Author: community

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9/18/24 UPDATE – Urgent Concern: Ongoing Medical Neglect Under VitalCore

Dear Senator Warren,
We hope this message finds you well. We are writing to express our deep concern regarding the ongoing medical neglect under VitalCore, the new medical provider contracted to the Massachusetts Department of Corrections.

Despite the replacement of Wellpath—an organization already facing numerous national lawsuits for inadequate care—the situation has not improved. Instead, VitalCore has continued to fall short in addressing critical healthcare needs, resulting in significant harm to incarcerated individuals who rely on this system for their well-being.


Recent reports highlight severe issues such as:

Medication mismanagement: Several incarcerated people, including one who requires Tylenol to manage pain while waiting for her knee replacement, have missed simple medical refills due to administrative failures. This negligence has led to worsening health and heightened risk of serious complications, violating sections 4.3.5.13 and 4.3.5.15 of the Request for Responses (RFR).
Delayed surgeries: An incarcerated woman awaiting a thyroidectomy has faced repeated delays, causing unnecessary suffering and further deterioration of her condition. These delays are due to a lack of communication and logistical failures by VitalCore, failing to meet section 5.6 of the RFR.
Reduced in-person & specialist visits: Incarcerated people have reported not receiving as many in-person and specialist appointments at BMC and Lemuel Shattuck Hospital, particularly people who require regular specialist attention, which fails to meet points outlined in section 5.6 of the RFR.
Lack of VitalCore administration on staff: It has been reported that medical staff working under Wellpath have now shifted to working under VitalCore, but that there are no longer any administrative staff at the prisons. An absence of Staff Access directly impacts the grievance process. This also violates section 3.5.2 of the RFR.
Lack of communication: Specifics about the transition plan from WellPath to Vital Core have not been outlined publicly, nor has there been any level of communication to incarcerated people.

These cases reflect a troubling pattern that persists despite the change in providers, suggesting that the transition has not led to the promised improvements. The ongoing neglect underscores a systemic failure to address the fundamental healthcare needs of those in Massachusetts prisons and jails, and the urgent need for decarceration and community-based healthcare for this population.

DeeperThanWater urges you to take immediate action to investigate these serious concerns and hold the new provider accountable for meeting the required standards of care, as listed in the finalized RFR. Ensuring that all individuals receive timely and competent medical attention is not just a matter of policy, but a moral obligation that we must uphold.

As a representative entrusted with the well-being of our community, it is crucial that you investigate and address these issues. The health and safety of vulnerable individuals are at stake, and the continued inadequacy of the current medical provider cannot be overlooked. We look forward to your response, including the steps that will be taken to rectify the situation.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this urgent matter.

Sincerely,
DeeperThanWater

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End Medical Neglect in Massachusetts State Prisons

Posted October 13, 2023

Join us in demanding change that imposes stronger mechanisms for accountability and transparency in the Department of Correction’s medical contract this fall. 

Sign our petition at https://chng.it/CbJGKTvwGz

In the next few weeks, the MA Department of Correction (MADOC) will release a Request for Responses (RFR) soliciting bids from health care providers, one of which will be chosen to provide medical care to all people incarcerated in Massachusetts state prisons. This is a major event that could dramatically improve medical care in MA prisons, where medical neglect is rampant, or it could enable this neglect to continue. 

Organizers with DeeperThanWater have been working for years to end medical neglect in MA prisons. In 2021, DeeperThanWater worked with currently incarcerated activists to conduct a needs assessment to evaluate healthcare services from the current contract holder, Wellpath. Using the findings from this survey, DeeperThanWater released a report describing the horrific medical neglect occurring in Massachusetts prisons. We have also shared stories of medical neglect from incarcerated people.

Over the past year, we worked with people incarcerated in MA prisons to develop demands for change in the language of the upcoming RFR, which is being written by the Massachusetts Department of Correction and UMass Chan Medical School. DeeperThanWater shared these demands directly with UMass on multiple occasions; however, they have thus far been unable to confirm any amount of its incorporation. Moreover, as the ISA form discloses, compensation for UMass to revise the RFR increased from $380k to $510k following a 2020 DOJ investigation of mental health treatment which led to a 2022 agreement between the United States and MADOC. 
This moment is a chance to hold leadership accountable for the harm that their previous negligence inflicted. As always, we demand that Governor Healey and the Massachusetts Department of Correction free all incarcerated people. Until that is met, we demand that they impose stronger mechanisms for accountability and transparency by incorporating the following changes in the upcoming Request for Responses (RFR).

1. Include new language requiring the Contractor to respond to sick slips in a timely manner. 

Requested language (revised from section 4.3): 

The Contractor must confirm the receipt of a sick slip with the involved incarcerated person within 24 hours. For emergencies, appointments must be scheduled within 24 hours of receipt of the sick slip. An emergency may be defined as a life-threatening condition, or anything that if ignored would cause severe repercussions to physical and/or mental health or that would permanently or temporarily disable a person. For non-emergencies, decisions must be made within 3 days, and the incarcerated person must be notified in this timeframe as well. Decisions include rationale and reasoning. For non-emergencies, appointments must be scheduled within 7 days following the decision. Follow-up appointments with Contractor employees must be scheduled no further out than 1 month from the date the sick slip was received. Follow-up appointments with medical providers other than the Contractor must be scheduled as soon as possible, and no further out than 3 months from the date the sick slip was received. If these timelines cannot be met, the Contractor must provide documentation showing that they made multiple attempts to schedule an appointment within 3 months. Incarcerated people are able to request status checks of their sickslips. Staff is responsible for maintaining daily documentation of sick slips and must communicate with incarcerated people regarding questions on sick slip information. Incarcerated people will receive confirmation of their appointment one week and again one day before said appointment. 

2. Include provisions for incarcerated people to see providers outside of the Contractor/prison.

Requested language: 

If a person who is incarcerated wants a second medical opinion, they must be given access to a second opinion by a provider or specialist independent of the prison as soon as possible, and no further out than 3 months from the date the incarcerated person asks for a second opinion.

3. Make fines for not following treatment plans higher. (See current requirements in sections 16, 4.3, 9, 12.)

4. Ensure that staff possess valid credentials and all sites are sufficiently staffed. The ADC has considerable discretion when deciding whether or not to allow the Contractor to provide less staff than required by the contract and/or permit the hiring of personnel whose credentials fail to meet the standard laid out in the contract. As such, the future RFR must remove discretion ADC has to permit under-staffing or staffing by under-qualified professionals.

Requested language:

The Contractor must keep staffing levels at least equal to those required in the contract and personnel must be appropriately licensed, registered, certified and professionally trained without exception. A medical doctor must be onsite for at least 8 hours a day at facilities under this contract.

5. Add oversight from people who are currently incarcerated. (See section 16.) 

Note: The language below was adapted from the Investigation and Corrective Action document and the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) document.

Requested language:

An oversight body consisting of 3-5 incarcerated people will attend the monthly Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee and all CQI meetings scheduled, including the Annual Review of CQI Program.

This oversight body will consist of existing councils or volunteers.

The Oversight Committee will co-lead the Investigation and Corrective Actions procedures, “helping to establish and uphold the guidelines for employee discipline actions that ensure each employee receives a reasonable opportunity to improve their efficiency, conduct, and/or performance, as determined by the” Oversight Committee.

The HSA will assign Oversight Committee counterparts to the CQI Committee Chairperson and CQI Coordinator, as well as any additional CQI committee members. These Oversight Committee members will provide and ensure perspective and feedback from those being served by the Contractor.

The Oversight Committee will participate in the Continuous Quality Improvement Program by “identifying areas for examination, determining (in advance) what constitutes acceptable performance, and re-examining the area to determine if the desired improvement has been accomplished.”

7. Increase public transparency. We request that minutes from meetings of the  Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee and CQI Committee be made public to increase transparency and opportunities for oversight.

Requested language:

Minutes from meetings of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee and CQI Committee will be available to the public, with any patient information anonymised, on the DOC website within 7 days of the meeting date.

The public will be invited and notified 2-4 weeks in advance of any public hearings involving medical care, where the Contractor will be present and available for a 30-minute minimum of public discourse. 

8. Change language on “inmate specific equipment and medically prescribed devices.” Our intention here is to increase the Contractor’s interest in providing and maintaining quality medical equipment. We also seek to remove language that puts the burden of payment for damaged equipment on incarcerated individuals. 

Requested language (language that has been edited or replaced is in bold):

The Contractor shall be responsible for the purchase or lease of Inmate-specific Equipment (e.g., special beds, wheelchairs or other Equipment not in existing inventory) and Medically Prescribed Devices, including Equipment and Medically Prescribed Devices recommended by a physician’s order or otherwise necessary to provide quality Inmate care and promote Inmate functionality (e.g., eyeglasses, orthotics, sensory therapy products). The Department shall have no obligation to reimburse the Contractor for the cost of any Inmate-specific Equipment or Medically Prescribed Devices purchased or leased by the Contractor. All Inmate Specific Equipment and Medically Prescribed Devices shall become the property of the Contractor. The Contractor shall repair and replace all Inmate Specific Equipment and Medically Prescribed Devices as necessary to ensure that Inmates may receive the benefit of such Inmate Specific Equipment and Medically Prescribed Devices. When a contract changes hands, the new Contractor will be given the opportunity to buy equipment from the preview Contractor.

If the Department determines through its investigatory, disciplinary or grievance process that the Inmate assigned the Medically Prescribed Device or another Inmate is responsible for the loss, damage or destruction of a Medically Prescribed Device, the Department shall bear the financial responsibility for its repair or replacement. Neither the Department nor the Contractor shall pursue reimbursement or payment for Medically Prescribed Devices from the Inmate found responsible for the damage or loss of said device. 

REMOVE: The Contractor shall be responsible for payment of the monthly service charges for all telephone lines designated for the use of the Personnel, for which the previous Contractor bore responsibility for payment.

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CALL TO ACTION: Disability rights violation at MCI-Concord

Updated 4/8/23

Despite a month-long call-in for Michael at MCI-Concord by family, friends, and community members, he was denied his rightful accommodation to a CapTel phone that displays captions during a phone call – even with updated medical documentation and a recommendation for hearing aids by doctors at Shattuck Hospital. This corrupt behavior by the DOC violates national ADA standards, the Briggs v. MA DOC Settlement, and this 2022 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) order expanding communications access to incarcerated people with disabilities. While Michael’s situation is devastating, it is not unique; we are receiving reports of CapTel accommodations being removed from men over at MCI-Norfolk, too. To make matters worse, lawyers and family members have sent the DOC non-compliance letters that went completely ignored. 

For these reasons, we are reorganizing this call-in to target legislators, with the additional option to send an email.

We know that the DOC needs to cancel Wellpath’s contract. Until then, help demand that they provide Michael and others with the rightful accommodation to allow them communication with loved ones which, according to ADA standards, is an “activit[y] that [is] of central importance to most people’s daily lives.” 

CALL SCRIPT:

Call the district office of Ayanna Pressley: (617) 850-0040
Call the Boston office of Elizabeth Warren: (617) 565-3170

If your call isn’t picked up, leave a message with the script below.

“Hello, my name is [X] and I am a concerned community member calling on behalf of Michael Moscaritolo at MCI-Concord, W113890. For over three months now, Michael has been requesting re-access to a CapTel phone, an accommodation that he was formerly granted for the past year and a half. Shortly after a federal monitor verified the DOC’s compliance to the provisions in the Briggs Settlement, the requirements for accessing the CapTel telephone were arbitrarily changed, causing Michael and many others in Massachusetts prisons to lose access to their accommodation. This is not in alignment with ADA standards, violates the Briggs settlement, and deviates from FCC practice – all of which affirms a person’s right to an accommodation that facilitates effective communication and therefore enables them to live fully. 

To remedy this, I am requesting that you contact the MA DOC and demand compliance to the Briggs Settlement, so that Michael and others have rightful access to a CapTel phone.

Will you confirm your effort to ensure DOC compliance, or contact the primary advocate on this case at sav.cadiz@gmail.com to discuss this matter further?”

EMAIL:

Send to: ayanna.pressley@mail.house.gov, jon_donenberg@warren.senate.gov, sarah.groh@mail.house.gov, demarquin.johnson@mail.house.gov, beth_pearson@warren.senate.gov, Marielle_Rabins@warren.senate.gov, Harleen_Gambhir@warren.senate.gov, jon_donenberg@warren.senate.gov

Subject: *URGENT: DOC Violation of Briggs Settlement

Dear Massachusetts legislators and team,

I am writing as a concerned community member to inform you of an issue affecting one of the most vulnerable populations we have: incarcerated people across MA prisons who are hard of hearing are losing their accommodation to effectively communicate with loved ones. 

Despite a month-long call-in for Michael at MCI-Concord by family, friends, and fellow constituents, he was denied his rightful accommodation to a CapTel phone – even with updated medical documentation and a recommendation for hearing aids by doctors at Shattuck Hospital. This corrupt behavior by the DOC violates national ADA standards, the Briggs v. MA DOC Settlement, and this 2022 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) order expanding communications access to incarcerated people with disabilities. While Michael’s situation is devastating, it is not unique; we are receiving reports of CapTel accommodations being removed from men over at MCI-Norfolk, too. To make matters worse, lawyers and family members have sent the DOC non-compliance letters that went completely ignored. 

To remedy this, I am requesting that you contact the MA DOC and demand compliance to the Briggs Settlement, so that Michael and others have rightful access to a CapTel phone.

Will you confirm your effort to ensure DOC compliance, or contact the primary advocate on this case at sav.cadiz@gmail.com to discuss this matter further?

Sincerely,

[your name]

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BREAKING: MCI-Norfolk Medical Director Out After Only Months

by James Keown (MCI-Norfolk)

According to Wellpath staff, Dr. Kevin Ennis is out as medical director at MCI-Norfolk. Staff point to concerns raised by many, including DOC officials, over the doctor’s performance to explain why the doctor was released after only about six months on the job. Dr. Ennis had previously been suspended pending investigation in February due to a verbal incident involving staff according to a person familiar with Wellpath’s review of the doctor. Dr. Ennis, however, was cleared to return to work after less than a week.

Advocates at Prisoners’ Legal Services raised alarms with the DOC and Wellpath last week when without notice officials at MCI-Norfolk began moving patients out of the Clinical Stabilization Unit (CSU), the prison’s medical unit, to the prison’s general population. Some staff members at MCI-Norfolk balked when one disabled CSU patient who requires assistance dressing himself, supplemental oxygen at night, and who cannot walk up steps was told he was being moved to a regular housing unit. The patient had been classified to a medical unit from the first day of his incarceration more than two years earlier.

Dr. Ennis, who was on vacation at the time, according to staff, approved the move without conducting any evaluation of the patient’s ability to safely live in general population and without discussing the move with the patient. The move was also endorsed by at least one senior administrator at Wellpath’s Massachusetts headquarters in Foxborough who overruled nurses assigned to the CSU who had attempted to shut down the transfer of the disabled patient. Norfolk security staff ultimately ruled it unsafe to place the patient in general population and halted the move pending a review. As of March 23, the patient remains in the CSU.

MCI-Norfolk went almost a full year without a medical director before Wellpath hired Dr. Ennis in late 2022. The loss of the medical director means that only two nurse practitioners remain to serve as primary care providers for the approximately 1,100 incarcerated people at MCI-Norfolk, including the prison’s 16-bed medical unit. The lack of a full-time doctor at MCI-Norfolk is only part of an ongoing staffing crisis that has plagued Wellpath for more than a year. A recent review of the company’s staffing matrix revealed almost 30 open positions at MCI-Norfolk alone. Currently, the prison has no Director of Nursing or Nursing Supervisor. The lack of staffing was a contributing factor in the DOC fining Wellpath more than $300,000 in 2022.

Wellpath’s contract to provide health care services was set to expire on June 30, 2023. Officials in the DOC’s Health Services Division were expected in October to put out a Request for Responses (RFR), the first step in the state’s procurement process. Instead, the department has said informally that it intends to extend Wellpath’s contract for up to one year, as allowed under the current agreement, so officials can have more time to prepare the RFR said a person familiar with department’s health care bidding process.

The DOC spent more than $196 million dollars last fiscal year on health care for incarcerated people through Wellpath, LLC., a Tennessee based corporation. Wellpath earns approximately $1.7 billion annually and is controlled by the $43 billion private equity firm HIG, which also operates Keefe, the DOC’s commissary, property, email, and electronic tablet vendor. Last year, a federal court in Virginia sentenced Wellpath’s founder, former CEO, and Chairman of the Board, Gerard Boyle, to federal prison after he pled guilty to bribing Virginia officials for health care contracts. Boyle previously had spent 15 years working for the Massachusetts DOC, including as the Superintendent of Bridgewater State Hospital.

Wellpath and HIG have consistently been under fire in Massachusetts from incarcerated people, family members, and outside advocacy groups who say the level of care provided by the corporation falls well below the standards required by law. Two 2022 reports by the Disability Law Center called out Wellpath over their lack of meaningful care and the DOC for their lack of appropriate medical housing. Many, including lawmakers, also now are questioning how health care spending in the DOC has more than doubled over the past decade when the number of people incarcerated has dropped by almost 50%.

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CALL TO ACTION: Restore Michael’s CapTel access

As we continue to hear more and more stories of medical neglect due to Wellpath, the incompetent private medical provider in MA prisons, we’ll be sharing some immediate calls to action. Right now, we’re seeking support for Michael, who is incarcerated at MCI-Concord.

Michael Moscaritolo has documented hearing loss in his right ear and is due to go back to the Shattuck specialists to diagnose unaddressed hearing problems in his left ear. He cannot hear on the unit telephones and is requesting accommodations. 

Under the Briggs Settlement, the DOC must make accommodations related to hearing loss for those seeking them. Shortly after the federal monitor, Elaine Gardner, came to verify the DOC’s compliance, they arbitrarily changed the requirements for accessing the CAPTEL telephone. Therefore, incarcerated people who had been granted that particular accommodation for many months and were successful in using it, were suddenly denied access. The DOC made a unilateral decision that incarcerated people must have ”severe” hearing loss in both ears.

This is not in accordance with national ADA standards and is in violation of the settlement agreement, which both state that if someone has documented hearing loss and requests an accommodation, it must be granted. Incarcerated people who have ”moderate/severe” hearing loss are being denied access to the CAPTEL telephone, and therefore are having difficulties talking to their families.

This is not right and we are asking that incarcerated people with documented hearing loss who were formerly granted accommodations be able to continue accessing them.

We know that the DOC needs to cancel Wellpath’s contract. Until then, join us in demanding that they provide Michael with the care he needs.

CALL SCRIPT:

Call the superintendent at MCI-Concord: (978) 405-6100
Superintendent’s Office Ext. 111 or Ext. 113

Even if no one answers when you call, leave a message with the script below.

“Hello, my name is [X] and I am a concerned community member calling on behalf of Michael Moscaritolo, W113890. For the past two months, Michael has been requesting access to a CAPTEL phone, an accommodation that he was formerly granted for the past year and a half. Shortly after the federal monitor, Elaine Gardner, came to verify the DOC’s compliance to the provisions in the Briggs Settlement, the requirements for accessing the CAPTEL telephone were arbitrarily changed. This is not in accordance with national ADA standards and is in violation of the settlement agreement, which both state that if someone has documented hearing loss and requests an accommodation, it must be granted. 

To remedy this, I’m demanding that you process Michael’s ADA request to regrant him access to a CAPTEL phone.

Will you confirm that Michael will immediately receive this accommodation?”

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CALL TO ACTION: Letters of support for Country

Earlier this year, the parole board sent a letter to our friend and comrade, Michael Mauney (aka Country), telling him he’d have a hearing in March for his parole. A few weeks later, they pulled the rug out from under him, telling him it was a clerical error and that he won’t be up for a hearing for a few more years.

Refusing to give up on Country’s freedom, his lawyer, friends, and family will be seeking clemency for him this year. In order to put together a packet in support of his clemency, we need support letters from the community.

Will you join us in writing a letter of support for Country?

Your letter can include: how you know Country, reasons you believe he is ready for release, and any support (emotional, financial, housing, rides to appointments, etc) that you would be willing to provide to assist in his transition back to the community. Whether you know Country personally or not, you can draw from the letter he’s written for the community below.

Letters should be addressed to Governor Maura Healey and the Parole Board (12 Mercer Road, Natick, MA 01760) and sent directly to Country’s lawyer at mwaryasz@gmail.com.

Please submit your letters by the end of March 2023.

—–

From Country:

Dear friends, family, and associates,

I am currently in the 21st year of incarceration for an altercation that resulted in he death of another person. At the time I was a 22 year old with a drug and alcohol addiction, who had ran away from home at the age of 16, and soon found myself incarcerated as a juvenile.

Shortly after my arrival at Shirley Maximum security prison I enrolled in barber school and received an earned license with the Massachusetts State Board of Barbers. Soon after that I was transferred to the medium security prison MCI-Norfolk.

I have remained at MCI-Norfolk since 2008. For the first 3 years I concentrated on working in the mainline kitchen and trying to enter the Boston University prison education program. After unsuccessfully taking the entrance exam three different times, I finally succeeded on the fourth try and eventually earned my BLA with Magna Cum Laude honors in 2019. I also obtained my welding license with Mass DOT in 2013.

For the past 12 years I have worked in the maintenance shop of MassCorr correctional industries. I work as a handyman doing many different jobs to maintain the general upkeep of the industries building, a job that carries a long list of responsibilities.

To finally address my alcohol and drug problem, I entered the Correctional Recovery Academy offered here while simultaneously doing AA/NA meetings, a practice that continues to this day. My involvement in programing, over the years, has shown me there is nothing that I cannot do sober and drug free. Especially if I work hard enough at it, one day at a time.

My life today is heavily centered around Restorative Justice practices, the African American Coalition Committee activism, and promoting prison education, and community service. I see my involvement as a way for me to tryand help someone see their future a little differently. To foster within them a more positive attitude with the hope they take to heart some of the advice and wisdom I have to offer because change is real.

My family and friends have been very supportive over the years through visits, letters , and telephone calls. We have managed to keep each other abreast of the many changes each other have experienced, additions to the family, graduations, marriages, etc. For all of us this journey has not been easy, but through it all we have done our best to remain connected as one.

If released, I will live with my Aunt Melody and Uncle Rufus in Lexington Kentucky. I will work in some capacity for the Hope Center in Lexington, and plan to pursue a career as paralegal. I also plan enroll in divinity school when established in Kentucky.

If you feel that you could write a letter of support of my release, I would greatly appreciate it. Please contact my attorney as soon as possible if you have any questions or need advice as to the content of your support letter: Michael A. Waryasz, mwaryasz@gmail.com.

Thank you for your time, consideration, and support in this most important endeavor.

Sincerely,

Michael L Mauney aka Country
P.O. Box 43
Norfolk, MA 02056

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UPDATE: Write to Incarcerated Victims of Repression and Keep Calling

UPDATE: REPRESSION AT MCI SHIRLEY

On 8/17, we reported out the story of Officers Chao and Favye (fah-vee) assaulting Jensen Peraza-Rivera and Swanie Burnett, and the following cover up and repression by administrators and staff at MCI Shirley.

Jensen Peraza-Rivera and Swanie Burnett have been transferred to MCI Concord and MCI Norfolk.

This week:

– Continue to make calls
– Write to Jensen and Swanie, who have been transferred out of Shirley
– Constituents of Sen. Eldridge and Rep. Keefe, please DM us on Facebook or Twitter for a specific call script for your electeds

For calls:

Call targets:
1. MCI-Shirley Superintendent: (978) 425-4341, press 2 to dial an extension, then 2 again to reach the medium security prison, then dial ext. 4200
2. Governor Baker: (617) 725-4005
3. Commissioner Carol Mici: (508)-422-3302

Script:

Hello, my name is [ your name] and I am a friend/concerned community member calling on behalf of incarcerated individuals recently assaulted by prison guards at MCI-Shirley and witnesses to that incident. My demands are:

1) Dismiss all witnesses’ and the victim’s disciplinary tickets

2) Drop any legal charges against Jensen and any incarcerated witness or victim

3) Reinstate jobs and single cells to those who did not plead guilty and were sent to solitary confinement

4) Do not re-classify Jensen and Swanie to Souza-Baranowski

5) Relieve Officers Chao and Favye (fah-vee) of duty, and all staff and administrators complicit in the assault and cover up

Please get back to me when these demands have been met.

For letters:

Rules:
– All mail will be photocopied, so don’t include photographs or other items
– No glitter, crayon, marker, colored inks, etc
– Black or blue ink on lined or white paper only
– Sender name on the envelope and in the letter must match

Sample messages:
– Hi my name is __________________
– I heard about the attack you all experienced at Shirley and am writing to express my support for you
– You are not forgotten
– We are fighting for all of you

Make it your own. The goal is just to show we have their backs!

Addresses:
Swanie Burnett, W109897
MCI-Norfolk
P.O. Box 43
Norfolk, MA 02056

Jensen Peraza-Rivera, W115532
MCI-Concord
P.O. Box 9106
Concord, MA 01742

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URGENT: Defend incarcerated people at MCI-Shirley!

Last Monday, August 8, two guards attacked Jensen Peraza-Rivera, an incarcerated person at MCI-Shirley. A crowd of 16 other incarcerated people gathered around to bear witness and try to protect Jensen, verbally demanding that the guards get off of his neck. 

The DOC threatened all the witnesses with punishment, claiming that they participated in a “group demonstration.” Witnesses who pled guilty to their disciplinary tickets were allowed to stay in general population, while those who did not were thrown into solitary confinement – along with Jensen, the original victim.

This is chilling, given that the warden ordered his staff to coerce incarcerated people into pleading guilty to cover up staff violence against people in their care.

As of 8/15, all witnesses except Swanie Burnett and Jensen have been released from solitary, but remain at risk of losing their jobs and their housing status (i.e. if any of them had a highly-prized single cell, they are now at risk of being placed in a cell with multiple other people). Both Swanie and Jensen will be transferred to Souza-Baranowski. 

In January this year, 100 prisoners filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Correction in response to guards’ racist, brutal attacks against incarcerated people in this maximum security prison. Our people are being sent into further danger.

Jensen has been in deep distress and possibly unable to contact family throughout his ordeal.

A person should not be punished for getting punched in the face and choked by prison guards! But the DOC is doing so and coercing others into silence, even when video footage shows that the guard initiated the attack. 

Please join us in making three quick calls today, with the following demands that come directly from incarcerated people at MCI-Shirley. Once you’ve called, comment below to let us know how the conversations went!

Call targets

*MCI-Shirley Superintendent: (978) 425-4341, press 2 to dial an extension, then 2 again to reach the medium security prison before dialing ext. 4200.

*Governor Baker: (617) 725-4005

*Commissioner Carol Mici: (508)-422-3302

Call Script

Hello, my name is [your name ] and I am a concerned community member calling on behalf of incarcerated individuals recently assaulted by prison guards at MCI-Shirley and witnesses to that incident. My demands are:

  1. Immediately dismiss all disciplinary reports that were issued to witnesses of the guards’ assault on an incarcerated person, including the tickets of those who pled guilty under duress.
  2. Immediately reinstate the jobs and housing status of all those who refused to plead guilty to fraudulent charges under administrative coercion.
  3. Immediately drop all charges against Swanie Burnett (W109897) and release him from solitary confinement.
  4. Immediately drop all charges against Jensen Peraza-Rivera (W115532), and release him from solitary confinement immediately. 
  5. Relieve of duty any and all administrative personnel at MCI-Shirley who participated in punishing witnesses, and who have failed and are failing to take appropriate action against the malicious and violent misconduct of the prison guards.

Please get back to me when these demands have been met.

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End Medical Neglect: Get Anthony Urgent Medical Care

As we continue to hear more and more stories of medical neglect due to Wellpath, the incompetent private medical provider in MA prisons, we’ll be sharing some immediate calls to action. Right now, we’re seeking support for Anthony Serrano, who is incarcerated at MCI-Shirley. He lost 28 pounds over the course of one week from vomiting, nausea, and inability to keep food down. He sought medical care, but instead was thrown into solitary, while Wellpath told him that nothing was wrong. He’s still dizzy and nauseous and in need of urgent care.

We know that the DOC needs to cancel Wellpath’s contract. Until then, join us in demanding that they provide Anthony with the care he needs.

Call the superintendent at MCI-Shirley: (978) 425-4341
You can press 2 to skip the entire intro message.
Press 2 again to dial an extension.
Press 2 a third time to connect to the medium facility.
Superintendent’s Office Ext. 4200 or Ext. 4126
Even if no one answers when you call, leave a message with the script below.

CALL SCRIPT

Hello, my name is [X] and I am a concerned community member calling on behalf of Anthony Serrano, W113379. Anthony has been seeking medical care for over a week, after losing 28 pounds from vomiting and inability to keep any food down. He also has sciatic pain and was seen at Shattuck and recommended a medical mattress and physical therapy, but hasn’t gotten it. 

This is gross medical neglect. To remedy this, I’m demanding that Anthony receive:

  1.  An urgent full evaluation for his gastrointestinal illness at an outside medical facility
  2. A back brace, medical mattress, wheelchair, and physical therapy appointment for his back pain

Will you confirm that Anthony will immediately receive this care?

Posted on

The No So Well Path: James’s story

The Not So Well Path

James Keown

MCI-Norfolk

I learned that I might be dying almost by accident. A simple sentence buried in more than one hundred pages of documents the DOC had sent my lawyer after denying my petition for medical parole declared that doctors expected me to die within the next three years. That was one year ago.

The pronouncement of my potential fate had been written by a doctor for Wellpath, the $1.6 billion private vendor that contracts to provide health services to prisons and jail. The doctor had alerted several people about my prognosis — the Superintendent where I am housed was told; the DOC Commissioner was told; the administrators at Wellpath were told; however, no one told me.

For more than a decade, I had little contact with the prison medical department. I was fairly healthy when I came to prison, I ate well, and I exercised regularly. I loved to run. I heard horror stories from plenty of people about their experiences with health services, especially after Wellpath took over the department in 2018, so I was thankful that I rarely found myself in need of care from the Health Services Unit (HSU).

That all changed in early 2020 when I noticed an odd weakness in my right leg. It didn’t seem like much. I noticed it mostly when I attempted to stand or sit. The weakness was soon joined by muscle twitching and painful cramps. One morning in mid February I awoke to a cramp in my right thigh so strong that it felt as if the muscle was being unzipped down its center. I submitted my first Sick Call Request Form to the HSU that same day. A Wellpath nurse practitioner responded to my request several days later and said my symptoms were being caused by a small mass that had been discovered the previous November in a lymph node at my pelvis region.


The NP believed that all would be well as soon as they could address the mass. Unfortunately, she could not tell me when it might be addressed because Wellpath had yet to schedule an appointment with an oncologist. Over the next several months, the symptoms in my right leg became more noticeable. The growing weakness in my right leg caused me to stumble regularly, so I was issued a walking cane in May. Wellpath continued to insist that my symptoms would be relieved as soon as the mass was removed.

That July, I finally saw an oncologist at Boston Medical Center (BMC). The doctor who examined me said that the lump in my lymph node was almost certainly a benign fatty mass and that it would be removed using a simple surgery. The doctor also revealed that the symptoms I was now experiencing in both legs and both arms was in no way connected to the mass. He said that he had consulted with another doctor in the department and they felt that I had a potentially serious neurological condition and that I needed to see a neurologist urgently. Two months later, I spoke with a neurologist via telemed. By then, my cane had been replaced by a walker as my symptoms advanced. The neurologist shared that she thought that I may be suffering from motor neuron disease or a similar neuromuscular condition. She said that she needed to see me in-person and was going to request that Wellpath send me to the neurology clinic as soon as possible.


Over the next four months, however, Wellpath refused to schedule an appointment. I was told that the clinic wasn’t accepting appointments because of Covid-19, but the clinic told one of my lawyers that they had repeatedly called the prison asking them to send me. During this same time, Wellpath stopped responding to my Sick Call Request Forms. I submitted more than a dozen forms reporting progressing symptoms that included weakness in my trunk that made it difficult for me to sit upright and weakness in my throat and mouth that made it difficult to eat. I also reported injuries from falls. But for four months, I was totally ignored.

When a Wellpath provider finally saw me in February 2021, I was a shell of myself. I could barely stand, even with the walker. My gait had deteriorated to the point that my right foot would drag across the ground while my left leg would clop hard with each step. Often, my feet would roll or the muscles in my legs would give out causing me to stumble and fall. I spent most of my days in bed because I found it so difficult to sit upright for an extended period of time. I could no longer write effectively with a pen or shave myself. And, I had begun losing weight because I found it so difficult to eat. The Wellpath doctor who evaluated me made an immediate referral that I be seen by neurology and had me transferred to a medical unit in the prison called the Clinical Stabilization Unit, or CSU.

In the CSU, I was one of sixteen patients considered to be the medically most vulnerable. We were crammed together in a small open dorm lined up in rows of four hospital beds apiece. When in bed, my head was about one foot away from the head of the patient in the bed behind mine. My feet were about three feet away from the feet of the patient in the bed in front of mine. And the bed next to mine was only about five feet away from my bed. Two dingy bathrooms, a shower room, nurses station and officers station filled out the rest of the medical unit living area. I was assigned a bed in the middle of the room. The other beds were filled with mostly elderly men — several in their 80s — who rarely left their beds. One patient had advanced dementia and spent his days staring at old game show reruns on his television with no sound and retelling the same few stories over and over again to anyone who would listen. Another patient had survived Covid only to develop a deadly blood infection that he barely survived only to have a toe amputated due to his uncontrolled diabetes. Many of these same patients appeared to be receiving no medical care other than daily medications and occasional vital checks. I thought being placed in the CSU would rescue me from the medical quagmire I had been trapped in over the previous year, but I soon found myself only sinking deeper into the abyss.


I would not see a neurologist for almost four more months and that was only after several letters from a prisoner rights advocacy organization threatened legal action against Wellpath and the DOC. When I did see doctors at BMC, they determined that I indeed was suffering from a progressive neurodegenerative disease. They speculated that it may be ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, or a similar disorder. Another three months passed before I saw another neurologist at an ALS clinic who was less certain about the ALS diagnosis, but also appeared to be uncomfortable having a prisoner patient (according to another doctor) and suggested that I see other doctors. Deeper I sunk.


As I write this, it has been five months since I last saw a neurologist and I am unsure when I will next see one. All my symptoms have continued to advance and I have developed new ones. Today, I am wheelchair bound and require special padding and straps to hold me upright. I now require supplemental oxygen throughout the day and a noninvasive ventilator at night to breathe. I am on a highly specialized diet and I have to use a universal cuff to hold my utensils to feed myself. And, it is probable that not too far into the future I will require a feeding tube.


My companions in the CSU are in equal straits. The man with dementia died in February after he suddenly stopped eating and drinking, and, other than a couple of special nurses, no one on the medical staff cared enough to help him. He became so dehydrated that he had to be sent to the emergency room where he experienced organ failure when they attempted to rehydrate him. The man who lost his toe now sleeps most of everyday, as do several other patients… including me.

I still have no diagnosis which means that I am still receiving no real treatment. I am essentially warehoused inside a medical unit that Wellpath has been unable to adequately staff for many months. Since the onset of my symptoms, I have seen four different doctors serving as medical director of the facility, although we have been without one altogether since last November. Nurses seem to come and go almost weekly. And, with each passing month it seems to be more and more difficult to get answers to even basic medical questions.

Wellpath in Massachusetts has collapsed under the weight of its own greed. The company has stripped away every penny possible from the $184.5 million the DOC paid for prisoner healthcare last year. (A $10 million increase from the previous year.) Since the company acquired the contract in 2018, the DOC population has decreased by more than 24%, while healthcare spending soared by more than 30%. All the while, the population has continued to age to the point where Massachusetts now has the oldest prisoner population in America. This combination of factors has created a perfect storm where resources are stretched so thin that Sick Call Request Forms are regularly ignored, medications are not reordered as needed, and specialist appointments are delayed or canceled altogether.


I may be dying — perhaps in fewer than twenty-four months. The fact that I don’t know if that statement is true or not is worse than not being able to walk, to eat, or to breathe. The reason I don’t know the truth about my fate is because Wellpath misdiagnosed my condition for five months, ignored it for four more months, and fumbled from one delayed and uncoordinated appointment after another. My reality is that because of Wellpath, the doctor who may ultimately diagnose my condition is the coroner.

My reality is that because of Wellpath, the doctor who may ultimately diagnose my condition is the coroner.

James Keown
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