It's
common for many whites to equate locked up with "guilty,"
it's just that those who do shouldn't be given oversight
of a county lock-up. Yet this is what seems to be going
on in Buffalo NY regarding their Sheriff Tim Howard. There
are those who question whether or not he can distinguish
between County Jail and State Penitentiary. New York State
no longer has a death penalty, but it seems to have found
a suitable replacement in the open arms of Howard's jails.
As
of just last Thursday (5/18) they mistakenly released
a third inmate, confusing a man named Paris Williams (an
alleged car thief) with James Williams (Trespassing) whom
was actually the one scheduled for release. Considering
their mistaken release of a sexual offender-Rasheed Milton-who allegedly raped a woman during 
the
short time he was out, one wonders if the jail is run
by a bunch of jerk-offs? Sadly errantly-freed
inmates and other hijinks are
the least of Erie County Holding Center's problems, there
have been at least 13 inmates who died in their custody
who's families probably wished had escaped. They were
all just coincidentally ruled suicides; Eden Baez, Patrick
Chadwick, Lester J. Foster, Joanne Jesse, Christian Johns,
Keith John, Jeremy Kiekbush,
John Marinaccio,
Adam Murr, Michael Scioli, Rakim Scriven,
Carmelo Torres, Trevell Walker.
It
all starts with a culture of insensitivity that begins
with opinions on how people should be treated while locked
up, mix in some US-intelligence-style psychological warfare,
and you got death. In spite of these highly suspect losses
of life, I have learned more from some who "attempted
suicide" than from those already ruled as such. Martha
Mitchel for example lives a half-hour away in Batavia but
she was arrested here and is on record as attempting suicide
on 1/21/10. Robert A. Crowley was alleged to have attempted
suicide and his family wasn't notified for two days. Some
time ago deputies were filmed beating inmate Marquez Mack.
Crowley is considered bipolar (ECHC says 10-12% of their
inmates are mentally ill). My question here is which party
shows real evidence of brain-damage, the inmates or the
overseers?
This
brings me back to the subject of Howard, he spins reform
into a language that only blue-collar-white Buffalo can
sympathize with. And then there's another head case named
Cheryl Green formerly of the Erie County Attorney's Office
under former county executive Chris Collins. She is well-known
for having blocked a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into the deaths a few years ago. She opposed
the formation of a citizen's watchdog group to investigate
ECHC, only to request to be on that same board she so
passionately opposed back on 11/19/10; the day the Citizen's
Panel for Jail Oversight was created (Solely for
the purpose that she can oppose their ideas. Buffalo is
full of blockers). In the fall of '09 the DOJ filed suit
against the facility based on it's 50-page report. Howard
had enough temerity to say the DOJ actions were an abuse
of power. I can't make this stuff up, he has lots of quotes
revolving around his theme of the DOJ and activists "wants
Erie County to provide prisoners the equivalent of a hotel
room." His link of prisoner to hotel room is a game
he runs on the local big media and taxpayers that works
like a charm.
Buffalo
needs a Sheriff Howard like it needs another blizzard.
It already ranks high on most polls relating to bad economy,
racism, and education. Just recently I was emailed a list
of the "Ten Worst Cities in America for Black Men
Not Working; No Local of National Plan to Change This-Percentage
of employed, working-age (16-64) black males in these
cities:" Can you guess where Buffalo ranks? Number
two (2) right behind Detroit (Milwaukee and Cleveland
follow respectively).
Jails
of course are generally far from underfunded. Just the
mere suggestion of the phrase "new jail" automatically
trains into a flood of dollars with little-or-no legislative
opposition (Unlike a downtown football stadium) in poor
economic areas like Buffalo. Would it make sense to ask
if jail suicides affect or attract government funding?
The Buffalo News article
by Matthew Spina mentioned
a finding by a National Commission on Correctional Healthcare
that says ECHC offers too many ways for inmates to hang
themselves (or be hanged, my words). Karima
Amin was on that
same Citizen's Panel as Green and is the founder of Prisoners
Are People Too (PRP2), I was able to be at
one of their board meetings a few weeks back where they
too voted overwhelmingly for the new position of Ombudsman
(and to pay for it using "community funds.")
to advocate for the safety of the inmates.
If
you think that I am somehow implying that I suspect murder
in at least some of these cases then you are correct.
It is impossible for so many people, mostly from between
2003 to 2012 to suddenly feel suicidal at a rate that
exceeds Rikers Island,
LA County, and Chicago's Cook County Jails and State Prisons.
Unless there is something paranormal going on, murder
is the only answer. Amin and Aminah
(Johnson) of Push Buffalo are my latest guests on my talk
show dealing with ECHC; "Policy & Prejudice." Johnson's
son was an inmate there.
In
Max and Supermax prisons,
death rows are at least official whether you agree with
it or not. The convict learns he's going to be there when
the verdict is read or at the sentencing. The deaths here
are not a product full-blown out of nothing, when you
stop nonsense you stop policy.
BlackCommentator.com
Columnist Chris Stevenson is a syndicated columnist, his
articles also appear on his blog; the Buffalo Bullet.
Follow him on Twitter @pointblank009) and Facebook (pointblank009). Support his petition to permanently Abolish the Death Penalty in the
US the Troy Davis Bill, HR92111. Click here to contact Mr. Stevenson.
