Hello everyone,
My name is Frankie, and I am not only a just a prison rights activist, but I also have a loved one who is a resident of the North Carolina Department of Corrections. Many of you that are attached to this email already know that we have been very vocal about the living conditions at Scotland Correctional. Our complaints were not taken seriously at all. Living with mold, roaches, fruit flies, and worms isn’t adequate housing under the 8th Amendment. Also, we had grievances about officers creating hostile environments. As I am typing this email now, the news has reported once again that someone has died at this facility. Many of these unfortunate situations do not make the news.
- May 1st, 2024, one was killed.
- April 8th, 2024, one was airlifted from a stabbing.
- Jan. 1st, 2024, an apparent suicide.
That is only a few that made the news. But something is happening daily at this facility. There was an email sent by staff last year sounding the alarms on what is going on in Scotland.
We have had several other family members also help contact and speak for these men at the facility, in asking for the problems to have some type of resolved. But instead, we were transferred to a different camp. Transferring us out isn’t going to make the problem disappear from this prison. The problems still exists and there are men who are still dealing with the living conditions. So many are afraid to speak up, write grievances, or even have their families get involved. Why is that you might ask yourself. Some have tried to be outspoken and ended up with write-ups, the grievances go missing, the fear of retaliation, not being taken seriously, and for some they fear the unknown.
It is not fair to have continuous punishment subjected to them, when their time given by the court system is the punishment.
With the staff doing an emergency transfer on my loved one will not make the situation better. Unless the staff decides that these men that are being housed at the prison are human-beings and see them as such, that way they can rectify the situations at hand. Each one of you is very familiar with the goals, objectives, and the mission statement of NCDAC. Protecting, serving, maintaining safety, and rehabilitating these men is part of the job that each of you have sworn by oath.
My question to each of you is, if not you then who? Who shall be held accountable for the lives that are living in these conditions? And the ones who are dying and hurting?
Constant lock downs, tablets being withheld, being regulated to stay on their bunks, canteen privileges being taken away as punishment, all things that happen on a day to day there.
All we are asking for is compassion, understanding, and for someone to step up and make these conditions better.
Retaliation happened to my loved one by being shipped to a different residence, but those that are still there can use the help.
I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes by Mrs. Angela Davis from her autobiography titled Angela Davis, With My Mind on Freedom”,
“Jails and prisons are designed to break human beings, to convert the population into specimens in a zoo- obedient to our keepers, but dangerous to each other.” I feel that we can be the change. If just one person reads this heartfelt email with empathy in mind and the decision that enough is enough, it is now time for a change. Not all is going to happen overnight, but we must at least start.
Thank you for your time.
https://www.thesnaponline.com/tag/scotland-correctional-institution