Letter to the editor

Letter to the editor,

“The Department of Corrections”

OR

“The Department of Corruption?”

Why does New York State Correctional Services deny and purposefully hinder media access to the inmate population?

The Native American Indian Group of Franklin Correctional Facility invited Shannon Burns to attend our harvest ceremony. We submitted her name four weeks in advance and all indications we got were that she was approved. However, two days before the ceremony we were informed she had been denied by this administration. We were never told why.

Ms. Burns is not the first one from our community to be denied. I had also invited a cousin of mine who was also denied without any reason given.

What are they afraid of? Why do they deny our guests? Could it be purely racially motivated? Could it be that they do not want the public to know what we are trying to do, or maybe they just don’t want anyone witnessing the treatment we get as Native Indian prisoners. They do everything they can in their power to deny us media access. If you do get granted (access) they will then try and make you feel so uncomfortable that you will not want to come again. They don’t want to put a face on the term “inmate” because then the public might start to think of us as human beings and not just as numbers and statistics, or faceless robbers, murderers and thieves who don’t deserve to have any rights. We all make mistakes, some of us more serious than others.

In recent weeks several things have happened in facilities right up here in the North Country. An Altona nurse was put on leave pending the outcome of her arrest for stealing pain medication from inmates. An Upstate correctional lieutenant is under investigation for allegedly kicking an inmate who was handcuffed and laying on the floor. Upstate is one of the Department’s special housing units, and has the worst of prisoners there. As a result there are video cameras and microphones all over the place. Department policy also dictates that when removing an inmate from a cell or escorting a “combative’ inmate a hand held video camera be used. Mysteriously both of these tapes disappeared. In Clinton Correctional Facility several officers are being investigated for their alleged participation in the beating death of an inmate there.

These things are not new to us inmates. They happen all the time. It’s just that no one cares about what happens to us because we’re just numbers, not humans, and the Department’s “spin doctors” do a good job to keep it that way. One of the main things they like to do is to get five or six guards to beat up one inmate who may get mouthy with them. Then they lie and say he assaulted staff so their “use of force” is justified and the inmate gets a new charge, as well as moved to a “shu” facility, plus the beat down.

We need the public to stand up and to shake up our lawmakers and politicians and turn the Department of “corruption” back into the Department of “Corrections”. The administrators in charge of the prison system are embedded in politics. Let’s break that word down: “Poly-tics”. Poly means many, and tics are tiny blood sucking insects. That describes our administration perfectly.

It all boils down to one thing. Who do you want walking out the prison doors? Someone who’s been abused, dehumanized, and humiliated to the point that he is devoid of any self worth and full of hate and rage, or someone who has his problems addressed, is prepared to enter the work force, and who is capable of becoming a productive member of society?

We are not faceless numbers; we are sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We are your loved ones, your relatives, and most important we are human and we are worth giving a chance. We are worth saving.

Roy Tarbell

DIN: 89C0688

Franklin Correctional Facility

62 Bare Hill Road

PO Box 10

Malone, New York 12953