Reliable Sources

In state prisons, allegations of abuse (and retaliation) boil down to whom you believe.

by Matt Stroud

[ prison life ]

It's nearly impossible for anyone not employed or incarcerated by the state's Department of Corrections (DOC) to know exactly what happens inside Pennsylvania's prisons. This goes double for the state's solitary confinement facilities, or Restricted Housing Units (RHUs), as they're known. Allegations of abuse come down to the word of prisoners versus that of the corrections officers (COs) who guard them — and almost always, the COs win. After all, prisoners tend not to be the most reliable sources.

But what if the prisoners' complaints are real, and no one believes them? That possibility makes the situation at the State Correctional Institution at Dallas (SCI Dallas) intriguing.

For years, the far-left Human Rights Coalition (HRC), based in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, has encouraged Pennsylvania's prisoners to document in letters to HRC any alleged mistreatment they face. This year, however, the group took a different tack.

In April, it released "Institutionalized Cruelty: Torture at SCI Dallas and in Prisons Throughout Pennsylvania," which alleged that COs routinely abuse SCI Dallas prisoners, and deprive them of "food, water, and other rights" [Cover Story, "A Death in Solitary," Matt Stroud, Aug. 5, 2010]. In the weeks that followed, prisoners told HRC that COs had retaliated against the inmates. These allegation led to a second report, "Resistance and Retaliation: Continuing Repression at SCI Dallas," released last month.

According to this report, tensions inside the RHU ratcheted up after the first report went public in April. On April 28, COs performed a cell extraction after a prisoner refused to return a food tray from inside his cell. (During a cell extraction, a group of five armed COs drag an prisoner out of his cell using batons, electroshock devices and Plexiglas shields, often after the prisoner is shackled, while one or two supervisors watch; as required by state law, the whole process is videotaped.) The next day, six RHU prisoners — Duane Peter, Anthony Locke, Carrington Keys, Anthony Kelly, Derrick Stanley and Andre Jacobs — protested by placing sheets over their cell door windows. These prisoners, in turn, were all forcibly extracted from their cells.

According to criminal rioting charges filed in state court on July 7, all six prisoners resisted their extractions — in fact, all six police reports describe the events in the exact same language, only substituting the prisoners' names: "[The defendant] covered [his] cell door window in order to require them to be extracted from their cells. The defendant, while housed in the RHU, also barricaded his cell door, along with five other prisoners, and refused several times to remove the items. This caused the use of the cell extraction team. When the extraction team attempted to remove the defendant he resisted and attempted to assault the officers after they entered."

All six inmates are mentioned in one or both of the HRC reports; they now face a third-degree felony charge that could add seven years to their sentences. Two of the prisoners, Keys and Jacobs — serving time for robbery and assault, respectively — were also charged with throwing feces at the COs, another third-degree felony. These two have been particular thorns in DOC's side; they've each filed numerous lawsuits against prisons officials. (Jacobs won an $185,000 settlement in 2008 after he alleged that DOC officials had destroyed legal documents. He wrote in a letter to City Paper that's he's been held in solitary confinement for nine years as retaliation for his lawsuits.)

Weeks later, HRC lodged a complaint about the extractions with the Luzerne County District Attorney's Office, which has jurisdiction over SCI Dallas. That the criminal charges against the six came soon after HRC's complaint, says HRC lead investigator Bret Grote, is suspicious: "These 'cover charges' are a routine tactic designed to obscure the criminal acts of prison guards and officials and retaliate against prisoners who obstinately continue to assert their human rights," Grote writes in an e-mail. (In an e-mail, Robin Lucas, assistant to the superintendent at SCI Dallas, denies that COs or prison officials retaliate against troublesome inmates.)

A hearing in the cases is set for Sept. 16. If these cases go to trial, the videos of their extractions will become public, and perhaps shed some light not only on the incidents in question, but how DOC deals with prisoners who won't keep their mouths shut.

(editorial@citypaper.net)