Another Inmate Letter

The letter in essence is saying, there have been no interpreters since he last wrote on 2/20 and he is still grieving that issue. The inmate said there are no deaf  in any programs like the faith dorm, GED class, PRIDE Ind., etc.  That he  was attacked, and – defending himself – got a cut on the arm. The assailant was speaking but the inmate only understood the words, “stop filing” and “not interpreters“. He also tells of his daughter coming up to see him.

That same day two other Deaf were attacked. A man was sent to the inmate’s dorm to rape ****. Another deaf inmate saw what was going to happen and prevented the rape. He went into the bathroom where one Black man nicknamed ****, weighing about 300 pounds, was hiding in the mop closet, nude. Yet another Black inmate was trying to get ****  near the bathroom. The individual who prevented the rape was punched in the face.

The person who was going to rape **** doesn’t even live in the dorm, and had to have cooperation to get through so many locked doors from across the compound.  The deaf feel the act was deliberate, by administration, as retribution for the filing of grievances.

The author of the letter was grabbed from behind and choked. He passed out. Upon waking up, he saw several inmates standing around him who did not live in his dorm. Not a word was said, they all left when he came to. Also another inmate – 74 years old, blind in one eye, wheelchair bound with one leg – was choked from behind with a broom handle, and given a warning to stop filing, or be sent to medical. This inmate has been ill, throws up with white foam on his mouth. Deaf inmates are convinced he is being poisoned. Administration has threatened to move them into 2-man rooms. That hides abusive behavior, and scares the Deaf. The inmate also writes that the TTY/TDD phones have been cut off for 3 weeks.

[Editor's Note: The above letter mentions two attorneys from the Justice Department. According to the inmate, upon seeing the cut on his arm, these two attorneys chose to take no action. He states that in his belief, they simply don't care. That is not true. Sadly, there are limits to what an attorney, or anyone else, for that matter, can do under these circumstances. The two attorneys in question are known to DeafInPrison, and are devoted and conscientious advocates. It is not surprising however, that with no one to explain to the inmate, what is being done on his behalf, it would appear to him as though nothing were being done at all.]