This is a personal account of medical practices and healthcare behind bars, which draws on direct experiences and narrations from fellow prisoners, accumulated during eleven years in custody. It touches on issues of the relationship of medical professionals with the torture of detenus, the anarchy of everyday prison medication, frailty and death among older inmates and the proposals and prospects for prison healthcare reform. It sees a need for systemic change, but the prognosis is not optimistic. Vernon Gonsalves writes.
As a human rights activist, I cannot remain silent about the alarming situation faced by people deprived of their liberty. Overcrowding and overpopulation in prisons not only violate human dignity, but also make it impossible to guarantee minimum living conditions.
Together, we can and must promote a prison system that focuses on rehabilitation rather than punishment, a system that reflects the values of justice and humanity that we all deserve.
Next Saturday,
December 16th, 6pm
Yonge-Nameless Square:
🕯 🕯 🕯 🕯 🕯 🕯
🕯 Justice for Soli 🕯
🕯 🕯 🕯 🕯 🕯 🕯
From yesterday's Star:
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Faqiri, who had diagnosed schizophrenia, spent 11 days in segregation while experiencing a psychiatric emergency. On Dec. 15, 2016, Faqiri allegedly spit at one of several guards escorting him back to his segregation cell; the guard slapped him in response. After this, a hallway video shows six officers push Faqiri into his cell and one presses the Code Blue button, which sees at least another 20 officers run in for backup.
The hallway video does not show what happened in the initial minutes after the guards returned Faqiri to his cell.
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@TexasObserver This shortage wouldn't exist if the Texas prison system had air-conditioned facilities for guards to work in. But no, AC is too humane for prisoners, and we can't be soft on crime now, can we? This is insane.
Meanwhile in Germany, the German Supreme Court admonishes the German state governments that prison labor wages - which currently range between €1.37 and €2.30/hour - are too low.
Should we rebuild safety systems around care rather than punishment?
With the US experiencing much higher rates of violent crime, fatal ODs and mortality, Eric Reinhart makes a strong case 👇 for building integrated public health & safety systems, while ending mass incarceration.