Latest Parole Release Numbers Disappointing
According to the latest update on the Virginia Parole board website, only thirteen of hundreds of eligible 'old law' inmates were granted release in February, all men. Of these, only one was a geriatric release, in spite of the growing number of aging and infirm men and women who deserve to live out their final days with loved ones. And where that is not possible, a housing unit at Deerfield Correctional Center, where more medical care is available, should be dedicated to their state-funded nursing home care.
Buckingham Inmate Proposes "Computers For Firearms"
Charles Zellers, Sr., has come up with a great idea that is well worth considering. As a Lead-Inmate at the Virginia Correctional Enterprises Metal and Wood Furniture Shop, and in whatever other opportunity he’s had, he’s learned a lot about what can be accomplished with a computer, and has recommended that all inmates have access to computers for educational purposes.
Recently, he’s proposed that congregations and other organizations partner with police departments in offering computers in exchange for ammunition and firearms.
Concerned congregations other organizations in each community would ask members to donate unwanted computers and to enlist volunteers who would be willing to train others in how to renovate desktop, laptop and tablet computers. Qualified offenders could also be utilized to do this while still behind bars.
Police departments would not only help in the effort to collect computers, but would advertise the availability of free devices in exchange for ammunition and firearms.
The goal would be to remove as many firearms and ammunition from society as possible, and especially from children and young people, and to get people educated in the use of computers.
Charles has many ideas which he is focused on implementing within whichever community he is granted parole to. These are the positive thinking individuals who are needed in society, not the ones who are continuing to violate parole over and over. Charles has served over 25 consecutive years and has been a model inmate throughout his incarceration yet the Board recently gave him a 3-year deferral which means he will be ineligible for release on parole for three years.
Among his many passions, one is to promote better education and job skills for inmates while incarcerated, and then when released to help other ex-offenders to succeed.
Co-pays Deter Prisoners from Accessing Medical Care
by Christopher Zoukis - Prison Legal News (reprinted by permission)
More than four decades have passed since Estelle v. Gamble, the 1976 U.S. Supreme Court ruling which held prisoners cannot be denied necessary medical care under the Eighth Amendment. But when cash-strapped state Departments of Corrections charge co-pays for health care provided to sick prisoners - who earn meager wages and are the least able to afford such fees - the effect can often be the same.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, at least 38 states charge prisoners a co-pay for medical services. Another four allow such fees to be charged by local jails. The co-pays range from $2.00 per nurse or doctor visit to a one-time $100 annual charge. Federal prisoners are also subject to fees for medical care, and charging co-pays has been a longstanding practice in prison systems.
Officially, the fees are meant to reimburse corrections agencies for the cost of providing medical services. In fact, however, they don't come close to doing so. The Pew Charitable Trusts reported that Pennsylvania, which charges prisoners a $5.00 co-pay, collected just $373,000 of the $248 million spent on prison health care in 2014 - less than two-tenths of one percent. Michigan collected $200,000 of the $300 million it paid that same year, while California collected approximately $500,000 of the $2.2 billion state prison officials spent on medical care - both less than one-tenth of one percent.
Oklahoma's $4.00 co-pay is just over the national average of $3.47. In 2016 the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC) collected $250,000 from prisoners - a "very small portion" of the $84.4 million it spent on health care that year, acknowledged DOC spokesman Mark Myers.
But while the co-pays are a drop in the bucket of prison expenses, the cost they represent to prisoners and their families is high. An April 2017 study by the Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) compared the hourly pay that prisoners receive to the minimum wage earned by non-prisoners, to come up with a co-pay adjusted for prison earnings. PPI determined that 14 states collect a co-pay equivalent to charging more than $200 to employees who earn the minimum wage outside prison - over two-thirds of the $290 those workers earn in a 40-hour work week.
In West Virginia, where prisoners make as little as 4 cents per hour, the DOC's $5.00 co-pay is equivalent to one that costs $1,093.75 for minimum wage workers on the outside - also an entire month's paycheck. Even in a state like California, where the pay is higher both in and outside of prison, the $5.00 co-pay imposed on prisoners is equivalent to $656.25 for minimum wage earners in the free world.
Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Texas lack any guaranteed wages for prison labor - meaning it's possible that is those states a prisoner can never earn enough to cover the cost of medical co-pay. While those who can't afford to pay are not denied health care, the amount owed is deducted from any money they receive or earn in the future.
Prison officials acknowledge that co-pays deter prisoners from seeking medical care, but insist the fees are needed to - as Myers put it - prevent "frivolous use of the medical system."
"We do it for the same reason your insurance company does - to eliminate abuse by making the inmate put a little skin in the game," said Tommy Thompson, a local jail administrator in Tennessee.
In Nevada, which charges one of the highest prisoner co-pays in the United States, DOC Public Information Officer Brooke Keast justified the $8.00-per-visit fee by saying prisoners tend "to be people who have not put their health as a priority," so it is "a constant guess as to whether they are really hurting."
Correctional people may think it's a deterrent for this annoying population who just wants attention," said Wendy Sawyer, a policy analyst with PPI, " but in reality they probably have a lot of legitimate health concerns to be addressed."
Co-pays are charged to a prisoner's trust account, which is funded from two primary sources - prison wages and money received from family and friends. The accounts are also used to pay for commissary items like hygiene products, food, postage stamps and clothing.
As a practical matter, the use of co-pays sets up a "two-tier" prison medical system, according to the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC) - one for prisoners who can afford both medical care and commissary purchases such as deodorant, another for those forced to choose between the two. NCCHC opposes co-pays for medical treatment.
While corrections officials are prohibited from denying care when prisoners are unable to pay, they are allowed to seize up to half the funds in a prisoner's trust account to cover outstanding co-pay costs, and negative balances can follow them even after their release. In Texas, where Estelle v. Gamble originated, Kyle Walker said she "can only afford to spend $30 to $40 every couple of weeks" to send to her imprisoned boyfriend.
"Even to just put the money in his trust fund, there's a fee for that transaction," she said. "So for them to deduct half of the money for [medical] services he's already received - it defeats the purpose of me even sending him money."
Faced with this harsh calculation, prisoners sometimes delay or decline to seek medical care - thereby not only risking their own health but also the health of others if they contract contagious diseases, while causing their medical costs to balloon if their untreated condition later worsens. Those costs often fall on the state anyway - either when prisoners are still incarcerated or after their release, when they receive medical care in the community through Medicaid or emergency room visits.
"The health of the prison population is worse on average - if not much worse - than the general public, so to have this [ co-pays] in place in any prison is unethical," said J. Wesley Boyd.
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My closing piece is by retired Judge Dennis Challeen, author of
Making It Right: A Common Sense Approach To Criminal Justice.
We want them to have self-worth
So we destroy their self-worth
We want them to be responsible
So we take away all responsibility
We want them to be positive and constructive
So we degrade them and make them useless
We want them to be trustworthy
So we put them where there is no trust
We want them to be non-violent
So we put them where violence is all around them
We want them to be kind and loving people
So we subject them to hatred and cruelty
We want them to quit being the tough guy
So we put them where the tough guy is respected
We want them to quit hanging around losers
So we put all the losers under one roof
We want them to quit exploiting us
So we put them where they exploit each other
We want them to take control of their lives, own problems and quit being a parasite...
So we make them totally dependent on us
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