Shandre Delaney
Clean air, clean water and safe housing is a human right that should be afforded to everyone including the incarcerated. But, this isn’t the case. Many prisons are built on land that was otherwise worthless due to its hazardous condition. This kind of land is popular in the prison industry because it can be purchased very cheaply. Many jails and prisons are in poor condition and not fit for human habitation.
589 prisons in the United States are built on or adjacent to toxic waste sites
Prisoners are not only enduring these conditions but instead of rehabilitation and growth, they are continually treated as less than human. This toxic and dilapidated infrastructure combined with the inhumanity of prison culture creates a multi-layered harmful environment that is physically and mentally hazardous to prisoners’ well being.
Using Geographic Information Study (GIS) and superfund site information from the Environmental Protection Agency, 589 prisons in the United States are built on or adjacent to toxic waste sites. Studies show that cancer is higher in the incarcerated than in the general population. Movement Talks spoke with three directly impacted people to learn about their experiences and find out what they or others did to overcome these toxic conditions.
Fighting infestations of mice, rats and decay
Carrington Keys, who is a Paralegal, Pro Se Lawyer and prison activist with Human Rights Coalition Fed Up, was first incarcerated at age 18. Over the course of 20 years, he experienced a variety of toxic conditions, first at the county jail as a teenager and then being moved from state prison to state prison because of his activism. He said, “All of those environments were filthy and infested with mice, rats and deterioration from the prisons being old.”
He experienced a combination of things that affected his health. Even after he came home from prison he was still suffering from breathing problems that began at SCI Forest, which was infested with black mold. He said “I never had asthma in my life. But I had to use an inhaler.” Before being released to come home in 2018, he and several others sent samples out to the public and filed a lawsuit, but he is not aware of the outcome. See his full interview here:
‘Drive-By Psych Visits’ and Mental Health Crisises
Michael Rivera, the Inside Coordinator for Prisoner’s Justice & Whistle Blower Support Campaign, that assists prison activists and jailhouse lawyers, spoke about the toxic environment of long term solitary confinement that harms the human spirit and psyche. He talked about “drive by ” psyche visits, where the doctor comes to your cell door, with no privacy, and asks how you are ignoring the doors of those who would seemingly need the most help.
In describing this he says, “ Day in and day out prison staff prison, specifically the mental health professionals continue to see this deterioration and continue to ignore it just to go along to get along. Nobody wants to be the whistleblower of sorts to say hey, maybe these guys shouldnt continue to be indefinitely confined to their cells because their behavior has spiraled out of control. They are already psychologically vulnerable; taking medication. Nobody addresses it. They just do superficial door checks and say hey are you alright. A person who has been kicking, screaming, destroying their cell or harming themselves is obviously not alright. So a superficial door side check is not sufficient.”
In his capacity as inside coordinator for the prison justice and whistleblower support campaign he says, “I try to assert these people’s rights in court to get the courts to take a look at this cycle of abuse that we’re enduring. And it’s frustrating.”
See the entire interview here:
“I’m excited to work with and on behalf of the incarcerated men and women around this commonwealth, to get their voices heard . . .”
Movement Talks also spoke with B. Preston Lyles (BP), organizer for the Toxic Prison Campaign of the Human Rights Coalition Philly. He was incarcerated for ten years at one of the most toxic prisons in the state of Pennsylvania, Fayette, which was built atop coal ash waste. The Abolitionist Law Center put together one of numerous reports exposing high cancer rates there among prisoners as well as staff.
BP’s goal with the Toxic Prison Campaign is to not only shut down SCI Fayette but as he explains “more importantly, I’m excited to work with and on behalf of the incarcerated men and women around this commonwealth, to get their voices heard, to amplify their voices before state legislature, local county seats of government and to demand change; to demand that our lives become increasingly valued and understood and for society to recognize that more than 90% of everyone incarcerated has a date to come home. And so it is incumbent upon them to change their attitudes. It’s incumbent upon them to change their mindsets.
See the entire interview here:
