As a person who was once incarcerated at the Hampden County House of Correction and as a citizen concerned for inmates rights, I would like to bring some things to light that I feel the community should be very interested in.
I can honestly say that I feel inmates are being treated unfairly within this facility. Some things I saw and experienced first hand and other things I have learned by staying connected and supportive of other women who are currently doing time within the same facility.
There are some issues that could possibly be looked passed and tolerated but unfortunately there are things that simply cannot or should not be overlooked. I am going to try to touch lightly on all of them.
First let me start with the issues that the inmates deal with before they even get into the jail population.
The correctional officers have a habit of treating them less than human like it is not enough that they have been stripped of everything they own, and are dealing with a lot of personal regrets and unstable emotions.
They take all of there property from them and throw it into a black suit bag which very often if there is anything of value it will not be there upon you release. I know several people that have been released and none of there property was ever returned. For some reason if they have jewelry or clothing of any type of value it mysteriously comes up as lost. Usually the inmates are so glad to be returning to the community and do not ever want to have to see the place again that they just chalk it up as a loss. The jail gets away with it on a regular basis because the inmates are to traumatized by the time they leave that it is easier to put it all behind them than it is to fight back.
Second thing is the issue of medication. Often an inmate is deprived there medications for up to 60 days due to the understaffing in medical and sometimes inmates are deprived certain medications altogether because it is not in the jails budget. This can be very dangerous to a person with psychological and medical issues.
Another medical issue going on in the jail is that very often people become in need of emergency medical assistance and are often denied. It is up to the officer in charge if it is severe enough to call in medical or if they just get put on the list to see the nurse who is only available one hour a day, five days a week. I know of a women who sat in there unit for two days after falling and complaining of pain and swelling in her leg. The officer refused to call medical and when the nurse finally did show up the inmate was taken for emergency surgery. I also know of another incident where an older inmate was suffering from a mild heart attack. The officer would not call medical until finally another inmate spoke out and made threats. When the inmate was finally brought to medical, she was immediately rushed to the hospital. She is lucky to be alive. It is scary to think that you could be an inmate in need of assistance and because the officer on duty may feel that you are not worthy of it than you could suffer from something serious with absolutely no help.
There is also an issue of delayed mail and illegal reading of mail. The jail is required to open and check your mail prior to delivery and it often comes up to the inmate ripped and destroyed. Money orders are sometimes no good because the person opening the mail is negligent with other peoples property. The inmates rely on getting there mail on time and in one piece. It is there right. They also depend on whatever little money they do get from the outside in order to survive. If a money order is no good the inmate is helpless to do anything about it. It has to go back to the person who sent it so it can be resolved. That takes time and it is highly inconvenient and unfair to all people involved.
The officers working in the jail can sometimes be very inconsiderate. This one girl who tried to hang herself off one of the tiers was going through some serious depression. She first put in requests to see some one and even put 911 on the request. No one ever came. Than when she finally could not take anymore she tied a sheet around her neck, tied the sheet to the railing, and flung herself off the tier. The sheet did not hold and she fell to the ground. All the inmates were told to lock in due to protocol. When officers finally did arrive at the scene. The girl was laughed at by them and inappropriate comments were made. The inmates were appalled. Reports were made against the officers and nothing was ever done.
Last thing is that for some reason if you are a snitch you can get away with murder. The staff continuously covers up for the wrong doings of the people they feel give them valuable information on other inmates. The bigger problem is that information is not valuable it is most often not even true. I know a couple of girls in the jail currently that are under investigation for false reports from other inmates. They have lost there jobs and are dealing with a lot of side comments from staff in the facility. They have also been told that they cannot even speak to one another for absolutely no reason. It was rumored that they were supposably having sex with men that they go to work with. They have both been brought in for pregnancy tests and questioned at length numerous times. The accusations are completely untrue and are coming from a source that ironically has had sex with the men in the jail. However when that was reported , nothing was done. In the mean time these two model inmates are being treated unfairly and will no longer have a job and no way of earning good time for this month. How can trained officers and staff allow two innocent women be punished on what another inmate says. Especially when it is based on lies and there is absolutely no proof. If they can not trust the people who are hired to be there for there well being than who can they trust. I think there is a much bigger issue going on here and the people in the community really need to take a good look and be aware of what is going on in these type places. Do we want our tax money taken to give paychecks to dishonest corrupt people? If you are not against the problem than you are part of the problem. Not all inmates are bad people. The majority are good people who made bad decisions. No one deserves to mistreated. Inmates are human too.
