Control Units and Oppression
By Sadot Williams
March 2008
[Writing from Prison Index] [Home]
The administration at S.C.I. Greene, the SuperMax facility in Southwestern Pennsylvania is keeping is 500 plus bed Long Term Solitary Confinement Unit filled to maximum capacity with over 90% Hispanic and African American prisoners, for financial gains in a deal worked out with PHS- Prison Health Services, the privatized health care provider for the PA Department of Corrections!
Prisoners locked down in the long term confinement unit are forced to pay high sick call fees for over-the-counter meds that are sold to general population prisoners at Commissary for a fraction of the cost of going to sick call! Under PA-DOC policy a prisoner in long term confinement needs antacid tabs, cold medication or foot ointment, they must pay $5.00 to be seen at sick call and then $5.00 must be paid for the meds. The same over the counter medication is sold to the general population prisoners for less than $3.50 each at Commissary.
Long term confinement prisoners are not permitted to have prison work assignments to help them pay for basic needs like toiletries.
For those who are not blessed to receive financial support form loved ones, debt to Prison Health Services and the PA DOC can accumulate quickly.
Most grievances to the administration about this unwritten policy have gone unanswered and for the few grievances that a response was given, vague, open-ended form statements are the reply.
This is just one of the dozens of oppressive acts that takes place daily in the S.C.I. Greene Supermax facility long term solitary confinement unit.