Supermax Prisons Breed Monsters"

by Bonnie Kerness

April 3, 2000

divider


My name is Bonnie Kerness and I have been a human rights monitor on behalf of prisoners for the American Friends Service Committee since 1976. I began monitoring the use of extended isolation in United States prisons in the mid 1980's. What follows is my testimony which has been prompted by a request from the Northwest Indiana Coalition to Abolish Control Unit Prisons.

I have had the opportunity to read "An Inquiry Into the Allegation That Indiana's Supermax Prisons Breed Monsters", a report written to the Commissioner of Indiana's Department of Corrections by Dr. Robert Huckabee. I'd like to commend Dr. Huckabee on his research, although there are a number of authors reaching different conclusions who are not cited in the Doctor's paper. Many of us on both "sides" of the issues agree that there is a need for more long term research on the issue of what happens to a human being who is kept in sensory deprivation for long periods of time.

The dearth of research has left many of us tracking the issue as long term observers. Many of us who have monitored long term supermax prisoners have noted impaired alertness, disorientation, hallucinations, stupor, extreme fear, obsessive repetitiveness and a hypersensitivity to external stimulation. I have seen prisoners act out in the most difficult ways so that putting the "worst of the worst" in isolation becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. I have also seen people who have been so damaged that they withdraw and find themselves unable to cope with anything but isolation.


animated divider

Many prisoners who begin their terms in isolation relatively sane do not come back out that way. Some people literally appear to go insane, which some medical experts refer to as the "SHU Syndrome". I have seen reports of Indiana isolation prisoners who have chewed themselves and inserted pencils into their penises and straightened paper clips into their abdomens. I remain concerned about the number of mentally ill who are being held in Indiana's supermax prisons. Sometimes the "worst of the worst" are that way because they have a prior history of mental illness and are not being screened or treated.

I have been a human rights advocate on behalf of prisoners in the United States for the past 24 years. As such, I receive testimonies from prisoners all over the country. While this doesn't fall into the category of research, it is from these kinds of anecdotes that advocates such as myself draw on for conclusions about what is happening to people in these control units or supermax prisons.

I'd like to share with you some specific testimony that I've received from Indiana's supermax facilities:

"we've had showers overflow and flood cells and we were compelled to wade through the water for over a day. One person is sticking staples in the head of his penis and has tried to sever it from his body. Nothing has been done to help him..."

"I have been under attack of racist guards. On a daily basis they taunt me with lewd and bestial language and make openly racist comments. I have been beaten, extracted forcibly, and over the years have been given 3 extra years on trumped up charges. This letter is about the fundamental robbery of human rights and human dignity...."

"SHU guards often use racist terms, threats, derogatory abusive language, harassment, sexually explicit remarks, psychological attacks and other verbal indiscretions towards black prisoners making remarks contrary to their profession".

"This acute sensory deprivation is driving men insane. I was imprisoned with Fuller before arriving here. He did not start exhibiting his behavior until after having been confined in this unit. Like so many others, he complained to the clinician of "hearing voices" and seeing imaginary things. What good did it do? The man is dead - suicide. There is going to be an epidemic of attempted suicides and self mutilations...."

"Since I've been here there have been 14 deaths. The medical care at WVCF is criminal. 12 of those deaths were from lack of competent medical care..."

"As I write the words from the horrific confines of the maximum control unit, I'm clinging to what remains of my invaluable sanity and humanity. Psychotropic drugs have been forced upon me. Staff will not hesitate to make conspicuous threats and blatant racist and derogatory remarks."

animated divider


Prisoners have written complaining about racism, hunger, extreme cold, window visits in which prisoners remained shackled despite thick plexiglass between the prisoner and visitor, censored reading materials, unnecessary full body searches, assaults, fire-hosings, beatings, four point restraints and the use of psychotropic drugs as punishment.

As I've noted, I monitor supermax prisons throughout the United States. Unfortunately, the Indiana facilities are among the highest source of human rights complaints that I receive. The culture of any prison depends on the human relations between staff and prisoners. This "culture" in Indiana's supermax prisons is characterized by racism, harassment and brutality. Perhaps Dr. Huckabee's research time could have been better used in seeking model alternative programs to manage people who are facing ultra long sentences and believe they have nothing to lose by acting badly.

Practices in the Indiana Supermax facilities violate a number of United Nations Treaties and Covenants to which the United States is a signatory. The concerns expressed in the Human Rights Watch Report "In Cold Storage" are also reflected by the American Friends Service Committee, the World Organization Against Torture, Amnesty International, the ACLU National Prison Project and Prison Watch Internationale. Practices in Indiana's supermax prisons violate the United National Convention Against Torture, the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the UN Minimum Standards of Treatment for Prisoners, as well as a host of other international and regional treaties. The United Nations itself has condemned US control units as "inhumane and degrading". The Indiana Department of Corrections disregard for prisoner rights puts it in the company of Pakistan, Turkey, Chile, Egypt and several other countries noted for their lack of human rights concerns.


animated divider

The United States ratified both the Convention Against Torture and the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 1992. Article 1 of the Convention Against Torture prohibits "physical or mental pain and suffering inflicted to punish, coerce or discriminate for any reason." Article 10 of the Convention Against torture requires "that all persons deprived of liberty will be treated with humanity". Indiana is keeping company with some of the worlds most repressive regimes through the treatment of its prisoners in supermax prisons. Practices such as the indefinite use of shackles and other mechanical restraints, or the administration of dangerous chemical treatments, or the practice of extended isolation cannot be justified for any reason.

Although International standards are not yet recognized by United States Courts, they do carry a moral weight. There can be no doubt that there is mental and physical health deterioration as a consequence of being kept in extended isolation. No other prison system in the world has entire prisons devoted to keeping people in such complete isolation.

Having monitored US prisons for so many years, I am also aware of an increased reporting in the use of devices of torture coming out of supermax prisons. In Indiana in particular reports on the use of four point restraints, indiscriminate use of shackles, rib spreaders, fire hoses and so on abound. Perhaps Dr. Huckabee is correct. Perhaps it really isn't the prisoners that are made into monsters by the conditions in Indiana's Supermax prisons. Perhaps we need to turn some attention to what happens to correctional officers who can harass, brutalize and torture others with impunity. In a recent interview, former LA police officer Rafael Perez says, "whoever chases monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster himself". I have been treating ex-isolation prisoners for symptoms of posttraumatic stress for many years. I wonder who is treating correctional officers of conscience. The Indiana Department of Corrections isn't only a set of institutions, it is also a state of mind.

There are many reasons to look into what is going on in Indiana's Supermax prisons - human decency being one of the most compelling.


divider