An Open Letter on California Prisons From Federal Court Receiver Robert Sillen

The NUMBER ONE most important issue in North America is the foster care crisis created by Child "Protective" Services which is the mistake that is the main cause of overcrowded prisons, child deaths in institutions, drug addiction and homelessness. Many other States have finally seen the light? WHEN WILL CALIFORNIA?

http://www.whas11.com/news/hebert/stories/011107whasmjdTop SocialWorkers.2e6f4512.html

Abuse of power?
By Mark Hebert

The charges are at the very least troubling --- some even calling them grave in this investigation. It could lead to criminal charges against state social workers that may have abused their power when they removed and kept children away from their biological parents. One child advocate says he's never seen anything like this, a report with page after page of evidence that state social workers lied and falsified documents to deliberately keep kids who may have been abused or neglected away from their parents. One official is recommending criminal charges against 13 state workers. State social workers took one Hardin County woman's two kids out of her home because of her alleged abusive husband. That was four months ago, but she hasn't gotten her kids back -- she says because her caseworker from the Lincoln Trail office made up evidence to keep them apart. And according to a scathing report by the state inspector general, dozens, perhaps hundreds of other parents in Hardin and surrounding counties may have lost custody of their kids because of caseworkers in this state office. The report found workers falsified records, lied to judges and had personal biases against parents. It also found relatives of children were denied their custody in favor of foster care. Some of the workers were nicknamed the "Queen of Removal" and "The Terminator."

A Prisoner is Dying of Medical Neglect Right Now & Not One Person in Charge Cares

As early as next Monday, the civil trial for Mark Grangetto, a prisoner brain-damaged from birth begins in Hanford Court as he lays dying from long term medical neglect in Corcoran Prison's band-aid clinic. Sillen must stop the killing. The mother of this prisoner is a member of United for No Injustice, Oppression or Neglect where hundreds of doctors, teachers, nurses and social workers have tried to get help for this prisoner for over two years to no avail. He is incompetent to make decisions for himself yet CDC wants to blame him for his condition. Long ago he should have been released as he is crippled, cannot walk and his left arm is clawed and useless. Everyone who has a prisoner inside, some 3 million California voters related to a State Prisoner, is at the same risk of having their loved one literally murdered with no assistance from any direction to get them to a hospital or into a nursing facility. CDC simply does not know how to handle mentally ill inmates at all!
Callousness and negligence are against the law - time to enforce the law

The Wrongful Death and medical neglect lawsuits need to be supported and the trials attended by everyone who cares about the prisoners who have lost their lives or are permanently maimed due to denied surgeries, braces and prescriptions. The public does not know that most of these prisons do not have even the most basic equipment and it frequently takes two hours for an ambulance to show up to these remote locations. On the week ends no doctors are to be found, family members have died from just visiting prisons so poor is the emergency response. How did this reform come about? Through the filing of numerous lawsuits and continual press advisories of deaths that would have been otherwise hidden from the public. All reform comes about as the result of lawsuits and CDC has made compliance with lawsuits a low priority. When a guard dies, that is important but the death of a prisoner is accepted as business as usual. The trials need attendance by those who will be next to lose someone

Things will come out at the Grangetto trial that the Receiver should be paying attention to such as the fact that prisoners are being injected with dangerous drugs without court orders or Keyhea hearings. The people in prison need help, the paperwork can wait!

For up-to-date trial information on the Grangetto case, please contact rightor1@yahoo.com. Everyone who cares about the health of prisoners should be there to support Grangetto's devastated mother on the day of closing arguments, estimated to be on or about Feb 9 in the Hanford Court. The UNION people ALL screamed for help for this young man for more than two years, went before senate panels, to CDC hearings, appealed to everyone from God on down. Grangetto is so bad off that he might not live through the trial - still the AG attorneys are doing everything to get the trial extended, knowing that he is almost dead. There is no resuscitation equipment in the Corcoran hospital, which isn't a hospital at all. Yet to save money he is lying there. It's a horrible, horrible situation that everyone with a prisoner inside can look forward to unless the UNION voting block can round up enough workers to be able to file more lawsuits, do initiative campaigns and recall the callous politicians allow this state murder by medical neglect. There are now 27 lawsuits filed by the UNION family members for abuse and wrongful deaths and more on the way. Take the medically and mentally ill out of these hellholes, it is impossible to punish a sick person into being "good" - what a stupid concept!

For up-to-date trial information on the Grangetto case, please contact rightor1@yahoo.com. Everyone who cares about the health of prisoners should be there to support Grangetto's devastated mother on the day of closing arguments, estimated to be on or about Feb 9 in the Hanford Court. The UNION people ALL screamed for help for this young man for more than two years, went before senate panels, to CDC hearings, appealed to everyone from God on down. Grangetto is so bad off that he might not live through the trial - still the AG attorneys are doing everything to get the trial extended, knowing that he is almost dead. There is no resuscitation equipment in the Corcoran hospital, which isn't a hospital at all. Yet to save money he is lying there. It's a horrible, horrible situation that everyone with a prisoner inside can look forward to unless the UNION voting block can round up enough workers to be able to file more lawsuits, do initiative campaigns and recall the callous politicians allowing this state murder by medical neglect. There are now 27 lawsuits filed by the UNION family members for abuse and wrongful deaths and more on the way. Take the medically and mentally ill out of these hellholes, it is impossible to punish a sick person into being "good" - what a stupid concept!

Thank you, ICONOCLAST PRODUCTIONS!!!!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=26iDxOqP6Zw

Mr. Sillen is off to a good start, but at this point it's too little too late. We are in an EMERGENCY! PEOPLE ARE DYING - NOW!

Let's imagine those that are trying to get in the way of progress as a cancer. The cancer needs to be cut out NOW or it will only continue to grow & spread; killing even MORE HUMAN BEINGS!

We need COMPETENT KNOWLEDGABLE MEDICAL CARE GIVERS IN OUR PRISONS! What we DON'T need are people who are allied with the guards and question whether a person deserves treatment; because THAT is what is being done NOW!

An inmate was literally vomiting & having diarrhea ALL NIGHT LONG, with a high fever & the "nurse" told him he was sticking his finger down his throat & refused to treat him. It was only when he was dangerously dehydrated & another nurse was on duty that he was put on an IV; only to be removed early against the protests of the nurse because the guard didn't want to be bothered with guarding him. It was around THIS VERY TIME that ANOTHER inmate DIED of DEHYDRATION!

The current staff of those practicing medicine needs to be weeded out to get rid of the dross & new individuals with more knowledge & less ties with the CDC & guards need to be hired so these people can receive PROPER MEDICAL CARE that they CONSTITUTIONALLY HAVE THE RIGHT TO!

While I am in complete agreement that we have an emergency crisis on our hands, we must give Silen the chance to right the wrongs which is a formidable job at best. I hope Mr. Silen will read these comments so he knows about the kinds of abuse taking place everyday, and most importantly is aware of the Grangetto trial. CDCr must educate their employees to treat inmates with the basic human dignity every person should be entitled to. Until the employees of CDCr are required to do so, they will continue to batter, abuse and demean these people, most of whom have the potential to come out as productive citizens with a fair share of self esteem. Mental health care is imperative to this system working properly. Punishment alone does not work. As a parent I will attest to that any day of the week!

I applaud Judge Thelton Henderson for appointing Bob Sillen. As Mr Sillen stated, with change comes resistance to change. Numerous factors here have hampered these needed changes. Ignoring the issues does not make them go away, only makes things worse. Changes are coming way too slow for many who are sick inside and their families who watch helplessly. California is in crisis and it has taken the state much too long to realize and act. It is very sad indeed when people die needless, preventable deaths because the state has chose to look the other way. Lets get reform moving at a faster pace- it can be done. I firmly believe a complete federal take over of the prison system is in dire need- because the state is NOT doing what it should have been doing all along- Being responsible for the people that are incarcerated; We need to always remember that people are sent to prison as punishment- not FOR PUNISHMENT or neglect.

I applaud Judge Thelton Henderson for appointing Bob Sillen. As Mr Sillen stated, with change comes resistance to change. Numerous factors here have hampered these needed changes. Ignoring the issues does not make them go away, only makes things worse. Changes are coming way too slow for many who are sick inside and their families who watch helplessly. California is in crisis and it has taken the state much too long to realize and act. It is very sad indeed when people die needless, preventable deaths because the state has chose to look the other way. Lets get reform moving at a faster pace- it can be done. I firmly believe a complete federal take over of the prison system is in dire need- because the state is NOT doing what it should have been doing all along- Being responsible for the people that are incarcerated; We need to always remember that people are sent to prison as punishment- not FOR PUNISHMENT or neglect.

I applaud Judge Thelton Henderson for appointing Bob Sillen. As Mr Sillen stated, with change comes resistance to change. Numerous factors here have hampered these needed changes. Ignoring the issues does not make them go away, only makes things worse. Changes are coming way too slow for many who are sick inside and their families who watch helplessly. California is in crisis and it has taken the state much too long to realize and act. It is very sad indeed when people die needless, preventable deaths because the state has chose to look the other way. Lets get reform moving at a faster pace- it can be done. I firmly believe a complete federal take over of the prison system is in dire need- because the state is NOT doing what it should have been doing all along- Being responsible for the people that are incarcerated; We need to always remember that people are sent to prison as punishment- not FOR PUNISHMENT or neglect.

I talked to the California State Ombudsman's office yesterday. They are astounded that I have not had an evidentiary hearing in seven years. I explained that I am on my FIFTH appeal, and that each appeal takes over a year. The judges who sit on these panels all go golfing together and have absolutely no concept or interest in real justice. It is the most shameful operation since Hitler and Stalin.

While I await these abusers of power to rule on something so elementary as the right of the accused to an evidentiary hearing to submit exculpatory evidence, my son was institutionalized for seven years. This is beyond felony child abuse by the State of California - it constitutes CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY.

We parents are getting much better organized around the world and are joining together with other organizations. We are forming a formidable power, and the criminals who tried to disable us by imprisonment and character assassination will indeed have to hide their faces in shame and take cover soon.

A prime example of the criminal authorities' tactics in Santa Clara County is that they tried to prevent my son in foster care from receiving his Christmas present (a laptop computer) from me. They used every trick in the book as an excuse. Their final tactic was to claim that there were "objectionable" materials on the computer. This turns out to be a letter I wrote to my son which contained my address and phone number. Instead of simply deleting the file and emptying the recycle bin and giving my son the computer, they instead decided to withhold the computer and try to charge me with "violating a court order". This is the modus operandi of the criminal district attorney's office in Santa Clara County. It is not only an immature, vulgar display of power and control, it is completely beyond the sensibilities of the average American. Who ARE these people and who gave these animals such power?

The State Ombudsman's office in Sacramento assured me that they will investigate and try to enforce the court order that I be able to write to my son and send him presents. I implore Governor Schwarzenegger to issue an executive order to the Attorney General's office to investigate the County of Santa Clara and their blatant abuse of power in trying to cover up their crimes against children and families.

Their threats to me and itimidation will no longer be effective, as the rest of the world is outraged at their arrogance and criminality.

President Bush himself sent my letter to him to Susan Orr, of the Dept. of Human Services in Washington, D.C. Governor Schwarzenegger, someone needs to hold these petty bureaucrats feet to the fire - fire them or order them to grow up and serve some time in prison themselves if they won't comply with State, Federal and International LAW.

Thus, all the activities of the Receivership have one bottom line in mind: To create a system where custody and health care staff together guarantee that access to care and quality of medical services in California prisons meet constitutional standards

Mr. Sillen is off to a good start, but at this point it's too little too late. We are in an EMERGENCY! PEOPLE ARE DYING - NOW!

An inmate was literally vomiting & having diarrhea ALL NIGHT LONG, with a high fever & the "nurse" told him he was sticking his finger down his throat & refused to treat him. It was only when he was dangerously dehydrated & another nurse was on duty that he was put on an IV; only to be removed early against the protests of the nurse because the guard didn't want to be bothered with guarding him. It was around THIS VERY TIME that ANOTHER inmate DIED of DEHYDRATION!

HELLO_CAN ANYONE HEAR THIS

All are in agreement. Healthcare must meet the needs of inmate rights', keep costs level, and ensure that quality staff is in place at all times. It is speculated that by increasing the dollar amount that is paid to state workers (i.e. registered nurses, pharmacists, doctors, therapists, etc.), you will, in effect, increase the quality of care provided to the population. Compensation that can be doubled of those who currently are providing care in clinics around the state for the elderly, poor, and underinsured. Some of these employees have been working for the prison system for many years and are getting a much deserved increase and some (a lot more than you think) are 4 days out of graduation and have pay packages in the range of $90-$100K annually. Mr. Sillen has forced the institutions to try and eliminate all temporary health care staff, at any cost. A lot of these employees have dedicated years to help fix the prison health care system and are being put into a room and forced to sign a state letter of hire or be walked out of the institution, commonly leaving more vacancies. Instead of working with these individuals, most coming from long distances to help rectify the health care issue, to recognize some long lasting issues, Mr. Sillen chooses to eliminate them and replace them with freshman with no prior knowledge of prison healthcare. This is not the way to fix a problem. Mr. Sillen needs to retain ALL individuals that are dedicated to the cause. Mr. Sillen must recognize ALL contracted staff, state workers, and resources that want to help the situation and reward them by letting them do what they do best.... give quality care to those who need it. Mr. Sillen, throwing money at a problem has never worked to solve it. Making honorable decisions to let quality staff work when they are most needed is the right choice.

Thank God for both Judge Henderson and Robert Sillen

Dear Mr. Sillen,

Thank you for posting my short message. But I'm sure

Dear Mr. Sillen,
I didn't understand how come you didn't put all my
comments in. Am I doing it wrong.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW
Thank you again
Lola McDonald

i can also state issues with "cps". How did they get such supreme power ? It really scares me!!!!!!
Also, my brother is sitting in Robert Presley Detention Center (Riverside COunty Jail), a mentally ill (12 yr old mentallity), ADHD inmate for the last 2 1/2 years for something fabricated by RPD (chop-shop) because someone "using" him had left a stolen veichle at his house. His fingernails are falling off, severe foot infections, flu,and he was hit in the eye with an apple by another inmate and cant see out of that eye for 2 months now. He cant seem to get the care he needs, so when I called the jail to get action they told me all inmates are liars and that inmates get the best care in all of Riverside Cnty. I asked them why they wouldn't give my bro a complaint form & they just told me that "didn't happen/dosen't apply-etc"
all this is much to scarry to me.......

Concerned about the prison overcrowding “crisis”?

Well, you really should be. The State's proposals for dealing with prison overcrowding make little sense, will cost taxpayers billions and have apparently been made without a normal system analysis or consideration of better and cheaper options.

The proposed prison package appears based primarily on considerations other than actual need. The proposal to spend billions for construction and operation of more prison beds that are probably not needed is presented without providing a basis for the proposals. Anyone who actually looks at readily available correctional system data would immediately understand that a critical shortage of county jail beds has resulted in many persons better handled at the local level being sent into the state prison system. This group occupies some 30,000 to 40,000 expensive prison beds and causes state prison overcrowding. Were this group housed in county jails where they should be, the problem of state prison over crowding would be solved. Further, it would leave room at the state level for needed correctional prison programs. Analysis would dictate constructing a lot of county jail beds, not more prison beds.

What is really going on?

There is little basic information and data about the overcrowding problem being put forward and the limited information that is made public is misleading. The state, in asking for billions for overcrowding, does not even clearly state the extent of overcrowding. The actual shortfall, about 16,200 prison beds according to the Legislative Analysist, has never been reported by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DC&R). Instead, DC&R consistently reports that its institutions/camps operate at about 200% of “design capacity”. Design capacity does not reflect American Correctional Association national standards requiring single cells only “for inmates assigned to maximum custody” .

There is an amazing lack of real information supporting a proposal to spend billions for more prison beds other than the fact that the prisons are overcrowded. Prisons have a life span of 30 plus years, yet there is no mention of future bed space needs based on actual analysis of total correctional system needs. There is no explanation or mention of:
• Why the DC&R has chosen not to conduct a normal correctional system analysis, starting at the front end of the system and moving down the system to prisons to determine bed space needs.
• Declining crime and arrest rates during the past decade and projections about these rates during future years, factors which presumably determine future prison bed space needs.
• A recent Sheriffs Association study reporting a county jail bed shortage of over 60,000 jail beds .
• County jails being forced to release over 2,000 inmates early each month due to a shortage of beds.
• The massive shift of less serious offenders serving terms of less than a year from the county jail system to the state prison.
• The fact that these short term offenders, occupying 30,000 to 40,000 costly prison beds, are the reason prisons are overcrowded.
• A broken parole revocation system which churns many parolees back to prison for purely technical violations, driving prison operating costs up an estimated unnecessary $.5 billion annually.
• The basis for a proposal to construct secure “re-entry facilities” for 5,000 to 7,000 inmates in the community presumably operated by the DC&R.
• The fact that simply reducing current average length of stay for a couple years from 587 to 543 days would reduce bed space needs by 15,000 beds, save $450,000,000 annually in prison operating costs and allow time to deal with the county jail bed shortage.

It appears the “prison reform” package is based more on political expediency than on correctional system needs - available data and analysis do not support such a building program. If the DC&R has documentation showing a normal correctional system analysis, the documentation should be made available. If it has not, as it appears, conducted a normal analysis and planning process, we should all be very concerned with the specter of massive ,, unneeded prison construction. The correctional system, particularly the prison system, is obviously very important as the last line of defense against crime. It should be the best in the country and not a badly lagging system. If the “reform” package is adopted, the California correctional system will become even more dysfunctional and flawed.

Do you know what is going on at the Salinas Valley
State Prison. Are the Guard going on strike?
There has been no school or class of any kind.
I just hope and pray that someone knows.

June 8, o7

Kathy Bailey, this comment is in reference to what you wrote above. I have had very similar experiences with my father and brother who have both been at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside, California for the past 3 1/2 years. They have both been told repeatedly that if they were innocent they would not be in jail. I thought that in this country we are innocent UNTIL proven guilty. They have not been proven guilty yet, but they are treated as such.

My father is 81 years old. He complained for months about physical problems before he was finally allowed to be checked by a doctor in the hospital. By that time it was too late. My father had stage 4 prostate cancer that had spread into his bones. We have been told repeatedly that my father is receiving as good if not better care than he would outside of jail. They must think we are all incredibly stupid to believe that.

My dad's bones are very fragile due to the cancer, but my father was told to get ready to go to court at 5 AM despite a court order allowing him to go later. The judge personally called the jail, but my father was threatened anyway. He was told that the jail does not have to listen to the judge. They make their own rules and basically they are a law unto themselves. He has been told numerous times, "If you don't get up and go now, I will pick up your sorry ass and throw you in that chair (his wheelchair)."

There are so many other things that have happened, not only to my dad but my brother as well, that are absolutely horrific. Neither has ever been in trouble before and now they are in the fight of their lives to restore their good names. I have relatives in other countries that laugh at our judicial system and quite frankly I don't blame them. I think this is a great country, but our judicial system has very little to be proud of after I've seen what has happened to my family members. The way I have been treated on the phone and when visiting is another story and just as objectionable. Family members are treated with arrogance and disdane. "Justice" is whatever the jail decides it should be. I am not surprised that the system is now in receivership. Someone needed to take the system on long before this.

Posts & Comments:

Health Care - Yes, we need reasonable care for inmates. But LETS first agree on what the Benchmark should be in terms of defining the overused context of "Constitutionally adequate care". I am not in favor of giving, "addicts more of what they want", but I would not what to denial a cancer patient "pain management". Remember that healthcare is not an entitlement in America, so be careful who we portrey inmates "rights", when Child Protective Services, Medi-Cal, MediCare (senior), and other are equally deserving of more FUNDING because they are making decsion everyday on medicine or a doctor visit co-pay against buying milk and bread for the week. More importantly, and they did not kill, murder, rob, rape, or molest someone.

Taxpayers for Free Citizens

While I am in favor of raising the BOTTOM END of the CDCR Prison Health system, to prevent some of the abusive examples, but I am NOT in favor of giving Prisoners what amounts to Socialized Medicine for Life. Let's be frank here, when the major of these inmates leave, they will move into the LIFE Long system of WelFare and Medi-Cal. Many of these people had limited healthcare or none coming into the system, like many Americans. But when they leave, they all of a sudden have better access that a CalPERS Retiree with $0 co-pay or deductable.

I think inmates should have a minimum healthcare level of support. And that should be minimum, at the benelovence of the California tax payer (Hendersen, calls it responsibility ... maybe he should not demand receivership, but rather demand a popular vote of the citizens to come up with a level the Tax Payer are willing to support). Then allow inmates families, spouses, or estates purchase or provide Medical GAP services on their own nickel, like the rest of Californians most do today and we do for our MediCare seniors and retirees.

People die everyday ... that's life. Not attempting to say abuse is legal, but we should search our souls on what is FAIR, when many people suffer on the outside of the CDCR Walls as well. But our legal system continues to feed lawyers to build cases like this.

To many of the POSTs on this website from family members, I would ask ... how would your father be paying for these meds or tests or operations on the outside. I doubt if everything would be free for him on the outside. I think, the family should have the ability and choice to provide for things on a PAID service level, just like Free Citizen must do when their insurance doesn't pay for a "non-formulary" medication or medical service limitations.

TaxPayers for Fee Citizens

It is interesting to note that the Receivership came to pass based on false statistics which stated that the California Prison System was plagued by unacceptable high Death Rates (1 Death every 6 days). This was determined by so-called "Physician-Experts", some of who worked as Executives in Correctional Corporation of America (CCA). CCA recently received many California Inmates in their facilities due to the overcrowding problem which has existed for two decades. The Department of Justice published statistics which showed the California State Prison system ranked 37 out of 50 when compared to other State Prison systems. That means that California had better statistics than two-thirds of all other States in the USA. So why weren't 36 other States put under Federal Receivership? Answer- Because California is where the money is for take-over Artists to Profit from. Mr. Sillen has done nothing to correct the CDCR Healthcare Management which has falsely accused Front-Line Physicians of Wrongdoing. The CDCR has decided to Sacrifice Physicians Careers and besmerch Reputations. Mr. Sillen only cares about Inmate Rights, and is willing to Sacrifice Physicians under False accusations. I have been disappointed with Mr. Sillen's lack of support, and his willingness to accept biased opinions. California Inmates do need help, but Sillen is not approaching this fairly. He is quite outspoken and has misspoken tearing down Physicians he does not even know.

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